Dr Goldberg mentioned that he was attending the 50th anniversary of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House where they were playing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony AKA Ode to Joy.

In my boarding school days under the tutelage of the great LCMS Saunders I was also introduced to Beethoven, but like many things from those days, there is only a distant memory of scratches and not much of the melody.  While we would have much preferred “Rock Around The Clock” I well recall Saunders with a 12 inch LP of the 9^th on an old portable record player dropping the needle into the grooves as the record got more and more destroyed.  I hesitate to think what one of the most inspiring teachers would have done with the iPod!

My next introduction to Beethoven was on my 1972 Nuffield scholarship in the UK. The movie Clockwork Orange had just been released in which the Ode to Joy was a major part of the soundtrack.  I well remember driving around the English country lanes in my little Ford Anglia with the soundtrack on full, and while the movie was arguably not a great hit hit, the music was magnificent.

And so this opportunity to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the Opera House with massed choir was too good to miss.

Even the cheap seats were $90 but fortunately I managed to score one right above the orchestra which I would have to say is the best place in the house, and if anybody is thinking of attending a similar occasion this would be my number one choice to see the full magnificence of a 150 voice choir leaping to attention and delivering their Moments of Joy.  I could even see the lady with the contra bassoon who spent the entire two hours waiting for her few minutes of tooting.  And instead of seeing the conductor from the back as you normally do on these occasions I was able to watch the facial expressions of Vladimir Ashkenazy as his hand grasped his chin during pensive moments, pointing and possibly chastising as required, with the incredible personal energy needed to bring to life the magnificent whole. Actually I can relate better to the man who sat through the entire two hours to finally, near the end, get the chance to crash the symbols and beat the drum.  It truly was a wonderful occasion and if it’s not drawing too much of a long bow to a small extent it reminded me of the work that goes into creating software.  The whole orchestra is necessary; every individual has a part to play in the final performance, but there is little point without an audience!

For Houston Medical and VIP.net, while the rehearsals are finished and development will be for ever continuing we also believe it is time for a little drum beating.

• Issued user licences for VIP.net have now passed 1000.
• Additional day hospital installs planned or installed in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Launceston.
• New ophthalmology and general surgery in VIC, NSW and WA.
• VIP.net for retinal diabetic screening now installed three DHB hospitals in NZ as well as Suva, Lautoka and Honiara.
• Houston appointed the official trial software provider for Hospices while working on providing a single patient record for the Arohanui Hospice in Palmerston North.
• And not forgetting our GP clients, VIP2000 scored rather well in the recent Patients First survey and maintains the lead as the largest provider of software to Allied Health in NZ.

I’m certainly very proud of these achievements, and invite you to discuss your requirements with us at any time so you can see for yourself, just how much we’ve honed our skills lately, for the benefit of medical practices throughout Australia and NZ.

Derek Gower