Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-04-02
from the N. Y. Independent !
: L-=esp 20 u TO~ng stIsic Student Hon
to BegtH-
Isy EUGENE THAYER,

pose You know that at least q million per-
sons. in America are studying music, in
4ome way or other, and you can readily
see that you have very small chance of
making q mark among so many unless
Jou study not only diligently, but with
rood Judgment and good methods The
lrst thing / desire 10 say to you Is that
merely "takiug lessons" will not accom-
;,iish what You aspire to. Neither will
industry, unless it is we'll directed. Out
u this million Of people who are trying
~ do something with music we
do not hear of over dozen or So
Year who really amount to &nythi3g
n make any large or permanent success.
Many of them take lessons enough and
york most faithfully, and then fail, and
wonder why they fail, when others, who
apparently work no harder, make dne
mark and reach % position of honor. |
think can tell you the reason of all this,
because l have been a teacher for over 8
quarter of "a century and have had all
sorts of pupils, good and poor, talented
aud stupid, diligent and lazy, and have
also had many Of the most successful ones.
| have been watching them closely ell the
time, and think have found out the true
secret of being successful in the study of
music, and shall devote little time to
telling you hnw believe it possible for
Tou too 10 he successful.
There are only d few things you need;
i.ut these are so indispensable that you had
better be sure at the outset that they are
provided for, otherwise you need not be
surprised to find yOur lab0rs come to
.iothing. | will give yon little table of
the requisites:
!. Love 0f musIc.
g. A good teacher.
s. a good Instrument
4. What TO study.
b How 10 study.
&. How to- succeed
Il is nst only useless for you CO 20 into
music for anything else, for that matterl
unless yon love it; bat you should really
toge 1t sHOs's than anything s!se if you would
expect success. What you really love
you Will bs sure to pursue steadily,
sill be sure TO put your whole heart into.
aud you will not cease OF relax your eff
forts until you have attained the object
of your aspirations. II you have this
absorbing love you have talent ta5 1t is
GAlIed) for music; otherwise you have
not talent for music. Let me prove
Ills to you. Suppose / like the color
blue more than any other color. Now,
That is 10 me en- absolute proof that
,hcre is something in me lin my mind
II natnrej more in harmony with
aud, therefore, better adapted to this
color Of blue than any other color. If it
we're not so, | should like some other
color equally well or better. Don't you
see this mast be so? Now let us suppose it
IS music, instead of the color of blue
You see that it is practically proved that
I have talent for music, and that my
nature is more in harmony with 1t and
better adapted to it than anything else;
otherwise | should not like music better
;han any ether pursuit or study. II you
90 not particularly like 1t, you will not
put much effort in it, even if you do
devote a good deal of ttmo to it. You
viii not succeed in any marked degree,
simply because You are not in earnest. In
TACT tpardon The seeming severity of the
remarkl, You are partially or wholly a
aypocrite. You are protesting to like what
you dislike or, at least, care little or moth
nag about. Hypocrisy, in any form or
degree, never succeeds. Il may seem to
for short time, but its final downfall
is complete and crushing. So the way
10 begin is TO be very sure on this point
st the outset. There are q great many
Young people studying music who ought
10 be devoting their time to drawing,
painting, architecture, bookkeeping, OF
many other excellent studies which they
really like, and, therefore, have a talent
Cor. In fact, if you are to. make music
your chief study land perhaps your pro-
fession by and by, you ought to study
ailthese other things have mentioned,
not forgetting to add, later, physiology,
PHYSIOLOGY, metaphysics, ethics, and
the great mind broadening study Of as
tronomy. For one of the weaknesses
heretofore of musical people has been
that, however much they might know of
music, they did not know much OF any
thing else.
'sWell begun is half DONE" and so you
see that you ought to map out large
and comprehensive plan, if you want to
begin rightly. Perhaps you are too young
10 consider all of these things at present.
Il so, save this letter, and read 1t again
when you are older. l ought, perhaps,
TO have mentioned one other study-that
of the language Musical people ought,
by all means, TO be able 10 read land
speak, too, if possible) German and
Erench nuently. IL to these you could
also add Italian and Spanish, you would
2ot have much difficulty with most other
languages, should you ever care 10 learn
them. OF course, q knowledge of Latin
and Greek would be of great advantage;
but the q 7estiOn is whether life is long
enough TO do all these other thingsand also
master ydead languages. You see really
shat am only saying that, in order to be
good musician, you musl be well-edu
Gated person in many respects. It is not
possible for foolish person ever to be a
good musician. Even if some people
have thought to The contrary. they were
simply mistaken,
Music is both a science and an art, and
for that very reason it seems tome much
greater than any other study. The sci
cace Of il needs much hard study and