Earle Terry

(William) Earle Terry. Educator, choir conductor, adjudicator, b Toronto 9 Jul 1912, d London, Ont, 10 Mar 1999; BA (Toronto) 1938, B PAED (Toronto) 1940, M MUS (Montreal) 1950, honorary LWCM 1992. He was supervisor of music 1938-43 and 1945-6 in New Toronto and music director 1947-77 for the London, Ont, Board of Education. The London Public Schools' Centennial Chorus recorded an album with Terry as conductor in 1967 (Columbia Special Products CSPS-343). Terry was a guest professor at McGill University, the University of British Columbia, Laurentian University, and the University of Victoria and a choral instructor 1951-81 at the University of Western Ontario. In London, Ont, he founded the Earle Terry Singers (1948-75), a female choir which broadcast regularly on CBC radio and in 1953 represented Canada in Brussels at the first ISME conference. Terry was the founder and conductor 1953-68 of the London Conservatory Choir, which sang with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra during its visits to London in the late 1950s and 1960s. A charter member of the CMEA, he was president 1942-3 of the music section of the Ontario Educational Association (later OMEA) and was elected honorary life member in 1987. He wrote eight music-education texts for elementary schools. In 1991, Terry published the guide, The Choral Conductor's Art (Althouse Press, London, Ont). Concerts in his honour were held in November 1986 and December 1991. The Earle Terry Scholarship in Voice was established in 1995 by the Earle Terry Singers Alumni, and London choirs compete for a trophy in his name.

Writings

- et al. Whales and Nightingales, Basic Goals in Music Series, vol 4 (Toronto 1972)

"Spotlight on Garfield Bender," Recorder, Mar 1973