NEW ERA IN MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 115, 12 November 1930, Page 18

NEW ERA IN MUSIC

EFFECT OP WIRELESS

TRAINING YOUNG PLAYERS

"We have got to a bort of new era of scientific music," said Mr. Walton O'Donncll, the conductor, speaking at tlio summer course in music teaching at Oxford recently. Conducting was as much a, technical and scientific occupation as1 any other form of music in these days. "The old days of waving an imaginary wand over tho heads of an orchestra are 119 more," he said," and the idea of, music being puiety artistic has also gone. We have already ceased, as you sec I have done, to grow our hair long sis 'a camoutlagc/oi"- technical ability. ' I "Camouflage is certainly no-good in front of tbo microphone, which has an uncomfortable way of showing up everything that is not quite the real thing. That-is why co many of the singers whom you have been hearing about bound wobbly over the wireless. They may bound perfectly all right in tho studio, or on the concert platform, but the'microphone picks up any little point not quito in ;focus,-making them bound up hill and down dale. "It is a very hard taskmaster, indeed. That applies not only to singers but to orchestras as well, for unless every player is together aud focussed on one point the effect is .iuijt the same as with singers. 1 think it is lack of focus- which 'is- the-cauae- of mostof our trouble, particularly over wireless work." As regards the formation of orchestias, Mr. O'Donnell sartl: ''Do get your players young and train them up!. You do not want the finest solo players in an orchestra. If you do they all have their own ideas, 'nhicli greatly complicate matters. 'It is. better • to-get players who will carry out the idea- of tho conductor, right or wrong,, than to have 'fifty conflicting ideas with no definite'point or focus. The great thing is to.get young enthusiasts and make :hcm play. Stick a clarinet, in the I mouth of anyone who has sufficient j teeth to hold 'it, and a fiddle in the ' hands of anyone with fingers to play VALUE QF PIANO CLASSES. Major J. 'IV'Bavin, director of "the Education Department of the Federation of British .Music,lndustiies, gave six points in favour "of, piano classes. Thcso were that they:— Spell economy from 'the parents' point of view; Give every child, rich or poor, an opportunity to learn music under a qualified teacher; Provide teachers with a living, and a fresh outlet; Awaken a desire in children who have any talent or love of mu&ic,' and the majority of them have, to have a piano to make music,for themselves, which leads to the buying of more pianos; Take away all self-consciousness from the children through learning with other children; and Act as a recruiting ground where it can bo seen whether the children have musical talent, before launching out into expensive lessons. PEKFECT MUSIC FORM. JTr. Kichard Waltliew, professor at the Uuildh-all School of Music, described chamber music, and particularly, the string quartet, as the most perfect form of niubie, except perhaps unaccompanied voices. "The string quartet," he said, "while it has not' quite that beauty, of the sound of voices, has advantages in other ways, such as the extent of the compass, "freedom of rhythm, and so on, and composers have been quick to grasp these facts, for tho greatest of them have chosen the .string quartet as the most ideal medium for their inspiration. "There are no bad string quartets. Thousands arc written, but they quietly disappear."