Pianist Andrea Keller grew up in Sydney, Australia. Dedicated to creating new music with an emphasis on improvisation and collaboration, she has launched twenty-three albums as bandleader and has recorded for others, together with the Black Arm Band Firm, the Australian Artwork Orchestra, and the Vanessa Perica Orchestra. Andrea has additionally been commissioned as a composer by ‘Throughout Silence’ (the artwork of music, Auslan and haptics), the Monash Artwork Ensemble, and Ensemble Offspring.

The three-time ARIA award winner, is a champion of Australian inventive music and a nurturer of rising musicians. She runs the tutorial program Gender Defying Jazz and is Head of Jazz & Improvisation on the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, College of Melbourne. Andrea lives in Melbourne along with her three kids, aged eleven, fifteen, and twenty-five.

London Jazz Information: What’s the finest recommendation you obtained about balancing/juggling motherhood and profession?

Andrea Keller: I turned a mom comparatively younger and didn’t have any feminine mentors or pals that had been moms. I had feminine mentors who had been childless and male mentors who had been mother and father, however they weren’t providing recommendation as a result of theirs was a very completely different expertise. I simply figured stuff out as I went. In my thoughts it wasn’t a alternative of 1 over the opposite, there was no query that I simply needed to discover a technique to do each.

LJN: What info or recommendation do you want you’d obtained however didn’t (and needed to be taught by way of trial and error or on the go)?

AK: As soon as I recognised how phase-like the journey was and the way necessary it was to be versatile and adaptable, I used to be capable of minimise the stress and benefit from the trip.

LJN: Your high tip(s) for different moms in jazz:

AK: Choose your battles. Be organised and suppose forward. Plan a slice of time every day (regardless of how quick) that’s yours – to play a tune, write a tune, ponder your subsequent mission. maintain coming again to that house and develop issues within the background. Though it by no means feels sufficient to me (so sporadic, sliced up and transient), ultimately one thing develops, and typically that one thing is a factor that seems to be actually significant to me.
Ebook time within the studio/or a gig and musicians that you just love working with, after which work backwards to determine the timeline and write/rehearse the tunes. View your dedication to create music as sacrosanct. See your self as an improviser not simply in music, however in life.

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LJN: Child/little one gear suggestions for journey/touring/gigging:

AK: A great stroller is crucial with younger ones, compact however with full recline. They’ll be spending plenty of time in it, particularly if there’s jet lag concerned.

With issues like automotive seats, moveable cots and excessive chairs, I made decisions on whether or not to take these or borrow them, relying on how we had been touring (by automotive or aircraft), how usually we had been altering locations, how distant we had been going, if it was simply me and children touring, or a bigger entourage. Ideally on planes with plenty of stops and never a lot assist I needed to hold much less stuff so I’d borrow as we went, but when it was by automotive, I’d load it up!

I all the time packed a small snaplock bag holding quite a lot of elastic bands to little one proof lodge rooms, and so on. We had an amazing collapsible tub which I took on the street many instances with newborns and younger babes – it folded flat and match within the suitcase on high of the garments (ours was a ‘Stokke’ – it was considered one of my finest items of substances I owned!)

LJN: Greatest common journey/gigging/tour-with-child recommendation:

AK: Preserve your youngsters shut on tour. Over time I’ve booked many babysitters (on native suggestions) in unknown locations, some had been nice, and others weren’t the correct match. However actually my youngsters had been happiest after they had been close to me, again stage, watching the gig, shut by or with somebody they knew/I knew. Protecting stress at a minimal for everybody is considered one of my priorities.

That is apparent, however – have loads of snacks/water readily available always, and spare garments! You don’t want plenty of toys/actions, just some effectively chosen ones.

Be ready to be exhausted transferring between work-mode and family-mode on the street, particularly in case you’re breastfeeding, so attempt to have somebody on board to get you foods and drinks to maintain you (ideally an amazing husband/associate)!

LJN: What has stunned you about turning into a mother or father and remaining engaged together with your skilled actions and ambitions?

AK: I used to be pleasantly stunned by how clear I turned on my priorities. Changing into a mother or father pushed me to get higher at recognising what’s and what’s not price doing for me and my household.

I used to be shocked at how so many within the trade make assumptions, with out consulting with me, about what I can/can’t do and what I’d need/not need to do with every little one I’ve had. This has been significantly disappointing when it’s come from folks I do know effectively. I additionally discover it irritating as a result of it appears unique to moms.

LJN: What boundaries have you ever set for your self as a mom in jazz (may very well be associated to journey/touring, riders, private parameters, little one care selections, and so on.)?

AK: I don’t have particular boundaries that I set, besides that I need my household to have nice experiences with out pointless stress, so I goal to think about the affect on everybody concerned and if it doesn’t really feel prefer it’s going to be a constructive expertise I decline or clarify calls for on what I must make it work.

Andrea launched her twenty-third album as chief in October 2023. “Flicker & Polar Chook” is a double album that mixes new creations with re-imaginings of older works. The music celebrates the connections Andrea made because the ANU H.C. Coombs Inventive Arts Fellow in 2022, which enabled her to work with a number of great musicians, deepening current collaborations, and creating new ones. That includes Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet), John Mackey (saxophone), Rachael Thoms (voice), Liam Budge (voice), Véronique Serret (violin), and string sections in Sydney and Canberra, the compositions on this double launch date from 2010 to 2022 and embody many beforehand unreleased tracks.