Evening star., 1944-11-13
This and That
Bp Charles Z. TrncetDell.

The cold, raw morning air streamed
in, with the din OF carriages from the
street below, human voices and 4 great
chorus of sparrows."
50 We see that 1sak Dinesen knew her
birds. This great chorus of sparrows.
Of which she speaks in her Winters
Tales" is one Of the salient features Of
a sometimes despised species.
This chorus may be heard by any one
all winter long through the simple ex-
pedient OF putting out something for
them to eat in the afternoon.
During the cold months the afternoon
is the sparrow singing time. Many per-
sons think Of spring and summer as the
bird singing time, and they are right,
in the main.
The sparrows are an exception.
They will sing for their supper, liter
ally, provided they have had their
lunch! Here we see what practical
small creatures they are. Who would
not sing better with 4 full stomach?
Athletes may do better without food
at the time Of competition, but players
on musical instruments do their best
right after they had had something
to eat.
A snack, as it were, not a full meal.
A great violinist once said that he
always sneaked away to get little food
Immediately before 4 concert Critics
have been known to eat q plate Of pan
cakes and drink 4 cup Of coffee before
going into the hall.
Certainly it is nothing to be wondered
At, then, that our simple everyday spar
rows. the house sparrows of Europe do
better by their singing when they have
dined previously and have the prospect
OF eating more before the day ends.
Sunshine helps them.
With the stimulus of the rays, they
gather in the shrubbery, or on a fence,
to chirp and chatter away. Now even
the English sparrow enthusiast, of which
we hold ourselves one, cannot assert
that the individual song is anything
much. There Is here nothing of the
form and pattern Of the wood thrush
song. or the cheerful calling of the
cardinal, or even of the wild warble Of
the robin calling for rain.
It Is together, as a group, that the
sparrows make their best music. Then
one birds effort combines with that of
its neighhor, and the total effect is
something which rightly may be called
chorus, q great chorus of sparrows,"
If you please.
Certain musicians Of the great South
ern Pacific seas, where our boys are now
tghting that we may remain free, know
and use the same rises and falls Of their
music just as the sparrows do.
Taken instrument by instrument, and
performer by performer, their orchestral
ehects would be nothing at all, not
worth listening to; but when they are
combined, and given the depth of GER
tain booming Instruments, which are
sort OF combinations of tubes and gongs,
the music comes to the grateful ears as
something rare and exotic. With simple
instruments and without form as we
know it, they have managed to give real
orchestral music of 4 sort which, for all
its strangeness, has many Of the at
tributes OF our greatest symphony or
carnations.
1t Is not too much to say that the
English sparrows achieve something of
the same effect, but the listener has to
listen for it before he will be able to
get It," He must, In other words, put
.AAAAASoAA - oJAPneAy WIFI DUH tLc per.
formers and the music they are making.
But the same may be said of the greatest
artists. Just as some unthinking people
sneer at symphony music because they
DO not understand" it, a. they say, so
English sparrow critics might hear
heavenly music in the afternoon with
out realizing how good it is.
One OF the drawbacks of any criti-
cism Is that 1t has a finality about it
which 1t often does not deserve. The
thing Is good, the thing ia bad, and
that's that-but is it? The sympathetic
heart and mind have q great deal to do
with artistic matters, and it is to the
credit of most critics OF musical mat
tsrs that they more often praise where
praise Is not due than the other way
around.
Let the listener keep this in mind
when he hears the afternoon chorus Of
sparrow music, either at home or in the
downtown streets. In 4 world at war,
where hopeless confusion seems to bog
down humanity from its original destiny
Is children Of light, let the song Of the
EnslisA spa,rovt come ~ q message
Of cheer and hoes. II these simple folk
a. - AAeeV. NAy eaat ~ q