Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21
TOO MyGH RAGTIME

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''The decision of Prof. Santelmann to
eliminate ragtime music from the Marine
Bands White Lot programs has started a
discussion as to ragtime music all over the
country, observe from the many news
paper exchanges that run across in my
business said a New York man. THE
great bulk ofsthe newspaper letters that
I've seen on the subject support the view
of the leader of the Marine Band that this
country has had whole lot too much rag
time truck during the past few years. OF
course. there are plenty of those rollicking,
give t-stuff- in-music kind of let
tiers that are obviously written by people
who hum ragtime tunes even in their sleep,
but the serious communications, those ap-
parently written by people who really know
something about music, are generally in
favor OF gradual choking off Of the tre-
mendous stream Of idiotic ragtime under
which the country has been afflicted OF
late years.
Il get about over the country a good deal
IN the course Of year, and my observa-
ton Is that there has been a pretty decided
surfeit OF ragtime everywhere of late. For
example, l notice in the vaudeville theaters
In all the cities that when one of these
women billed as coon shouter' comes out
on the stage to go through her ear-Splitting
performance anent Nah Caroline Sue or
Coin Aftuh de Money To- Nah Baby and
all that sort Of rehashed and overworked
siush, there's general groan throughout
the audience, and people turn to each other
with sorrowf'h. patient expressions. as
much as to say, Why doesn't she get off
and give us a rest" I have talked with
good many good-natured people who liked
10 De amused, who have expressed them
selves as being sick Of ragtime airs to the
point OF nausea I don't think any musical
fad has ever been so overdone as the rag
time mania. The era of maudlin mother
ballads was bad enough, in all conscience
put II was never carried to such a horribly
ing extreme as this ragtime business
me ragtime songs don't mean any
thing. They don't represent even a frac-
ton OF musical idea. and they certainly
90 not represent the music spirit of the
black people. The old African ballads
breathed the musical genius of the colored
folk to 7; they had profound meaning
OF their own: they spoke eloqaently and
melod1ously of the south; and for that rea-
son they will always live and will always
be beloved even by the musical purists
Dvorak. the great conductor and composer
was overwhelmed with the beauty of the
old negro melodies when he came to this
country. He made a large collection of
them, and he unhesitatingly pronounced
them the distinctive and the worthily dis
tlnct1ve music of America When ne re-
turned to his own land he had a collection
or American negro melodies, arranged by
himself, on nearly all of his programs. and
the excellence and the musical meaning of
the airs were appreciated by his most Gull
tured audiences.
Il don't think the people who supply the
public with their music fully understand
how much the public wants really good
music. Take the average audience of men
and women at vaudeville show. They
will sit virtually unmoved and unenthusias-
tic while the stage people are bawling
their ragt1me or murmuring their sugary
ballads, but when one or two singers come
on and begin to sing a few bars from one
no
decently, or when one of a musical team.
playing a violin. saxaphone, xylo
phone. or any old thing, starts in to exc
cute some really excellent and immortal
air from a frst-rate musical composition,
you'll observe how the people in front be-
come worked up over the novelty and how
enthusiastically they clap and cheer and
demand more when the singer or player
ceases.
Il have noted the very same thing right
on the White Lot during the concerts of
the Marine Band for a number of years
past The higher grade the composition
played by the band on the White Lot the
great is the volume Of applause. You watch
it the next time, and see If l am not cor
rect.
"The people on the lot will laugh and chat
and make plenty Of stir while the band is
rendering a ragtime or other ordinary Sc
lection, but when it is performing some
thing notable. some genuinely splendid COM
position-a classical composition to en-
will perceive how quickly they fall silent
and thoughtful, and how the great MAORI
ty Of the listeners are drinking in every
note. Of course. something Of this sort is
to be expected in such city as Washing
ton. where the appreciation of music is
very high on account of the greatly su-
perior average Of intelligence and educa-
ton here, but, nevertheless, feel pretty
certain that all over the country the people
are willing to listen to a much better grade
of music than the band leaders and con-
ductors imagine they are capable of under
standing.
Even in New York there is a vast weari-
ness Of the ragtime truck-and it should
be remembered that most of the ragtime is
manufactured by sharp-faced young men
in a small space on 2Sth street between
Broadway and 9Th avenue-although the
noisier crowd who find their delight in such
stuff still prevail against the elevation Of
the musical taste of the New York popu-
lace. For example. when this seasons band
concerts began in the New York parks the
conductors announced in rather a hesitating
way that they thought they would dispense
with good deal Of the ragtime and play
a better grade Of music this summer for
the park visitors to listen to. Immediately
there was a great roar in the newspapers
from the confirmed ragtimers. They said
that the women and children Of the tene
ments who visited the park band concerts
wanted to be amused, and that the only
thing in the musical line capable of anus
ing them was ragtime. and a whole lot of
it. The ragtime politicians even went to
the city government off1cials-the city sup
plies the park bands-and demanded that
| the programs should be made up almost
exclusively of ragtime tunes. The city
government had to yield to such persuasion,
of course, and the result is that the park
concerts of New York are the veriest TOM
myrot and the conductors of the bands
| wade through the ragtime programs with
expressions Of utter life-weariness on their
countenances."
A FLORID LETTER.
Sample Of What They Can Do Out in