A MUSICAL CAREER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 August 1928, Page 7

A MUSICAL CAREER

ADVICE TO THE STUDENT-V-r

BY' MISS DAISYCHALL .■ • -

“I can sing here in the sunshine and atmosphere of this city,- it is ? like Italy.’; In these words Miss Daisy Hall, a gifted soprano singer and a New Zealander) too,, expressed her impression of Nelson to a “Mail” reporter to-day. Miss Hall is giving two recitals "at -the Regent Theatre next week. As indicated above Italy is well'known to Miss Hall, for it was there at Milan under the 1 famous Maestro Manlijt> Bavagnoli that she completed her musical studies. Miss Hall, whq was born in Dunedin, began her ;nrnsiq|*L training before leaving ? for) Palerhitf JuyThA; home of music. Incidentally Miss Hall mentioned • that .students. never, did any good itr Italy unless'they got *in the right, musical set, . There were. many people there who* po'sed' as great.masters but there were really only half-a-dozen outstanding teachers.- The.difficulty was that the time of these few was always booked up months ahead. lAs a word of advice to young students Miss Hall said that a. thorough knowledge of music, including ability- to play the piano, was a necessary starting-ofr place for a musical career, whether: vocal cir instrumental. Miss Hall herself was first of all Id pianist and'also played the violin and the harp.. She is the*.fortunate owner of a Nicholas Airiati violin). meArly a hundred years older than thdffaitious Stradivari violins. (Stradivari.;Was a pupil of Amati). If a student had’,a' good voice, continued Miss Half) it was better that no tiiitioii should be taken-. in New Zealand for it usually meant "the acquisition of wrong methods which would have to be painstakingly eliminated by the eventual teacher in Italy.

The mention of Italy at once Suggested an inquiry as to what Miss .Hall thought of Mussolini. - * “I think he is a very fine character, she said. “He has worked wonders in Italy. There are three classes in Italy—the millionaire, middle and lower, ihe majority of the lower class are agitators —they live on each other. Iha best class" is with Mussolini: He (Mussolini) has created many reforms and’the people now live in; better coiiditip.psjrbefore that they were, .very wretched. It was Mussolini who introduced,the castor oil edict (olio de reginoj. ' .Wlien factory strikes broke out instead of putting the malcontents in gaol, be ordered that they be given the- olio—this, was administered under military supervision. Those who resented were given drastic treatment—a tube of olio was put up the nose and passed down the throa . There were no more strikes after that. “In Palermo a fire destroyed ,the Post Office—the contractor dallied and said the building would take so many weeks —Mussolini gave him _so many days—the job was done. Before the Fascisti was formed letters went astray —now everything is changed—so is the country. Mussolini also' put down The dreaded Mafia organisationMiss Hall smiled reminiscently and said: “I was living with the Tamily of the leader of the Mafia, in. Srcily and didn’t know it. He was a millionaire He was a very fine man and cue would never suspect he was other than a wealthy, sedate business man. He was very kind, to his family and , had a beautiful palace at Palermo. Before the gang was stamped out it was a -common sight to see a donkey ambling into the village minus its owner. The girls and women sitting outside. Avaidd Took and quietly slip indoors)- They knew hut dare not say anything. ' Mussolini rounded up 900 in one day.”