SESSIONS BY CHILDREN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 258, 2 June 1944, Page 9

SESSIONS BY CHILDREN

2ZB's Interesting Experiment HE current session from 2ZB of programmes compiled and _ compéred by children between the ages of 8 and 16 has revealed some interesting facts to the programme organiser-that children don’t succumb to .mike fright as adults do, that, the average. child has a better knowledge of music and musicians: than most people imagine, and that he has: no particular desire for jazz. One reason for the child’s coolness in front of the microphone is that wireless has always been familiar to . him. To the present generation of children there has never been a.time when there hasn’t been a wireless. Or perhaps the reason is that children have more assurance anyway. Whatever it is, the organisers of the session are still marvelling at the self-possession of the entrants. Typical perhaps was the four-teen-year-old boy, who, five seconds before he was to broadcast leaned over the microphone and asked casually, "I suppose one is permitted to be a trifle nervous?" and then sailed through his programme without a tremor. Some of the children may have submitted classical programmes because they wanted to show their good taste, but the majority seem to have had a genuine interest in their subject and to have delved into innumerable sources to get material for their programme notes. And they are not satisfied with any artist or recording: in each case they stipulate the particular one which in their opinion is superior to all others. Their programmes have covered many of the great composers, but they have also offered a wide range of variety programmes. There have even been programmes on hymns, and one which stressed the moral of keeping silent during war time. One contributor, aged ten, let her imagination go. "It is dusk. An old lady sits drowsily on the veranda. Her head begins to nod over her crochet work and soon nothing can be heard but her gentle breathing,’ this child wrote. "She dreams of a distant land, Spain, with its sun-drenched hills . +. its joy and sorrow ... brown-eyed,

carefree children rollicking in the dusk . . the matador with his red coat is showing his skill in the ring. She smiles softly as she remembers one bull." Then came the instructions: "Play Ferdinand the Bull." The children have had access to 2ZB’s library to compile their programmes, and those concerned in the session were ready to give them advice. But, the organisers told us, "the children haven’t wanted advice. They have given us advice. A hundred programmes have been received so far, and of all these, only three or four have needed any re-editing before they could go on the air. This session of programmes compéred and compiled by children can be heard from 2ZB on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.