SFORZANDO FURIOSO

The ludicrous antics that have to be gone through by members of the Music Department who try to use music books under the present inadequate arrangement would convulse any vaudeville audience, but in Harvard University are only sad. No department should be so handicapped by such bad literary facilities, when in the Physics Department, a stone's throw distant, every drinking fountain is equipped with an individual electric refrigerator--doubtless aiding the progress of science.

Music books are now divided by some Solomon's judgment between basement B in the Widener stacks, and Paine Hall, the music building. Many books in Widener are not catalogued at all; even if they all were, the nature of the material would require more examination than the title page on the catalogue card, which may be sufficient in other subjects. When an undergraduate tries to pass the Cerberus guarding the stacks he is rebuffed, and it is even difficult for a faculty member to get permission for him. Once in the music stacks, the facilities are overwhelming. A single desk below a basement window without an electric light is the sum total.

The music building has few improvements over Widener. The "library" is a badly ventilated room on the top floor, about fifteen feet square, containing a piano, a few books, several awkward tables, unsuited for reading scores, and as many students as can be crammed in the remaining chinks. Afternoons except Saturday and Sunday, and some mornings by special arrangement, this room is open. Here, and in two other rooms that are closed during a class, are the books catalogued "Mus. Lib." and a few more ordered by the department from Widener. To get these to Paine Hall, the professor either carries them himself, or orders them from Widener, for which service the department pays haulage, and has been known to wait one week.

Neither Widener nor the Music Department is to blame for the present chaos. Slowly, as the tutorial system, the reading period, and the general examination were instituted, it has become increasingly necessary for students to have ready access to a wide selection of music. Furthermore, a piano is indispensable to students who are not adopt enough to hear a whole score by glancing at the printed page.

The Pierian Room in Paine Hall is the obvious solution to the whole problem. It can be very easily converted into a reading room, and lined with shelves. The music library now in Widener should be transferred there; and the basement could be used to store the overflow, as there is direct access by a small staircase. No less important is a permanent librarian who knows music, to replace the present one on part time. Any solution takes money, but this proposal is relatively inexpensive, and would give a new lease of life to the Music Department.