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54 ' - — THE ATHENAEUM OUR PROSPECTS IN THE REALM OF MUSIC To Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Father of Negro Musicians SurrotntdexUby the deadly fangs of hate, And from his lofty, luminous goal withheld By•-vp.qy.erty’s strong clutch whilst here he dwelt, A hero lived and boldy met his fate. His chosen goal was to be Drovak’s mate; Thus at the shrine of Orpheus he knelt, j>r But v demons, this young knight, this sapling feller! And joyous cherubs oped to him the gate. In years gone by, in years that yet will come, His phantom Knight has wooed his Forest maid And e’er will seek to make his own, her heart. Far in the future, hark! We hear Drake’s Drum! And see. Hiawatha calm and unafraid, This man will live forever in his art. Tq some of us, the possibilities of the advancement of serious music, by our group may not seem very bright when we consider this age. of materialism and the jazz conditions that obtain, with the ever-increasing prejudice of the other race, our advantages may seem to be diminishing and deteriorating so rapidly that the ambi tions of the young Negro musician would seemingly be cut down. “Will we have anyone to carry pn the work of Burleigh, of Dett, of Harrison, White, Hayes, Harreld and the others?” might well be asked; but regardless of what forensic value it may have (if any) it is, at least, quite evident that our possibilities are not nearly as bad as they might be; nor do they show signs of approaching the lowest ebb. i Indeed, one does not need to go out of Atlanta —an exceptional educational center, by the way—to make a study of our prospects. The Misses Mildred Greenwood, Ruth Wheeler, and Hazel Shanks have at their command such pianistic qualities as the master teachers require for the study of a good concert repertoire. Miss Altona Trent, of Atlanta University, combines with an almost flawless technic, a breadth of understanding that is astounding. Her sense of nuance, tone color and rhythm is'superb. John Wheeler, of Morehouse bids fair to become a worthy successor to his illustrious teacher. Benjamin Davis, recently of Morehouse plays the violin with a sonorous and very appealing tone. Remarkably perspicacious is Gamewell Valen tine, recently of il/lorehouse, who composes with some individuality and especially /well-jfor the amount of preparation he has had. And thus we could go oir to point out numerous instances of promising potentialities. Julius Bledsoe, Marian Anderson, Soroma Talley, Edmund Jenkins, little Gertrude Martin and other young musicians are rapidly looming into national and international fame.