Big Music 

Reviewed by Jo Skinner

I was fortunate enough to attend the grand launch of Big Music at Avid Reader in Brisbane recently. The audience were entertained by a classical violinist before being given a behind the scenes glimpse into life as a professional classical musician. 

Pianist and former Dean of the Victorian School of Arts, Gillian Wills has written her experiences into a compelling novel about the passions and intrigues behind the velvet curtain while remaining coy about which of her stories are based in the truth.

The beleaguered protagonist, Beat (Beatrice Snow) is promoted to Dean of Turalong Music School and has grand dreams to revive its fortunes with innovative and daring ideas. Her ambition is repeatedly thwarted, and her authority undermined from every direction. While battling the pervasive misogyny of the music industry and the undercurrents of jealousy and cynicism from colleagues, she also struggles on the home front with her relationship to Dan teetering.

As Beat struggles to unite her colleagues from different musical traditions and to keep her hobby farm and beloved animals, she learns to rely on her internal resources and to trust her instincts despite the sinister forces threatening to undermine her.

With quirky characters, humour, disillusionment and dark politics, Big Music takes the reader on a wild ride using poetic and musical prose. And for the full experience, readers can enjoy the accompanying spotify playlist compiled by Wills. Strap yourself in.