IS HUTT VALLEY MUSICAL?

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 16, 13 September 1928, Page 7

IS HUTT VALLEY MUSICAL?

The above question has often been asked in the presence of the writer, the " questioner generally suggesting an answer in the negative. The recent correspondence in the "Hutfi News" concerning the lack of support given to the local "band tends to emphasise the fact that the musical —or perhaps the unmusical — . inhabitants of the Valley do not show a Tery practical interest in local musical enterprises. The annual Bowling Club Concert, of course, draws . a big house; but love of music is probably only one •of a multitude of reasons for the success of this particular venture: and it is a ■question whether music alone is a sufficient attraction to draw a paying audience. Probably the most notable piece of evidence is the way in which Hutt Valley ignores the musical attractiveness of the Choral Society's concerts. There must be hundreds of people living within easy aeach of King George Theatre who have never sampled one of the concerts given by that Society, now bravely weathering the storms of a fifth year of chequered •existence. Yet it would surely be an ■everlasting reproach to any self-respect-ing community like Lower Hutt, if its one and only choral combination were allowed to drop out of existence for wrant of financial support. Any district that had interests wider than mere domesticity •or money-grabbing might surely be expected to recognise the value of fostering that noblest of arts as a means of social delight and refinement. And yet it is perhaps significant that Lower Hutt cannot even boast a pleasant and beautiful room (capable of being warmed in winter) where such a society might meet for rehearsal. It is also a fact that 250 circulars sent out inviting honarary or active membership failed to draw a single reply. With its present list of subscribers the Society can just keep going. Double the number would place it on a firm footing and greatly increase the number of happy people in the Valley. There is also- plenty of room for new singing members: for it is the rarest thing to discover one who is really capable, especially in reading music at sight. It not infrequently happens that the best individual singers in a district hold aloof from choirs. This is sometimes due to a sense of superiority and an unwillingness to subordinate themselves to a place in the. body corporate: and sometimes from" an odd idea that they will be 'obliged to spoil their voices if they join in choral work. The first idea is obviously one that wants counteracting by a decent dose of personal humility and cultivation of the social spirit; the second is a nightmare of self-distrust. Why always sing alone? Why think you will be unable to ■control your voice in a choir? The local Choral Society should be the rallyingground for all the best voices "in the district, inflamed by a zeal for fine work and a vision of that glorious uplift that comes from massed performance of great music and poetry. Certainly the Hutt Valley Choral Society has not been fortunate in the weather on its chosen concert night, but on several at least this has not been sufficient to account for the smallness of the audiences. It should be noted, moreover, that these audiences have undoubtedly v enjoyed the concerts. , Obviously the fault lies in those who absent themselves; and yet it may be wrong to speak of this as a fault. A taste for fine choral music and a love of participation, therein /jy* \&s not yet been properly fostered in this country, the notion of it wakens no thought of real enjoyment in the mind of the average Hutt Valleyite reading the advertisement. The attraction through the eye, as in the films, or through sense of bodily movement, as in. the dance, is more potent than the appeal through the ear. The prevailing idea 1 arosused by the word "choral" is that of hymns' and anthems, probably of a stodgy variety and lacking in dynamic. But how far from the real thing! • A study of the next Choral Society programme, for Tuesday, September 18th, reveals the widest possible range of mood ■.and character; here is love of country,

fairyland, commerce, sentiment, humour, laughter and tears, prayer and work, caprice, courtship, dancing, exploration, sea-faring and even whisky-drinking, all finding their place in a combination of solo, choral and orchestral effects —in fact, a feast of good things. Why not come and listen to this '' Blest Pair of Sirens, pledges of heaven's joy, sphereborn harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse"? If you enjoy the concert you will have the assurance that at least one inhabitant of Hutt Valley is really musical. If you don't enjoy it —well, the writer is prepared to indulge in the proverbial pastime of eating his hat I