Heart of melody
Blodwen Magnolia de Silva Weeratunga is a name synonymous with church music. An important and significant part of her life has been in training young people to sing.
Blodwen Magnolia de Silva Weeratunga
Her father had read the classic ‘How Green Was My Valley’ and decided that his first daughter would be named Blodwen. The family’s life was knit around the life of their church, St Mary and John’s Church Nugegoda. While Blodwen’s mother was the enrolling member of the Mothers’ Union her father formed a drama society in church drawing on the talents of the youth. He produced ‘The Centurion’ and ‘The Word was Made Flesh’.
Blodwen attended several schools, S. Thomas’ Kotte, S. John’s School, Nugegoda, Methodist College, Kollupitiya and Pembroke Academy for Higher Studies.
“When I was three years old my father bought a piano with eight notes. I started playing by ear. Ms Lalani Senanayake taught me music and to play the piano. Fr. T.A.M. Jayawardene, the vicar had a pedal organ which was in church and I trained myself to play the organ,” she recalls.
“When I was 15 I played for a service at St Mary and John Nugegoda. At that time Marlene Kiel played for the English service while Premanie Amarasekera and I played for the Sinhala service.”
“In 1976 I started playing in the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour and continue to this very day. I have completed 38 years as the main organist,” Blodwen says.
Her teaching career began when she joined Ladies’ College as lab assistant in 1967. Blodwen later joined S. Thomas’ Preparatory School, Kollupitiya teaching Science and Mathematics in the English Medium. She taught English in the primary school and was encouraged to doing music in the school with Ms Swarnam Sivapragasam, the choir mistress. A Sinhala orchestra was started and she was asked to be in charge of it.
“After Ms Sivapragasam, Rosemary de Silva, Sally Molligoda and Chinthamani Fernando were the choir mistresses. In 2000 I was asked to train the choir. I trained children to sing in the tradition of the church hoping their lives would be touched by the words that they sang,” Blodwen says. Patience has been the key to working with children and very specially in training them to sing and to enjoy what they are doing, she says.