General News
24 July, 2023
A lifetime blessed with a magical, musical gift
The musical identity, now almost 90, still has one to three performances listed each week in his diary and estimates he has played at about 6000 events over 75 years. If a community or social event anywhere across the Horsham area and beyond...
The musical identity, now almost 90, still has one to three performances listed each week in his diary and estimates he has played at about 6000 events over 75 years.
If a community or social event anywhere across the Horsham area and beyond required a musician, chances are the name Don Papst was in there somewhere.
His volunteer hours must add up to tens of thousands.
He has a rare musical gift. He plays "by ear", doesn't read music, can adjust to any key and plays a variety of instruments.
At present he's tackling the saxophone - and he intends to move on to the ukulele.
He still practices, sometimes several times a day, to "keep his fingers nimble". But Covid was a hard time for him, with no events to play for, and his fingers "slowed down".
He started in a mouth organ band in his late teenage years, one of about 45 young men, and remembers a monthly practice at a home in Smith Street.
He's regularly playing at functions, but these days concedes to having help to carry the mountain of equipment to his vehicle.
Don has been playing music as far back as he can remember.
His mother encouraged him to play music and his father, who played the side drums in Horsham Pipe Band, was in a dance band called The Merrymakers Orchestra.
He also played a long flute-like instrument called a "chanter" and gave one to his son, Don.
He remembers his parents buying him a new piano accordion in Ballarat. The 12-base keyboard was too small - his new one had 120 base buttons and a larger keyboard.
He was so excited and remembers playing it all the way home to Horsham.
Around the same time, when he was 16, he played the mouth organ in an Amateur Hour talent show in Horsham Theatre in front of about 600 people.
To his surprise he took third place. His collection of mouth organs now numbers 28, with an E-flat one his favourite.
Soon he was filling in at events which starred noted Horsham entertainers including talented pianist Roma Carlson and tap dancer Les Smith.
By now he was playing the mouth organ at many fund-raising functions and for dances around the district - always voluntarily.
Then there was deb training and the balls. For 12 years he played for deb balls and practices at St Brigid's College in Horsham as well as Horsham High School and for deb balls at Murtoa.
For about 25 years he helped raise money for cancer research by playing at fund-raising dances.
Then there were the many times he played for the elderly in Sunnyside Lutheran Retirement Village.
"They had 'wing' parties," he said. "Families would join their relatives and I would play for two hours while they ate their meal and talked. I did that for at least 20 years."
He's lost track of the times his band Key Change - with musicians Ian Lehmann, Maureen Lehmann, Steve Ellis and Robyn Koschitzke - has played at Haven Market. Perhaps 20 years.
Add to that the German Fests at Dimboola, dances in towns and districts, jazz festivals at Halls Gap and the many weddings, often at the former La Fontana.
"I moved around a bit," he said.
When electric organs replaced the traditional pedal ones, he went from a piano accordion to the keyboard. Often purchased at agricultural shows, the early ones were fragile, with circuit boards mounted on cardboard.
Then there were the church services. He played various instruments for Horsham Lutheran Church services, only giving up two years ago.
But playing the organ upstairs meant he couldn't see or hear the congregation. He prefers to watch an audience dancing, tapping their feet or singing to his music.
A big disappointment was the theft of his "music encyclopedia", a large book started by his father and listing all the tunes they played, tunes for each dance, and other information including keys for songs and tempos.
It was taken from the back of his car along with some leads, while he was packing up after an event, and would have been of little use to anyone else.
In between his music performances he was a mechanic, and a school bus, coach-trip and taxi driver.
Reluctant to talk about health issues, he does admit to being insulin dependent and receiving the Hospital in the Home service daily.
Don and wife Valmai, who died last year, had five sons. Some carry on the family musical tradition. He now has eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
"My grandchildren and even my great-grandchildren are learning instruments or can sing beautifully," he said.
"I have been very blessed in life."