Phillip Wilcher

Phillip Wilcher
Background information
Birth name	Phillip Leslie Wilcher
Born	(1958-03-16) 16 March 1958 Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Classical, children's
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, actor
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1972–present
Labels	Wirripang
Website	phillipwilcher.com

Phillip Leslie Wilcher (born 16 March 1958) is an Australian pianist and classical music composer and was a founding member of the children's music group, The Wiggles. When Wilcher published his first work, "Daybreak", at the age of 14, he was one of the youngest classical composers in Australia. Early in 1991 Wilcher had joined The Wiggles after he met Anthony Field, who suggested they could record the group's self-titled debut album. Wilcher was a major contributor for the music of the album. However, he left shortly after its release in July to focus on his classical music career.

Wilcher has published over 100 piano-related works and has performed both solo and with ensembles. Rita Crews for The Studio Quarterly Magazine described his style as "free-flowing, with an underlying romantic character, one in which melodic line and lyricism are all-important elements".^[1] His music has been broadcast by radio stations ABC-FM and 2MBS-FM – the latter has aired two documentaries, Wilcher and the French Connection and Wilcher's World. Because of his interest in musical composition, he does not use any technical device or vehicle at home.

Family and personal life

Phillip Leslie Wilcher^[2] was born on 16 March 1958 to Naomi Joy Thompson (8 April 1929 – 21 June 2005) and Leslie James Wilcher (born 16 January 1923), a World War II veteran.^[3][4][5] The couple had married on 7 January 1950 and Wilcher grew up in Camperdown.^[3] As of 2004, he resides in Concord and, due to his hobby in composing classical music, he eschews technical devices and motorised vehicles:^[6] "My entire life ... was writing music ... I would be happy living in an oversized cardboard box with a piano and a blank sheet of manuscript paper".^[6]

Career

Early years

Phillip Wilcher reflected on his first interest in composing music: "I remember an early age, perhaps not yet in my teens, when I had dreams of becoming a composer. I was stretched out on the lounge room floor, head idly propped by one hand while the other hand romanced my muse designing covers for imaginary pieces of music I hoped I would one day write."^[7] Wilcher started piano lessons at the age of eight years; his first teachers were Gladys Woodward and Jean Teasel.^[4][7]

At the age of 14, Wilcher published his first piano composition, "Daybreak",^[2] with the Sydney-based music company, J. Albert & Son,^[8] making him the then-youngest published composer in Australia.^[4][9] The track was later recorded by Leslie Ritter and Scott Petito (The Fugs) on their album, Circles in Sand (2001),^[2][10] and re-recorded in 2006 by John Martin on his CD, Ancient Rivers.^[4]

For seven years, after he published "Daybreak", Wilcher was a student of composer and musicologist, Franz Holford, who was an editor at J. Albert & Son; later he composed music with Holford for over twenty years.^[8][9] Wilcher's piano piece, "Autumn Rain", was published when he was 17, by J. Albert & Son. He also studied with classical musicians Neta Maughan and Elpis Liossatos, and began a thirty-year association with composer Miriam Hyde. In 1976 Wilcher became an assistant editor for J. Albert & Son's Classical/Educational Division. During the 1980s he worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).^[7]

The Wiggles and children's music career

Phillip Wilcher (at front, left) with The Wiggles on the cover art for their debut album (July 1991).

Early in 1991, while working in the Macquarie University early childhood music program, Wilcher met Anthony Field, former member of the Australian rock group The Cockroaches, who was studying child development. According to Wilcher, Field asked him to join his newly formed children's music group, The Wiggles, and to help them record their self-titled debut album (July 1991).^[6]

Wilcher claims that he "contributed the most musically to the debut album",^[9] composing 75% of the music.^[6] The album included another piece he had composed at 14, "Summer Dance", which appeared on the album as "Archie's Theme".^[7][9] He performed in two of the group's videos, "Get Ready to Wiggle" and "Dorothy the Dinosaur".^[8][9][11] Wilcher was nicknamed Archie due to his admiration of United States pianist, Liberace, using an imperfect rhyme.^[12][13]

In 1992, Wilcher left The Wiggles. Amid later speculation, the group's spokesperson Dianna O'Neill described how he submitted a letter of resignation because he wanted to continue composing classical music.^[9] According to fellow member, Greg Page, "Archie had considerable input into the arrangement of some songs on that first CD ... he is quite a musical genius ... However ... the musical direction of The Wiggles was changing".^[12] Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) awarded the band members, including Wilcher, with gold and platinum certificates for the album.^[14]

In 1993 Wilcher published a lesson plan for early childhood activities, A Musical Offering.^[15] By the late 1990s, The Wiggles had re-recorded their first album and removed his compositions.^[9] Wilcher has been called "the fifth Wiggle" in the press for his part in the early history of the group.^[6][7][16] In 2005, when The Wiggles had become Australia's most successful children's act,^[11] he opined "[s]eeing what they are doing now, I could never do that and believe in it ... I wouldn't feel comfortable earning a lot of money from it. It's like giving a child a plate of chips and thinking they will get nourishment from it".^[17]

Later career

Phillip Wilcher's career was described by The Sydney Morning Herald‍ '​s Steve Dow as "an eclectic mix of classical and flim-flam".^[9] He has published over 100 piano-related works.^[8][18] Wilcher has composed music for pianist Aaron McMillan, and for musician and former ABC broadcaster, news reader and journalist, Clive Robertson.^[9] He has also set poetry by American librettist Jack Larson to music.^[9] In 2007, he composed "1791", a work honouring Mozart on the anniversary of his death, which was performed by oboist Rachel Tolmie, and the Bourbaki String Ensemble conducted by David Angell.^[7] It appeared on a compilation album, Into His Countenance (2008), which featured various artists performing Wilcher's compositions.^[19][20]

His works have been included on several other CDs released by Jade Music and Wirripang. Pianist Jeanell Carrigan has recorded six CDs of his compositions, two for Publications by Wirripang.^[9] Rita Crews, in a review of Carrigan's album Shimmer (2004) for The Studio Quarterly Magazine, described Wilcher's style as "free-flowing, with an underlying romantic character, one in which melodic line and lyricism are all-important elements".^[1] 2MBS-FM's Mike Smith found it was of "a more openly romantic nature than in his earlier" work and he was "reminded of Rachmaninov, Albeniz and even Brahms".^[21]

As well as composing, Wilcher has performed both solo and with ensembles.^[8][18] This has included playing three times for the Liberace Foundation in Las Vegas.^[9] His music has been broadcast by radio stations, ABC-FM and 2MBS-FM – the latter has aired two documentaries on his music, Wilcher and the French Connection and Wilcher's World.^[7][8] He has had an active public speaking career, and is an elected life member of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and a board member of the Australian Music Teacher Magazine, for which he has written articles on Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, and music education.^[4]

In 2014, Wilcher released Heaven-Haven.^[22] The music was performed by The Linden String Quartet. During production of the CD, Wilcher saw press reports about the fatal attack of 18-year-old Sydney resident Thomas Kelly;^[23] Wilcher was unable to separate the sorrow he felt for Kelly and his family from the sentiment he was trying to convey through his music. He eventually dedicated the project to Kelly and announced that proceeds from the album would benefit the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation.^[22]

Bibliography

• Wilcher, Phillip (1993). "A musical offering" : a lesson plan comprising 6 early childhood musical activities. Concord, New South Wales, Australia: P. Wilcher. ISBN 978-0-646-13680-6. Retrieved 19 May 2013. 
• Wilcher, Phillip (2000). 27. Concord, NSW: P. Wilcher. Retrieved 19 May 2013. 

Discography

Studio albums

• Arabesque (2000)^[24]
• Out of the Blowing Sands (2001)^[25]
• Etchings (2002)^[26]
• Shimmer (2004)^[1][21]
• Bundanon (2009)^[27]
• Wind Chimes (2012)^[28]
• Heaven Haven (2014)^[22]

Compilation albums

• Into His Countenance (2008)^[20]
• Goldleafing a Dream (2011) ^[29]

Citations

External links

• Official website
• Early video of The Wiggles with Wilcher. YouTube.