FESTIVAL AUDIENCES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 284, 26 August 1940, Page 6

FESTIVAL AUDIENCES

Capable Of Criticizing Singers DR. STATON’S ADVICE Faith in the ability of an audience to judge the merit of a performance is frequently shown by Dr. J. F. Staton, London, who is adjudicating in vocal classes at the Wellington competitions. Often he appeals to the audiences to express their opinion. When he was delivering his comments to the audience in the concert chamber after it had heard 21 singers in a class restricted to women who had never won a first, prize at a previous festival, he asked the audience which they would choose for sheer beauty of tone, clarity of diction and sincerity. As he called the competitors’ numbers, one by one, members of the audience put up their hands for their choice. Two or three competitors received a few votes, but one received an overwhelming number of votes. She. it proved, had been chosen by the judge also, for first prize. “I would like singers to realize that a festival audience is an intelligent audience," he said. “An audience of this description does know its job. Then yott will sing all the better.”

Dr. Staton advised these comparatively inexperienced singers to .seek beauty first, and said other qualities would be added to them. They should seek beauty of tone ami beauty of diction and they should think of the “colour" of their voices. He could see that some singers were thinking too much of the mechanics of their task. They were remembering that their teachers had told them “keep your tongue down,” or “expand your chest, here.” If they were thinking of the effect they wanted to obtain their tongues would probably stay down. Pointing out that some singers struck ugly attitudes, lie said there was always a portion of an audience more impressed by what they saw than by what they had come to hear. There were the unmusical men who had been dragged to the concert by their wives and who would remark later on the performers who had not pleased their eyes.