The Baton: Vol. 4, No. 4 - January, 1925 - The Juilliard School

12 THE BATONlafnnPublished Monthly at 120 Claremont Avenue, New York CityCopyrighted, 1925, by the Institute of Musical ArtEditor-in-ChiefDOROTHY CROWTHERSAssistants to the EditorBEATRICE KLUENTERWILLIAM KNAPPANNA LAPIDUSArt DepartmentRUTH CAIRNSCONSTANTINO ZAINOAdvertising RepresentativeDOROTHY JENKINSSubscription for SeasonNine Issues, October to June$1.00 in the Building$1.25 by MailSingle Copies—15 centsVOL. IV. JANUARY, 1925 No. 4A BOOK REVIEWBy IV. J. HendersonKeyboard Harmony by George A. Wedge,G. Schirmer, New York.The system of harmony study at the keyboardwhich has been developed at the Institute is notin need of commendation to the students. Withoutdoubt professors of the rigidly pedagogictype who dominated music study in the last centuryWould frown upon the idea of permitting thestudent actually to hear his harmonies at the momenthe was making them; but those who haveobserved the vitalizing results of Mr. Wedge'smethod of keyboard study will hardly think ofreverting to the exclusive use of the abstractprocess.The book in which Mr. Wedge has set forthhis system is one of the clearest text books thewriter has- ever met. Any pupil of ordinary intelligenceshould have no difficulty in comprehendingits instructions or carrying out its practise.The writer was particularly pleased withthe treatment of five-seven and five-nine chords.It might interest and amuse some of the studentsto know that one of the distinguished composersof modernist music points out, as if it were acelestial revelation, the fact that the chord ofthe dominant seventh already contains in itselfthe polytonal system of superposition of one keyon another because the triad G, B, D, is in Gmajor and the added third, D, F, is in D minor.Mr. Wedge makes no confusing excursions intosuch imaginary territory, but keeps strictly tothe letter of the fundamental law. No boy or girlwho has once read his simple statement of theconstruction and resolution of seventh and ninthchords will forget them, nor will any one who hasmastered this part of the book find much topuzzle him in advanced harmony.The value of a firm grasp of the fundamentalsof musical art will be felt by every pupil whomasters this work and the endeavor to create neweffects by strange combinations of tones will notblind him to the fact that the root of all music, nomatter how extreme its idiom, is the diatonicsystem. A mastery of this system will give thestudent the key to all that has grown out of itor been grafted upon it. And the writer knows ofno method of study which will more surely fixthe principles in the mind of students than thatwhich is so admirably disclosed in Mr. Wedge'sbook.THE INSTITUTE ANNEXWe announce with pride the opening of thenew extension to the Institute on January 5th,at the beginning of the second term. Our quartershave long been too small to accommodatethe ever increasing host of students, so last yearour plans were formulated and actual buildingwas started during the summer. We had hopedto occupy it in October but were prevented fromdoing so by unavoidable delays. However weare now at home in the new addition and theschool work proceeds with greater facility thanever before.The building contains twenty-one rooms usedfor class and individual instruction. Interestcenters in the large hall on the top floor wherethe orchestra practices on Thursdays and a classin Dalcroze Eurythmics meets on Saturday mornings.We have also installed three organs so thatthe students in that department now have ampleopportunity for practice.Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made tothe Trustees of the Institute, through whose generositywe were able to raise several hundredthousand dollars to erect and equip with all modernconveniences our handsome and comfortablenew edifice.•—B. C. Jacobs."Falsiaff"The revival of Verdi's "Falstaff" is the outstanding eventof the. operatic season. It is one of the finest productionsin Metropolitan history. The cast includes such notableartists as Bori, Gigli and Scotti in the title role. It alsobrought sudden fame to Tibbett, an American baritone.