Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 723, 22 May 1953, Page 24

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

| HEN free from the ties of earning a living the average New Zealander likes to change into tennis shorts, golfing slacks (plus fours ‘seem to be sartorially out), the cream flannels indispensable to a self-respecting cricketer, or better still, just old gardening _ togs. Even bishops have been seen crossing the lawn with a trowel in one

hand, a bag of blood and bone in the _ other, and the episcopal boots covered with common clay. One member of the Wellington staff of the NZBS I know goes a good deal’ further. At certain times of the year, particularly in summer, he takes the veil and goes into / retreat at the bottom of the garden, to | carry out operations connected with his | hobby. He keeps bees-five hives of | them-et Wainui-o-Mata. "Bees are | fond of company and fly all over the place," he remarked the other day. "If

any of m visitors get stung they can’t blame my bees unless they prove that the stingers bear the letters ‘D.A.’ tattooed on their backs." These initials belong to Don Allan, who has been a membet of the NZBS for the last 13 years, and who was recently transferred from the job of Staff Training Officer to that of a Programme Officer in the Broadcasts to Schools Department, $ Don Allan explained that his new job includes supervision of the Correspondence School radio programmes on the technical side, and listener .research in primary schools in the WellingtonHutt Valley area. With another member of the staff he visits schools to observe children’s reactions to broadcast programmes, and he _ questions teachers and pupils to see what general use is made of radio in schools. At places which cannot be visited conveniently teachers are asked to fill in questionnaires. Typical comments _ are: "Dramatic type of presentation is very effective"; "Having four classes in one room, it is impracticable to take advantage of all programmes offering, much as that is desirable . .. there must be no distractions, and such conditions are possible only in_ singing lessons"; "Too much background noise, narrator not clear enough-rather too long for junior primers." "Such reports," said Mr. Allan, "are a valuable aid when drawing up programmes for forthcoming broadcasts. Occasionally we find it helpful to take the narrator into a classroom so that he can meet the young people to whom his broadcast is being directed." In 1944 Don Allan married another member of the NZBS staff, Marjorie Crawford. They now have a family of three-two boys and a girl. *

GROUP-LISTENING

[N Great Britain, Canada and the U.S.A, group-listening schemes have been at work for some time. Now the

Adult Education Department of Canterbury University College is establishing, with the co-operation of 3YA’s Talks Section, a scheme of radio group-listen-ing to Well Informed Circle, a _ pro-

gramme mentioned on this page last week. Well In-

formed Circle is conducted by two panels which appear alternately at 8.30 p.m. on Fridays to discuss a wide variety of contemporary problems. The Department feels that if its plan is successful it will assist one of the fundamental aims of its work-the provision of materia to give adults a clearer view of the® problems of the day. It is hoped that listening groups will be formed by members of Women’s Institutes, branches of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, Young Farmers’ Clubs, Country Girls’ Clubs, and so on, and by families and friends. Each group . will be provided in advance with a short summary of the subject under discussion, an agenda listing the main points likely to arise and, where necessary, a book-list. Groups will also be supplied with forms on jwhich to advise the Adult Education Department of the results of their discussions, and so provide a means of comparison with the opinions of other groups. Listeninggroups will probably need to appoint a chairman and secretary, says the Department, but apart from that the idea is to keep the proceedings as informal as possible. * {

MACHINES AND NATURE

‘THE next speaker in the BBC series, Man and the Soil (3YC, Monday evenings), is Professor G. E. Blackman, whose subject will be "Mechanisation and the Power of Nature." Professo Blackman occupies the Chair of Rural

Economy at Oxford, and has been much occupied with agricultural research.

Since 1941, for example, he has directed research under the aegis of the Agricultural Research Council into the cultivation -of oil-seed crops, the cultivation of maize, and the chemical control of weeds. He is also a member of the Colonial Advisory Council of Agriculture, Animal Health and Forestry. In his talk, at 7.30 p.m., on May 25, the Professor will. discuss what is, and what is not, practicable when man interferes with nature. +

COMMAND PERFORMANCES

PICTURED in the next column is the Dunedin soprano Dora Drake, now back in New Zealand and scheduled to appear with the National Orchestra on Monday, May 25. It was as Donna Anna in a Sadler’s Wells production of

Mozarts Don Giovanni that Mis Drake scored her biggest success in7*

London-success she attributes largely to three years’ tuition with the Scots | baritone Roy Henderson. Shortly before leaving England she was asked to sing in the Coronation Choir, but had to decline because of her New Zealand commitments. Even en route to New Zealand in the Strathnaver, Miss Drake did" not escape from her calling. She received several "vice-Regal commands" to sing for Australia’s Governor-General designate, Sir William Slim, and his wife. But the experiences which impressed her most abroad were a performance of |

Mozart’s Mass in C Minor by the BBC Choir and Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham, and the singing of the Metro-

politan Opera star, Kirsten Flagstad, in Wagner’s Gotterdammerung at Covent Garden. "Why she gave up," said Miss Drake, "I just don’t know." At her Dunedin appearance with the National Orchestra Dora Drake will sing "Breeze of the Night," from Verdi's Il Trovatore, and "Say No More That I Am Cruel," from Don Giovanni. On June 13. she will appear again with the National Orchestra at Auckland, taking the soprano roles in a special operatic programme arranged as part of Auckland’s Music Festival. During June she will be heard An studio broadcasts from National stations in the four maip centres. *

"NEXT PLEASE!"

NORA SANDERSON, one of the group of New Zealand writers whose stories are being told in the Christchurch radio series, Slightly Out of True, is a farmer’s daughter. She is also the wife of a Methodist minister

who retired recently because of throat trouble. and who is

now working in Christchurch as a furniture salesman. Women’s magazines have published many of her contributions; she has written one book, and made a recording of a children’s story for a well-known gramophone company. Slightly Out of True is broadcast in 3YA’s Women Session every Thursday afternoon, and repeated by 3YC the Same evening. Nora Sanderson’s story, called "Next, Please!" will be heard on June 11. te

CORONATION SINGERS

\WHEN he was a pupil at the Southland Boys’ High School, John Thompson started to learn singing. He got on very well. On Coronation Day he will be among the: members of the Coronation Choir in Westminster Abbey. John is the only son of Superintendent R. Thompson, Superintendent ef Police for the Wellington District.

While on the staff of Rongotai Boys’ College John Thompson was awarded a bursary by the New Zealand Government to further his singing studies, That

was two years ago. Wellington __ theatregoers will remember him for his part as —

the male lead in The Vagabond King in 1950. He also sang in programmes called Musical Miniatures, with Alex Lindsay’s Orchestra and Fanny McDonald’s Strings, which were broadcast ~ by 2YA, and he gave many solo recitals. Early in 1951 he made a tour of southern radio stations when his recitals included modern art songs by Benjamin . Britten and other British composers,

excerpts from Mozart operas, songs by Richard Strauss, Grieg, Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter, and early Italian songs by Pergolesi and Monteverdi. Listeners who knew Thompson as: a_ baritone will be interested to

hear that after study at the English | School of Opera, his voice was developed into a robust tenor. Another Wellington singer who will be in the Coronation Choir is Jean Curtis, contralto, who has often been heard from 2YA.