Dr. Daphne Braggins

Dr. Daphne Braggins was a musician of note, gaining her musical degrees from Girton College, Cambridge and Trinity College, Dublin. Her main interest in music centred around the organ - an interest which she shared with Gilbert Curtis. Although she wrote music for children, her best known work was St. Patrick's Breastplate, for organ, played regularly by Gilbert Curtis as a voluntary. Apart from composing, she gave many organ recitals and indeed was a well-known recitalist on the instrument. She gave donations to churches and further helped them by giving recitals - a testament to her generosity of spirit. Another great interest of hers was John Bunyan, and she obliged by playing for services at non- conformist churches in need

Dr. Braggins was introduced to S. T .P .by Gilbert Curtis who also initially taught her the technique. However, she was unable to continue her tuition with him owing to the distance between Bedford, where she lived at the time, and the Curtis's home in the Wirral. It seems almost certain that she continued her tuition with Mrs. Ethel Budd of Bedford, and became fully aquainted with the Ernest George White Society as a result of this. Even though Dr. Braggins never became a registered teacher of S.T.P., she was a keen and active member of the Society, supporting meetings by her presence and contributing articles of interest and summaries of recitals to the Journal. Dr. Braggins was also a member of the Organ Club and an obituary was published in their Journal for March 1988.

In her passing, we can say that the absence of her presence will be felt by the Society.

Mrs. Ethel Budd

Mrs. Ethel Budd was not only a distinguished member of our Society but also a distinguished member of the musical world of Bedford. She was an ardent supporter of Ernest George White's theories on voice production, and would have been amongst the first of the registered teachers of S. T .P.

Her successes in the field of music are too numerous to mention, but the two choirs she conducted in Bedford namely the Bedford Ladies Choir and the Bedford Mixed Voice Choir, were consistently successful in music festivals and competitions gaining in most cases, firsts. The above mentioned choirs also broadcast under her direction for the BBC Home Service, as it was then, in the 1950's. Mrs. Budd's contribution to the musical world was very notable and many of her individual pupils performed with distinction.

To close this obituary of Mrs Budd, let us quote the praise given to her and the Bedford Ladies Choir by the composer Michael Head, after winning the Female Voice Choirs Class at the 1950 Leamington Music Festival. Michael Head was the adjudicator. He commended the choir for their most beautiful "use of words and tone', and the well produced voices of the choir. Later, in a private interview with Mrs. Budd, he said, "I feel I must congratulate you " on this performance, you are not only teaching this choir the real-* meaning of the words, but you are teaching the members how to produce their voices correctly. The tone is superb, round and pure". Mrs. Budd said, "of course I told him I was an exponent of Sinus Tone. He made no comment!".

Mrs. Mildred Hewlett

Mrs. Mildred Hewlett, the wife of our Honorary President, also died recently. She was supportive of Arthur Hewlett's efforts on behalf of the Society, most notably in helping him prepare for the publication of 'Think Afresh about the Voice', by acting as his amanuensis.

She was an ordinary member of the Society. Our deepest sympathy goes to Arthur Hewlett at his loss. They will be much missed. May they rest in peace.

(Stephen P Cox)

Alan H. Morris (1904 -1996)

With the passing of Alan Morris we have lost a self-effacing yet steadfast supporter of the Society and its teaching. He was one of a group of organists who have, not alone of course, contributed to standards of general musicianship among us. There were to start with Gilbert Curtis and Dr. (of Music) Laurence West, soon joined by Alan and later by Charles Cleall. Of these we still have the two who are Fellows of the Royal College of Organists, Laurie at lOO years old having enjoyed that status for 82 years. Alan himself was an Associate of the College though not a musician by profession, while Gilbert, though a dazzling performer, thought that as a non- professional he should not seek those honours.

Alan and I first met during the second war. He was at the time organist of a church in north London and wanted to know what he should expect of his choir and how to help them give of their best. So he came to me for lessons in a house next door to the one at number 5 Marlborough (later Mercator) Road, Lewisham, where I had had my first lessons with EGW. The flat had in fact been recommended to me by Mrs White, still living in the west country after Ernest George's death. But it was hit by a flying bomb in the summer of 1944, when fortunately no one was at home, and thereafter we worked under difficulties. But Alan stuck at it, and though without pretensions as a singer himself, developed a pleasing light baritone. Regrettably there was no opportunity to persuade him to sing at out meetings.

But we formed a firm and lasting friendship and he readily gave his support to the newly formed Society. Until he came on the scene we had no professionally qualified treasurer. Alan was an accountant, in charge of the financial affairs of the University College Hospital Medical School. So when the vacancy occurred, in 1967 soon after the Society became a charitable Trust, he was the inevitable, timely and willing choice for a new Treasurer of the Society, accepting a responsibility which he bore ably and faithfully for as long as 24 years almost. That was his tribute for the help that EGW had, if indirectly, afforded him in his "spare time activity". He has been replaced as Treasurer, but is sadly missed as a quiet and reliable friend and colleague. As one contributor to our celebration of his 80th birthday wrote: "We should be hard pressed to find his equal for courtesy and efficiency".

(Arthur D Hewlett)

John Duffill

I moved to Gloucester in 1982, and after I had settled in I looked down the list of Full Members and Associates in the Journal to see who was the nearest to Gloucester. In the list of Associate Members I found the name of John Duffill who lived at Cheltenham. I rang him up to ask if he would be interested in having lessons on Sinus Tone. After some thought he agreed, and was my very regular and enthusiastic pupil from 1984- 1987, when I had to leave the district for family reasons. During that time John kindly agreed to be one of my "guinea-pigs" when I took my practical examination in 1985, to become a registered teacher of Sinus Tone Production.

As a result of his lessons with me, John began to attend our meetings regularly. He was eventually elected to the Council and after a year or two became our very able Chairman.

John's interest in STP went back to his youth in the 1930's. In his article in the Journal of 1983, p.5, on "Ernest George White Remembered", he says: "I loved songs, singing and choral music and found that, in my late teens (after my voice had broken, and should have settled), my voice was disappointingly not very good -so this set me thinking about voice production and the true nature of the voice. I learned about STP from the musical journals, where fierce battles then raged, and read E.G. White's books. I found therein something that was original, interesting and at least trying to be scientific, analytic and constructive, as opposed to other literature or advice on voice production which seemed mainly half-baked or sometimes downright ludicrous".

As a result of his studies John contracted E.G. White himself and had one lesson with him, described in his article. Alas, John was not able to return for another lesson, as White advised, because this was August 1939 and World War II intervened and he joined the army. White died in 1940. However, John subsequently had a few lessons in the 1950's in Birmingham with my father, Laurence West.

We in the Society were all very interested in John's studies on the acoustics of voice. I was glad to be his "guinea-pig" in my turn, and I recorded my voice for him at his home in Cheltenham in December 1988. I had to sing throughout my range, firstly on a hum and then to "ah". John gave me his findings at the next meeting. These proved most interesting and confirmed some of the textbook findings on the subject. They also confirmed some of the impressions I had myself with regard to my own voice, and showed up other factors I had not realised before.

In May 1989, John gave a talk and demonstration at the Society's meeting on: "Some experiments in acoustical analysis of the singing voice". Our President, Arthur Hewlett, and our three guest singers were invited to sing notes into a microphone and to see the corresponding waveforms on an oscilloscope. They were intrigued to see the patterns each individual voice made. John entitled his talk: "1 See a Voice" (Shakespeare, "Midsummer Night's Dream").

I was very sad to hear of John's untimely death on December 12th, 1993.1 will miss him as a friend and colleague, and the Society has lost not only an able Chairman, but a keen and enthusiastic member whose support was invaluable.

(Ann McKay)

Dr. Laurence West, F.R.C.O. 22/05/1897 - 1/10/1998
Honorary Vice-President since 1987

Laurie West was a monumental figure in our Society, introduced by the irrepressible Gilbert Curtis. Gilbert was also a brilliant 'organist and they both brought zest to a friendly rivalry in producing the more dazzling improvisations and the more daring accompaniments to unison singing. So Laurie was easily persuaded to seek lessons from EGW and must be one of the master's longest surviving pupils. But he knew there was more to learn and in his 70s had a course of lessons from me at Wigmore Hall studios. Before this I had been his pupil for the written part of the LRAM, learning from him, with much musicianship, the structure and harmonic richness of chords of the secondary seventh. Both as pupil and teacher I thus had an insight into his modestly carried excellence.

He served the Society not only as a trustee and eventually Vice-President but as an always willing and supportive accompanist. I recall two of our members, neither vocally very gifted and indebted in the first place to White's technique for the ability even to contemplate tackling a song cycle, who were enabled by Laurie's encouraging coaching and impeccable accompaniment to perform for us at Meetings the one, Elgar's "Sea Pictures", the other Beethoven's "An die feme Geliebte". In every way Laurie's eminence as a musician and keyboard player has made an inestimable contribution to the educational purposes of the Society for more than half a century.

The loss is irreparable, but we can only be thankful that he stayed with us for so long.

(Arthur D Hewlett)

Arthur Donald Hewlett

In 1925 a young man, doing post-graduate work at the University of London, found himself trying to sing, none too successfully, in a church choir in south east London. He noticed a fellow chorister retiring into the corner of the vestry humming quietly to himself. His explanation of why he did this, led Arthur Hewlett to Ernest George White and to a lifetime’s commitment to the technique for which this Society was formed, only ending 80 years later at his death on 2nd March 2005 at the age of 102.

Although pursuing a professional career firstly as a teacher and then in educational administration, Arthur continued to support White’s work, influencing Sir Percy Nunn to complete a course of lessons for which he expressed much appreciation. He edited the 1938 edition of White’s “Sinus Tone Production” suggesting refinements to the basic theory. Whilst adhering to the basic tenets of the method, his considerable intellect and logical thought led him to develop the sinus tone concept still further, culminating in “The General Theory”. Defining as it does that voice is produced by the integral activity of the whole vocal tract but in training and practise attention is best directed to the sinuses, this represented a development from White’s initial proposition. This, however, was as far as he would go, arguing passionately both within and outside the Society with any who might wish to give greater credence to the vocal fold theory.

In 1977 he was asked to present a paper entitled “Still bearing Fruit” to the Association of Teachers of Singing meeting in Aldeburgh. He returned again in 1978 with “Voice Training – Finding a Common Approach” and with students and fellow teachers from this Society gave a demonstration at Dartington in 1981. Although received with polite interest by many of the Association he was saddened by the hostility of several and the general indifference to a technique that could prove useful to fellow teachers in their work. One who did accept the challenge was Sir Peter Pears, who, having read of E.G. White’s books, requested a lesson and was promptly given one! When Arthur’s book “Think Afresh about the Voice” was revised and enlarged to contain the papers presented at Aldeburgh, together with the General Theory, Sir Peter Pears wrote the foreword.

By his own admission, Arthur was only moderately gifted vocally, although coming from a Methodist background was steeped in the singing traditions he learnt as a boy. After his voice had “broken” he recalled trying to sing bass and despite lessons at the London College of Music found the high notes beyond him. However in 1956 he obtained a musical diploma as a tenor performer at an age when many singers might be giving up - a tribute to sinus control and a course of lessons in the Alexander Technique that he believed complements our work so well. He performed locally in Kent and regularly at Society gatherings, mastering the Beethoven Song Cycle, An die ferne Geliebte, in German, in his 78th year and five years later sang Love went A-riding by Frank Bridge. How many others would have felt so confident that our method could achieve such success? Although students had benefited from his teaching since the 1950’s it was on retirement that he set about ensuring that the work in which he believed so passionately became more widely known. He taught both at the Wigmore Studios in London and in Dover. Whilst many of his students have sadly died or are constrained by other commitments, some are still active in the Society and can, themselves bear witness to his enthusiasm and inspired teaching. Always generous with his time he gave consultations to any experiencing voice difficulties, amongst these being Dr. Mark Dellar who acknowledged the help he had received by attendance at Arthur’s funeral.

Arthur continued to teach, write articles, attend conferences, meetings of our Society and concerts where his former pupils and “grand pupils” were performing until increased physical infirmity prevented much travel. With his mind still active he revised the Rules of the Society to ensure its continuation despite the decline in members and the disinclination of others to attend meetings. He gave encouragement to his younger colleagues and corresponded with anyone who might be persuaded to investigate the benefits of the technique for themselves.

Arthur Hewlett’s tireless work in promoting White’s Technique is unrivalled and without his devotion this Society would have long ago ceased to exist. In death he has provided generously to allow the work to continue and had wished that his skull could have been used for further research. However this was not possible but his legacy lives on in the lives of those who whatever their initial talent have achieved success and enjoyment through the use of their voice.

(Dorothy Douse)