Evening star., 1941-12-07
By Alice Eversman.

ny AHCP CerSW0n.
1t is common occurrence to
hear adults, who as children have
studied the piano. express de-
termination to take it up again.
Somehow or other they never get
around to it, partly because it seems
such a big undertaking and partly
because they do not know how to
go about it.
Yet they would like to brighten
their lives with little personal
music making or cultivate a more
intimate knowledge of the works
heard on concert programs or over
the air. Many would like to adopt
music as hobby and since they
had some foundation in childhood,
naturally turn to the piano to real
lze their ambition.
All these hindrances to taking up
the piano again in a serious way
have been brushed aside in Charles
Cookies delightful book, Playing
the Piano for Pleasure" Mr.. Cooke
Is neither a professional musician
nor teacher. He is a newspaper
man. He studied the piano, as
many others have done, all his life
more or less. Becoming seriously
interested in his adult years, he
began to figure out how he could
acquire repertoire that he could
play acceptably. The result OF his
experiments are given in his book.
How to Practice.
Not only does he give suggestions
for a repertoire, but he has ar
ranged his list progressively as 10
difficulty. Furthermore, he tells
how to practice and how to conquer
those particular passages that have
the faculty of remaining constant
stumbling block to performance.
He discusses technique from the
viewpoint of an amateur pianist
and gives good advice on a method
OF memorizing.
The book is written in an enter
tanning style, and reading what the
writer has accomplished by the
simplest means is bound to attain
the end for which it was written.
More people will be inspired to take
up piano playing as a hobby.
The Columbia Light Opera Co.
Ethyl Manning. director. will pre-
sent another of its delightful Gil
bert and Sullivan performances.
when The Gondoliers" will be given
tomorrow. Tuesday and THURSDAY
evenings in Roosevelt High School
Auditorium.
Growing Excellence.
The leading roles will be taken
by the same young singers who
have attracted attention by the
constantly growing excellence of
their work. Some of the principal
parts will be alternated between
two singers. but in the opening per-
formance the characters will be in
the hands of Howard Moore, Jean
nette Bittner. David Manley. Clarke
Paulsen, Edith Jones and Con-
stance Kruger. Seventy three
singers will be included in the cast.
which will be trained in a profess
sional manner by Mrs. Manning.
Whatever the musical status of
an individual. he can seldom resist
the charm of the immortal works
from the pens of these two unusual
men. Not long ago. and it is ap-
propriate to call attention to it now.
a book was published by Simon e.
Schuster called "A Treasury of Gil
bert and Sullivan" Here are l02
songs from II operettas, illustrated
in most colorful fashion by Lucille
Corcos, with piano arrangements by
DR.. Albert Sirmay.
The most delightful part Of the
book. however, is Deems Taylors
histories of the operettas. They
are arranged in order of writing,
and Mr.. Taylor precedes each with
the facts that surround the COL
liberation Of the authors.
Step by step one follows the
growth of this remarkable musical
friendship in way to feel thor
oughly acquainted with the two
men. The illustrations are beauti-
full and can be used as a reference
for the costumes of the period.