The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-22

second he describes carefully every piece
Of music he wrote. The arrangement IL
pragmatic and not chronological, beginning
with the operas. This insures olearness,
and the chronology Is supplied in he APP
pendix.
Music is viewed from a standpoint wholly
neglected by phlosophio and aesthetic
writer's In Mr.. Charles X. Harris's How
TO Write a Popular Song Charles X. Harris,
New York;. The author is frankly and
ingenuou sly commercial. He supplies a
list OF fully a hundred songs Of his W
composition. Each and every song on
the list has sold over one hundred thousand
copies, while some have sold as high as
one million and a half The information
concerning the manner of capturing the
public fancy is extremely practical. The
account OF the uthor's career, though 1t
waivers between the first and the third
person, is interesting. The altruism that
opens this easy road to fortune to all is
remarkable. 1t may be that there were
popular song writer's before Mr.. Harris, but
he does not seem to suspect IL. VIZ are
sure that poets and musicians will rub their
eyes when they read his directions. Musical
critics, too, may turn their thoughts for a
OAuCh AlOAA a "a hAiA NAO NAAAN'e
Symphony TO consider the more thar a
million copies sold OF After the Ball, the
first popular song educator"
Likewise intended to be popular. but
in a different way. is Mr.. Gustav Kobbe's
How to Appreciate Music Moffat,' Yard
and Company. IL is to the unsteady
benighted that the author addresses him.
self, a pretty large class . He explains
what the pianist is trying to do with his
p~ianoforte, what the object Of an orchestra
is, and 30 on, and tells about some famous
musicians, interposing many anecdotes,
which are sometimes more amusing in them
selves han instru ctive. The entertaining
account of Paderewski's travels with his
three pianofortes, for instance, will surely
interest the unmusioal, but 1t is difficult TO
see what musical information 1t imparts.
There il far too much antiquarian effort
IN Anna Alice Chapin's rhapsody on the
violin, The Heart of Music" Dodd, Mead
and Company. The mystic lyrical strain
that starts with the god Thot is kept up for
half a volume before il strikes the historical
| fiddle makers. The plain facts about these
honest and celebrated mechanics would be
more ineligible II stripped Of their rhetOri-
cal ornamentation. Miss Eliza Cook in her
! praise of The Old Arm Chair and the poet
Of THE Old Oaken Bucket" oontented them
selves with a few stanzas; here we get 500
pages of poetic prose clarifying the one
perfect thing" the fiddle.
An elaborate study of the physiological
side Of vooalism is offered in Voice Pro-
duction in Singing and Speaking Based on
Scientific Principles" by DR.. Wesley Mills,
professor Of physiology in McGiH Univer-
sity u. B. Lippinoott Company. The
authors main interest seems to be in the
singing voice; at any rate much the greater
part Of his volume is devoted to that. This,
we think, is to be regretted, for physiological
information with regard TO the voice is
more likely TO be of practical use.to those
who have to speak. Singing Ia still an art
and In the hands of the singing master,
, who has the essentials of physiology that
are needed at his command, il he is COM
petent. No master and no Psychologist
can treat the vocal chords 30 as TO produce
a singing voice il nature has not arranged
the chords in that way. Prof. Mills pro-
vides in his book a great deal of physiology
cal information that will interest teachers
AMI students Of singing, and illustrates it
with dia grams.
Two practical teachers Of music, Wilhelm
and Carrie Eylau, have plunged into the
pedagogical philosophy OF their profession
in The Profession OF Teaching Music
Or. Highlander, Leipzig. Their intention
is clear enough, but the reader may, very
excusably, be tangled up in their exposition
in spite OF the two forms Of emphasizing
that German typography permits. We do
not like to suggest that the authors them
selves are confused. The trouble seems
TO be that one ID an instrumental teacher
| and the other a vocal instructor, and that
they nave tried TO combine in the same
precepts what is needed by a piano player
and by a vocalist. That is a simple matter,
perhaps, in discussing Interpretation or
understanding Of music, but It calls for
remarkable philosophic gymna sites when
applied to technique.
There Is a Music Teachers National
Association which meets annually. Last
summer it met at Oberlin College and next
summer 1t will meet here in New York at
Columbia University. The papers read at
the meeting are published as Studies in
Musical Education, History and Esthetios.'
While ma Of these treat Of pedagogical
or professional matters, there ars some