MUSIC AS AN ART.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 187, 7 August 1913, Page 11

MUSIC AS AN ART.

r ' r " ' VAXTJE OF EXAUUTATZOirS. BEFLT TO THE GTTT ORGANISTi The remarks of the city organist yjir. Sfaughan Bar&ett) in a paper read [before the Auckland Society of MusiIcians on Tuesday night, expreeeing ptrong opposition to musical examinations as being against the best inter|ests of muflic in the artietic sense, areBot agTeed with \ry 'Mr. Henry Saint IGeorge, examiner lor the Trinity Colof London, who is now visiting New Zealand.

■*We often find pfople ready to coniflemn something without taking the trouble to first inquire into ite merite, ttnd that is exactly whit Mr. Barnett Appears to have done," said Mr. Saint Geoige to a "Star" interviewer this jnorning. While acknowledging a personal regard for the Auckland city organist, the visiting examiner said that beyond question he was labouring under misapprehensions. "He imagines a reBtricted list of pieces for purposes of lesamJiation," proceeded Mr. Saint Ceorge, if he looks into our Byllabus he will find that we hav-e an enonnone collection of pieces capable of jneetini the requirements of all types of candinates. He aiao things that the effects of cramming can cci ~*.pe our isotice, and succeed in examinitaoii, but onr methods are based on such a broad Smmdation that weakneeees are quickly detected. The Trinity College men do toothing else bnt examine, and, as an instance, I might say thai I have been taking 3,000 candidates cTerv year. It 5w31 therefore be recognised that we Slave a special training which enables ue to see through artificialities."

Mr. Saint George said that another imistaken impression that Mr. Manghan JBarnett appeared to labour under wae *he belief that examination certificates jentitled the holders to teaching priviJeges. Ao a matter of fact, very fevr succeeded in obtaining teachers' certififcates, for the College was extremely ieareial in issuing them. "foo. the system ■which he condemns," added Mr. Saint George, "is evidently not the syejtem of the Trinity College, but one which apparently exists solely in ibig imagina(tion. . However, these misconceptions fwere continually mot -with. For instance, when he (Hi. Saint George) wae Sn New Zealand on the last occasion, EJfcck Hamburg iras also here, and in (the course of conversation the latter (asked how long it took to -pat a eandi(date through. When informed that from ten to forty minutes tra« taken up eingle examinatione, the famoue (pinrist remarked-- "Then, I suppcee the Mnffers axe put throngh in three bmnntes." That, said the visiting exbminex, was a typical example of°how jeven an accomplished mneician was piable to err ia hie conception of expminatione. Aβ a matter of fact the jsf-ealled "dnffers" occupied far more Snne than those who were Trell up in {then , work. idea appeared to exist in some pnarteiß, remarked Mr. Saint George, grt if a did not play tiie we& pieces in the way the esaminer'Eked She said candidate would fail Nothing feoola Oβ more abstrrd, becanse a broad ißtandard existed tor examination purposes, and that standard required that (one allowance should be made for the of-the player. In condition |fl»e VEitoT emphasised the opinion that jtßßsical exammations were not only bepniing increasingly popular, bnt were (BCTVinga higher purpose in ti e ietiaragement of mnsic than ever before