GIVE CHARACTER TO YOUR RECITAL.

BY ARNOLD WAHLE.

MANY teachers have found it very desirable from the business and social standpoint to give each recital a distinctive character. It should be remembered that at all times the recitals must appeal to the pub1ic the teacher desires to reach. In many cases this public is none too musical. Often the conventional pupils' recital may fail to attract because it is given in too perfunctory a manner. Great interest may in some cases be added by giving the recital a special setting. For instance, the teacher who makes her fall recital a little out of the ordinary by decorating her studio with autumn leaves, or the one who gives a special recital commemorating some important musical event is evading the commonplace and touching the human side of the non-musical parent in a way which will be remembered when all else is forgotten. Of course, some teachers feel themselves under certain stilted ethical bonds which will not permit them to go beyond the limits which govern the professional pianist when playing in a recital hall. These teachers often make the mistake of having their recitals too uninteresting and too uneventful. A plentiful supply of roses in June (the recital season) makes it possible for the teacher to add much to the attractiveness of the studio or the stage by the addition of these beautiful flowers. This seems to give a note of color to the whole event. In all cases, however, it should not be forgotten that additions of this sort will never take the place of real musical efficiency upon the part of the pupils. At best they are but the frame for the picture.

A well prepared program and an attractive invitation form add greatly to the interest of the recital and easily repay for the few dollars spent to secure these additions. Program blanks can now be obtained with an attractive cover-page and ample room inside to write in or print in the program numbers. These are very inexpensive. The reader can readily see how the blank of an invitation similar to that illustrated on this page would add greatly to a June recital or "Rose Time Recital." The teacher who desires to save expense may take this issue of THE ETUDE to a printer and have a line cut of this made. This will save tile cost of "setting up" and will make a very pretty invitation form with a design much more attractive than that which might be obtained at the local printer's. The cost of such a line cut should be in the vicinity of three dollars. The paper and printing would be extra.

A Rose program selected from the following list for a "Rose Time Recital'' should be practical and very fascinating to the average audience, when spring is here in all its wonderful glory.

Piano Pieces: ‘‘Bridal Roses," G. L. Spaulding; "Rose Petals," Paul Lawson ; "In the Rose Garden," H. Reinhold; "Love anti Roses (waltz), W. Rolfe ; "Pansies and Roses" L. P. Braun ; "June Roses," G.L. Spaulding; "Brier Rose," G. F. Hamer; "In Fragrance of Roses," W. Muller; "Pathway of Roses," C. W. Kern; "In a Path of Roses," S. F. Wilkeln; "Butterfly and the Rose," P. W. Achs; "Rose Fay," C. Heins ; "Valse Rose," P. Renard.

Songs: "Message of the Rose," L. F. Gottschalk; "One Glimpse, Beloved of the Rose,'' P. A. Schnecker; "A Red, Red Rose," J. H. Rogers; "Three Roses Red," H. A. Norris ; "The Parting Rose," Wm. H. Pontius.