Harpist Michelle Doyle and fiddler Mickey O’Donnell launch their sophomore album Solace in Wonder at Newcomb Community Hall this September. Matt Hewson spoke to Michelle about the rewards and challenges she has faced along the way.
Michelle Doyle knew even as a youngster growing up on the Bellarine that she wanted to play music. And not just any instrument, but the harp.
Many parents may have been bemused by such an uncommon wish, but Michelle’s mother Cathy Blake was a musician herself.
Still, the logistics were tricky.
“I had started playing piano and violin, and they were also two instruments that my mum played,” Michelle said.
“A harp is not something we have in the family, and Mum was like, oh, that’s challenging; financially, but also, where do you find a teacher?”
So quite naturally, at age six Michelle took up the life of a travelling acrobat to earn the dough she needed for a harp of her own.
“My auntie was an acrobat and she had this idea; I was about six, my cousin was five, and my auntie and her partner had this little family troupe or whatever.
“I did it for about two years, and we ended up actually going over to South Korea, where we did a 10-day stint.
“I made $1000 and I said, Mum, I want to buy a harp. So I quit being an acrobat and bought the harp.”
Throughout her childhood and adolescence Michelle performed often with her mother and sisters, playing her first wedding gig on harp at age 11 or so, but she resisted the idea of making music a career until faced with the concept of work experience.
“I just thought, I really don’t know what else I would do and I don’t have anything else I enjoy nearly as much, or am as good at,” she said.
“I have a feeling I may have used gigs to tick that (work experience) box, and then I was like, okay, I need to do music. Stop fighting this.
“So I thought I would try for a scholarship to go to the (Victorian College of the Arts Secondary) School in Melbourne and I got in.”
Michelle completed her VCE at VCASS, earning a spot in the Top Class and Top Acts concerts with her assessed performances.
Up to this stage, Michelle had been playing the smaller lever harp, more suited to folk music than classical. But she wanted to continue studying music at the tertiary level, which meant doing a classical music degree.
“The lever harp is smaller, much more portable, but not fully chromatic, so not able to be played in an orchestra unless parts are specially written for it,” she said.
“The orchestral harp is a pedal harp, and it’s 6-foot tall and 40 kilos. They’re beautiful, and really annoying to move.
“If you want to do classical music you need a pedal harp… so I took a gap year and worked and, with the help of my parents also, purchased a pedal harp. Then I auditioned and went to Monash.”
While Michelle loved being part of the orchestra, it did pose challenges she hadn’t faced before.
She struggled with injuries and a newfound performance anxiety she had never experienced playing in a more folk-based setting.
After completing her Bachelor of Music she joined the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club, which helped her “build back up some of my confidence”.
Over the next few years Michelle played in a variety of lineups, including Shane Howard’s Exile show with musical luminaries such as Paul Kelly, John Spillane, Pauline Scanlon and Declan O’Rourke.
However, only a couple of years after finishing her uni degree Michelle received some unexpected and unwelcome news.
“I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, which is not something you expect a 24 year old to be diagnosed with,” she said.
“That has shaped my life, as you can imagine, and things that I do. That was the big thing that really motivated me to get into hiking.”
Her father had an interest in hiking, and after some research Michelle discovered that exercise, particularly weight-bearing exercise, helped build bone density.
“I really got into it; life became a lot about trying to build up my bone strength and getting myself stronger so I can continue to do the activities that I really like,” she said.
“You just get hooked on the whole lifestyle. It’s just being away in such a different place, you don’t have reception and you’re only looking at green things.
“You’re relying on yourself and you’ve got everything on your back. It’s just totally addictive.”
Having completed the 655km Australian Alps Walking Trail in 2017, Michelle set her sights on “a bigger one; that’s the thing that happens, you’re always looking for a bigger one”.
Te Araroa, New Zealand’s Long Pathway, travels 3000km across both islands, taking six months or so.
Her new partner, professional musician Mickey, had embraced Michelle’s love of hiking but baulked at the idea of six months away from his violin.
Michelle solved the problem in her typically creative way; they would create a musical duo and do the trail as a walking tour.
“It sounds ridiculous; we weren’t even playing together,” she said.
“But I called him and he was really taken by the idea of doing this walking tour. This was 2018 and we set our sights on doing that in 2019.
“So we had a year to figure it out, write music together, record an album and plan this hiking, walking musical tour.”
Sounds simple. But the pair faced musical dilemmas, not least around what style of music they were going to write and perform in.
“We met in the folk world but that was really new for Mickey; I grew up playing Celtic folk and classical music, whereas he did his tertiary studies on electric bass,” she said.
“He started playing violin as part of his university degree, and the first thing he played on violin was jazz. I hadn’t delved into that at all. So it was actually really challenging at first, melding our two styles together.”
They found their way, developing a unique and personal style that fused their diverse influences into a joyous and heartfelt whole.
Having written and recorded their first album A Walking Pace, they toured it down the Long Pathway.
However, as with many people’s stories in recent times, the punchline was COVID19 – 500km from the end of the trail they emerged from the mountains to find the world was in the grip of a pandemic.
Since then, Mickey and Michelle have moved to Geelong, not touring until this year to launch new album Solace in Wonder.
The last stop of their 27-show east coast tour is on home turf in Geelong, where they will be supported by Michelle’s sister and celebrated cellist Catie Alison.
Michelle said she was excited for the performance, as she and Mickey had never performed together in Geelong.
“We both have a number of students in Geelong, so to have a gig we can actually invite them to is really lovely,” she said.
“A fair chunk of my family is in Geelong too, and quite a few of them haven’t seen us play.”
Mickey & Michelle launch Solace in Wonder at Newcomb Community Hall at 4pm on Sunday, September 8. Visit events.humanitix.com/mickey-and-michelle-geelong-album-launch for tickets or more information.
