More Info →Guy Donaldson, music career, Part 1 - Manawatu Conversations

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 2nd April 2024. Part 1 of 5. Well known in Palmerston North music scene. Raised in Whanganui. Interested in drama but had a speech impediment so took up piano. Didn’t have a piano at home so practiced on other people’s pianos. Started piano lessons when at intermediate school. Eventually got a piano. Went to Whanganui Collegiate as a day boy and met a piano teacher, Maurice Collier. Piano teaching was not part of school curriculum so parents had to pay. Was a duck out of water because most boys played sport. Spent most of the first term in hospital with peritonitis. Was school prefect during his last year at school and was required to cane other boys which he didn’t like. Went to Canterbury University where Maurice Till was a piano tutor. Focused on doing a BA in English. Music was part of BA. Sang in university choir. Also had to do chamber music. While performing at the Ngaio Marsh Theatre the piano caught in the rising curtain and lifted it off the floor. He owns an electronic keyboard but won’t use it for performances. The acoustic piano offers a greater range of colour and variety of sound. He prefers a grand piano.