KIM WALKER

Kim Walker relates his own Choir story.

I auditioned for the Australian Boys Choir at the age of eight, singing My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music. My Choir weekends began straight after school each Friday, with a commute involving two buses and a tram to reach Choir House. In later years when I was involved in several rehearsals, I would remain at Choir House until Saturday evening. I was recruited to help prepare meals for other ‘stay-overs’ at Choir House and have often wondered if it was my role as assistant chef and the friendships I was able to make across the choirs, that led me to be elected ‘Leader’, a position I held until I left the Choir.

I loved this role and the responsibilities it gave me and it proved to be invaluable training for the business life that was to follow. The camps, tours, recordings, concerts, hospital visits at Christmas and other activities were powerful character-builders beyond the extraordinary musical adventure. The Choir was my life for six precious years. It defined my youth.

This world came to a crushing end while in full voice, ten inches from the microphone on a live national radio broadcast from St Paul’s Cathedral. I was singing the second soprano duet part in Zoltan Kodály’s Angels and Shepherds. On a high, sustained note, my voice broke. On hearing the crack, our conductor, Vincent Kelly, whipped a look at me and sawed his finger across the saggy skin of his throat. I stepped away from the microphone and the tears flowed. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. I knew it was over.

After a few wrong turns, I finally found business success in the advertising industry. However, I always maintained a deep love of music. In 2008 I signed up as a volunteer in Aceh after the tsunami. I was so moved by the proximity and magnitude of that tragedy that I wanted to pour my heart out in words and music. I wrote more than twenty songs about love and life, and recorded them on two CDs. The choirboy was unleashed after almost fifty years!

The ABC taught me a deep, enduring love of music. But it also taught me so much more; an appreciation of the importance of teamwork and collaboration, leadership, independence and self-confidence. Performing on stage was also great preparation for giving presentations in a business career.

The Australian Boys Choir, my family, my work, my adventures: a few of my very favourite things.