Presto

August 4, 1923
PRESTO
22
SMALL ORCHESTRAS
Necessity of Tone Colors Therein Pointed Out
and the Most Effective Way to Produce
Them Suggested in Interesting
Way.
By PAUL WHITEMAN.
As recently as a decade ago the instrumentation of
small orchestras and of military and concert bands
was nearly always carried out along well established
lines which had come to be known as "legitimate."
For example, the ordinary dance orchestra of five
pieces, in 99 cases out of 100, was violin, cornet,
clarinet, trombone and piano.' Drums had not yet
come to be known as a necessity, although sometimes
the double bass was used to add rhythm.
To play the "high-brow music" required in high-
class hotels and restaurants a rive-piece combination
would very likely be violin, clarinet, flute, 'cello and
piano. Larger combinations were also formed ac-
cording to rule, and it is quite safe to say that up to
five or ten years ago if one had asked band or orches-
tra conductors what the proper combination of any
certain number of men should be, seven out of ten
would have given lists practically identical.
Enter the Novelties.
. Little by little there crept into the small orchestral
combinations some radical departures from accepted
rules. Some of these, it is true, happened by acci-
dent, as in the case of a well-known hotel orchestra
leader who when asked why on earth he used a
Pian-O-Grand
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bassoon in a combination of five pieces explained: "It
makes it rich; besides he is my brother-in-law."
Then came the "jazz" craze and all sorts of com-
binations sprang up rapidly. During this period,
which was short and is now practically finished, no-
body paid any attention to the melody or the
harmony.
Out of this rather trying period came two things
that the writer considers good. Instruments of the
banjo family established a place for themselves in
orchestral combinations. There is something about
the mellow staccato "plunk" of the banjo that always
will be pleasing to the human ear.
The String Age.
When Stradivarius, of Cremona, perfected the
violin the instrumentation of music went through a
revolution. Then for nearly 300 years string instru-
ments held undisputed sway. Dealers in old fiddles
and 'cellos actually boast that the string instruments
haven't been improved one iota in centuries. Build-
ings, however, have grown much larger. Life has
grown fuller, more colorful. American music reflects
these changes.
Gradually, from the string quartet the classic string
symphony orchestra developed. The string quartet
and the string symphony orchestra never did and
probably never will take firm hold of the American
people, their "seasons" always show deficits and the
socially elite pay these deficits.
Saxophones have brought about a change in the
instrumentation of music quite as thorough as that
brought about by the violin family of instruments
ages ago. We're now in a musical epoch that will
be just as important historically as the epoch ushered
in by the perfection of bowed string instruments.
Again instrumental music is being revolutionized,
this time by a reed instrument—the saxophone.
America, with its colorful life, its larger auditorium,
its cosmopolitan population, took to the saxophone
readily and in legions. Orchestras based on saxo-
phone quartet or saxophone sextet sprung up every-
where. The first were dubbed "jazz bands." But
even the violin was not appreciated when it first ap-
peared and was referred to disdainfully upon its first
public hearings as "a squeaky little fiddle."
Simultaneously with—and possibly because of—the
perfection of Buescher saxophones, American music
(very properly so called) is rising to higher and
higher forms. After nearly 300 years' supremacy,
string instruments are almost entirely displaced by
saxophones in all nationally popular orchestras.
A Comparison.
The old orchestras produced beautiful music, but
their range of tone color was extremely limited. Their
productions might be likened to a finely drawn pic-
ture executed in one or two colors, while the music
of the modern orchestra is, and will continue to be,
to use the same analogy, like a beautiful painting in
which all the hues of the rainbow are utilized.
This, I take it, will be the path followed by the
band and orchestra leaders of the future. If I may
be permitted reference to my own organization, which
the public has so generously favored, I would say
that we do not lay claim to anything new or startling,
any secret formula, or revolutionary discovery. We
have been able to work out, possibly more fully and
in advance of others, certain of the ideas above out-
lined which, no doubt, many musicians before us
have thought to be the things the public would like.
But it is one thing to conceive and another to pass
through the labor of bringing into being. This, per-
haps, is the only credit that the Whitemau Orchestra
should claim—that of going ahead and doing the
thing while others
have dreamed about the idea. In
my orchestra w T e have twelve players, who collec-
tively perform on thirty-nine different instruments,
all the wind instruments being Buescher instruments.
During the rendition of a selection they change in-
struments constantly and so produce the kaleido-
scopic changes of tone color which are so remarked
upon by our admirers.
TALK ON THE RADIO.
Elmer H. Wilkinson, general manager of The
Jewett Radio and Phonograph Co., of Detroit, Mich.,
will address the Fourteenth Ohio Convention in Cin-
cinnati, September 11 and 12, on the subject "Radio
and Its Relation to the Music Business."
C. G. CONN, Ltd., Elkhart, Ind.
C. D. GREENLEAF, Pres.
j . E. BOYER, 5ec>
World's largest manufacturers of High Grade Band and Orchestra Instruments. Employs l,tM
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All of the most celebrated Artists use and endorse Conn Instruments.
Famous Bandmasters and Orchestra Directors highly endorse and recommend the uee of Ike
Conn Instruments in their organizations.
Conn Instruments are noted for their ease of playing, light and reliable •air* or hmy actions
quick response, rich tonal quality, perfect intonation, tone carrying quality, artisticness of rtsnigii.
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Conn Instruments are sent to aay point in tk > U. S. subject to ten <5ays free trial. B«anek store
or agencies will be found in all lory* cities. Write for catalogues, prices, etc.
C. G. CONN, Ltd.
DEPT. MS.
ELKHART, IND.
The Background
A BUSY ROLL
DEPARTMENT
COLUMBIA
WORD ROLLS
August—Advance
653
652
651
650
649
618
647
646
645
644
643
642
641
Title
Hey! You Want Any
Codfish
Tell Me a Story
Bebe
Dirty Hands! Dirty
Pace!
My Old Ramshackle
Shack
D o w n A m o n g - the
Sleepy Hills of
Tennessee
Laug-hin' Cryin* Blues
Don't We Carry On
In a Tent
Down Hearted Blues
Lonesome
Beale Street Mama
When Clouds Have
Vanished, and Skies
are Blue
640 M a d
639 Two Time Dan
638 Eddie—Steady
637 The Waltz of Love
636 Grand Daddy
635 Louisville Lou
Played By
Paul Jones
One-Step
Florence Sanger Fox-trot
Florence Sanger Fox-trot
Nell Morrison
Ballad
Paul Jones
Fox-trot
Nell Morrison
James Blythe
Wayne Love
Nell Morrison
James Blythe
Wayne Love
James Blythe
Fox-trot
Blues
Fox-trot
Fox-trot
Blues
Ballad
Fox-trot
Dick Ede
James Blythe
Florence Sanger
Wayne Love
Dick Ede
Florence Sanger
Gladys Bagwill
Fox-trot
Fox-trot
Fox-trot
Fox-trot
Waltz
Fox-trot
Fox-trot
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