Omaha daily bee., 1910-12-18

III
RNl be blamed so much for what
they don't know as for the
IqGWS4 things that they do know that
- aren't so2" This is a very happy
way OF putting the fact that II people do not
know things and admit it, they should not
be blamed too severely; but when they
know certain things, and their knowledge
is based on insufficient information, in
struction or intuition, then they are TO be
blamed. because they know a lot OF things
that aren't So"
Could anyone put that statement in that
form except Mark Twain? And don't you
know lot OF people who know things
that aren't So? And how amusing 1t is
TO see how strenuously these persons main
tain their beliefs. They hear a melody that
pleases them and Immediately the COM
poser was one of the greatest; they hear
a play in which some episodes remind them
OF their own conditions, and It Is a master
piece OF drama Their stepfathers sister
in-law had a second cousin that played in
the orchestra. and so 1t was one of the
finest In the country: and 50 on. But there
is another side to this.
Is there anything more delightful in the
process of study than the learning that
things which we thought were so, are not
so? For example. there was time when
we just knew that we could not memorize
anything, and one day, after we had
talked about It, and denied the possibility
Of accomplishing any results. TIL we were
tired we really sat down and began 10
try TO memorize a poem, a verse, a song,
a phrase, a study, or a nocturne, and
succeeded Such a splendid thrill Of en-
couragementl we found that we could
memorize, and we hadn't thought that we
could: we found that one thing that we
Just knew was So" was not so at ALL
Il Just know that I never can get that
passage, II is much too fast, my fingers
simply will not work rapidly enough"
How many times has the ambitious stu
dent been discouraged enough to make
remark like THAR And yet. after time
the difficulty was overcome and the worker
learned with great satisfaction that while
she Just knew" she could not get It
right. she found out that she knew some
thing that wasn't So"
And many a singer has struggled for a
certain effect. or for a beautiful round
spherical tone. and felt like saying, II
know that my voice can not do that: and
after working a little while longer the
result has come, and the thing that he
knew" would not arrive did arrive, and
found him, as Mark Twain would have
said. knowing something that wasn't so!
Outlines ones ancestors are TO blame
largely for his knowing things that aren't
so: beliefs have been handed down with
such persistent elinging to the old form
that II Is hard TO get away from them
for example, the belief that beautiful
singing and a beautiful voice were one
and the same thing And further that
because certain music pleased one, there
fore it is good music.
Ever 80 often some one makes emphatic
protest that certain things were good
when other persons (sueh as musical
critics) mildly suggest that they were not
The first question 20 be decided BY those
who wish to know what Ia 50, instead OF
being content to know what isn't 90, Is
do / know the work sufficiently well &C
form an opinion?"
The writer has seen people who cal
themselves very serious musicians indeed
applaud (to the imminent danger OF glove
ripping things which were simply mex
cusably bad from the composers stand
point, and from the standpoint or adher
ence 20 the most ordinary laws OF music
SO that when one sees people knowing
so many things that are not 50, IL makes
one ask rs there any use in trying e
know what Is sou
And the answer Is most emphatically
Yes There are lots OF people who dc
really know, end there is a strange thinl
about human nature, and that is, III
tendency 20 find out eventually the righ
thing Often the musicians win condon
and wink at things which, IN the long run
the less known musioally viii not 'stan'
for"
Just along this line, an interesting artcl
appeared In the musical press lately Il
which Mr.. Henry Hadley, conductor o
the Seattle symphony orchestra, expresses
himself as follows:
"stm, along with the American coolnes
toward American music goes anothe
strain OF the national mind that is COINS
BY and BY, 20 be OF enormous benefit I
us; / mean a certain natural critical fac
ulty that the American man, from banke
TO plumber. can exercise on the music h
hears For instance. conducting the sym
phony orchestra in Seattle 1 encounter
continually: he can tell you which pies