18 mins
From theARCHIVE
In his monthly Random Notes column, the anonymous ‘Ike’ discusses the arrival of the talkies, and the collective panic they’ve caused among cinema musicians
The advent of the “Sound- Film, ” has caused much anxiety to orchestral musicians all over the world, and my post-bag is full of letters from players in theatres and cinemas asking what I think to the present situation, and what can be done to avert the threatened disaster.
The “Sound-Film” has come to stop; as it improves in its technique, so will “canned” music as the Americans call it, improve and widen its field; and as broadcast music becomes more and more indispensable, the demand for really first-class musicians will increase. At the moment matters are too much in a state of flux for one to be able to prophesy just what is going to happen in the immediate future; but it looks as if there is to be keen competition between broadcast music, the gramophone companies, and the “Sound- Film” producers. The present stage is that each of these bodies is trying to secure a controlling interest in famous orchestras, or to secure the services of skilled men in their particular line of production. It may be that very soon we shall see theatres and concert-halls leased or bought by one or other of the great film combines, or by the B.B.C. or the gramophone companies. Thus each form of mechanically produced music will have a controlling interest or a monopoly in the sources and means of musical production. Musicians who are wide-awake will follow the lead of several famous conductors; drop their antipathy to the mechanical methods of reproducing music, and bend their energies to perfecting themselves in the particular kind of musicianship required. In other words: specialise.
The man who can compose or arrange music for the “Sound-Film” has a splendid future before him; the small band or combination of players who can record or broadcast correctly and effectively will find much demand for their services. We have already seen how the gramophone has been the means of increasing the reputation of well-known players. And this acts in two ways; people who hear these famous artists for the first time immediately purchase records of their playing, whilst people who have only heard them on the gramophone, crowd to their concerts and recitals.
“But, ” I may be asked, “What hope does this hold out to the ordinary musician, who can never hope to rise beyond a cinema band or cafe trio?” Very little, I am afraid. As I have previously stated, it is the well-trained musician who will hold his own, and the nondescript player who will have to fight to retain his position. So I advise orchestral musicians not to take too seriously all they read in the daily newspapers, but to continue to work at their instruments, with the assurance that there is always room at the top.
JULIEN MIGNOT
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