Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-03
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MUSIC.

AS the time approaches for the formulation
of plans for the actual operation of the
| Transmississippi Exposition It seems wise
to once more take up the subject Of music
Cor that great event and give It some careful
consideration. AS has been said before, that
Will he Omahas opportunity to impress It
upon the people OF surrounding cities and
towns that here is their center, here the
place to send their children for musical
/ education, here the natural focus OF all the
! musical interest and energy of 500 miles
/ square, here one OF the stopping places be
/ tween New York and San Francisco for the
greatest artists and the greatest musical
/ organizations, here indeed their metropolis,
/ their center city.
In business men place upon the market
! these things which they DO not need for
/ their own maintenance, ana which they wish,
/ directly or indirectly to exchange for those
Z Whlcn they do need. They wish to sell that
! which they have that they may but that
! which they have not In most lines of bust
! ness when a man sells a certain thing he Is
| oohBed to part with It, II he wishes to keep
on in his business he must replace Il he mus
| buy more, and must part with something of
| value to pay for It, Otherwise he sells out
/ his stock and having nothing more to sell
I must retire from business. Not so with
! the teacher. His stock in trade is what he
knows, and it makes no difference how many
! times he may sell out. he still retains it all
! and II he is u man of ordinary observation
| every time he makes a sale he increases his
stock. There is nothing but information
that one can put on the market. sell it, get
| paid for 1t, and stll have 1t all left to sell
over again. 1t is easily seen, therefore
that of all lines of business that may help
| TO build up city there is no other that
affords so large a profit as the traffic in in
formation, and 1t is equally easily seen that
II is greatly to the advantage of a city to
encourage such business and to foster It,
One thousand music pupils paying on an
average OF from 81 to SIS a week for lessons
and living expenses would affcrd a source
of revenue to Omaha which would do much
to dispel the gloom that has been en-
shrouding all kinds of business in.
terosts for the last few years. 1t
should be one of the missions of
the Transmissssippi Exposition to make
such an Impression upon the thousands Of
strangers who will visit IL that they will
send their sons and daughters here to study
music.
If the exposition is to be a scrt of spasm
to be followed by lethargy its advantage to
the city remains uniemonstrated. But If 1t
can be so managed as to place this city in
the closest relationship with its neighbors
1t will be worth all it costs. Music is
good thing to sell. Many wish to possess it,
ana q few of the many 20 to New York and
even to Europe that they may obtain a quail
ity TO their satisfaction. Some of these pgss
through Omaha. 1t were better for Omaha
If it were well for them to stop here. Omaha
must build up its musical resources and be-
como able to put upon the market all the
advantages for a complete musical eluca-
ton, and simultaneously emphasize the fact
that this has been done, and that here Il
the place to stay, to hear and to enjoy the
best that the act affords. Much is to be
done before the exposition opens, and much
very much may be done by it if It's musical
department is properly managed.
Ths development of Omaha's own musical
resources is of thp innt,o
efficacy of the musical department of the
exposition. This can be done only by the
people Of Omaha, and to do it they win |
need TO support worthy local musical enter,
prisas. Last Sunday afternoon Mr. Taber |
gave an organ recital at the First Congre- !
gational church. There were about 5Ol |
men and women in the audience, and their |
close attention to his. playing betokenel
their interest and satisfaction. A collec- |
tion was taken to defray the expense TO |
the church of heat, light etc, and to re- |
munerate Mr. Taber for his work Thir- !
teen dollars and eighty-eight cents was the |
amount received. In the basket there were |
one half-dollar six quarters and thirteen |
pennies. The remainder was in dimes and |
nickels. If there were 500 people in the
audience the average contribution YVES less |
than cents for each person. The program |
performed should have sold tickets at SO
cents even in these hard times, and there
was just one person who really paid for |
what he received. Six paid half price and |
the rest got in on a pass of their own make. |
or gave as they would give to beggar |
Mr.. Taber said he should give no more !
recitals, and who can wonder at it? The |
development of the musical resources Of |
this city cannot be forwarded by S-cerl |
contributions. If the appreciation of muslc |
is to be judged by that standard it is not |
worth while. On that basis the exposition |
Of Omaha's musical taste would hardly help
to make this city a musical center
Speaking of the Central Music hall pro
gram, which was given February IA. by |
the Glee and Mandolin club of The University