Omaha daily bee., 1918-05-05


the poor and the good, and the good
and the best, one learns to Judge in
proportion 20 this faculty, and the
opportunities given to exercise it. 1t
one is not observant naturally, there
is nothing which develops this trai.
as much as instruction in music under
good teacher, who compels one to
take notice, in hearing, in seeing, and
in performing. One cannot learn to
read music unless one is observant
of the many guiding signs which
mark the way the signature of the
piece first, the time, the notes them
selves, the phrasing, and staccato, ana
the various expression marks and
words which the composer has put
s there, not to- the purpose of con-
fusion, as the apt pupil thinks, but
to aid the would-be interpreter. The
good teachef develops the habit OF
observation, 20 that gradually the STU
dent learns &c notice many of these
things in single glance. So ac-
customed to this quick observation
does the goc,a reader of music become
that he observes subconsciously. He
doesn't only see the note, but every
thing that goes with it at the same
time, and he observes its place in the
phrase without consciously thinking
that he is doing it. Any one who
aspires to read music, reads we'll or
i'll not only according to his musical
feeling, but mostly in proportion to
lis being. observant.
In instrumental music, persons who
play much u Bach's music, and play
t well, one will find almost without
exception to be good sight readers,
Tor the music of Bach with its many
nterwined melodies is so difficult to
read that familiarity with it develops
observation 10 a, remarkable degree.
Ensemble Music, too, is great thing
% develop quick observation of the
printed music.
One can orly enjoy music in pro-
portion to lis being observant of
its sounds. The man who only new two
tunes. one of which was America"
and the other of which wasn't, was
very poor ,os ear observation. Also
the man in the other story who heard
the Hot Time" and thought it was
the "star Spangled Banner" and
stood up. A vast majority of people
hear very little of music because they
do not observe its variations of sound
and rhythm clearly A great many
hear only the melody, and many of
these do not hear the melody clearly
! enough to recognize. it even after
numerous repetit;ons. Many singers
whe are not able to carry a second
part are am ong those who are slow
Of ear observation. They cannot hear
h any but the top" part The students
Who often play the most obviously
Wrongsnote over and over again are
also of this class. They are slow both
4 d ear and eye observation, or either
one would send mental warnings tina.
something was wrong and the other
would be consulted to prove it. The
oerson who plays by ear, is quick at
ar observation. He hears so much
20 distinctly that he is able to re-
produce it. There are others who
can hear ara reproduce the melody,
but who do not hear the rest dis
.lnctly enough to<be able to play il:
all, or who when they play by ear, can
fake other parts, which may sound
well enough but which are not the
correct harmonies and chords for the
melody they are reproducing.
.
A friend once said to the writer: Il
wish | could get as much out of
concert as you do" But one only
gets out of hearing music or playing
music in proportion to what one has
put into it But she has never studied
music nearly as much, so how could
she! The more one knows about
music the more one appreciates it,
and the best way to improve oneself
IS by being observant, principally in
listening The great composer really
gets the most out of music, the great
reproducing artist next, and so on
1own the line to the unmuscal man,
who gets very little from even the
simplest forms, because he has OBJ
served but little if any OF it.
Lack OF being obseryant musically
is what prevents the average man
from appreciating the difference be-
tween the way great artist sings a
song and the way an inefficient upstart
with loads of conceit also sings it. He
doesn't hear all of the song in either
(. case. What he heard the great artist
sing he liked, and when it was the
same song he only listened for the
a same words and melody and never
stopped to notice the difference in
how it was presented to him. With
some people, even melody sinks into
llnsignitlcance just so long as they
have obvious insistent rhythm. With
much of the poor music of the present
time the only thing to commend it is
a strong beat. Yet the musically un-
observant are often satisfied with
only this, so, as long as that is all they
demand, or even look for, that is
probably all they will get from any
4 thing.
Personally l would never study
music with a teacher who used poor
English. One can excuse a slip occa-
sionally from "a foreigner but not
continuous solecisms. In the vast ma
lority of cases the foreigner who is
good music teacher will use the Eng
lish language correctly, even though
his accent may have more or less of
q flavor. For the good music teacher
IS by the very nature of his work an
: observant man, and he will soon OBJ
serve and hear and read the construc-
tons and manner of speech which are
correct and come to use them ac-
cordingly. Many foreigner who has
only been in this country a short
time uses our language intelligentiy