Mr.Dorn

Lily Smith

Eddie Dorn, known to Uni High as Mr Dorn, was a vivacious and amusing member of the school community. He was the resident piano teacher, and an exceptionally talented one at that. He has unfortunately retired, but Lily Smith asked him about his life as a pianist earlier in the year, as well as other things. 

What made you play piano in the first place?

Before I played piano, I was a singer. I sang in the Australian Boys Choir and that was the thing that inspired me to learn piano, because a lot of the kids could play the piano and they always looked amazing to me. When my voice broke and I left the choir, I started taking piano lessons with someone. Because I was already a musician through the choir, I already had musical knowledge, so it was very easy to pick up the piano. Actually, pianos are very hard to pick up! (laughs)

How old were you when you started playing the piano?

I think I was 11 or 12, something like that.

Do you come from a musical family, or is it just you?

My mum was musical. She didn’t have a lot of opportunities when she was younger, but when she did get the opportunity, she took up piano. So because of that, we had a piano in the house, and she used to play sometimes. She did try to teach me when I was quite young, like 5 or 6, but for some reason I defied it. I went crazy! I was like no! I think I was scared of it or something. She was an inspiration to me.

Have you ever had a point in your life where you had had enough of piano and wanted to quit?

Never, no. I could never get enough! That’s an interesting question, but no.

Tell me about your piano teachers. How did they influence and inspire you, both musically and personally?

My teachers influenced me massively. My first teacher, she taught another boy in the choir, who I was friends with, and she really pushed me (in a good way). I started learning in the equivalent of year 7, and by year 10, I applied at the end of that year to come to Uni High as what they called a music placement student. So there was an opportunity at Uni High for students to get extra tuition and so on. I had two teachers, one in year 11, and another one in year 12. They were both very inspiring, especially my year 12 teacher, Barbra McNair, who was just an incredible person and teacher, and when I went to university, I learnt from a guy called Macioste, and he was like a father to me. I learnt from him for 4 years at uni, and then after uni, he said, “If you want to keep learning from me, you can.” He didn’t charge me, so I learnt from him for another 2 years, and he was my biggest inspiration. He had the greatest sense of humour. It was always fun, piano was my highlight of the week. I always looked forward to it. The sort of pieces I was given, some of them were ridiculously difficult, but because my teachers were incredibly gifted, and knew the ins and outs of those works, they were able to, particularly Macioste, guide me through that, and the thrill of being able to play some of those things was amazing, you’re just going crazy, and you're playing these amazing pieces, it's real buzz, a real high, I suppose.

At what point did you realise that music is what you wanted to do with your life?

I think in year 12. In year 11 I didn’t really have anything I wanted to do. I could play, I was ok, but when I came to this school, the other kids in the class seemed to be at a much higher standard then where I was at. I didn’t think I could ever get there. But I love practising, I love working at it, and in year 12 I was hooked. It was more like I didn’t choose music, music chose me. There wasn’t any other option for me.

Why did you choose to teach music as opposed to performing it?

That's probably an embarrassing question in a way! To be a performer, you have to be the best of the best of the best of the best of the best. Unless you were at that level, you couldn’t really make a living, so it seemed obvious to teach. I did ok, but I was never quite in that league. From when I was around 16, I started dabbling with teaching, and I always enjoyed that. Throughout my career, I've enjoyed it more and more and more. The teaching part of the work I love. I really love spending time with young people, it makes me feel young, as I keep getting older. There’s a phrase, the only way to not grow old is to die young, or to teach young people! (laughs) As you know, I love having a bit of fun, I love having a joke, and not taking myself too seriously, I get a real thrill out of working with students and seeing their progress, and just working with them. I'm very lucky, all my students, including yourself, are all very special to me. I just love working with them, being with them, doing what I love most, playing piano. It’s almost not a job. There's a song that goes “Money for nothing, chicks for free.” I don’t know if you've heard of it. I’m not going on about the chicks bit, (laughs)  but the money for nothing for me is like, I don’t do anything. I just have fun. If you have so much fun, how can that be work, so I feel like my money is for nothing. I only have one chick for free. My wife. And that cost a lot! (laughs).

What do you hope that your students get out of your lessons and your teaching?

I hope to inspire them, for them to get some joy from what I've had incredible joy from. I often say to my students that one of the things that is really important to me, is to try and instil an understanding of how to learn, as opposed to “You’ve got to learn this piece and this piece and this piece”. To teach you guys how to learn and give you some wisdom about how to go about the physical challenges and the mental challenges, the understanding of the structure of work, and so on, and to be out of the job. My ultimate goal is to be out of the job! Which is kind of a bit silly, but I'd like my students to become self-sufficient so they won’t need me to teach them anymore.

You said you went to Uni High as a student, so why did you stay at this school as a teacher? 

I came back to teach eventually. Hang on, I’ll go back a bit to people who inspire me. This man here (points to a plaque on the piano), Eric Austin Phillips, who is just a name on a thing. He was my teacher in year 11, he was an incredible inspiration, an amazing man, a composer, an incredible pianist. When I first finished uni, I worked in a number of different private schools for a few years. I then thought it would be good to work in public schools, partly for my own security of income and all of that. The private school system had a bit of a reputation, that if the head of music didn’t like you, they could just fire you. It wasn’t a very secure environment, and I was starting to have kids and buy a house, so I needed something more secure. So, I got into the education department. I worked at Blackburn High and Baldwin High for a number of years, and then just at Blackburn High. I got a bit burnt out at Blackburn High. I was the assistant director of music there, and it was just an incredibly busy program all the time, so much was going on. I found out from a friend of mine who was teaching at Uni High that he was leaving the job, so I applied, as it was my old school. So when I applied, it was Eric Phillips who interviewed me. He was still here as the director of music. That was fantastic. It was just amazing to work with him, and in the end we were very close friends. His death had a huge impact on me. It was just great to be back, and it was an incredibly fun time. I was telling you about my old teacher, Macioste at uni, when the whole music class was always full of jokes and puns and things. We wrote a rock opera based on a Greek tragedy called Percy and Andromeda, and we changed it to Percy and Ardmona, and Ardmona was a character that got locked in a great big peach tin. With his help we wrote this rock opera and performed it and everything. We used to have musical breakfasts as our end of year concerts in the hall, and they were all full of puns. Instead of Froot Loops it was flute loops! It was such an incredibly fun time, and we were working at a very high level with students, so it was a great time and a lot of fun to do that.

Who is your favourite musician of all time, and why?

My favourite music would be Bach. He was revered since his death in 1750. He's always been revered as the greatest musician of all time, so I think I'll say Bach.

Do you have any other interests/ hobbies outside of music?

I’m involved in the church, I guess that’s an interest. My family. Last year in August, my daughter had a baby, my first granddaughter. We spend a lot of time with her now, it's incredible. That's a big interest, I suppose. I enjoy walking, I’ve always had dogs, so I walk a couple of hours a day, I also like riding my bike and stuff like that.

Do you write your own music?

I've written a bit of music, and occasionally I do arrangements for the boys choir, but I haven't written very much music overall.

Whenever I think of you, I think of your positive attitude and how you're always joking around. What's your favourite joke?

I don’t know! What is my favourite joke? Whenever someone asks me to tell a joke, I can never think of one! Oh, there's one that I like, but I don’t know if I have a favourite. They say I’m a paronomasiac. Here’s a joke: A guy goes into a shop. He says “I want to buy a really big amp, I want to make as much noise as possible, I want thousands of watts, it has to be really, really loud” and the owner of the shop says “You’re a viola player right?” and the guy goes, “How did you know?” The owner says, “This is a fish and chip shop.” It kind of bags viola players, but it’s funny!

Thank you, Mr Dorn, for taking the time to be interviewed. We as a school miss you greatly, and your legacy will forever carry on. Thank you for everything.