The Washington times., 1901-10-27
SONGS OF THE PEOPLE.
How They Are Written And Made
Successful.
A Peculiar Industry Which Depends
on Advertising-POpuI Taste
Carefully Wntched-No Inspiration
Requircd-Musfc and Doggerei.

The making of song and the making
| of that song a success is a process which
has reached such a stage of development
! that ii now deserves rank among the In
! dustries The songs of the people are
today manufactured by rule, and they are
| given currency by a system of advertising
which reflects the highest credit upon
American enterprise.
| Our own city is a very poor place TO
| observe the progress of a song from its
inception to It's popularization. We write
| popular songs In Boston, but they do not
| become popular. Our song writers strive
| just as earnestly, and burn just as much
| midnight oil as their metropolitaN broth
| ers but they receive an insignificant re-
turn from their labors. There are several
/ temerarious publishers in the local held
| who are expending no little energy and
| money in the attempt to win success, but
| they can't seem to get out song OF
which the faintest echo is to be heard
| fifty miles from the Hub.
| In the larger cities things are radically
different. New York, in pa Eicular. is full
of successful publishing houses. Proba-
| bly, three-fourths of our popular songs
! bear the imprint of New York firms
| There song writing is a science. Not even
L
a matter of method than the making of
popular song There is a fixed mode of
| progress from one stage of completion to
! another, and variety of kinds of ability
| is employed before song has taken its
| place among the hits"
The birthplace of popular song is in
| itself a point of interest. Let me In Inn
| agination conduct you through typical
| one. AS you look at 1t from the street
| you see what appears to have been origi-
| nally intended as dwelling house. 1t
has been altered. however, and with its
| wealth of plate glass. suggests now stu
| dio or photograph gallery. On glaring
| signs you read the name of a firm known
| from one end of the land to the other.
| Passing up the front steps you enter first
| the business Office, where there is the
| usual array of ledgers, etc, and the IA
| miliar clatter of a typewriter. A little to
| the rear is the private Office of the head
| of the firm-as awesome as the editorial
sanctum Back of this is the shipping
department, from which carloads of mu-
sic pass every day.
This is all very uninteresting, but when
you have ascended to the second floor
there is welcome change. You are now
in what is called the professional depart
ment. II CONSISTS Oh OHt &c iooh diu
a smaller adjoining one. The large room
| is divided by a rail. upon one side of
which there are several desks, and on the
other side long table and several nicely
| upholstered chairs, suggesting that II is
intended as waiting room. More firmly
TO establish this idea there are bound
| volumes of the dramatic and musical
weeklies and divers theatre-stamped indi-
viduals perusing the same. The walls are
ornameuted with beautifully arranged
| title pages Of the houses successes, and
portraits of well-known stage people The
| smaller room contains a piano, three or
four costly pieces of furniture and a rack
| holding professional copies of the firms
| publications.
You haven't looked around long before
one of the men at the desks behind the
rail addresses another by name. You
start, for the name is that of we'll
known writer of popular music You sur
vey him with some interest and note that
he is a beardless youth with heap OF
| smartness about him. Your survey is cut
| short by the entrance of a stunning-look-
ing woman. highly perfumed, and wear
| ing about $500 worth of clothes, and about
three times that value in jewelry. She
| Is greeted effusively by the aforemention-
|
another shock as you hear her name pro-
| nounced. ahe is celebrated vocalist, the
| pet Of the masses. the centre of mana
| gerial hopes the possessor of a bank
presidents salary and sOjourner at the
| finest hotels in the land. Her conversa-
| tion is not so brilliant as her person, and
| you are fain TO suspect that she has not
always been used to diamonds and swell
hotels; but no matter. she can sing in
| the way the people like. She expresses
desire for some new songs. and the young
| man ushers her into the side room, where
! you presently hear her essaying n brand
new sentimental song under the astute
| guidance of the young man, who plays
4. brilliant accompaniment for her upon the
| piano.
On the top floor you viii find more
| piano rooms. In one of them you will
| find a well-dressed young colored man al
ternately playing 4 few bars in a tenta-
| tive way on the piano, and then making
| certain musical characters upon ruled
| sheet of paper in front of him. He is an
| other celebrity, and he is evolving
| coon song which the children In the
| streets will be singing few weeks hence.
| In other rooms on the same floor you will
find divers weary-looking men, with in
| durable round shoulders, inscribing quar-
| ter-notes eighth-notes, and a multiplicity
| of other things on sheets of musical man
| uscript. They are the men who make the
| arrangements and tTanspositions for pi-
| ano and orchestra of the houses publica
| tions.
| The employees of such an establish ment
| number about fifty, the business depart
ment, of course, calling for lions share.
| In the professional department three or
| four so-called managers" and some
times as many pianists are kept at hand.
| The latter are there TO play over new
| songs for visitors who so desire. and to
| teach them to the proper persons. The
| managers have various duties to perform,
| the end and aim of which is to gel the
firms music before the people. in the
| particular house I had in mind IN the
| foregoing description the managers are
| three in number-one of them being
| well-known pianist and composer, and the
| other two being a so-called song writ
| ing team" They are all widely acquaint
| ed in the theatrical profession. all young
| men of brains, and largely accountable
| for whatever success their house ittains.
| Writing a popular song is no longer n
| matter of inspiration, If, indeed, 1t ever
| was. There is about as little of this COM
| modify associated with the performance
| as there is with canning tomatoes. As
| already intimated, each house has its own
| staff of writer's, working under a regular
| salary (and usually a pretty good one)
| and under agreement to produce GER
| tain amount of music" In a certain
| period, and then to plug" that music"
TO the limit of possibility.
| A waltz song is wanted. Mr.. So-and-So