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Most of us looking back over past events usually have one or two memories that conjure up vivid scenes. The first day at school, the first ride on a bicycle, the first kiss…….
One of my clear recollections is of the Queen and Prince Philip’s visit to New Zealand in 1953, and is centred in Athletic Park where I now live. The event was the children’s welcome to the royal pair. It was organized by the Wellington Education Board, for the local primary school pupils – thirty thousand of them. Imagine them filling the ground.
My father was H. Temple White (right), the well-known Wellington musician. He had been approached to undertake the planning, and to conduct this mammoth choir which was to sing the National Anthem, ‘God Defend New Zealand’ and ‘Aotearoa’, an anthem-like song for which he wrote both words and music.
The dilemma was how to co-ordinate this choir, bearing in mind the distance of some children from the dais, and the time sound travels.
How were the children to sound as one? We talked around this problem at the dinner table, and finally my father worked out the solution which worked like magic.
Harold Temple Wright conducting, circa 3 January, 1958.
Judith beside her father’s bust in the Wellington Town Hall.
He approached six brass bands and conductors and divided the children into six blocks.
Each section sang to the beat of the nearest conductor, who relayed my father’s beat.
For many of those who sang that day, this event remains crystal clear.
On the great day, which was in fact the first combined rehearsal, the band conductors could not see my father’s beat adequately. The usual Kiwi no. 8 fencing wire solution was found – a New Zealand Anchor Butter box, located under the grand stand on which he stood.
It was enough, though slightly shaky, for clear vision for all.
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