WORLD OF MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 March 1926, Page 7

WORLD OF MUSIC

THE LOCAL SOCIETIES. Activity is the watchword of all the musical societies in the town at present, for they have all got right into their stride and arc looking forward to an early presentation to the public of a work they have in practice. All are showing great advancement and arc busy on selected works which mark progress and advancement. The year is going to be busy and enterprising. The world of music generally lias never shown such a forward movement nor such an ambitious tone as this year. Music lovers may look with confidence to a series of excellent, performances for the opening concerts. CHOIR WORK. And church music, too, is very healthy and will embrace in Passion week, only a short month away, a num>er of cantatas most fitting for th' solemn occasion, and all showing a marked progress on the part of the choirs. ,SINGING.

AND THE JOY OF LIFE

(By Dame Clara Butt.)

Calve, that greatest of great singers, mice wrote: “Who sings, banishes evil.” 1 wish people could only realise the truth of t.lmt famous motto. Singing does banish evil, and dull care and many more horrible things, and I am quite convinced that people would be better and happier if they would onlv allow themselves to sing. The English are so reserved and self-con-scious. They bottle up their joy instead of ’lotting it flow outward to cheer themselves and other people. In Italy, Spain, and other southern countries people sing naturally and joyously, just like the birds, simply because they are happy and want to express their happiness, and singing is the natural way of doing it. But the English, and, perhaps to a lesser degree, the Australian and New Zen lander, is always afraid that lie is going to make a fool of himself, when he sings, so ho keeps quiet and loses quite lot of the joy of life. Only the other day a girl told me that sometimes she “ Felt so good inside that she simply boiled over with happiness,” but she did not like to let off steam because she could not sing. She was so painfully self-conscious that she did not dare to sing even when there was no cue within reach of hearing, yet she has ,i good ear for music and has a very musical speaking voice, if only she had learnt io sing when a child she would hive been able to sing vstuially and tunefully.

Of course. I do not mean to suggest that everyone should be an operatic and concert artist, but everyone should know how to sing if he wants to, because life at times is so good that only song can express the glory of it. People should also know something about music to be able, to appreciate it sincerely; we cannot all be good singers, but there is no reason why we cannot all be good listeners. If I bad my way every child would be taught singing, and the earlier they started the better pleased I should be. Only by teaching a child to sing when a little more than a mere baby can you cure it of that soul-crippling affliction —self-consciousness. That I have proved again and again. It is quite impossible to start a child singing too young. I have listened with great pleasure to the singing of tiny children of six and seven.

Of course, the child should be taught !ju a good musician if possible, if not, it should be taught by its mother or some groivn-up friend, who will find the duty a most fascinating one.

It is essential that the child should be taught to sing intelligently and in tune, and that its voice should not be forced or overstrained. A sympathetic and- systematic early training lays the foundation of a love of music that will increase and grow deeper year by year. Because the souls of so many children, and grown-up people too, are music starved, there is a drear desert where a flowing oasis should be. ATusic feeds the slow developing soul of a ehild, fills if with beauty, and trains to express itself in terms of beauty. Another result of singing is 1o form a clear and well-modulated speaking voice, a rare and precious gift in fliese days of slang ami clipped speech. Then, too, they must be taught how to breathe properly, and this naturally benefits them from a physical, point of view. Talking of physical benefits, I do not know of a better exercise than singing. AVhen they are learning, children should not be allowed to sing trashy words of bad music. Each song should be woven about some charming idea, making a dainty picture, as it were, that can be explained to the child, thus encouraging the development of imagination. You can easily get them to visualise the theme of the song and then reconstruct it in their own words. There are scores of delightful simple little songs specially written for the nursery folk, that have good music and words which are vivid and easily understood. You will find that those songs give the little ones the utmost juv.

All parents should do their utmost to give their children this gift that is above all others—the ability to sing easily, naturally, and joyfully, and I can assure you in all sincerity that, the benefits they will derive from it are almost incalculable.

MUSICAL TASTE

ENCOURAGING IT IN CHILDREN. (By George Cecil). Taste in music is acquired soon after the arrival of one’s first tooth. Infantile preference for rubbish may be discarded in after life; but the odds are that, where musical discrimination is concerned, “the child is father to the man.” The infant Haydn, for example, . :p <1 his approval oi the serious composers, while the young Mozart composed several little charming pieces almost before he had 'earned to write them down. At a very tender age tliis admirable prodigy refused to tolerate inferior compositions and trivial melodies. They had no -part in his scheme of things. It is not. alas, given to every child to move in circles similar to those existing in the young Mozart’? time.

Children who are brought up nr a professional atmosphere may be forced to listen to that base counterfeit which unmusical people have the hardihood to, revere. The most unworthy songs assail their ears; they are expected to admire the most dreadful attempts at singing. The misguided parents find no fault, with these pernicious exhibitions of incompetence, and their unfortunate progeny get a wrong idea at the very outset. Snell is musical life’s handicap. Nor, for that matter, do the children of professionals necessarily acquire good taste. So imperfectly is the art of singing understood in England and elsewhere, that the ineptitude of the average performer is a menace to a child’s musical salvation. And those who sing badly usually revel in songs which should never have been published. It probaUv is difficult for persons who banker 'after rubbish to persuade themselves that, in allowing their offspring to share this appalling weakness, they are lacking in a sense <of duty. There may, however, be intelligent exceptions, for without the exception where is the rule? Children ought to be given the opportunity of hearing good music adequately performed. and prevented from listening to the sort of thing in which the Philistines find joy. The son. if his instincts are correct, will probably hate that in which his father delights. “Honour thy father and mother.” you will say. By a'l ‘means, that <is very right and propen-. But the formation of musical taste is not unimportant. Although it is most undesirable that “cheap” music be admitted to the curriculum, the dull, musicianly extreme is best, avoided. There are many enchanting old French and English airs, and Irish ones-, too, for that matter, ah of which form the basis of good taste. Impose upon children the uninspired efforts* of the loftiest “moderns,” and intense boredom will be the result. Little people demand tunefulness; let them have it. Many boys and girls are taught—against their wish —to play the piano. The theory is an excellent one, since they eventually may develop a taste for music. If, however, the years roll by without the children showing the slightest inclinations for the. task, let them drop it. Nature demands- this sort of clemency.