APPROACH TO MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 71, 25 March 1939, Page 15

APPROACH TO MUSIC

GRAMOPHONE GROU^

fHE ART OF LISTENING

The Wellington Gramophone Circle

gave an invitation evening recently in the English-Speaking Union rooms. Amongst a keenly interested audience were Professor James Shelley and Messrs. Karl Atkinson, J. Norrie (City Librarian), Stanley Oliver, and William Page.

The chairman (Mr. J- Butler), in extending a welcome to the visitors, remarked that although the .Gramophone Circle had held regular meetings over the last four years this was the first occasion the circle had held a meeting on a large scale, the purpose being to encourage the formation of small listening groups.

In an address on the subject, "Approach to Music," the hon. secretary (Mr. R. L. A. Turner) said that it had to be recognised that comparatively few people were able to approach music with the advantage of a sound musical education, or, on account of various factors such as financial limitations and lack of time, were likely to acquire one. Therefore the approach to music should be as direct and nontechnical as possible. Second, for an approach to music to be of any value the effect on a listener willing to respond should be of a permanent and not merely transitory nature. It should enable him to catch such a glimpse of the goal "head that he could never turn back.

"To illustrate the actual experience of many of us, let us take the case of that non-existent, much maligned, yet exceedingly useful person, the man of average intelligence," said Mr. Turner. "We will suppose he will be prepared to take an interest in music if only because of what he knows it means to people whose opinion he respects. He would like to be able to appreciate and to discuss concerts and radio programmes as he can a good book or a fine painting, but, to be frank, in spite of the fact that he enjoys a good j melody or tune he finds classical 'music with its symphonies and sonatas beyond him. He is perhaps convinced from his experiences that he is not musical. As a start let us abolish the bogey that inability to play an instrument is a barrier between himself and music. Executive ability and the capacity for appreciation are distinct faculties. Provided he has an honest desire to appreciate good music, provided only that he will allow himself to respond to the beautiful, then it is possible for him to journey straight to the heart of music, to be carried into a world of indescribable delight and wonder. REPEATED HEARINGS. "Now the keystone to success, the 'open sesame' to this new world, is simply the realisation of the psychological effect of repetition, in other words, the realisation of the effect on the mind of repeated hearings. Understanding of this principle is the most vital part of the listener's equipment. To be really understood it must be experienced, and let the listener but pass through this experience and the only real obstacle has been overcome. Of all the arts music is perhaps the least related to the material things of the world, and furthermore, it exists in time and not in space. A picture, for instance, stands still in space while the eye moves from point to point till it relates and comprehends the whole. Music, on the other hand, never stands still but moves on ceaselessly. A chord or snatch of a tune is no sooner heard than it is gone, so that in no sense can we absorb completely a whole musical composition in the sense that we can take in a picture at a glance. A rough analogy may be obtained by imagining that in the exhibition of a great painting one square inch of the canvas! only is revealed to us every second. Hence the need in music for repetition or repeated hearings before a judgment is formed. As a corollary this involves listening to a little music attentively rather than a lot halfheartedly." After a few explanatory remarks, the Brahms song "O Tod Wie Bitter" from four serious songs set to Biblical texts sung by Alexander Kipnis, and Schumann's song "Mondnacht," sung by Karl Erb, were heard and appreciated with the aid of line-by-line translations. Paul Kochansky (violin) and Arthur Rubinstein (piano) were heard playing the first movement from Brahms's Sonata No. 3 in D Minor. After the constructional details of the movement had been outlined and the thematic material played by Mr. G. Aysoh (violin) and Mr. M. Fernie (piano), the record was replayed, and with the additional interest thus created was appreciated all the more. The thematic quotations were included in the programme. Records then played were Gerhard Hush (baritone) singing "Give Praise to Him" (Wolf) and the slow movement from Sibelius's violin concerto (Heifetz and the London Philharmonic Orchestra).

Professor Shelley, speaking of the formation of listening groups, re-

marked on the wisdom of keeping to small numbers in each group and illustrated the value of this by relating his experiences with a play study circle at Cambridge University. He also pointed out the great value of listening groups in raising the standard of musical appreciation in the Dominion.

The City Librarian gave details as to how the library could help listening groups in such ways as making music and books available for study; the new Central Library would have two sound-proof audition rooms which would be available to the Wellington Gramophone Circle and similar listening groups. In • the course of his American tour, Mr. Norrie had found public libraries in the larger cities equipped with'small libraries of gramophone- records mainly achieved through public donation.