Lifestyle: Music is the key

Whether it is tinkling the keys on a piano or playing a tune on the clarinet, Jackie Ross loves playing and teaching music.

The Val Lishman Health Research Foundation executive officer, 49, was born in Dandenong and lived on the Mornington Peninsula, where she developed a passion for music.

"I was a musical kid and I liked it but my school didn't have music so people told me I should study science or the humanities but I wanted to study music," she said.

"My mum was awesome because she took it into her own hands to find out what was available and I did music by correspondence and then studied music at Melbourne University.

"I played clarinet back then - I can play most string instruments apart from the guitar."

Jackie taught music in Warragul after graduating from university but after a trip to Wales to see her grandparents, returned with a mission to see the rest of the country.

"When you go overseas people say 'what's your favourite part of Australia' and I had to admit I barely knew anything about Australia and had barely been anywhere," she said.

"So I thought that's right, I'm on a mission to see a bit of Australia so I'd been living in Victoria and when I came back from overseas I took a job in Rockhampton for a couple of years and then I applied for a job at the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School.

"I thought why not, I haven't seen WA so I was interviewed in Sydney for the position and I drove across for the job of director of music at Bunbury Grammar School in 1994."

Jackie taught at the school for seven years before leaving and then having the first of her two sons, Zale.

"I stayed teaching and worked on and off the whole time while I was having my family and then about three years ago I had a gutful of schools and kids," she said.

"It's actually harder to keep teaching when you've got kids the same age at home because you don't get a break from it."

Jackie said after having some downtime after leaving the teaching profession, she took up the position at the foundation.

"I knew Dr Lishman already because he was the chairman of the board at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School when I first taught there," she said.

"I knew he was a man of awesome integrity, the kind of man that if you were in his presence you would never forget that you'd met him."

She said working at the foundation had given her more time to pursue her love for music.

"I'm basically a free agent and everything is good as long as I get the work done. There are no bells that ring to tell me when I can go to the toilet and if my kids Zale and Baden need something then I can drop everything to help them," she said. "Obviously with this job there is no scope for music but I take the Sing Australia choir in Dalyellup and I teach from home and I also take a workshop for people living with disabilities in Australind at the community hall."

Jackie said teaching music, especially to people living with disabilities, was hugely rewarding for her.

"It doesn't matter how flat I am at the beginning, by the end I'm on such a high and they are just wonderful, everything is beautiful for them," she said.

"I've been spurred on by the disability work, I've just decided to go back and study again. I'm going to do masters in music therapy through Melbourne University."

Jackie said her philosophy to life was about giving back more than she took.

"It's not about what's in this life for you, it's about what you can give to this life and I just think that you get more from giving to others than taking for yourself," she said.

"My mum was awesome because she took it into her own hands to find out what was available and I did music by correspondence and then studied music at Melbourne University" - Jackie Ross