Launceston woman Margaret Hoban's love of music goes all the way back to listening to records with her parents as a small child.
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"We just always totally loved orchestras," Ms Hoban said.
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So it stood to reason her nomination for senior Australian of the Year was related to not just music, but to her very own orchestra.
Ms Hoban has been the conduction of the Launceston Youth and Community Orchestra for almost 50 years after she took the reins when it was on its knees.
But it is not just any orchestra, it is one built on a mutual love and respect for music. "All teaching boils down to love. If you don't love what you do there's no way you can teach it to other people," Ms Hoban said.
Ms Hoban's approach to fostering an orchestra open to any may well be exactly what she was nominated for, and by her own admission that is one of the things that makes her tick.
She found a knack for teaching children with Aspergers and children who were unable to read, but could read sheet music. And was open to teaching to anyone and everyone, including a 72-year-old man who had never touched a violin in his life, but found music and used it to pull himself "out of a dark place".
Ms Hoban credited her welcoming approach to music with a divergence from a Juilliard School style rap on the knuckle teaching, something she had learnt herself from a music teacher in her youth.
"In my home town in Minnesota there was an astonishingly wonderful man who taught strings and who loved children and music," she said.
He just taught us to absolutely love music. It was a town of about 12,000, but because of this man it had a 100-piece orchestra known across the country.
- Margaret Hoban
Now Ms Hoban has done the same thing to the Launceston orchestra.
She said one of her most proud moments had been when the orchestra was recognised for its talent.
An internationally renowned piano concerto friend of hers was planning a tour playing all 27 Mozart piano concertos alongside local orchestras, but was struggling to get it off the ground.
Up stepped the Launceston Youth and Community Orchestra, who she said put on such a show her friend to express how happy it made her to be playing alongside the group.
"Having built an orchestra back up from absolutely finished, to a point where an internationally acclaimed pianist is happy, that's really something," Ms Hoban said.
"To have a person that's played all over the world to be happy playing with you is quite an achievement."
To have a person that's played all over the world to be happy playing with you is quite an achievement.
- Margaret Hoban
Ms Hoban said her nomination for senior Australian of the Year took her aback.
Rather than immediate pride, she said she burst out laughing and asked whether it had actually been a joke.
Once it had sunk it, the nomination allowed Ms Hoban to reflect on what she had built.
"You tend to put your head down and make it happen. But it's like me going further has opened a venue to see that having cultural things in regional areas is so important for life," she said.
The Tasmanian Australian of the Year ceremony will be held in Hobart today.
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