DownBeat January 22, 1970 [antikvár]

V 4 His Mother M Never ^H|||||| Ja H Dreamed He Would Start Out WHIMii Flaying in a Cathouse. When Eubie Blake took his first job playing ragtime piano at Aggie Shelton's Baltimore Brothel, his mother threw a fit. And when Euhie played at Greenfeld's Saloon for gamblers, pimps and hip-swinging whores, Mrs. Blake had no mercy. So Eubie went to Atlantio City and played for another kind of audience. "Hey, Eubie! Give me my song!" cried Irving Berlin. "Hey, Eubie! Lemme see you do that again!" begged pianists like James P. Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith, who came from New York to hear him play. But Eubie was still not content. So he went to Broadway and wrote a song for Sophie Tucker. And then he wrote a song for Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward. And then he wrote his ragtime operetta, "Shuffle Along," which helped laimch the Negro cultural renaissance of the Twenties and gave Harry Truman his campaign song ("I'm Just Wild About Harry") 26 years before he decided to nm. Now Columbia Records presents the music that made Eubie's story: "The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake." A two-record set (produced by his long-time friend, John Hammond) which begins with the songs he played at Aggie's Brothel and ends with his famous "Memories of You," music he made popular up to 60 years ago and rerecorded especially for this i^BulllJJFJIL IIJLIAIIJI may all have started ^BljilSIHmIiIy )mi WiK^B behind closed doors for Eubie ^iHf]] 1 Üli I] In il1fT!nH^H Blake, but it didn't stay there ^^^BiAiMpM for Ön Columbia Records MWCHOIS By CHARLES SUBER LAST issuii WC began to list some of the many ways music educators and students can get with a total and varied music program. Wc left off with the admonition not to slruclure young musicians into forms or styles to fit the aesthetic notions of the educator. Now let's go on to some more particulars on what the with-it music educator needs for his survival. 8. Learn and teach arranging. Beginning at high school level, it is safe to say that a worthwhile, viable contemporary music program cannot exist without student arrangers. Before you can have student arrangers, you must offer theory and harmony. With the good texts now available there is no unsurmountable problem. Please don't be defensive and say that there is no more time in the school day. If the students want and need it, there is some time, some place. A more understandable block might be rustiness or lack of knowledge on the principles and techniques of arranging. But if you consider the creative opportunities you can open up with your students, (re)learn with them. The word is rapport. 9. Learn and teach the basis of improvisation. If all your previous musical orientation has been "serious", the closest you have come to improvisation is someone else's cadenza. If you have some jazz background, you may still find it difficult to teach improvisation. In either case you must get and use the new improvisation methods now available. Remember that improvisation can be learned; it is not some mysterious power open to a chosen few. (No, you can't learn to improvise like Miles Davis. But you can learn to improvise to the extent of your own sensitivities.) 10. Prepare new music curricula outlines for your administrator or your school board. If you want some good samples ask the following people, they will be glad to help. For elementary grades: Dr. Herb Wong. Principal of the Elementary Lab School, University of California, Berkley; Clem De Rosa, 11 Bayard Drive, Dix Hills. Commack, New York 11725. For junior and senior high schools: George Wiskirchcn, C.S.C., Notre Dame High School for Boys. Dempster Road, Niles, 111.; Mrs. Lena McCHn (for a music major), Kenwood High School, 4959 South Blackstone. Chicago, 111.; Mrs. Robin Stringer, Borel Jr. High School, San Mateo, Calif. For college level: Dr. Paul Tanner, School of Music. Univ. of California at Los Angeles, Calif.; Dr. Gene Hall, Stephan Austin University, Nacogdoches. Tex.; David Baker, School of Music. Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. 11. Apply student musical performance and arranging abilities to a multi-media pattern. A good place to start is to write (or arrange) music for your local film society. The challenge is excellent. The results are satisfying and on-going. You don't have to wait to learn frame-by-frame synchronization. You can start by using your existing library to create backgrounds. Then start to re-arrange (and re-voice) the charts for better effects and relevance to the film story line or abstract concept. (In the March 5, 1970 issue of down boat, we are starting a regular instruction column on how to write for cinema and TV films.) There will be more to come. In the meantime, stretch out.