Harvey Perrin

Perrin, Harvey

Perrin, Harvey (Dale). Educator, conductor, violinist, violist, arranger, b Batesville, Ind, 20 Jul 1905, naturalized Canadian 1926, d Toronto 2 Jan 1999; BA (Toronto) 1933, B PAED (Toronto) 1937. Moving to Canada in 1910 he studied at the Kitchener Conservatory with George Ziegler and in 1919 played violin and viola in the Kitchener-Waterloo Orchestra. He studied at the University of Toronto with Frank Blachford, H.A. Fricker, Luigi von Kunits, George Lambert, and Ettore Mazzoleni. He was a member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Perrin was the conductor 1944-56 of the Harvey Perrin Choir, heard in concert and on CBC and CFRB radio, and 1958-69 of the Toronto Men Teachers' Choir. He directed the massed choirs 1958-71 at the May Festival Concerts of Toronto schoolchildren at Massey Hall which were recorded annually by the Toronto Board of Education (e.g., Toronto Board of Education PRP-110-ST, 1970). His choral arrangements were published 1944-66 by G.V. Thompson.

Perrin was for many years a music teacher in Toronto schools and was associate director 1947-58 and director 1958-71 of music for the Toronto Board of Education. He lectured 1946-66 at the city's summer schools on school music methods and in 1966 visited Hungary on behalf of OISE to study Kodály's principles of music education. He was the editor and one of four authors of the resulting publication The New Approach to Music. Perrin was instrumental in establishing both the TSO school concerts in the 1930s and the TS education programs in the schools in the 1960s.

Perrin was president of the music section of the Ontario Educational Association (later OMEA) and 1969-71 of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association. He adjudicated at competition festivals for more than 45 years in Canada, retiring in 1989. He has also adjudicated in Jamaica and the Bahamas. In 1995, he received the City of Toronto Award of Merit.

Perrin's daughter, Patricia Perrin Krueger (b Toronto 4 Oct 1944), became a percussion and keyboard player with the TS in 1978. She has performed as a soloist with the orchestra on piano, organ, and harpsichord on many occasions.

See also School music.

Writings

- and Wright, Don. Let's Read Music (Toronto 1952)

- -and Bridgman, William; Curtis, Louis. The Canadian Singer, vol 7 (Toronto 1955)

The Canadian Singer, vol 7 (Toronto 1955)

- et al. Songs for Today, 9 vols (Waterloo 1958-70)

- ed. The New Approach to Music, 2 vols (Toronto 1969, 1972)

'Music summer schools I have known,' Recorder, vol 15, Mar 1973