Foreman the Spectacular

BY ALEX MCDONALD

For someone whose musical diet includes a steady dose of sugary pop, it’s not surprising that John Foreman prefers listening to impressionist piano pieces when he’s at home in Surry Hills.
The Australian Idol music director admits his fondness for Debussy and Ravel is ‘very un-rock and roll’. Idol judges Kyle and Dicko would surely disapprove, but Foreman is unrepentant. ‘My musical tastes shift almost hour by hour,’ he says.
Foreman has been on television since he began playing piano on Good Morning Australia at 19. These days, he spends half the year in Sydney and the rest of the year in Melbourne preparing for Australian Idol.
He’s studied jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium, and performed at music festivals in Europe and North America. But he says his training gave him the perfect foundation for his foray into pop.
‘Jazz is a style of music where the knowledge sets you up to perform any contemporary style,’ he says. ‘If you can play jazz, you’ve got a good chance of being able to play rock or pop, because they have emanated out of a jazz background. Jazz leads into blues and rock and pop.’
Besides his TV work, Foreman composed the theme song for the Sydney Olympics and has written tunes and produced albums for various Idol contenders. He’s also heavily involved in fostering new musical talent: he’s an ambassador for Count Us In, an education program that encourages primary and secondary students to take up music.
He’s also a long-time supporter of the Schools Spectacular, an event he’s hosted for the past eight years.
Foreman is himself a product of the Schools Spectacular. His first appearance was in 1987 when he was in Year 7 at Kotara High School in Newcastle. He had just joined a ska band (‘I had no idea what ska was then’) with some Year 10 students and they played in the foyer of the Sydney Entertainment Centre during the interval.
‘The following year I played a jazz number. That performance changed my life and the way I perceived myself. I suddenly realised it was cool to play the piano and that people actually appreciated someone who had practised their music. And I was surrounded by kids who shared this enthusiasm for show business. That was a really powerful moment.’
The Spectacular celebrates 25 continuous years at the Entertainment Centre in November, and to mark that milestone a campaign has been launched to track down past participants. The organisers hope to reach as many past performers as possible and are inviting them to re-live their experience as part of this year’s production.
Foreman has come across several Spectacular alumni over the years. One-time Idol hopeful Paulini got her start at the event, as did Simon Tedeschi and Emma Pask.
‘The performers who come through as soloists each year are the ones who are most likely to go on and do great things. Then there’s the stage band. There’s one player I saw doing a gig at The Basement recently. He told me he had been in the Schools Spectacular in years gone by.’
Given his interest in emerging talent, Foreman believes the growth of downloads and declining CD sales have made life tougher for both artists and record companies. ‘Unless you’re a selling large numbers of records, radio won’t play you. There is a paradigm shift in how music will be performed and enjoyed by people.’
His first piece of advice for budding songwriters is to join the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). ‘The other way is to try and co-write with artists who might be recording albums. Then your chances of getting the song picked up on that album are increased. But again, it’s very competitive and there are many more aspiring than there are successful songwriters.
‘You never know where a professional association will lead you, so you need to work in as many musical environments as you possibly can. If you’ve got the time and it feels right to do it, it’s probably worth doing.’