ANNUA L SUBSCRIPTION, $2.00 THE ETUDE OCTOBER, 1920 Single Copies 25 Cents VOL. XXXVIII , No. 10 Our Vast Natural Musical Wealth FORTUNATEL Y our Government has had the prevision to collect a splendid amount of material pertaining to the music of the Indians. In Washington there are preserved in notation form and in record form hundreds of specimens of the music of the Indians. This in a sense is our native musical wealth, much as our fertile fields, deep wells and splendid mines are native national wealth. Many of the aboriginal tunes identified with tribal customs, have distinctive originality, great melodic charm and fascinating rhythmic interest. Because of this they must flavor the music of the future in America. It will, of course, be only an element, but it has already become an impor-tant element as the works of many of the foremost American composers of to-day bear evidence. Many have contended that Indian music and the spirituals of the negroes, since they have nothing to do with white civili-zation, can play only a relatively small part in the future music of America. America, however, is a wonderful conglomerate of all races,—a spectacular, kaleidoscopic procession of more dif-ferent kinds of people than ever came together in one land since Babel. Our music to be representatively American must have the sturdy foundation of our Puritan forefathers, the piquancy of the French voyageur, the dreaminess of the Spanish con-quistador, the sparkle of the Irish immigrant, the thorough workmanship of the Germans and the Scandinavians, the genius of the Russians, the artistic feeling of the Italians, the stolidity of the Dutch, the strong winds of the prairies and the -gentle zephyrs of the spring woodlands that our aborigines have put into it, the mingled mirth and spirituality of the negroes and the wonderful dynamism of the modern American—his bigness— his freedom—his candor and his might. No wonder with such a huge order that the great American master has not yet arrived! MacDowell embraced German musician training, French finish, sturdy Scotch and English ancestry, and in his attempts at Indian works probably included more of the qualities identi-fying him with the classic in American music than any other man. John Philip Sousa has caught the dynamism of America in lofty moments in his historic Marches. Students of the music history of our country years hence will dwell long upon Sousa's genius in so doing, just as it has already been admired by such men as Strauss and Elgar. He has apprehended some-thing of America in his music which no other has caught. Thurlow Lieurance by long residence with the Indians and great intimacy with their tribal customs, has brought Indian melodies into musical forms so natural and yet so beautiful that it is no wonder that thousands have immediately adopted such beautiful songs as By Weeping Waters and By the Waters of Minne tonka. Carlos Troyer (likewise by long residence among the In-dians) has captured in modern notation many beautiful settings of Indian themes, particularly those of the Zuni Tribe (pro -nounced Thunyee). Charles W . Cadman, Victor Herbert, Carl Busch, Charles S. Skilton, have also utilized Indian themes to fire advantage. Shanewis, Natoma and Poia, three operas respectively of Cadman, Herbert and Arthur Nevin, have all had excellent presentations and the first has continued through two seasons at the Metropolitan Opera House. The studies of Frances Densmore and Alice Fletcher have been of the very greatest value in preserving Indian themes together with comments of archeological and anthropological value. The government reports of their investigations are in-valuable. Miss Densmore, for instance, in her 560 page book on Teton Sioux Music has recorded no less than 689 Indian melodies of this one group of Indians. This book is published by the government department of American Ethnology and is a credit to the scholarly manner in which the investigations have proceeded. The subject is so vast that this issue cannot hope to encompass it. It may, however, serve to stimulate additional interest in the subject which cannot fail to lead to excellent results. i The Exodus THOUSAND S of alien residents of the United States swarmed over to Europe as soon after the war as transportation could be secured. Thousands who went are returning, after a short experience with the terrible living conditions in war-ridden Europe. In Europe, conservatories and teachers of music looked for the former influx of Americans which yearly brought millions to their coffers. Before the war they made all manner of fun of the efforts being made by Americans to put this country upon a well-earned basis of artistic independence. Mr. John C. Freund, who took an especially active part through his journal, Musical America, was scathingly lampooned everywhere for his "Musical Independence5' campaigns. The war ended and the usual number of gold-laden Amer-ican students simply did not think of going to Europe for spe-cial study, largely because Mahomet had come to the mountain — a very large group of the leading masters of European fame have made their homes in America. Europe will always contain teachers of the highest achieve-ment, and Europe will produce more and more exceptionally well-trained performers, but, the monopoly is broken, and will remain broken just as long as American music-workers desire to make this country play a leading role in musical education instead of second fiddle to transatlantic musical interests. Getting the Knack of It So very many things in music study depend upon the "knack" that it is surprising that more attention is not paid to it by teachers and students. Watch a boy learning to pitch a curve. He twists and squirms and works and snorts until it finally "comes." It does not seem to be a matter of progressive practice, for when it comes it seems to be a kind of accident. One boy may fall into it in ten minutes and another may take days, some, perhaps, may never get it. The point is, however, that with well-directed persistence it does come. Sitting down and theorizing does little good. Results come from concentrated effort. There are dozens of things in piano playing in which get-ting the knack cannot be brought about by merely understand-ing. Even the very elementary matter of making one hand g o in one direction while the other goes in an opposite direction, which the little pupil accomplishes at the very start of his work, is a kind of "knack." Hundreds are stupid enough to ask how to count such a passage as those familiar measures from Sinding's Rustle of Spring, in which seven notes in the left hand are played against eight in the right hand. Of course, it is possible to figure this out mathematically, but it is useless to do so. The only possible plan is to get the right hand going steadily, playing the groups 653
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