Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
YHEN David Mendoza, con-
ductor of the Fada Salon
" Orchestra on the Colum-
hia prOadcaStinu SyS.

M ductor OF the Fa0a salon
wv Orchestra on the Column
bia BroadcaSting Sys-
tenn, asked recently for the reac-
ton of the radio audience with
respect to the so-called moderni-
cation of the classics in music, he
started a roar of adverse votes
which seems to have no end. Mr.
Mendoza personally is Of the opin-
ion expressed by the vast major
ity of the listeners, that jazz ar
rangementS of the works Of IA
NOUS composers are neither to be
encouraged nor condoned.
Specifically, Mr.. Mendoza de-
clared that his jazz Interpolation
on a recent program was "just an
experiment" It was the first
time in his career, he said, that he
had modernized the classics, and
it was done for the sole purpose OF
sounding opinion.
The American radio audience
expressed it's opinion all right.
Mendoza's mail in response to his
request came from all sections or
the country and from all classes
of listeners.
washington was well repre-
sented among those who re-
sponded. And typical of the re-
plies was that of John Randolph
Boiling, a Washington listener,
You bring this letter down upon
YOUR head by the request which
Won made in the Fada hour; viz:
that members of the radio audi
ence express their opinion as to
whether compositions lose or gain
in having the theme modernized.
please record one vote against
modernization. In fact, I feel SO
strongly about this that l WISH
there was a law forbidding 1t. AS
one who has done some little work
in the field of composition, I am
sure I would feel like choking
anybody who dared modernize my
work" t.-
Another interesting phase OF
the discussion over broadcast mu-
sic was developed last week by the
Columbia Broadcasting System
which made an analysis OF It's
program, showing that the critics
who claim "you can't get any
thing but Jazz on the air" are un-
der considerable misapprehenSlon
The analysis was made OF an
average weeks program. Sue
cinctly, it revealed that dance mu-
sic occupies third place in the
amount of time consumed, trail
| ing both classical and educational
programs. Il
Educational, Institutional and
, informative broadcasting, accord
| ing to the survey, occupies 2Z.O
per cent of the total Columbia
| broadcasts, which comprises near
ly 25Ia hours, or a fraction OF a
per cent behind classical music,
which accounts for 1913 per cent
of the time on the air. On the
other hand, only slightly more
than % hours a week are devoted
to dance music, this being 1877 per
cent of the whole.
| More than so programs are in
Guided in the Is hours per week OF
educational broadcaSting, covering
a wide range of subjects. Included
| in these are music appreciation,
home economics, dietetics. agri-
culture, weather forecasts for
farmers, balanced menus, book
reviews, aviation lessons, piano
technique, fashion design, litera-
ture, history, philosophy, pSychol-
ogy, political science, economics,
Investments, interior decoration.
travel and foreign languages.
Nearly half the time consumed
by classical music is in presenta-
tions by large symphony orches-
tras of from % to As pieces. The
rest is taken up in string orches-
ira concerts. salon CLOUDS. triOS.