Encounters with Musical Centenarians

William Green

Nearly everyone wants to know the ‘secret’ to longevity. Several years ago, on his 107th birthday, Jack Coe (at that time the oldest man in New Zealand) declared that the secret was ‘popcorn and beer’. Hastings centenarian Vi Cassin, born in 1924, gave her answer as ‘onions and beer’. I would like to meet her, not only to find out whether she consumes these two items separately or together, but also because she is a pianist. As a pianist myself, I regularly work with retirement village choirs and have become increasingly intrigued by centenarian musicians. Is part of the ‘secret’ to longevity contained in their musicianship?

Studies have shown that music stimulates parts of the brain responsible for memory, attention and problem-solving skills. I’ve certainly noticed that many musical centenarians I’ve met continue to be proficient in using Google, email and YouTube. Another important factor also seems to be that being musically active contributes to a sense of purpose, accomplishment and community belonging.

Years ago, I met a pianist who was nearly 105. She didn’t play on that occasion, as she was getting over shingles, but Mrs Shepherd was extremely personable and a great conversationalist. She was still driving and painting at 100, and ‘summed herself up’ (according to friends) by playing ‘Oh What a Beautiful Morning’ at her birthday celebrations.

Some years after that I met Richmond resident Jim Carter. Jim had helped create a slice of New Zealand music history in 1948 when he played Hawaiian guitar on the first New Zealand-made recording, on the TANZA label. The song they recorded, sung by Pixie Williams, was the iconic ‘Blue Smoke’, written by Ruru Karaitiana while serving the Māori Battalion during the Second World War.  I was caught in a traffic jam en route to my meeting with Jim and received a hurry-up phone call from him, telling me he wanted to be done by 5pm. He was obviously a busy man. At one hundred years old, Jim was still driving. He assured a reporter that he kept up with traffic but stated (without any apparent trace of irony) that he got a bit sick of ‘these older drivers’ who lagged behind. When I visited, he showed me the latest guitars he had bought. He was looking forward to buying more. When I farewelled him with ‘all the best for the future’, he called back cheerily, ‘oh, dunno if I’ve got a future!’

Around the same time, I encountered the redoubtable Kara Nelson, 100-year-old Waiheke Island anti-nuclear activist, pianist – and dancer. At 94, Kara ‘Bang Bang’ Nelson toured New Zealand and the USA as a member of hip-hop dance troupe Hip Hop-eration. The 2014 film, Hip Hop-eration, written and directed by Bryn Evans, follows this intrepid group of ‘courageous yet cheeky senior citizens’ through this unlikely musical journey from Aotearoa to the world hip hop championships in Las Vegas. The brass and woodwind-playing centenarians I’ve met have all made a convincing case for music supporting their longevity, simply because of the physical strength and breath support required to play their instruments. Tauranga Jazz saxophonist Niel Randrup was convinced that the two factors that got him to 101 were playing the saxophone and striding around on the golf course, while 100-year-old Waimate trumpeter Arthur Johnson demonstrated his breath control to me by holding, to my increasing alarm, the same note for 34 seconds.

The Risingholme Community Orchestra in Christchurch is famous in musical circles for having had centenarians and near-centenarians in its brass section. One of them was 101-year-old trumpeter Mel Smith who had played in brass bands and orchestras for 94 years and, like Niel Randrup, credited the benefits of breathing control and muscular support for being able to play to such an advanced age. In his long life, he never experienced a headache. Beside him was fellow trumpeter and arranger Doug Kelly (nicknamed ‘Doug Kelly the Bush Arranger’) who had had to retire at only 99, due to a hip injury.

I’m still intrigued by centenarian musicians and hope to meet more of them. Regardless of whether music was or is a factor in their longevity, I feel inspired just sitting with these people and imbibing a full century of their wisdom.

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William Green is an Auckland-based pianist, composer, teacher, poet and presenter who studied piano under Maurice Till at the University of Canterbury, gaining MusB/MA. His compositions, which range from choral, orchestral and instrumental works to comic opera and comic songs, have been performed in New Zealand, Adelaide and Suva as well as at the 2018 World Viola Congress and the 2024 World Choir Games. Apart from music, he enjoys exploring the islands of New Zealand and the Pacific. William recently spent several months in Dunedin researching and writing a biography of Maurice Till.