Evening star., 1939-12-17


are verJ encouraging, and the sho
conditions today and half centur
advancement in musical apprecia-
tion and musical activity that the
years have brought.
All this is extremely interest
ing, yet he has, perhaps uncon-
sciously, stressed the great evil that
underlies all this progress. He
says: Despite the local and ma
tional Importance of the symphony
orchestra in the United States it is
automatic that no symphony or
chestra is self-supporting Receipts
from operations are never sufficient
to cover the cost for the season" 4"
Would such a statement ever be
thinkable in regard to any other
big business enterprise? Yet it is
stated as a matter of course,
something that every one will
agree to without any compulsion
and quite the thing to be expected.
How long would any other busi-
ness exist if it were calmly ac-
knowledged that it didn't pay?
How long would it have workers in
its particular field if there were no
prospects of betterment before
them? Of course, he goes on to
say: THE 80 to 100 men who COM
pose a major orchestra are the
teachers in their community. Study
and participation in music is as
fundamental as appreciation" And
In conclusion, The surface of music
as an art and as an industry is
not yet scratched in America"
Must Spend Money.
It would seem that conceiving mu-
sic as an art is busying the coun-
try to such an extent that it has
no time to think of it as an in
dustry. Yet the two must 60 hand
In hand. There is no possible way
of having music as an art without
an outlay of money which deserves
return as in any other business
where long period of preparation
is required. 1t seems about time
that this side of the question is
given some consideration if we are
to carry on the good work that Mr..
Judson points out is to our credit
these last years.
1t is a little difficult to understand
why music. even a symphony or
chestra, could not be made to pay
if the same kind of planning be
given to its financial end as any
other business company would do.
Mr. Judson further says: "Orches-
tras are maintained for the same
reason and on the same basis as art
museums and other cultural institu-
tions." But art museums have to
do with inanimate things, not hu-
man beings. who must eat and spend
money to live. But our particular
quarrel is not so much with SYM
phony orchestras, which do pay the
men, however small wage, for their
work, but the other kind of or
CARNATIONS which want musicians
to display their art to them for
nothing.
Many musicians have no other
hope of earning living with their
music than by eventually making a
symphony orchestra and being as
sured of regular pay. But does that
pay ever equal up to the amount
spent in preparation? No mediocre
musician can hope to be engaged in
an orchestra, for he is not at all
capable of the demands made upon
him, so only the best are taken,
those who have spent considerable
on their musical education. And
besides the gruelling work demand
ed of them in their paid job, each is
supposed to be, as Mr.. Judson says,
"a missionary for the cause of good
music, increasing the musical public
in proportion to his own personal
activities, apart from his function in
the orchestral unit"
Economy Demands.
That means teaching and playing
here and there where a few extra
dollars can be gained. In teaching,
he must come up against the con-
stant plea for reduction in the
lesson price to meet the budget, or,
sometimes, the idea of people that
economy should be practiced first in
musical education. When he is
asked to take part in some club
function, for instance. he will likely
hear that they have little money to
pay him, although he may wonder
at the sumptuousness of the enter
tainment of which he is a part. At
any rate, he is to be praised for
ekeing out an existance by means Of
all the hard work he is capable of
taking on, yet he should be buoyed
up by the thought that he is a
missionary"
Study and participation in music
Is as fundamental as appreciation. :"
1t is more so, for without the artists
who have studied and brought