EARLY TRAINING

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 140, 15 June 1928, Page 3

EARLY TRAINING

MUSIC IN EDUCATION An interesting lecture on music in education was given last Tuesday night at the Tarunaki street l'"rec Kindergarten by Miss Valeric Corliss. The lecture was well attended by teachers and friends, as well as by directors and students of the Wellington Free: Kindergartens' Association, Miss England was in the chair. Miss Corliss said that the old idea in education was to teach the subject itself to the exclusion of everything else. Now, fortunately, the whole idea was reversed, and it was the mental process by which the object was achieved that was the allimportant factor. Miss Corliss wont on to say that the educational value of music was very great, as it was not only a new mode of self-expression for the child, but was also a means of stimulating the intelligence. Formerly music was looked upon as belonging only to the person who composed or performed. But wo knew now that music could belong to the person who listened intelligently, and from this has come the, new ideas in musical training. If children were trained to become intelligent listeners from the kindergarten school upwards there would be more intelligent and appreciative listeners in after-life —a thing which was very much needed to-day. Little children were full of curiosity and love, said the speaker, and if the imagination was stimulated by good musical sounds, their love and curiosity would help greatly towards tbo training of the child in the appreciation of music. This led to the child wishiug to perform and experiment for himself, which formed the constructive side of the training; and so it went on right through school life, and afterwards. Parents had, in olden times, simply wanted the child to be able to perform, but psychologists in modern times had changed these ideas. It should bo remembered that the musician was a teacher not only of music but of mind by means of music. The mental faculties must he stimulated and musical feeling aroused, and this was done in all modern musical training with very good results. Miss Corliss said that she thought it would be a good thing if there were musical appreciation classes for grown-up people also, for listeners must be trained before the great musicians of the present day could be fully appreciated. Music was an expression of mind, and psychology was a study of the mind; therefore these two must go side by side in-the training. All true listening meant mental effort, and the modern training for true listening and interpretation should begin in the kindergarten school. It was here that the child learnt to express himself through whatever medium was natural to him, and so he was helped towards that all-round development which was the aim of true education. Miss Corliss then read an intei'esting paper on the psychology of music, and showed very clearly the progress which had been made by means of the modern or common-sense musical training of today. Mrs. Peacock, president of the Wellington Free Kindergartens' Association, proposed a vote of thanks to Miss Corliss for her lecture, and said that it had made her see oven more clearly than before how necessary was good musical training for children from a very early age. . She said that she had herself seen how wonderfully children responded to such training even at kindergarten age, and it was the same right on through school life. This lecture was the first of a course of six. Miss Edwards, of Kelburn Infant School, will.speak next week on "Nursery Schools in England."