If you are Australian and over fifty years old, you are likely to remember a lady by the name of Hazel Hawke. She was a well known name only because her husband Bob Hawke, was Prime Minister of Australia during the 1980’s.
From what I have read, she was always a very musical person and as a young woman played music regularly in her church services. She obviously had had music lessons and was competent and confident enough to play music in her church.
Like many women from that era, she married and then preceded to follow her husband while he was building his political career. When her husband became Prime Minister of Australia, she was not only raising her children but because she was the Prime Minister’s wife, she used her visibility to the public to support various charities. Obviously she would have had to attend various functions as the spouse of the Prime Minister.
Even though I have not read much about what was happening with her music during this period of her life, but I think it would be very reasonable to assume that she did not have much time for playing music. She may or may not have had any time for practising.
It was only after her husband was no longer Prime Minister and her kids were all grown up that she did some performances as a classical pianist. Because I have always been interested in music, I can remember as a young adult seeing on the news (probably on a slow news day) how she had done a performance at the world famous Sydney Opera House.
Even though my information on Hazel Hawke is somewhat scant, I think that there are a few useful conclusions to draw.
The first conclusion to draw was that she was a very highly skilled piano player. The second conclusion is that her paid performing career didn’t happen until she was older, in fact she was about sixty years old when she performed at the Sydney Opera House. I think that if she was born in more recent times, she may have started her performing career at a much earlier age.
The main lesson from this story about Hazel Hawke is that it is never too late to take on musical challenges, whether it’s learning to play the piano at an older age or returning to playing the piano after all the responsibilities of working and attending to raising a family. It is never too late.