Music, the Comforter.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 26, 26 June 1912, Page 47

Music, the Comforter.

“Last week.” writes the editor of the Etude, "we heard 100 crippled orphan children singing,, and music had for us a new and sweeter meaning. The crutches the. bandages, the braces, the pains, the aches, the fears and tears were all wiped away for the moment by- the wonderful magic of song. Smiting fgees made it hard to realize that.: their cruel deformities really existed. Music, the comforter, had come. Sometimes we think that the highest office of our art is to take the mind away from the perplexities, the griefs, and the cares of everyday life. We agree with Shelley that ‘music, when soft, voices die, vibrates in the memory.' Music is the, anodyne of the world. When you are tired, and Worn, and worried; when the great problem seems harder than ever; when there does not seem to be any way out. take a little rest and go to your piano, youw voilin. or your singing. This,kind of rest may bring the solution of your difficulties far quicker Ilian hours of worrying. Psychologists are corning to realize that music has a utilitarian worth wliieh in this age of tension is quite as important as bread and butter. When you fail to find mental comfort, turn to music, and the relief is almost sure to come.”