ON BOTH SIDES

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 112, 7 November 1935, Page 10

ON BOTH SIDES

ATTACK AND DEFENCE

"GENTLE ART OF CROONING"

BAD POINTS AND GOOD

Exponents in Wellington of the ess sentially gentle art of crooning are no n whit abashed by the sweeping condemnation passed upon their pastime by a Mr.. Stanley Oliver, conductor of the c Royal Wellington Choral Union, who p is reported to have said that crooning, a next to opiates, was the most damag- c ing force in civilisation today, and to ] have described the vocal efforts of the t crooners as "miserable, sickening t voices." Local crooners hold fast to j the belief that all pioneers advance f in the face of ridicule, and are con- a fident that posterity will find them j not guilty of the atrocities alleged c against them. Risking, for duty's sake, the possibility of suffering dreadful harm from the big bad wolf of modern civilisation, a "Post" reporter today sought the opinions of crooners in all walks of life. , Some who gloried in their shame were easy to find, but others who practised their vice in secret were more difficult to locate. "Natural conservatism, encouraged by those who see in any new form of music a menace to their leadership in the older types" was the reason ascribed by a university student for most of the opposition to crooning. "What is wrong with it, anyway?" he asked. with a puzzled frown as he vigorously polished his borrowed saxophone. "True, it's a radical departure from the dreary stodge which rejoices in the name of classical music, but why condemn it because it's new? Every pioneer has had to hew his way through the jungles of ridicule, and we crooners are doing the same. Why, in another two or three hundred years the rising "Jjeneration will no doubt be rebelling against the old-fashioned stupidity of parents who insist that there's no music like the classical crooning of the great masters such as Crosby, "■ Vallee, and Powell. Future generations will argue as we do today that progress and enlightenment lie in the improvement of the past, rather than in the slavish imitation of it." . The student paused, while he gargled some pinkish liquid "to keep his throat pliable," he explained. "You see, ■ it's my practice ( night tonight,." he said. - ■ ■ ■ ■ •■'.• ■ MENTAL CONCEIT. [ "Opponents of crooning are very fond of making facetious comparisons ; between the modern art and the bleat- , ing of a sick camel, or the cry of the : tadpole to its young. But what about the junk that has been foisted upon us : for so many years? Fugues and arias [ and toccatas and C sharp minors in an avalanche of dreadful noise! I am not [ denying the beauty and value of such • music, but I do say that it is intellig- ■ ible as such to only the highly educated, and that the great majority of ; those who elevate their eyebrows, and , gush about Bach and his multitude of . fellow-composers have no more idea' of what they are listening to than the man in the moon. "The honest crooner is the very antithesis of these mentally-conceited people. He admits he knows little about classical music and cares less, leaving it to those who do understand its intricacies, while he applies himself to the practice of popular music. And [ who can deny its popularity? Crooning has swept the world in the last year or two, attaining instant popularity wherever it was heard except, of course, with those intellectual nitwits 3 who pretend to be on a higher plane. » Compared with the popularity of f crooning, pillion-riding and Alsatian a dog training, which I had begun to i consider the two great threats to New c Zealand pale into insignificance. 1 "And who's to say it's not a quesh tion of sour grapes?" was the student's j parting shot. "Whatever, you think of it, you must admit that both in fame and" in hard cash the crooner beats the more orthodox musician by a good length nearly every time." A GOOD EFFECT. "I think Mr. Oliver puts the matter rather too strongly," said a wellknown Wellington musician. "I think crooning has probably a good effect on some people. After all, there- are many who do not appreciate Bach and are bored by Beethoven. There are some, too, that find Chopin heavy and Brahms rather dull. For these people is crooning would be a musical educan tion, and any form of music is better than none. After all, we must con- ' sider the levels of aesthetic appreciaie tion that exist throughout the comic munity, and there is no doubt that in ;r some strata of society this level is low. Here, the efforts of certain film ie stars would have ■ a beneficial effect. n- "I would point out to Mr.' Oliver, tg moreover, in reference to his remarks Id on the subject of 'silly songs and ie silly words' that as long ago as the 0- eighteenth century Beaumarchais den- plored the fact that 'what is too silly ot to speak, people sing,' so the silliness of the words of songs is no modern a- growth." ™ FATAL TO MUSIC. 3e "I heartily endorse Mr. Oliver's rese marks," said another performer well known in Wellington musical circles. of "If there is one branch of 'popular' lg music that makes the gorge of the ,g_ trained musician rise, it is the pernicious vogue of crooning, which is , e _ as fatal to true music and musical appreciation as anything could be. It ignores interpretation and musician- , ship, trying only to obtain an exag- < u gerated sentiment and a grotesque dreariness of tonal colour. Still, i 1 must be remembered that the musician does not croon; it is the .musically uneducated man that croons; bui unfortunately the musician has to listen"Again, there is crooning and crooning. There is a difference between the efforts of a 'trained' crooner— 1C _ the training of such a performer con- ' sisting apparently in the deliberate ra perversion of innate instincts and tenth- dencies to true musicianship—and th( in efforts of the amateur, who is hand! e ll capped by a certain amount of musi cal appreciation.'" he EDUCATION OF PUBLIC. on "My daughter and my wife are botl 01- inveterate crooners," said a musica ed amateur to the reporter. "They can' nd s i n g operatic arias, so they croon popu lar songs, which are less brilliant bu °c much more peaceful. It is a viciou; t0 habit, no doubt, but it gives them sat 3U' isfaction. I don't claim to be ; . musical authority, and perhaps m; jj_ taste in music is low, but crooninj icli does not seem to me to be as black a re _ Mr. Oliver would paint it." The trainei ve _ musician had a narrow outlook, he re in marked, and was apt to condemn ou the of hand things that did not conforn as with his standards or appeal to hi not judgment. "The point of the whol ich matter is," he said, "that the trainei the musician relates to one plane of societ; its and one type of audience, and th crooner to another. The remedy i not to be found in extinguishin md crooning, but in educating the peopl ton musically so that crooning will nc ;er- appeal to them. The public are fa »ht from being well educated musically md and until it becomes so. such aspect He of musical production as crooning wi! rel-1 continue, to exist and continue to b [ popular."