Ilse Elisabeth Harris |
The Aussies played for Poles again! This time The Sydney Windjammers played T.Kosciuszko music last Sunday, 19th August 2007 at White Eagle House, Cabramatta. I know most of the musicians, but this was the first time I met Ilse Harris, though it appears she was with us in Jindabyne and Cooma, too. That's what she wrote in her e-mail:
I enjoyed playing at the Polish Club (my first time).
The hospitality was great and the food very enjoyable (just like my mother used to cook: peas and carrots and parsley on everything, I'm usually too lazy to chop parsley, but like it very much.
I am a guest player with the "Windjammers". I play with another clarinet group "The Wellington Players" which was started by Mark Walton (who arranged the music of the Kosciuszko pieces for clarinet choir).I met the "Windjammers" on an orchestra tour in NZ last December with Mark Walton. It was Helena Boden who invited my girlfriend Denise and me to travel to Jindabine and Cooma in April and to the club last Sunday. So through the music we get around a bit.
Sydney Windjammers seated right under the famous Kosciuszko gobelin |
Ilse has got her own website. And this is what we read there:
www.zither.com.au
Born in Hamburg in 1936, Ilse realised her music dreams late in life.After the blitz on Hamburg she grew up in a a small farming village in lower Bavaria, where there was no electricity, running water,or cultural activity. The climate was harsh as was the lifestyle, but it was safe.
Occasionally Ilse saw a zither being played and loved the sound, she also loved the sound of the clarinet in the little bands that played at village weddings and wished she could own a clarinet or zither, but there were no instruments for sale, no music teachers.
Ilse's mother had a great love of poetry and words and without pen or paper taught Ilse to memorize many long poems and a vast number of German folksongs. The love of folksongs has remained with Ilse.
In 1960 Ilse migrated to Australia, married an Englishman.They had three boys and built a house on Sydneys northern beaches, where Ilse still lives today.
Her husband encouraged all the children to learn a musical instrument and he bought Ilse a clarinet and a zither.
Finding a clarinet teacher was easy, but the only zither teacher lived 50 km away and Ilse would have a lesson once a month. She would practice the clarinet when the children were at school and the zither at night when her husband was home as he loved the sound of the zither.
In 1981 Ilse’s husband died of a heart attack and helping the boys complete their education became a priority.
About that time Ilse met Johanna and it was Johanna who offered to come to Ilses house every Friday night to play zither duets.
Ilse then took up secondary studies, gained entry to Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she studied clarinet with Mark Walton and after 2 years graduated as a private clarinet teacher. She has her own music teaching studio.
On the 20th anniversary of their zither friendship, Ilse's sons recorded a CD with 20 of their favourite pieces.
All photos Puls Polonii |
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