ART OF TEACHING MUSIC

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1928, Page 10

ART OF TEACHING MUSIC

LECTURE BY ENGLISH EXAMINER. Music teachers and students of New Plymouth were entertained last week to a very instructive and interesting lecture by Mr. Egerton Lowe, F.T.C.L., who is at present conducting examinations in New Zealand on behalf of the Trinity College of Music, London. The lecture was given at the residence of Mr. and Mre. F. P. Frederic. Mr. Lowe’s remarks were in tho main directed to the technique of pianoforte playing, in which he demonstrated the correct methods of touch for all the varying shades of tone production, and what was called the physical grouping of fingers for fluency in execution. In this connection tho speaker explained the proper poise of the arms above the keyboard, with the muscles relaxed, and for the loosening of the wrist muscles he advocated simple daily exercises, done to a definite rhythm, away from the piano. He also dealt with the important aspects of accent and rhythm, and impressed upon teachers and students the necessity of grasping the meaning or story of the music in order to create the proper atmosphere. He further stressed the need for a clear and definite understanding of the meaning of musical terms, and for a proper appreciation of the relation o’f ono movement in a work to the other movements. In conclusion, he dealt with form in composition, and explained by a process of simple illustrations tiie relation of subject to episode and the return to the original subject, and the bringing of a piece to a more definite conclusion by the addition of a coda.

Mr. Lowe gave many illustrations at the pianofore to make clear his meaning, and also by means of many amusing inedients which had coma within his knowledge as a teacher of music and an examiner in many countries, ho showed how necessary it is that both teachers and students should have an intelligent understanding of every piece of work taken in hand. At the conclusion of tho lecture a number of questions were asked, which Mr. Lowe answered, and he was accorded a very hearty jjhte of thanks on the motion of Mr. J. Dobson.