Evening star., 1932-09-08
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL,

NEUROLOGICAL "12-year-old mind" which
the radio studios talk about.
Just because one has heard Yankee
Doodle" and likes Yankee Doodle" Is
no particular reason why one should
not hear Hail to the Chief" as jiggy
as 1t Is.
Even Mascagni, who wrote "Caval-
leria Rusticana" and not much else, did
upon occasion turn out some good
music.
Most Of the really great musicians.
however, are not In his class. They
have written in bulk. and most OF It Is
worth playing. and worth listening to.
Some of 1t is hash. OF course.
Our belief is that there are enough
music students in the United States
now to make bolder experimentation on
the part of radio stations desirable, not
only to listeners but to performers as
WELL
The feelings of true musician who
is called upon to play MacDowells ITO
a Wild Rose" when he had much rather
give the unseen audience" something
else by that master must be excruciat-
ing, to say the least.
MacDowell wrote so much more!
Professional musicians who specialize
in the lighter types of song declare that
much of their work is neglected by the
adherence to the more typical hits,
however successful these may be.
It may be said, with truth, OF course,
that the radio stations, by and large, do
play a tremendous assortment OF music
and that If one listened "a hours a day,
and ran the garhut OF the possible sta
versity of things.
Few. however, can listen as much,
and a great many would not care to,
anyway.
Furthermore, 1t should be realized
that most modern listeners finally Sc
lect some one station and stick to that
most of the time.
Sometimes it would seem to the radio
"fan" who looks at radio squarely that
many broadcasters as we'll as listeners
are working from the standpoints OF
1923, not 1882.
Even broadcasting itself must have
done a great deal toward educating"
the great mass Of the people in the
really good things OF music. It Is I'M
possible to feel that men and women
who once knew practically nothing
about music and composers still know
nothing, after a decade Of really rabid
listening in"
Instead of the blather about "blue
skies now shine above Naples, and the
fishing fleets are coming in," and 50 on,
used to carry a list Of melodies, as at
present, the broadcasters perhaps would
do better to hand out the following
line to its patrons:
"You have heard the Meditation
from That's" and know how beautiful 1t
is. The remainder of the opera Is good
too and here Is typical section from
Act q"
Such an introduction would have the
merit Of tying the known to the un-
known, at the same time fiattering the
knowledge Of the listener.
Soft-soaping the radio addict might
be tried. everything else has had its
fling. One may believe that apple
sauce can be transmitted as well over
radio waves as over any other sort.
Pat the steady old listener on the
back, let him know that he has been
educated" to some good purpose, tell
him that he has graduated at last from
the beginners course, and Is on the
high road to real musical discovery.
Keep in mind that today he Is a
one-station listener, in all likelihood,
and that he has been hearing Sing Me
to Sleep" long enough.
He needs a change of songs.
For heavens sake, do not let him 60
another 10 years without getting a
chance to hear some Of the less known
things by the composers, great and
near-great.
It will be a satisfaction to him to
know that Ethelbert Nevin never did o
better thing than his Venice" after all.
1t will also please him to know that he
actually wrote something else.