Musical Muriel has plenty to sing about

Age has not diminished Muriel Tinker's skill as a pianist.

There is a framed plaque in Muriel Tinker's flat in Wanganui East that sums up her life perfectly.

It reads: "Gone Chopin. Bach in a Minuet. Offenbach sooner."

The play on musical history is front and centre and it underlines Mrs Tinker's life to a tee.

She started learning the piano as a 6-year-old, when she was a student at the Avenue Primary School (where Wanganui Intermediate now stands).

She showed an aptitude from an early age and that was recognised when a professor of music, visiting from the UK, told her she had no need to go beyond Grade 8 exams.

"She told me I didn't need to get my letters [in music] because I played better than most of those who had them anyway," she said.

Mrs Tinker's ability at the keyboard led her to a lifelong career as a professional accompanist, recognised as one of the best in the country. She played for the stars, including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Dame Malvina Major, local bass Maurice Taylor and for countless concerts by the Wanganui Male Voice Choir. That association with the choir lasted 45 years and ended in 1999. She also played the organ at St Paul's Church for at least half a century and was not a bad contralto singer either, getting some tuition from Sister Mary Leo.

In between a hectic musical life, she worked for a number of local businesses and schools, including the office of the Aramoho Primary School, and raised a family of two girls.

"Dame Malvina is a great friend and I accompanied her a lot. Maurice Taylor, Malvina and I toured all over the North Island," she said.

In 1996 she was listed as the "official accompaniste" to the Royal Variety Concert in the Royal Wanganui Opera House, in honour of a visit by the late Queen Mother.

"Before the concert they told me how to curtsey properly when introduced to the Queen Mother. But when she got to me, and I looked at all the jewellery around her neck, I almost forgot," she said.

"I sang with the national orchestra in a performance in Palmerston North that was broadcast too. I sang The Last Rose of Summer I'll never forget that," Mrs Tinker said.

Her advancing years have not dimmed her abilities, She will still get out occasionally and play at rest homes. She even has copies of the lyrics to hand out for the audiences.

Mrs Tinker said her late husband Alan used to say that laughter was the best medicine and she is a believer: "So why did the bicycle lie down? Because it was two tyred." She has plenty of those in her repertoire. And when she wants a break from spreading the one-liners, she will sit herself down in front of her piano and rattle off a number.