The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-09
.srHE pAssING oF IAzz.

Frequently the past two months I have heard the question: "Is jazz on the decline?"
 It brought to mind an article 1 read some time ago on the way mu- sic affects the animal world. A musical experiment was tried out at the New York geological park. The animals were tested on the jazz music" that so many modern hu- man beings seemed to fancy. The animals did not like it. The mon keys in particular went wild in an- gtished revolt.
 In the few restaurants and thea tres l have been in lately, have ter class of music; so different from some time ago, when 1 recall eat ing lunch at a restaurant, where the jazziest of jazz was played. l said to a friend of mine: T wonder how real musician, one of the temper mental kind, would stand this? She replied: "Oh, he would probably go mad, and begin throwing he dishes about!'
 Mrs. J. D. Moore, Jr., has recent Iy returned from Chicago and New | York and as we usually look to barometer is registering along mu- sical lines I asked her to write what she thought about the question.
 Tt is a paradox that I sit down to write an article on The Passing of Jazz with a parade of thoughts from an article on the future of the drama uppermost in mind," wrote Mrs. Moore in reply. Yet, so inti- mately related are Life and Art, so distinctly are we coming to realize the fundamental unity which under lies all things, that these two ideals may not be so divorced as they seem to the casual glance. For one thing, the tendencies of music and drama go hand in hand in their changes, | from the popular wedding or the two In comic opera-or even in mu- | sical comedy (where there is usually precious little drama and often less music but where come many of our dance selections) to the more seri- ous marriage of grand opera or the | translation of musical concepts into action by interpretive dancing. The human equation is always of para mount interest. the interpretation of ourselves to ourselves, and nothing is so absorbing in life as life itself, Whether it be the well-sung Judy OGrady at the movies of Saturday night, gasping at the thrills of Pearl White serial, or the equally well-sung "ColonePs Lady," thrilling to the problem of whether married man has the right to take another womtan to a dance, or wife to en- gage in activities outside the home,
  namely, an interest in life and its living In proportion to ones ability to ponder that life.
 Ono of the things that students of our times have particularly noted Is the changing point of view. One of the most marked characteristics of our new young people, Is their un- paralleled ability to laugh. It is one of the big things just ahead of us. laughter. We have never really learned 1.-the spontaneous, under standing, sane laughter that comes with a freer outlook. With broader comprehension. Did you ever think laughter in music? There are laughs and laughs, of course. and the buf- fonery introduced by the jazz craze threatened to become very coarse and unbridled like the senseless mirth of a debauch Objection to this sort of musical crime does not by any means imply an objection to popular rhymes, syncopation, march tunes, or the liv- Hest foxtrots provided they are free from the insinuations so evident in the unquestionably clever, even though objectionable, use of the saxo- phone and trombone that we have called jazz. Let us be grateful to those song writers who give us non sense songs, popular vaudeville hits. strenuous dance compositions, but let us nave wholesome WordS ana whole some interpretations.
 As a student of singing in New York this summer, 1 was naturally interested In all things musical and hot days of work quite naturally sug- gested cool nights of play. But many of the best liked musical shows were transition period-transition in point of view, in understanding, in art perhaps 1t has served some purpose in th!s old world after all. A writer who writes under the initials "G. A" re- gently said The farce of the future will contain Charlie Chaplin's won derful knockout element, but it will also contain something more subtle; it will satirize the unintelligentIy earnest and the clever dilettante. The blast of it's Homeric laughter will banish cruelty and affectation. It will correct because it understands. Why may not this be said also of our laughter of the future?
 Seventh District Meeting.
 on Thursday, August 30, a meeting was called at the home of Mrs. George T. Duncan, chairman of the seventh
 district of the Birmingham Music | study, to discuss ways and means of | enlarging the membership of that l club. As president of the Woodlawn | Music study club, Mrs. Duncan was l thought to be more closely in touch
 with the musical people in that dis | trict and was therefore asked to take | the chairmanship. An enthusiastic meeting was held, but it was thought unnecessary to form a Birmingham Music study club chapter, as Wood