Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-02
COMMON SENSE ABOUT THE PIANO.

[St. James Gazette
Little girls fear the piano, an long for
the time when, having at last mastered its
difficulties, they will not be called upon to
play upon it any more while numberless
great girls regard it as one of the many
nuisances which they must put up with I'M
til they get married. Once, however, liber-
ate young women from that piano to which
like serfs they have so long been assigned"
but not attached" and some of them will
take to cultivating it for its own sake ;
while the remainder will at least spare both
themselves and their friends considerable
amount of annoyance.
The enormous difficulty of modern piano.
forte music constitutes in itself reason
why in the education of young girls the
piano should not, like "dsncing and de-
pertinent" be made obligatory. A woman
can get through life so well without playing
| the piano and for few shilliDgs, or even
in extreme cases for single shilling, she
can, if her lot happens to be cast in London,
hear from time to time the finest players
that this great pianoforte- playing age has
ever produced. 1t is not because the piano
is unworthy of her attention that woman
should be liberated from the task-work
imposed upon her In connection with it.
1t is because music, like every other art,
demands from its votaries special gifts and
inclinstions, and because among women
who are thus endowed it is mistake to
suppose that the piano is the only instru-
ment suitable to them. Let it be under
| stood in the first place that it is no more
disgrace for a young lady not to play
the piano than 1t is disgrace for her not
TO draw, to paint, OR TO model and, in the
second place, that il she does mean to play
some instrument it is mistake for her to
restrict herself as q matter of course to the
piano. Next to the organ the piano is,
thanks to the orchestral effects which it
can be made to produce, the finest instru-
menE IN the world; and 1t is the only in
strument for which every great composer
writes as matter OF course, and for which
every great composers orchestral works
are arranged in reduced form. To praise.
at the expense Of the piano, the violin,
which-eXcepb when tours de force are. in
dulged ln--ylelds ike the human voice but
single note, is a very common thing, but
| it is one that we should not ourselves care
| to undertake. The violin, 20 be effective
| IN truly musical sense, must, like the hui
man voice, be accompanied either by the
orchestra or by the pisnoforte, or by other
members OF the violin family. The piano.
forte is tputting aside, Of course, the too
colossal Organ) the only instrument which,
for harmonic as well as melodic purposes,
Is complete in itself, and which is really an
| orchestra in little
There are good reasons, then, why ali
who care much for music should study the
piano, but no reason why they should study
the piano exclusively. OFTEN IN the same
family there are two. three, and even four
pianists. How much ard how aovauts-
geously the musical domain of such fam.
lily would be increased if, with or without
neglect of the piano, the instruments of
the violin family were taken up, with a
view not necessarily to string quartets, but,
at least to the numerous pieces written by
great composers for violin or violOucello
and piano. The violin-I include al
ways the viola and yioloncsllo-is no
doubt" says Mr.. Hullah in his excellent
little work On Music In the House." ga
difficult instrument but the difficulty of
acquiring serviUeabie amount of skill on
it has been much exaggerated. To besome
a Joachim, Holmes, or Pissti, is the
work Of lifetime, even for men gifted
with equal BptitGde and perseverance to
SltSSN-AuAbFA ~ hACbuuk shltllul
guidance and at the right time of life, and
supplemented and encouraged by thou
sand circumstances as impossible TO take
account OF as to bring about and foresee
But there is an amount OF skill below
very much beioT-shss Of artists OF this
class which, if accompanied by feeling
taste and intelligence, may contribute
largely 70 the variety and agrees bleness of
music in the house" 1t may be hoped that
in few year,, without the number of our
domestic plsnists being too much dimin-
ished, that of our domestic viohuists will
be considerably increased. Some half
dozen lady vlolinists have appeared this
season in London, st pubic concerts, who
pcssess the very highest merit and at a
hait-private, half public concert given re-
Gently at Stafford House for the benefit Of q
charity, the chief attraction was string
band consisting of no fewer than twenty
four lady executants. The diversion. then,
of feminine talent from the piano towards
the violin, Is not q movement which has to
be originated; Il needs only to be en-.
oouraged.
Peter Cooper dispenses about $40 a DAY