Malignant Tubas

As every concertgoer knows, a full orchestra can be funny to watch. Published last week was a piccolo-sized book, People of Note (E. P. Dutton & Co.; $1), in which Versifier Laurence McKinney and Artist Gluyas Williams have some fun with musicmakers. The pictures, like "Oboe", are better than the verses. For Mr. McKinney takes his pun where he finds it, and finds it in unlikely places. Samples:

Malignant tubas, though, for fun, May coil about and strangle one. So with this constantly in mind, It trains you tuba very kind. . . .

The oboe . . . makes the saying understood: "It's an ill wood wind no one blows good."

Of the cello: When wood winds stop, when fiddles end That's when a cello needs a friend. . . .

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