THE EXHIBITION BAND CONTEST.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8738, 26 March 1890, Page 2

THE EXHIBITION BAND CONTEST.

'* Cms," in the Otago Witness, thus comments on this contest: — " Did Igo to the great band contest ? I did not. To hear 16 brass btinds in succession play the same piece of music ? — Thanks, no ! Understand, I am by no means indifferent to martial strains. A band at the head of a regiment in motion rouses me to a dangerous pitch of enthusiasm; the mere drums and fifes of a corporal's guard pet my pulses dancing wildly. But a brass band in a concert hall — 16 brass bands — that is a different matter ! It reminds me of the farmyard riddle — What makes move noise than a pig under a gate ? Two pigs under a gate. Fancy 10 pigs under a gate ! It is true that the 16 brass bands did not all play at once; they did worse — they played in succession, and all played the same piece. What is even more appalling still, they all played to the same audience. According to the Star, the result was " untiring enjoyment." As I was not there myself I won't say it wasn't, but if it was, the taste of the audience must have been peculiar. As for the judges, there is a general agreement amongst musicians that they, poor souls, were simply reduced to imbecility. Conclusive evidence of tho fact is afforded by their awards. By the time that the sixteenth repetition was reached they could not have told a drum from a bass fiddle or the band of the Horse Guards from the melancholy tooters of the Salvation Army. Not that I know anything about the matter myself, observe ; I make no such pretension. I merely repeat the unanimous opinion of the 15 bandmasters who failed to take the first prize — a f ailme which, as they have set forth in a written manifesto, fills them with "regret and astonishment." My sympathies go with every one of them. The basis of reward, as we have lately learned, is fidelity, not ability. If 16 bands played the same notes to the same audience, pulling and blowing one and all with the same fidelity, why should you draw invidious distinctions between them ? The ouly proper and satisfactory close to the great band contest would have been the distribution of 16 first prizes. Tliefollowingadver.se criticism on tho exhibition orchestra contains, I dare say, a good deal of truth, but, after all, where is the need of taking things so seriously ? If the exhibition music is not the best in the world it is the best we are able to produce, and quite up to the level of the people who listen to it, or most of them at any rate : Dear Civis : — Tho indiscriminate praise given to performers at exhibition concerts is positively nauseating. Take as uxamplc last week's Wednesday night concert, choral and instrumental. In the papers next day we are told that orchestra, soloists and chorus were all alike faultless. What are tho facts ? As an old musical conductor, who was there, I will tell you. Here are my notes : Orchestra. — Spiritless or lazy ;—probably overworked. Overture to " Elijah " tamo and toneless. March from "Eli": Cornets began in wrong key and had to be silenced. Soloists. — Soprano: "On mighty pens;" — laboured and mechanical, wantiug lifo ar.d "go;" band (Squarisc and two or three others exceptod) all at sea; Hute — with much to do — nowhere. Tenor : Wooden and spasmodic; at one point in "If with all your hearts " conductor had to sing at him in correction of a wrong note. Bass : A good voice unintelligently used. Tho song was Rossini's " Pro peccatis." In the D minor scale (ascending) on the words, >( et flagellis," the singer took F sharp instead of F natural, and repeated the mistake when the phrase recurred. At the triplet passage, " dum eniisit spiritiim," lie failed to space his triplets, huddling them together in a rush, with neither time nor accent. Altogether a wretched performance. Ciionus. — Nothing satisfactory but Handel's " And the glory," which they could probably sing in their sleep. In Mendelssohn's " Be not afraid," the second subject, more confusion. Cause obvious insufficient rehearsal. Enunciation of words ludicrously indistinct; e.g.: Be not afraid, thy help is nigh, as rondorod by the Exhibition Chorus, may bo written thus : 'o 'ot a'ai' 'y 'el pisn igh. Exaggeration hero, you say J Not much. Nobody who did not know tho words beforehand could possibly make them out. Such was tho performance which the Dunedin papers with one consent cracked up as perfect. As 1 said at the beginning, it makes me sick ! — Piu Lento. I cannot be sufficiently thankful that Heaven has not endowed me with these painfully acute sensibilities 1

I Have you ever tried Renahaw's Auckland KeUslwit is hruner-sgly popular wherever it is used. Try it and judgy,