Young Jan Juc trumpeter and trumpet teacher Harvey de Koster will perform at Costa Hall next weekend with the Australian Youth Orchestra when it presents Mood: Mahler and Wagner. He spoke to Matt Hewson about his lifelong love affair with music and the balancing forces of surfing and gardening.
Music has been a constant companion to Harvey de Koster.
Harvey, 20, first began playing music as a youngster when he and his family lived in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
“I’ve got two older brothers – one is three years older than me and one is five years older – and when I was three and a half, I was in that classic young sibling phase of doing absolutely everything your older sibling was doing,” he said.
“The one that’s three years older, Josh, was actually the first to go to the youth training bands. That was part of the Hyde Street Youth Band, and he started playing cornet, which is a smaller trumpet. And I thought that was pretty sick. I was like, damn, I want to do that.”
Harvey’s eldest brother Patrick also got on board, and the three siblings began what has been, each in their own way, a lifelong journey with music.
When Harvey was about nine years old he took part in Orchestra Victoria’s On the Move program in Bendigo, which gives budding musicians the opportunity to rehearse and perform in an orchestral setting under the direction of a professional conductor. The experience was transformative.
“That was an unreal experience, that really got me excited, playing in an orchestra,” Harvey said.
“Just the music we played; I think there was a movement of Beethoven, very lush orchestration. Compared to concert band stuff, it’s like a whole other planet, really. I guess that maybe started it all.”
While many children study music, few find both the passion and dedication to stick with it and strive for excellence.
“I’ve kind of always really enjoyed the sense of achievement that comes from reaching some level of mastery over a piece, or a different skill,” Harvey said.
“But the more you do it, the longer you do it, the better you get and the greater the sense of satisfaction and joy you get from it. It’s a pretty special thing, really.”
The only thing Harvey could compare music to was one of his other great passions, surfing.
“It’s similar, in that it has an extreme difficulty and takes so long to get anywhere with it, but the feeling of doing it and being part of it is like nothing else,” he said.
“It just fills your soul up. It’s that feeling of ease doing something you know is difficult. It’s such a satisfying feeling.”
When Harvey was 10 and his family was still living in Melbourne, he and his brothers got foam shortboards and began learning to surf.
“We used to come down here on holidays to Jan Juc and rent a house,” he said.
“I used to spend my whole time in Newport just dreaming about moving down here and just surfing.”
He had to wait some time before that dream became a reality.
High school was a little different for Harvey than for most kids. He attended the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, where he was surrounded by other young people with dreams of having a career in the performing or visual arts.
“Honestly, it was pretty unreal,” he said.
“I mean, I only went to that school, so I can’t really compare it to anything else, but just the people, the performance opportunities… And the other really, really great thing about it was, I was very lucky with my teachers.
“And just the joy of it, playing with the people you go to academic classes with, it’s like a whole different world. The culture within the school, everyone was super friendly with each other.”
In 2021, when Harvey was in year 10, he finally realised his dream of having a surf beach on his doorstep when his family relocated to Jan Juc.
He was also accepted for the first time to the Australian Youth Orchestra, but due to COVID the AYO program was effectively cancelled.
During 2022 he had his chance again, playing in the AYO’s National Music Camp as principal trumpet and touring the east coast during the orchestra’s winter season, another transformational experience.
However, in 2023 – Harvey’s final year of secondary school – he faced an unexpected difficulty. He suffered a repetitive strain injury to his embouchure, rendering him unable to play for a period of 10 months.
“I was just about to start my week of recording for my second round audition for National Music Camp (2024), so I was practising pretty hard, and I was also in the middle of VCE,” he said.
“So it was a combination of overuse, and, I’ve learned now, my technique for playing high was kind of wrong. I somehow learned to do it, I could play high and well, but it was just the wrong way and it was never going to be sustainable.”
The injury struck at the heart of Harvey’s sense of identity. He had always been a musician, and being unable to play left him feeling bereft of purpose.
“Not being able to play at all, I kind of felt like a fraud,” he said.
“I’d go to see concerts, and I’d just sit there and watch and think, there is nothing I’d want to be doing more than that. It was the most horrendous feeling, just not knowing what was going to happen.”
Fortunately, after seeing a musician injury specialist in Sydney and getting treatment, Harvey was told there was no permanent nerve damage. While he is not quite up to taking on the principal trumpet role, he is well on the way to recovering his full abilities and will play with the AYO this month in Melbourne and Geelong.
However, the time off gave Harvey the chance to focus on his other love, gardening.
“We had a garden in Newport, I did it with my mum for probably eight years before we left, and it was actually the only thing I was really upset about leaving,” he said.
“The garden here, it’s all native and quite a bit of it is indigenous, local to this area. I’m very interested in bush foods and medicines, I try to research that as much as possible so I’ve got a lot of different berries and tubers and edible leaves and stuff.
“As a gardener you kind of learn to observe and look more closely and be aware of what you see. I think it’s such a gift.”
Harvey said he didn’t know where he would be without the constant support of his parents.
“I’d like to thank and credit them for all the driving, lessons and support they’ve given me throughout my whole musical career so far,” he said.
“I couldn’t have achieved anything without them.”
Harvey will perform with the AYO at Costa Hall on Saturday July 13. Visit ayo.com.au/event/mood/ for tickets and more information.
