Kim Kirkman - A life filled with music

When I was 16, I gave up music. Six months later, I asked my Mum why I felt so sad all the time. She said maybe it was because I didn’t have music in my life anymore.

Kim Kirkman

A life filled with music

Words Tricia Welsh

Kim Kirkman is a multi-talented entrepreneur. He is a professional singer, violinist, harpist, conductor for five choirs on the Sunshine Coast, music educator, arranger and instrument dealer.

Born an only child in Brisbane, he was brought up in Cairns where he went to an all-boys’ school until he was 10, and then grabbed the opportunity of going to a co-ed in Malanda for his senior years. He has a Bachelor of Music in viola, post-graduate Diploma in Voice Studies and a Masters Degree in Education.

What did you want to be as a child?

I’m a Pisces and I love fish. I wanted to be a fish farmer and breed Siamese fighting fish. I think I’m going to breed goldfish now in my spare time.

Who inspired you?

I had lots of wonderful music teachers where I was growing up. One man, in particular, was very emotional about feeling music, his name was Colin Fox, and he was a conductor. He would get so animated with his conducting sometimes he would knock the cello player’s music right off the stand during the performance. I always wanted to feel music as passionately as he did.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

I say to people I don’t like music. The truth is I love it. But it is a harsh mistress. Always asking for our truth and for us to be in the moment. There is no automatic pilot in making music.

What lead you to this life?

When I was 16, I gave up music. Six months later, I asked my Mum why I felt so sad all the time. She said maybe it was because I didn’t have music in my life anymore. So, I took it back up and, of course, she was right. Mothers are always right. I have to engage in creativity otherwise I feel very depressed.

Was it hard work, good luck or fate that got you to this point?

I would say it is a combination of those things which got me to this place. Some things work out. I remember a gig we did with The Ten Tenors. We only had nine guys turn up, as one of them had slept in. We were freaking out. We weren’t called a ‘bunch of tenors’, we were The Ten Tenors - it was very specific. Everyone in the audience always counts them. So, at this particular corporate gig there were two pods of audience connected by a corridor. We sang in the corridor and neither side could see the complete group. So, no one knew there were only nine guys in suits that day. Talk about dodging a bullet. Another time I heard that the heads of all the east coast theatres were going to be having dinner in a certain restaurant. I organised the boys to get dressed and we crashed their party and sang our hearts out and received an invitation to the circuit. That was what set up our first tour and turned us professional.

If you could tell your younger self something, what would it be?

It’s going to work out. Stop pushing.

How life has changed you – a few perspectives on life:

I find it really difficult to understand that I’m 49 years old. My brain and body feel like they are 24. I look in the mirror and see grey hair and a bit of a belly, but I don’t feel that way on the inside.

What would you say is the greatest lesson you’ve learnt in life to date?

I am still trying to get the balance right. Just the right combination of confidence and reflectiveness, listening and acting, work and play.

If you had your time over, what would you change?

Nothing.

If you could name just one thing, what would be the highlight of your life/career?

I trained at the Mackay Choral Society for eight years and then, finally after being beaten every year by the seemingly invincible Cairns Choral Society at the North Queensland Eisteddfod, we won. That was a good feeling. A culmination of eight years’ hard work.

Best life lesson?

Confidence is found inside the belly. I teach bellybreathing to singers. Low breathing will change your life!

Three words to live by?

Do it now! Catch the energy way, act.