Books by Gillian Wills
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Big Music

Beat is given a chance to shine when she is appointed dean of Turalong Music School, but her role is not what it seems.

Fine-tuning this institution is like playing a cracked violin with broken strings. She’s determined to revive the school’s reputation despite gender bias, staff conflict, fraud, betrayal, a famous composer’s ghost and a...

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Elvis and Me

How a world-weary musician and a broken racehorse rescued each other

After retiring from her position as Head of Music at a prestigious arts college, Gillian Wills buys her first horse on a whim. Elvis is emaciated, emotionally scarred, saddle-phobic and has a bad attitude to boot. Although he was described as ‘perfect for beginners’, Gillian soon discovers there is nothing perfect or standard about him! Leaning...

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'Ah Music, A Magic Beyond All We Do Here,' p. 289, Gillian Wills, Sound Musicianship, ed. Andrew Brown, Cambridge University Press, 2012

Understanding the Crafts of Music

Sound Musicianship is a book for music educators and musicians about musicianship—about musical skills, abilities, habits, sensibilities and understandings. Musicianship is explored as a form of craftsmanship. Like most crafts, music requires a balance of theoretical knowledge and practical skills that contribute to a highly tuned ability to...

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Latest Updates

March 23, 2026

Writers don’t get much positive feedback. But I was thrilled to be told that my article about Ransome where I lived published in the Brisbane Times...

March 23, 2026

I’m inclined to putting my foot in my mouth!

When I was Dean of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts there were three visitors from The Royal...

March 23, 2026

Talking of opera, I enjoyed chatting to Camilo Lopez one of the founding directors of the boutique opera company Voxalis when I was commissioned to...

March 23, 2026

Collaborations between symphony orchestras and rock stars are often not a partnership, because the orchestra is reduced to a supplicant...

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