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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 379, 27 September 1946, Page 5

Sir,-Paul von Sturmer perhaps was serious. If he was, I wish to say that if a parent has a child that shows’ musical ability from three onwards, and is prevented from having the chance of his music being cultivated, it seems a bad form of starvation. Many of us are grateful to our parents after we have become 21 for a musical education-and the rest of us look back, and blame those teachers who spent the lessons with those. unmusical noises, five finger exercises, trying to make the child’s supple fingers more supple, and those inane tunes such

as "Moonlight and Daisies" instead of starting straight with Schubert, Bach, and Beethoven, who composed for the child as well as for grown-ups. It is the same with those who remember their loathing for Shakespeare and languages -it is not Shakespeare, but the teacher who did not understand or appreciate his subject. Julius Caesar and the late Mr. Justice Alpers might have been even more famous if they had had the opportunity of beginning their careers earlier than 40. Would Solomon or any other famous pianist, painter or writer, regret the chance of starting the development of their talents during childhood? I feel that, if children have any talent for music, the parents should encourage that talent, risking the fluke of a prodigy, because by the time most of us reach 21, there are far too many distractions and small inclinatioh to start

at that time.

BOO

(Riccarton)