NEED FOR MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1053, 18 August 1930, Page 14

NEED FOR MUSIC

NATIONAL FESTIVAL OPENED MUNICIPAL CONCERT “Music Week is a great effort on the part of the musicians of Auckland, and also in other parts of New Zealand, to bring home to the public a greater realisation of the value of music to the community. The movement has the full support of the City Council, and we hope that it will also receive the support it deserves from the public.” IN the above words, the DeputyMayor, Mr. A. J. Entrican, extended his best wishes to the organisers of Music Week, when the movement was officially opened at the Town Hall on Saturday evening. Although the big hall was not filled, the attendance for a Saturday night, about 1,000, could be considered quite satisfactory, and promising well for the concerts that are to be given during this week. In apologising for the absence of the Mayor, Mr. G. Baildon, who is at present in Australia, Mr. Entrican said that it would have given Mr. Baildon very great pleasure to have-performed the opening ceremony. Mr. Baildon had presided at the public meeting when tho movement was first discussed, and had shown a keen interest in the proposal. Music Week, said Mr. Entrican, was a great effort on the part of the musicians to further the cause of music. A strong committee consisting of amateur and professional musicians, educationalists and business men had been formed, and it had been successful at the outset in enlisting the hearty cooperation of all the leading musical organisations in the city. IN THE SCHOOLS A very interesting feature of the week, said the Deputy-Mayor, was v.he big part played by the schools. Primary, secondary and catholic schools were taking part, and the public would thus be afforded with an excellent opportunity of seeing some of the results of tho very fine musical work being done in the schools. This work among the children, he considered, was of the greatest importance, and he was very pleased to see that in the activities of Music Week it had been given the prominence it deserved. In asking the citizens of Auckland to give the movement their support, Air. Entrican said that times and manners had undergone a great change during the last few years. Alusic, however, still remained one of the great fundamental requirements of mankind, in fact more than ever today was it neces sary to keep the uplifting influence of music alive in their midst. MECHANICAL MUSIC Broadcasting and the general development of mechanical music, although doing much in their way to popularise music, was also having a detrimental effect upon concert attendances, said Air. Entrican. As a result many of the loading societies in Auckland, such as the Auckland Choral Society, Royal Alale Choir and Bohemian Orchestra, were experiencing great difficulty in carrying on. It would be a sad loss to the city if these organisations were allowed to go out of existence, said Air. Entrican. and it was hoped that as a result of the combined effort made during Alusic Week and the great publicity that the cause would thus obtain that a greater interest in music and increased attendances at concerts would obtain, not only in Auckland, but throughout the Dominion. Air. Entrican said it was his sincere wish that Alusic Week would succeed in its objective, and that Auckland as a result would lead the Dominion as its foremost musical centre. The Alusic Week executive was working in a very fine cause, and one for which it could readily appeal to the public for assistance and support. Members of the council were ■keenly interested in the movement, added the Deputy-Alayor, and they hoped that a large measure of public support would be accorded.