SCHOOL MUSIC.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 337, 7 December 1945, Page 5

SCHOOL MUSIC.

, Sir,-We’ve just been hearing part of the Primary Schools Musical Festival from Station 4YA:-part. We had to wait for the American Commentators to finish, and by that time the massed singing was over, and the individual school choirs were on. They were good,

of course, but they don't pive "you the" thrill that massed singing does: I don’t know if you’ve heard the "Skyé Boat Song" sung by twelve hundred children’s voices with descant. I have, I- was’ in the Town Hall last year when it was | sung-and was repeated three times before the audience was satisfied. I’ve | waited twelve months to hear it again -and missed. Could not national link-up: be’through | auxiliary stations? Nearly every set can | get at least the four main stations. ' Most of them can only get one or two of the smaller stations. When these broadcasts such as "American’ Commen- | tators" are on, they have only local | stations -to listen to,:if they dislike the American voice, as many do, but if these were. on auxiliary stations..there-would still be a choice of four or more stations accessible to them. Records can be played at any time, and in normal times can be purchased also. But how often do we have a chance to hear a choir of over a thousand. fresh young voices? Even the -Manchester Children’s Choir, the only one I’ve heard recorded has only six hundred. Yet. except for two unison items, the audience for this choir was limited to the few thousands in the Town Hall. Why should we country people, who can’t possibly attend in person be denied the pleasure of hearing them? We depend on the radio for our entertainment. _ Why could these concerts not be brought to us in our homes?

EX-TEACHER

(Ngatimoti).

P.S.-I admit I was peeved because my own school was just too late to be included in the broadcast,