Music at Masterton

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 521, 17 June 1949, Page 24

Music at Masterton

FROM May 13 to May 21, and from ) seven in the morning until eleven at | night, St. Matthew’s School, Masterton, | rang with music of one sort or another. these nine days the Wellington | Regional Council for Adult Education | held its Vacation Music School at Masterton. The School was a great musical and social success, said Miss Haddon-Jones, one of the four tutors

|in charge of the camp, so much so that it is hoped to hold several schools a year in various parts of New Zealand. Over 60 people attended the school, 40 "resident" students from all parts of New Zealand and an average of 20 local students a day attending either daytime or evening lectures. So much seemed to be accomplished in the comparatively short time that the primary purpose of the School will be ful-filled-the purpose of training more and more

{students who can return to their own | communities able to lead or foster musi- | cal activity. | ‘The camp was lucky in having among | the students experts in almost all branches of music, and they were able ‘to help others who had perhaps equal | enthusiasm but less proficiency. ) The weather was perfect and the | cooks excellent, said Miss Haddon- | Jones, and material comfort is not to be _ despised, considering that modern music- | making is such a strenuous activity, and | demands a high standard of energy if |not physical fitness, The day began at seven, with Frére Jacques or Wake, oh | Wake, played on bamboo pipes, and immediately silence was broken by assorted warblings, strummings and flutings. Mealtimes were the only comparatively quiet periods in the day. It had been expected that most of the students would concentrate on one particular musical activity, but so great was the enthusiasm for all branches that Dr. Vernon Griffiths had to fit in

three conductors’ classes, for example, where he had expected to dea] with only one. The classes in bamboo-pipe making proved surprisingly popular, as can be seen from the accompanying photograph. At least half the students were school teachers, many from country schools, and bamboo pipes represented to them one of the few available

means of bringing music into schools otherwise barred from any music-mak-ing other than choral work. Percussion band work, too, made a strong appeal to teachers, particularly those from small schools. The school has an impressive list of converts to its credit. One student who attended, a professional photographer who studied the violin in his spare time, has now decided to devote all his time to music. Two members of a family of five announced that next time all five would attend the school. And a man and wife who ran a chemist’s shop and attended half the lectures, each vowed that next time they would close the shop and come to everything. "All the tutors were thoroughly satisfied with the enthusiasm generated and the way everyone co-operated to make the camp a success," concluded Miss Haddon-Jones, "and the students themselves feel they are going home with something fresh to offer their communities."