THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 49, 26 February 1921, Page 7

THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

RAISING THE PUBLIC TASTE A TEACHER'S NECESSARY EQUIPMENT. (FROM ODIt OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 7th January. "Bad music is far worse than measles, and a much more serious disease." Thus Sir Hugh Allen, Principal of tho Royal College of^ Music, deplored public taete in music at a Mansion House conference of tho Incorporated Society of Musicians. He complained that children' woro taught tho art at tho coat of infinite time and patience, and then were allowed to run iibout and hear "beastly tunes" which spoiled thoir taste, destroyed their Judgment, and wiped out their sense of musical decency.

During the past twenty years, he said, enormous strides had been taken in tho right direction, and tho chiefost had beou the recognition, of tho true moaning o£ tho phrafo "to learn music." We were fast arriving at the point when the claims to teach music, as a language, would be univorsally recognised by tlic State as well as by the profession. This result had beou achieved by grasping tho fact that music could only bo learned through the «»rs, and that, to train the ear was to provido the chief instrument for a proper musical education. Nothing was more subtle than bad music; it was an insidious disease, moro infectious and- harder to get rid of than' measles. Children were left chiefly to fend for themselves in the matter of musical education, and parents would be astonished :f told that contact with bad music was as harmful as association with persons who stolo and swore. Freak musio was becoming more and more aggressive owing to commercialism and the desire for notoriety, I and pleasure was being- too easily taken in noise 3 and barbaric rhythms, although, while listening,, the public were usually primarily engaged in eating or talking or dancing. Because musical taMe was not sufficiently educated to appreciate good music, composers, to attract promiscuous a-nd indiscriminate apl^etites, had adopted unsound procedure and made foul noises. Such pieces were written for the sake of notoriety, and so oprang from a low- motive. Until young people were provided with opportunities for hearing good music—or at least pre*Yfcnfced from hearing anything suspicious— the chance for real progress would not arise. Teachers mu6t influence parents to provide sound instruments for practice and occasions for their children to listen to the Tight composers. SCHOOL FOR PARENTS. * So many parents regarded musio as a matter for finger and voice, and not for ear; and to try to educate tho children without educating tho parents was like trying to carry water in a bucket with a hole in.it. "If it were possible," said Sir Hugh, "I would have a sort of continuation school for parents and compulsory attendance until they could pick out at least one good tune from the bad onen, or, at any rate, give their reasons for liking jazz and fox-trot music instead of folk-tunes." A few there had been who regarded the cultivation of music as a real danger—St. Augustine, who enjoyed it so much that he thought in music there must bo something evil, and Mahomet, who believed the art .was a temptation of tho devil to wreck mankind. Many schoolmasters thought tho same—(laughter) —but music was a quickener of thq intelligence, and tho greatest achievements had been by men eminently musical. A PROFESSOR WITH MANY • DEMANDS. On the character of the teacher, everything depended, and too muoh stress could not be laid on the humanistic side of the work. There was no branch of tho teaching profession that made so many demands on the resources of tho tpachor than musio. The demands were infinitely varied. No two pupils would ever be alike. The objects of education were the development of understanding and efficiency; but efficiency without understanding was no good. There was as much danger from overburdening tho pupil as there was in a. laok of interest. In tho past it had been possible for anyone to turn music-toachor, but tho influence of the Teachers' Registration Council would lend to tho teacher a new prestige; he would in future be a thinker as well as a porforroer, and regard his personality as the basis of his equipment. In the ranks of music toaohers there were more unsuitable people than in any other calling; a great profession had come to be regarded as' a polite way of earning a living. THE IDEAL TESCHER. Music, properly taught, was one of tho most valuable forms of mental training, particularly, for exercising the memory, but no insincere person, no dillentante, or bluffer could.make a teacher. "Only those who can dream dreams can teach tho ycung to sec visions," said Sir Hugh. "Tho teacher must have the mind of a seer and requires the hand of imagination; he needs tho persuasiveness of Orpheus, the eye of a hawk, tho ear of a terrior, tho patience of a Job. the optimism of a Micawber, the physique of a Hercules, the delicacy and quickness of a dragon-fly, the courage of a lion, and tho diplomacy of an arch-angel." (Laughter.) Winding up the discussion which- his address evoked, Sir Hugh Allen concluded: "I am perfectly willing to go >vith a, bar-rel-organ into Whitechapel, and I am perfectly certain the children of London will dance as readily to good tunes as they do to the present stuff they are given. We must use every means of developing musical appreciation—the gramophone, with really good records at home, and by enlisting tho help of cinema people, who might bo asked to include one good piece in their musical programmes. In all tho churches and chapeis, i.oo, whore thorp are ! musical organisations, infinitely more could | be done."

Mr. Allen Gill (London) deplored the fact that cinemas, "the most horrible of all things * were not only drawing away music students, but taking from the musical profession the only available halls.

NEW WAY TO MAKE A MUSICIAN,

Eurythmics is tho name for tho newest system of teaching mimio, as advocated by Mons. Emile Jaques-Dalcroze,- Professor of Harmony ,at the Conservatoire of Geneva, who is to give in London an ocular and auricular demonstration of it. Stated briefly, his system is tho logicai one of first putting the pupil into a proper state, physically, mentally, and spiritually, to respond to an intensive musical education, and then teach. The result will be a musician. Mons. Dalcroze's new "book, "Rhythm, Music, and Education," has an introduction by Sir W. H. Hadow, who regards as one of tho most important factors in musical education tho training and development of the sense of rhythm. There is little doubt that rhythm is the earliest aspect of music which appeals to children.

Mons. Dalcroze, from an experience of his own pupils, loarnt that ordinary musical tuition was not successful in developing this sense of rhythm. "Musical sensations of a rhythmio nature," he discovered, "call for tho muscular and nervous response of the whole organism. I set my pupils exercises in stopping and halting, and trained them to react phy.sioally to tho perception •of musical rhythms. That was the origin of my 'Kurythmies.' " COMPLETE HARMONY. It is a psycho-physical training to de. velop tho musician in toto and enable his whole organism to respond fitly to the needs of musical expression. "Not only," says* Mons. Dalcroze, "should the ear and voice of the child receive adequate training, but, in addition, every part of his body which contributes to rhythmio movement, every muscular and nervous clement that vibrates, contracts, and relaxes under tho. pressure of natural impulses." To achieve this end a special gymnastio system is advocated, which are called exercises in eurythmics, and their aim is "to strengthen the power of concentration, to accustom, tho body to hold itself, as it wore, at. high pressure in readiness to execute orders from tho brain."