MUSICAL REVELATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 19387, 22 October 1926, Page 4

MUSICAL REVELATIONS

ADDRESS BY DR JOHN E. BOBUHD Dr John E. Borland last night addressed Wilsio teachers and candidates under -the auspices of the .Dunedin Centro of the Trinity College of Music, London, in the .V.lotvf. Street Hall. Mr, ,AV. J. Morrell presided. The Chairman apologised for the unavoidable ahseiiCo bl the Rev. Professor Hewitson, president of the Dlincdhi Centro of tho Trinity College of Music, London. It was a great privilege to have with them such an accomplished person as Dr Borland. ..They could not expect to bo in tho same position, as those who- studied music at Horne, and Dr Borland, being musical advisor to tho London County Council schools, was very well qualified to put them in touch with the latent developments. • Dr Borland first/ eulogised Miss Beatrice Barth, local secretary. A great poet, he said, had written that music fed oho'to‘tho edge of the infinite, and that great musician Beethoven h«d adopted the comment,as one of his mottoes. Attention to detail had made Beethoven’s work what it was. Thmspoakotsaid ho had, found the standard of music hero very similar to that in the. Old Country. A very considerable number of musicians in Now' Zealand had gained honors, while there had been ,v good number of passes and a small percentage of failures. He advised those who had missed a ‘.‘pass’' to continue trying for success, but ■framed against (ho “pushing” of studies. Ho said ho found ! ’in the dominion rather an unfortunate lack of the sonso of key, Tho primary school teachers were not doing what they might to hack up the- music ’teachers. Tho infants should bo taught more—to about tho extent that tho children in Homo schools were—and there would bo an immense advance in musical efficiency here. Mr Taylor’s work in New Zealand he hoped would ho encouraged. A change in. music, Dr Borland continued, should bo quite deliberate, and the key of the passage and the keynote should bo recognised immediately. . He could bring thousands of children from the Old Country to strike a chord and play five notes. Some effort ,must -bo made to eliminate the leaders in a class, because .when it .was harmonious ns a whole individually it might not bo all right. iWtih regard to MghLreading,' he had warned candidates again and again. The sol-fa system would get olio there every time, so why not go hack and learn it properly. Tho analysing of many pieces was a good thing; a book .knowledge was all right, but it could be abused. _ Often nil the parts of sonata form were known fhoii the principle of the thing seldom was; An awful mistake in playing was dashing away in the first octave, and getting' ornaments out' of proportion was also very bad. Melody notes were all important, white the use of the ear from the beginning of learning Could not be stressed too much. Speech training Was corning into Vogue, though iti ninny high-grade schools in London it was not taught, -because the teachers ' did not know how to talk. Speech training was of the utmost importance The voice should he moving, should neither ho pitched alwaj's high nor low. Ho advised elocution students to'get the gramophone record of Eahtaff’s speech delivered by Sir Bcerbohm Tieo. Ho foiind a good deal of ignorance about double vowel sounds, the speaker said. Analysis of tho real sound of the language should come first, and analysis could be made so easily. Elocution was being appraoched from'a. literary standpoint, and that was a good thing. He appealed for cultivation of the study of other .instruments, and opined that there should bo more orchestral socie(ties, recitals of chamber music, etc. Nervousness in musicians was a great handicap. ‘ Jfc had" been shown in all grades, not particularly in Dunedin. Players should think of the examiner as a friend, because he bated to bo compelled to take off marks, and sympathised with those being exained. Tho following was 'the programme given by successful candidates;—Pianofp*to 'solos *Fnhtasie, C Minor' (Bach), Marjorie M'Dotvell; ‘ Prelude and Fugue, E Minot’ (Mendelssohn), Violet Ruth Moore; ‘ Etude, Op. 2b, No. 7’ (Chopin), Elsie Cl Lohh; ‘ Themd VnHe ’ (.Paderewski), Millicent Rodger; Prelude and ‘(Fugue, 0 Sharp Minor’ (Bitch), Helen C. Wilson; ‘ Walctesrauschcn ’ (Liszt), Miriam 0. Smyth; ‘ltalian Concerto,’ first movement '(Bach)-; Laura Himmel; ‘Toccata’ (Sainf-Saens), Gretta Logan ; song, ‘ Voi cju .sapete ’ (Mozart), Ruby jlaxter; recitation. East .fs East’ (Kipling), Sheila. K. Ketlson. Dr Borland was said to have Selected the items. "

A vote of thanks was accorded Dr iSßrland and the contributors of items.