The Washington herald., 1907-10-19


Museum az New Orleans. This old
square piano -Was in the parlor OF
home on a Southern plantation. When a
battle was fought there and the house
was being destroyed by shells from both
armies, some enterprsing boys moved
the instrument out into a nearby thicket
These boys We're members of the Wash
ington Light Artillery of New Orleans
and as they lay under fire. waiting for
orders to advance the musical members
OF the party took turns playing Dixie and
the Marseiilaise, while shells fell near
and bullets clipped twigs and leaves from
the trees overhead. After the battle the
old piano was returned 10 the almost de-
molished house, and a few years ago it
was secured for tHe Confederate Museum
IN New Orleans, where it stands to-day
with its yellow keys and its tinkling
strings. as a reminder Of the days of
old when knights were bold" and gay
French-Cre0les Of Louisiana could laugh
and sing in the face of death.
In the past five years the products OF
Americas musical industries have in
creased S25 200. .0J0.-over 50 per cent. New
York leads in the manufacture of musical
instruments, the latest annual report
showing s24oo0,ooO for that year. Illinois
is second. with Sl4o00.0oO. and Massachu-
sets, third. with SS500,0o0. New York
made one-third Of the entire number Of
pianos manufactured in this country for
that year, upwards of S3,o10 coming from
that state alone. There are go factories
turning out musical instruments in this
country, giving steady employment 70
5000 people, and representing an invest
ment Of $72,oooooo.
New York spends annually for music
more than any other five cities in the
United States. During the last Novem-
ber-to-Nay season her better music houses |
took in over two million dollars. The
Metropolitan Opera House alone took In
over a million dollars. The receipts OF
the Manhattan Opera House amounted to
$4,000 and less important places took
in over 10000 more. These figures do
not include the receipts of the concert
halls and ike places that flourish every
where.
There is a crusade now going on among
the manufacturers of pianos to secure
Federal legislation against "stenciled'
IldADS- i llt D4dllU ulchtl6 " tllAl -tAA-At'S
TO compel the manufacturers who make
pianos to put their own name on them
instead OF that Of some firm for whom
they are made by contract The plano
makers declare that Congress has as
much right and power TO take this step
IN the matter of pianos as it had to re-
Quire that the word sterling" could not
be used in connection with silver unless
- g., nj
manufacturers make pianos by contract,
and a special name is given them. Sc
lected by the parties for whom they are
made The piano makers who make and
advertise their own goods are behind the
movement. It is not believed IN Wash !
ington that the crusade viii be success /
ful az the next session Of Congress.
Experiments are being made TO bring
music within reach Of the deaf. 1t is not
expected that they can be made to hear
the tones Of instruments or that any
sound will ever reach them. The idea Is
TO have vibrations reach them through
the muscular sense, the theory being that
the vibrations will have the same effect
on them as musical sound does on those
who can hear. The apparatus 20 be used
is a phonograph and a microphone at
tached to aCcumulatOrs. The phOnOgTaph
reels off q tonal scale to the miCrOphOne
in an intermittent current, and the mus
cular sense is reached and vibrations car
ried TO the brain.
The choral class Of the Pennsylvania
Institute for the Blind. under the direc-
ton Of D. D. Wood. recently sang Han
del's Judas Alaccabaeus." The method
81 - =
the music to the class. They took 1t
down in the Braille notation, designed for
the blind, and then memorized IT, This
performance Is regarded as one Of the
best that blind singers have ever given, |
and the power they showed IN memOrizing /
such a difficult piece Of music has been /
widely commented on in the music press. /
New York boasts Of one OF the youngest |
composers in the world. She is little Miss /
Marian Regina Kahn. aged twelve, who /
has already had two compositions ac- 4
cepted by publisher. one is 7 Want |
70 Be a Man Like Washington and the 4
other "On the Road 10 Dixie" Her par /
ents recently took her 20 New York from
Jacksonville, Fla, IN order 20 complete /
her education. She is an accomplished /
pianist as well as a composer. At the re- /
cent Actors Fund Fair, Marian at the 1
piano, her brother Gordon, aged eight /
with the violin. and her sister Erminie /
aged eight, with the cornet, constituted /
a trio whose playing was the occasion Of /
much favorable comment
A one-time American newsboy, Ben /
Vanasek, recently won the grand prize at /
the National Conservatory in Parlf for /
r,Ta Ia
selling papers on the streets of AIilwau- /
kee and playing the coTnet in the news /
boys band Friends became interested in |
him, and he was sent abroad, where he 4
studied two years at the Leipzig COnser- |
vatory and two in Paris. Now he is the |
twentieth American TO receive the grand /
prize within a hundred years.
So many Americans are now studying /
in Berlin that it is said It Is quite as /
common 90 hear English spoken at musi- /
cal gatherings or in the audience at con
certs as it is TO hear German. At the
concert hail of the Philharmonic, at the
BeethOvensaal, the Singakademie. and the
BirchsteinsaaI the groups Of American
patrons are extremely large. There are
now over $500 Americans studying music
and spending two and three million dol
lars a year In order to see If they cannot
each prove 70 be the leading singer, or
pianist, or violinist of the age Talented
and untalented, rich and poor young and
middle-aged, they flock to Berlin To spend
their good American dollars in the pur-
suit of fame.
The only American teacher Of music in
London is said to be Henry Stanley.
formerly of Providence. r. J. He was