Woman playing guitar

Human nature is a moody thing—breaking out unexpectedly in unexpected ways, and in an evening’s program it is quite likely that special interest may center on an oboe solo or some other such musical hors d’oeuvre. There are times when one may respond quite vividly to a concertina.

This side of music is also taken care of in the Victor Catalogue. There is, we believe, not one instrument in general use anywhere in the Western world which may not be heard by means of the Victrola, in solos or in small combinations. There are cornet records, trombone, harp, mandolin, guitar, banjo, xylophone, chimes, balalaika, Hawaiian guitars, marimba, zither, cembalom and others, including even the street piano, affording solos in infinite variety and a few such records are highly acceptable additions to any collection.

It is on just such instruments as these that the composer depends for the introducing of special effects. The oboe is curiously suggestive of the East, as castanets are of Spain and the Latin Americas, and when one’s fancy happens to run in that direction such records may easily become sources of untold satisfaction.

All musical composition simmers down to a question of saying the same thing in as many different and interesting ways as possible, and something of this applies to the building up of an evening’s program. A record of Hawaiian guitars included in a program of better music is apt to be quite fascinating and serves to emphasize the tremendous versatility of the Victrola.