The Washington times., 1902-01-20
Canadian Highlander Band
Scores a Success.
SCOTCH AIRS PLEASE AUDIENCE.
An Excellent Reception rendered to
Musicians-The Theatre Thronged
"A Glee Club InnOvatiOn-know
ms the Choir of the Band.

! the royalty of England and with his as
sortment of medals augmented by several
new ones from King Edward as mark
! of appreciation of the local musicians S
swinging two-steps, might well have been
proud of such a reception as was last
night. at the National Theatre. rendered
to John Slater and his thirty-three musi
clans, from Canada. where they are known
as the Forty-eighth H;ghlanders Band.
| The theatre was not large enough to
accommodate all who wanted to hear the
picturesquely clad Highlardcrs. The
chairs in the space usually occupied by
| the theatre orchestra had TO be removed
TO provide larger seating capacity. and
in the rear part of the house many per-
sons stood during the entire concert.
A Remarkable Audience.
1t was in many respects 4 very remark
able audience. Nobody knew much about
the band beyond the fact that ii was
! popularity known as the Kilties, presum-
| ably On account of the garb of the or
! ganization. Yet when the doors of the
| theatre were thrown open there was big
| crowd in line for seats. and the crush
| kept up until after the programme was
| well under way.
Everybody - that is, everybody except
| the musical critics-enioyed the work of
| the band immensely. There was nothing
| OF the hifalutin about the selections, al
| though the force under MI Slater did un-
| dertake to interpret some Wagnerian
works, and succeeded fairly.
Scottish Airs Please.
| What apparently pleased the audience
! the most was the rendition of Scottish
airs. of which there was an abundance.
The melodies of Auld Scotia came in for
big share Of applause whenever they
were played, and so long as the band
| kept at this type of music it experienced
| nothing but clear sailing. The Rubin
! stein melody in + was well played and
! in response to the round of applause the
] kilties attacked John Philip Sousa, and
| did things to one of his marches They
galloped through the piece in a manner
that would cause the March King to fail
| to recognize his work
The moment the Sousa number was
| struck up the audience uncorked another
| lot of enthusiasm. and thought Bandmas-
| ter Slater was Offering the number as a
compliment to the former director OF the
| Marine Band. But ii was all mistake:
| should be played, and instead of the con-
| ventional John Philip tempo the Kilties
! tore through it at a two-minute clip. To
| appease the musical cravings of the gath
| ering the band played Nearer. My God,
to Thee" after the Sousa twostep.
| Programme Full of Surprises.
| The programme was full Of surprises,
| and throughout the concert there was
nothing of the stereotyped brass band Sc
| lections. Surprise No. 1 came in the
| shape of a glee club. consisting of men,
| bers OF the band.
There were thirteen of them in all, with
| Leader Slater joining in every once in a
while when the tenors showed an inclina-
| tion to stray from the key, as they did on
| more than one occasion.
| The Choir of the band as the glee
club likes to be programmed. lined up
| much after the fashion of the college un-
| iergraduate5 who descend upon society
| every Christmas and Easter. They pre-
| sented 4 very picturesque appearance,
| with their multi-hued costume and brief
| stockings that made many persons invol-
UNFAIRLY shutder TO think of the lack OF
protection from the wintry winds and the
| mosquitoes of summer. The singers first
| sung of Sweet Sabbath Eve" and ac-
quilted themselves most creditably.
s.DIzie, One of the Numbers.
Then they essayed a dash OF local color
| and sung Dixie" and the applause was
so persistent that they next wondered, in
song, what has become of the members of
| the old brigade. Some of the choir were
| so affected by the thought OF the lost
| comrades that they. too, became lost for
| the time being. from the key. and came
dangerously near to hitting some barber
shop chords.
Later on in the evening Frank Bemrose,
| 4 member of the band, displayed tenor
voice of really excellent quality in Gray's
Dream of Paradise" His tone is re-
narkably pure and of sympathetic quail
| ity.
Pipe Sergeant Ferguson was so popular
after his solo on the bagpipes that he
was forced to respond to encore. AS
| a musical instrument the pipes have never
| oeen recognized in'the higher musical cir
| cles but the most finished pianist could
not have been greeted with more applause
| than was Sergeant Ferguson.
4 Cornet solo.
Herbert J. Flumerfelt played The Holy
| City" on the cornet, and as the audience
was in a mood to heartily enjoy such a Sc
| lection, it pleased hugely.
One OF the diyerting features OF the
| concert was the appearance of the seven
| foot drum major of the band, who made
the announcements during the rendition
of the different regimental marches of
famous Scotch regiments. The moment
he threw out his chest and prepared to
speak TIL, RAZOR part of the audience un-
consciously grasped hold of their chairs.
But when the Immense drum major spoke
1t was in the sweetest, cutest, little E
nat voice imaginable, and his uttcrances
were not audible back OF Row C. After
the first few words were spoken and there
was no damage to the ceiling, many per
sons relaxed their grip, and settled back
in their seats with relieved and happy
expressions on their faces. The big
drum major was evidently only trotted
out TO exhibit and not to do any damage
to the property OF the theatre, or fright
en- any of the spectators. Still. many
persons were anxious and worried for the
moment.
Unique Announcement,
The programme contained the an
nouncement that the presence of the
Kilties was by authority Of his Majesty's
Government in Canada, and by kind spe
cial permission of Colonel Macdonald and
officers commanding the Forty-eighth
Highlanders Regiment"
The Kilties viii. give another concert
at the National Sunday night, Feb
ruary 23.
District Basketball,
One of the best games of the District