Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1864-09-28
,3I0Q QaA1l0NlA.
A Fine Art in Common Schools.

The human voice is ack nowledged to be
one OF the most delicate and beautiful of
musical instruments Its capabiIity of
touching the feelings, swaying the passions
and exciting the emotions has been abun.
dainty showa in the almost omnipotent in
/ fluence welded over assembled thousands
! by great vocaiists, actors and orators 1t
! has an appropriate tone to express every
conceivable state of mind, be il ecs.atic
| JOY or crushing sorrow, tenderest love or
| satanic hatred, serene contentment or deep
anguish and blood freezing fear To cui-
tivated ear, the sound of cultivated voice
is music, as we'll in conversation and read
ing as in singing. No other instrument
| can give such richness and variety to every
shade of expression. Some voices are
naturally pleasing, while others are cracked,
harsh or screechy, but all can be greatly
improved In power and quality by careful
! eioculionary drills
Taking this view of the voice, and not
regarding our pupils as so many 90 trouble-
some brats, but as immortal beings, pos
scSsing sentiments, feelings and passions,
with voice which may be made to ex.
press these, why may not reading be taught
as tiae art +! Too long already has it been
| taught as deod art The reading lesson
; has been looked upon, both by teacher and
pupils, as dry, irksome task to be rected
! with the greatest despatch and then laid
! aside tor Wetyhtier matters. The iustruc
! tion given by the teacher has consisted ia
! the pointing out Of few mistakes in
! pauses, which the pupil was not required
| to correct. Need | use the slashine pet
| phrase OF the extremist, "his as all wronq I"
Heartily, intelligently and enthusiast,
caily taught, there is no study in the COM
mon school course more interesting and
| beautiful than reading. When thus taught
! the youngest and dullest will, with few ex.
ceptions, enter the reading class with
hearty interest and recite the lesson with
as much pleasure as they would experience
IN an animated conversation. Dead read
ing IN a 0e language like ours, will not
| do. Let Us therefore Danish il as nearly
/ as possible from our schools, aud aim to
make ell reading natural. Our ardor will,
| no doubt, be sorely tried by repeated fail
ures on the part of our pupils We must
/ ciiHch our will and resolve to persevere,
aud We shall suececd.
! How to leach reading, is a problem that
should DC got at, rs one gets at problem
| In mathematics it is necessary to get
! clear conception of what is to be done,
! then the nature and order of each success.
| sive step is to be sought for
/ 1t is scarcely necessary to say that the
object to be aimed at in teaching reading is
! to make good readers. 4 good reader is
one who can take up the thought on the
page before him and convey it, in its full
proportions, to him who listens. No
thought worth handling is so insignificant
as not to deserve decent handling, but
| poor reader cannot convey the most ordi-
/ nary thought in clear and pleasing man.
ner, much less can he express, in all their
nice shades the beautiful sentiments and
choice thoughts which enrich good prose
aud choice postry.
| Where to begin is question that can
be best decided by a view of the whole
| field. Reading consists of two depart
| ments, the mechanical and the emotional,
or orthoepy and expression. The former
has reference to pronunciation, and embra-
ces articulation, syllabication and accent;
| the latter has reference TO the utterance of
I thought, feeling, or passion with due sig
nifcance and force, and embraces empha.
| sis, slur, infection, lnodulation, monotone,
personation and pauses. Parker d; Wat
/ sous Classification Having in view this
or similar classification of eloeutionary
/ topics, bearing in mind the simple prin.
ciple 10 pedagogy that instruction should
! be adapted to the wants and capacities of
| learners, and possessing the limited degree
of common sense which every teacher may
be supposed to have, it is one of the easi-
est things imaginable to decide ,chere to
begin. The following plan has been tried
with good success: at the opening of the
| school term, point out only the more prom
| inent mistakes and have them care
fully corrected, and give only some
general instruction on reading, such as
may suggest itself, but aiming to get your
pupils thoroughly interested in their lesson
| Notice very carefully wherein your classes
| fail and let that be the starting point If
| it be articulation, make that special OBJ
ject of attention and kindly criticism for
few weeks, or a few months, until the
class have acquired disfinctness of utter
ance; give daily drill Of three or four
minutes length on elementary sounds and
phonetic spelling. Take up only one lead.
ing topic sa a time. JKH.