Omaha daily bee., 1918-01-06

UDMCSH SICdt 10, SHOulu DC tempt
~ ed to answer lack of al
tention to detail. There is anothe
class of the not-truly-great who pa
Tar too much attention to detail. S
much that they never give you a goo
finished idea OF the music they ar
reproducing. But in proportion t
the class who pay too little attention
to detail, it has been my experienc
to find the other far in the minority.
Just as the great criminal comes t,
his doom through some tiny little de
tail which he either entirely over
looked, or which he considered to,
small to be of any consequence, S,
many an aspiring artist falls shor
of his goal through some apparent,
insignificant part of either his techni,
or his Interpretation, which he per
haps did not notice, or which he fel
was unimportant. Just as a grea
many other criminals come to a mucf
quicker doom through the lack of at
tention to more than one detail, SC
a great many other musical aspirant.
do not seem to be able to gain ar
inch in their chosen field through
their indifference to the many small
parts which 60 to make up Their
completed work. Yet neither the
criminal nor the musical worker car
realize it. The criminal no doubt
thinks that the detective who unrav'
eled his secret must have had some
other knowledge, and the musical
worker thinks the person who does
not praise him upon all points is
jealous, or sore, and then he keeps
on doing the same bad things again,
and again, and they and the criminals
both think through some special provi-
dence they will get by with it. Not
that there is any special connection
between musicians and criminals. On
the contrary, the criminals are mega
tive workers and the musicians posi-
tive workers. Lack Of attention to
detail being a negative force speeds
the former on his way, and in due
time he arrives at the point for which
he is headed, the jail. The musical
workers are headed in another direc-
ton, and lack of attention to detail
retards their progress in due pro-
portion, and unless they are careful
they never arrive anywhere.
Take the singers, for example.
There are many who are naturally
musical, and they work diligently
upon certain parts of their training.
But . number of them principally
sopranos and tenors, although often
contraltos and baritones are just as
bad), while they have beautiful high
tones, have not worked sufficiently
upon the low tones. Consequently
when they sing lower and lower, the
sound does not carry, and the poor
listener sits and watches their mouths
work, and hears hardly . sound until
they sing high again. They have
paid attention to the detail In de-
veloping the high tones, but they
have not in developing the lower
ones. Then there are those others
who do not pay enough attention to
the details OF enunciation. of whom
people say, "a lovely voice. but we
couldn't understand 4 word" Or
even others, who hiss every so
loud that attention is drawn to it,
rather than to the sense OF the song.
or others who seem to sing with .
rigid face, and who take all the Joy
out of q happy song by singing it
so that = word like grace sounds as
though it meant graves, and as though
it was sad rather than merry.
Yet all OF these things and many
others which keep some singers from
being truly great can be run down
into lack of attention to the details
of technic or Interpretation. Nine
times out of 10 it is not the things
people have worked upon which are
bad-it is the things they haven't.
Then there are the instrumentalists.
the violinists who develop . good
bow arm, but have poor lett hand,
or who have a good left hand and a
poor bow arm; those who vibrate too
much and those who vibrate not
enough or evenly, or those who do
not thrill because they do not express
their rhythm, nor whatever they do
feel with sufficient regard to the many
details which have part in portray
ing it--all because they have not de-
voted themselves to the details which
will bring their work to an even
standard.
Nor must we forget the not quite
great pianists, who also often have
hand technic in each hand separately.
but who sometimes take the liberty OF
playing each hand separately when
they should be played together and
when they could be with much better
effect, il they had paid any attention
to the detail of being careful to do 1t.
Or the pianists who may have an
abundance OF hand technic, but who
pedal so indifferently that they can
never become even "near-great" un-
less they improve it. Or take all OF
those musical workers collectively,
who are not truly great, who work
out a long and obvious phrase 6eautl-
fully, and miss several other little ones
which are either contained in it, or
which are right beside it, just waiting
for a chance to be gracefully presented
also, just as the truly great do. And And
consider some more of the equally
not great people who do not ind
little left hand melody there, which
NAV be sung for a moment, or thoss
who sing the words chow wondrouslyv y
lust as # they were chow winsomely,
and do not realize the breadth and tone
color possible in the one phrase nor
the daintiness or lightness of touch
needed in the other. And just think
Of all those who do not work out the
details OF dynamics, of technic or
Interpretation who are only kept from
being truly great by not doing So; So Is
= . matter M temoerament? There