MUSIC AT HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10683, 1 February 1913, Page 8

MUSIC AT HOME.

COLONIALS IN LONDON. A CHRISTCHURCH LADY'S IMPRESSIONS. Miss E. S. Orchard, who has returned to Christchurch after studying at the I Royal Academy of Music in London, stated iu an interview yesterday that there are good prospects for colonial singei*3 at Home, but it is absolutely I necessary that they should spend five or six years studying at a good musical school. She said that the prospects at : Home were as good as they were anywhere else. The usual stumbling-block in the way of the colonial's success, ; she believed, was the fact that as a rule they could not afford to study I sufficiently long to obtain a thorough ' education,, without which success was: i impossible. It was absolutely necessary ' for good singers to hear good singing, and plenty of it. 'They could not develop properly unless they lived in a musical atmosphere. They must keep their health, they must be in a posi-

tion to live in comfort, and, above all, they must take their singing seriously. Colonials often treated the subject too lightly, with the result that t'hev were overtaken by failure. The London climate, at first, was very trying to colonial students. It was not bright, like the New Zealand climate, and the work there seemed to ba harder there than _ in this part of the world. With time, j however, that feeling disappeared, and i the colonial singer was soon able to become acclimatised. Miss Orchard met a fairly large number of colonial students in London. Amongst them were Mr A. Alexander, of Dunedin, and Mr. Norm, of Invercargill. • The former ! is studying the piano, the latter the violin. - Amongst Australians, Miss EllaCaspars, of Sydney, Mr P. Dawson and Mr Hay are conspicuous. Speaking of musical matters gener- j ally, Miss Orchard said that she had - 1 had many opportunities for attending I concerts and other entertainments, j Miss Lyne had made some stir in the musical world, and as she was only , twenty years of age. she had a brilliant career before her. She sang in operatic work at Hammerstein's Opera House, in the King's Way. She had a lovely

voice, very much like Madame Melba's, and in addition sang with great intelligence. In the Covent Garden Opera, Tetrazziui was as popular as ever; she never failed to attract a crowded audience. The Sunday concerts, especially at the Albert Hall, were patronised by immense numbers. The Albert Hall seated 10,000 persons, and it was not unusual to see hundreds turned away. Very high-class orchestral concerts were given there, and usually there was an instrumentalist and a sinser with the orchestra. In London Miss Orchard took the degrees of I L.R-A.M. and A.li Cii