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Show American Musicians Are Returning to Old Haunts ' After World War Strain From the music of cannon and the rhythm of marching feet, back to the quiet hunnony of studio and concert hull. Hundreds of musicians in America threw down their bow and their baton to enter the war. To some the idea was just a bit ludicrous the emotional emo-tional musician engaged in the brutal, uncomfortable business of fighting. To those who knew the patriotic fervor fer-vor and adaptability of these inspired music makers, there was more than a little anxiety for the peace future of warrior musicians. How would the delicate mechanism of their psychology psychol-ogy be affected by an activity so powerful pow-erful and so far from their normal desires? Some musicians like David Hoch-stein, Hoch-stein, the young violinist who lost his life in the Argonne. will never return. But unassuming numbers of them have taken their places again in the ranks of players. One may hear them in the theater orchestra. They are playing In the cabaret jazz band, content con-tent to return to the humdrum of the life which was so enthralling to them before the war. It may be a bit stale to them now. But the reaction will soon set in, has already come to many who have lost the first restless craving crav-ing for excitement that they felt on their return from the front. Percy Grainger, Australian pianist, has returned to his old job of composing compos-ing and concertising. Irving Berlin, king of popular music, has stopped inspiring in-spiring the soldier and has set his brilliant talents to inspiring the soldier sol-dier in civilian life. Albert Spalding, one of the greatest of America's violinists, violin-ists, Is on his way home from the front. His old job of fiddling and making the world safe for cultwe Is waiting for him, and he will take It gladly. Pianists, tenors, trombonists are all slipping back into the old paths and are glad to be there. |