Originally arising from a beautiful idea about relieving the anxiety around illness, a rather special trio CD has made it into Kenny Weir’s Top Ten jazz CDs for 2005 in Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun and the top five for Jeremy Lee from ABC Classic FM.
Called Love’s Calendar, this is the third in the Hush series of CDs produced by the Royal Children’s Hospitals—a series that is the brainchild of Dr Cathy Crock.
The disk comprises a suite of 12 original pieces composed by Paul Grabowsky and played by Grabowsky on piano, Gary Costello on bass and Andrew Gander on drums.
Dr Crock is based at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and works with children with serious and life-threatening illnesses. The Hush collection came about as a result of Crock’s desire to improve this alien and challenging hospital environment—with its tests, medicines, anaesthetics and pain—and arises from her own observations and discussions and feedback from parents, as well as research in such areas as the use of baroque music to help settle Alzheimers patients.
If there was a trigger she can point to for the Hush collection, she says, it was probably “seeing children in distress as they came into the operating theatre and realising how threatening it must seem to them.” She knew that her own children responded well to music and thought it would probably work for others as well.
Crock tried some commercial CDs but had trouble finding something suitable. She consulted professional musical friends, largely from classical music backgrounds. The two previous CDs featured classical music.
A major difference between this and the preceding two in the series is that this is a CD of original music. The idea came from Grabowsky, who had been spending time in the hospital environment, as a parent—one of the target audiences of the Hush CD series. He noticed that in the hospital “ambient music is largely absent, the most common sound being the clash of competing children’s television programmes. Having been an anxious parent myself, Love’s Calendar is at the same time a projection of what might have been able to somewhat alleviate my own stress and therefore also a practical contribution to the overall hospital environment as a piece of art.”
The process has certainly added to Crock’s growing understanding of what music works best. “What I have realised is that lullaby or childish music is not what we need. The music needs to be restful but also should engage the children and adults—to take their minds off what is going on around them. What definitely does not work is music that is sad, melancholy or tends to wind people up.”
Grabowsky approached the composition with two notions: original music and jazz. “I think the key concept for me is lightness. There is a lightness of tone about the music which allows for the application of many different compositional approaches, without necessarily straying into the ‘nether-regions’. This has to do with key, distribution of major and minor harmonies, register, texture and groove. And, of course, melody—the most important ingredient—as these are songs without words. The music needs to be there if you want it to be, ie have enough substance to engage with, and also be able to sit happily in the background while still casting its spell.”
Crock was overwhelmed by Grabowsky’s offer to compose a whole CD for the series but was challenged initially by the idea moving from the comfort of classical music that she was familiar with and knew was working so well in the hospital setting. However, she decided that it was an opportunity for the Hush Collection to evolve and expand.
Additionally, the way that Grabowsky’s first-hand experience of the hospital environment informed his understanding of what was required has given Crock the insight that for future CDs it would be valuable to involve the musicians by bringing them to the hospital from the beginning of the process.
The CD comprises 12 pieces, each one named after a month and was composed over a period of four days. Grabowsky says that he was “really conscious of wanting to create little ambient worlds, each one a stand-alone, rather than have any thematic linkage. I wanted to include all twelve keys, as key color is an important element. When you have a sick child, the world as you have known it shuts down for a while, you inhabit a parallel universe, and I like to think of these pieces as having been composed there.”
Crock’s initial hesitations about the use of original music and jazz on a Hush CD have completely disappeared. She has tested the CD at the hospital: “we had an initial recording session and I took the first draft into the theatre. My most honest critics are my Day Surgery staff. They need to feel the music is right for the atmosphere because we spend 4 hour stretches listening each morning. The verdict was unanimous that Paul had composed music that was exactly what was needed. The staff were even noted to be whistling along in a very short time and asking for copies to take home. The parents and children also responded very well on their first listening and find it very calming. If the parents are calm that can make a big difference to how their child will respond to medical procedures. The jazz is just as calming as the previous classical CDs, if not more so.”
The jazz aspect is particularly exciting for her on a couple of different levels. “I think this CD is introducing many people to jazz who might not otherwise have listened to or appreciated it. The idea that jazz can have such an influence in a medical setting is new as far as I know.” She is actually planning some research on this in the New Year.
Both Grabowsky and Crock, when asked, nominated favourite months from Love’s Calendar.
Crock: “I love February. It was my favourite from the moment we recorded it. It makes me feel particularly relaxed as I do my (at times stressful) medical work. My staff even hum along to it in the operating theatre.”
Grabowsky: “It varies. I’m pleased to say I like them all; I guess April would probably be my regular favourite. It is a ‘no-time’ piece, a constant group rubato, and is a good example of how a sophisticated contemporary jazz approach works toward fulfilling the aim of the exercise. At this point I must pay tribute to Gary and Andrew, who imbued the music with the generosity of spirit necessary for its successful realisation. It is interesting to note that the twelve pieces were recorded in sequence from ‘January’ onward in one six hour session. We had done a trial recording some weeks earlier, and were therefore familiar with the music, and knew that it was going to work, but I have nevertheless never been in a situation where recording has been so effortless.”
A recent review described the playing as brilliant, and the music as having an irresistible glow. This is a CD that is successful in the hospital environment that inspired it and for which it was produced, but which can also stand outside that environment as a suite that (like all music that speaks to us) goes beyond words and beyond consciousness to provide the things our souls need to survive.
The Hush CDs are in use in 12 children’s hospitals around Australia and are available to purchase at ABC shops, selected Australia post outlets, Dymocks, My Chemist, through Diners Club rewards program and at all the children’s Hospitals. $16 from the sale of each CD goes to the children’s hospitals throughout Australia.
Website: www.hush.org.au
Picture: Paul Grabowsky and Dr Cathy Crock during the recording of Love’s Calendar
