MUSIC OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 9 (Supplement)

MUSIC OF THE DAY.

: EFFECT OF INVENTIONS. ' ADDRESS BY MRS. SNOWDEN. , Whether such mechanical inventions as the gramophone,--the pianola and broadcasting have helped or harmed the body of was a question touched upoxi by Mrs," Philip fanowden, when speaking at> tfie annual dinner at the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, in London recently.' Mrs. Showden gave it as« her opinion that the " evils " of modern in.vention were not as bad as some; people thought. ■ ■ " 'i herd" i,s nothing I like better, than a good film," Mrs. fanowden added. " But j. never go r to a cinema unless .1 first assure myself that it has an orchestra, and as for the music that is broadcasted, I know that I must have brought three or four times' as much music since wireless came into existence as I d;d before.. At the same time,it cannot be denied that, whatever the cause, the, problem of unemployment - and distress among musicians is there. Perhaps, as an outsider, I may bo permitted to suggest that thd solution of the problem is, at least partly, in the hands of the musicians. ,

" When you say that some musicians cannot get* a living, we think perhaps that they ought not to get a living at music. There are some in the prolession who would make much better butchers, bakers or candlestick-makers. If the profession, through some organisation, could be a little more zealous about the'people who entered therein, the problem would not be of such dimensions.

/ " Not enough people love music in the right way. They regard it as a luxury instead of a necessity. If the people of this country really regarded music properly, we should have a Minister of Fine Arts charged with the care of all music."