CHOIR SINGING

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21319, 12 November 1934, Page 9

CHOIR SINGING

TO THB RDITOB Of THE PttSSS. Sir. —Your correspondent, H. E.Wilkinson, appears to have missed the point in my letter. He has become a trifle peevish on what he refers to, "as the lccturette on church attendance, etc.," and complains of impertinence. Those who are so easily offended should not indulge in newspaper correspondence. If my letter liad been read carefully, it would have been seen that I made no unkind reference to those who "listenin" and who are unable to attend church through no fault of their own. However, to judge the musical standard of a service from listening to it broadcast, is most unfair: as from experience I have found that it does not compare favourably with one that is attended. I have visited the Oxford Terrace Church for a service and have failed to note the fault complained of. As I have suggested before, the effect of the sopranos seeming too prominent, may de due, in no small measure, to the position of the microphone. To return to the original purpose of your correspondent's letter about an arranged adflress on singing, 1 still maintain, as before, that it is not necessary to seek the aid of a visitor when we have someone on hand, as qualified as any to give instruction in this direction. What appears the most helpful to choirs, is the good that might result from listening to a really good choir, as suggested by Dr. Nicholson, and endeavouring to apply that which is learnt Finally, I would be loath to finish without assuring your correspondent

that my mind is as much at peace as it is my fervent hope that his will be, after he meets the inevitable attack that he is forcing upon himself through the disclosure he has made of the churches, whose choirs have been the unconscious cause of his discomfort. —Yours, etc., F. T. CLARK. November 11. 1934.