Books › Musical Courier 1927-10-27: Vol 95 Iss 17, 1927 › scan 29
Scan 29
Musical Courier 1927-10-27: Vol 95 Iss 17, 1927
150 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 30. See the scan on archive.org.
1exceptions we quote Adelina Patti (Barili) Malibran (Garcia) Geraldine Farrar (Graziani) and Marchesi (Garcia).
3We know that after the foregoing paragraph is published, we shall be deluged by mail, with a shower of other examples.
5The Morning Telegraph, commenting on the saxophone player who changed his profession, remarks witheringly: "He did not stick to his blast."
7The musical season really is on. A full list of the boxholders at the Metropolitan Opera House was published in the dailies last Monday.
9Speaking of publicity, you never again will be able to say that you have not been mentioned in the newspapers, for President Coolidge said recently: "We have staked America on the potential capacity of the average citizen."
11"We must avoid satiating the public on celebrations," says Mussolini. And we were about to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the work of Siegfried O'Houlihan, as a nonpaid contributor to this department.
13Mayor Walker (referring to the law closing night clubs at 3 a. m.) holds that, "After all, who's got the right to set the time for any one else?" The orchestral conductor, possibly.
15That brings the reflection that one of the major industries of our land, now is guest-conducting.
17LEONARD LIEBLING.
19ARE FREE SCHOLARSHIPS UNETHICAL?
21A women's music club in the West recently passed a resolution to the effect that the giving of lessons without charge is unethical, unprofessional, and lowering to the standards of all music. The resolution was directed at a member of the society who had been guilty of the heinous offense of advertising a number of free scholarships in a local conservatory. The lady in question submitted the question of her dereliction to a prominent teacher in a large Western music school. He expressed himself on the subject as follows:
23The giving of lessons without charge cannot possibly be unethical or unprofessional, nor lowering to the standards of all music. The mere money paid for something does not necessarily make that something of more value, although we are accustomed to put a money value upon things. If their resolution is true, then every school and college giving free scholarships lays itself open to the charge of unethical conduct; therefore, institutions like the Juilliard Foundation in New York, the Curtis School in Philadelphia, the Eastman School in Rochester, our own school in Chicago, and other schools which are giving free scholarships and free piano class lessons, could be accused also of unethical conduct, which we know to be absurd.
25I think the resolution must have been urged by teachers who did not like what they thought was going to be unfair competition. We have found that these free classes in piano arouse in the children who take them, and even also in grown-ups, appreciation of music and a recognition of its values—not only as a profession and means of livelihood, but what is of greater importance, as a part of general education and an influence of supreme importance in the aesthetic side of life. Many talents are discovered by means of these free lessons which would otherwise remain dormant; thousands of children are being given a new appreciation of the beautiful and a new and higher emotional development.
27As a business proposition, it is not injurious to any teacher, but on the contrary is of benefit to all teachers who receive remuneration for their services, because these free lessons excite in the recipients a desire to study music further and seriously, so that in reality thousands of students are being added to the numbers already existing. If this is not of benefit to each and every teacher, then I don't know what is.
29I do not believe in the abuse of free scholarships and I think free scholarships should be given to those students of real talent who are without funds; but I think that free class instruction, calculated to arouse interest in art, is of enormous importance and value, and if objection is taken to this, the same objection could be taken to the giving of free education in our Public Schools, which even the framers of this resolution would certainly not do.
31INTERPRETATIONS
33Our esteemed contemporary, Schallkiste, a German musical paper, recently had an interesting article on mechanical music, illustrated with a cut that is unusually informative. This cut is of four piano-player rolls played by four noted artists—Busoni, Scharwenka, Saint-Saëns and Pugno. The photograph shows a few bars of the beginning of Chopin's nocturne in F sharp major. The differences even in this brief passage of apparently utterly simple music are exceedingly striking. As will be recalled, this nocturne begins with an up-beat consisting of a dotted sixteenth note followed by a thirty-second note. The only one of these pianists who plays the second note as a thirty-second note is Scharwenka. The others all play it as if it were the same length as the sixteenth note which follows. In the second bar the first four notes are all sixteenth notes, but Busoni plays the passage as if the third note were a dotted sixteenth and the fourth note, C sharp, a thirty-second.
35And so it goes throughout the entire passage. The interpretations are utterly different, no two alike. The speed at which the piece is played differs considerably, if the record truly represents the speed, Saint-Saëns playing the piece almost twice as fast as Pugno, Scharwenka a little slower than Saint-Saëns, Busoni a little slower than Scharwenka, and Pugno the slowest of them all. Some day an enterprising music publishing firm will print a book full of such photographic reproductions or their equivalent, and it will certainly prove to be an interesting and valuable educational work.
37DIFFERENT METHODS—SAME RESULTS
39When Mme. Selma Nicklass Kempner, renowned Lieder singer and vocal teacher in Berlin, reads the MUSICAL COURIER of October 13, which contained an article on The Mystery of Head Resonance, she may be moved to the utterance of some expletives not particularly adapted to drawing-room use.
41In the article referred to, the writer points out that the correct method of attaining the desired head resonance for the voice is: tongue high at the back and uvula low; breath goes to head resonating cavities, no pressure on tongue or on larynx. The low position of the tongue in singing is condemned as preventing the breath from entering the resonating cavities of the head, and exerting undue pressure on the larynx from crowding the tongue down at the root.
43Mme. Nicklass Kempner, who was the teacher of Frieda Hempel, Ottilie Metzger, Marcella Roesler, Rose Ettinger, Estelle Liebling, Mary Munchhoff, Hannah Butler, Rita Laforma and numerous other singers of note, invented a special instrument to hold the tongue down during practise. The flat tongue and open throat were the dominant features of her method of voice production. She was particularly successful in turning out coloratura singers, the beauty of whose head tones was remarkable.
45It is curious that identical results can be achieved by opposite methods, but such seems to be the case with singers and instrumentalists as well. While Joachim and his disciples were putting their pupils through all sorts of exacting and, in some cases, painful exercises of arm, wrist and fingers, Ysaye was telling his students that it mattered not how the bow and fingers were held, so long as the player got the results.
47Klengel and Becker taught the use of the thumb in scale work on the cello, while Hekking played marvelous scales without the thumb ever touching the strings. Kreisler bows differently from Zimbalist; Elman does not hold his bow as Huberman does; Heifetz' method is not at all like Flesch's; Maud Powell had nothing in common with Kathleen Parlow—and yet they all had a beautiful tone, extraordinary facility of the bow-arm, and the various other qualities that go to make up the great violinist.
49The same paradox of different methods producing identical results exists in nearly every other sphere of human activity where technical skill is required. What matters how the surgeon holds the knife so long as the operation is successful? Tilden holds the racket in an entirely different manner from Lacoste, but they are both great tennis players. Hoppe, Schaefer, Hagenlacher, Demarest, all cue differently, and yet they can all make enormous runs at the billiard table. The grips and stances and what-nots in golf are almost coextensive in number with the players; yet Jones, Evans, Hagen, Cruikshank and the rest of them are each and every one great drivers, approachers and putters. And so on down the line.
51The answer to the question would seem to be that, inasmuch as individuals differ in physical characteristics, each one requires a method that suits his particular case. The efficient teacher is the one who studies the needs of each and every pupil, and devises for him a method best calculated to produce the desired results. Results are, after all, the thing that counts. Nothing succeeds but success. But difference of opinion is interesting and instructive, and makes horse races—and vocal methods.
53JAZZ, PRO AND CON
55Two recent publicly expressed opinions on the all-absorbing subject of jazz, while diametrically opposed in spirit, are in accord in one respect—namely that jazz is a logical product and a true reflection of present day life, thought and feeling.
57George Olsen, successful jazz leader, thinks that the new popular music is so inextricably interlaced with life in America that no great opera can be written here without taking full cognizance of it. Just as the Roman music of the early Christian era portrays the martial spirit of the nation; as the early Greek music reflects the life and thought of a quiet, cultured people of sedentary habit, so the music of today (jazz) is tinged with the restlessness and feverish hustle and bustle of modern life, and thus must be regarded as a representative form of modern music.
59Sir Henry Howard, speaking at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Sheffield, England, pointed out that since the war there has been a decided lowering of standards in ethics, morals, language and conduct, and a feverish exploitation of low types of pleasure in the younger generation. History, he said, showed that the decay of great nations had been caused by the nature of the ethics and morality derived from the form of their pleasures.
61Jazz, in his opinion, is a low type of primitive music in both structure and mode of expression, being founded on crude rhythms suggested by stamping the feet and clapping the hands. It puts emphasis on the grotesque by the banging and clanging of pots, pans or any shimmering metallic substance, reinforced with special drums. It debases both music and instruments by making them farcical. The noble trombone is made to bray like an ass, guffaw like a village idiot and moan like some one in distress. The silver-toned trumpet is made to screech, produce sounds like drawing a nail on a slate, the tearing of calico or the wailing of a nocturnal tomcat.
63The popularization of jazz and the attendant immodest dances lead, thinks Sir Henry, to a lowering of the prestige of the white race. Jazz should be banned, he says; as it is neither lovely nor of good report it should be tabooed in every shape and form until its baneful influence is gone.
65EXTRAORDINARY ACTIVITY
67Some idea of the extraordinary activity of the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music may be gained from the following statistics. The Bureau has issued publications under the following heads:
69Music Memory Contest ……………………. 10 publications
70Music Week ………………………………. 33 " one of two readings
71Music Week ……………………………. 33 " one of two readings
72Music in the Schools ………………………. 22 " one of two readings
73Music in the Schools …………………….. 22 " one of two readings
74Music and Childhood ……………………….. 5 " one of two readings
75Music and Childhood ……………………… 5 " one of two readings
76Outdoor Christmas Caroling ………………… 6 " one of two readings
77Outdoor Christmas Caroling ……………….. 6 " one of two readings
78Music in Industry …………………………… 5 " one of two readings
79Music in Industry …………………………. 5 " one of two readings
80Music Clubs ………………………………… 7 " one of two readings
81Music Clubs ……………………………… 7 " one of two readings
82Community Singing …………………………. 4 " one of two readings
83Community Singing ………………………… 4 " one of two readings
84Music in Recreation ………………………… 5 " one of two readings
85Music in Recreation ……………………….. 5 " one of two readings
86Newspaper Publicity for Music ……………. 3 " one of two readings
87Newspaper Publicity for Music …………….. 3 " one of two readings
88Piano Classes and Contests ………………… 4 " one of two readings
89Piano Classes and Contests ……………….. 4 " one of two readings
90Music in Institutions ………………………. 3 " one of two readings
91Music in Institutions ……………………… 3 " one of two readings
92Music and the Church ………………………. 3 " one of two readings
93Music and the Church ……………………… 3 " one of two readings
94Municipal Music …………………………… 2 "
95Stickers and Slogans ……………………….. 2 " one of two readings
96Stickers and Slogans ………………………. 2 " one of two readings
97General Activities of the Bureau …………… 3 "
98Miscellaneous ……………………………… 12 " one of two readings
99Miscellaneous ……………………………. 12 " one of two readings
101There is also a supplementary division of some twenty-six booklets, issued by other organizations but available through the Bureau because of its helpful contents.
103During the year, May 1, 1926, to May 1, 1927, the Bureau sent literature upon request and also gave additional information and advice where asked to the following people:
105Music Supervisors ………………………….. 1,539
106Boards of Education …………………………. 826 one of two readings
107Boards of Education ……………………….. 826 one of two readings
108School Superintendents ……………………… 95 one of two readings
109School Superintendents …………………….. 95 one of two readings
110School Principals ……………………………. 150 one of two readings
111School Principals …………………………… 150 one of two readings
112Music Clubs ………………………………… 771 one of two readings
113Music Clubs ……………………………….. 771 one of two readings
114Music Trade ………………………………… 497 one of two readings
115Music Trade ……………………………….. 497 one of two readings
116Women's Clubs ………………………………. 442 one of two readings
117Women's Clubs ……………………………… 442 one of two readings
118Music Teachers ……………………………… 422 one of two readings
119Music Teachers …………………………….. 422 one of two readings
120Orchestras and Bands ………………………. 307 one of two readings
121Orchestras and Bands ……………………… 307 one of two readings
122Churches and Clergy ……………………….. 222
123Parent-Teacher Associations ……………….. 189
124Music Schools and Conservatories …………… 150
125Chambers of Commerce ……………………….. 144 one of two readings
126Chambers of Commerce ………………………. 144 one of two readings
127Editors ……………………………………. 133
128Libraries ………………………………….. 108
129Boy Scouts of America Organizations ……….. 122 one of two readings
130Boy Scouts of America Organizations ………. 122 one of two readings
131Extension Service, Agriculture and Home Economics 105
132Colleges and Universities ………………….. 100
133Playground and Recreation ………………….. 48 one of two readings
134Playground and Recreation …………………. 48 one of two readings
135Girls' Club Organizations ………………….. 40
136Hospitals and Institutions …………………. 39
137Organists ………………………………….. 29
138Men's Club Organizations ………………….. 29
139Governors ………………………………….. 18
140Mayors ……………………………………. 13
141Community Service …………………………… 12 one of two readings
142Community Service …………………………. 12 one of two readings
143Civic Music Associations …………………… 8 one of two readings
144Civic Music Associations ………………….. 8 one of two readings
145Municipal Music Commissions ……………….. 3
146Miscellaneous ………………………………. 873 one of two readings
147Miscellaneous ……………………………… 873 one of two readings
149Total ……………………………………… 9,434
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.