MUSICAL SOCIETIES

Shannon News, 3 December 1926, Page 1

MUSICAL SOCIETIES

THE IDEAL .MEMBER. HARMONIES AND DISCORDS. ■ NEW PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. The ideals that a musical society should set before itself, and the true function of such a society, mado the basis of an inaugural address delivered on Saturday evening to the Wellington Society of Musicians by its newly-elected president, Mr. E. Douglas Tayler. tho recently-appointed l Supervisor of Musical Education in the schools. Many of Mr. Tayler’s remarks could be applied with equal force to other corporate societies besides those of musicians. Societies of all kinds, said Mr. Tayler, existed primarily to gratify the social instinct; it had never been good for man to live alone, and destiny could not be fulfilled by living a solitary life. The flute player or violinist playing tunes in a prison or a desert would be of little use to mankind, disproportionately important in hi s own eyes, and empty in his ‘aim. “The great purpose of all organised societies is the enlargement of the life of the individual through the opening of avenues of approach to the lives of others. The discovery of a common ground of thought or feeling should merely furnish a gateway through which we may go on to the shape of those thoughts or feelings which differ from our own or which add something to them. Herein lies the great value of societies for special purposes. People of widely differing Mews and experiences, of all ages and classes and denomination, of every variety of temperament and temper, are drawn together through the snaring of one common taste.’’ Referring in particular to musical societies, Mr. Tayler said the link which bound was joy in beautiful sound, and a musical society should primarily provide its members with the opportunity of sharing this happy experience. But if we meet merely to enjoy music we achieve but a small part of our possibilities; moro than that was needed. Too often the attitude Of a member towards a society was.“ What will the society do for me ?” This was a wrong point of view; our contribution should be something more than merely absorbing like a sponge. “If we . have musical skill in performance, let us contribute our best; but if our love for music finds happier expression in listening, our contribution must be first that of listening and then that of talking and being friendly; and we must not think that this kind of contribution is too small to be of value.” Sharing Beautiful Music. In the sharing of music, Mr. Tayler went on to say, we have a definite and organised liberation of united emotion and common feelings, a positive direction of everybody’s imagination into certain channels, attended with a joy in the production of beautiful sounds and sound-forms. “But the music which we share must be beautiful music beautifully performed the outcome of sincerity of purpose, genuine emotional impulse and healthy imagination; and when we have performed it beautifully and'enjoyed it together we must pass on to the sharing of the ideas which it arouses and so to the highways and byways which it opens up for us There must be no sitting silent and waiting for something magical to happen, or we have ceased to be a society and are merely sol-tary individuals. again.” Pointing out that he was in no way condemning a privato feast of music, , Mr. Tayler said that this was quite legitimato and even essential. “But this kind of musical experience is something apart from that for which the musical society exists: and we must not fall into tho error which has killed, and still kills, so many churches, of becoming an unsociable society and treating' a public function as a priavte affair for each individual who attends it, so that he must be noticed as little as possible. If you wish to belong to a society unobserved, you are really trying to stab it in the back.” Value Of Discords In Life. Although the first requisite of a musical society was that its members should hove the opportunity of listening to good music well performed, that was not all. There might well, be inter-change of ideas and debate, but care had to be taken not to split up into little cliques or j>arties. “And this brings mo to another phrase in the phenomena of corporate life, namely conflict,” continued Mr. Tayler. “If wc never came across anyone whose ideas differ from ours, life becomes a mere monotony of common chords or adiapliony of bare octaves. Without discords our life’s music loses its vitalising elements: if wc are to keep awake and moving, we must be forever creating and revolving new discords of thought, and feeling. Many of these may be as mild as the dominant seventh but even the clash of tho minor second has its place in spurring on our activity with a mighty force; and the moro violently you quarrel with a man, the more you get to know of each other’s thought; for the more volubly will bo talk more volubly will he talk and the more . persiaently will you pour out your opinions upon him. The mischief is