The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-13
A HEAD FULL OF MUSIC
REMARKABLE GIFT OF MIR. CHAS.
HANSEN, A BLIND ORGANISE.
His Method of Committing Selections
to Memory-A Record of 200
Pages in One Month.

Meridian-street NJ. E. Church have won
dered how it was possible for a man not
gifted with sight to play without error
| the anthems, hymns and songs for the
many services. Mr. Charles f. Hansen,
who does this, is one of the wonders of
| this city, and people have become so accus-
| toned TO seeing and hearing him that what
| he does is taken as matter of course, with
| scarcely thought of what it must be for
| him to arrive at the state which he has
| reached. 1t is a rare thing for an organist
| or any accompanist to play without mis-
| takes, and yet Mr.. Hansen rarely misses
| the correct note. Mr. Hansen entered the
| Institution for the Education of the Blind
| IN this city when he was about ten years
| of age, and four years later he began the
| study of the organ His first teacher in
music was Miss Mary Churchman. for
| merly of the institution here, but now with
| the Institution for the Blind in Colorado.
| His organ work was begun, continued and
| finished with Mr.. r. A. Newland, who has
| had charge of the music at the institution
for a quarter of a century. Mr.. Hansen
| owes everything that he is to Mr.. Newland
and cannot express his love for him and the
| high estimation in which he holds him. 1t
was Mr.. Newland who taught him how to
learn music.
The first work was not much like that
which Mr. Hansen does to-day. He has
two ways of learning piece of music, and
for each he has to have a reader. He has
had several during the ten years he has
been playing the organ, but he considers
the present one, Miss Nellie Vaughn, pu-
pill of his, the best. One way in which Mr..
Hansen learns is to have Miss Vaughn
play the prelude over. This she does two
or three times and Mr.. Hansen takes the
organ and plays it absolutely the same
He is not told the key, the time, or any OF
the expression marks nor the style. This
he gathers by hearing it. AS the compost
ton is played he forms a mental picture
of it with the idea of Just how it looks"
although he has never seen anything. Each
part of the work is repeated in the same
way that the prelude is taken, until the
whole is complete. The work is not done
then by any means, for, after the reading,
Mr.. Hansen thinks over the piece $50 times.
That is his regular number of times for
going over the work mentally. Just before
retiring he thinks it over, and the first
work of the next morning Is to play it on
the piano. Then his part of the music is
ready for rehearsal or for performance
READING A PIECE TO HIM.
The other way of learning a composition
is to have it read to him. To one know
ing music this is understood, but to the
mass of people it is unintelligible. The
reader takes the music and this time tells
him the key, the time, the style and other
marks which he has caught by listening be-
fore. The bass is read to him; if chord,
the notes of it are told. The first phrase
is thus read, if not too long. Then the
upper part is read. The same mental pic
ture is formed when hearing it. On
through the work the reader goes several
times until Mr. Hansen knows it, He
thinks it over the $50 times, as before, and
plays it. To be able to do this requires
the closest mental concentration, which it
has taken years to prepare for. The room
must be absolutely quiet, with no diverting
sounds When a number has to be learned
quickly Miss Vaughn plays it over and
then plays it with him, taking the part
an octave higher than it is written, while
Mr.. Hansen plays it as it should be.
Sometimes he is called on to play a selec-
ton the same day in which it is given to
him to learn, an effort he does not like, as
it does not give him time to give it the
finish he wishes for all Of his work. The
thinking over the piece is the hardest
part When learning composition for
more than one voice. Mr.. Hansen learns
the two three or four parts and the mel
ody. as we'll as the accompaniment, and he
has to know Just where the different parts
begin-al of these and the many details
of whether there is a sudden creScendo
diminuendo or the many expression marks
with which composers load their work
Mr.. Hansen takes about two days to COM
nit from twenty-five to thirty pages after
he gets the style. Both parts are read at
once, with particular attention to time.
FEATS OF MEMORIZING.
One of the greatest bits of memorizing
that Mr.. Hansen ever did in one day was
to learn Gilchrist anthem of fifteen pages
in three hours He oid this and played it
for a rehearsal-not well as later for
the performance, but credtably-and in the
evening when it was sung every note was
perfect If Mr.. Hansen likes piece he
never forgets it. Mr.. Hansen never likes
to learn more than one selection at time.
If he is crowded for time, one piece may
be taken the first hour, second the next
and a third later in the same day, but this
takes close mental concentration, which
tires him so that he has to have absolute
rest in reclining position. 1t also requires
him to stay up late at night.
one Easter, ABOUT three OE 1OuI years ago,
Mr. Hansen memorized ffty-one pages of
Easter anthems in forty-eght hours but
the work he did the month preceding the
last Easter he considers the hardest work
of his life. He learned seven pieces for
church, one hundred pages of an operetta,
and Stainer's "Crucifxion," a heavy Eng
lish work of fifty-eight pages, and four ac-
commandments the whole of it making 260
pages He not only knew the music, but
the words for all of them. The ''Crucifix-
ion" he learned in nine days, which one
with sight would consider nine-days' Won
der The hymns which are sung in church
he knows by their names, which is more
than the most devout old church-goer can
boast and he also knows just how many
verses there are in each, so that when the
minister says Omit the third and fourth
stanzas" he knows how many to play and
what some other people do not know so
we'll, when to quit An extra piece of work
was done for Mrs. w. w. Scott when she
was here q fortnight or three weeks ago.
She wanted to sing four arias. The music
was sent to Mr.. Hansen Monday and he
PLAYED for her to sing Wednesday even
ing One of them, from III Pagliacci,' Mr..
Hansen considers remarkably difficult, and,
when the time came for her to sing it. she