FOR over 30 years, the Jamaican classical music scene has been blessed with the time and talent of Austrian-born musician Rosina Christina Moder. Come National Heroes’ Day, October 16, she will be invested with the Order of Distinction (Officer class) for her contribution to the development of music in Jamaica and the preservation of its history.

Moder was still overwhelmed at the honour when the Jamaica Observer caught up with her.

“I was beside myself when I received the call… so shocked that I started crying and had to have Peter (Ashbourne) take the call. I kept thinking, me? No way! It must be a wrong call. It was only after I was able to calm down that I was able to say to myself: ‘I very humbly accept this honour’.”

“When you don’t do music for the national honour, but rather because you love it, because it is needed and because you want to see it grow and flourish, then these moments come as such a surprise,” Moder said.

She attributes her lifelong passion for music to the diligence of her father who, despite not being able to play a musical instrument, vowed from an early age that his own children would learn to play an instrument.

“I am from a farming village in the Styrian Hills of south-east Austria, and as a young boy my father volunteered in the local fire services. He was given a flugelhorn to be used as an alarm and I believe that was the start of his attraction to music. When we were about 10, one of our neighbours bought a TV and one Sunday we put on our good clothes and went to see a performance of The Magic Flute by Mozart and I was hooked. I don’t know what it is about that performance, but it had a profound impact on me and I wanted to become a musician.”

With no scope for secondary education in her small village, Moder was sent to a Catholic boarding school where she was introduced to the recorder. She recalled coming up with the excuse that she had to practice in order to get out of performing chores. But this, she said, provided her with the best musical foundation. She only spent a year at this institution and by the time she returned to her village the state had opened a music school in the area. She jumped in head first and took to music like the proverbial duck to water. She would expand her range of instruments from just the recorder to encompass piano, cello, guitar, accordion and organ.

Never an easy road, she had to perform odd jobs to support herself as she rose up the ranks, working even as a domestic helper to support her tuition. Early childhood music education training came first then the Bachelor’s Degree and a Masters in Performance, then she was off to Switzerland for post-graduate studies. Her big break came when she landed a job as a university lecturer in Vienna. But despite a great job and a what seemed to be a fulfilling musical career, Moder felt stifled.

“I just got bored. I kept thinking to myself ‘There must be something more to life’. I wanted to be able to be able to work and give back to humanity and I want not getting that. I then met Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander and tennis player Lance Lumsden who encouraged me to go to Jamaica and the rest is history.”

Her maiden trip was in n February of 1985. She performed at a concert at the St Andrew Parish Church in Half-Way-Tree alongside organist Paul Bicknell and violinist Peter Ashbourne whom she recalled had to be pushed and forced to play with her due to his busy schedule. But something in that visit ignited a spark that would become a flame.

“I wrote my resignation from Jamaica, and once I got back to Vienna prepared to relocate to Jamaica. Everyone thought I was mad to just pack up and head to Jamaica — my parents were very concerned — but I was determined. I had seen so much talent here, and having known the struggle first hand, I know I wanted to help.”

Moder would go one to marry Ashbourne and they have two children who are of course musical. Joel the eldest has chosen the piano as his instrument of choice, while for Jeremy it is the drums.

Today, Moder finds herself thrust into the work of her foundation, Music Unites, which seeks to conduct research primarily of Jamaican composers.

“ It’s hard when you think that in a country such as Jamaica which has such as rich musical history that the work of our composers is not documented. For many students Jamaican music starts with mento, not realising that it dates back much further with the likes of Samuel Falstead who was born in 1743 and published his first oratorio, Jonah, in 1775.”

Despite her accomplishments Moder will not rest comfortably until she realises some of her lifelong dreams.

“Kingston desperately needs a National Music Archives and Research Centre. This is where we can host exhibitions on Jamaican composers, facilitate persons doing research. I am pushing for that. I also want to write a follow-up to my book on recorder music; I need to record an album and I have to see the reggae opera Mikey, (co-written with Ashbourne) premiere at the Ward Theatre.”

Moder has noting but words of encouragement for musicians who sometimes find the going tough. She draws on the lyrics of reggae icon Jimmy Cliff.

“You can get it if you really want, but you must try… you’ll succeed at last.”

Other recipients in the entertainment and arts include reggae pioneer Bunny Wailer, film producer Maxine Walters, music insider Copeland Forbes, entertainment lawyer Lloyd Stanbury, deejay Josey Wales and playwright Patrick Brown.