Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 9 (1929-06)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 293 June, 1929 " _ 1 1 .. , 11 II I The Musical Ladder By ROBERT DONALDSON DARRELL S ELF-EDUCATION in music all too often seems to mean an attempt to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps. The ordinary hu- man be'ing cannot jump very high; if he wants to climb he has to use a ladder. And the apprecia- tion of music is no more than a gigantic ladder, every rung of which represents a new stage in one's powers of enjoyment and understanding. Enjoyment and understanding—the two terms are inseparable and the mistaken effort to divide them is the ruination of many a promising musi- cal development. The rungs of the ladder have to be taken in order, always progressing from what is familiar and liked to something next above, a little less simple and more novel, but closely enough alike to attract and give enjoy- ment,—consequently readily understandable. The phonograph has an incomparable signifi- cance in the musical education of oneself or of others, for by it alone can music be presented informally, as often as wished, and in a gradually ascending scale. Concerts, fine as they are in making the hearing of music! an exciting and glamorous experience, oftentimes work more harm than good by suddenly presenting works for which beginners are unprepared. They are repelled, sometimes as forcibly as to work in- eradicable harm to their desire for musical ad- vancement. But with records mistakes need never be serious. If a piece bewilders or repels it can be taken off at once and a return made to something simpler and more pleasing. Best of all, the phonograph provides the opportunity of making flank attacks, that is, by playing pieces for novices while their attention is occupied otherwise. Without their knowing it the music is subconsciously absorbed and later, hearing the piece carefully, it is found vaguely familiar and hence understandable. The indiscriminate play- ing of phonographs and radios as an accompani- ment to general conservation has been widely and not unjustly condemned by musicians and edu- cators. But it has this to its credit, that it pain- lessly introduces music which otherwise would never be listed to, or at the best listened to with hostility. It is the purpose of this article and the others that mav follow it to sketch a ladder (or roughly graded listing) of records by which one may pro- gress easily and naturally from the simple to the complex in music. They may be used for self-education or the education of others. The world of music admits all comers and there is a place for everyone. They have but to knock and it will be opened to them. And an entrance to the kingdom of music is merely the beginning; there are lofty peaks to tempt one ever upward to new levels. Of no one can it be said that there is a definite and final limit to his advancement. Given the desire and the opportunity to progress further advancement can always be made. It may be slow, but the regular hearing of the best music one is capable of enjoying will inevitably lead to the hearing—and enjoying—of works just a little bit better, a trifle higher in the musical ladder, a ladder that is capable of infinite ex- tension. There is no definite beginning. Or rather every person has his own beginning. Even those un- fortunates who are supposedly totally lacking in the essentials, hearing, the sense of rhythm and pitch, have derived benefit from the phono- graph and radio, as experiments made in schools and asylums for defectives have demonstrated be- yond a doubt. The phonograph is used as an important part in the musical education of even the tiniest children. If actual defectives and ex- tremely young children are not incapable of climbing the musical ladder, what excuse can there be for the normal man or woman, young or old, saying hopelessly—as so many do, “Oh I can't learn anything about music. I know what I like and that's good enough for me!" What do they like is the question. And the answer in- dicates their starting point on the musical lad- der, a point that may be considerably higher than even they themselves realize. No person is absolutely devoid of musical cul- ture; there is a certain musical heritage that is shared by everyone. In its simplest form it includes the folk and popular songs that literally “everybody knows." There is a wealth of this music available on records, much of it sung or played by great artists, and these records should be among the very first to be played to those who have had no formal musical education whatso- ever. For Americans the Stephen Foster songs, Dixie, Maryland My Maryland, America, and other patriotic songs, have been heard from child- hood. And with these are myriad popular songs, some of which (Alexander's Ragtime Band and Old Man River, for example) are to be con- sidered almost as semi-folk songs. The songs and pieces of Irving Berlin, Carrie Jacobs Bond, Victor Herbert, Ethelbert Nevin, and the marches of John Philip Sousa are a part of the mental equipment of almost every American. Most of them are familiar to other nationalities as well. If a person is of foreign descent he has the further advantage of another musical legacy, the folk music and popular songs of his mother country, heard and loved since earliest child- hood. Here again the phonograph has been on