Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-08-06
CIRCUS MUSICIANS.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF SELECTING
MUSIC FOR THE PERFORMANCE.


MUSIC FOR THE PERFORMANCE.
Character Of the Work in the Ring
Men and Horses That Can Not Stant
Any Change.
"Once a man gets into the life Of circu
band" said the leader, land accustomed Il
its hard work, he likes it, ana very few car,
to leave it again for the casual and chanct
engagements Of unattached musicians Ever
if they were so fortunate as to got place,
in regular theatre orchestras they would
have their dull season each year, and, wher
at work under union rates, would only ge
s. 30 a performance, out Of which they woult
have to pay their personal expenses, 10 tina,
they would be no better of than in a cir
GUS Then, there is no small attraction il
the travel, excitement, open-air life and va
riety of circus Some of our circus banc
men go on playing until they are quit,
old.
1T is the duty of the leader to select and
arrange the music for his band in a circu!
just the same as any other band. but the cir
Gus leader has much the hardest work to do
In the first place he must have such an i'm
mense quantity Of music, as you will read
lily conceive. But, still more difficult fol
him, il he does not thoroughly understand
the circus business, is the selection Of the
particular ans that will fit to the various
performances in the ring That would not
De SO hard to do if there was only one RING
and one performance in it at time, but
vubo bur -
performances going on simultaneously you
don find it SO easy to pick out music that
will trump in or follow suit with them all
THE AND MUSIC TO SUIT.
"If there are two or three riding acts
simultaneously, it will be comparatively
easy to tit them, but when you have tn ings
going on upon the ground and in
the air at once, you must be very
careful or you will throw your
horses or your people out Then you have
to know which ono of the lot is most impor-
tant, to which you will have to play, max
ing the others ndary, but serving them
as well as possible at the same time For
instance, wnen the stars are doing their
really wonderful triple trapeze act, though
there are three other acts going at the same
time, l have to play for the stars and must
control the time and force Of the music to
suit them. When he sounds his bell the
band has to play pianissimo, for that is the
signal that he is about to speak q word of
or warning to the girls, and his
voice must be heard And when one of
their astounding teats has been performed,
the band must break out with fortissimO
crash, blending with the roar of applause
from the audience. No matter where the
writer OF the music may have put his di-
or crescendos, l have to play it
that way, whether the piece becomes un-
or not, whether it may suit the
other performers or not, and whether people
cay how badly the band plays that air or
not, for it may be q question of limb, if not
Of life, to have 1t done in just that way
"Ons thing that gives necessarily a cor
tain samen So to much circus music is tho
emphasis Of notes in regular re-
current order, not commanded at all for mu-
steal expression, but very requisite for
the time for the horses in a manege
act, or some other riding Ii you do not
thus sharply accent the time, the best
trained horse is liable to be all broken up
md make a failure OF his performance.
hon l was with Hengler l many time
had to go with my violin to the ring at &
clock in the morning to play by tho hour
near a horse that was undergoing training,
70 as to familarize the animal with the air
20 which he would be required to perform
n tho ring. HeDgler would have a horse in
in that way, as much rs ..hree
months steadily before trusting him in the
ing, and he was very careful never to al
ow the time to be made slower or more
'apid, to suit the horse, but kept regular,
lntil the beast fell naturally into the step
% It
PLAYING THE SAME OLD TUNE"
Here there is no such careful training,
and We have to adapt the time to the horses,
% certain degree, but still the marked &C.
,ent must 10 kept, and that is enough to
make very strong family resemblance be-
,ween times; enough to make many people
ay same old tune. The elephants and the
rained stations require to have always the
anne music, or IL not exactly the same, then
o very near to it that the animals can not
ecognize any difference OF course we do
work in some changes on Them but not alb
upt ones, for the American public will not
tand the same thing all the time no matter
What tho preferences Of the animals may be.
v hen was in England, seven years age
4
ic for manege and trick acts that they had
layed for seven years before, and l have
10 doubt they are playing the same pieces
low. That would be likely to breed riot
n this country, think.
Many trapeze and other speciality per-
ormances have mu>ic Of their own, and
'hen we can accommodate them by play ing
we always do SO. Generally, however,
heir music is arranged for string bands to /!
70 used In theatres and variety shows and I!
re could not play it without rearrange- |
lent, which would be too much trouble so |
ong as we can supply other music quite as |
ood Tho lady who does fine trapezs act |.
nd the long slide on the inclined wire. has
ome beautiful Spanish music, ami as it suits I
cry well for the triple trapeze act, which is
n at the same time, We play it Now aud |
hen We work IN a new piece on her, and she |
very good natured about it, always say
,g, all right; but after two or three days
10 is sure to como and say, please, Mr.
obinson, let me have my own music again
he can work better with the music to which
le is accustomed The trape1e performers
so have their own music for their special
ork Nine Dockri,l was very particular
bout her music, and used always to sing
it'll tho band, but Of course in a tone that
70 audience could not hear, when riding in
'e ring. She no doubt got into the habit
bile training her horses in winter, accus-
ming them to the measure Of music for
eir movements Jim Robinson, the great
lrsback rider, had certain set of quad
lies that he always insisted upon having
aged for him, and he would not ride to
y thing elsa Fish, on the other hand,
ough he had quito fondnsss for music
ID used to practice on the violin in his
'sssing room good deal. did not seem to
re at all what was played for him in the
ng Ssickney and Melville were very par
,ular to have each season new sets of quad