- May 6, 1966

THE HAVERFORD NEWS - THE COLLEGE NEWS

i Eleven

 

' Bluegrass Displays Instrumental Virtuosity

Mostly out of curiosity, partly at the suggestion of
George Stavis, I crept into Roberts Hall last Friday for
my first encounter with Bill Monroe and bluegrass music.
I found the first five minutes almost exciting; the musi-
cians played with pretty ferocious spontaneity and ac-
curacy, a clear knowledge of each other and the tricks
of group improvisation; there were even elements of
virtuosity. To fasten attention on the music itself was
disastrous; when, inevitably, one started noticing it the
evening started rolling down-hill,

After several selections, it became evident that the
only ‘thing distinguishing one piece from another was
tempo, and the occasional intrusion of vocal line, For-
tuitously, Monroe’s garbled diction saved the audience
from what must have been singularly fatuous lyrics, But
the whine of those nasal voices, that insistence on the
natural fourth, that crouched and smiling bass line, those
innocuous cadences -- the monotony. of it all drew out
whatever -blood and fervor were present in the perform-
ance’s folk idiom! ’

There is no question that a lot of training is demanded
for music of such immediacy and energy. The violinist
had tight grip on clean intonation and healthy bowing, and
he seemed to be one of the blessed. few who enjoy per-

-_forming, adding a little life to the grey-and-poker-faced

presence of the banjoist and Monroe himself. But as is

Bluegrass Music

Bill Monroe’s attraction to urban audtehces is diffi-
cult to fathom, His music does not-possess the complex-
ity of classical or modern efforts, so the intellect is
not sated by that~means, In fact, any attempt to dis-
parage Monroe for his lack of complexity must neces-
sarily fail, for this ignores the basis of the music,

One of the first attractions of the city audience to
Bluegrass is the instrumental virtuosity, The music is
often fast and difficult to play. But a great deal of
creativity is also involved, Much as in jazz, the stan-
dard pattern is to set up a simple melody and then play
variations and improvisations, This often leads to wild-
ly different versions with subtle syncopations and tim-

Marnie Provides

May Day Idiocy

The May Weekend was graced by the showing of
Alfred Hitchcock’s delightful MARNIE, As the smoke
lifted and the lights died, MARNIE began with some of
the most ridiculous acting seen in Haverford’s crop of
movies this year. Sean Connery, hairy chest and all,
played opposite Tippi Hedren (Oh, most mellifluous of
names!),

. Connery was not playing his famous superman role,
but rather a super-god role, however obviously neurotic,
He not only befriended but married and cured (in that
order, of course) the poor, beautiful, ‘‘lying, cheating,
stealing but ‘decent’ ’’ Marnie,

Having married her, his real fun starts, No, not that
way. She is frigid and he is ‘‘kind’’ but he has the great
fun of reading up on Freud, listening to her nightmares
sleuthing around (or rather, having someone do it for
him--he’s not Bond now), and caring, With the aid of a
farsical sister-in-law (Oh, what beautiful lines she has),
his millions, Alfred Hitchcock controlled storms, and
‘gobs of ridiculousness, he, in short, effects her dra-
matic cure, For those of you who had the great mis-
fortune of missing the film, I shall spare the gory
details and simply say that in the midst of Marnie’s
recall of a bloody and beautiful substitute for a primal
scene, it turns out that her mother loves her after all,
Exit the two love birds to live happily after.

A hearty round of applause should gotoall the storms,
colors, camera men and cliches that make MARNIE the
treat it is. Mitchell Wangh

 

typical of most popular music, the playing of the group
invoked, mainly, the embroidery of a few basic patterns
of bowing or fingering, over the simplest of progressions.

Monotonous

ing changes, Richard Greene, Monroe’s fantastic fid-
dler, demonstrated his creations to the enthusiastic
audience in his versions of traditional tunes like ‘‘Old
Joe Clark’? and the TOUR DE FORCE, the ‘‘Orange
Blossom Special,’’

Monroe shone in his compositions such as ‘‘Rawhide,’’
and ‘*Roanoke,’’ the first of which has become the stan-
dard piece for all aspiring mandolinists, Lamar Grier,
the banjoist, while not as fldshly as the others, dis-
played competence and imagination in both his backup
and lead, The rhythmic backdrop was provided by Pete
Rowan’s excellent. guitar work and James Monroe’s
solid, if uninspired, bass,

The other element of Bluegrass music, the vocals, is
more likely to be ignored by the urban listener, Yet
this is where the music carries its meaning. The sing-
ing -has a raw, emotive character which has the same
roots, if a different expression, as Negro country and
blues singing, Monroe, for example, learned much of his
style from a Negro blues fiddler with whom he played
in his youth, The singing in Friday’s concert was car-
ried mainly by Monroe and Pete Rowan, the guitarist.
Rowan’s singing, like Monroe’s, was clear and strong,
if lacking in range of dynamics, Monroe himself, with
his imaginative tenor harmonies and a voice that is
solid from the top to bottom of its range, provided the
vocal highlights of the evening.

In ‘‘Wayfaring Stranger,’’ ‘‘I See the Light,’’ ‘Uncle
Pen,’’ and ‘‘Sweetheart of Mine, Can’t You Hear Me
Calling,’”’ the group collaborated in smooth and exciting
part-singing, and Monroe’s rendition of ‘‘Muleskinner
Blues’? is something hard to forget. Those who think
of Bluegrass as loud and flashy should note how Monroe
controls his voice, with great sensitivity and deep feeling,
over a range from a murmer to a shout,

The music, then, is of folk origins which reflect
the feelings and needs of the people who developed as
their own expression, In the hands of an artist like
Monroe, this feeling can be expressed to audiences
other than the people for whom it was originally in-
tended, There may be some who find this music coarse
compared to the classical fare we are used to, But folk
music is not trying to replace Mozart and Haydn--
nor Boulez and Stravinsky. It is -- an exciting personal
music, and structurally simple, quite different from
classical, It does not pretend to immortality. However
a diet of unremitting profundity leaves one witha Gothic-
towered, Teutonic mind, The great composers needn’t
turn in their graves if we hear some country music be-
tween symphonies, DF DalMaso

 

\giplecdac Norman Miller brings his Boy Scouts to the cook-in.

 

 

 

Monroe and The Blue Grass: Boys

  

My response was admiration for the cleverness and the
difficulty of the patterns, the network and its articulation
among the group. I don’t care to remark on how different
this is from one’s feelings toward the far more sophisti-
cated technical accomplishments of an Odetta, a Baez;
to mention nothing of the warmth or depth of the Ameri-
can folk ballad at its best.

The audience, or rather most of them, did not share
my disappointment, Devotees shouted requests and heaped
violent: applause on the performers. The music had its
appeal, granted; the Arts Series does have its obligations
to popular taste. However, I would venture to say that the
value of ‘*Blue-grass’’ music, like all strictly improvis-
atory music, is in playing it, not in listening to it, Taking
out a guitar and putting your spirit into it can be great
fun and very healthy; but it is only sometimes music.
Monroe and cohorts do some interesting things, and get
some interesting sounds; musically they are static, and
they can only reinforce moods in an audience, not lead
them to the higher experiences of more demanding listen-
ing.

Discipline doesn’t stop with virtuosity, or technique;
it begins with that. I think, what ‘‘Blue-grass’”’ needs is
an attitude that will make greater demands on it, as is
the case with other forms of popular music, And here it
has a subtly defined importance, the refinement of public
taste. Unless such developments occur, I am going to
read a novel or the newspapers when Bill Monroe per-
forms. again; I don’t want to go out of my way to find the
banal,

George Stavis and Paul Breslin

Beethoven’s Mass
Highlights Night

The combined choral groups of Bryn Mawr and Hav-
erford Colleges, together with the Bryn Mawr-Haver-
ford Orchestra, performed Beethoven’s ‘‘Mass in C
Major’’ Friday evening, April 22, in Goodhart Hall under
the. direction of Robert Goodale, The performance was a
solid, satisfying one, There were intonation problems in
the strings at times, and an entry in the ‘*Credo’’ that
came out impressionistic rather than classical,
but these flaws did not offset the total impression of
cleanness and balance.

This ‘‘Mass’” is a straight forward and vigorous,
yet lyrical work, abounding with dramatic loud-soft
contrasts and unexpected twists of harmony, All these |
features came out clearly. The orchestra (which had
prepared the work in a very short time) did well, and
the chorus did even better, especially in the energetic
fugal passages, The four soloists were Patrice Pastore,
soprano; Sarah Matthews, alto; Howell Zulick, tenor,
and Robert Goss, baritone. Each one deserves praise
for the graceful blending of the four voices that made their
passages--mostly ensemble ones--a delight to hear,

Though in some parts of Goodhart the balance was
said not to be good (par for the course in Goodhart),
from where I sat it was excellent, Cetain soft passages,
Much as the ‘‘Et sepultus est’’ might have been effec-
tive even softer, but in general the dynamics were well
pointed up. Mr. Goodale’s knowledge and love of the
piece were evident in his finely-wrought presentation
of it.

The concert began with a repeat of the earlier
performance of the Marcello oboe concerto with Ed-
mund Hazzard, ’66, as soloist and Alexander Blachly;
’67, as conductor, As before, Hazzard’s outstanding
playing and Blachly’s clear aiid careful conducting lent
a momentary glow of spendor to the rather routine
Baroque cliches of the music,

Professor John Davison