EXPERIMENT IN ANNOTATION

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 440, 28 November 1947, Page 9

EXPERIMENT IN ANNOTATION

New System at 2YC SIC, being of a fleeting nature, makes the complete understanding of a work almost impossible on initial acquaintance. For all but skilled listeners an unfamiliar work should be heard at least three times, and in the case of more complicated compositions, this number must. of necessity

be multiplied. But the first hearing of a new piece of music is all-important, according to William W. Johnson, in his Intelligent Listening to ‘Music, for the reason that false impressions are difficult to counteract or eradicate at a later date.

Annotations are, therefore, intended as a guide to the true enjoyment and appreciation of music. They can state principles and suggest methods by which intelligent listening may be cultivated. Hitherto, the annotations for all major classical. works, prepared at the head office of the NZBS, have been read by an announcer, preceding the broadcasting of the actual work. But now a new system has been introduced at 2YC with a two-fold purpose-giving more life to the annotations and, at the same time, providing the listener with a sort of architectural background of the main themes on which the work is built. Following on.a plan prepared by Bessie Pollard, of the NZBS staff, annotations are now recorded from her scripts. The principal themes of the piece to be broadcast are first played on the piano as illustrations to the descriptive notes. Then the work, as a whole or in movements, follows. By this means the listener is told how a theme is built up, how it is expanded, modified or otherwise varied in succeeding passages. The spoken matter is kept to a minimum, covering only essentials, and only a few bars are played by way of illustration, the whole of the annotation occupying only three to four minutes. So far the new system of annotation has been used only at Station 2YC in its classical programmes, but it is possible that other stations will adopt it later when broadcasting similar sessions.