FUTURE OF SINGING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22332, 1 February 1936, Page 10 (Supplement)

FUTURE OF SINGING

RADIO'S GOOD INFLUENCE VISITING ARTIST'S OPINION Interesting observations regarding singing in relation to broadcasting are made by Mr. Clement Q. Williams, well-known Australian baritone, who is just completing a successful tour of the Dominion under engagement to the Broadcasting Board. Mr. Williams considers that the style of singing generally will have to be revolutionised. The old method of going on to a platform and making as much noise as possible must go. The microphone requires a voice of good quality, with plenty of colour, and the singer must have a definite sense of interpretation. Enunciation must be particularly clear. Professional singing of the future will bo entirely a case 'of the survival of the fittest. In his opinion the concert platform will in time disappear altogether, and radio will entirely take its place. "The artists used to complain at one time because, concert platform appearances were becoming fewer and fewer," he saidf "Broadcasting was killing; them. Actually now the radio is a greater field for the artists than the concert platform ever was, and as time goes on it will bo even more so. People say, 'But there are not so many people singing.' That may be so, but there are more artists of real worth singing. The so-called artist who shouts and bawls and tries to put it I across in that way will entertain people only as an amateur, which is actually his proper place." Mr. Williams thinks the time is not very far off when there will be an international exchange of artists between the different broadcasting stations of the world. A tour, free of financial worries, fares paid, fees guaranteed at the other end and only from three-quarters of an hour to an hour performing time per week is something never dreamed of in the past. Strong in favour of the suggestions of Mr. Roland Foster, of Sydney, concerning a conservatorium in New Zealand, Mr. Williams would go further in proposing that an institution of this type should be residential, at the lowest possible cost, so that picked students from all over the Dominion could study there and live in an atmosphere of music.