New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-09

the means bv which the progress made.
That the same even more remarkable results
can be obtained by proper study In the public
! schools Is their firm belief, and that without In
creasinG the length of time now spent on 1t. EN-
periercr teaches that almost everybody Is en-
lowed by nature with ear and a voice sur
icient to learn to sing readily at sghr II methods
properly adapted to the end in view are employed.
The old ethods Of teaching caused the student to
memorze series Of facts which were stored away
in the brain without connection and without order
or symmetry. This procedure has been discarded
in almost every branch OF modern education ex-
cept music Modern instruction aims to arrive at
knowledge through experience. n process OF "a
miliarizng the mind with concrete objects by the
senses in conjunction with the reasoning faculties
Mr. Damrosch an! other successful teachers Of
music have argued that this object teaching
Is as applicable to music to any other subject OF
instruction and his preliminary lessons to his
enormous classes In the Cooper Union are an IN
tereslng demonstration that this Is the truth.
There Is nothing new In II: II has long been known
by a few wise teachers; but its practical applca-
ton is far more restricted than 1t should be-
What is the process by which these results are
accomplished They can be watched any Sunday
afternoon in the fall and winter months In the ele-
mentary classes that Mr.. Damroschs assistants
carry on IN various parts OF the city. and that are
ou,growths and tributary to the classes he estab-
lished four years ago In the Cooper Union.
HOW MR. DAMROSCH TEACHES
In teaching TO read vocal music at sight the FIRST
requisite is to give n clear knowledge Of the re-
lation OF musical sounds to each other-reatve
pitch--and OF how TO produce these sounds. Mr..
Damrosch would, therefore, at the outset teach
his classes to sing major scale with the sylla-
bles do re- mi etc. by imitation. thus establishing
a measure Of pitch. from which the relations Of
ali the sounds In the scale can be deduced They
are then identified by their number In the scale.
The class IL thoroughly drilled In the various In
tervals beginning with the simplest. TIL all those
contained In the major scale can be sung on de-
mand, the teacher not singing at all No difficulty
Is found In accomplishing this II taught In the
proper manner and order. Simpler relations Of
pitch having been mastered thus positive pitch
is introduced by giving the names OF the sound
letters and practising In similar manner with
them The class. having got so far. IL ready
for the last OF these elementary steps, tho
representation Of sounds by their charact crs-the
notes upon the stan. The teacher calls for sound
by its name; the class having sung It, he writes
its character on the stan. and informs his pupils
that this Is the sign OF the note they have Just
sung. The other sounds OF the scale-Mr Dam
rosch begins with some other than the key OF c.
usually ID. to avoid the notion that the former Ia
In any way the parent or foundation Of ths other
keys-are then represented In a similar way. and
- class y pssstissd In identifying them and