2006 Edition 2 (Issue 144) - Sasmt-savmo.org.za

Michael Whiteman, musician, mathematician and mystic,
completed a lifespan of one hundred years on 2 November
2006. And he still is very much up and about!
Those who know him are incredulous of the idea that he
has, in fact, aged in years. Admittedly, his body has not
been able to escape all attendant symptoms of aging
(his knees are a bit ‘wobbly’ and he had to sell his car!),
but his indefatigable mind and spirit are as agile as ever.
Always active, they are constantly weighing up new
ideas against handed down traditional beliefs, probing
with relentless logic and dissecting with the sharp edge
of a scalpel. That is Michael, the mathematician and
scientist.
Michael the mystic is another side of this great mind,
developing profound strands of thought on mysticism,
comparative religion, philosophy of science, parapsychology
and psychopathology — writing and publishing
widely. His next book is due to be published
in time for his hundredth birthday celebrations.
When thinking of Michael the musician, what first
comes to mind is his unselfish dedication to the
South African Society of Music Teachers through
more than five decades. (I partly quote from my
presidential address in March 1991 at the Stellenbosch
conference, when Prof Whiteman’s 50
years as editor of our society’s journal were celebrated;
published in The South African Music
Teacher, vol 118, June 1991.) He became editor of
this journal in July 1941 (No. 20) and continued
compiling, editing and seeing through publication,
each and every issue of the journal until No.
127 in December 1995. Apart from this he has
been President (1948, 1957 and 1962), Vice-President
Western Cape (1950, 1952-1956), member
of council for at least 50 years; also member of
many executive committees, for many years trustee
of the SASMT Benevolent Fund, also for many
years representative of the SASMT on the CAPAB
Music Committee, our anchor and adviser in constitutional
and other matters of the SASMT and
— how else could it be? — an outstanding music
teacher in his own right. He regularly held licentiate
classes for piano teaching method and paper
work and prepared piano students for their practical
examination, resulting in about 65 diploma
successes.
A major contribution to the structure of the
SASMT was his reworking of the constitution in
Prof Michael Whiteman on his 100th birthday
Reino Ottermann
order to also include institutional membership for universities
and other centres of music education. Those
of us who have been more closely associated with the
SASMT remember him as the indefatigable defender of
the constitution of the SASMT, sometimes to the irritation
of less informed conference members, but many
times saving us embarrassment vis-à-vis our own constitution
or, even worse, being caught off-side to our
own detriment. No wonder that honorary membership
of the SASMT was conferred on him in 1971.
Michael Whiteman was born on Tulse Hill, London, on 2
November 1906. He was educated at Highgate School
and at Caius College in Cambridge. After some time in
his father’s publishing business and a number of years
as scholastic head of Stafford’s School in Harrow Weald
he and his wife, Sona, came to South Africa in January
1937 where he accepted a position at the Diocesan
Suid-Afrikaanse Musiek Onderwyser |144 | November 2006