JAZZ AND THE CLASSICS COMPARED BY EXAMINER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19154, 21 August 1930, Page 5

JAZZ AND THE CLASSICS COMPARED BY EXAMINER

“There is an element about jazz music of to-day that did not exist twenty or thirty years ago in the popular music of the day. If only those gifts that are called for in jazz music could be directed into higher channels the result would be a considerable gain to music.*' The above remarks were passed by Edgar Ford, Mus. Doc., examiner in Christchurch for the Trinity College of Music, in an interview last evening. Dr Ford declared that he was not fiercely opposed to jazz, as he thought some of the jazz writers were very clever indeed. “There is always a war between jazz and the serious music, but I think that verv often people have been turned to jazz because certain musicians always adopt a ‘highbrow’ attitude and give the impression that the only music that can be regarded as really good is ultra-serious.” “Art is the expression of life, of every 'type of life, not only the serious side but the lighter side, and a good deal of thoroughly good music, beautiful music indeed, is of the lighter type.” A Classic Defined. A classical piece of music was one that had a message and a meaning for all time. If the resrilt was considered dull, then the piece was not good or had been presented in the wrong light. The more beautiful the piece of music the easier it was to ruin it. The test of all good music was like the test of art: Did it mean something? That, of course, could be reduced to the question, “Is it beautiful?” The gramophone was a big factor in raising the musical taste of the public, considered Dr Ford, for to-day people were realising that some of the records of the classics afforded more satisfaction and were more lasting in appeal than the dance music heard.