MĀORI MUSIC 1
The recent announcement that the collaboration between Massey and Victoria Universities - in the form of the New Zealand School of Music - is going to end brought back memories of my days at the then Victoria University School of Music. It reminded me of my teachers - David Farquhar, Jack Body, Ross Harris, Alan Thomas, Elizabeth Kerr and more - it reminded me of my student friends - Danny Poynton, Helen Bowater, John Psathas, Jonathan Crayford and many more - it reminded me of special times - visiting Douglas Lilburn, sitting with Peter Sculthorpe during a performance of his 'Mangrove', participating in master classes by Lou Harrison and Bela Siki and much more. Thinking of my time at that Music School also reminds me of the way I left that school - under a cloud, I suggest. It was during music school that my consciousness as a Māori person suddenly burst into life and I became conscientised as to the plight of Māori in this country since the 19th century. I wrote a critica...