The Navhind Times: Sister Act
2023-06-18 | Luis Dias
The last time the de Souza sisters (Chelsea and Chloe) performed in Goa was several years ago, so it was a delight to hear them again recently, in two very thoughtfully programmed and illuminating concerts.
Both of them have established themselves in the U.S. as performers and music educators, breaking barriers, reaching out to newer audiences and making exciting connections with other genres from jazz to ‘world’ music.
As someone invested in music education myself, I was curious how their inspiring journey began.
The ‘aphorism about the Goan love of music’ (both parents have origins in Bardez) certainly holds true in the de Souza family. Both parents (Christine and Colin) come from ‘musical’ families, studied and love music themselves and so the daughters listened to classical music as babies (perhaps in utero too!). “We started singing at the age of three, and then piano lessons soon after,” said Chelsea.
What I found particularly interesting is the vital role of the St. Andrews parish (Bandra) “zonals” (talent contest) which became “a very important fixture” in their lives.
“Both of us took part in our first singing competition at the zonals around the age of three or four, and then piano at the age of five. The opportunity to prepare for and perform in a competition, in public, so soon after starting voice and piano lessons, was very important to our early years of learning and practicing – it gave us something concrete to work towards, built our confidence on stage, and certainly winning prizes made it much more likely that we would practice!”
Other Mumbai-origin Goans who have made western classical music their life’s work (most notably world-renowned soprano Patricia Rozario) have also pointed to these “zonals” in their formative years. Why can’t we have such initiatives in Goa too, discovering and nurturing potential in our children at the very earliest, instead of glory-seeking ego-fests where adults steal the spotlight from children and youth?
The other point of interest for me was the tug-of-war every child, parent and music-teacher encounters: the balance between schoolwork and practice-time devoted to the musical instrument.
Their mother Christine told me, “It was important for me to enrol them in many activities at a young age to see what they would enjoy and what came naturally to them. It was clear early on they had some musical talent, but of course like any other kids they did not like to practice. Being a pianist myself, I made sure there was supervised practice-time set aside every day.”
Chelsea added, “This balancing act wouldn’t have been possible without my mother’s involvement – my dad would be out at sea for months at a time, so it fell to her to set up our daily schedules and keep us on track. She came from a background of running a business (her parents’ secretarial school, Claire’s) and she applied that same level of organisation to our upbringing! She helped us make timetables to manage our various activities and school homework. She created these positive habits for us at a very young age, so by the time schoolwork and the demands of our musical activities intensified we were well set up to deal with that.”
How did the siblings managed practice time on a single piano in a Mumbai apartment? “Funny you should ask, because we still fight over the piano whenever we’re both home for the holidays – especially at times like this when we’re both concertising! To this day, our biggest fights are about practice time. We have always only had one piano in the house – initially an upright, then later a grand. Typically, one of us would practice while the other did homework or other activities. The first time I remember it being tricky to balance our sessions was when we were both preparing for Trinity diplomas, me for my LTCL and Chloe for her ATCL. I had to get in about 30 minutes of practice before school, and then we would share the evening hours.”
What about the neighbours? “We’re very fortunate that our neighbours have always been supportive and never complained about our practicing, though we were always careful not to go
past 10 p.m.”
When did they decide that the piano would be their life career?
Chloe said, “I started to take piano very seriously when I was preparing for an all-India piano competition at the age of 15, and I started having lessons with a Romanian piano teacher Delia Varga in Goa. This opened my eyes to the whole world of music and the possibilities of the piano. I really enjoyed the process of learning and growing as a musician, and from then on there was no
turning back.”
Chelsea did not decide to commit fully to music till well into her undergraduate degree. “I did a double degree in college (a bachelor of arts in politics, and a bachelor of music in piano and vocal accompanying) because I didn’t feel ready to commit to one or the other. Both of our decisions to pursue careers in music are also partly due to the successes we experienced from a very young age, winning competitions and performing on big stages.”
This again points to the crying need for similar encouragement to our own children from a tender age, in the same structured fashion as the “zonals” in Mumbai.
What about the Indian tendency in India to have a “Plan B”, given the financial uncertainty one associates with the music profession?
“I never wavered from my desire to pursue a music career,” Chloe asserted. “I have a degree in both voice and piano, so there are many avenues available to me within music – I teach both instruments, and I have also coached many singers at the collegiate level, which allows me to use all of my skill set. After my doctorate I’d love to teach in academia, but I also love the idea of working at an opera company as a head vocal coach. It’s all about finding the right combination of activities that excites you and is also sustainable as a career.”
“We’ve encountered a lot of naysayers over the years, who say things like ‘music is just a hobby, I would never allow my child to just do music – they can do it on the side for fun with medicine or engineering’”, said Chelsea. “I think most parents’ caution is well-founded; it’s extremely difficult to build a successful and sustainable career in any arts field compared to some of the more lucrative or standard careers, and you cannot take such a commitment lightly. However, rather than having a career “Plan B”, it’s important to build a well-rounded skill set. Along with my performances and concertising, I teach students and classes at the collegiate level, I curate concerts, I write essays and articles for publications, and I hope to be the artistic or managing director of a performing arts organisation one day. It’s very important to build skills that allow you to adapt to a changing world, and I think this is true for any field, not just
the arts.”