Evening star., 1933-02-12
BY MARY HOWE.
Member, Board Of Directors, Nationa
Symphony Orchestra.

! Member, Board OF Directors, National
Symphony Orchestra.
TINE National Symphony Orchestra
is we'll into its second year and
appears to be healthy child for
i its age. with a sturdy constitu-
ton, as far as any OF the wise
men can see. Naturally. to gain the
best results and make fine outstanding
citizen of the 2-year-old, sound
hygienic principles and good Judgment
must be brought into play, and these
cannot be applied by casual thought
and careless comment. Those most
deeply concerned in the child's welfare
are eager to hear intelligent criticism
or even fault-finding, for the excellent
reason that there Is some answer and
some remedy for them all. And 1t Is
no personal matter-we don't know
who the child's parents are, although we
may have our strong suspicious as 70
who the father is! This would account
for the fine response Of the orchestra
itself under enormous difficulties; the
gameness of the men, for instance, In
cutting meals for rehearsals; the game
ness of the conductor in his effort to
show good music to the faithful in his
audience. We will always have crepe
hangers to say the child can never grow
up in the sophisticated atmosphere Of
Washington; non-thinkers who wonder
why they play symphony that Ito
some minds) is beyond them or that
"they are not up to-; fault-flnders who
notice with pain when the orchestra
makes a slip. or the horn-player's note
cracks Cone always wonders how much
these last know about the embouchure
of the horn and If they think it's Tos-
caninis fault when his horn-player
cracks; and casual well-meaning lis
teners who wish there were more body
to the cello section"-(count them for
YOURSELF. This child can pine, like
any other. In fact, at the moment it
gets along on less than one-fourth Of
other great communities do. So for the
time being we have to make up this
discrepancy with more careful under
standing, and a determination to make
1t live.
Face the Facts"
Not make allowances" for it-that
way lies disaster-but face the facts"
The cardinal fact Is that 1t is the most
healthy and hopeful musical enterprise
to spring out Of Washington itself in at
least IS years. The cardinal reason for
this Is the conservative and practical
basis on which it was started. The
cardinal result should be a permanent
orchestra. wait and see" is a pet
answer, but not good one. "See," by
all means, but don't wait" We may
be referred to with complete justice as
a green orchestra-perfectly true We
are also a green public, and a green
community when it comes to creating
appreciating, supporting and running
an orchestra OF our own. That section
OF our public that comes from elsewhere
and has had the benefit of long estab-
lshed music In their home communities
that section of our community that
has been able to pay the necessarily
higher priced tickets for visiting or
chestras, should be the most sympathetic
toward this enterprise-should need no
convincing as to its value-and should
be the first to realize the strides we have
already made. They could none the
less be our frankest critics-but should
be our most experienced and intelligent
ones. That great and friendly section
OF our audiences who are hearing or
chestral music either for the first time,
or for the first time in Washington,
don't want to miss step of the way
With them when the horn cracks they
have no wise shrug. The inexperienced
wait simply and thirstily to be shown
the experienced wait with sympathy and
apprehension, and they all melt to-
gether in the beauty of the next good
horn passage.
A Reversal Of Procedure.
In this queer and fascinating Capital
Of ours we have a strange reversal of
procedure. In the usual great city. with
wealth at the top Of the pile and mass
at the bottom, intelligence and culture
combine to teach the mass the in
estimable value Of real music. Here
we bid fair to have the public push
through and show the patrons a thing
or two as to how high they reach after
keep on as we should. A short set of
facts and comments would be perhaps
a good demonstration:
Let us say that one Sunday the or
chestra gives quite splendid perform
ance; the next Thursday the response
Is not SO marked. Why? The Sunday
concert was the result of more re-
hearsals; the Thursday concert came
close on its heels with far too few.
why? Money Is not available for many
rehearsals, and the near dates had to
be chosen, as the only remaining ones
available. Why? Because plans could
not be made until the expenses of the
season were reasonably assumed. Why?
Because cash has to be paid out and
obligations assumed in taking on dates
and signing for the hall, etc.
When we can offer our players a
Iuu seasons salary, so that we COM
mand their time, we can have extra
rehearsals when necessary; we can earn
money by playing in outside districts;
We can be assured of our dates being
spread at comfortable intervals through
the season; and we can begin to walk
with one hand on our contributors and
the other on our audiences, and the
difference between that possibility and
cur present budget is not so great as
to make probability ephemeral. These
inevitable facts are just as tied up with
the beauty and genuine music and So
lace to mankind that we are after, as
are the physical facts of life itself
with the beauty of understanding, kind
ness, generosity and love. You sit
through one of Hans Kindler's rehears-
ais with his men, and become aware of
his and their great efforts toward
beauty and perfection, the mere me-
chanics of the right instrument play
ing the right note; then how it's
played; then how its played with some
one else; then how its played with IS
someone elses, and just as even you be-
gin to see results, rehearsal time Is up
and the concert is that afternoon. You
can hardly wait to hear the concert
and see how 1t all comes out. And you
are astonished to experience an entire