Bill and Daryl Chaddock

“Bill and Daryl assisted where necessary”

Daryl and Bill Chaddock have been the go-to people at the Conservatory for several decades. Whenever someone thinks of a task that needs doing and of someone who will do it well, at the top of everyone’s list are Daryl and Bill.

Daryl’s connection with the Conservatory soon after her family arrived in Halifax from London, Ontario, when her father joined the Faculty of TUNS and later was named President. Daryl’s piano teacher in London recommended that she try to study at the Maritime Conservatory of Music with Howard Brown, but when she arrived in Halifax Mr. Brown had moved on to the Mount Allison, where he was directory of the Conservatory. Instead Daryl enrolled in the studio of Gordon MacPherson, Head of the Conservatory’s Piano Department. Her theory teacher was Rita Morton, who was known for her dedication to her students.

Daryl continued her musical studies at Mount Allison, a university with which her family had had a long association. And it was there that she finally had the opportunity to study with Howard Brown. Mr. Brown was a marvellous pianist and teacher, but a very nervous performer. He often asked Daryl to turn pages for CBC recordings, and she clearly recalls his intense discomfort on those occasions. In 1962, Daryl was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree from MtA. She then pursued her musical studies at the University of Toronto, where Margaret Miller Brown was her teacher; Brown had also taught Gordon MacPherson, Daryl’s teacher at the Conservatory. An educational component of her studies at U of T also took Daryl into the schools.

Following her years in Toronto, Daryl returned to Halifax, where she began teaching piano at the Conservatory. The arrival of four children made it more convenient for Daryl to teach from home, but she returned to the Conservatory in 1995, retiring in 2006 when Bill also retired. The Conservatory’s Honorary Patron then Lieutenant Governor the Honourable Myra Freeman commented at an event held at Province House: “You can take pride in the...the energy, expertise, and dedication you have brought to your teaching career...[and for] your long and distinguished service.”

The Chaddocks are both long-time members of the MCPA Association’s Board of Directors. They can be counted on for every dinner and fund-raiser; whenever there is food to be served or a silent auction to be organized, they are there. Daryl is a Past President of the Association and has also served as Archivist and Corresponding Secretary. Currently she chairs the Association’s Honorary Life Membership Committee and is a member of the MCPA committee that selects faculty members to receive Professional Development Fellowships and has just joined the Scholarship Committee. She is also active in the Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers’ Association, that organization’s Scholarship Trust, and Halifax Ladies for Music.

Bill Chaddock is known around the Conservatory as “The Fudge Man”. For many years he has shown up at a myriad of Conservatory events and regularly on Saturday mornings with his boxes of various types of delicious homemade fudge. We all have our favourites. Bill’s fudge is often bought as a potential gift, but—much as we promise ourselves that this time we’ll resist—all too often it disappears before reaching the intended recipient. The profits from the sale of the fudge are donated to the Conservatory to support the Chaddock Bursaries, created to help students in financial need. In this way, many thousands of dollars have been channeled to help Conservatory students in financial need.

Bill and Daryl have both served on the Conservatory’s Board of Governors, Daryl in the early 2000s and Bill during the 1980s and 90s. He was particularly active in the Board’s fund-raising efforts. Given his business background, Bill is also currently a welcome member of the Association’s Finance Committee.

As has so often been the case at the Conservatory, the Chaddock’s association has been a family affair. Daryl and Bill are justifiably proud of the four children, all of whom studied music here: Monica, the piano, Kristen, the violin; Paul, the cello; and, Charmaine, the flute. They were perennial winners of the Ifan Williams Memorial Scholarship given at the time for “the most promising student ages 12-15” and later of the Harry Dean Memorial Scholarships for older students. They often played together, performing for example, at the Jubilee Banquet held at the Sheraton Hotel to mark the Conservatory 100th anniversary. The Chaddock Quartet delighted their listeners most recently earlier this month when they performed together for the first time in a number of years at the celebrations marking their parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

Whenever you want something down quickly and well, without fuss, and out of the limelight, the Chaddocks are the people to ask. Luckily they are constitutionally incapable of saying “no”. Every organization should have a Daryl and Bill, a couple who, as was reported after the Annual Holiday Ball held in 1995, “the Chaddocks assisted where necessary”.