Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 726, 12 June 1953, Page 24

Open Microphone

« NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

N the New Zealand Croquet Championships this year the ex-Junior and Open Champion, Ashley Heenan, did not strike form. He told me that he was at a distinct tactical dis-

advantage because in three events-the Open, the Men’s and the Handicaphis opponent was _ his father-in-law. Father-in-law won them all. , Ashley

Heenan, who has been with the NZBS for the last 10 years, and now compiles musical feature programmes, has always had a weakness for the singing lessons in the Thursday Broadcasts to Schools. Not long ago he examined about 1000 folk songs of all countries, selected 30 or so, and then arranged them to suit New Zealand children so that they could be used in the Schools Broadcasts. He has also composed a number of songs for the Broadcasts to Schools booklets, His hobby, which is closely allied to his work, is preserving original Maori music by noting down melodies and words. "Recently a man from the Gilbert Islands called on me," he said, "and explained that he had a_ collection of native tunes in his bag. It turned out that while travelling between Lyttelton and Wellington this man had told a fellow passenger that he wanted to meet someone in New Zealand who might be interested. My name was mentioned--I don’t know to this day by whom-and in due course I had a visitor. He was Lieutenant-Colonel P. B. Laxton, and he produced some very interesting examples of Island music. One was a melody arranged for four voices by a 17-years-old Gilbert Islander, who hadn’t had the slightest musical training apart from singing in ‘the local missionary’s choir, and he couldn’t speak a word of English." Ashley Heenan composed the music for Moana Roa, a film produced a year or two ago in the Cook

Islands by the New Zealand National Film Unit, and has had several compositions published overseas. In his spare time he referees Rugby club matches in Wellington. ‘

LIZ AND EM

[JERE is a photograph of the screen actress Elizabeth Allan, one of the panel in What’s My Line? (ZB stations

and 2ZA, Thursday nights) and her bull terrier, Emily. Liz, as

her friends call ‘her, takes a keen interest in the welfare of blind people, an

has a whole wardrobe of clothes ey knitted for her by one of their organisations. [Note for dog-lovers: Emily, aged five, is the mother of 18 pups.] *

DRINKING-GLASS CONCERTO

"| NQUIRER" asks for a definition of the word "harmonica." Today, of course, it is applied to the mouthorgan, but in earlier times it was used to denote the "Musical Glasses." The

invention of the early form, says Percy Scholes, was claimed by, Gluck,

but surely mistakenly or mendaciously, as it had been known for a century before he made his famous appearance with it in 1746, advertised in the London press as follows: "A Concerto Upon Twentysix Drinking Glasses, tuned with SpringWater, accompanied with the whole Band, being a new instrument of his own Invention; upon which he performs whatever may be done on a Violin or Harpsichord, and thereby hopes to™ satisfy the Curious as well as Lovers of Musick." There must have been many readers’ of this advertisement who realised its lack of exactness, for an Irishman named, Richard: Pockrich or Puckeridge had toured England with such an instrument two years earlier. ‘The tone was obtained by’ friction of the wetted fingers on the rims of the glasses. In’ 1757 Benjamin Franklin attempted to mechanise the instrument, and the name "Harmonica" was apparently introduced in connection with this. The instrument was for many years in great vogue. Mozart, Beethoven, Naumann and Hasse composed music for it, while it had its, virtuosi such as

Marianne Davies and Marianna Kirchgessner. The harmonica (mouth organ) is usually attributed to Sir Charles Wheatstone, being introduced by him in 1829, The instrument is, to'a point, easily learnt, but feats of virtuosity such as we hear today are possible only to the highly talented. Larry Adler and "his instrument, a 12-hole_ chromatic harmonica, have appeared on the BBC’s Third Programme.

WELL-GROOMED ACTOR

ICHARD MURDOCH, the MuchBinding star, was recently selected

by a London newspaper columnist as one of the best-

dressed of British actors. He took part a little while ago in a BBC series of musica! burlesques, playing the role of Beau Brummell, the grandson of a gentleman’s: gentleman who became the fabulous Regency. dandy.

DON’T LISTEN

[DOROTHY DUNCKLEY, a _ widelyexperienced stage and radio actress, who plays the part of "a charming old lady" in Sabotage (1XH, Monday to ; Thursday, inclusive, and starting at 4ZB

on July 20), has some advice for beginners in radio.

Her tips are: "Learn to play to the microphone, for it is the only thing that matters during a _ performance; overcome your nervousness and sublimate yourself to the part you're playing;

one important thing, do not listen to your voice while you're acting; instead, relax and give that particular part all your attention." Dorothy Dunckley got into radio through the almost inevitable

x door of repertory. Later she spent 18 months in Hollywood learning make-up and, at the same time, writing for newspapers in New Zealand and Australia. Serial listeners will remember her as Mrs. Dill-Whittle in Crossroads of Life.

PIANIST AND PAINTER

"os AFTER a chat to Alan Loveday the other morning I asked where I could see his pianist wife, Ruth Stanfield. "She’s in the studio across the passageway," he said. "Come and meet

her." Ruth Stanfield was sitting at a piano, limbering up her fingers. Her engagement

and wedding rings were on top. of the instrument ("I never wear them while I’m playing’), and hér cardigan was flung across the back of her chair ("Wellington’s climate is something like England’s, but milder"). Although only 22, this attractive English girl, who uses merely the faintest trace of make-up, has already composed trios for strings, music for piano, for violin and piano and songs for two voices and piano. Every time she comes across a poem she likes she sets it to music ("I think I'll put that cardigan on again"), and she practises from four to five hours a day, but has been known to put in 10. Ruth has appeared in many solo and joint recitais in London, Oxford, Birmingham, and, "Oh, crumbs, I can’t remember them all-yes, Scotland." She paints and intends to do some work in oils and water-colours before her 10 weeks’ tour with her husband is over, On the way downstairs I met Vincent Aspey (leader of the National Orchestra). I left the trio talking about-violins, of course. : *

YEHUDI AND YOGA

\ HEN Yehudi Menuhin toured) New Zealand in 1951, giving nine concerts in 14 days, he came across a little book about yoga, studied it carefully and tried out some of the prescribed contortions. On arrival back in New York he sought a tutor and really got down to it with Yogi Vithaldas. Now

aged 36, Menuhin does exercises to help his eyes. and throat, twists his torso to

make his back more supple, and runs

a cord’ through his nose and out of his mouth. This latter spectacular performance helps his sense of smell and makes his eyes bright, he says. Finally he stands on his head so that the blood will flow down and refresh his brain. Yehudi recommends this pose for orchestra conductors because they could "conduct with their feet and still face the audience, which is so dear to them." Says the New York Times: "Whatever private difficulties he has had with his art, he seems to have conquered them." Today Menuhin is said to regard yoga and sleep as more important even than violin practice. He has tried to induce his wife, a former ballerina, to join him in his exercises. Her reaction is: "I’ve been putting my legs behind my ears for years, but I always got paid for. it." *"

""[ HERE'S no greater crisis in a bachelor’s life than when he goes to get a clean shirt and finds he. hasn’t got one."’-Gadfan Morris, a bachelor, speaking in a BBC programme.