Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-11-02
Music Appreeiation
IS Latest Venture
WW.P.A A. Musicians
Concert Trio AppIouded
By Children and Gets
Approval of DR.. Barnes

Approval OF Or. Barnes
Feet, barely able to touch the
floor. tapped ever so gently: child
ish faces were rapt with concen-
tration as the lifting rhythms of
"The Merry Widow Waltz" floated
through the auditorium of Wheat
ley School yesterday.
1t was an experiment for the Dis
trict w. P. A. Concert Trio, the
first time 1t has ventured into any
music appreciation class in the pub
lie schools.
The immediate and unfettered
applause of the children, their vio-
lent waving of hands after the
concert when asked if they liked the
music, combined with the stamp of
approval placed on it by DR.. E. N.
G. Barnes, director of music in the
public schools, who attended the
concert, make it fairly certain that
the concerts will be taken into the
other schools.
ut could add a great deal to
music appreciation work." DR..
Barnes told Robert Merchant, super
visor of the District w. P. A. music
project.
Another Step in Growth.
Taking it's music into the schools
is just another step in the steady
growth of the project since its in
ception in 1885. Originally tied up
with the w. P. A. theater project, it
started operating as separate
division at the end of 1896 when the
theater group was discarded.
Since then the Is musicians of
the w. P. A. orchestra, the Concert
Trio and the teaching staff of six
have brought music into many
places.
The orchestra has played in the
rotunda of the District Jail while
the prisoners in the surrounding
cell blocks listened or sang. St.
Elizabeth's was the scene of another
concert. The orchestra musicians
are frequent visitors at the settle
ment houses. Patients are taken
into the auditorium at Walter Reed
Hospital in wheel chairs to hear the
music.
Dancing for Underpriyileged.
An average crowd of 1000 people
attended each of the street dances
during the summer in the Ellipse
between Fifteenth and Seventeenth
streets below Constitution avenue.
The project has just started month
ly dances for underprivileged chill
dren at the Y. w. c. A. downtown
center on E street.
There are regular concerts at
the Washington Sanitarium and
weekly dances for the paroled
patients at St. Elizabeths The
musicians have played at the Ma
tional Training School for Girls,
1t the Boys Club in Roosevelt High
School, at Civilian Conservation
Corps camps in the vicinity-any-
where that people like to dance or
listen to music. The only restric-
tions are that the musical pro-
grams must be open to the public
and presented without charge.
And the musicians themselves?
They enjoy 1t thoroughly. Some
have play in symphony orchestras,
others were once with private bands.
The third saxophonist is 80 years
old, the bass is So. Both have done
symphony work all their lives. Be-
cause the project has not yet grown
to symphony size, these men joined
the jazz orchestra. Now the bass
has gone swing enthusiastically
and can slap" his instrument with
the best of them.
Fill c. C. C. Camp With Music.
Four or five times a month, the
c. c. c. boys send two large trucks
into Washington. Their best girls
pile in and for a few hours the
orchestra fills the camp with music
The musicians like to go to the
Children's Receiving Home, too.
They're sure of show every time
1t starts out with community sing
ing. Then Mr.. Merchant wanders
among the youngsters, drawing out
a few who have better voices. They
sing and then somebody volunteers
to dance for the crowd and the show
is on.
At each institution there's a spe-
cial request number that hobs up all
the time. At St. Elizabeth's the au-
dience demands frequent repetitions
of Kiss Me Again" The favorites
at the sanitarium are Schumann's
"Traumerei" and the sextette from
'Lucian di Lammermoor At Wal
ter Reed and Mount Alto hospitals,
the popular tunes are strictly the
order of the day.
The third group in the music
project, the teachers, are taking on
another job Monday night, when
adult classes are started in voice
and piano. The classes meet In
the Project Building, 416 Indiana
avenue S.W.
Sponsored by Federal w. P. A.
funds, but under the jurisdiction
of the District, the music project
has brought song into the lives OF
countless people who have very
little besides music. And for the
men who participate in the project
1t has meant a reunion with music