Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE PLAYER-PIANISTS' DEPARTMENT
[It is in every way eminently desirable that a publication
which undertakes to give so much space and so authoritative
a treatment to the great player industry, as does The Re-
view, should not neglect what is after all the real excuse
for the player's existence, namely, the music that is evoked
from it. Recognizing the extraordinary importance of do-
ing everything possible to spread more widely appreciation
and love for music among player-pianists, The Review's
Player Section for the present month contains below, and
will in future regularly contain, a department devoted to
the musical interests of player-pianists and of the player-
piano. Each month one musical article of general interest
will appear, together with useful hints, notes and comments.
This is in addition to the regular sub-section of the Player
Section, which analyzes the monthly issues of music rolls.
Professional demonstrators, salesmen and player-pianists of
every degree will find each month on the "Player-Pianist's"
page of the Player Section much valuable information. And
the Editor of the Player Section will at all times be glad
to answer inquiries on any and all musical player matters.]
WANTED-A NEW CONCEPTION.
Concluding Article.
The solution of the difficulties and problems
already discussed so fully in previous articles is
seen to come to this: the necessity for devising a
form of music appreciation teaching based on the
analogy of written and spoken languages.
The analogy is of the closest. The form of a
musical thought and of a thought spoken depend
upon similar laws, are expressed with similar ulti-
mate notions back of them. Consider {Tie various
forms of poetic expression. Their variety is im-
mense. From the stately hexameter of Pope to
the wonderful fluidity of Browning is a long road,
and in some or other part of it every possible shade
of variation in tempo, in metre and in melody is
to be found. Whether it be that poetry ever grows
nearer in its freedom of expression to music, or
whether music approaches poetry, is of little
moment. The fact remains that the two are
analogous.
Now, when we read poetry we do not—that is,
most of us do not—stop to analyze the rhythm, the
metrical complexity, the tempo. The thing that
first takes our attention is the meaning. We are
first interested in the things the poet says. The
way in which he says them and the effect which
his manner of saying them produces, furnish the
next interest. The thought at the bottom and the
framework in which that thought is exhibited;
these are the causes of our attention, our interest,
our emotion. So it should entirely be with music.
And so, indeed, it is for those who intuitively grasp
the meaning of musical thought. But the majority
of us do not grasp intuitively. We have to be
assisted from the outside. In the case of poetry
we have the words to help us. With music we
have no such help. How, then, can we arrive at an
aesthetic understanding of a piece?
Largely, we can do this by finding out the cir-
cumstances in which a musical thought was de-
veloped, what the composer meant it to mean and
what title he has applied to it. This is a mere
matter of research. But it is to be noted that the
habit of listening to music brings about gradually
a familiarity with the methods of musical thought
whereby we find ourselves progressively improving
in the ability to see and understand musical idiom.
But the main thing, after all, is to learn to think
of music as poetic expression. The analogy al-
ready discussed may be pressed as closely as we
wish. Take Browning's poem "Childe Roland to
the Dark Tower Came" and compare it with
Brahms' first rhapsody. Both are narrations.
Both are mystical. Both seem to hide under the
surface something not told, something hinted at,
something dark and terrible. Browning does not
merely tell you a story about Roland marching
through an horrific country to the dark tower. He
even leaves you in the dark so far as concerns de-
scription of what the dark tower is or portends.
Yet all through the poem you are conscious of
something standing behind the words, some dread
spectre of evil, some horrendous actuality, name-
less, perhaps indescribable, yet potent and kjeenly
felt. So too in the Brahms' rhapsody. Obviously,
i 1 : is a story of some sort. You cannot tell exactly
what, but you do know that Brahms has a tragedy
to tell in tone. And you feel how the drama moves
on, when its climax comes, when the curtain rings
down. In Browning's poem it is what he leaves
unsaid that gives the power to his words. Brahms
has the same effect. In both these compositions
the lurking reality behind is what gives the power.
And if everybody who has read the Browning poem
and felt that unseen actuality ever behind it would
think of great music in exactly the same way,
measuring not its detail of sounds, but its general
emotional effect, musical appreciation would be
more easily described and a good deal more com-
mon than it actually is.
So much for the subjective side of music and its
likeness to poetic art. When we consider the ob-
jective side the comparison becomes even easier.
Consider, for instance, the first movement of a
classical symphony. We have the statement of a
theme, then of another in contrasted character,
then a development of the two ideas thus put forth
—a sort of discussion—and finally the conclusion
of the argument, when all is resolved into its proper
and destined shape. Compare this with any tragic
poem and you will find the same elements of form
in much the same proportions. The two themes
are the male and female elements. The develop-
ment is alike in both cases. The inevitable con-
clusion of the tragedy is as certain in the one case
as in the other. Think, for instance, of Goethe's
"Faust," and the first movement of Beethoven's
fifth symphony.
To come down still further into detail, the actual
detailed structure of music corresponds very
closely with that of spoken or written language.
Fach complete musical thought is a perfect ana-
logue with a spoken or written sentence. And
just as there are divisions in a sentence, so there
are divisions in a musical thought. In fact, there
is no reason in the world why we should not call
a sentence a sentence in music as well as in poetry.
The idea in both cases is exactly the same, the
'expression of one thought, complete in itself,
although very likely subsidiary to some other
thought or group of thoughts.
To take a concrete practical example: The
statement which opens the '"Elegy in a Country
Churchyard" of Gray is expressed thus:
"The curfew tolls the kne-U of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
Homeward the ploughman wends his weary way;
And leaves the world to darkness—and to me."
Now here we have a complete sentence, a com-
plete thought. It has four well-developed' and
separated subdivisions, one to each line, for it is
written in that sort of a metre, the 10-9 quatrain.
Compare this direct simple, though elegantly ex-
pressed statement with the eloquence, equally re-
strained, equally glowing, of the leading theme
in the second movement in Beethoven's fifth
symphony. The lengths of the two are almost the
same, both give the same feeling of gloom, of a
fast approaching night, but yet of stillness and a
sort of peace. Both are made up of four sub-
divisions. Both are clearly and simply divided.
Both are perfectly straightforward. Both are
almost faultless specimens of style. Why should
not both be equally clear in meaning ?
Allow that music suggests mental moods rather
than events. Grant that to each of ten thousand
minds the message of music may be different, even
entirely individual to each. What of it? Is it
not enough that the music can make an appeal,
even though each of its hearers translates that
appeal into his own peculiar language? The
truth is that both may be equally clear in meaning
if only we allow that we do not expect music to
speak words to us, but rather to reveal what can-
not be spoken in words. And let us never forget
that the greatest poetry is also that which reveals
somewhat of greater significance under its gar-
menture of words.
This, then, is that New Conception of music
which may lead us to giving the public a better
understanding of the possibilities inherent in the
player-piano. It is not to be said that every side
of the notion is laid down or discussed here. We
have merely developed the conception. Other
subjects press for consideration. Let us, how-
ever, consider carefuly what has been said here
with a view to seeing whether it is not indeed
possible to teach people to love music, to play it j
by means of the player-piano, and to gain a fair*!
and truthful knowledge of it, by teaching them;''
what to look for in music, what they may see in
it. what it may mean to them. The present
articles have been written in the endeavor to
point a way. Doubtless other ways may be found.
But the present indication has at least the merit
of novelty and logicality.
If we have accomplished no more than to per-
suade writers of books on the player-piano that
it is not enough to talk musical platitudes to the
public, and that the technicalities of musical art
are a mere bore to the masses of the people, we
shall have done much. Much remains, but it will
be something to have done even this.
(THE END.)
A HEART TO HEART TALK
Whenever we feel inclined to weep and wail
over the condition of musical culture among the
general public, we might do worse than consider
the position of music among the other fine arts
of the present day. The truth of the matter is
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