Celebrating our colleagues: Emma Gregan
Dr Emma Gregan, Lecturer, Classical (Horn), Elder Conservatorium of Music.
I started playing the horn when I was eight. A lot of parents probably wouldn’t really want their child playing a horn, but mine were really encouraging of it. Perhaps they were wise enough to recognise that creative practice is a really important thing for children to do … or perhaps they did genuinely like it. I’m not from a family of professional musicians: in fact, everyone else in my family is a computer programmer!
As well as developing an interest in music from a young age, I also decided early on that my future job would be music related.
I grew up in Brisbane, and had access to a lot of great teaching through the public school system and also through the Young Conservatorium program up there.
Both systems influenced me with activities that really immersed me in the world of music, and the opportunities that a career in it could bring. Music offers a creative outlet, but also teaches you a lot about working in teams, and the travel and friendships provide diverse and global perspectives. It’s also developed a lifelong passion in my professional practice as I nurture and engage young musicians.
After completing a Bachelor of Music at the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University, I moved to Adelaide and began working with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. I’ve been playing the horn with them for nine years.
I find Adelaide, and South Australia more broadly, really interesting, because the cityscape and landscapes are so different to where I was brought up.
A few years after moving to Adeliade, I did my PhD in Musicology here at the University’s Elder Con (2019-22) with a focus on community music, and childhood and adult education. In one of those quirks of this industry, one of my horn teachers in Brisbane studied here, so I’d always heard a lot about it.
For musicians, there is a certain allure about the Elder Conservatorium, and of course there is a reputational cachet attached to it, so I’m proud to now work here as Head of Brass. It’s so fulfilling to work in a place that I feel such a strong connection to, and that is compatible with my orchestral work.
The building itself has got a real presence on this campus and I definitely still experience a few Hogwarts moments. I’m also obsessed with the Reading Room in the Barr Smith Library. I just find it unbelievable that something like it still exists! It feels like such a privilege to be able to go in there and take the time to read or even just to reflect. I do also love the green space on the North Terrace campus, and having easy access to walks around the river.
I’m inspired every day by various colleagues, my peers, and fellow musicians. I work with adult community musicians in a local ensemble called the Adelaide Horn Jam, as well as with young children, who are quite inspiring to be around. Little kids are really open to wonder, and things that feel really normal and routine for adults can be absolutely amazing for them. Even being around students here at the University is super inspiring; a lot of our students are just coming into adulthood and they still experience the world through a different lens … people from different generations bring different perspectives, so it’s also eye-opening to be around a really diverse mix.
Music education is not necessarily about creating thousands of professional musicians. It’s about creating opportunities for children and adults to access the unique and very profound cognitive, health and social benefits that come along with it.
I firmly believe, and there is plenty of evidence to back this up, that the more that children and adults can engage with participatory music making, the better off their lives are.
As well as working with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Emma has also appeared with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Camerata, Opera Australia’s South Pacific, Disney’s The Lion King, and the Welsh Theatre Company for the Tongyeong International Music Festival in South Korea.
Writer: Dr Simon Behenna, acting Manager, Corporate Communications