Young Artists of New Rochelle

Abstract

competitive Amateur Music Night was presented in New Rochelle, New York, as an event in the summer recreation program. Among the participants were a soprano with a liberal tremolo but a beautiful gown; a blind boy whose Seeing Eye dog led him to a hopelessly out-of-tune piano on which he played Beethoven's Fuir Elise; a young classical clarinetist, attracted by the small cash prize; and two rock groups, loud and routine. The judges argued. The audience was thinning out when the prize was finally awarded to one of the rock groups. I had accompanied the clarinetist, and a friend of mine was one of the judges. When we next met at a piano teachers' workshop, we discussed the sad plight of youngsters who might want to play classical music in public. They had no chance for anything but