Momentous year for young composer

For 19-year-old Nathan Parker of Crofton Downs, 2022 was momentous.

The award of a Kai Tahu grant to continue his musical studies at Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka, means a lot to the young musician. He is enrolled in studies for both a Bachelor of Composition (Film) and Performance (Cello) and incorporating M ori Studies.

His first major orchestral composition was performed in July, workshopped by musicians mostly drawn from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. This was at a three-daylong Composers’ Association of New Zealand workshop series in Nelson. His piece, called ‘Taniwha Toccata”, draws on the legend of the creation of Wellington Harbour. “By the taniwha Ngake.”

The composition includes a range of orchestral instruments, but features both a pipe organ and M ori instruments - taonga puoro, which he has enjoyed learning from Jerome Kavanagh at Victoria.

“He communicated such enthusiasm to me,” Nathan says.

The musicians workshopped his composition in the Nelson Centre for Music and Arts, giving Nathan the chance to play the three-storey-high pipe organ.

“It’s called The Beast,” he says.

“It’s very big sound and its scope was ideal for what I wanted to communicate.”

The experience of working with and talking to those experienced musicians gave him a lot to think about he added.

And there was discussion there about how and when to use the taonga puoro, “ensuring it adds meaning,” Nathan says.

“I realised I could easily use them in compositions to produce the effects I want.”

However, the question of to what purpose then arose.

With his eye on a career in composition, Nathan says he is aware there’s a lot of benefit in using the instruments.

“But you have to follow M ri protocol. You need to understand the spiritual importance.

“The Zulu song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight,’ is a perfect example of that..”

He explains that the inspirational African composition was basically stolen from the originators and used commercially to make millions in America.

“With nonsense words like ‘aw- imoweh’ substituted for African words. There’s no meaning left.”

Working with respect is important to Nathan, a former student at Onslow College and of Chilton St James Musical Academy.

He is a N Tahu mokopuna of Pinana Te Atua, a nineteenth century composer. Her work is found in the Chapman papers in the Hocken Library in Dunedin. “It’s called Twenty One songs from Waikouaiti.”

Nathan says the workshop experience “was so cool to be working with such impressive musicians and that magnificent organ..”

It also led him to analyse his own composition more deeply.

“I’ve realised there’s a layer in it about the journey of leaping from childhood to adulthood.”

And he’s also realised there’s scope

Speaker: Kate Smith (Catch the Fire, USA) for improvement should it be performed again.

“I’d refine it a lot, think about the decisions I made and make it better.”

The Taniwha Toccata workshop can be found on YouTube at https://youtu. be/J3TgXn1c80c (Taniwha Toccato).