Donald Blume

Don Blume was born in 1925. When at school he was taught piano and theory, and won a prize for composition. After leaving school he studied the violin for about three years, and later resumed his piano studies. During his working career, commerce occupied most of his time and he did nothing seriously with music until his retirement in 1990, when he joined the New Plymouth Orchestra as a second violinist, and began composing as an interest for his retirement. He had pieces commissioned by the orchestra including The Coming of Spring, a work that evokes different times of the day in the countryside. He also served as the convener of a music appreciation group for the New Plymouth Chapter of the University of the Third Age, an international organization whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired persons.