New-York tribune., 1913-10-12
Ry Gnstay L. Becker.

MANY who learn, after Iashio"'
"perform" on some more or less
cal instrument or they learn 10 s"s
a certain number Of favorite songs ""u
then 0atter themselves that they h"''
something about music! :.
II Is generally admitted among cui'
ured people that music is the lahs u"e
of emotions" In the word lahS u"e0
certain minimum of knowledge 10
pected. even of the average perso"'
respect to accepted pronunciation a'io
meaning Of words and the lh'elhs'"'
construction Of sentences. Certaihi'
great deal more than this is requii''
NJ anv orator. school teacher or "ri.e''
put in music we find many VINO pay
and sing with technical proficiency Se'
who arc apparently content to receive
and. of course. impart to others-o"''
n vague mental impression OF ali 'he'
are playing singing and hearlhs' AZ
the able critic il is obvious that 'ho'
know very little about the principies oi
musical enunciation-the various ihe''
cal rhythmical and dynamic inhecuohs,
they know no more of musical worn
meanings. revealed by the tone group
inc in motives and fragments OF mo-
tives: and they usually know even less
about musical sentence construction as
is shown in their illogical ana ihcoh'
sistent phrasing, in their missing t"e
points Of climax or their anu-ciiinaNe'
and otner symptoms. showing thelr is-
norance Of the rules OF musicai gram
marriott TO speak Of their being dead
and blind TO the deeper poeuc ana ur"-
matte meanings. or artistic noonS-
which :hc composer desired to express
THE COMPOSERS LIMITATIONS.
Unfortunately the composers most
available means Of conveying his musicai
thoughts, impressions. dreams or emo
tions are the notes. rests, slaves, bars
and other symbols and signs representing
certain tones as to pitch ana reiau''
value These values though, are arDl-
trary in their relativeness, for a quarter
note. for instance, always represents eN-
actly one-half the value OF haii ho'e
and absolutely twice the value OF an
eighth note We have no notes that are
inst n trihe longer or shorter thah '"o
regular valued ones, and II We hau "
would make motion too complicated Ihe
COMPOSER would rather depend upon the
feeling Of the executant. Likewise are
the dynamic indications Inadequate io'
musical expression: the signs-fr, r. MI
mn. u. pp. cresc.. dim.-are too INDEFINITE
no one having 20 far determined just no"
loud forte or how soft piano IL To oe.
This then. also must be left to feeling
and Judgment Even II these dynamic
signs could be accurately Indicated IL
would make the average piece OF CHOPIN
and Schumann look very black The
phrase III Beethoven could hear that he
would turn in his grave some time ago
gave me the idea Of inyenting 'reyoIV-
ing coffin" for composers Of genius! But
seriously speaking this shows how IL ~
an acknowledged fact that there rs "A need
Of interpro ting with npened judgment
both Of heart and mind. all the many
otherwise empty musical symbols and
signs--to read between the lines. as II
were
The performer should feel his artistic
responsibility AMI consider IL his duty to
study the work ne wishes 10 reproduce:
not merely mechanically. according 10 the
old-fashioncd music teacher who told his
pupils To strike the right finger on the
right key at the right time" but also 10
go deep into the meaning oi the com
pOsition--if there be any. To this end.
then, he must first learn 10 catch the
general mood OF tine work. or OF any par
ticular part Of it.; then he must be- able
to locate the various particular effects Of
tone succession, as coherent rows OF
single tones. in melody. and as successons
Of tone combinations. the harmony Of IT,
These two chief aspects OF tone co-ordna-
tion, the melodic and harmonic. have been
called the horizontal mel0dy) and per
pcndicular harmony, while counterpoint
takes into consideration the harmonic re-
lation of two or more melodically correct