Omaha daily bee., 1891-12-27
MUSIC IN THE CITY SCHOOLS.
Methods Employed to Train the Voices AMI
Minds Alike.
IMPROVEMENTS UPON OLD SYSTEMS.
Rudimrnts OF Music Mastered by tho
students Under Competent Teach
ers-Pro ircss of tho DIRK in
Different Grades.

If the children now attending the public
schools of Omaha do no not learn how to
read music IT will DO attributable 20 their
want of capacity or their wiilful refusal TO
apply themselves to this very delightful and
desirable branch Of the common school cur
riculum.
A reporter for THE BRE had the pleasure
one day last week OF observing the methods
employed in the teaching of music in the
puOlic schools under the dit cotton of Miss
Fannie Arnold. "
Inc system used is that developed by Prof.
John w. Tufts aud MIR. II. Il. Holt
OF Boston. Tho progress made by tho pupils
IN the lower grades with only fifteen minutes
a day devoted TO the study of music is quite
remarkable.
In tho room OF the first grade at the Far
nam school among little tots who were barely
aole to talk plain Miss Arnold took the class
through tho regular fifteen minutes drill.
sue gave the pupils the pitch or sound of
hIg Z from her small buglc, and from that
the little ones ran the scale, singing do. ra.
me, ia, so, etc, marking the intervals per.
fcctlv. The teacher simply held up ncriudex
for 90, two fingers for ia, three fingers for
me, and so on through the scale. The class
then. sang the numbers and the letters of the
musical scale.
Passing to the second class of the first
grade tho teacher took up the use of the
chart showing tho scale aud tho notes. After
running up and down what Is called the lad
der ana the notes ana letters on
the scale, the work of transpos-
ing was introduced, and tho children
were told the STORY" of the first scales in
PRODUCED. The story of the first or NATURAL
scale was brief. 1t simply said, This is the
scale of { 1t has 10 sbarps or tiats.' The
little ones were asked to call the notes by
proper names, instead OF saving do, to say
John or Tom, and in this way they began TO
perceive that singing after all was not SO
very much different from speaking, and their
little voices came out in all their naturalness
and purity.
In the second grade the children were
given moro difficult work. In following the
pointer on the chart they had to skip about
over the scale and perform some rather dini-
cult vocal teats. 1t was very interesting to
note the AWAKENING oarnestncSs in the faces
of the little ones.
Meditation work and still more difficult
transposltions characterized the work in
Lhe third grade. This class handled
four tranSpositions in excellent STYLE. They
sang to the time furnished by a chart pendu-
lun and scarcely made a mistake during the
fifteen minutes. They could tell from the
chart what KEY the music was written upon,
ana from the pitch OF high G. furnished them
by the teachers buglo the class located "do,,
and sang the different scales as written. In
marking intervals the children were especially
clever. They could make the interval from
$ to I below or from s below to / above with
out a slip.
A marked improvement in the quality Of
tone was observed in the fourth grade over
lhat OF the grades below. In this class the
teacher called the number of the
notes upon a given scale and
the children sang them. The work
OF accentuatlon was also begun in the fourth
grade, the little ones sounding '.ta-tay,
ta-Iayn in whisper as they pressed the time
with their fingers on the desis.
Makinga jump then TO the eighth or bighcsa
grade in the school the reporter found the
children able to sing two and three part
music from tho books used, The music q
not that simple do, sol, me, do order that has
been the abomination of so many alleged sys-
tens, but of a higher, better ana more classic
style altogether.
Miss Arnold did one difficult and UNIQUE
thing in leading this class, and the class did
a difficult and unique thing in following her.
She gave the class three part music by signs
and they sang it. To one section
of the class she assigned the
bass, to another the soprano and to
another the alto. She then held up her left
hand with the back toward the pupils cxtend-
ing her fingers and thumb so as to represent
the musica. scale. she instructed one sec
tion of the class to follow the movements OF
the index finger OF her right hand, another
section to watch and follow the middle finger
ana the third section to follow the little
finger of the same hand. She then placed
these fingers against the fingers of the left
hand Representing notes placed on the musical
scale and the children sang the notes midi
Gated by tho positions of the fingers. The
result was II succession Of chords or three
part singing by the class.
The regular teachers devote fifteen minutes
each day to musical instruction ana follow
exactly the same methods given them by
Miss Arnold, who visits every school in the
city about once each month to see that the
teachers are pushing tha work Onward.
Children who are possessed of ordinary in
telligence leave the graded schools with a
thorough knowledge of the fundamental
principles of music, and nine,tentns OF them
can read music almost rs readily rs they eau
printed or written words. All this costs the
parents of the childeen attending the public
schools not u cent. 1t is a part Of the regular
course. 1t is reasonable to suppose that the
rising generation in Omaha will possess an
appreciation for good music that Is not en-
| ioyed by the average citizen of mature age.