Morning journal and courier., 1881-05-16
Musical Progress in New Haven.

From Loomis' Musical and Masonic Journal]
 Civil and religious liberty are most highly prized and most fully enjoyed by those con- munities in which intelligence dominates the masses. The early settlers of New England were deeply imbued with this truth and. therefore, one of the first cares was to pro- vide Eberally for the education of their chil- dren and youth. They determined that their posterity should be an enlightened people, no matter what the sacrifice or cost, and in es- tablishing the common school system they accomplished their aim. That system has gone forward from age to age, transmitting it's benign influences to each succeeding gen. eration. and spreading beyond it's original boundaries. it has spread from State to State, until in the fullness of time the idea has be- come national, and the practical benefits it confers are recognized throughout the Union
 But while the free education of the masses is admitted to be desirable, there are many and diverse views about the extent to which that free instruction should be carried. Some draw the line at what has facetiously been called ''the three Rs," reading, writing and arithmetic, and say that whatever is learned beyond these necessary branches ought to be procured at the expense of the pupils, their parents or guardians. Others go to the cppo- site extreme and insist that the State should carry it's children as far into the fields of knowledge as they have the natural capacity to go. Between these extremists stand the great body of the people, who are willing and anxious to be taxed for whatever is needed to make the rising generation more useful. more happy, more prosperous if possible than any that has gone before it. They wish the youth of the land to be thoroughly instruct ed in the rudiments of broad and liberal that lies before them in the future. For this 'sthe three R's'' will not suffice The young people of to-day must learn something be- yond what was enough two hundred years ago. to meet the changes time has wrought in the social as we'll as industrial life of the Amer ican people,
 Among the things now deemed essential is a thorough practical instruction in the prin- ciples of music. The boy and girl must be familiar with the notes of the scale as with the letters of the alphabet, or with the power of numbers as expressed in the multiplication table. The people of this country. and es- pecially of New England, have learned for themselves that music is almost as necessary to life as speech, and that it is one of Gods natural gifts to the race, to be improved and exercised for His glory, and for the highest good of His creatures. And as the child having eyes is not yet able to read until taught, or having articu1ate voice, must still learn to frame it into intelligent speech. so these musical gifts must be developed and made of practical use by suitable instruction Herein lies the brightest honor to the citi- zens of New Haven. They were among the first in the land to realize these truths and to exemplify their faith by their works With little opposition at first with none finally, the Board of Education introduced and continued the study of music in our common schools. To-day the churches and the homes of our city are brighter and better for the work that has been done, work that is more highly appreciated as the years roll by At no time has there been more marked mani festation of this than at the High School commencement exercises on the evening of April 21. The singing of the graduates on these annual occasions has been for several years noticed in this magazine as among the musical events of the season. But the pro- gramme thisiyear was of such unusual bril- hancy, and so far ahead of all previous per- formances, that we cannot let it pass with | merely a word. It was scarcely l to be expected that the choral l