Editorial Notes.

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 10, 15 September 1933, Page 4

Editorial Notes.

Wellington, Friday, September 15, 1933.

A COURAGEOUS editorial in a recent issue of the London "Musical Times" takes to task the British Broadcastitig Corporation for its artistic policy. There are nine main -points in the paper’s criticism and all of them have been raised in the last few months when

Dominion. listeners have discussed the self-saine policy of the New Zealand Broadcasting Board. They are worthy: of tlote-and of’ reply. That too much music is broadcast is the first. All very well, perhaps, for the persons to whom the desirable things are already accessible, but one of the chief benefits of broadcasting is that it brings valuable and desirable things into the lives of many people who would otherwise .be without ‘them at all. The listener who thinks. that too much »music..is broadcast ‘simply doesn't need to listen. The second is that too much time is devoted to jazz and dance music. However low these types of music may. rank. aesthetically, they are probably the. kind of . broadcasting for which there is the most populat demand. It is certainly not a part of the Board’s policy. to dictate to the public, but, while conscientiously endeavouring to promote public appreciation of. the higher forms of music, to provide, as far as possible, for every legitimate taste. Study. circles in: "music. are hot. given enough . consideration, says the third complaint. ‘It ‘is. the Board’s duty.to provide the material and let the enthusiasts who wish to study or discuss music get together and form their own groups, That new music ‘is not ‘sufficiently reviewed is a fourth. The verbal reviewing of. music,. however,-is’ of doubt: ful value, -To-be of any use at all. it can -only take the form either of | a statement that a particular piece is good or not good of. its kind, or of. a. performance, either of whole pieces or of selected passages — them. tee see ae .

The fifth is an important oneysand declares that, in the early days of broadcasting, when it was discovered that music was to play an important part in the wireless field, that the broadcasting companies did not take sufficient steps to ensure competent

direction of the programmes. This criticism is entirely unwarranted in New Zealand, where the most competent musicians in the country have

had a finger in the broadcasting pie. It would seem to be a repetition of the old, old story of the utter impossibility of planning 365 programmes a year, and of each anid every one of these programmes pleasing each and every one of the country’s listeners. Timing is another vexed question, and the "Musical Times" complains that it is often far from accurate.. The dovetailing of a great number ° of items in an evening’s programme requires many fine calculations, some of them depending on the personal element in the shape of individual speakers or performers, which may or may not always be under the Board’s control. Nor is it true that, when the timing is inaccurate and it is necessary to cut down the number of items, music always suffers. In a recital or a concert perhaps, when it is obvious that the time limit is going to be exceeded, one or two small items are dropped, but on every programme there are occa- _ sional brief periods of ‘silence to allow for the expansion or .contraction of a programme. It is far easier, for instance, to drop a smai! musical item from a programme than it is to force a speaker who has prepared a twenty-minute talk to cut it down to 17 minutes at the last moment. Other points raised were that more talks on music are needed, that outside broadcasts of local festivals should be given more frequently (a view that the "Radio Record". supported in these columns last. week), and that the playing of transcripts _of the classics by military bands is a dlis-service to classical music. This last, criticism is applicable only in a minor degree to the New Zealand broadcasting service. From these points which form a. sweeping and apparently logical attack, only one. or two have any real foundation, and they can hardly be described as a great musical evil or evidence that the persons in charge of the broadcasting of music in New Zealand are incompetent or unfit.