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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
They Fill the Street
with Song.
A FINE FREE NIGHT CONCERT THAT IS BECOM-
which the reporter was able to distinguish
the words, runs like this:
Col'; so col'; so col' on de mountin' side,
Oh, I pack up my sack an' I'se gwine to go back.
To de spot w'ere my firs' lub died.
CHORUS:
ING FAMILIAR IN UNION SQUARE.
VERY night about n o'clock a big cov-
ered truck drives up Broadway, turn-
ing off at Union Square, and going over to
Fourth avenue. About once a week, on
an average, three negroes sit on the box
seat, one of them driving. When these
three negroes sit on the box seat Broadway
hears some music worth hearing. People
gather on the sidewalk, passing wagons
draw up, and even the cable cars slow down
to keep as long as possible within range of
the voices that rise above the rumble of
the lumbering truck. In its way the sing-
ing of the trio is nearly perfect. It is the
real old negro plantation rendering of the
real old plantation songs, untainted by
modern minstrel methods or the influence
of the prevailing barrel organ, the melodies
and harmonies of a people who made music
from their sorrows and sufferings.
All of the men are elderly; old enough
to remember something of slave days.
The voice that carries the air is a clear,
sweet voice with that bell-like tone so char-
acteristic of the race. More robust is the
bass, with its colling low tones, long sus-
tained, like those of an organ. But the
best of the three is the tenor. He has a
voice of wonderful purity and expressive-
ness, a voice with that singular tone effect
of distance that is heard very rarely in a
negro voice, never in a white man's. So
harmoniously do the voices of the trio
blend that the hearer never misses the
fourth part. It is worth following them up
to hear them sing "Nicodemus" or "I'm
a-Trabbellin' to de Grabe" or "Pharaoh,"
with its weird chorus of
E
Lo-ong; lo-ong
Long since my ol' lub died;
Lo-ong; lo-ong
Since de gal dat I firs' lub died.
The chorus is a succession of weird har-
monies, full of expression and pathos, in-
tensified by the wailing tones that the
singers throw into their voices. They have
many other songs, some fanciful and gay,
but through them all runs an undertone of
sadness.
They seem to have no particular time
for singing. They will drive along for
blocks in silence. Then the driver, who
carries the air, will take his pipe from his
mouth and sing a note; the others will join
in, with the tenor and bass notes forming
the chord, and the singing begins. They
will sing for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes,
hardly stopping for breath. It is a peculiar
fact that the first chord sung is always a
minor.
To the attention they attract they are
profoundly indifferent.
Evidently they
sing merely for the pleasure they derive
from their music, and the presence or ab-
sence of auditors affects them not at. all.
A Resonant
and Singing
Quality of
Tone with
Perfectly
Even Scale
is Found Onlv
in the Old
Reliable
Go down, Moses; way down in Egypt's Ian'.
Tell ol'
Pharoah—oh—oh.
Let my people go.
.
-'
A few nights ago they were singing as
they turned the corner of Union Square.
A crowd of men, evidently theatre-goers,
standing on the corner, applauded them.
Then one of the men tossed a coin up on
the box, and a shower of small coins fol-
lowed, some landing, others falling into the
street. The singers made no sign until
they had finished their song, when they
took off their hats, bowed gravely, and
drove on. From their manner one would
have said that they were acknowledging
not the coins but the evidence of the ap-
preciation of their music.
Tone
Shading
Yes,
that is the word;
it expresses just what
the player can do
while playing on
... T HE /EOLIAN
OARDMAN
k # G RAY*
PIANOS
F
Send for prices on
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The finest, most
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BROADWAY
ES1ABUSHED--IN—1837
CONNOR PIANOS.
In nearly all their songs the minor pre-
Dealers desiring instruments Carefully Constructed, Elegant in
dominates, changing now and again to
Appearance, possessing a Superior Tone Quality, for a
major by bold and rather startling transi-
tions, only to lapse into the other strain in
Moderate Price, should communicate with
the final chords. They sing one peculiar
song full of musical pathos, which the
writer has never heard sung elsewhere, nor
has he been able to find any one who
knows the song. The music is a slow
movement, softly sung, and one verse, of
YORK.
FRANCIS CONNOR, - Manufacturer,
134th Street and Trinity Avenue, Southern Boulevard,
MERRILL PIANOS
118 BOYLSTON ST
ZBOSTOIN".
Soavorns Piano Action Co ™
MANUFACTURERS OF
Nos. 113-125 BROAD WAT,
1 8 5 X.
CAMBB1DGEPORT, MASS.