SCHOOL SINGING

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3303, 30 May 1931, Page 5

SCHOOL SINGING

ANNUAL CHOIRS' CONTEST.

JUDGE'S WARM PRAISE

Singing of an exceptionally high standard was heard in the Primary Schools choirs' contest in connection with the Waikato Winter Show at the Hamilton Theatre Royal yesterday morning. Over 350 children participated from many schools in the Hamilton and surrounding country districts.

Each year marked improvement is effected in school singing and the children enter with keen enthusiasm into the competition. Moreover, as the judge, Mr E. Varley Hudson, of Auckland, remarked to-day, there is a fine sporting spirit evident in the friendly rivalry among the schools for these musical honours. The judge was warm in his praise of the singing generally, the only disappointing feature being the small entry for the D choir competition. Good entries in this section were received Tast year and he hoped there would be a revival of interest in the same section next year. Apart from one fault, Mr Hudson considered that the singing of the Hamilton East choir in the Parker Hill Cup contest was as good as any he had heard in New Zealand. Whitiora was successful in winning the leading trophy last year, but to-day this choir took second place to Hamilton East. Whitiora, however, secured one first and two seconds. An outstanding contribution was that of the Parawera choir which came first in the C contest. Matangi, the only entrant, attained a high standard in the D contest.

Results, with the judge's comments, are:—

Parker Hill Challenge Cup, trio unaccompanied, 40 voices, "In a Garden." (Patteson): Hamilton East 169 points, 1; Whitiora 161 points, 2; Frankton 145 points, 3. Waikato Winter Show Cup, twopart song, 24 voices "Fairyland," from "Oberon.": Whitiora 165 points, 1; Forest Lake 163 points, 2; Hamilton East, 135 points, 3. Second Winter Show Cup, two-part song, 24 voices, "Fair Shines the Moon To-night," (extract from "Rigoletto"): Parawera 165 points, 1; Whitiora 159 points, 2; Forest Lake 157 points, 3; Raglan 154 points, 4; Hamilton East 149 points, 5. S£x choirs entered in this section. The piece was an extract from an opera and required flexible singing. A general fault was the sounding of the vowel "a"; this was noticeable in many parts of New Zealand. In some of the choirs the altos were weak. It was incorrect for all the boys to sing alto. Personally, he preferred to see the boys singing the high part and some of the girls the low part. The winning choir, added the judge, was responsible for fine work throughout. They produced a better opening than the others, and the triplets though smudgy were intense. Tone and pronunciation were both satisfactory. The expression of the second choir was good but the tone showed blemishes.