Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1903-11-04
THE HOME PIANO.

TTHERE are more pianos in Amer
Il lea in proportion to tie popula-
tion than in any other land; and in
no country are the poor things more
cruelty tortured. 1t might almost be
said that i,iano-playing has become
our national vice, and that it has
formed, in that respect, but an in
different substitute for the chewing CT
tobacco. Yet it is not the playing
that causes so many to suffer, but the
tweaking and pounding and ignorant
misuse Of an instrument that was
made for comfort and Joy.
When the days work is over, and
before the lamps are brought in while
one lounges in slippers and house
jacket in the easy chair watching the
fall OF night through the windows,
then blessing en- the daughter OF the
house who goes quietly to the piano,
puts her foot on the soft pedal, and
turns the hour to roetry by playing a
Chopin nocturne, pensive bit Of
Schuman, or a unit blanche OF Heller.
Sweet, with a touch of sadness, such
music &C imposes the mind while it slim
ulates imagination, the home grows
cozier and dearer, and the night comes
more soothingly. But wee to that
house-and it is not always board
ing house either-where the confident
one with hard brain, thick ear, and
a strong arm slams open the piano
cover, glares, squares off, and falls to
beating the keys, filling the unhappy
instrument with shrieks and the place
with trouble. And it may be stated
as rule that the more worthless the
music, the more insistent and sonor-
Gus will the performance be, and that
the less of an artist the performer, the
longer he will perform.
We Are the most patient people in
the world, or we would not endure this
treatment OF ourselves, to say nothing
OF our pianos, with the despairing re-.
signation to which we yield when the
saleslady from the second floor front,
or the bookkeeper from the third floor
back, and sometimes both, descend to
the parlor, open the doors and win.
dows, and give what rural papers call,
with unconscious truth, rendition OF
The Tra-la-loo Polka, or Hullo, Nah
Rag Time Gal, or the march from The
Blind Cow. 1t seems as though they
had four fists apiece, and were using
their chins and feet besides. And il
some Unsuitable and misguided person
then wants vocal music, there will
presently be husky and uncertain
performance OF Rocked in the Cradle
OF the Deep, and a shrieking OF Moth
er's Bangs Will Soon Fit Lizzie, and
woe will brood upon the precinct.
Now these innocent people do not
realize the amount Of pain they cause,
and once in a while they do not cause
any, for they play to an audience as
untaught as themselves. 1t is other
wise, however, in many of the homes
OF the land where rudiments OF taste
exist and where there is an honest
ambition to know and to excel. We
should be amazed at the effrontery OF
y man or woman who, on being asked
to recite for company-supposing
such an extraordinary request posi-
ble-should seriously declain Mary
Had Little Lamb, or Little Jack
Horner; yet the music that is played
on thousands OF pianos, before writh-
ing and helpless companies, is precise.
ly OF the grade in music the Mother
Goose represents in literature. 1t is
we'll enough for children, we'll enough
for gutter bands that deyastate in low
quarters of the town, but unworthy Of
people who have books and have been
to school.
The wretched stuff tina. is played in
so many households and by so many
orchestras is written by people OF
meager musical education and 10 in
spiration; written mechanically, to
supply presumptive need, and fos.
cred by certain cheap teachers who
tell their pupils how to move their
fingers, but make no appeal to the eye
or brain. The folly OF supposing that
new music is more desirable than the