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60
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
CONDUCTED BY B. B. WILSON
for strenuous objection. A plan was first
broached to cut out the word "fight" as it oc-
High School Music Teachers Declare That curs in the first verse. The objection was
Proper English Should Replace Darkey Dia- that it smacked too much of war and not at
lect in Old Songs—Plan May Meet With Op- all of peace.
position—Change Key of "Star Spangled
More moderate counsel prevailed. The
Banner" and Make it Less Militant
change was not made. The only tempering
A movement to "purify" America's famous now will be a slight change of rhythm in the
old darkey songs and temper the "Star first and third verses; and the adoption of
Spangled Banner" in New York's public "clouds of the fight" in place of "perilous fight"
schools was begun last week. At a confer- in the first verse. "Perilous" is a bit too warry
ence of the high school music teachers, at which but "clouds" is not. Also the uniform key
Dr. Frank R. Rix, musical director of the will be changed from "B" flat to "A" flat to
Board of Education, was present, a committee make the singing of the song less difficult for
was appointed to ask the music publishers and ordinary voices.
The suggestions for these changes were made
the public school teachers to eliminate all the
old negro dialect from songs printed in the some time ago, Dr. Rix said, by him to the
Board of Superintendents, but they were
text books.
Thus, if the movement succeeds, will future shelved, and Dr. Rix doesn't know whether
generations be without what has been a happy they are dead or not.
"The reasons for changing the darky dialect
part of all American homes—the quaint and
typical dialect of the American negro, as ex- should appeal to any interested person," Dr.
pressed in "Dixie," perhaps the most beloved Rix told an Evening World reporter to-day.
song in the country, and in Stephen Foster's "We want our children to learn pure English,
famous trio, "Massa's in De Cole, Cole Ground," not a dialect. Then, also, there are many for-
"Old Black Joe" and "Suwanee River." For eign children in our schools. The number is
And dialect confuses
years American mothers have hummed their growing constantly.
babies into slumber with these old folk song them. It is hard enough for them to learn
favorites. There's hardly a lad who can't our ordinary English. I think the change
hum "Suwanee River" or "Old Black Joe." should be made throughout the country.
And their charm lies principally in the harm-
"The proposed changes in the 'Star Spangled
less dialect. There would be little left to them Banner' are suggested in the hope of making
without that.
the song easier for children and the populace
The chief objection to the songs as they are to sing by standardizing it and making it a
now universally sung is a purist opposition. much more powerful anthem. We hope, too,
Instead of "de," "cayse," "ob," "nebber" and to make 'Dixie,' the soul-stirring appeal that
"moe," darky dialect for "the," " 'cause," "of," it really is when sung forcefully, and it is not
"never" and "more," the purists would substi- now being sung forcefully except on rare occa-
tute the English words and insist upon careful sions."
pronunciation. It may prove a hard job for
the expressions might well be said to be born
with American children, so much a part of
"Her Soldier Boy" and "Alone at Last" on
children's music have they become.
Tour—"Girl from Brazil" a Hit
As to the national anthem extremists would
have attempted a capital operation on it, but The operetta, "Her Soldier Boy," opens the
latter part of this week in Albany, N. Y., and
will play the following week in Pittsburgh, fol-
lowed by a two weeks' stay in Philadelphia,
after which it opens in New York, the latter
part of October.
The "Alone at Last" company is now playing
the larger cities of the West, and will include
a week's stay in Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland
and Detroit, with an extended stay in Chicago,
after which it will play at St. Louis, Kansas
City and Milwaukee. The "Alone at Last"
companies will be sent out in the future.
"The Girl from Brazil" is drawing large
crowds nightly at the Forty-fourth Street The-
atre. One of the most popular numbers in this
operetta is the wonderful waltz, "Darling, I
Love you So," sung and danced by a clever
couple, Jackson and Maynard. The Karczag
Publishing Co. are the publishers of the music
of all the above productions.
NOW WANT TOJTURIFY" "DIXIE"
SOME NEWS OFJTHE OPERETTAS
PUSSYFOOT
A. J. STASNYJN THE WEST
A. J. Stasny, manager of the A. J. Stasny
music Co., who is making a trip through the
larger cities of the West, reports he is clos-
ing a very fine business, and from the outlook
predicts a very big season, especially with the
high-class numbers of the Stasny catalog.
7c
OUR BIG SUCCESS
7c
Pussyfoot P r a n c e (Son g )
Pussyfoot Fox Trot
VICTOR SEPTEMBER RECORD
You are sure to have calls
CHICAGO
McKINLEY MUSIC CO.
NEWYORK
SUES PUBLISHER ON NOTE
Daniel L. McCarthy, of New York, has sued
Frederick A. Mills, music publisher, in the
Circuit Court to recover on a promissory note
for $10,000. The note, it is declared, was given
by Mr. Mills to Geo. M. Cohan, the actor and
playwright, who assigned it to McCarthy.
LEO FEIST, INC.JVUKE NEW PRICES
New Rates Apply to Numbers for Which Deal-
ers Do Not Have Heavy Demand
Leo Feist, Inc., are sending out announce-
ments to the dealers notifying them of the new
scale of prices on all sheet music of the once
popular brand. These new prices pertain to
all numbers that are still called for, but do
not have a large enough demand in any one
locality for a dealer to buy in large quantities.
The new price on such numbers will be 12
cents a copy in lots of less than ten, and
will be 10 cents a copy in lots of ten copies or
more. In ordering in lots of ten or more the
dealer may order assorted numbers and still
receive the 10-cent rate. The above does not
apply to Feist hits, which remain at the old
price.
SHOW INTERESTJNJVIUSIC FESTIVAL
The Fact That Popular Songs, Even if Old
Ones, Were Sung by Community Chorus
Should Appeal to Publishers and Dealers
The members of the music trade at large, and
particularly music publishers and dealers, will
be greatly interested in the singing festivals
held by the Community Chorus last week in
Central Park, which were unique in a number
of features. It is most interesting that those
in charge of the program did not confine them-
selves to music of the difficult classic sort,
but rather encouraged the singing of what
might be termed popular songs, songs that
the masses know and can sing. The success
of the first festival resulted in its repetition
the following evening, and it should be repro-
duced on still a larger scale next week.
It would seem that the co-operation of sheet
music interests would bring results in the way
of acquainting a large body of the public with
modern popular music of the better sort, music
that is still covered by copyrights.
NEW SONGS IN_%0USIN LUCY"
The Julian Eltinge show, "Cousin Lucy,"
which is now on a tour of the country, has had
the following new song numbers added to its
musical program: "Sweetheart," "I Loved Only
Once," and "When You're Skating With a
Wonderful Girl." All the above are operatic
numbers, and are published by Leo Feist, Inc.
JERO11E H.REMICK&Cp:S
Sensational Son£ Hits.
"PRETTY BABY"
"JUST A WORD OF SYMPATHY 11
"MAMMY'S LITTLE COAL BLACK
ROSE"
"ON THE OLD DOMINION LINE"
" I N OLD BRAZIL"
"DOWN HONOLULU WAY"
"AND THEY CALLED IT
DIXIELAND"
"COME BACK TO ARIZONA"
" I F YOU EVER GET LONELY"
"MEMORIES"
JEROME H. REM1CK & CO.
8 9 WEST 4 6 U S T . NEW YMK CITY |B7 WEST fmi ST. DETROIT IHUUTIC foam JLM.CHICMO