NATURE’S MUSIC.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 September 1926, Page 18

NATURE’S MUSIC.

THE “SPRING SONG."

Have you ever listened to the music pi; the wind rippling through the treetops? In spring that wind murmurs softly, telling of all the little growing things, and from time to time men and women have tried to capture the music of Nature and imprison it in sweetness for their own instruments.

Perhaps you have heard of Mendelssohn, the composer of one of the most famous pieces of music in the world, the “Spring Song." When he was quite a little hoy Mendelssohn —who was rdally the son of Mednle, a school teacher—used to listen for the whisper of the wind, and the little growing sounds of Nature. When he grew up he wrote the “Spring Song." When next you hear it—or perhaps you are learning the piano, and can play it for yourself—-listen for -the little broken /chords that go with it, and explain, through music, the happiness of spring —the birds, the flowers, and everything in Nature that should make us glad.

Another beautiful piano number is Grieg's “To Spring." Grieg was a Norwegian musician who lived in the cold country of the far north. The winters there were very long, and when spring came everyone was happy, so happy that poets made sweet songs, and musicians composed sweet music on the beauty of the season. Listen and you will hear for yourself the whisper of spring in the treetops, and those of you who love music will perhaps be able to strike a few spring notes on the piano for yourselves.