Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-22
SHALL SHE TAKE LEssoEsl
Should a Girl Without an Ear for Masic
Make Noises on the Piano2

~ 0RAN0A ANAAO nlNN =
Almost every parent who has a
daughter to educate is pretty sure to
be confronted with this question at an
early period of the finishing" pro-
cess. And, in speaking of taking
lessons, the piano is of course under
stood to be the instrument in cues
ton; for its hold on the popular favor
is so strong as practically to rule out
all others in the great majority of
cases. So much does the piano stand
Tor, in estimating the social status of a
community, that it conveys a very in
telligent idea of the character of a
village in the newer settled portions of
our country, to speak of it as "a ten
piano town, or "a forty piano place
Ability TO perform on the national in
strumenthas therefore, been oneofthe
first things sought for by daughters
in well-to-do families; and as a step
up and out of the unlevely and often
hard conditions Of common life, it was
an ambition to encourage. That we
have so much home music in this land
to-day, and have seen within forty
years so rapid and wide an increase in
the popular knowledge of really good
music, is due mere to the piano than
any other instrument it might almost
be said than to all others. The first
thing to be considered in answering
the question, Shall she take lessons?
is whether she wants to. This idea
will probably be new to a great many
parents, who act as though they sup
pose that lessons are all that is re-
quired tomakeamusician. Wehavenot
enough considered, in this country, the
adaptation of children to their aveca-
tions, and a large share of the round
holes in our industrial and profess
sional activities are filed with square
pegs, and vice versa. If a girl has no
special liking for the piano, and par
ticularly if she be manifestly deficient
in the natural gifts requisite to its
mastery, why should she waste her
time and your money! in a vain attempt
to learn it? Perhaps she could learn
the organ better, or the violin, or
some other instrument. Or, if her
ear be dull for tones, her sense of time
deficient, and her physical and mental
aptitudes are unsuited for the loving
and successful study of music in any
form, why not accept the fact, and
permit her to ascertain and follow her
bent in other directions? Every
being that can live can do something;
this let him do" says gruff but wise
old Thomas Carlyle. The girls can
not all play the piano, but they are
not therefore shut out of accomplish
ments. Let them sing, or sketch, or
paint OF embroider, or make and
adOrn their apparel, or lavish their
art instincts on cooking. A good deal
of this futile forcing of the inclina-
tions comes from a desire to g have
some music in the house = and a very
laudable wish it is; but why don't
such parents set a son to painting,
though he may be color blind and un-
able to draw a straight line even with
the aid of a ruler, because they want
some pictures in the house 2" It
would be quite as sensible a proceed
ing as the other. Good mechanical
music can be had much cheaper from
a music-box or a crank organ. 1t is to
be remembered, also, that piano play
ing is an art that can be retained only
by continual exercise. Even the great
masters of the instrument depend
upon daily practice for the preserya-
ton of their skill. If a girls situa-
ton in life is not likely to be such that
she car retain her practice, either for
profit or pleasure, it is a folly, and
often a cruelty, to teach her an ac-
complishment, and perhaps give her a
source of delight hat she must so
soon abandon. The question of pro-
yiding music lessons for the daughter.
except in cases where she is so clearly
gifted as to make the course plain. is.
therefore. in our view, largely one of
policy. Ifyou can afford the money,
and your daughter the time, it is often
worth her while to learn the little
that the majority of her pupils acquire,
as a matter of discipline, and for the
pleasure she may feel and give to
others in being able to play the
sprightly measures that enliven the
social circle or the simple accompani-
ments for home songs. But if pur-
sued in this way, and for this purpose,
the course of instruction should not
discourage and burden the pupil by its
%tediousness and severity, as is too
often the case. 1t takes parents and
teachers a long time to find out that
what children study with freedom and
delight arc the easiest and best things
for them to learn.