Musical inspiration

Ref: Auckland City Council, the Beatles at the civic reception in front of the Auckland Town Hall, 1964, Auckland Libraries, 580-10702

On Monday 23 June, Mike Chunn from the NZ band Split Enz spoke at the Central City Library about the influence that the Beatles had on him. Like many other Aucklanders, the 1964 concert at the Auckland Town Hall was highly memorable and a very exciting chance for NZers to see the Fab Four in the flesh. For Mike, the influence was even greater and inspired him to pursue a career in the music business.

Ref: Auckland City Council, the Beatles at the civic reception in front of the Auckland Town Hall, 1964, Auckland Libraries, 580-10701

The Beatles played two nights in Auckland on the 24 and 25 June as part of their tour around NZ, also playing gigs at Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Described as "the moment that young New Zealand plugged into an international youth culture", just like the rest of the world, Beatlemania hit NZ in a big way.

Ref: Auckland City Council, the Beatles receive a Maori welcome at the civic reception in front of the Auckland Town Hall, 1964, Auckland Libraries, 580-10703

Who are your musical influences and what sort of instrument do they inspire you to play? Perhaps this post showing musical heritage images from Auckland Libraries will inspire you to pick up a new musical instrument or to rekindle a love for an instrument that you used to play.

Ref: Clifton Firth, montage of people & musical instruments, no location, no date, Auckland Libraries, 34-Z263

Wind instruments:

Ref: Clifton Firth, montage of people and musical instruments, no location, c. 1940-1949, Auckland Libraries, 34-S536C

Ref: Herman John Schmidt, Pascoe group, no location, c. 1910-1919, Auckland Libraries, 31-71009

Strings:

Ref: Herman John Schmidt, Mr Crosey, no location, no date, Auckland Libraries, 31-73351

Ref: Herman John Schmidt, Engel musicians group, no location, c. 1920-1929, Auckland Libraries, 31-WP938

Ref: Herman John Schmidt, Mr S Miller, no location, no date, Auckland Libraries, 31-73623

Ref: Herman John Schmidt, Verbruggen musical group, no location, c. 1920-1929, Auckland Libraries, 31-WP1465

Percussion:

Ref: Herman John Schmidt, Mr Blakey, no location, no date, Auckland Libraries, 31-73273

Ref: Auckland Weekly News, a Rarotongan band plays during the welcome ceremony for the Vice Regal visit to Rarotonga, Cook Island, 1914, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19140709-51-4

• Find out more about the Beatles's NZ tour
• Check out the digitised souvenir guide from the Beatles NZ tour - from the Ephemera collection, Sir George Grey Special Collections
• Browse the libraries' heritage Beatles resources: including the 1964 NZ & Aus tour, musical scores, CDs and a history of the band
• Browse the libraries' heritage music resources: including periodicals, bibliographies, music from the 15th to 21st centuries, music from around the world including Aboriginal and Cook Islands music
• Search the Index Auckland database, which is a rich resource of history, art, theatre, film and music references sourced from Auckland area newspapers and journal articles.

Author: Natasha Barrett (NB)