The Washington times., 1918-08-01
.FLAYS 'RAG-TIME"
+. AS NOT REFLECT|NG
REAL AMERICAN|SM

In an article in Folk Song and
American Music in the current Mu-
sical Quarterly. Daniel Gregory Ma.
son says:
That type of musical esthetic
which insists much on the Importance
Of the racial and national differences
dividing human Kind into groups. and
of the special features. technical and
expressive, characterizlng the music
of these various groups, is constantly
challenging our American music to
disavow what It calls a featureless
cosmopolitanism. and to achieve indi-
viduality by idealizing some prlmi-
tive popular strain. whether of the
Indians, OF the negroes. Of the British
colonizers. or of our contemporary
'ragtime.' In so doing. II usually ac-
cepts uncritically certain assump-
tions. 1t is apt to assume. for in
stance, that interpretative truth Is
assured by geographical propinquity.
You can make a tune American
by .ragging' Its rhythm, as you make
a story American by inserting I
guess or I reckon at frequent inteI-
walls. 1t often mistakes the concep-
tion of the average for that of the
ideal type. and supposes that the man
Of the street represents the best taste
"The case of ragtime is rather
more subtle. Here Is a music, local
and piquantly idiomatic, and unde-
niably representative of a certain as
pect of American character-our rest
lessneGs, our Unsuitable nervous
activity, our thoughtless superficial
optimism our fondness for 'hustling,' ,
our carelessness of whittier, how, or
why we are moving IL only we can
keep on the move II this were the
whole of US, IL the first impression
which foreigners get of US, summed
up for them oftentimes in our inimita-
bly, characteristic Step lively, please
were also the last, and there was
nothing more solid, sweet, or wise in
America than this galvanic twitching,
then, indeed. ragtime would be our
perfect music.
-But every true American knows
that, on the contrary, this is not our
virtue but our vice, not our strength
but our weakness, \and that such a
picture OF US as IL presents is not a
portrait but a caricature. And SINH
time at all critically we discover its
essential triviality. Its melodies are
commonplace, its harmonies cheap,
shoddy. and sentimental
Even its rhythm is a clever for
mula rather than a creative form, a
trick for giving ordinary. movement
a spacious air of animation. 1t is, in
fact, as a writer in the London Times
points out. a debased imitation Of
genuine negro song, just as the popu-
lar Gayety favorites OF the late eight
les, "Enniscorthy" and "Bailyhooley."
were debased limitations OF a certain
class of Irish folk-song' A few lines
later this same writer falls into the
pitfan always yawning for the the
orist about rag-time. asks IL the
American composer will arrive who
can extract gold from this ore, states
coolly that 'Rag-time represents the
American nation and OF course ends
up with an edifying reference to an
art really vital because IL has its
roots in its own soil.' Does he consid-
er that Ballyhooley' represents the
Irish nationT
Would he advise Sir Charles Stan
ford to write a symphony upon It?
Only an American journalist could be
more naive, and here is one that is.
The important point,' he says, lis that
rag-time. whether IL be adjudged good
or bad, is original with Americans-it
is their own creation This beggars
comment"