Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1886-06-24
CIRCUS MUSICIANS.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF SELECTING
MUSIC FOR THE PERFORMANCE.

Character of the Work in the Ring
| Men and Horses That Can Not stand
Any Change.
"Once man gets into the life Of a circus
band" said the leader, and accustomed to
Its hard work, he likes it, and very few care
to leave 1t again for the casual and chance
engagements of unattached musicians Even
II they We're SO fortunate as to get places
in regular theatre orchestras they would
have their dull season each year, and, when
at work under union rates, would only get
81 5O performance, on. of which they would
have to pay their personal expenses, so that
they would be no better off than in a cir
Gus. Then, there is no small attraction in
the travel, excitement, open-air life and va
| rlety of circus Some of our circus band
men go on playing until they are quite
old
1t is the duty of the leader to select and
arrange the music for his band in a circus
| just the same 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, IS you will read
| lily conceive But, still more difficult for
him, if he does not thoroughly understand
the circus business, is the selection of the
particular airs that will tit to the various
performances in the ring. That would not
be SO hard to do if there was only one ring
and one performance in it at time, but
when you have from three to five various
performances going on simultaneously you
don t find it so easy to pick out music that
will trump in or follow suit with them all.
TINE AND MUSIC TO SUIT.
If there are two or three riding acts
simultaneously, it will be comparatively
easy to fit them, but when you have th ings
going on upon the ground and in
the air at once, you must be very
careful you will throw your
horses or your people out Then you have
to know which one of the lot is most impor-
tant, to which you will have to play, max
ing the others secondary, but serving them
as well 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, 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 lie is about to speak a word of
direction 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-
minuendos or crescendos, l have to play it
that way, whether the piece becomes un-
recognizable or not, whether it may suit the
other performers or not and whether people
say how badly the band plays that air or
not, for it may be question of limb, if not
of life, to have 1t done in just that way.
"One thing that gives necessarily a GER
tain sameness to much circus music is the
compulsory emphasis of notes in reguli re-
current order, not demanded at all for mu-
sical expression, but very requisite for
marking the time for the horses in manege
act, or some other riding. If you do not
thus sharply accent the time, the best
trained horse is liable to be all broken up
and make failure of his performance
When l was with Hengler l many time
had to go with my violin to the ring at 6
o'clock in the morning to play by the hour
near a horse that was undergoing training,
SO as to familiarize the animal with the air
to which he would be required to perform
in the ring. Hengler would have horse in
training, IN that way, as much as three
months steadily before trusting him in the
ring, and he was very careful never to Ill
low the time to be made slower or more
rapid, to suit the horse, but kept reguD,r,
until the beast fell naturally into the step
to It,
PLAYING THE SAME OLD TUNE"
Here there is no such careful training,
and we have to adapt the time to the horses
to a certain degree, but still the marked &C.
cent must be kept, and that is enough to
make very strong family resemblance be-
tween times; enough TO make many people
say same old tune. The elephants and the
froi oa1 Cfa lions fO ha "a a1x fhn
same music, or if not exactly the same, then
so very near to it that the animals can not
recognize any difference. Of course we do
work in some changes on them, but not alb
rupt ones, for the American public will not
stand tine same thing all the time; no matter
what the preferences of the animals may be-.
When l was in England, seven years ago,
Hengler's band was playing the same mu-
sic for manege and trick acts that they had
played for seven years before, and / have
no doubt they are playing the same pieces
now. That would be likely to breed riot
in this country, l think.
Many trapeze and other speciality per-
formances have music of their own, and
when we can accommodate them by playing
it we always do So Generally, however,
their music is arranged for string bands to
be used in theatres and variety shows and
We COulu uOO pldy ~ WltuOuC IoaITduR0-
ment, which would be too much trouble SO
long as we can supply other music quite q
good The lady who does a fine trapeze act
and the long slide on the inclined wire, has
some beautiful Spanish music, and as it suits
very well for the triple trapeze act, which is
on at the same time, we play it. Now and
then we work in a new piece on her, and she
is very good natured about it, always say
ing. all right; but after two OF three days
she is sure to come and say, please, Mr..
Robinson, let me have my wnmusic again
She can work better with the music to which
she is accustomed. The trapeze performers
also have their own music for their special
work. Mime. Dockrill was very particular
about her music, and used always to sing
with the band, but Of course in tone that
the audience could not hear when riding in
the ring. She no doubt got into the habit
while training her horses in winter, accus-
toming them to the measure Of music for
their movements. Jim Robinson, the great
bareback rider, had certain set of quad
rifles that he always insisted upon having
played for him, and he would not ride to
anything else. Fish, on the other hand,
though he had quite fondness for music
and used to practice ON the violin in his
dressing room good deal, did not seem to
care at all what was played for him in the
ring. S.ickney and Melville were very par
ticular to have each season new sets of quad
rifles and other melodies for their actG-
S,1n