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from Latrobe Valley Express Wednesday 14 September 2022

Morse element

Moe piano teacher celebrates her 100th birthday

By ALI SHLAIBEQ

TRAFALGAR-BORN piano teacher Judy Hall celebrated her 100th birthday recently. Evelyn Margaret Mary ‘Judy’ Hall OAM, was born 2 July 2 1922. She has taught as a piano teacher in Gippsland since 1946, producing students of international fame. Ms Hall was born in Trafalgar. One of four children to parents Daniel Baillie and Mary Larsen, her first musical exposure was from her father who was a professional cornet player and bandmaster. Her exposure to music was further developed when her family bought a radio in the 1930s, serving as a source of discovering classical music. Ms Hall attended Trafalgar State School and Warragul High School. At a young age, she would sit at her father’s piano and play by ear, with her father teaching her the foundations of music, albeit informally. From an early age, her ability at the piano became apparent, and she was awarded a scholarship granting her six months of tuition. At the age of 12, she began to have formal music lessons. At 15, Ms Hall left Warragul High School, continuing her education at the St Joseph’s convent in Trafalgar, where she studied bookkeeping, typing and music. As Ms Hall’s musical abilities advanced, she sought to improve her piano technique. Edward Goll had taught Ms Hall’s past teacher Margaret Smallacombe, who then referred her to Goll, becoming his pupil at the age of 19. Goll, a renowned Czech-Australian concert pianist, was a great influence on Ms Hall musically. From the age of 19 she would have to find a means to travel some 120 kilometres from Trafalgar to Melbourne for lessons. She continued lessons with him for three years until her marriage in 1944. In 1946, Ms Hall began giving piano lessons. Her successes as a teacher were found in her attention to establishing a formidable technical foundation early in a student’s development. Her teaching ability was proven in the multitude of her students who passed examinations and competed in eisteddfods, with 76 major awards and scholarships granted. While studying under Ms Hall, 33 of her students received the Associate in Music Australia (AMusA) Centenarian: Local piano teacher Judy Hall turned 100 recently. photographs supplied and four the Licentiate in Music Australia (LMusA) issued by the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB). Throughout her career, Ms Hall has travelled internationally in aid of her professional development, visiting 26 different countries. Over her career, Ms Hall has done a number of community performances as a pianist including for the Country Women’s Association, local fire brigades, football clubs, private recitals and playing with her chamber group ‘Judy and Friends’ at local nursing homes. She often accompanied at local eisteddfods and sponsored sections including a movement from a piano concerto and a complete piano sonata. Ms Hall was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1996 for her service to music education in the Latrobe Valley. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Distinguished Teachers Award by the Victorian Music Teachers’ Association (VMTA). In 2019, Ms Hall was bestowed with life membership of the Victoria Music Teachers’ Association.