A DAY OF MUSIC

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1930, Page 2

A DAY OF MUSIC

PIANO REACHES! PITCAIRN ISLAND. AUCKLAND, October 6. 'A pianoforte recital which lasted from daybreak until ten o’cfo-k at night was' an outstanding event at Pitcairn Islandr recently. The occasion was the arrival of a piano, the only instrument of its kind on "he island. Purchased in Auckland by Miss I-I. Ross, a Seventh Day Adventist missionary, the p’.ano was shipped to the island in the steamer Remuera, which Anchored off Pitcairn after dark. It was midnight before all the cargo was landed on the beach, and it was left in the boat sheds until next morning. At daybreak the. piano was unpacked and . carried, to Miss Ross’s house. Then the inhabitants arrived., and something tin the nature of a> music festival commenced. “None of us had time to have breakfast that morning,” Miss Ross' says in a letter. “At first we had to play for the islanders, and then they had to take turns at the piano themselves. Some of them can rend music, and they played simple hymn tunes. Others, with an apt ear for music, played lively airs that they had learned from gramophone records. As time passed, those waiting their turn became so anxious that three jf them sat down at the piano at once and y a fourth at the organ, It was the first time I had ever heard a pianoforte trio oil one instrument, and although the players made up their parts as they played, there was not ope discordant note, The islanders have n wonderful ear fbr music, In the evening the islanders brought string instruments and we had quite a good orchestral concert. It was a day of continuous mus*ic, lasting from daybreak until ten o’clock. Next day my pupils began to arrive, and the first one would not leave the piano until he had mastered the intricacies of a waltz. Every eyening since my arrival concerts have continued. The islanders say that the piano is the best living that has ever, come to Pitcairn.”