By WENDIE WILKIE, WANGARATTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
A COMITMMENT by her grandmother (nana), to buy all her grandchildren their first musical instrument meant that Rachel Campbell got her first clarinet when she was seven years old.
Then came a piano at nine and soon enough, music became the focus of her life.
“We are a bit of a musical family," Rachel said.
Rachel, who plays first clarinet in the Wangaratta Symphony Orchestra, lives in Porepunkah and is a musician and music teacher working at St Marys Primary School in Myrtleford and at Bright P-12 College.
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She plays clarinet, saxophone and piano, and teaches them to her students.
Rachel’s husband, Jason, is also a musician and plays tuba in the Wangaratta Symphony Orchestra.
They both play and conduct in the Mount Beauty Community Band.
Their children have also taken up music, with their daughter studying classical voice at Monash University and their son playing drums in local groups.
Rachel has had a long involvement with music all across Australia.
She played in a school band in Canberra, then the Coonabarabran band with her father, and then in Geraldton , WA, with a combined high schools band.
She completed a Bachelor of Musical Performance at Newcastle Conservatorium before joining the navy as a musician in 1991.
The navy gave her many exciting opportunities to play, such as the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, various events during the Centenary of Federation, and other naval celebrations, parades and award ceremonies.
The navy was also where she met and married her husband.
After the birth of her first child, Rachel returned to study and completed a Graduate diploma in Education which enabled her to teach classroom music as well as instrumental.
Wangaratta Symphony Orchestra allows Rachel to indulge in her love of classical music.
As first clarinet, she plays an important role in the wind section.
“I love that we play varied music that is exciting not only for the musicians to play, but also for our audience to listen to,” she said.
She joined the orchestra at the end of 2021 after seeing an ad on the Bright community noticeboard.
Rachel encouraged those interested in learning an instrument or playing with the orchestra to pursue such aspirations.
"Do it," Rachel said.
"You are never too old or young, it is never too late to learn something new, to challenge yourself and become involved with a great group of people.
"If you learned an instrument as a child, go back, dust it off, the skills are still there.
"There are so many groups, bands and choirs that will welcome you.”
'Myths and Legends' is the theme of the two concerts that the Wangaratta Symphony Orchestra will be putting on soon.
The first will be at Rutherglen Memorial Hall on Sunday, 30 March at 2.30pm, and the second at WPACC in Wangaratta on Sunday, 6 April at 2.30pm.
Tickets available at the venues.
There will be classics by Beethoven and Greig, but also modern tunes such as music from 'How to Train your Dragon' and 'Indiana Jones'.
The concert will end with themes from Pirates of the Caribbean – great dramatic music and lots of fun to perform.
For further information, contact Wangaratta Symphony Orchestra secretary Wendie Wilkie at wangsymphonyorchestra@gmail.com.
