A life of major scale in Manawatū
The achievements of Evelyn Rawlins are considerable and well documented. Some of us still remember her as our music teacher or colleague.
Evelyn Rawlins was an influential and distinguished music teacher in Palmerston North from about 1910 until her death in 1977.
Her name is still remembered through the Evelyn Rawlins Room in Square Edge, which is well used by the music community.
Her achievements were considerable and have been well documented. Some of us still remember her as our music teacher or as a music colleague.
Evelyn Mary Rawlins, known to her many music pupils as Miss Rawlins, was born in Palmerston North on October 8, 1889. Her father was a local tinsmith and plumber. Her mother, Jinnie, had a successful catering business and tearooms in Coleman Pl, near Rangitīkei St.
Evelyn was an only child. She was educated at the Convent of Mercy, a Palmerston North Catholic school chosen because of its high academic achievement and reputation in the arts. She gained her music letters in 1910.
Later she recalled with affection the ‘‘gentle, wise and humorous nuns who guided her in her youth’’, recorded in ED Woodhouse’s book, Airs and Graces – An Historical Sketch of the Palmerston North Music Club, c1970.
Soon after she gained her music qualifications, Evelyn began to organise soire´ es above her mother’s tearooms. Thus began her long career as a music professional, not only as a teacher, but also galvanising the music community and contributing solidly to its development. She was a role model of a professional, dedicated, intelligent career woman.
Her long legacy of teaching meant she taught the sons and daughters and grandchildren of her first pupils. She guided students from initial steps through to diplomas.
She also trained many who were to become Palmerston North’s future music teachers – a fine and outstanding music whakapapa.
In 1938, Rawlins was elected president of the Palmerston North Music Club, which had begun about 1917. She served three terms as president, and at other times sat on the committee, so was a continuous contributing member until 1967.
It is acknowledged that it is largely thanks to her outstanding contribution that the music club had such a fine history of city music making. She was interested in broadening the range of musical activities in the city, not only through her association with numerous organisations, but also through her ornate and stylish music studio in Cuba St, which was also home to many musical events, recitals and receptions for visiting international artists.
The many signed photographs from artists on the studio walls were a testament to her work. In the 1950s she successfully campaigned and fundraised for the purchase of a Steinway piano for the city, in order that overseas and accomplished artists could perform here.
That Steinway is now in the Globe Theatre, played by visiting professionals as well as locals.
With a keen interest in fellow teachers’ welfare and the standing of the profession, she was a founding member of the Manawatū Society of Professional Musicians. Later it was renamed the Manawatū Society of Registered Music Teachers, and she became its president.
My own memory of Miss Rawlins’ studio was of a place of beauty and elegance. I started learning the piano from her at the age of 6.
The studio was in the Ford Automotive Building in Cuba St. I remember the smell of rubber tyres and oil at the bottom of the stairs. The studio at the top of the stairs smelt of perfume and powder.
There were a number of beautiful and different sized, polished pianos as well as photos, paintings, mirrors and elegant furniture.
I think she must have got bored with us all at times, beginners plodding on through our scales. I remember her on several occasions, rising in the middle of my lesson and drifting towards her mirror, where she took out her powder compact and proceeded, grandly, to dust her nose and face. The powder would float into the air like a pink cloud and slowly settle on her beautifully coiffured silver-grey hair, which was held in place by a light grey hairnet, as well as on her pale blue twinset (blue was her favourite colour) and beautiful jewellery.
Miss Rawlins always dressed in style and had statuesque posture.
Local music teachers remember her well. Susan McConachy remembers Rawlins had an aura and presence in a room. ‘‘You sensed her entrance, rather like the Queen arriving. We young musicians were all in awe of her,’’ she said.
Heather de Ridder remembers Rawlins as a stickler for perfection and thoroughly professional. She had high expectations for pupils and expected them to practise, but she was also kind-hearted and generous with her time, including giving extra lessons before exams.
She encouraged and expected everyone to do their best; however, she would say the results of exams were in the ‘‘lap of the gods’’. She also wisely said, ‘‘When things go wrong, don’t look back.’’
De Ridder and Rawlins shared a birthdate and de Ridder was regularly invited for tea, served in Rawlins’ fine china, and butterfly cream cakes. It was formal but kind and gracious.
Rawlins would ask after people’s families but never spoke of her own concerns – she was a truly private person and somewhat formal.
She never married. The young man she loved, Alfred Cleaver, tragically died of tuberculosis aged 34 in 1921, when they were engaged. He was born in Marton.
In the Cleaver family records, he is described as ‘‘nice looking and with an air about him’’ and that ‘‘Evelyn adored him’’.
Alfred had made an impression on the Rawlins family and became a management partner in the J Rawlins tearooms business. He was buried in the Rawlins family plot. Evelyn is buried with him in Terrace End cemetery.
Evelyn Rawlins devoted her life to music in this city and for that she received an MBE in 1966. Her considerable financial legacy funded the Evelyn Rawlins Room, and through grants, such as the Legacy Trust, she continues to support the development of artists and projects.
Her gravestone epitaph reads ‘‘Her Music Lives On’’, and indeed it does in so many ways.