NOTES ON PAST AND COMING EVENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1812, 13 August 1886, Page 28

NOTES ON PAST AND COMING EVENTS.

On Friday, the 6th inst : an interesting entertainment was given in the old Knox Church, Dunedin, in aid of a fund for the purchase of choir tune-books and singing-class prizes. From a musical point of view the chief interest centred in thef four| part-songs from Curwen's Sol Fa singing-book (sung by the children, conducted by their instructor, Mr A. M. Braik), and in the short series of musicai tests which was gone through in a manner that astonished the audience, although we believe that the same children have done similar tests considerably better when in their own class room and without an audience in front of them. In addition to singing exercises in the sol fa notation at sight, the children went through the test of writing down a simple passage sung to them by their conductor, and then subsequently sang the same passage in two parts, from what they had written down. The test that was apparently the most attractive to the audience, was the singing from signs made by the conductor with his hands. Each note in the scale can, of course be represented by a separate sign taught to the children, and Mr Braik put the children through a good piece of practice with signs, beginning first with the signs by the right hand alone, for the higher voices, and then adding signs with the left hand, simultaneously, for the lower voices, so that the whole chorus of children sang from the signs in a harmony of two parts.

The conductor seemed to have no difficulty in securing precision of time, but we should imagine that he mustfindpretty much the same difficulty that exists in most English schools, viz that of inducing the children to sing in such a manner as to produce a good and sweet tone without any harshness. With the abundance of good material that there is to work with in Dunedin, it is indeed encouraging to see that the Knox Church is at least setting a good example in making use of children's voices, and it is to be hoped that when some of these same children have acquired as good a knowledge of the staff-notation as they now have of the sol-fa notation they will become useful members of choirs and musical societies, and help to perform vocal music better than has ever been heard here yet. " Every voice is wanted in the world that can do a little genuine, sincere work " V ,, T .° g jve a n of the vast importance of the subject discussed in the following note we have the authority of Mr P. G. Pryde the' secretary of tha Educational Board of Otago for stating that for the quarter ending 31st March last, the total number attending the primary schools in Otago was no less than 22,380, and of these 9460 were over ten years of age. J

To-morrow, Saturday, August 14, 3 pm Saturday afteruoon concert at St. Matthews schoolroom.