Harry Hill

Hill, Harry

Harry (Henry) Hill. Educator, choir conductor, composer, b Burnley, Lancashire, England, 21 Aug 1893, d Ottawa 24 Apr 1972; B MUS ED (Sherwood Music School) 1931. He was taken to Peterborough, Ont, at 12. His teachers included Clifford Higgin in Brantford, Ont, and he studied at the University of Toronto, the ESM (Rochester), the American Institute of Normal Methods (Boston), and the Sherwood Music School (Chicago). After teaching school music and serving as an organist-choirmaster 1918-21 in Paris, Ont, and 1921-8 in Kingston, Hill lived 1928-41 in Kitchener-Waterloo as supervisor of school music and conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir and 1941-53 in Ottawa, again as public school music supervisor and as organist-choirmaster in several churches. He organized and conducted a 1000-voice choir for the 25th anniversary of the United Church of Canada in 1952, and a 500-voice choir for the Ottawa celebrations of the coronation of Elizabeth II. He was elected in 1953 for the first of three terms with the Ottawa school board, served 1961-2 as chairman, and resigned in 1966. Hill was the editor 1928-32 of the school-music page of Musical Canada and was president 1929-31 of the music section of the Ontario Educational Association (OMEA). For his school choirs he composed many short pieces, some published by Waterloo.