After a career as principal horn player with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and guest principal with many other orchestras in Australia and overseas, Geoff Collinson found his true calling as a teacher and headed up the brass department at The University of Melbourne. 10 years ago, the digital world provided opportunities to solve problems of geographical isolation in music education and Geoff took the plunge away from a tenured position. People assumed I had given up on creativity but Geoff had never been more creative than through solving business problems. What he learned by being a musician about conquering his fears on the concert stage, the preparation required, and how focusing on his passion for knowledge quells negative thought has taken him to this point today. The creative world and the business world intersect in so many ways and he find myself in a unique position to help others on their journey.

QUOTES

“I used to suffer so intensely with nerves that I was advised to actually give up the Horn. I couldn’t stand in front of anybody and play without completely falling apart.”

“It was basically like starting an instrument from scratch again. So that learning and all the tools I’ve got have given me the persistence to go through all those times where you wake up at 3.30am in the morning worrying about how I’ll feed the family.”

“Some of this (business) is far more creative than what I was able to do as a musician, because I never walked over that line of improvising.”

LINKS

• Find Geoff on LinkedIN
• Aeyons

PODCAST TEAM

Production Penny Manwaring

Audio Engineering from Frazer Ruddick

Theme Music Composed by Danna Yun

Theme Music Composed by Natasha Pearson

Theme Music Performed by Alison McIntosh-Deszcz (soprano), Natasha Lin (piano), and Susan Eldridge (horn). 

Theme Music Recorded Lady Marigold Southey Performance Studio, 3MBS Fine Music in Melbourne in October 2016. With thanks to recording engineer Cheryl Scott.

FIRST BROADCAST

15 November 2016