American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-02-08

| lSt1tttctt ioi tht vi ~
No one will question that anon,
; the things which have 81 refining in
: fiuence upom the heart and mind
music stands pre-eminent. l speal
here of the great Importance o
music for education and culture
Being an art, it has the elevatine
and refining influence common to
it's sister arts, aud exer;s it in thG
most general way. for its languag,
speaks Immediately to the heart
and its golden grains, wherever
sOwn, falls upon receptive soil.
All parents with sufficient means
have their children study music,
The piano especially is fouEd in ais
most every educated family, and
with good reason, for no other inN
strument contains like this, the full
tOhe material for harmony, by no
other instrument can every kind of
composition, symphony, opera, Ort>
tOriO, etc, be SD we'll rendered. Our
greatest masters loved to compose
for il, and in their piano cOmpOsi>
iions. which faithfully reflect the
form and spirit of their greater
con orchestral works,
have left us impei isbable standards
of beauty.
If we now examine how music,
especially piano playing is aener-
ally pursued, ! must confess, that a
long and extensive experience has
shown many defects.
Many parents, because it is fiish~
| ionahle, engage a music teacher for
their children, when they have ar
lived at certain age. Besides tol-
lowing the general fashion i'm this
respect, they are prompted to do SO
by an indisiinot, unconscious feel
ing, that music is a pant of odncii
ton. They are wanting in a clear
| understanding of their real aim, or
at best they wish to procure an
agreeable pasiime for the IN selves
and their children, and are espe>
cially satisfied, If they soon hear
some pretty dance or operate air.
10 hers, especially people of the
class considered the most educated,
tadd music to the things deemed
suitable to ill up the time of their
NV nus
tice, provided the hour which other
wise would bc tedious one, be
regularly killed by music. Others
again are ambitious. Their child,en
are their pride. Their highest aim
ia to have their children become u
bright star i'll society RS much as
possible. 1t has 10 Toll for week s
over some piece, which, for the post
part, is far beyond its ability to
execute and its power to compre..
bend, until at last it can he rat led
off in "a bunglIng manner, no matter
how much the child suffers in mind
aud body. ] do not wisl, TO state
infinitely, in how many ways music
may be prof,ned and ilI-ireated,
nor do | intend to eXpostulat0 With
parents, tor not all of the n can
have the proper insight into the
matter; but We can justly y0proach
IA pait of the music teachers.
a great number of those to whom
the instruction in music. especially
that on the piano, is entrusted, are
aBytliipg but music teachers, many
of them not even understanding the
instrument and having, in fact, an
entirely different calling.
Again, many professed music
teachers want Il clear understands
ing of what ia required of them.
Though their execution be very
brilliant, they lack the real techni
cal training. Unacquaintod or im>
perfectly acquainted with the liter>
allure of music. they generally have
their pupils play pIOmiscuously all
kinds of compositions, without u
proper regard Tor the ability Of the
pupil and full appreciation of the
intrinsic value of The composition
in the selection OF which mere aG.
cident guides them.
In general, those piano teachers
of TIE present day, who are what
they ought to be, may be divided
into three glasses, viz:
!. The real iJnorGmuses, wanting
both technical aud mental training.
Having no idea of the vast field of
piano tecenique and literature, tLes
think it an easy thing to give in~
structIon, because in their opinion
"a mere knowledge -0t the notes aud
keys is all that is required.
9. The Wouid~be-clasStcists, who
base hemselves on the old masters,
but know, or pretend to know,
nothing beside them. This barrier
serves them as The most convenient,
and at the same time most paying
shelter to the defects in their know
ledge aud attainments.
8. The su-c;,lIed bedur esprit, tue
majority of which might with but
little injustice be called aesthetic
swindlers, who only look, orpretend
to look, up to the skies, but do not
know the ground which they are
treading.
They seem proudly to ignore the
cultivation of fechni9ue, the real
mechanical part of piano.playing
which is as indispensable to the
pianist, as grammar TO the philol
Ogest, or the school of design to the
painter, and in place of it mystify
the pupil by a mu'titnde OF abstraei
phrases and comparisons, the pitl,
of which, provided there he any,
can only be of use to him near the