The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1944-12-07

There were faces unregarded, there
were faces to forget;
There were fires of grief and fear that
are a few forgotten ashes;
There were sparks of recognition that
are not forgotten yet"
If one were to write a local history
of music what people would be in the
Who's Who column, and for what rea-
son?
Measuring their achievements by
contemporary standards none of them
have found a SECURE niche in general
American musical history. Perhaps if
some of the names mentioned had
lived in locality with wider sphere
of artistic stimulus their career might
have had a larger residuum of musical
influence and prestige. All small COM
munities in America have been prac-
tically uninhabitable for the serious
musician. 1t should be otherwise-for
the small community is much more
ideal for creative work than the large
cities. Yet even to this day our best
talent is forced to live in the larger
centers. This fact alone contributes
more to the dearth Of originality than
any other single factor. Musicians
must also make living. In order to
do this, whether it be composing, per-
forming or teaching, they can't sue
coed unless they tie up with some
wholesale medium of their art. Fur
thermore if they move to small COM
munity they lose face. They must
live strenuously among large masses
of people and have a successful pub
licity build-up'. As a result most
American musicians have big names
and little souls.
Oakland, like myriads of other small
American communities, have 'tolerat-
ed periodically certain poplc whose
purpose in life had to do with art
suppose no other country in any pre-
ceding civilization has been so domi-
nantly musical in its artistic bent as
America. There are fifty first rate
musicians to every one painter and a
much wider ratio in numbers between
the musician and other branches of
the art. There are psychological rea-
sons for this almost exclusive interest
in music. America being young,
feels the dynamcs of life. Music is
that branch of art that expresses dy-
namism, whether in obsolete rythms
of the more integral rythms, the
tempt of thought and action in mod
ern society.
Certainly there have been more de-
voices of the musical art in Oakland
than in any of the other arts thus far.
In my last article, which had to do
with John Grant Robinson, | called
attention to his contribution to local
music, and that he was the first train
ed musician to identify himself with
the people here in the mountains
About the time he appeared on the
scene Prof. Theide of Baltimore came
here in the summertime and gave les
sons. A number of musicians aSSOci-
ated with Chautaqua could be men
toned. In very few instances could
IL L., ;,i
Most of them were trick performers
catering to a popular public that must
always hear a basso sing Crooked in
The Cradle of The Deep" and wait
with abatcd breath until his rcsound-
ing voice would roll down into the
sub-sub-ccllar and there smother out
amidst a vociferous applause. Chau
tauqua in its hey-day was Lecture
minded. The musical part Of the pro-
gram was a film. The really serious
and important part was the address of
some famous orator Perhaps the
nearest Chautaqua came to the pre-
Scntation of honest musical perform
ances were Male QuartetS such as The
Lyric, The Apollo and The Weber 1t
is interesting to note that one Chau-
tauqua season local quartet was fea-
tured. 1t consisted of the Nelson
brothers. Walter Johns and John
Grant Robinson, coach, and first ten
or. They had good taste, using fine
selection of male quartet literature.
But to get back to our local musi-
cians-thc teacher with the longest
and most successful record was the
dimunitive, sensitive, lovable Miss
Daisy Grant. Here was great teach
CT. Those who came under the spell
of her personality and her craft will
always remain indebted to her. | am
one of that number. One of the real
regrets is that when she offered to
teach me, was at the time mentally
mprcpared to take advantage of the
opportunity. | dimly surmiscd that
here was a teacher that knew her
business, but my response to her long,
patient entreaties were pathetically
dull | look back in amazemcnt at
her patience. am sure she was
Fecnly disappointed in me. Never
thelcss, as | look back, Daisy Grant
does not fade; her fame glows all the
more brighter. OF her local pupils
three | remember did some outstand-
ing work: Dwight Townshcnd, Mrs.
Eleanor Hnebaugh Fraley, and Julius
Littman. There were others Of course