Arizona republican., 1918-01-16
MASTER MIND |S
 ORCHESTRAHEAD

very few of the audience in at tendance at a symphony orchestra con- cert know of the many wonders per formed to construct the tonal produc- tion. First, the orchestra is divided in to four groups or families, namely the strings, brass, woOd-wind and precus sion. The string section is composed of 20 first violins fl second violins, 10 violas, 10 cellos and nine double basses. The brass section is composed of four to eight French horns, three to six trumpets three to eight trombones and tubas. The wood- wind section has the piccOlo, one to four flutes, three clar- lnets, bass clarinet, one to three Oboes, English horn, baSSOonS and contra baS- soon. The percussion section has from two to seven tinpani (kettle- drums) small drum, traps and mechanical ef- fleets used in the various symphonic tone poems. Additional to these in struments the harp and organ are fre- quently used.
 When the conductor directs an or i chestra he is under a great mental . strain and not physical, as appears to the audience. His score before him shows all the above mentioned instru- 1 ments, playing in as many as six diff ferent keys governed by the nature of the instrument and transposed to play in the same key as the strings. A fine conductor knows every note of his score, every man and every variation 1 possible to produce on the various in l struments. The violins all play with 1 the same lowing, lingering and tone | shading. The 50 or more bows travel 1 ing in the same direction, same section and stroke is not unlike a well trained military organization on parade. The concert master is the head of the violin 1 section, and his duty is to mar bow | lngS, finSeringS and see that the con- l ductorS ideas are carried out to the minutest detail
 few years ago it was considered z great feat for conductor to direct the 1 Tannhauser overture without tho score before him. Today the conduc. tors frequently memorize their scores and Oberhoffer, conductor of the Min neapolis Symphony Orchestra whicf 1 plays at the Auditorium January 31 memories everything he conducts Having all the scores fixed solidly il hls lnfalllble memory, is probably tn, secret Of the success of this great con. ductor because he has his whole at
 tentlon directed solely to the S5 mer under his baton, watching every mov, and result of his efforts.
 It has been questioned if the musi
 clans watch the music and the conduc
 tor at the same time, also if the con
 ductor can detect a false note Botl or these are answered in the affirm
 ative; the musicians practically knoy
 the music from memory. but ar
 oDlged to use the music in event a fcy
 of the musicians should have lapse O
 memory, and as far as. the conductor
 perception of errors are concerned. i
 might be well to say that a man lik : Oberhoffer can detect the loss of eve !, one broken string in his violin strin
 section. Each musician is expected t
 come up to a certain standard of eff
 cheney, and beyond that he gets prais
 put below that he is strongly censored The Minneapolis organization is SUD ported by an annual guarantee fund e slo,O0O subscribed by the people c minneapolis, and the musicians ar
 brought together from all parts of th world. each receiving an attractive sal
 ary of not less than $50 per week an
 all expenses. It is said that Oberhoffe receives an annuity of SIP, 900 coverin A weeks of rehearsals and concert each season.