The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-22
1he STUDY ano APPRECIATION
 OF MUSIC AS AN ART.
BY MIR. ROBERT B. E11.ENBERa.

This subject Is so inexhaustible that the difficulty lies not in knowing what to say, but rather in knowing what to leave unsaid. Consequently this paper will be confined strictly to the essential qualities necessary for the study of music as an art, and a true appreciation of the same. The majority of students, blindly and im- pulsively, undertake the study of music, with no conception of how difficult the task may prove. The principal requisites for study are talent, intellect patience and industry. So much sand has been thrown into the eyes of the public re- garding this rare quality. talent, that 1t is, indeed, difficult to remove the false ideas which have been so long enter tained. Ordinary, incompetent teachers who are unable to accomplish any real and lasting legitimate results, take ref uge behind this misused word talent. If pupil is able to struggle through many pages of exercises and pieces, or songs, regardless of all artistic detail and fin- ish, said pupil is pronounced talented, be- cause the teacher nas nothing to do save correct a few mistakes. And by mis- takes Is meant merely the inability to play or sing the correct notes in the right time and place. If mechanical ex- actness alone, constitutes talent, We had better place pianolos in our homes, and do away altogether with human execut- ants. But playing or singing the correct notes does not, alone, afford convincing proof of talent, and is in fact only the beginning of the means which talent adopts to obtain it's end. Some one has said that genius Is the capacity for taxing infinite pains, and talent, is of course closely allied to genius. Dr. Nohl, the great German authority, ac knowledges only six geniuses who have existed In the musical world up to the present time,-they are Bach, Handel, Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven and Schu- bert Other authorities. however. certain ly include such men as Wagner, Schu- man, Chopin and Grieg, which surely is no more than just. I have mentioned this merely to illustrate how much the word genius Is abused, and to show that we should be approximately discreet in us- ing the word talent. A treatise upon the subject of musical talent is entirely be- yond the scope of this paper, and shall, therefore, speak of it only in conjunc- important factor for the proper study of music. I trust that at this point no one will mention blind Tom. He has never been recognized, in the most cultivated centers. as other than a musical mon stroslty. A negro without brains, and without the faintest conception of any real musical or artistic ideals So far as his initiative pranks are concerned he has never actually, and entirely, repro duced anything that has been played for him. and his limitations could never be compared to the astounding intellectual musical feats which have been achieved
 
 Beethoven improvised entire 5onatas; Bach improvised six part fugues, and Saint Saens improvising upon the upper or lower register of the piano. one of his contemporaries sat at the other register and improvised upon the formers i'm in that he was the. one idiot the world has ever known, who could even attempt to play the piano. Returning to the sub 1ect of talent and brains-there can be no doubt that they should be about equally proportioned. to admit of the suc- cessful and intelligent study of music as an Art. Talent covers a very wide range: It's very lowest order consists in a mere sense of rythm, which is found among the African negroes, who possess, how of melody constitutes a higher order of talent than that of rythm, and follow | Ing this may be mentioned the sense of or the simultaneous production 1 of two or more tones; the sense of coun- | erpoint. or the simultaneous production of two or more melodies: the sense of tonal l the sense of tone cooring: the | sense of detail: the sense of proportion | or form in order to comprehend the com | position as a whole. and above all soul | sense. In addition to all this the sue cessful student must possess brains. | Brains which will prevent the emotional | nature from obtaining the ascendency ] which will enable the student to calmly
 
 ton the mechanical means and methods which must be mastered before one can and artistically, express the thoughts and emotions which the com poser presents. Nothing can be more an- moving to the finished musician than a mere exhibition of mechanical proficiency. which cannot be dignifed by even the word tecnique, for technique Is some thing above and beyond simple dgital dexterity. dealing a it does with tone quality, and tone production. Some per sons acquire mechanism. who have, if any talent at all. merely that of the low est order. At the same time one cannot