Christopher Birkett

BIRKETT, Christopher. b. England, 1829; d. Grahamstown, South Africa, 1896.  Christopher Birkett was a pioneering music educator and early missionary teacher whose name is most strongly associated with the introduction and development of the tonic sol-fa system in the Cape Colony. He trained at Westminster Training College in London (1853–1854), where he studied sol-fa under Henry Nixon, before immigrating to South Africa in the mid-1850s. Settling initially in Cape Town and later in Grahamstown (now Makhanda), Birkett offered public music instruction and singing classes based on the sol-fa method, including notable work with Xhosa Sunday schools and Fingo adult learners. His use of tonic...