MUSIC AND DRAMA

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1578, 25 November 1924, Page 6

MUSIC AND DRAMA

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “Orpheus.”) It is difficult to understand the lack of appreciation on the part of the general public in respect of local musical talent. The Te Awamutu Municipal Band held a concert recently in aid of their Contest Funds and only a handful of people patronised the function. A Band concert may or may not be the ideal of entertainments, but the fact remains that our local Bandsmen are giving their services gratis to an enterprise which is of value to any community and are therefore deserving of our support. When one realises the wonderful impetus given to Welsh music by reason of the whole-hearted support of the Welsh people resulting in Wales to-day being considered probably the most musical portion of the Empire, it is easily understood the great value of ‘local support and ment. Richard Dix writes from Nassau, the Bahamas, where he and Bebe Daniels with a company of players are making exterior scenes for “Sinners of Heaven,” that he has seen the Queen of the bootleggers. “She is a woman about thirty-five years of age,” writes Dix, “and holds the bootlegging business of this island in the hollow of her hand. What she says goes, and every time a boat load of ‘Scotch’ shoves off for .the States she banks fifty thousand dollars to her account. There are many others here engaged in the work; they work in six hour shifts putting fluid into bottles but the Queen leads them all. It is a peculiar fact that climatic conditions have a direct effect upon the temperament. Especially is this noticeable where musical expression is concerned. A well known adjudicator stated at one of our New Zealand festivals, “The further south I travel the higher is the standard of instrumental playing and the further north I go* vocalists excel.” Visiting artists to this country have also commented upon this factor, mentioning that vocalists receive a .more enthusiastic reception in the North than in the South Island, while the reverse is true as regards instrumentalists. Why do we smile at local effort? If we were to smile less and do a little more along sympathy lines, probably that smile of ridicule would some day develop into a smile of satisfaction—satisfaction in our town for its beauty and talent. Success only comes with effort and effort without attendant sympathetic support is but a sorry worker. Next Saturday at the Empire Theatre that wonderful masterpiece of the screen, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” will be shown. It is a picture that nobody should miss. Passing by a group of local gossips the other day, I heard the comment made to the effect that “Orpheus” probably. knew little or nothing of music, and that it was easy to criticise. Quite so. It is easy to criticise, but constructive criticism can only be of value when coming from an experienced source. I am reminded of the occasion when one of England’s best known journalists, a musical critic, when judging some brass performances at a musical festival, and giving a decision unpalatable to some of the audience, was saluted by a voice, “What do you know about it? Can you play a brass instrument?” He promptly replied, “No! Nor can I lay an egg, but I know the difference between a good one and a bad one!”

The painter of the picture which has become the most famous trade-mark in the world—“ His Master’s Voice” — died on August 29th. The fact that he sold the painting of the now immortal “Nipper” to the British Gramophone Company over twenty years ago serves to remind us (says a ’London writer) that the gramophone is no longer in the first flush of youth. A

comparison of this little picture of the crude and immature gramophone of, roughly, a quarter of a century ago, with the ornate instruments of to-day, also reminds one, however, that the science of sound reproduction via the gramophone is fundamentally identical in it.s methods with the procedure of those early days. The only difference consists in certain refinements of production and reproduction.