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THE MUSIC TRADE
SEPTEMBER 4, 1920
REVIEW
9
The Development of Music in Alaska
George Anderson, a Piano Tuner in Alaska, Tells of the Increasing Appreciation of Music in the Great Northwestern
of the American Continent—Goodly Number of Automatic Organs Being Installed in Motion Picture
Theatres—The Tribulations of a Piano Tuner in the Frozen North
Music is rapidly winning for itself a high
place in the daily life of the people of Alaska
and modern musical instruments are doing much
to bring about an appreciation of music there.
An interesting survey of the part played by
pianos, organs and talking machines is given in
a letter recently received from Geo. Anderson,
a piano tuner of Alaska, who writes from Cor-
dova of the romance of this great country lying
as Juneau, Ketchekan, Anchorage and Cordova,
have very good theatres where one can some-
times see fairly recent feature films. We more
often see films one year late, however, and the
news of the world happenings are often flashed
on the screen twelve months late. But we do
not complain; we are glad to get it even then.
"We have outgrown the dance hall and the
turkey-in-the-straw fiddler, for Juneau has
equipped its theatres with double manual pedal
keyboard pipe organs of the electric pneumatic
type. Nightly one can hear very creditable con-
cert programs of popular and classical music,
musical efforts that would compare very favor-
ably with those in much larger communities.
Our churches are equipped with pianos and
with organs of the smaller reed type, although
Dawson, in the Yukon territory, which, by the
way, does not belong to Alaska, but to Canada,
has a pneumatic pipe organ which was brought
Alaska Theatre Equipped With Kimball Organ there when the camp was in a flourishing con-
on the edge of the Arctic Circle where a tuner's dition. The instrument, which is an excellent
job may end in a two thousand mile journey one, cost about $15,000 and is now in the First
before his work is done. The letter, which is Presbyterian Church.
"Sitka, the old capital of the Territory of
interesting reading for any piano man, discusses
Alaska, has a very old pipe organ. The key-
Alaskan conditions as follows:
"The population of Alaska has greatly dimin- board of this instrument is reversed, that is,
ished in the past few years due chiefly to war the sharps are white and the natural keys are
conditions and the high cost of everything neces- black. The stops are on the side, eight in num-
sary to the existence of the companies that ber. It looks like a German product, and was
mine for gold. There is, at the present time, owned by a German Lutheran Mission at one
probably less than 20,000 white population. time, but is now owned by the Jackson Indian
These combined with another 20,000 'to 25,000 Mission School and is located in the mission
Indian or mixed blood would give Alaska a building. It might be from one hundred to two
population of a little under 45,000. The people hundred years old.
live in scattered communities throughout this
"Here in Alaska we have the commercialized
vast empire and are greatly isolated at all times. music teachers—the ones with the long recital
Part
on Raff, and the light of the moon lacks lustre
sometimes during the rendering of that compo-
sition, but it nevertheless shows the trend of
musical thought is in the right direction. We
have romance here also—not the wild, woolly
kind used in the movies, however. The day of
the dance hall and the professional gamblers is
past.
"The romance of Alaska is to be found in its
Geo. Anderson's Yukon River "Flivver"
great waterways, its vast rivers and mountains
and its great wide valleys stretching from the
Facific to the Atlantic Ocean, alive with wild
game of every description. If you want real
romance and long to get back to nature, follow
out this plan: Get a good, staunch boat care-
fully equipped with the necessary supplies, start
down, the mighty Yukon river for a hundred
miles, a thousand miles or two thousand miles,
if you so desire. You will find that the mighty
waterway will serve you well, both as to size
and length. As surely as night follows day you
may find yourself drifting along silently, with
no sound save the lapping of the water against
your boat, probably a hundred miles from any
human being; and as the shades of the Arctic
night settle down and the damp mist creeps up
from the river an eerie feeling steals over you
and you realize your smallness and your de-
pendence on the Great Creator.
"Pianos and other musical instruments are
to be found in some of the most isolated places
in Alaska and there are a number of pianos
well inside the Arctic Circle. The writer was
once offered $150 to tune three pianos on the
Koyukuk River and had to refuse, but made a
counter offer to tune the instruments for $300.
The pianos are still out of tune. Lest readers
should misunderstand this little story, let them
listen to another and draw their own conclu-
sions. If you are looking for real romance, if
any 'knight of the strings and hammers' wants
a man-sized job, follow these directions: Go
down the Yukon river for fifteen hundred miles.
When you reach Koyukuk river, turn the cor-
ner to the right. Go up that river five hundred
miles; first real house you come to is Smith's
place. He will be glad to see you—he has the
three pianos which still are out of tune. Does
any tuner from the States want the job?
"The future development of Alaska will de-
pend largely on better and cheaper transporta-
Lower Yukon Natives—Mr. Anderson on Extreme Right, Back Row
Means of diversion and recreation are very programs and who, not content to teach music tion facilities and a more liberal policy of the
limited and an.occasional hunting expedition is alone, must have a commission on every sale United States Government as to mail service
about all that happens to relieve the monotony when such happen their way. We have the as all mail coming to Alaska is shipped by
as far as physical amusements are concerned.
budding young fiddlers who overwhelm us with freight. With a broader and more liberal policy
"The best liked mental recreation is music, many of Raff's compositions, and we also have a larger population would result and the field
for the sale of musical instruments would in-
obtained through the piano, player-piano or the the young piano star who essays the Beethoven
crease tremendously."
talking machine. The larger communities, such 'Moonlight Sonata' for the piano. It is rough
A NATURAL PART OF EVERY PIANO DEALER'S TPADE
AUTOMATIC
PIANOS A
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IN THE AUTOI4ATLC FIELB
SEFBUHG
PIANO
COMPANY . , -CHICAGO ILLINOIS —