Cylchgronau Cymru

The themes of that drama will not be those of 1913. Man, necessarily, will still be the central figure, but it will be man, oftener than not, in his various reactions during these horrible years to disillusionment and chaos in almost every form of life; and let us hope, man emerging triumphant from today's bedlam, his religion restated, his social and other values adequately related to that restatement. In spite of jazz, dog-racing and some of the sillier aspects of wireless and cinema; despite the NO sooner had I promised the editor to write this brief review than I bitterly repented, for so many developments, progressive and retrograde, demand notice, that the space avail- able is utterly inadequate. For this reason, names of people and places and figures, have been omit- ted-this saves space and, at the same time, ex- cuses the omission of references to achievements and avoids invidious comparisons. I MUSICAL EDUCATION.-TO one who remem- bers the state of musical education in Wales fifty years ago the increase in the number of facilities offered to the music student appears almost mir- aculous. In the University Colleges the number of students at Cardiff and Aberystwyth is much greater and the standard of attainment consider- ably higher; and the number of graduates, partic- ularly from Cardiff, is gratifyingly high. Bangor also does good work, although as yet, its finances do not enable it to establish a chair of music A still more wonderful development has been the increase of opportunities for hearing high class music. In addition to the "Annual Concerts" and other infrequent musical "events," there are now at Aberystwyth, Bangor, and Cardiff, weekly con- certs of classical music, and, for several years in succession, Aberystwyth held a series of notable festivals, each lasting for several days, where great works were performed, several of them con- ducted by their composers or other famous mus- icians. Most of this music-making activity is the direct result of the generosity of the Misses Davies of Gregynog, with the establishment of the National Council of Music and the appointment of its first Director, Sir Walford Davies, with his overflowing enthusiasm, faith, and vision. The Music teaching at the Training Colleges is strictures made above on sections of our youth, there are distinct signs that the more serious ele- ment among our young men and women are begin- ning to ponder awkward questions today-most awkward for those who will be called upon to answer them. The interrogation, in the main, will be how we, of the middle age and beyond that, came to make such a mess of the world and of their young lives. Drama, like every other art, has never yet settled any social or moral issue but-it is a glorious medium for asking awkward questions. MUSIC by J. Lloyd Williams excellent in quality, considering the shortness of the course but the old complaint is still heard that the students come to the colleges ill-prepared. This and the retrograde policy of the Board of Education in making the subject optional, has greatly reduced the number of teachers competent to take music in the schools. Hence the "vicious circle "-fewer music teachers for the schools, fewer music students for the colleges-that has done more than anything to retard the progress of musical education, and to reduce the number of those able to read music at sight. There is a limited number of schools where music has made great progress of recent years, but these are exceptions. In the majority of sec- ondary schools the subject is crowded out of the timetable by "more important" examination sub- jects. A few of the Education Authorities are now alive to the importance of the subject, and efforts have been made to organise the teaching on improved lines, so as to give music its rightful place in the elementary schools. To meet with the shortage of teachers a beginning has been made with the hold- ing of "refresher courses" in the subject. In this work the Board of Education has given valuable assistance. School Festivals of a highly successful charac- ter have been organised with the assistance of the National Council of Music and its Assistant Dir- ector, particularly in Cardiff, Newtown, and other South Wales centres. The Rhondda teachers organised a series of very successful festivals which are purely Welsh in character. The Cardigan- shire Festivals at Aberystwyth, together with the occasional school festivals held-without Council assistance-in North Wales, are conducted on sim- ilar lines,