Overview

Kids love music! Hamish and the Double Bass is a celebration of making music with friends. Hamish and the Double Bass takes the listener and the reader on an adventure. A small boy, Hamish, who loves going to concerts, by chance meets the lonely Double Bass, a big instrument that Hamish is way too small to play. With a little bit of magical encouragement from the Double Bass Hamish goes off with his friends to learn to play the smaller instruments of the orchestra. All the children have fun practising their instruments, and not wanting to miss out of being part of the story, have made up whimsical rhymes about themselves. One day, on realising how tall he has grown Hamish races back to the city to find the Double Bass. Together, with great excitement they head off to play with all their friends in the biggest orchestra of all. Most children's first experience of learning to play is through the instruments of the orchestra. The book provides these children, and others who may simply enjoy listening and watching with a positive contemporary story about the orchestra: the excitement and the adventure of going to a concert, the moment of anticipation before the music begins, the imagined places music can take them to and the possibility of growing up to play in an orchestra and the joy of making music with friends. An underlying subtext is secure attachment, a relationship given by parents, in this case Grandma, who provides a safe base from which the child can grow up into confident independence. With its beautiful illustrations by Becky Stout of Rock Sheep Studio the book is full of energy, warmth and movement and will delight children between the ages of 3 to 7 years. It gives a new and contemporary perspective on the orchestra and perhaps more importantly, of making music together. With its appropriate culturally diverse characters the book will appeal to young children of the modern world. With schools in mind some questions would lead to a discussion. For example: What do you like about this story? Do you play an instrument or know anyone who plays an instrument? Which instrument would you like to learn to play? Why? What do you think would be good about playing music with others? A wonderful diversity of instruments, ideas and activities may be identified though this discussion. Why someone would want to read Hamish and the Double Bass Hamish and the Double Bass is a contemporary and accessible story. It allows kids to imagine learning an instrument, becoming a musician and perhaps more simply, making music with others. As Hamish and his friends grow the story realistically but gently conveys the journey of how to become a musician, emphasising that while it takes time and effort, there is lots of fun and happiness to be had along the way. ""It really captures what it feels like to be captivated by music, to be drawn in by it and have it fill your imagination and soul!"" Zoe Barry, Winner, 2021 Telstra Aria Music Teacher Awards

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9780645410877

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Reviews

It was such a joy and delight to read this book. It is so, so beautiful - I was crying by the end. It really captures what it feels like to be captivated by music, to be drawn in by it and have it fill your imagination and soul! And the illustrations are really beautiful. I love that they are representative of the community, and that the conductor is always female! I love too how it shows how a tiny moment, a chance encounter, can guide a direction in life. It really articulates how I feel about music - how important it is, how it creates connection, possibility, wonder, solace... Oh, and I really love how before the music begins there is always silence! That is the magical moment when everyone is listening! Zoe Barry, Musician, Composer Winner, 2021 Telstra Aria Music Teacher Award.

Author Information

Margaret loves telling stories. She writes for small children, always amazed at their love of books and capacity for imagination and whimsy. She has lived and worked with children most of her adult life. Margaret has three strands of her professional life: as a mother and infant psychotherapist in the public sector in Victoria Australia, as an adult educator at the University of Adelaide and RMIT Melbourne and running her own consultancy in environmental planning, specialising throughout Australia in community engagement and conflict resolution in water resources management. She has a deep understanding of the internal world of the infant, in 2013 winning the The Australian Association for Infant Mental Health's Anne Morgan Prize for her story, 'Love in a Lunch Box'. Margaret has a great love of music, is sad that she never learnt to play an instrument as a child, but has had great fun taking her grandchildren on many musical adventures. This is Margaret's first book and there are many more to come! The next is rumoured to be 'Oomski and Yeow'. Becky lives and breathes imagination, a different way of seeing the world developed from years of ill health and disability, where art became a creative release. Over time she developed her artistic skills into visual storytelling - illustrating images with purpose, meaning and expression. She aims to show emotion, movement and atmosphere through her illustrations. Becky lives in the magical Outer Hebrides of Scotland with her husband, daughter, two neurotic cats, and a big bouncy dog that can talk.

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