BANDSMEN'S COLUMN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 764, 22 July 1916, Page 4

BANDSMEN'S COLUMN.

BY "MAESTRO." Derry's Band held its annual meeting on Tuesday night in the bandroom, when there was a good attendance of members. The report was not available at the time of going to press, but will appeal- in next Saturday's issue. A New Band Journal. The latest thing to attract the attention of the bands and bandsmen of New Zealand is a new band journal, which will be known as the "Concordia Band Journal," and will be published by W. E. Gordon, New Plymouth. Various samples have reached me, together with a circular. Two quick marches entitled "Alice Gray" and "The Russian Grenadiers," contain many technical errors, and from a musical point of view leave something to be desired. There is certainly an opening for an enterprising man to start a good band journal, but to do so he must be a first-class and practical musician. Besides the pieces mentioned the journal contains a pianoforte score of a new gallop en tilled "The Call to Arms," introducing "The Young Recruit," as a sort of trio. This is composed by Mr W. F. Gordon, who offers it to bandsmen as a special concession. One marked fault is that the music proceeds from f major to c flat major without any preparation, which is not permissible under any circumstances.

Highland Band Music

A Wellington correspondent asks if there is a selection written on "Songs of the Hebrides/' I am not absolutely certain, but T have never seen or heard of one. The only selection I know of is an elaborate volume containing about Hit) pages and published bv Boosey and Co. The price is £1 1/-, but it is the finest collection of songs of the Highlands 1 have seen. These were all arranged for voice and pianoforte by Marjory Kennedy Fraser, and dedicated to the Women of Hebrides, who singing at their weaving and spinning, fashioned for themselves songs that are as rich in colour and as curious in construction as the tartans they designed. Subtle, too, at times as the interlacements of Celtic illuminative art. The harmonies, the settings, and arrangements are really beautiful. No brass band selection has ever been arranged under the title of "Songs of the Hebrides," according to the authority of modern music catalogues, but in my opinion a band selection of these songs would be an asset to any band's library. Another correspondent asks me what I consider the qualifications of a teacher, or what constitutes the art of teaching. I should say that no person should presume to teach in a professional sense, without having a thorough knowledge of the subject or subjects he is teaching. The art constitutes both knowing something and doing something; it implies more than the giving of instruction, it means also training, and is therefore a compound of science and art. Science is acquired by study and research, art both by practice and through instinctive knowledge. The acquirement of science alone is not a guarantee of ability to leach. The art of expressing what one means or feels is in itself a most necessary oualification in the profession. Without some knowledge and power of seeing into things a person can never be a good teacher in the ordinary sense of the word, though his influence as an exponent of an art may often be valuable. Kneller Hall Prize-winner.

At a recent examination of march compositions by Kneller Hall students Mr Percy Fletcher, the wellknown conductor and composer acted as adjudicator, and awarded the highest possible marks to Bandsman (student) Stopford, whose march is entitled "The 27th."

For the first lime in the history of the London section, a woman musician, Miss Lucie Johnstone-Lewis Carey, has been elected a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.