Career starts with wet socks

Press, 13 December 1989, Page 2

Career starts with wet socks

By

SARONA IOSEFA

Sheer determination and a love of music are the driving forces which gave 13-year-old Garth Russell a pass in a prestigious music examination. Garth received the news of his pass in the performance section of the Licentiate Triniity College, London, on Saturday and was elated that years of hard work were finally paying off. Wet socks were a big problem for Garth when be began playing the clarinet at 5y 2 years of age.

“I was so small that I couldn’t support the weight of the clarinet, and I was forced to support the ‘bell’ with my foot.

“Because of constant blowing

on the clarinet, the foot that supported it got quite wet,” Garth said.

Garth’s mother, Mrs Daphne Russell, said she had tried to stop her son from playing the clarinet.

“But there was no way he was going to give up. He’d heard his father playing it, and he wanted to learn the clarinet “I told him he couldn’t learn because he couldn’t even reach the bottom key with his small finger, he was so small. “In the end he got a book and taught himself how to play that bottom note,” Mrs Russell said. Garth started playing the clarinet at the same time his father started but he has left his father far behind. He learned from Mr Euan Quaid

before Mr Quaid left Christchurch. For the last six years Garth has been learning from Mr Jonathan Prior. Garth’s aim is to become a concert performer, and to take lessons from Mark Walton, a much acclaimed Christchurch clarinet player who now lives in Sydney. Much of Garth’s leisure time is spent practising his clarinet but he insists he would not have it any other way. *Td get bored without music, or I’d spend a lot of time studying science which I do very well in at school,” he said. Garth has just completed his third-form year at Cashmere High School. Asked whether he felt he missed out on a lot because he was so busy with his music, Garth said, “Not at all.” “If anything, I gain more. I’ve met so many friends through music, and most with common interests as me. “They’re much older than me because it’s hard to find young people like me that can play as well but they are all very good friends,” Garth said. With his mother teaching the flute, his father playing the clarinet, and his other brothers and sisters playing musical instruments, Garth says he feels quite at home with his music. “I have to concentrate more on the theory of music now but I eventually hope to study performance music at Canterbury (University),” Garth said. Garth’s musical and academic achievements are impressive. He was the youngest entrant in the National Concerto competitions held at the James Hay Theatre last evening. “He’s very much a performer; if he enters a hall before a performance, he’ll firstly eye the audience,” Mrs Russell said. f, “The larger the audience, the happier he feels.” Garth says his next challenge is to get a Fellowship of the Trinity College, London, the highest.' award given by the college;.