MASS SINGING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 670, 24 October 1933, Page 7

MASS SINGING

HUMAN OBSERVATIONS UPON MUSIC IN THE WARS. , "AN END IN ITSELF." There are three kinds of singing — hy the choir, hy the congregation, and I by the community. And the greatest i of th'ese is — fwhieh? As a rule the layman fears to write about singing or music, lest one of ; the experts, .always lying in wait to slay one another, slay him too. The . musical letter to the newspaper is : such a stand-hy of the musician! But | Harvey Grace is quite human in some ! ohservations in "The Listener"; and ' one is tempted to sift them not so much for art values as for hearts | values. | Harvey Grace finds that football | crowd hymn-singing in England, while [ wonderful, h'as certain hlemishes. I Firstly, this singing is not in itself the whole show. It is a eurtain-raiser to a gladiatorial combat. People coming spontaneously together to sing, the singing being its own sufficient reward, are in a different category from that of "an omnium gatherum to whom the singing is merely a way of escaping the tedium of wait-' | ing for the real business of the day ; (football) to begin." There is a con- ! nection* (remote, hut real) between I the conductor (engaged hy a biggest | cireulation newspaper) of a football j crowd singing "Abide with Me," and th'e savage chieftain who ages ago stage-managed the first concerted warcry, having discovered that ordinary individual war cries were infer- [ ior in menace to "noises emitted in sentment against choral exclusive- | ness. Harvey Grace finds that "with 1 no great amount of trouble, congre1 gational singing can he developed in- ! to a fine thing, no less effective in its j way than th'e singing of the trained [ choir, to which it supplies both relief ! something like an organised manner* hy the aid of gestures from a leader." The Maori war dance is an elahoration of this. The general conclusion drawn hy j Harvey Grace is that the defect of so much of the community singing of toI day is that it is incidental to something else. "The only kind really worth while is that which is an end in itself." Also, historical research indieates that "community singing has been, in the main, congregational singingj" based onthe hymn. Congregational singing in 'England is. in a healthier condition than for a long time past. An important factor in this improvement is ££recognition of thg separate musical functions of choir and congregation." There was a time in th'e nineteenth century when the choir seemed to he "the whole show," and when a then current popular recitation, "Trouhle on the 'Arnen' Corner," reflected reand eontrast. "A more general recognition of this fact may lead to strildng developments in secular community singing. The steady rise in musical taste that seems now to be assured will lead to a frequent demand for something far better in matter and manner than what seems good enough when the singing of crowds is exploited as a means of advertising th'e popular Press. ... "We may yet see composers of a •work for chorus and orchestra writing a part — something simple, broad, and big — for the audience. I think it is in Relin's 'Eventyr' that the composer, at a climax of the work, calls for a shout from the orchestra. It is far from convincing 'coming from that source: handed over to the audience it would he thrilling."