Wallace
Liggett is
currently teaching music in schools. His broad musical and academic
attainment's coupled with an extensive association with accordionists
in New Zealand, meant that Wallace Liggett was ideally qualified
to accept a commission from the New
Zealand Accordion Association Inc. to research and write the book
titled "The
History of the Accordion in New Zealand."
These
same skills mean that Wallace is also ideally qualified to be
the Moderator of the Accordions
Worldwide Celebrity Interviews.
Wallace Liggett was born in Auckland in 1936, the same year that
a drawback duty was removed from most imported accordions. Perhaps an
omen for his future associations with the instrument? His first musical
instruction was on a piano when he was taught by Eileen Langham. After
about two years tuition he turned to other interests, until persuaded
by a friend to purchase an accordion and join the Auckland Society of
Accordionists Orchestra, at the time directed by Bruce Somerville.
A short time after this he was to meet and then study accordion with
Allan Jones. This instruction introduced Wallace to a level of
technique and musical interpretation, although more common in top accordionists
of today, was unknown at that time. The realisation of this was to motivate
Wallace to hours of practice, that within about five years established
him as the leading New Zealand concert accordionist of the day. He was
the first New Zealander to play and record using free bass accordion
on National Radio.
Since then he has recorded for both the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He holds both the New
Zealand Accordion Association Teachers Certificate and the Associate
Teachers Certificate of the Accordion Society of Australia, as well
as a Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Education and Masters in Education.
His Bachelor of Arts had a history major plus an extra history unit
as an elective. Wallace is also an Associate of the Institute
of Registered Music Teachers and a Registered Secondary School Teacher.
He was appointed an examiner for the Accordion
Examination Board of New Zealand in 1992.
Wallace Liggett's non musical activities range from having built
several houses to alternative medicine, in which he holds diplomas in
natural therapies and osteopathy. A regular jogger and ballroom and
Latin American dancer, he has also enjoyed sailing his sixteen foot
skiff and was top slalom water skier at the Australian university he
attended.
Wallace's musical activities include concert performances and
recordings on accordion, piano, synthesiser, electronic accordion and
percussion, and his arrangements and compositions have been played in
New Zealand and overseas. His compositions include pieces for piano,
guitar, orchestral instruments and accordion, some of which have been
selected as test pieces at the New
Zealand Accordion Championships.
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Wallace
Liggett
7/111 Maich Road
Manurewa
Auckland
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9-268-0544
Email: accordionwallace@xtra.co.nz
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