Selected Content from the May 1895 Edition of The Etude
A pupil, Miss Antoinette Sgumowska—the only pupil,—of Paderewski has been giving piano recitals in this country and has been quite successful… Signor Demetrio Alata, a telegraph operator in Milan, claims to have invented a method of transferring musical notation by wire… Herr Sauer, the German pianist, who has won so much success in London lately, agrees with Paderewski that Brahms “is not a great composer.” Rubinstein, he says, far surpasses him as a writer for the piano. “I am a great admirer of Anton Rubinstein as a composer. It is true he was unequal, and suffered from an over-luxuriance of thoughts. The man who could write the “Dramatic Symphony,” the “Fourth” and the “Fifth Concertos,” and such beautiful things as “The Demon” and “The Maccabees” contain, and so many masterpieces for the piano and voice, was, in spite of all weakness, a great composer. Read More
We have received the following information from J. Gib. Winner, son of the arranger and publisher:— “The words and music of ‘Listen to the Mocking Bird’ were suggested by a colored man, one Richard Milburn, better known as ‘Whistling Dick.’ My father (Septimus Winner, in whose presence he sang and whistled same in a rough way) arranged and published it. I saw one of the first copies about three months ago, and on the title page is as follows: Listen to the Mocking Bird, by Richard Milburn, arranged by Alice Hawthorne. (Alice Hawthorne being one of my father’s nom de plumes).” Read More
If you would be sharp, you’ll flatly refuse
An instrument poor to buy or to use:
Like the hard, harsh voice of an angry scold,
Cheap instruments sound before they are old:
They’re cheap in their make, material and tone,
And if you are sound, you’ll let them alone.
The adage oft told is true, my dear friend,
For, “the best is cheapest in the end.”
Now this is just the gist of the matter,
Spoken by lips that never would flatter:
The “Crown” is well made, both inside and out,
From ivory keys to the pin blocks stout:
The “Crown” will outlast your fingers and feet
And please you with tones alluring and sweet:
You’ll say when you’ve looked from East unto West,
The “Crown” pianos and organs are best.
For in fact, the “Crown ” is like a good wife,
You’ll have no other, you’d take it for life. Read More
BY BERTRAM C. HENRY. When we engage in anything which demands so great an expenditure of time and money as is needed for the study of music, we are generally anxious to direct our efforts so as to gain the… Read More
BY JOHN C. FILLMORE. Shall we make our piano pupils into musicians or shall we make of them only executants? This may seem to many a very absurd question. So it is, from any rational point of view. The prompt… Read More
In The Etude the teachers apparently do the greater part of contributing, whereupon it has dawned upon me—why not take the floor from the pupil’s standpoint? hoping that some forlorn and shipwrecked student may take heart again, as he realizes… Read More
One of the most important things in the study of music is to have a good teacher, but all the teachers in the world cannot make a musician of you unless you are very much in earnest and willing to… Read More
BY A. G. COLE. One of the greatest trials of the music teacher at the present day is caused by the lack of a musical education in the parents of the children. Let me relate an experience which I recently… Read More
BY A. L. MANCHESTER. WHAT SHALL WE DO FOR INSPIRATION? The value to either pupil or teacher of anything which will supply freshness of thought and method or give a new impulse to the professional life cannot be gainsaid. A… Read More
BY W. S. B. MATHEWS. “I would like to ask what to do with a pupil who plays very readily and a good grade of music, and has a very sensitive ear for music, but who cannot read. She is… Read More
BY M. M. CHURCHILL. “The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame.” First of all, then, it is what we do. It must… Read More
I am inclined to think that the elementary principles of phrasing in piano teaching might be taught to the younger pupils in classes, or in one general class, meeting once a week. Of course, there would come in the worldly… Read More
BY L. R. PITTS. And now, my dear debutant in the student world of music, at the outset you may as well divest yourself of the idea with which some misguided, albeit well meaning, individual, may have invested you, that… Read More
Activity is essential to success. He who stops, stagnates, and, like a piece of machinery, rusts to his death. If one stops, nothing is done; if one moves, something must be done. When a person engaged in music says he… Read More
At the present day almost everybody is studying music, and optimists rub their hands gleefully and talk about æsthetic progress. It is so pleasant and consoling to look at the best side of things. I doubt, however, if we love… Read More
Some valuable hints for piano students were dropped by Herr Emil Sauer the other day in the course of an interview with a Manchester Evening Mail reporter. After recounting the principal incidents in his early career, the distinguished pianist spoke… Read More
BY WILLIAM E DOGGETT. To be a good music teacher one should be a thorough musician, a just critic, something of an anatomist, a companion, master, and a gentleman. The companion should ever be a firm master, but the firm… Read More
BY M. A. LEWIS. Let me extend the right hand of fellowship, and greet you, earnest workers, in a profession well worth our best efforts. We are working not only for mere dollars and cents, but for eternity. Let me… Read More
1. What instrument, in your judgment, produces the most musical music? 2. What new fields has the future in store for musical composition? 3. What is your opinion of the influence exerted upon the community by the German brass band,… Read More
BY R. G. GOLDSTEIN. All children are fond of music and most of them look forward with pleasure to their first piano lesson. There is much for reflection in the question, “How keep up the anticipated interest shown before the… Read More
ACCOUNTS OF MUSICAL SOCIETIES, PROGRAMMES, NOTES OF WORK, LISTS OF BOOKS, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. All communications to the Department should be addressed to Cora Stanton Brown, 134 St. Mary Street, Indianapolis, Ind. The following is a sketch of the… Read More
BY E VON ADELUNG. How often do parents ask us the question: Do you think my daughter has musical talent? Talent, what is talent? Is it as I. G. Lehmann, in his book on harmony and composition will have it—the… Read More
BY W. F. GATES. The prophet is not without honor save in his own country. So it is with the American music teacher. Anything that comes from a place that is not our home, is regarded as better than that… Read More
THE PUPIL WHO WANTS TWICE TOO MUCH TIME FOR THE MONEY. BY RALPH HAUSRATH. Of all the many disturbing elements in pupils, the one who compels you to spend an hour for half an hour’s lesson, is one of the… Read More
BY FRANK L. EYER. I do not want any one for a single instant to get a wrong impression from this article. I have the utmost respect for all the great tone poets and their works, and I ardently believe… Read More
BY M. F. FREED. Let this be a plea for the despised reed organ; not to make it appear to be that which it is not, but simply to give it credit for that which it is. Do you ask,… Read More
