The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-23

good at farm work. cannot be relied upon to keep the light fantastic trip- ping for the benefit of all the young
 folks" far into the small hours of tbe morning.
 Proficiency with the violin was ac- quired in the good old American way, by few hints and helps which tLe as- pirants who is naturally gifted picked ID without much difficulty. Then came few evenings of practice at an actual dance or concert. The beginner made mistakes but who cared? At least. with the help of his older com patriot. he got into the swing of the simple dance music. A short round of entertain ments, supplemented by con stant practice in the barn or the chick en coop, made him a local expert fre- quently called upon to ufficiate at coun- try dances for miles around. And now the day of fashionable fiddIing has re- turned. The instrument has again be- come favorite for amateurs as we'll as professionals. We have with us. some- times to our regret the girl violin ist .
 Most. however. are we'll trained. if wise to present-day musical oportuni- ties In the schools the candidate for A violinist's career has to embrace spec | ialtieS that the simple fiddler of the backwoods never dreamed of-mathe- nautical studies of harmony and analy- sis, physical exercises to develop those muscles which are most neded in bow ing a violin. ceaseless sight playing, analytical studies of concertns by Spohr, Paganini. MendeIssohn, Bruch. Sain-Saens and Bethoven. Before starting in at all upon the manipulation of so difficult an instrument he must n L-rc tary musical matters. It is a long and arduous lrse which the candidate for teaching the violin or for performance on the concert hall stage or in the the atrical orchestra must undergo.
 Yet in it's crowning feature it is not so unlike in one way the training of the rustic fiddler. The theory of the thing is to get the player into actual practical work as quickly as possible just as the country lad who has learned to scrape few tunes is encouraged on the first opportunity to render music suitable for
 "Waltzes. polkas. lanciers. galops.
 Portland fancies. reels uuadrilIes and
 slides"
 and al. the rest of the popular dance repertoire
 In the same way it is of advantage to the serious student of the violin of whichever sex to ind his way as soon , as may be into a full sized modern orchestra Women students as well as men are found among the vioiins Of
 such an or"nestra as that maintained hv the New England Conservatory of Music as an essential part "f it's ,n struction In instrumentation, and tho only one of its kind among American
 music schools. Tine girls. as do the
 young men. acquire professional eff ciencv as a result of the training. as may he noted from the work of those i graduates ot this particular orchostr; i who are now playing in some of thu 1 leading womeu's orchestras.
 Particularly for the devotees of th' violin. though of course all the familia'
 instruments are Included, the advap taees of performance in an orchestra coached by performers of the Bostor Symphony. tEe first musical organiza,
 ton of it's kind in the world. hav, become very apparent to the schoo
 management. and all advanced pupili in the violin are required to attend the
 rehearsals regularly unIess speciall.
 excused Here are all the cinditIon, of professional practice. Members Q,
 the Symphony play among the anna ! tsurs. and speed uni all the nar,