THE GRAMAPHONE

Southland Times, Issue 19258, 23 June 1921, Page 7

THE GRAMAPHONE

BY “VOX POPULI.” ®

Do you ever let your gramaphone run down? If you don’t you are not treating it properly, and sooner or later you will find the driving gear working unevenly. In all spring-driven machines, and most of them use the spring for power, it is necescary every little while, once a week at least and more frequently if possible, to let ’ the spring unwind to its full extent. The . explanation of this is quite simple. When the machine is in use the machine is kept ' working on a fairly tight spring and all the coils do not get the same chances to move and disturb their lubricants. When the spring is permitted to uncoil it is fully , exercised and the lubricant is kept 1 “mobile.” There are occasions when the spring will make known this lack of even exercise by irregularities in unwinding. The first remedy to try is to let the machine 2 run till it stops, but if after two or three runs of this kind there is still an uneven sound from the motor, the best thing to do is to call in the expert and have the . innards of the machine cleaned and oiled. g Another thing to remember with the . gramaphone is that it requires good fine oil. All the standard machines are fitted with good motors, but many owners comx mit the grievous error of neglecting lubri- , cation. Once a month is not too often r to attend to a machine in regular service ’ and follow the “book of directions” care- ! fully in regard to the parts requiring oil. * Be careful when you are on oiling bent to keep your records out of the way—a chance spot of oil on a record will have serious i results. ■ Miss Olga Haley, a mezzo-soprano who t hails from Yorkshire, has of late won fame L not only by a very charming voice but also ' by her skill amid the most exorbitant difficulties in the newest music. Her new record (H.M.V.) shows her in the relatively ■ tranquil waters of songs by Reger Quilter (“The Cuckoo”) and Easthope Martin (“Absence”). Both are good, pleasant music without being far-fetched, and the singing of them will win Miss Haley'new friends. Recent Pathe records include numbers by Mme. Claudia Muzio, soprano (airs from “Louise” and “Mignon”) and Jacques Thibaud, violinist (Saint-Saens’s “Hkvnnaise”). Among the new records released in the early part of the year was a new Kirkly Lunn gem, a delightful old world song “Plaisir d’Amour” by an early eighteenth century composer. Rosina Buckman’s record of the Ballatalla from “Pagliacci” is also highlyy spoken of. The use of the gramaphone for educational work especially in music and elocution is being developed rapidly and evidently is gaining ground amongst those who understand the possibilities of the machine. Schools in the Old Country use gramaphones freely for developing in children a sense of rhythm and by the use of specially selected records young folk are trained to appreciate good music. This is called “aural culture,” a term which is impressive to say the least. In the old days drums and fifes or bugles played the scholars to and from their rooms but in many schools stirring march records are now used instead. Gramaphone records have also been used with marked success in encouraging a taste for the classics of our literature. Few teachers are able to clothe extracts from the great writers with reality, but the gramaphone gives them the assistance of some of the great actors and reciters of the day. As an example of what can be done in school with the gramaphone I append a typical list of records with the purposes for which they are selected: 1. FOR RHYTHMIC EXPRESSION. Morris Dance Shepherd’s Dance, Edward German. 2. FOR MUSICAL APPRECIATION Minuet (violin and piano) Beethoven. 1 Andante for String Quartet (two violins, ! viola anti violoncello), Tschaikowsky. j Shepherd’s Hey, Grainger. (a) Piano version. (b) Orchestral version. Pizzicato from “Sylvia” B?.U t, Del'-Pes. i Tame Eear and Wild Bear (from “Wand of Youth Suite”), Elgar. Lowland Sea, Traditional Song. Oh, hush thee, my babie (vocal quartet.l, ! Sullivan. 3. FOR CEREMONIAL MARCHING. Any march played by Band of H.M. Coldstream Guards. 4. ENGLISH LITERATURE. Micawber’s Speech on Expenditure, ) Dickens. New Zonophone records available are—--10 inch: “On the Quarter Deck,” and “Voice of the Guns,” marches by the Black Diamonds Band; “Bo la Bo” (fox trot), “When the Harvest Moon is Shining,” both by the same bar.d. The Picture Palace Orchestra’s latest record is a selection from Gounod’s “La Reine de Saba” and a waltz from the same source. Sydney Coltham has two charming ballads in “Brittany” (Bullock) and “Two of Us” (Lyall Phillips). Mr Coltham has many admirers and thesa latest records of his are sure to be popular. There i§ still another Columbia disc pf the late Mr Gervase Elwes’s making. It records two little songs. “By Wenlock Town,’ ’by Janet Hamilton, was a fairly late addition to his repertory. It is a straight and pleasant setting of one of the “Shropshire Lad” poems. The other song is the lively “Gifts” of Colin Taylor. Both are finely sung and faithfully reproduced, if not quite so characteristic of Mr Elwes as the previously issued “Listen, listen to the voice of love,” which is a treasure. The May H.M.V. lists include a 10 inch Enrico Caruso, “L’Alba spara dalla luce I’ombra,” (D’Annunzio-Tosti). D’Annunzio, Tost-i and Caniso represent a combination of Italian genius such as can rarely be offered. There are some people who cannot share the enthusiasm of the Caruso admirer, but I do not belong to that unfortunate i group. Caruso of all the tenors records best and in an emotional work like this one | I am sure he will “deliver the goods.”