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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A Broad Consideration of the Condition of Music Generally Speaking—
Piano Men as Well as Others Must Labor to Improve the State of
Public Taste, for this Means Much for the Future of the Industry.
It is customary for people to view a subject
from a single standpoint only, without regard to
the possibility of some existence, altogether dif-
ferent from anything they are able to discern be-
cause approachable only from an entirely new
direction. In all matters which refer to what is
rather loosely called "public taste," this infirmity
on the part of critics is astonishingly frequent;
nay, is really the most characteristic thing about
criticism. Of course, as soon as one comes to
consider the matter with any attention one is
forced to the rather uncomfortable conclusion that
there is no such thing as "public taste." It is true
that along certain rough and obvious roads of
thought the people of a given community travel
more or less unanimously. Thus Chinese as a
nation are partial to bird's nest soup; but un-
doubtedly there are Chinamen who do not like this
delicacy. Again, the English as a nation are held
to be destitute of musical talent; yet there are
many English names in the roll of great musicians.
It is customary to suppose that the American
people do not like the serious in art; yet the truth
is that there are all sorts of societies of all kinds
and numbers devoted to the mastery of culture and
implanted iit every city of any size throughout this
broad land.
Plainly, then, the man who undertakes to make
generalized criticisms about public taste is in
danger from two directions; first, in supposing that
there is anything that can be hog-tied and staked
out as being that entity, and second, in imagining
that one's personal opinion, prejudiced and nar-
row as it must be, really can be said even to be
capable of viewing the whole of a great ques-
tion, much less of criticizing it lucidly.
Drawing Opposite Conclusions.
All this has to do with the great topic of Ameri-
can musical taste. It is amusing as it is pathetic
to observe the sincere and well-intentioned efforts
of musicians on the one hand, and of, say, music
roll men on the other, to deliver opinions about all
this. It is amusing because, although they reason
from the same data, they reach opposite conclu-
sions ; and pathetic because neither can see that
both are positively wrong, and both in part right.
Musicians tell us with glee of the growing interest
among the public in good music, of the estab-
lishment of new orchestras, new schools of music,
and new opera companies. They ask us to ob-
serve how good music is gradually coming into
its own. They point out that American composers
are better off than ever, financially speaking. And
they conclude that public taste is growing better.
On the other hand, from observation of the
same people, the maker of music rolls may draw
entirely opposite conclusions. He may show you
that, to take one instance, the records of one
great manufacturer show 95 per cent, of sales to
be confined to the latest hits of the day.
Which of these conflicting opinions is the near-
est to right? Clearly neither are altogether
wrong. And what is to be the answer which we,
as people interested in player-piano music, should
expect to discover from our own examination of
the facts?
Of course, it is quite clear that the vast majority
of the population are not in the slightest degree
interested in what is called "good music." The
mere multiplication of orchestras, of music schools
or of concerts is nothing, for the total of all this
is absurdly small when compared with the vast
untouched reservoir of community life. Ask your-
self how many symphony orchestras there are in
the United States. And then just take the trouble
to find out how many cities there are of over
50,000 inhabitants. Just that one comparison will
have a distinctly saddening—or quieting—effect
upon the most ardent temperament. The same is
true, in effect, of such things as grand opera. We
have a few opera companies in this country, but
they are exotics, nearly all of them. We hire for-
eigners to sing for us, and pay them fancy prices
for doing it. But, excepting our music loving
aliens, who have not become "Americanized" as
yet, how much do the people at large care about
opera? To most people '"opera" signifies some-
thing that you are supposed to like, but which in
• reality you don't care for, as it is not "regular
music." And so the dreary story may be told
forever and a day.
Another Standpoint.
Turning again to the other standpoint for a
moment, we are in the realm of the obvious, but
as many others have found in other lines of
thought, we are in a realm just a little too obvious
to be true. People appear to be crazy over what
is called "popular music," which is largely what
should be called frank inanity, if not insanity. Of
course, this sweeping judgment applies rather to
the words than to the music, for the latter does
often possess a charm of its own. This charm is
what might perhaps be called, for want of a better
term, artificial. It is meretriciously clever in a
shallow sort of way, and has about it a glitter and
glamour that endow it with a positive attraction
for the mind that prefers effects to causes. Yet
nobody would for a moment seriously contend that
the music of the day really represents the Ameri-
can people.
In very truth, the negative musical taste of
Americans is entirely due to the simple fact that
music to them is not a means of expression. If
this fact were thoroughly apprehended by critics
in general, then neither the fatuities of the profes-
sional musician nor the nonsense of the popular
composer would be considered worthy of atten-
tion. Music, to many of our people, is an accom-
paniment to meals, an embodiment of rhythm for
that dancing which is the most engaging of
modern American group-thoughts. It is, in other
words, an object. It is something that happens,
and that in certain cases assists in forming the
necessary background to action. But it is neither
the representation of thought nor the medium for
the presentation of ideas. That is the whole
secret. To most people music is like dressing for
dinner; something that you do.
Music Largely Confined to Its Rhythmic Aspect
Now, if we understand this, we at once under-
stand that our musical friends can heap up their
evidences for long enough yet without being able
to show us that the art of music has entered into
national life. Contrariwise, we can also under-
stand why it is that people who would not dream
of decorating the walls of their rooms in alternate
streaks of green and red will listen to, and even
enjoy, music which violates every canon of taste.
For to them the music is but the vehicle of
rhythmic action; the accompaniment of the dance
or the wakener of the rhythmic instinct. Musical
perception, then, among the vast majority of our
people is confined to its rhythmic aspects. This
tells us why the worst offences against good taste
are permitted to continue. It is because they are
thought of and present themselves to the popular
mind only as the vehicles of rhythm. If the Ra-
tional perception went as far as to discern ihe
suggestions that lie in melody, to say nothing of
harmony, much of what is now thought of as a
joke would be considered quite seriously.
Seeing that all this is so—or at least assuming
it to be demonstrated on the face of what has
been said—what lesson are we to draw? Ob-
viously this: that we must prepare to improve the
state of public taste as quickly as we can. For it
is surely plain that the whole future of the piano
and player business is here affected. It is only
necessary to remember that the piano is no longer
a luxury, but virtually a necessity, and that its
production has so expanded that it must con-
stantly be kept before the attention of the people
to see also that no sure future can be anticipated
unless the demand becomes more natural and less
forced. A demand that rests upon an appreciation
of music merely as a background is neither a
steady nor a desirable demand. We need to en-
courage a taste for music, since only thus can we
encourage a taste for what we have to sell.
The facts as at present they appear to us would
lead to the supposition that the American people
have as yet remained almost wholly untouched in
the matter of true musical education; and it is to
be hoped that the efforts of all those who are en-
gaged in the musical industries will finally be
focussed on this vital point.
American musical taste is neither good nor bad;
it is simply stationary.
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Iowa, have dissolved partnership, and Warden H.
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department of the store.
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