Page 2 JANUARY 1920 TI1E ETUDE " A is a retort containing water, which is heated to steam, which issues from the tube at B and is caught in the wheel in such a manner that the wheel revolves. The principle is simplicity itself; and the noteworthy fact is that—primitive as it is—it has the characteris-tic principle involved in the turbine engine of to-day. After Heron many others attempted to use controlled steam to produce force, until, in 1764, Jame Watt made discoveries which paved the way for the modern steam engine, constituting him virtually the inventor of the type. Thereafter, the machinery became more and more complicated and enormous in size. Double, triple and quadruple expansion types were introduced until, at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876, a giant engine was exhibited by Corliss—a marvelous engine, with many elaborate details. Then, having reached the maximum curve of complexity, engine con-struction become more and more simple, and now we have turbine engines, such as the Parsons engines, which are all far smaller and simpler than their grand-fathers of the seventies, but at the same time vastly more powerful and efficient. (Mr. Hofmann's extremely original and interesting interview will be continued in THE ETUDE for February) Irregular Rhythms By T. L. Rickaby YEARS ago, as a student, I struggled mightily and (fruitlessly) with study 26 of Czerny's op. 299. This study has an even left hand part in six-eight time, with thirteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one and twenty-three notes in a measure for the right hand. Many teachers spend too much time on these irregular rhythms, which, after all, are not common, and are only met with in compositions of advanced technical requirements. To play two notes against three, or three against four, is not particularly difficult when players have reached a point where their rhythmic sense has been developed considerably, though at best it is not possible to make such combi-nations more than approximately correct. But by much repetition with each hand separately the pass-ages become automatic—(and all performances of dif-ficulties must be automatic to be satisfactory)—and in playing them the Biblical injunction of not letting the right hand know what the left is doing must be carefully observed. Five-four time, seven-four time and alternate measures of different irregular time are musical riddles, for the solution of which the allotted three-score years and ten make no provision, and they may be left out of ordinary courses. W e are told that music has said all that it can say along regular rhyth-mic lines, and that in the future we must look for ad-vancement in the way of variety of rhythm. That modern composers are traveling along new rhythmical paths is very evident from what they are offering us. In a composition of Debussy's (just to mention one case) we are required to play one to a count, two to a count, three to a count and six to a count all in the same measure. These tasks can be undertaken only by the elect. They cannot be taught to anyone. Players either can do them or they cannot. So, while developing rhythmic perception and feeling as much as possible, do not waste time on difficulties that are of doubtful benefit even where there is a possi-bility of their being well done, for this possibility is frequently a slippery and elusive quantity. Records that Help the Music Teacher By Edwin Hall Pierce IT sometimes happens in this world that things work out much better than is anticipated. At the close of the war of 1812, the treaty of peace between America and England was a very incomplete and unsatisfactory document in the eyes of many statesmen, in that it made ho mention of or provision for rectifying those matters which had been the occasion of .dispute, yet it proved to answer the purpose, and there has been peace between these countries ever since—over a hundred years. When the player-piano and the various types of sound-producing machines came into vogue, music teachers were greatly concerned, believing their occu-pation in danger, and they assumed a pose of hostility not unmixed with contempt. One very eminent mu-sician coined the phrase "canned music" and wrote a scathing magazine article in which he deplored the growing prevalence o l the same. In course of time, however, it transpired that the fears of musicians were groundless; the effect on the number of music-students was negligible, and the general interest of the public in music was actually increased. The fact is, if one has a hankering to make music with his own hands, these mechanical devices do not quite fill the bill, yet they are a great blessing to those who, on account of age, lack of musical education, or pressure of occupa-tion, are unable to acquire practical techincal skill on any instrument. The writer has never, during the last ten years, met any music teacher who was prepared to claim that he had lost pupils, either actual or prospective, through the competition of "canned music." It is surprising, too, to note how many skilled mu-sicians find pleasure in the possibilities of the sound-reproducing machine. No one can excel personally on more than one or two instruments, but the pianist often enjoys listening to violin "records," the violinist to those of singers, the singer to orchestral music, and so on, ad infinitum. Much may be learned, too, and tfrat very pleasurably, by listening to the records of great artists in the line of one's own specialty. Again, the writer once met with a professional violinist who made an occasional -practice of playing his violin ac-companied by a player-piano, and was considering the purchase of such an instrument, merely for his own enjoyment. Help in Club Programs But it is more particularly of the educational pos-sibilities we wish to speak, and the easiest way to illus-trate them will be to give a concrete example. A certain musical club in one of the smaller cities of central New York, having a membership of fifty or sixty, had been accustomed to give weekly program? usually illus-trating some particular composer or school of com-position. preceded by the reading of an e^say on the subject. The membership being overwhelmingly rich in pianists, with a slight sprinkling of s:r.eers and a still slighter trace of violinists, it was hard to avoid a certain monotony in the character of the programs, broken occasionally by the appearance of a "guest" from outside. This year it was determined to give the programs a new cast, the subjects being, for instance, "Opera," "Oratorio," "Chamber Music," "Church Music," "The Orchestra/' etc., and were in the form of lectures by various professional musicians engaged from outside, illustrated by programs prepared under their direction. The present writer was engaged to cover the sub-ject of The Orchestra. He desired to present a brief history of the development of orchestral music from the time of Haydn and Mozart up to our own day, but it was a matter of considerable perplexity how to pre-pare a program with the means at hand, other than to make large use of piano transcriptions, especially four-hand ones. This, however, would be practically putting the club back in the same old rut from which they were intending to escape. The answer came clear at last when he saw the program of the lecture on Church Music, which was delivered by the professor of that depart-ment in a certain Theological Seminary, where the available local talent was not sufficient to give the illus-trations desired, used records on a sound-reproducing machine of well-known make. The result proved so satisfactory that we determined to illustrate bur own lecture entirely in that manner, and set about making up a suitable list of illustrations. The selection of available records was not quite as ample as we had hoped, and we were obliged to re-vise the lecture at some points, to conform to what we were prepared to illustrate, but in the end the re-sult proved quite satisfactory. The records actually used were as follows:— One or two movements each from Haydn's Military Symphony; Mozart's G minor and Jupiter Symphonies; the Andante from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony; Men-delssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, an excerpt from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde; and the Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony. It was originally intended to commence with a number from Bach's Suite in D major, for orchestra, and close with examples of the modern French school—for instance, Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun. This would now be possible, and would serve to round out the historical outline. Qu-est-ce Que Vous Voulez? By May Hamilton Helm TAKE what you will—but pay for it. Emerson stressed that eternal truth, but we "terrestrians" are slow learners. x A teacher, prominent in the musical circles of Indi-ana, is reported to have said, "I know exactly what I want, so I'm going to Godowski for this, and to another for something else." Well, if the great teach-ers sell their wares like open stock china, she probably got what she wanted from each. A pupil once applied to my former teacher for "that pearly touch." Now, if I'm wrong I'm willing to be set right, but it seems so plain that music is a growth, only a means of expression of what is in each soul. Why else is individuality so apparent in touch, even among those who use the same "method"? "The "public" still holds strange ideas about taking music lessons. Some think a music lesson can be de-livered like a bushel of potatoes. If they do not see the immediate results of each lesson they change teach-ers. That class also feels cheated if the teacher fails to measure out the exact half hour. It is well enough to have an understanding about what they want or have a right to expect. Every pupil cannot eventuate in an artist. Why, then, should all be required to take an artist's course. If one needs a house dress, should she be required to get the child material for a ball gown "she may some day need?" If the child of only average talent (and a good teacher can soon tell) wants "pieces" to play simply for pleasure, why "in the name of common sense" shouldn't he have them, without hours of drudg-ery to acquire "tehnic" he may never use? Do you want to be an accompanist? Then quick, ac-curate sight reading is an absolute necessity. A middle-aged woman once came to me saying she wanted to take about half a dozen lessons, as she was going back to visit her old home and they'd expect her to play. She said she knew her technic was old-fashioned, but if I'd take her she'd "brush up" a few pieces, if I'd criticize and help her. I did so. She was satisfied with the result, and so was I. I consider that a very different case from another woman who came to me for French lessons. (My study of French at a language school was valuable to me pedagogically as well as otherwise, and so con-vinced am I of the correctness of the "direct method" I use it in music teaching also.) This applicant la-bored under the delusion that all one had to do to learn a language was to commit to memory the dic-tionary! How little she knew of the laws of the mind. If she had ever observed a child learning its native tongue she would have seen the falseness of her position. So, in trying to give her "what she wanted" I feel we wasted both her money and my time. Psychologists say that the two processes of memoriz-ing and sight reading are exactly opposite. Some pu-pils can do both, but why deprive the one who memor-izes easily of that pleasure because she can't "read notes" fluently? Even supposing a child cannot do either (and it's not fair to say it can't until a fair trial has been made), if by its lessons it gains a better apprecia-ation of music, it is time well spent.
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