Evening star., 1924-10-13
THIS AND THAT
E BY C.. E. TRACEWELL.

What has become OF the street
piano man?
Once there was a time in Wash
| fnGton when no morning was COM =
plete in the residential sections with
out serenade by the dy-gurdy.
Little children would stand at the
| windows, waiting for the appear
ance OF the swarthy music maker.
hoping that he would stop in front
of their house.
Innocent ones! They were the
| very signs the man was looking for:
once he spotted their blond heads
sticking up over the window Sill ne
knew he had earned his dinner
| Today all that is changed. Now
the street piano men are disappear
! ing, giving way to the phonograph,
the player-piano and the radio.
Only the other day a street piano
man. the first to be observed in
months. was seen plodding his way
over the Dumbarton, or q street
bridge, pulling his machine after
him.
He seemed relic out of the past,
| recalling the days when street music
! of all kinds was fiourishing here.
! X
Those were the days OF the So
called German bands and the wan
dering trios. the latter usually com
posed of flute, violin and harp play
| ers, with their battered but good in
/ struments.
/ What sweet music they made, play
| ing under the trees on a hot evening
as they sat on the sidewalk blowing
| bowling and plucking their instru.
ments. Around in ring the children
of the neighborhood would be
! grouped.
| These players did not emulate the
! humble hurdy gurdy man who went
| from house to house, although tbs
! strains from his portable box could
be heard for blocks The trio mer
| camped in the center of a square anC
| let their music saturate the entire
neighborhood
While they were playing the chill
! dren, strangely quiet, would stand
respectfully near, watching the f1ut-
/ list puff away. the violinist caress his
| instrument. the harpest trickle his
| fingers across his strings.
! Many children undoubtedly GO
their first love for good music from
these wandering musicians. They
/ played mostly the best compositions
| with now and then popular piece
| sandwiched in. Even these latter
they played with true feeling.
Those were the days before So
! called jazz music. and the rhythm oI
! the fox-trot had captivated the land
| The old coon songs had given way
| to a better brand of popular music
| in which the waltz and two-steI
! rhythms predominated.
1t was in the playing of the ole
! Vienna waltZes. however, and in simi
! lar music that the street trios die
| their best work, bringing the Tilt anc
| poetry of those compositions right tC
| the homes of the National Capital.
Those were the days, too before the
! concert and recital business made a real
| go of it here. There was not much
music TO be secured at any cost. The
| monographs We're just being put on a
| musical basis. although they had beer
a mechanical marvel for some years
Into the streets, then, came the trios
| with their soft strains For music o
an evening, nothing can quite equal the
| combination of violin. flute and harp
! Something there is about it that suits
! the evening mood. The combination
| is one of the most popular on the rec
ords, too.
| 1t is TO the eternal credit Of these
| wandering minstreis that they played
mostly good music. Unknown they were
! but the music they played was classic
| 1t was melodious, but high class, most
! Of it taken from the works of the old
| German masters.
! Right here l want to say a word for
! the German music masters. 1t seems to
| me that if alS the rest OF the music OF