CHURCH CHOIRS

Southland Times, Issue 22478, 14 November 1934, Page 7

CHURCH CHOIRS

OUTSPOKEN COMMENT.

ENGLISH VISITOR’S VIEWS.

(Per United Press Association.) Auckland, November 13. “Choirs in New Zealand are too big, there are too many women in them { and you use organ music too much, said Mr Sydney H. Nicholson, Director of the School of English Church. Music when summing up his impressions, of Anglican Church music after touring the Dominion. “You must have boys’ voices in,, a choir to be any good,” he added. In England the proportion of. women to male voices is about one in twenty. There is a place for women altos in a choir, but for other female voices there is only a limited need. Another thing I noticed is the enormous size of the choirs in this Dominion. Many are double the size of that in Westminster Abbey. A far more rigorous selection of voices could be made. There, should be far more unaccompanied singing and the organ should not be used to pull an efficient choir through.” The choice of music was often, unfortunate. During the whole of his tour, with the single exception of the Christchurch Cathedral, he had not heard a piece of classical church music. He suggested a system of scholarships to enable capable New Zealanders to study in England. Everything depended on the support of the general body of churchgoers and on their being persuaded to explore the treasures of church music.