Music and Musicians.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue XXIV, 16 June 1900, Page 1137

Music and Musicians.

Novtllu has published three "Hymns for Vse in Time of War.” According to an English contrmporary, Sir Arthur Sullivan’s services as conductor of the Leeds Festival was $2lO per annum. A munificent sum, surely I The association of German composers has presented to the federal council a memorial upon the rights of authors which contains some curious statistics: Germany contains 580 solo singers; 240 pianists: 130 violinists; 110 virtuosos, playing divers instr.iments; 630 orgunists; 13.000 orchestral musicians, of whom 8000 play in theatres and municipal orchestws: 1300 c rehestra leaders and directors of music: 8000 military musicians, headed by 410 leaders; 2350 chorus directors; 3700 professors of instrumental music; am* 1350 professors of singing in 435 conservatories. Among the musical assoeij.tions are 420 for sacred music, 840 amateur orchestras, and 6580 singing societies. In ISOS, 277.100 dirt’ffrent productions of musie took place at which were given 2.701.900 different pieces, of which 191.803 were classical, 946,000 genre pieces, and 1,564.000 light pieces. There are 273 musical editors. 1800 merchants of music, 33 establishments to engrave riusie. 3000 fa -Tories of musical instruments. 2500 vendors of musical instruments, and 150,000 people live by music in Ge; man; . We generally dislike in musie what is above our comprehension. When listening to a lecture, we are ip< to accuse ourselves of stupidity if we can not under, land what has bec-i said. The true musician is not the product of birth, but rather that of education. Yet we ar r not unmindful of the fact that without taient education will do very little toward developing the musician. Talent without instruction is apt to go astray, and musical instruction without talent is apt to go to waste. A Japanese proverb says that a thousand miles begin with one step, so the greatest player begins with the first rudiments. When you take the first step. Ic-ok not impatiently at the end of the journey, nor fix your mind, when taking your first lessons, upon the time v lien yon shall appe-i- before thep üblic. Do every day's duty well, and in due time you will have walked the thousand miles, and so you will also be prepared to perforin great works by the masters. The physicians who stud, the nature ar.d ’n atment of the human.body say, at least the majority of them, that the best diet is. that which consists < 1 a mixture cf animal and vegetable foods. This is metaphor of the musical nature. We can not become good and proficient musicians by a ;>:go-- J al! d one-sided adherence to any class of compositions. not even the best and highest. The true lover of English poetry does not tether himself to the pages of Shakespeare alone, inimitable as those inspired pages are. He reads also Lowell, Byron. Keats. Longfellow, Hilton. Shelley. Browning. Tennyson, and a hundred others, not forgetting nor omitting many a minor bard who had a true voice and a warm heart. Exactly analogous to this should be the mode of developing our musical taste and learning. It is an excellent plan to follow the usage of certain piano teachers of eminence and long experience, who make it a rule to keep students at work all the while upon contrasted pieces. Thus, if the eighth Invention of J. S. Bach is in hand—the pretty one in F major—along with it will lie taken some easy piece by Heller, such as the "Song Without Words” in D major, op. 46. No. 8; with a tondo by Haydn will go the “Lovesong,” by Henselt: with “The Harmonious Blacksmith.” by Handel, “Kammenoi Ost row.” No. 22, by Rubinstein; with Mendelssohn's "Huntingsong” or “Barcarole in A minor,” Schumann's “Nocturne." op. 23, No. 4; with Chr.pin's "Polonaise" in A minor, the “Adagio” of Beethoven's 'Moonlight” Sonata; with Weber's rondo. “Perpetual Motion.” the “Funeral March,” by Schytte. and so on and so on, in n thousand interesting contrasts, which may be carried up from grade I to the very highest-—to ten. or even beyond, if th« re were any such altitude.—“ The Etude.”

Eugen d’Albert's concerto for the violoncello has been played for the iii st time in Vienna, by Hugo Becker, with overwhelming success. The great ’cellist was recalled five times. D’Albert’* song seena, “Die Seejungfrati,” sung by the composer’s wife in the same conceit, was also received with great enthusiasm. Sir U. H. Hubert Parry has bet n appointed Professor of Music in Oxford University. to succeed Sir .John Stainer, who resigned some time ago. Dr. Parry, as he was long known, has contributed a number of important works to’ musical literature, his articles on theoretic subjects in Grove's dictionary being among the most valuable of the kind. Lie has also written a number of compositions in the large forms. From some queer crook in the human intellect, there is a large class of people, especially those of moderate means, who object to paying for any but the very cheapest lessons, but who, when it comes to buying an instrument. will not be satisfied with anything but the very best. If they have a possible £ 100 to buy a piano and educate a child, many of this class will pay £BO for the piano and £2O for the education instead of paying £2O or £4O for the piano and £6O or £ SO for the education. Many, again, will buy a piano, give a child a “term’’ —probably consisting of twelve lessons —and that is the last of it. Such people want an instrument with the most massive case, the finest strings, the most elegant carvings, the finest ivory, the most celebrated maker’s name on the front panel, and the latest improvements known to the piano-making art. The instrument must show the highest workmanship and the most beautiful finish. Now, is not this a strange anomaly? These people want their pianos made by the finest and most skilful men in the trade, but when it comes to having work done on the brains of their children. a matter infinitely more important. they seem to think that anybody will do for that, and employ the first bungling amateur or cheap teacher that comes along. The average piano is an out-of-date mass of rusty strings, moth-eaten felt, and warped woodwork in twenty years: but the impress which a true teacher leaves on the plastic brain of a child is imperishable —it lasts forever. Not that we do not believe in buying first-rate instruments! Far from it: no piano can be too good for the growing student if it can be afforded in addition to a first-class musical education. The point we wish to make is that education comes first. If you can not afford both, pay the skilful shaper of brains instead of the clever carver of piano panels: hire the man who lias genius in attuning the musical hearing of pupils, instead of the first-class varnisher and finisher; spend the greater portion of your money in teaching a child how to use a tool, and not on the tool itself. The homes of our country are full of these beautiful, expensive pianos, with no one to play them. Ask the people who buy them which they would prefer to hear, a first-class player and a medium-priced piano, or a first-class piano and a bungling player, and they will choose the first without the least hesitation. When it comes to the point of buying a piano and educating a child, however, they fail utterly to see the point, and. after spending almost all their money on a piano, hand their child over without hesitation to the first neighbourhood teacher who can play a jingling “coon song" or “rag-time" two-step, simply because the lessons are cheap, and they cannot afford to pay much, as they are paying for a magnificent carved piano on the instalment plan. The Etude. © © © THINGS THE MUSIC STUDENT SHOULD REM EM BEK. Remember that your teacher shows you the thing to do. and how to do it; but the thing to be done must be done by you. .Remember that the rapidity of your progress depends entirely upon

the amount of labour given to vour Remember that one hour of genuine stu<l\ is worth four of mere mechanical “banging” awav. Remember that it i< not the quantity of medicine that cures, but the quality, regular ami persistent use of which show telling effects. Likewise, with your daily practice. Ite punctual as to your regular time, remember to keep up to the required standard o! quality, ami persevere. Secure, as eaily as possible, the amity of your teacher, so that your way of working and your actions will b»* in harmony vvitb the intentions anti ways of your teacher. When you once lose respect for him. you lose interest, and upon this depends, to a great degree, your future success or failure. © © © MUSIC \L IMIT RITY. The insane craze for “rag-time” music and “coon songs" that has lately swept over the country is to the cause of good music among the masses what The hot blasts of the simoom are to healthful vegetation. 1 he counters of the musie stores are loaded with this virulent poison which, in the form of a malarious epidemic, is finding its way into the homes and brains of the youths to such an extent as to arouse one’s suspicions of their sanity. The pools of slush through which the composers of some of these songs have dragged their questionable rhyi*\* are rank enough to stifle the nostrils of decency, and yet young men and ladies of the best standing daily roll around their tongues in gluttonous delight the most nauseating twaddle about “hot town." warm babies. and “blear-eved coons" armed with “blood letting razors"—some of them set to doublejointed. jumping-jack airs That fairlv twist the ears of an educated musician from their anchorage. Some of these songs are so maudlin in sentiment and rnythm as to make the themes the express lairlv stagger in the drunkenness of their exaggerations. I hey are a plague to both music and musicians, um] a stench to refinement. I hank the Lord they have passed the meridian of their popularity, and are now on the wane, so that ,he cause of music may again be permitted to enjoy a season when it can inhale a few drafts of refreshing ozone from the more refined science of a sober, reflecting. and regretting hulua nity. In the meantime, how shall the higher functions of music be disinfected against tht- recurrence of th s or some similar plague? It is to be sincerely hoped that this country will be spared in the future from such musical insanity as we have suffered by this rag-time, coon-song craze.— “Choir Musie .Journal.’’ ® @ © A SIX TYM I NI T E I. ESSO N (Eva G. Higgins.) Some patrons music teachers look at the relation from the standpoint of pure business, and exact service to the vejv uttermost. They are always readv to haggle about the price of lessons and to find fault with the cost of music instruction. I had been accustomed to give a pupil the time a lesson required, to slight nothin!). but I never watched ihe clock for a full sixty-minute lesson. But the mother did. One morning, as my pupil and I came out of the music-room, the mother looked at the clock, looked at me. and looked at the clock “It was five minute- to nine when you went in there.” I said “Yes.” “It is now fifteen minutes to ten.” I pulled out mv watch, trying to be courageous, for these mothers daunted me. “It is ten to fen." 1 said firmly, “and wc finished the lesson, so I stopped.” “Fifty cents i< u lot,” she said, as usual, “and 1 want sixty minutes fur 1 grew pale with anger that woman angers me even yet — but only said: "Very welt”

After that I gave sixty minutes to a second, but watched to see that I never went over. I grew quite ingenion- in devising something to fill °‘ IT b*ti or fifteen minute pause. rhi- particular pupil had a habit of taking pauses herself, by utterly refusing to answer me. or to play on with the exercise, but with averted head. maintaining a stubborn silence. M hen I found 1 couldn’t induce her to oln\ me, an appeal to her mother that we were “wasting time" readily are,.mp!i>hcd what 1 had failed.— “The Etude." •> © © A SWEET SONGSTRESS. Mi-< l-idiel Jay set herself a difficult task when she undertook to play the part vt “Rose in Bloom” in Sir Arthur Sullivan's latest opera. l’h-‘ original actress in this part was Miss EHen Beech Yiw. the famous ( alitorniaii importation. whose remark tide top note quite puts into the shade tha’ ot the much-falked-ahout Marv Jam. Miss Yaw can sing two notes higher than the previous highest soprano known to our encyclopaedia. and it is evident that Sir Arthur Sullivan’s score was written with a view to showing off the lady’s remarkable qualities in this direction. Hence great credit is due to Miss Jay for her highly successful rendering of thi< difficult part. Not only i< Miss Jav possessed of a beautiful voice a d face, but she is also an actress of high intelligence. © © © FOOLISH AMBITION’. Nothing is of greater importance in musie studv than the selection of pieces givt ii the student for practice, for there is more depending on this than the average teacher or student dreams of. I’nfortunately the desire of the ambitious student usu ‘llv tends towards pieces far beyond his powers; hem e tin* *lipshod Technic and murder of mu-Jcal Ideas we hear so generally. A stmieut should never attempt pieces of grvate- difficulty than he can mas ter with an average study of a few hours daily, and when he finds he requires tn g!v t more time than this he should immediatly select pieces less difficult. Many professors claim that two or three hours' daily practice, at most is all that students should da. This, however, while it works admirobly for amateurs, is a mistake for professionals. All great artists have studied from eight to fourteen hours daily, not. however, at pieces, but principally at studies and etudes. In our dav artistic excellence is so high that it requites years of the hardest work before young players can hope to appear with anything like success un he concert platform: so that three or four hours’ daily practice would necessitate a» least fifteen or tweuiy years’ study before anything like real perfection was reached. But i he student should beware, above ail things, of forcing or cramming in his studies, for in music th»‘ onl\ process that ever brings benificial r» -uh- is one that js gradual. The student musi creep before he tries walking, am] not the least of tin tasks that leaehers have before them is that of holding back the too ambitious student. Any attempt to climb musical height> too far beyond the students’ reach brings the inevitable fall, ami one fall is sufficient to weaken rhe nerves of some students forever. The evils arising from students attempting pieces too far beyond their abili'v are n t confined to faultv technic ami in terpretation. The must

baleful of all, and the most frequent, is loss of self-contideuee. That uncontrollable nervousness which has played havoc with so many promising careers nine times out of ten has arisen from the foolish ambition of attempting pieces too difficult for mastery. Skill in executive art arises more or less directly front careful training, very little of it naturally; and skill is—apart from the necessary muscle training —really confidence. Confidence, therefore, is one of the most important factors in the career of vituosi, and the destruction or weakening of it means musical ruin. It has long been the matter of wonder that great artists should, as a rule, make such poor teachers. But the reason of their failure is largely due to their inability to estimate rightly the (towers of their pupils. To men like Paganini or Rubinstein the violin or pianoforte are instruments comparatively easily mastered, whereas to the rank and tile their difficulty is enormous. A great artist generally gives his pupils pieces too difficult for them. Then he fumes and frets over the faulty interpretation until he discourages and disheartens the students utterly. The continual occuirence of ■these discouragements and failures finally undermines the greatest selfconfidence possible. Of course, a pianoforte or violin genius will find no obstacle or difficulty too great; but genius is rare, and mere talent is more easily crushed than brought out. Nerve and coolness are all necessary attributes in instrumental study, but it is impossible for any student to be cool and nervy if he has a task in hand beyond his powers. Rubinstein used to say that injudicious training has ruined more careers than good training has formed, and he was so firmly convinced of this that he instituted two divisions of study in the St. Petersburg Conservatory. one for students who were to become teachers, and the other for virtuosi. The student should rely on etudes and exercises for his advancement in technique, and these, consequently, should always be more difficult than the pieces he studies. A study can be taken in tempo that suit- the fingers and ability of the player without damage to the musical idea. Therefore etudes should be studied ,'.tr more than they are. the student -•.lying on these for advancement rather than on pieces. It is only by slow and careful practice that difficulties are overcome. Hence, if the student is ambitious and anxious to get on he should be given plenty of studies to fame and fret over. and continually cautioned against playing them in anything but a uniformly moderate tempo. It is absolutely suicidal for young platers to study alone, or ev n with a master, the pieces they have heard performed by men like Paderewski or Joseffy. Of course, the tempt ttion is great, but it should be fought against bravely, simply because it tends directly io the retardation of their advancement. It is always well for a teacher to have the confidence of his pupils in order to save them from the many false steps foolish ambition lures them into taking. Withoo' ambition there can be no real su es-. y< t too much ambition, on the other t prevents all success. The middle pa is the most difficult of all to find and finding to keep, and the w ; s s - student wiil use every effort to do both. A pianoforte student who has mastered one or more of the earlier sonatas of Schumann is not in a position to take up the study of opus 106 or opus 111. even if he has the biggest desire possible, and although h- may have heard Paderewski play the Schumann "< -major Fantasia ai d knows every phras- and note of it by heart; he should not attempt this work when equal only to a study cf the Novel--1,-tten. Th-- <-t mh - of ('hopii . I ' -zt and Kil-bin-r . .-i - inoiislv difficult a- many of th. m ate. are excellent f.-r development, both of the fingers and the intellect. tvnt the student should be warned against |>':•> g tb.se either in tempo or before in audience, or even • nd. until he has completely • ■ fared their difficulties. They should serie him as stepping-stones, but nothing more. TO PIAXO-TEA-i HERS. TVl.v do so many fail as piano-'eaeh-ers? There are many reasons for this. In the first place, many an individual who would make mi excellent telegraph operator or typewriter has missed his vocation as a piano teacher. In other words, he is unfitted for the position he has chosen. The characteristics that belong to the successful piano-teacher are wanting. These

characteristics are patience, love of work, a clear insight into the needs of his pupils, the ability to make his pupils progress in their work, the ambition to further the interest of his pupils, and the absence of persona! vanity. Every pupil must be treated differently. This is so well known a fact that to repeat it seems trite and com-mon-place. And yet there are teachers that treat ail pupils alike. Year upon year the sain*.* pieces are given and taught in the same style. The same etudes are gone through in the same order. The teacher lias not gone with the times. He has remained stationary, utterly oblivious to the fact that, like in medicine. and in the various sciences, new ideas arise with new men. new conditions give way to old ones. The consequence is that the teacher belonging to this class sees his pupils leave him without understanding the cause. He does not hear the whispers behind his back: “He is too old-fashioned.” On the other hand, inexperienced teachers must avoid constantly experimenting with methods. At first the Stuttgart method with suppressed knuckles is lauded to the skies; then again it is the I/eschetitsky method with elevated knuckles; finally, the experimenting teacher tries his luck with the method that leads from brain to key-board with a minimum of brain and a maximum of board. This method of experimenting is one of the pitfalls besetting the path of the inexperienced teacher, and should also be avoided. A teacher must ’oe heart and soul in his work. He will find his greatest pleasure in the advancement of his pupils. Then there will be no cause for worry. Instead of failure, his career will bring success.