TEACHING OF MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1737, 30 April 1913, Page 2

TEACHING OF MUSIC.

♦- ■ 3 % A BOLD CRITIC. | AT ,",HRISTCHURCH,FESTIVAL. I 4 -1 (By Tclsiraph— I'reee Association.) S Christchurch; April 'JB. | .Herr Call' Saner, musical judge at tho S conipotiliaus, tcok advantage of an in- Si tcrvnl this morning id make some very in- | teresting observations upon tlin position, of musical teachers in this country. | Herr Snuer dated that he had been | highly grai:i(i?d to noticc the very keen | general interest that was taken in the a competitions, but the point of tuition | arose. There were in every town a great | many teaclrcrs, eoino of whom had achiev- | ed a. certain amount of success oil the | platform. Some people thought that per- « sons who could themselves perWrm could a teach, but the profession, itself observed | a difference between the ability to per- | form and the ability to instruct. It was ,jj a vital point to know what qualifications a a teacher had, but "unfortunately in tho ft Southern Hemisphere so-called degrees 3 counted for a gre'it deal. Ho had found 3 a great many men and women with al- »* most the whole alphabet alter their names, - but tlioy could not necessarily teach. The-se degrees wore obtained lor a certain amount of proficioncy shown at certain times in certain pieces, and that was all that coulil be said about degrees given by tho Royal Academy of Jlusic, tho Associated iioard of Examiners, etc. Out here th'ota examiners knew nothing about tho musical development of the candidates ~t all. They had no conception as to what i study tliey had gone through. Theso can- I didates wero not required to havo any / primary instruction ut all, and, because L of this, ho had found girls who had their I certilicatos framed on their walls unablo \ to play "God Save the King." Any person musically inclined could, with sufli- . oient work, obtain t'heso certificates, but that did not guarantee thciT being ablo to teach.. To do that required a.,thorough grounding. Now was tho time, therefore, lor one of the University Colleges of New Zealand to establish a Chair of Music, whtra study could bo token up systematically, ntul.logically. Where, for instance, could Miss Moore (tlio; champion) now pursue her studies in Now Zealand? Thero blioukl ba a university at which she could develop her talents. There wero able lecturers in New Zealand, euch as Dr. Bradshaw, but what was needed was practical instruction under private tuition. As it was, pupils toso to a. .certain level, but could get no further. A capablo musician required at least seven years' tuition.- A prodigy was a matter ot only three or four years; but while this attainment was rayed out in early years, a higher standard was demanded later, bilt this could not be given as things were, lie asked himself what was tho good of these examinations by foreign or.English bodies in Ncv Zealand? Ho did not mind if ho offended anybody, and from what he could seo he wiuld strongly urge one of the universities —he hopeel it would bo ill Christchurch —to establish !t Chair of Music. Ho hoped that tho Competitions Committee would inaugurate some scheme which would have a Chair of Music as its aim.