Evening star., 1945-08-21

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name Of Joe Billow Anyway, Tony
was too eager about the whole thing
One night he blew little harder
than usual and cracked his lip. A
promising career as a trumpet play
er was ended.
II decided to try singing as last
resort" Tony said.
Well, girls there you are. you can
see the results for yourself.
X X X
Before you break down and buy
junior that set of drums he's been
bounding you for-Stop and recon-
slider.
At last we've discovered what
makes drummers click or pound or
whatever the jive boys do. James
jerome, ex-faculty member Of the
Cincinnati Conservatory Of Music
and for 20 years a member Of the
percussion section of the Cincin-
natl Symphony gave us the real
lowdown.
"Drummers," he informed us,
who were real musicians were diff
ficult to find. One had to dis
tinguish between the boys who could
read and interpret music and those
who merely knew how to chew gum
in time with the music. For in
stance" he explained, most people
don't know that any one can be-
come an expert drummer in three
or four years. 1t takes one year
under a good teacher who knows
the rudiments of the instrument
and then two or three years ex-
perience with a band or orchestra. y
Here's the interesting part of the
story, however. Good drummers
with just this background are
scarce Drummers may be a dime
a dozen but not good drummers.
"If pop breaks down and buys the
drums juniors been begging for" !"
Mr.. Jerome explained, Junior will
either drop the teacher after two or
three lessons or not even bother
to take that many. Chances are
he'll putter around with the sticks
for a few months, take spot in a
band and usually get away with it..
Truly sad state of affairs said
Mr.. Jerome shaking his head.
How about the tympani," we in
quired?
Things In this department, Mr..
Jerome doesn't think are in quite
the same state. 1t would seem all
you need to play the tympani is
good ear.
'If you can tune against an en-
tire orchestra going full blast you're
OK" Mr.. Jerome commented.
What will probably surprise you,
however. is what Mr.. Jerome con-
siders the most distinguished and
important member of the percus-
sion family That tiny instrument
known as the triangle is what gets
his vote. Not valued at more than
SIPS, the tone effects it is able to
produce even against an entire
orchestral background are almost
unbelievable, Jerome explained.
In fact, the Spectator has an un-
confirmed suspicion that the musi-
clan would enjoy playing the tri-
angle for Lotus patrons this week
much more so than those intricate
numbers he executes on the ma
rimba.
However, Lotus patrons probably
haven't given it too much thought.
X \
It's not fair to hoard so much
musical talent in one family. Ac-
tually it's a wonder high C's aren't
coming out of Lowell Pontee's ears
or that he hasn't suffered, before
this, from pink bassons or maybe
dotted half notes before his eyes.
Lowell was the singing guitar
player responsible for a fourth of
the music you heard on opening
night in the Blue Mirror The other
three-fourths he coaxed from his
mighty fine trio.
But back to Lowell's musical
heritage He's one of four brothers
all engaged in music making. For
instance, Charles, the eldest brother,
plays a mere seven instruments
Anthony. now overseas, divides his
time between piano playing and
composing, while Frank, also in
uniform, dabbles in trumpet playing
to the extent of holding down a
solo spot with a band.
Oh yes, dad is really the hep cat
of the family. At 10 years old he's