The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-11-09

Songs That Are i'm Greatest Demand.
From the New York Press.
What is popular" music. From the
viewpoint of the music dealer it is not
necessarily the modern coon song"
the sentimental ballad reeking with
The slang of the day, the "two-step'
or the catchy piano piece"
These perky productions all have
their day. For a month, perha ps,
they viii sell in enormous quantities
Then comes a lull. Publishers say
they can hear" it coming a week
before it arrives. Then there is a
sudden and decided easing up of the
presses which have been turning out
reams of sheet music night and day
for the few short weeks which usually
define the limit of existence of mod
ern hit"
On the other hand, there is class of
'stuff"-to use the ordinary trade
terms-most of it written long ago,
which is staple and is always in de-
Inand. The head of one of the larg-
est music stores in Broadway, whose
daily work enables him to keep his
finger on the popular pulse, not only
in New York but all over the country,
so far as the consumption of sheet
music is concerned, says few modern
hits" live longer than a few months.
we sell Hiawatha,' Bedelia, and
Blue Bell in great quantities, because
there is a call for such pieces while
their vogue lasts said he, but the
bulk of our trade is in the old sue
cesses which were played by the pa
rents and grandparents of the young
folk who are learning music to-day.
You must not suppose that because a
new composition is played by all the
bands, theater orchestras and street
musicians until you are tired of hear
ing them, to say nothing of their be-
ing also in the repertoire of all the
private pianists who care more for
tinkling melody than solid musical
worth, that the old songs and instru-
mental pieces are neglected. We in the
business know better than that.
You must remember there are hun
dreds of thousands of piano teachers
in the United States. This includes
professionals and professionals
Most of these instructors want what
we call teaching pieces The modern
popular stuff is of little use to them,
and they frown upon it when they
chance to find it in the hands of their
pupils. They know of other compost
tions, melodious and pleasing, that also
contain the scales, the arpeggios the
chromatic runs the trills and other
decorative passages, to play which
with even passable smoothness means
much assiduous practice and conse-
quent progress by the student. 1t is
these the teacher favors.
Two of the best teaching pieces are
The Robins Return and Moonlight
on the Hudson The Return has
been netting for it's composer, Leander
Fisher, about $4,000 a year for the last
ten years. Before that 1t was not SO
successful. Although copyrighted in
1870 it did not seem to make much
impression for a decade. Then it took
jump, and to-day we, in this one
store, handle about 400 copies a week.
For piece nearly quarter of CEN
fury ago, that, it not so bad. Music
copyrights run for forty-two years, 50
Mr.. Fisher or his heirs may count
on receiving a great deal more money
in royalties before the piece becomes
public property. Moonlight on the
Hudson is by G. d. Wilson. 1t is not
quite so good a seller as the Return,
but comes next, according to my ex-
perience.
Some of the real old timers are
still holding their own. There is The
Maiden's Prayer for instance. 1t is
a snowy piece. and has good practice
In octaves and runs, but does not call
for extraordinary skill. II is in the
fourth grade. The Return and 'Hud-
son are in the fifth. There is a
steady sale for the Prayer although
it is several generations old. Its com
poser, Badarzeka, was gathered TO his
Fathers long ago. l suppose the secret
Of the popularity of this piece lies in
the fact that it is usually effective,
considering that a player Of very or
binary capacity can interpret It,
'Silvery Waves is another old in
strumental piece that does not drou
out. There is more execution demand
ed in playing the Waves than in the