Muster hits the mark

By Rohan Aldous

Jan 10, 2022

Marching to the beat: Shepparton flautist Sharon Daivis (centre) takes on the pied piper role for piano accordion enthusiasts Peter Berner, Maureen Curling, Nohemi Quispe-Chavez and Echuca’s John Nicholson. They were among hundreds of music enthusiasts at the weekend’s Girgarre Moosic Muster.

Lead guitarist: Guitarist Keith Rea at the front of the room, during one of the workshops that were conducted during the five days of the annual Girgarre Moosic Muster.

Girgarre packs a big punch when it comes to the Australian music community, belying its status as one of the Campaspe Shire’s smallest townships.

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Last week, and into the weekend, the annual Girgarre Moosic Muster attracted hundreds of music enthusiasts for a series of workshops and concerts.

Sharp harp: Angela Ginnivan from Kerang had one of the more colourful auto harps at the Girgarre event. The auto harp uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord.

It was the 15th staging of the five-day event, which wrapped up Sunday with a “wind down” concert at the Girgarre Town Hall.

Muster director Jan Smith and workshop co-ordinator Di Burgmann played significant roles in avoiding the frustrating lead-up to the staging of the event.

Open air concert: Andrea Shepherd from Howlong, Sue Park from Sydney and Eltham’s Tracey Wood in the Girgarre reserve prior to Saturday night’s concert in the park.

The event had been planned on three occasions, twice moved due to COVID-19-related concerns, before eventually not allowing the Omicron variant to prevent its staging. That is despite one of the biggest music festivals in Australia, Tamworth Country Music Festival, being cancelled last week.

Ms Smith said there was nothing else “they could chuck at us”.

She said it was a little disappointing that some people had been forced to “stay away” because of COVID-19 measures.

Harp heaven: Alan Lazarus from Melbourne led a workshop for more than 20 auto harp players who travelled to Girgarre for its 15th annual Moosic Muster.

“I suppose we are very lucky that a majority of the events are outside,” she said.

Piano accordion players Peter Berner and Nohemi Quispe-Chavez, both from Kyabram, Maureen Curling and Echuca’s John Nicholson, joined forces with flute player Sharon Daivis to make some music of their own on Saturday.

“It is sort of a random jam session, which is the best thing about this event,” Mr Berner said.

“Only a couple of us knew each other before today and now we are making music together.”

Mr Nicholson learned the piano accordion 50 years ago, while Ms Quispe-Chavez is more of a newcomer with three years’ experience.

The town’s RSL hall, town hall, recreation reserve and park came alive to the sounds of a variety of instruments — piano accordions, violins, mandolins, auto harps, banjos and a variety of types of guitar.