CHOIR SINGING

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 177, 14 April 1923, Page 4

CHOIR SINGING

LESSONS FROM ABROAD

PLEA FOR BETTER TASTE IN MUSIC

Mr. Robert Hogg, sen., of Johnsonville, who has just returned from a twelve months’ tour of America and Great Britain, yesterday gave to a Dominion representative his views upon choral singing in the latter country. He was brought in contact, he said, with three great choirs, whose singing was far and away above that of 'the Sheffield Choir, which toured New Zealand, or any other choir that he had heard. They wero .„ t* 16 Orpheus, 'William Morris, and Clarion Choirs. They were run on a socialistic basis, and were indeed Socialist choirs. None of the members of tho choirs contributed anything, to the funds and all received their music The Orpheus Choir had a balance in hand of £5OOO. Much of its success was due to its conductor, Mr. Hugh S. Roberton. . How great that success was and in what estimation the choir was held could bo gathered from the fact that a mere announcement in the Glasgow papers that the choir purposed holding six concerts, for which the charge was 2s. a night, brought forth so many requests for reserved seats that the whole season had always to bo balloted for —this in a hall with seating accommodation for 7000 people. There were more than 400 persons who had passed the very strict test, waiting for a vacancy to occur so that they might take their places in the choir. All tho members were working people, who set aside one night a week for tho purpose of a rehearsal. So large was the choir that only a selection was made for any particular concert. The musio was high class to the extent that it was art. Great attention was paid to the Scottish and Old Hebndian folk songs of which there were over 40,000 distinct airs. The choir would not sing the ordinary popular catch songs of the day. . The Orpheus Choir had entirely revolutionised singing throughout the whole of Scotland, said Mr. Hog£. At the Glasgow annual festival there were present 114 conductors, who had been members of the Orpheus Choir, It was responsible for such keen interest being taken in singing in the schools that in Perth alone 130 choirs had entered for competition at the annua], festival of that county. This was but tvpical of the whole of Scotland. The conductors of the school choirs were the school teachers, if they were competent, or someone from outside who was willing to instruct the children. , As a result of the efforts in this direction, the standard of music in Scotland was unusually high, and it was not uncommon to find little children, some of them under 10 years of age, who could interpret a difficult piece far better than most adults who had been trained to sing. Singing was made a pleasure to them in their schools, and that was the method that would have to be pursued in New Zealand if choir singing was meant to be encoura(ged. The children must be taken in hand when young. The singing lesson, to which far greater prominence must bo given in the educational curriculum than was now the case, should be made a pleasure and not a burden, while the spirit of friendly rivalry ought to be introduced. Only by such methods could the standard of New Zealand musio be raised. The annual festival in Glasgow, continued Mr. Hogg, was started by five working men, who put in £1 each, and from that small beginning the thing had giown so extensively that there was now a credit balance of £lO,OOO, quite apart from the sum to the credit of the Orpheus Choir. Mr. Hogg said that he had attended a theatre one Sunday night which was crowded with working people of tlm poorest and most uneducated class, who sat enraptured for over two hours, forgetting to smoke their pipes and cigarettes (smoking .was permitted) while the choir and its soloists poured out their soul in song. Asked if it was possible to build up a choir in New Zealand in any way approximating to tho Orpheus Choir, Mr. Hogg said that he was afraid not. Much depended upon the conductor while success demanded the spirit of comradeship among the members and a determination not to rest satisfied with less than the best. Nothing short of perfection from each individual member would do. Above all, nothing constructive could be accomplished without first getting the love for singing itself, and the liking for good music and folk songs engendered into the children in the schools. Onlv then and from them could a real advance and a lasting improvement in New Zealand musical taste be made.