MOTIVATED BY MUSIC Georgia Scott

Georgia SCOTT (2010)

Old Girl Georgia Scott is an Australian Composer, Orchestrator and Arranger, having studied at The Sydney Conservatorium of Music and The Royal College of Music in London. Not only is Georgia a talented musician, but she is also a passionate advocate for equality in the music industry and offers SPAN News readers worthwhile advice for launching a music career.

What have you been up to since graduating from SCEGGS in 2010?

After graduating from SCEGGS, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to move to the UK to study for my Bachelor’s in Composition at the Royal College of Music in London. I really enjoyed having the chance to soak up such a diverse and accessible music scene. It was fantastic to have Europe so close by and have the chance to explore the rich cultural and musical history of many different countries.

I returned to Australia in 2016 after finishing my undergraduate degree and then began a Master’s in Speech Pathology which was another area close to my heart and this began my journey to feeling comfortable with my identity as someone living with a disability.

In 2018, I then had the opportunity to study for a master’s degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and be part of their Composing Women Program. This is a two-year professional development program that runs alongside their postgraduate courses to foster four early-career composers and aims to change the genderimbalanced programming in the music industry.

As part of this program, I was fortunate to work with some fantastic orchestras and musicians both in Australia and internationally, and the program gave me the chance to solidify my compositional voice and think about the messages that I wanted audience members to engage with through my work. I also took this opportunity to explore the representation of women with disability in music and researching this really opened my eyes to the inequality faced by artists with disability on a systemic level.

Do you have a favourite piece of music that you have composed?

I don’t know about a favourite piece of music, but there are a couple of pieces I have particularly enjoyed writing. I was fortunate to be commissioned by The Australian Ballet to write the score for a piece called Placeless as part of their ‘Bodytorque. Digital’ program. The writing process can often be quite isolating for composers, so I really cherished the interdisciplinary collaboration between choreographer and composer. I am very grateful

to have worked with the phenomenal choreographer Timothy Coleman who had such a deep understanding of music and its relationship to movement. It was wonderful to learn so much about a new medium too!

I also really enjoyed dipping my toes into writing opera and working with the Sydney Chamber Opera on my opera Her Dark Marauder for a similar reason. This work dealt with the complex topic of the representation of psychosocial disability on stage, so I was especially grateful to be able to work with the members of the company over an extended period, allowing the work to evolve and change through collaboration with the performers, director and dramaturg over many months. I also enjoyed the opportunity to see firsthand all the different facets that go into the creation of a work for stage such as lighting, videography and set design, and working with different creatives to use these to explore the complex messaging surrounding representation and roles for people with disability in society.

In a short amount of time, you have established yourself as a young leader advocating for equality in the music industry. What obstacles have you faced and why do you think it’s important to be an agent of change?

I have been incredibly privileged in many ways, and it is important that I don’t erase that. I have been very lucky to have had a fantastic education and to have been given the support and intervention I’ve needed to live with my disability as easily as possible. Living with cerebral palsy and a vision impairment has meant

that I find work involving fine motor control and visual tasks more difficult, but I have been fortunate to be able to find workarounds to allow me to compose as efficiently as I can.

I feel that I have a responsibility as someone with a disability working in the arts sector to advocate for a shift in programming and accessibility so that our authentic stories are presented on stage. Throughout history the arts have played an unfortunate role in perpetuating the erasure of people with disability and our stories, lived experience, and perspectives. The representation of people with disability on the stage and in the concerthall has been often through the gaze of people who don’t understand our lived experience and we are reduced to a series of myths, tropes and curiosities (e.g., Captain Hook, Quasimodo or Nessarose from Wicked). We need to advocate for change, as society often still views our presence on stage with discomfort and our work is considered either inferior or “inspirational” solely because the creator identifies as disabled. The statistics show that although people with disability are more likely to be involved in the arts, only 9% of artists identify as disabled even though we make up almost a fifth of the population and artists with disability earn on average around 40% less than artists without disability. So, it’s pretty clear that there is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed and we have to make some noise when we’re given a platform to do so!

What can we expect to hear from you next?

This year I’m very grateful to be writing for the Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras and collaborating with Sydney Symphony Orchestra Cellist Christopher Pidcock. I’m also in the early stages of helping to co-curate a music and disability concert showcasing the music of composers and performers with disability later in the year. I can also now share that I’m going to be writing a work for the Sydney Bach Society later this year which is directed by another composer and former SCEGGS student, Dr Aristea MELLOS (2005)! Aristea will also be writing a work for the series, and I’m really thrilled to be involved in such a fantastic project.

What steps do you encourage young musicians to take to help them establish their careers?

My main advice to young musicians is to work hard, don’t forget to have fun with the music you write and/or perform, and to stay true to yourself (and don’t let anyone try and steer you away from music if it’s your passion!). Use the time now to build up your technical skills and to listen to as much diverse music as you possibly can, and don’t be afraid to just jump in and sign-up for opportunities to compose or perform, don’t wait until they come knocking! SCEGGS has a fantastic co-curricular Music program for performers to gain experience, so if you’re interested in performing, sign up for everything that is on offer. Also, initiatives like Sydney Children’s Choir, Gondwana Voices, Sydney Youth Orchestra and Australian Youth Orchestra are fantastic places to hone your skills and meet like-minded friends. There are also some great opportunities springing up for high-school-aged composers, such as the Artology “Fanfare” competition where you write an orchestral fanfare, have it recorded, and are mentored by a leading Australian composer. So, I would advise anyone interested in composition (as I was when I was at school) to actively look for young composer competitions and sign-up for as many of these opportunities as you can!