Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-09-08
CARE IN MUSIC TEACHING.
BOYS and Girls Need to Be Handled in a
Different Manner.

The statement made recently by scien-
titc investigators that out of 1000 cases
examined for nervous disorders over two
thirds We're piano players is a rather
alarming one. considering the fact that
parents all over the land are sacrificing
themselves in order to give their children
the benefit of Il musical education. 1t
seems to indicate one of two things eth
er that there is something about music it
self which is destructive to nerve vitality
or that the methods employed by the in
structors and guardians of music stu
dents are often seriously at fault. The
opinion of leading medical and musical
authorities of Chicago on this question
was obtained by 4 representative for The
Chicago Chronicle. The results as OBJ
tanned from the two different sources
We're surprisingly consistent. Nervous
disease is by no means a necessary con-
sequence of even early and persistent
musical training, but more deicacy and
caution are necessary in the matter than
is conceived by the parents of a normally
healthy child, The harm which is done
| is slow. but it is irrevocable. Ceaseless
vigilance must attend the efforts of the
little player. great care must follow the
ambitious course of the older one to keep
| the foundations of good health strong
and impregnable from the attacks of ner-
| VouS disease.
| AT what age may the study of music be
| properly begun and how can it be carried
on without injury to the child? were ques-
tions asked. The reply to both of these
child was the one who best could ans
wer. NO two children are alike" one
| physician said Examine the one partic-
ular child and you have the answer--for
| that child
| Il have an instance of widely differing
dispositions among my three children
| said Il downtown doctor. Il have two
| girls and a boy between in age who all
| take music lessons. To the two girls my
| wife can say. L want you to sit down
now and practice an hour She cannot
do that with the boy. He is naturally
nervous and | never allow him to prac-
| tice more than fifteen minutes at a time.
| My wife does not tell him to practice
either She fools him into it. A little
| diplomacy may save a child the wear of a
| good deal of frettng.''
| DIR. N. B. Delamater said on this phase
of the subject: ''One child will do more
| harm in fifteen minutes than another
| child in an hour. | have in mind stolid
| little girl who takes everything in her
| own quiet way. and is never ruffled. who
| might safely be allowed to practice all
she likes. Another child if given freedom
| in that regard would so until every
chance of future good health was de-
| stroyed. Last week | was talking with Il
| woman who had been urging her little
girl to play the piano. | said to her. If
| you want to murder the child keep that
| up. That is how it will end and no other
| way j knew the chids disposition and
| knew the greatest care in the opposite
direction was all that would give her a
|
| Radical statements one way or the
other continued the doctor, ARE all
wrong so long as children differ as they
| do. But there is one thing parents ought
to consider which they almost universally
disregard and that is that the children
who are emotional. and in whom emotion
al tendencies may 50 easily be overdevel-
| oped, are the very ones who like music
naturally and who are so easily stimu-
lated by little praise to precocity in
musical performance. The very ones of
whom the parents are so proud are not
unlikely the ones who are most easily
| hurt But parental pride doesn'; stop to
think of that they are urged all the time
| to their full limit and with the natural
| tendencies nervous breakdown is incv-
TABLE
When asked to state specifically at
what age a normal child could begin
studying music the majority of physi-
clans gave from S to ~ years few
said that in many cases they might begin
practice at 8 and one physician said he
knew of cases whore no harm had been
done by the careful practice of a 4-ycar-
old
DR.. Florence Ziegfeld. the president and
founder of the Chicago Musical college
gave 6 as the age at which the study of
the piano should be begun in order to
secure best results DR.. Ziegfeld added
some valuable hints saying:
THE Importance of beginning right can
not be overestimated. 1t is a great mis-
take to begin with n poor teacher In
some cases the children without musical
taste develop an ear for music but a
good teacher can generally tell at the end
of the first term whether the child has
aptitude for it or not. In some cases, [
think. it is nothing more or less than a
crime to force a musical education upon
a child. There is an education in music
just the same as there is in Latin or
arithmetic
Next to a careful appreciation of the in
dividual needs of the child great impor-
tance was attached by physicians to the
proper distribution of hours and the time
of day in which most work was required
Every physician and nearly every teach.
er agreed that less harm would result and
better work would be done if the practic-
ing was distributed in small sections
throughout the day, instead of being done
all at once. Morning is the best time to
practice and never before going to bed.
The child should like the music teacher
Someone should be employed who has a
| sympathy for children.