picture of WallaceWallace Liggett
AIRMT, NZAATC, ASAATC, BA, DipED, MA ED, ND, DO, FAAIDT

Teacher, Author, Scholar, Performer

Wallace Liggett is currently teaching music in schools. His broad musical and academic attainment's coupled with an extensive association with accordionists in New Zealand, meant that Wallace Liggett was ideally qualified to accept a commission from the New Zealand Accordion Association Inc. to research and write the book titled "The History of the Accordion in New Zealand."

These same skills mean that Wallace is also ideally qualified to be the Moderator of the Accordions Worldwide Celebrity Interviews.

Wallace Liggett was born in Auckland in 1936, the same year that a drawback duty was removed from most imported accordions. Perhaps an omen for his future associations with the instrument? His first musical instruction was on a piano when he was taught by Eileen Langham. After about two years tuition he turned to other interests, until persuaded by a friend to purchase an accordion and join the Auckland Society of Accordionists Orchestra, at the time directed by Bruce Somerville.

A short time after this he was to meet and then study accordion with Allan Jones. This instruction introduced Wallace to a level of technique and musical interpretation, although more common in top accordionists of today, was unknown at that time. The realisation of this was to motivate Wallace to hours of practice, that within about five years established him as the leading New Zealand concert accordionist of the day. He was the first New Zealander to play and record using free bass accordion on National Radio.

Since then he has recorded for both the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He holds both the New Zealand Accordion Association Teachers Certificate and the Associate Teachers Certificate of the Accordion Society of Australia, as well as a Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Education and Masters in Education. His Bachelor of Arts had a history major plus an extra history unit as an elective. Wallace is also an Associate of the Institute of Registered Music Teachers and a Registered Secondary School Teacher. He was appointed an examiner for the Accordion Examination Board of New Zealand in 1992.

Wallace Liggett's non musical activities range from having built several houses to alternative medicine, in which he holds diplomas in natural therapies and osteopathy. A regular jogger and ballroom and Latin American dancer, he has also enjoyed sailing his sixteen foot skiff and was top slalom water skier at the Australian university he attended.

Wallace's musical activities include concert performances and recordings on accordion, piano, synthesiser, electronic accordion and percussion, and his arrangements and compositions have been played in New Zealand and overseas. His compositions include pieces for piano, guitar, orchestral instruments and accordion, some of which have been selected as test pieces at the New Zealand Accordion Championships.


Contact Details
Wallace Liggett
7/111 Maich Road
Manurewa
Auckland
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9-268-0544
Email: accordionwallace@xtra.co.nz

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