PIANO A NOVELTY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 86, 8 October 1930, Page 7

PIANO A NOVELTY

FIRST AT PITCAIRN ISLAND

-1 pianoforte recital which lasted from daybreak until ten- o'clock at night was au outstanding event at Pitcaim Island recently. The occasion-.was the arrival of a piano, the only instrument of its kind on the' island ■ purchased iv Auckland by Miss H. Ross, a Seventh Day Adventirt 'missionary (states the "Xcv Zealand H Thedpiano was shipped to the island on the steamer Remtieia. 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 shed. ~ntil next morning. At daybreak--the piano was unpacked and carried to • Miss, Ross's house." Then the inhabitants arrived and. somethingm tlie nature, ot ;«i music festival, commenced. . ; - -None of us had time to have breakfast that. morning,'? Miss lioss says .in -a letter "At-'first we had to play for the islanders-and then they had, to take turns at the piaiio.: themselves. Some- ot them can read music and they played- simple hymn tunes, Others," with an. apt ear ior music, played lively airs Jhat- they had learned from gramophone, records. ah | time passed, those waiting their turn ber ; came so anxious that three ot them eat down at the piano at once- and a iourtli at the organ.' It was the first time I had, ever Heard: a pianoforte trio on ouo-iu-strument"aud/although;the players- made up their parts as they played, there., was not one discordant note. The islanders have a wonderful ear -for music. ' .. "In the evening, the islanders brought stringed instruments and we bad qmte.a good orchestral concert, the day. of continuous music 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 the''Fairyland Waltz.; Every evening since my arrival the concerts have . continued: The islanders say that the piano is the best-thing that has ever come to: Pitcairn."