Music Examiner Praises Standard In N.Z.

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29892, 4 August 1962, Page 2

Music Examiner Praises Standard In N.Z.

A Trinity College of Music examiner, Miss Mary Tweedie, who is on her seventh Dominion tour, considers that musical standards and achievements in New Zealand are high.

Miss Tweedie, who this week completed five weeks of examinations in Christchurch, said that she had noticed an all-round improvement in the standard of performance, which was particularly high among the children. This was a tribute to the devoted work of music teachers in preparing their candidates. “I would say without doubt that the work of New Zealand children can compare with any that I have heard in the world,” she said.

One consistently weak spot, however, was sight-reading. "I feel that sometimes there is too much emphasis on the preparation of set pieces and exercises for examinations and not enough regard for developing a wider knowledge of versatility,” she said. Urging parents and teachers not to regard the music examination “as an end in itself,” Miss Tweedie said she considered that this attitude could well result in cand.dates entering for higher grade and diploma examinations too early in their musical maturity. The diploma, if approached with a sufficiently full musical background, should be regarded as the seal on a musical career. “Hard Work” Needed But whatever methods of teaching were used to this end, the first essential behind all was basically and simply hard work. Factors influencing the good standard of candidates’ work in Christchurch included the large number of amateur music groups in the city, which stimulated young musicians to widen their musical horizons. “Music in Christchurch seems most alive,” said Miss Tweedie. Perhaps the greatest stimulus to the development of New Zealand musical life had been the National Orchestra, which had created tremendous interest in music here Another important influence throughout the Dominion was the University of

Canterbury music department The results of its teachings were clearly visible in all parts of the country. "Finally, I should like to dispel the idea that New Zealand is musically dead,” said Miss Tweedie. "For a country with such a sparse population there is a tremendous interest in music. Concert halls I find crowded everywhere with most interested audiences. Music in New Zealand, I would say, is very much alive.” Extensive Tour Miss Tweedie is visiting every city and many towns in the South Island. Her tour began in June in Dunedin, and she has worked upthrough Otago and Canterbury and will visit Nelson, the West Coast, and other South Island districts before Christmas. Her counterpart. Mr Ralph Elliott, is visiting North Island districts. Miss Tweedie’s “normal overseas itineraries” include Newfoundland, Canada, part of the United States. South Africa, India, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and Ceylon. Soon after she first came to New Zealand in 1947 she came to enjoy the way of life, to make many friends in her travels from Kaitaia to Bluff, and to become a staunch supporter of New Zealand products at Home, she said. Trinity College had been the first school of music to establish centres of examination outside its headquarters. The work of the over-

seas examiner was perhaps unique in that it enabled one to become intimately acquainted with the musical life of people, and particularly of children, throughout the world. But wherever the examiner might travel, child examination candidates were no different, she considered. She had come into contact with young musicians of varied racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds, but she had found it quite impossible to make any distinctions between her candidates purely on these grounds. Especially noticeable m Ceylon, however, had been the surprising ability of young musicians to assimilate the feeling and character of the more unfamiliar Western music.

“But everywhere I find children are the same—spontaneous and honest in their approach to it all. It is not until they become older that one notices racial differences showing up,” she said.