WORLD OF MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 13 September 1930, Page 15

WORLD OF MUSIC

? SCHOOL MUSIC DEVELOPMENT.

The arrival of the instruments from Home for the projected military band for the Main School lias draw further attention to the scheme and the requests for places in the band exceeds the number that can be taken. AYlien the demand for places in any institution is greater than the places to he filled it follows naturally that five best will he enrolled. Some of the instruments received have been used by one of the most famous bands in England, and this fact should help to inspire the young musicians to give of their best, and so help to carry on the traditions woven round the instruments handed on them from a band which has! been intimately associated with the development of wind music in the Old Country.

It seems that in some respect school music here is. in advance of that ill Australia, for the “Sydney Morning Herald” of last week: records thus of “Music in Schools” : “Professor Heihze, of Melbourne, during a visit to Sydney said, ‘Some time ago a move was made in Victoria . to institute hands in the schools. The recent radio exhibition in Melbourne brought to light in a. remarkable way the fruits of two or three years’ tuition. when a hand which came from YVontliaggi, a coal district, ‘scooped the pool.' It was delightful to hear on that occasion little fellows of from 10 to 14 playing with suberb intonation and excellent musical qualities. If. as has been suggested, military hands should be formed in the schools, young people already trained in this- way will furnish admirable material.’ On this I subject Professor Heinze suggested that in a city so admirably suitable for open air music, military band concerts I should become a feature of the life of j the people of Sydney. ' It will come as a surprise to the majority of music-lovers in New Zealand to leam that considerable alarm is being felt in AVales at the neglect of music in the AA r elsh .secondary schools (says an exchange). The position is regarded as so serious that the country’s musical reputation is at stake. A report, recently submitted, to the Welsh National Council of Musicstates that the teaching of music in the secondary schools is on a much lower level than might reasonably be expected. The reports adds that in a number of schools music was omitted altogether from the curriculum of the upper forms. “In many others,” says the report, “the only work done in these forms is the learning of certain songs by rote, while only in a small minority is there any real training of ear and sight reading among the elder scholars.” Perhaps the National Council would be interested to know how long a worse* state of affairs has persisted in the secondary schools of New 1 Zealand without anything approaching national alarm being felt.

COMPETITIONS

The past three weeks has been a very busy and interesting time in competitions in several centres in the Dominion. Hawera, Wellington, Gisborne, Invercargill, Ashburton and Palmerston North have all held Festivals and though the big centres have been on a,, larger scale., none would appear to have been more successful than Hawera. It is good to know that the standard of performance has been uniformly good. Orfe or two expect to make a financial loss. The “Poverty Bay Herald” writing of the conclusion of the festival says:

“This year’s competitions were a great success from every point of view except one, that of finance. The series of wet days and nights last week kept numbers of people away, with the result that the packed houses of previous years were not experienced, while in addition the membership this year was less than last year. The society’s financial commitments are so great that in order to come out on the right side of the ledger the membership must he large, and capacity audiences must lie the"rule every night and practically each afternoon.”

MUSICAL RECIPROCITY

The fact that the Hawera Male Choir co-operates ■with Wanganui and New Plymouth each year in reciprocal visits when columned concerts are given, mates the performance of “Hiawatha” last Saturday, in New Plymouth, specially interesting, for in it the Wellington Royal Choral Union collaborated with the New Plymouth Choral Society. A marked success was achieved, which recalls the visit of the Wellington Union to Hawera, Stratford and New Plymouth to give combined performances of the “Messiah.” Speaking at a reception during the i visit- Mr. John Bishop said that in England combined work between choirs, larg-e and small, held music and musical folk together as did nothing else. It was no good sitting down and feeling complacent about local effort, Mr. Bishop said lie was aware conditions for such reciprocity were less easv in the Dominion than in Great Britain, where towns were close together, hut at the same time there seemed room for more effort in this direction in New Zealand. NOTES. '

The New Plymouth Orchestral Society has been re-organised and will

commence work at once under the baton of Mr. D. J. Armishnw, a recent arrival from Dunedin.

The Blind Institute Band in Auckland, which played in Hawera some years ago, is still doing great work and has recently been touring in the Waikato, and with such success that an extension of the area will be made this week. The motive of the visit is not primarily the making of money for the carrying-on of the institute work, but principally to provide a really enjoyable, programme to a large audience as a demonstration of what c an be and is being accomplished by modern training methods, at the Jubilee Institute for the Blind. Writing of the late Leopold Auer, wlio died recently at Dresden, a Home critic .said “He was fitly termed ‘t-lie .grand old man of the violin.’ He was a link between the modern generation of musicians and their illustrious predecessors. He studied under Joachim; lie succeeded Wieniawski as professor at the Imperial Conservatory of St. Petersburg 61 years ago; lie founded the first important string quartet of the Russian capital, and had Davidoff as bis ’cellist: he was the intimate friend of Anton Rubinstein, Tehuikowsky, and R.imsky-Korsakoff; he knew Brahms and Liszt; he heard Yieuxtemps play 70 years ago.”

RECORDED MUSIC. France’s 'Greatest Violinist.—Tlie artistic work of Jacques Thibaud, the .famous French violinist, is well known in Australia through liis many fine records. This month Thibaud plays the fascinating “Hymn to the Sun,” from Rimsky-Korsakolr’s opera, '“L«* Coq d'Or.” in Kreisler’s matchless violin transcription (His Master’s Voice). In Hack's majestic Air on the G String (which is one of the movements front the Third Suite in D Major (written during the composer’s stay at Cothen at the Court of Prince Leopold), Thihaud plays the lovely melody with great breadth and a superb tone. (H.M.V.. DB1017.) Another Brahms Concerto. —Arthur Rubinstein (pianoforte) and London Symphony Orchestra (conductor, Albert Coates), in “Concerto in B. Flat Major, Op. 83” (Bralims). H.M.V., 1)1746. Bralnn’s second pianoforte concerto composed in ISBO shows us Brahms at the zenith of his powers. To appreciate a tithe of its beauties at first hearing is manifestly impossible. To the man whose mind is sensitive to deep beauty and great nobility these records will bring countless hours of untold pleasure. '