Omaha daily bee., 1917-02-18
Music


the time to the work OF the others as
supplementary.
The class lesson idea seems to -four
ish most in the department OF sthlng
instruments, where in some places like
the University OF Kansas credit is
/ given for work in violin classes. In
| the schools of Boston, ! am tol d. class
lessons in violin work have been quite
successful. But at that thev arc slow
and expensive in the end. The violin
is ono of the hardest OF all Instruments
to master and from its very begin
nings presents problems OF bowlng,
information and lingering which must
be learned right or the pupil will never
learn TO play. 1t cannot be taught,
for instance, as the musical amateur
learned to play the cello in the book
OF the same name, by pasting a slip
of paper under the hngerboard, with
the places for the different notes
marked upon it. and then Just playing
by putting his fingers at these places
and saving away.
Music study makes no record, which
the teacher can gather up like a pile
of examination papers after class and
take home to correct. The sounds are
heard and then vanish, the motions
which produced them are over, and in
class work much that is wrong is
likely to be passed by through lack
of time, and because faults do not
stand out as glaringly plain as they
would if they sounded through the
air alone. When one comes right
down to the very easiest and cheapest
way of studying music, it is simply
to hunt up a good, welk equipped
teacher, specialist in his line, and
to take individual lessons, and then
work with all ones strength to know
those lessons. Any one in doubt OF
what one should learn in different
lines of music would do we'll to spend
an afternoon in the reference room
of the library, The American Ency-
clopedia of Music is there and there
are two volumes on Essentials, which
will give one good working idea of
what one should expect to understand
and learn in the pursuit of their spe-
cial branch. .
The Omaha Mendelssohn choir con-
cert tomorrow night in conjunction
with the Minneapolis Symphony Or
chestra, is being looked forward to
with the greatest interest. This last
number OF another highly successful
and most gratifying series of concerts
presented by the Omaha Retailers
association, will give lovers Of the fin
est in choral singing and orchestral
music a chance to indulge their
tastes. Both of these organizations
have many friends and admirers. The
Omaha Mendelssohn choir concerts
before the Omaha Retailers associ-
alton entered the field were for many
years the feature OF the musical sea-
son, and the fame or this wonderful
choral singing has spread to many
other cities, and has done more than
anything else to make Omaha known
as a musical center. The standard OF
the singing done by this large choir
under the direction OF Mr.. Thomas J.
Kelly, is of the highest order, and
many OF the numbers to be presented
tomorrow night are from the finest
of choral literature. Our Omaha choir
ranks as one of the few finest choirs
in America. Music lovers who go
east to hear other choirs come back
more convinced OF this than ever The
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra I'M
der Mr.. Emil Oberhoffcr is not a
stranger to Omaha audiences either,
having made an annual visit to our
city for several years, and established
an enviable reputation with US, This
great choral and orchestral concert
will make a fitting close to this popu-
lar course OF concerts OF which the
Omaha Retailers association have
cause to feel justly proud.