Page 596 SEPTEMBER 1920 TIIE ETUDE the lid to see the face of the watch. But by having an open face and by incorporating a stem-winder those two annoyances were done away with. More and more this combinational process will be applied to all our teaching material. Wide Opportunities It will pay you to study recent developments in public school music. The granting of credit for outside music study opens up a large prospect. Already the demand for music supervisors and teachers is greater than the supply, and superintendents of music are fairly clamor-ing for well-equipped instructors trained to public school methods. A splendid chance is here for a modified lec-ture-recital which will explain and illustrate in detail and then use repeatedly the best music. Conditions are favorable for just such a musical clinic, both in and out of schools, in every State of the Union. Another sphere of boundless adventure is looming up in connection with the reproducing musical instruments, which have reached such a marvelous perfection. You can have on tap in your studio an ideal performance by Bauer or Godowsky, who have corrected and retouched the record, as a painter his picture, until you have a presentation better than the artist himself could give in any one sitting. Try to focus your imagination on such a sweep of possibilities as this suggests. It may easily bring about as great an evolution as the moving picture. Like it, this instrument will bring you the "atmosphere" of Paris or London, and it will reveal to you every fleeting mood-play of the soul of the artist. There are so many kinds of these reproducing instru-ments now on the market that one can procure just what is wanted for every kind of auditorium. And so many records have been made that one has at command plenty of ammunition for any kind of educational campaign. It is significant and heartening to be assured that people everywhere want to know more musically. An experienced impresario told me last week that "the public will appreciate the very best there is, and thank you and pay you for it, if only you will explain it so they can understand it." Our land is swTarming with people waiting for you to "trouble the waters" and give them this sort of understanding. New Creative Opportunities Some years ago Rubinstein wrote a book in which he said, "With the death of Schumann and Chopin 'finis musicae,'" meaning particularly "musical creation, mel-ody, thought." While he was writing that book a new wine was working in the spirit of a young Parisian, and consequently just ten years after that book appeared an opera with decidedly revolutionary ideas was given in Paris. In fact, many thinkers date the beginning of modern French tendency from that premiere of "Pelleas et Melisande," by Debussy. Men perish, but art en-dures. Our art is not a cul-de-sac, so keep an open mind and an open road. Let me illustrate by a para-graph from our late Horatio Parker, usually thought of as an obdurate conservative. Speaking of Strauss and Debussy, he said: "Each composer has a rich, individual, personal, melodic and harmonic vocabulary; each offers new and satisfying rhythmic discoveries ; each shows a wealth of new and beautiful color." Have you aspirations as a composer? If the urge is strong and enduring enough, you will scarcely need or heed much advice. But if you are seeking rewards, let me remind you, you must be content and patient to believe that composition, like virtue, is its own reward. Re-member how Thomas Fuller put it: "Poetry is music in words, and music is poetry in sound; both excellent sauce, but they have lived and died poor that made them their meat." And in this connection I recall a statement of the editor of 'THE ETUDE, that he knew only two modern composers who made a respectable living exclusively from their compositions. Neverthe-less, there are favorable times for the would-be com-poser who is willing to be discovered. Clubs and schools and publishers are offering all manner of prizes and scholarships and royalties to nurse the budding genius. The conditions are rosy ripe for the American composer. This whole terraqueous globe seems to be waiting for him, and, what's more, expecting him. When we decipher the code, perhaps the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades will wigwag an order for a septet, United States preferred. Friends are a great asset, and you will find them everywhere. And you will need them. Think of the assistance given Bach in trying times by his friends Ilerda, Erdmann and Gesner. Don't Be Discouraged Don't be discouraged. Bach had poor eyesight all his days and ended them blind. When you meet in un-expected quarters a "mercenary" spirit, remember that Bach, in the heyday of power and fame, applied for an organ position in Hamburg, but he was turned down in favor of an obscure young aspirant who promised to pay 4,000 marks to the church treasury if elected. Should you be tempted to bewail the high cost of living, read Bach's letter to his friend Erdmann about the "dear living" in Leipsic, the curtailing of his fees, etc., THAT man or woman is fortunate who, at any time in life, finds that interest in music is arousing initiative. Many people get into the thirties, forties and beyond before they have any opportunity whatever to satisfy, by study and practice, what may be an inborn love for music. What shall they do if, in the later years they find the love of music still vital and the opportunity of leisure now. for the first time in life, at hand? First, they should thank the Father of us all that al-though the increase of their one talent has been deferred, it need no longer be neglected. And with this expression of gratitude attended to, they should then busy them-selves in what will prove to be one of the happiest re-treats any human being can build. For, late as it' is, our beginner will find that there is much land he may yet possess. To begin with, he must be sensible and realize that if he have absolutely no practical knowledge of a musical instrument it is too late to give the hand that skill and cunning which is needed for the delicate playing even of simple things. But let him not despair, for there is much good music that demands motions which he can produce and control and at a speed which he can attain. That is, even the little that is possible to the forty-odd-year-old pair of hands has a .lot of downright pleasure in it. The fun there is in making the awkward fingers learn new tricks is rare indeed. And there is always mastery to be attained in some degree. But there are many people who once upon a time did learn to play the piano a little. It is years, however, since they have touched th£ keyboard. Now if, with these, the love of music is still alive, and opportunity comes to give it a little attention, a little worshiping attention let us call it, one will be surprised and glad-dened to find that it is possible to awaken the sleeping finger motions of earlier years. By some magic their cunning is still there, and the physiological psychologists tell us why such acquirements are never wholly erad-icated. But in the face of our fortune let us never mind the why of it. Then let the late-in-life beginner go to it with a thank-ful heart. There is a lot he can do, and every bit of it will be as the joy of heaven to him, even if it isn't all that to his family and neighbors. To-day the world of music is one of greater activity than ever before in its history. Let our hero practice all he wants to—systematically and with an objective—but there is much more than this to be done. Even his infantile stumblings over pieces of the early grades will help him enormously to learn to listen. Therefore all music that he hears will be an ever-increas-ing and developing joy to him because he is learning to penetrate it with his own thought. Then he can enter the. human world of music and musicians through books and magazines. In fact, he should do this, for it helps him secure a knowledge of history and of appreciation. So many music students acquire the dangerous habit of neglecting the practice hour for some other pursuit —or perhaps recreation. The student frequently ex-claims : "I haven't had time to practice to-day, but I will make up for lost time to-morrow." But when to-morrow dawns, the same excuse is waiting. Why is it that the practice hour must be constantly neglected for some other less-important work? The fact is, the student conveniently forgets the practice hour, perhaps because he lacks,' musical interest and animation and thinks the lessons too difficult, and will gladly perform the hardest work in order to evade the drudgery of practice. The student should stop and consider the fact that his negligence is doing him great injustice. For, so long as he neglects to practice, he will find great difficulty in mastering his difficulties. and recall that his country was just beginning to emerge from the moral and economic paralysis consequent upon the terrible Thirty Years' War., After graduation—what? A world full of humans for you to help, instruct, be-guile, console, inspire and hearten with the beautiful ministry of your art. There are countless nice problems for the middle-aged lover of music to carry about with him from the realm of music. They are the harmonics of the scale of life. Music biography will delight him, for it teaches him that while the composers do sit in a charmed circle on Mount Olympus, it is his privilege to sit with them; a little apart, perhaps, but still near enough to perceive that they are somewhat like himself—seekers after the essence of life and its truths. He has only to be earnest and honest to find entrance here. Translating Music Let us now for a moment return to the matters of his-tory and appreciation. If our late-in-life beginner really loves to translate music into its essential message through the sense of hearing and the gateway of understanding, he will find a mystical, magical world at his command in the repertoires even of mechanical instruments. W e know of a busy man who is learning to read orchestral scores by the simple expedient of sitting at the phono-graph, score in hand, of course. He has the aesthetic sense to adjust the instrument to its lowest volume of sound. Then he follows each family of instruments, time and time again, until he can grasp the entire vertical measure as readily as if it were for but a single instru-ment. This man is busy in the realm of large affairs, but a page of music and a faithful reproducing instru-ment are for him, when the day's work is over, that magic carpet which wafts one to the Delectable Lands. One who plays a little could then turn to the piano and pick out for himself the parts represented by the brass, or the wood wind, or the strings, or what not. And bit by bit one would take it in and make it one's own. Thus the late-in-life beginner has many assets. He can try inspiring his efforts with love and reverence for music. There is no end of joy in that. With his trying to play he must learn to listen, and in his listening secure definite meaning. Then there will come to him the wish of King Solomon, namely, the possession of an under-standing heart. And by all means, let him read. There are books enough about composers to enable one to be-come intimate with them. Someone has said, "The world do move." Our music lover will find himself one of a large troubadour band if he will acquaint himself with the wanderings and doings of great artists through this magazine and the books of the day. 0 late-in-life music lover! If you will stretch forth your hand and take but a fragment of the good things that are within your reach, the true kingdom will fill your heart and there will shine in your face a radiance by which men can see your good works and glorify Him who backgrounds us all. The best way to eliminate this musical laziness is to establish the practice hour. Be sincere in your musical endeavor, set a certain time for practice, and when you have finally established the practice hour, observe it faithfully. You may think it hard to set a certain time for practice, as you think you have too many other things to do, but you have the dinner hour and time for everything else, so you can set a certain time to practice just as easily. It may seem difficult for the first few days to observe the practice hour, but if you earnestly comply with the established rules you will soon acquire the habit, and the practice hour will be anticipated, and the work will become more pleasant and less difficult. If you haven't already established a practice hour, please take steps to do so immediately, and you will be relieved of the drudgery which otherwise confronts you in your musical studies. The Established Practice Hour By Lillian B. Martin The Late-in-Life Beginner By Thomas Tapper
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