She's an inspiration to musicians all around the state and has now been recognised by Oberon Council for her hard work and dedication.
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Chloe Swannell was honoured at Oberon's Australia Day Celebrations with Young Citizen of the Year.
"I was so proud and honoured to be nominated, I didn't expect to win at all, it was such a lovely announcement," she said.
"The other nominee Daria, is a student at the high school where I teach music so I thought this wasn't fair!"
Receiving an award like this is something that runs in Ms Swannell's family, with her sister and brother-in-law having received the award in previous years.
Ms Swannell spends her time volunteering in the music industry around Oberon, helping with ANZAC and Remembrance Day ceremonies, Citizenship Ceremonies, Australia Day, as well as other Council events.
"I've done the Christmas Carrols for many years and try and pitch in and do my part," she said.
"When I was younger, I found that a lot of musicians as their careers moved on to bigger and better things they didn't have enough time on their hands, so it's important for people to step up and music is a big part of my life and other people's lives and I just wanted to keep that going."
Ms Swannell said that it was important in towns like Oberon for people to pitch in when they could.
"Towns like Oberon are built on volunteers, but it's normally the same people always doing it. Whenever someone asks me to help out, I make it work somehow," she said.
Ms Swannell is a full-time touring musician, who is normally booked out 12 months in advance.
"I was pretty busy and then COVID hit, and I was terrified I wasn't going to be hired again," she said.
Then COVID lifted, and Ms Swannell was busier than ever, until lock down struck again.
"Some venues don't want to hire people that aren't vaccinated, and others aren't hiring at all, so I know musicians who have hung up their instruments and haven't gone back," she said.
"It took a massive hit on our industry and the industries connected to us, like the venues, the back-up singers, the roadies, the bus drivers, the barmen, it was everything."
Ms Swannell said she would love to get more young people involved in the music industry.
"I started doing gigs by myself when I was around 14-years-old, so I would love to mentor young kids to do gigs," she said.
Ms Swannell works at Oberon High School teaching music once a week and it has been a challenge these past two years.
"Teaching music while wearing a face mask and trying to talk over 30 guitars is challenging, but we keep powering through," she said.
"I would like to see more high school students involved in the ANZAC Day ceremonies and the commemoration side of it, two years ago I got involved with OZY Youth Choir Honouring Defence Service, an international choir."
Ms Swannell said that she would like to sponsor some Oberon students to be able to attend the music camps that happens on the Central Coast.
"I teach at the camps, and they are so much fun, there is camping, singing, leadership activities, public speaking forums, all skills that will help them later in life," she said.
"We've done tours of parliament house, sang at the Honouring Women in Defence Recognition Dinner, that was extremely nerve wracking.
"It was a really great honour to lead the choir at the Honouring Women in Defence Service at the War Memorial, for all the women behind the scenes, still on tour away from family who are also helping the men doing service for their country."
Ms Swannell said it was a "really great program" and she wanted to get more people from Oberon involved.
"The main aim is to bring the spirit of the bush to the stage in the city, the choir is primarily online with members from Western Australia and New Zealand, every Sunday at 4pm, with special guests to coach them and then a camp, two to three times a year, COVID pending," she said.
Ms Swannell said she was thankful to be back after a two-year forced break.
"Performing is what I love to do, and I was hoping to release my debut single in 2020 but it was postponed because there was no point releasing a song if I couldn't tour," she said.
"So, I'm just holding off until I know for certain what will happen."
Ms Swannell said it was hard for people like herself who rely on pubs and wedding gigs to pay the bills.
"I have a hundred contacts in my phone that do that for a living, and another five who have released CD's and merchandise to make an income, but us poor shit kickers down the bottom have nothing, so I've tried my hardest to be a voice for some musicians and say it was not good enough from the government," she said.
"The only reason I was eligible for government assistance was because I could prove that I teach music."
Ms Swannell said a group of her musician friends and colleagues rang each other when the rules and restrictions first came in.
"We asked each other if we were okay, and then said we just lost our jobs didn't we?" she said.
"I understand the government saw the snowball affect it had, but some of these industries still haven't recovered.
"I played a gig on the weekend to a pretty popular venue and there was only 15 people, so you can only imagine how the smaller venues are coping."
Ms Swannell said she is wanting to mentor more young budding musicians to try and get them on their feet.
"I'll be buying my own recording equipment so young people who want to pursue music but don't have any backing can come to me and I can help record demos so they can show people their work, or I can lend PA system equipment, because that's what my teachers did for me," she said.
"I wouldn't be here without them, so I want to give back."
Ms Swannell doesn't recommend running your own business unless you are self motivated.
"It's a great way to live your life, I spend three days gigging and then teach four to five lessons in the afternoon, and during the day I write music," she said.
"I also have Zoom lessons for kids that don't live in town, there are some from the Central Coast, so Zoom is fantastic for that."
Ms Swannell is currently creating programs for schools to help parents with financial hardships.
"I am writing some intellectual property in hopes of releasing a guitar, piano and ukulele book with a combined video, so that parents that can't afford lessons, can buy the book and go home and teach the kids," she said.
"I understand lessons can be upwards of $40, which to me is highway robbery, and that is around $450 a term, so imagine if you had three kids that also had other hobbies."
Ms Swannell said she noticed the lack of music teachers in schools these days too.
"I'm grateful I can help out our school, and show the other teachers what to do if I'm not there, but school's will be able to buy this book and if they aren't sure they will be able to find a program to suit the students," she said.
"So that will be a big thing I am writing this year, but I won't give myself a time limit, it will be ready when it's ready."
In January this year, Ms Swannell and her partner caught COVID-19 despite being double vaccinated.
"I lost my voice and I just thought, 'no, I need my voice', and I fell really ill but my partner didn't have a symptom at all," she said.
"We stayed isolated in the house but we only have one bathroom and my partner had to cook my meals, so he was always going to catch it.
"But we are all better now and my voice came back so I'm happy."
Ms Swannell said it was important to improve the teaching and accessibility of music.
"You don't need to have fancy things to be accessible to music," she said.
"We need to have more ways for kids to access things in this day and age, our society would be nothing without music and who is going to do it when we're gone?"