I have had the extraordinary opportunity to work with Yvonne Carr as a young music teacher and musician. She came to Churchie (Brisbane) as Head of Music as a powerful force for change and inspiration. She is a music teacher’s best friend and ally. She not only has a wealth of experience as an actual musician, and so knows the ins and outs of performing from concert inception to packing away the final stand, she knows too what it takes to lead a crew of teachers and musicians, who often can be ideologically opposed. Yvonne knows why teachers teach and why musicians play and how she can support them both in a truly unique and complex profession.

Yvonne is a passionate advocate for music education. Her oft-quoted mantra at Churchie, “we don’t teach Music, we teach boys”, was always the touchstone. As a musician and teacher she has supreme knowledge of the intricacies of vocal and instrumental performances as well as the technical demands of staging a musical to organising an ANZAC day concert. The demands of a school upon a music department are sources of challenge and inspiration for her. She had always dreamt of creating a unique festival experience in memory of a great friend and colleague, and it is thrilling to see that she has achieved that vision.

Yvonne is always a voice of reason and wisdom as well as the necessary bastion of calm before a concert or demanding tour. It was always Yvonne’s faith in your own abilities and not her reliance upon you to achieve a goal which makes everything attainable and ultimately successful.

The job of music administrator is a role reserved only for those with the wisdom of many years of teaching and technical know-how of musicianship. It is a rarefied few who have that dual knowledge and then the courage to lead and inspire music teachers and musicians. Yvonne is well-placed to be that inspiring leader, to do the unnoticed planning so that when you stand on the stage to riotous applause, she’ll still be standing there with a run sheet until the last student has been picked up and the snare drum has been packed away.

Alex St Vincent Welch
Music Teacher, Melbourne Girls Grammar School