The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1902-06-12


The present discussion will have re-
| ference mainly to singing, which IL
deed NAV be said to include all music
for all music is originally vocal, and all
instruments are referred to the voice
as the ideal of expression
The physical benefits of singing are
spparent. It promotes healthy action
of the lungs and the chest muscles, ana
helps to cultivate the right use OF the
voice in speaking and clear and dis
tiuct utterance. Statistics show that
the professions of public speaker and
public singer are most favorable to long
life. Music il also known to have q
powerful influence upon the nerves ana
soothing and even curative effect In
some mental disturbances. Some ex-
periments have been made in that line
and many believe that music has a large
field Of usefulness in that direction, as
vet hardly entered upon. But that Is
rather aside from our topic.
In esthetic education says Mr. Cur
wen. emusic unites with the art of
drawing, and the study of literature. to
develop the love of whatever Is orderly,
suitable, harmonious, beautiful and
sublime" In intellectual education 1t
will cultivate the habit Of attention,
and the powers of perception, and 1t
will teach, by example, how to observe
in musical phenomena, and how to
reason upon them.
But the principal use of music in ed
ucation is moral and spiritual one. BY
Its means Mr.. Tomlins claims that you
can get ut the center the inmOst soul OF
n child rs you can do in no other way.
Before going into the question of how
that is accomplished. it will be well to
20 back to the beginning of things and
consider the origin and meaning OF
music.
Herbert Spencer traces its origin to
emotional speech, and more remotely
still, to the muscular expression OF
emotions Nearly every sensation evinc-
90 itself in some muscular way. The
dog wags his tail and jumps about when
he is pleased, and accompanies these
movements by barking, He shows his
teeth and growls when he is angry, and
h., l.. lnp ha 10 hprf Tho a rp a =
her back to the caressng hand, and
evinces her pleasure vocally by purring
| In mankind we note the smile of plea
sure, the frown of anger, the grimace
Of pain. In severe pain, contortion OF
the whole body may be noticed. These
muscular expressions Of sensation ex
tend even to the voice 1t is well un-
derstood that different qualities of voice
accompany different states of feeling
Under excitement the voice acquires
more resonance With ill-temper a me-
tallic ring il heard The placid state
Of feeling il shown in the calm, even
voice The pitch of the voice will vary
also. While the middle tones are used
in ordinary conversation, under excite
ment the voice will go higher or lower
than usual Pain expresses itself in
either shrieks or groans above or below
the ordinary pitch. Cries of joy or
fear will generally be higher Awe will
be expressed in lower pitch. The
voice will take wider intervals, and the
rate of movement of speech will vary,
slower or faster, according to the state
of the feelings
These vocal peculiarities which in
dictate excited feelings are those which
especially distinguish song from ordin-
arv speech, says Spencer. He traces
the growth of music from the monoton-
Gus chanting of the savage man, through
the four.toned recitative of the Greeks
today. Even rhythm and the various
kinds of musical expression may be
traced To the same source His conclu
sions are that music Is the idealized
language of the emotions and that as
intellectual language has had growth
to more varied and complicated forms
| through the changes Of civilization, "a
the emotional language has kept pace
with it. And that music has the effect,
aside from the pleasure that it gives Of
developing this language of the emo.
tons and Of reacting upon speech and
| increasing its power Of rendering
emotion. To quote from Spencer,
That the cultivation of music has no
effect upon the mind, few will be alb
surd enough 10 contend. And if it has
an effect. what more natural effect il
there than this of developing our per.
ception Of the meaning Of infections
! qualities, and modulations Of the voice
and giving us correspondingly in
creased power Of using thenf Just as
mathematics. taking It's start from In,
phenomena Of physics and astronom,
and presently coming 20 be Il separat,
science, has since reacted on physic,
and astronomy Ia their ituuapsa al