Church or Studio?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 342, 11 January 1946, Page 8

Church or Studio?

N a Listener interview last September the Rev. G. A. Naylor gave some of the reasons for his belief that the broadcasts of religious services should be made

direct from the studio and not from the church itself, On the Sunday before Christmas he broadcast an evening service from 1YA, and the result was effective enough to reawaken interest in his experiments. Few speakers are at their best when they have in mind two audiences, one seen and one unseen, and it is possible, too, that the presence of a microphone in a church may destroy for some of those who are there that feeling of privacy and unity they need for their worship, By broadcasting direct to those who were listening at home, Mr. Naylor was able to adjust the tempo and the method of his service to suit their needs alone. Mr, Naylor has the advantage of being an accomplished reader with a fine literary discrimination. As I had anticipated, he selected for the mgst part Luke’s version of the Christmas story; in thought, in utterance, and in length, his sermon seemed just what a sermon should be. The question of music for . such a service is a difficult one. Recorded music seems at the moment the only practical solution, yet it should not perhaps be accepted indefinitely and unreservedly. In this case it was chosen well; there were, besides Christmas hymns, choruses from Messiah, "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" (beautifully sung), and as a retiring voluntary Bach’s organ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, °