Arthur Fieldhouse

Professor Arthur Fieldhouse became one of the most important figures in school music teaching, and was an early advocate for Music Therapy. Along with his wife Alice, whom he married in 1957, they fought to get nursing accepted as a University qualification. He was born in Cross Creek near Featherston in the south Wairarapa, where his father was head teacher at the school. He inherited his love of music from his mother who taught music. He trained as a schoolteacher and began teaching in Wellington in 1934. In 1935 he attended the University of London, completing a Ph. D in Music Therapy, before returning to teaching jobs in Auckland and Christchurch. In 1946 he began teaching in the Department of Education at Victoria University, Wellington, eventually becoming Professor. He retired in 1976. A competent pianist who had lessons from Lili Krause in Wellington, most of his composing appears to have been done in his late teens and early twenties. ‘Songs to Sing to Children’ seem to have been especially popular at concerts in the mid-1930s as there are several reports that mention the performance of some, or all, of them.