ONLY 31 IN COMBINED CHOIRS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 31, 11 December 1950, Page 5

ONLY 31 IN COMBINED CHOIRS

Thursday evening’s presentation by the combined choirs reminds us again of the complaint so often raised by newcomers to Whakatane. If intellectual, spiritual and artistic achievement are the hallmarks of civilisation there is very little evidence that Whakatane is civilised. On Wednesday evening our critics could have pointed out that the combined choirs of Whakatane consist of only 31 men and women. Apart from these Whakatane people do not apparently want to sing enough to put up with rehearsals.

The criticism is difficult to refute. Choirs are not the only organisation in Whakatane which have failed to develop because of public apathy. Everyone, is too busy, particularly the men. Some of the men who thus excuse themselves will say that more women support such things because they have not enough to do. Their wives and sisters reply by accusing them of being too lazy to leave their evening armchairs. This state of affairs requires some explanation, especially as most of the big names in musical and other artistic activities have always been men, and that even in Whakatane, if we exclude purely women’s organisations, the leaders are usually men. Yet too many of the rank and file of our male population do not realise that their place in such activities is a vital one, and that without their help no musical or other artistic enterprise can ever achieve full success. A choirmaster once said that he had a fine choir of men and boys, but that when women were allowed to join the men began to leave. If this is just another example of the eternal sex-war so typical of rural New Zealand it opens up a different problem. But among both men and women apathy and irresponsibility are too prevalent here. It is difficult to believe that the people are essentially different from the people of other country towns, where musical and dramatic activities have flourished for years. Because these organisations have seldom achieved or even attempted much of real value here people do not support them, for they are essentially conservative everywhere and will not willingly venture on uncharted seas. A vicious circle is the result.

The solution appears to be ambitious and courageous enterprise, the embarking on artistic advenLures which will put on their mettle everybody who can be dragged in to assist. Nobody who has been a part of a venture of real magnitude is even quite the same person again. There is a satisfaction in losing oneself in something that is not only bigger than the individual but is greater than the sum of all its parts which is more than merely good for us. It has immense spiritual value. Those who have once experienced it will come back for more; but meanwhile there are too many people in Whakatane who, because they have never experienced it, do not come at all.—McL.