Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1917-07-26
Natures Music.


You need but little knowledge OF music
TO recognize the beauty and 10 compre-
hend The wisdom OF natures plan in her
music. II is simple, and the knowledge
of if will give you great amount OF
pleasure, as you can discover for yourself
by going out into the fields and woods
prepared 10 listen intelligently.
II is trite statement that nature is the
inspiration OF poet, artist and musician,
but il is not so often recognized that the
degree in which it is possible for each OF
them 10 translate the inspiration into the
terms OF his ART is by no means The same.
A poet grasps natures deepest meaning,
clothes il in pleasing phraseology and
touches The world. An artist, in attune
with her subtlest mood and having
technical skill, paints according 10 his
school and temperament and gains atten-
tiol. But the musician is hampered.
He hears natures loveliest melodies, yet
his technical skill, his sympathy and his
power ot Interpretation all prove futile
he cannot reproduce any OF natures
exQuisit music. He may draw his
audience into the dreams that his selec-
lion presents, may picture moods, may
excite the intellect by the beauty OF form
as he plays, but natures tonal beauty is
sealed book TO him. Here is the
reason:
Strike key on the piano-a white be-
tween two black ones, for example
and sing the tone that you produce.
Then strike the black key 10 the right OF
the white one and sing that tone again,
the black 10 the left OF the white. Your
voice rises slightly on the second and
drops on the third. A half tone is the
least difference in The pitch OF any two
given sounds on the piano, and there
you have the secret OF natures musical
method and the limitation OF the piano.
Strike any white key and slide the voice
up 10 the next black key. Afew attempts
and you will succeed in varying the pitch
OF the voice at least twice between the
sounds OF the two keys, thus obtaining,
IN slight degree, the effect OF a guitar
lists glide. That reveals 10 you The TACT
that strnged instruments and the voice
are not so limited as the piano is.
Now listen analyticallY 10 birds song.
Go 10 the piano and get the pitch OF his
first note, far up 10 the right on the key
board then try 10 reproduce the song
you heard. You cannot do il, even
though you may be a skilliul musician.
The fault lies in The piano, which, because
OF the limitations OF its scale, cannot pos
sibly reproduce The fractions ofhalf tones
that make the music OF nature so elusive
and sweet. II is because OF this limita-
ton OF the keyboard that the pianist must
invariably fail when he tries to represent
the beauty OF bird songs, murmuring
brooks and bubbling springs Every
musician knows the ilatness and futilIiy
OF the attempt.
Listen TO a brook. The murmur is
there, delicate, musical, pleasing, gently
insistent; but IT is in fractions of hall
tones, sliding in IFS murmur. Notice the
signing OF wind through forest OF pines
II is an exquisite lullaby, rhythmic, melo-
dious, expressed in fractions OF halftones.
Analyze surging storm, beating waves,
dripping rain-all follow the same plan.
Turn 10 the songs and calls OF natures
animate obects,-the crickets cry, The
rasp OF the locust, the hum OF the bee,
the cheep OF the sparrow, the cluck OF the
hen-all are in fractions OF half tones.
IL much OF natures music melodious
effect is conspicuouslY absent, but always
the rhythmic swing is there II is in
every moving body, every continuous
sound. Trees sway, grass mods, waves
splash at regular intervals. Even The
intonations OF the human voice and the
roar OF The city street are governed by
the laws OF rhythm Imagine the clash
and clang OF commonplaces sounds il
natures voices were more assenive and
less delicately shaded, and il the con-
fusion OF all motion were haphazard
To go further into natures plan: birds
phrase and use accent, just as surely as
man does in his music. Listen TO
mocking bird. Each OF his twenty-seyen
themes is perfectly phrased count as
he repeats one theme three or four times
n varying metre, and you will see The
accuracy OF the assertion. Even the
raucous rasp OF locust is fine example
OF rhythm and tone shading.
When an eminent musician was asked
recently why a system that made use of
fractions OF half tones had not superseded
the one now in use, his reply was, "But
doesn't it take lifetime to grasp our
present system2"
A change would mean a complete
revolution OF notation and harmony, and
a reconstruction OF musical instruments.
Perhaps, however, the time will come
when man, taking nature as his guide.
will set himself TO The task.
One hot August day an old colored