The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-20
MUSIC STUDY IN SCHOOLS.

An article from the Richmond D1Spatci giving some reasons why music should be taught in public schools was copied in The Advertiser yesterday and was read with interest by those who are hailing with joy the fact that the attention of the world is being drawn to the value of a knowledge of music in education.
 The students of the subject of music who have watched the material changes that have taken place in the past ten years in the matter of music-education
 are looking for greater advance in that line in the next ten years, for the prom. ise is that in that time music-study will
 have been accorded a prominent place
 in general education.
 The attitude of colleges toward music Is not generally known or noted. and the following concerning theoretic music study. written by Hamilton Macdougal in The Etude, will be to some who have not known the facts, astonishing. He says: "I now come to the most interesting group of all, namely, twenty-six colleges and universities with a department of music on a parity with other academic departments. In general (waiving certain details counting against uniformity these departments have courses in musical theory, open to undergraduates and count ing toward the Bachelor of Arts degree
  in New England. five in the Middle States, one in the South. eight in the West and one in Canada. Here is a partial list of these twenty-six colleges: Barnard Col Iege Boston; Brown. Columbia and liar yard Universities; Mount Holyoke Col Iege; Northwestern University (of Chi cago); Oberlin College. Princeton Univer- sity; Radcliffe and Smith Colleges; Syra- cuse University; Tufts College; Universi- Ay1h anL sin; Vassar and Wellesley Colleges; the Womans College of Brown Universitys and Yale University. This is a strong list, and if it be remembered that the basal idea is to group together those institu- tions giving credit toward the arts de-
 gree for work done in musical theory or
 history it's substantial correctness cannot be denied. Princeton and Boston Univer- sities within the past year have taken
 steps which bring them into this classi-
 fication. So general has the inclusion of
 these stulies in the college curriculum become. that, unless a college is tech nical school (like the Institute of Tech nology in Boston, its exclusion of musi- cal theory and history is a cause for re- mark. The colleges are recognizing that as Mir. Waldo Pratt puts 1t: Tt Is clear that our time has come to demand higher intellectual treatment of music. simply because music affects our social life widely and profoundly; and because
 myriads of people hold music to be per-
 sonally important not merely for liveli-
 hood or luxury or anything external to real life but as a part of that life"
 The article Is a very long and interest
 ing one. and much of it dwells largely
 on the subject of the difference between
 the view taken of the subject by the col l lege presidents and the professional
 musician. The one holding to the impor-
 tance of the theory of music only. and | the other to the necessity of practical
 music in education.
 | Another paragraph says;
 | After some time, as the movement for
 music-study in the colleges and univer- sities gathers momentum, it's influence
 will be felt in the public schools and 1t
 will be possible so to arrange matters l that children will be able to continue | the study of an instrument during their | school life, or even have intelligent study | in theory. That this is no dream l am, l happily, able to prove. Harvard has this | spring given credit in it's entrance ex- | aminations for a knowledge of harmony l and counterpoint; if the student passee
 in both these subjects he gains four | points out of q necessary twenty-six. It | can be seen at once what dignity this
 gives to the teacher of musical theory | from a position as teacher of a subject little understood and as little valued. he passes to a position of equal importance with that of the teacher of Latin ol ! philosophy.
 l The idea of the writer is that now the fight must be for the recognition of the
 educational world of the value of the study of the musical theory in general education--the plea for practical music l may be made after that. He says: l First, 1t vii be seen that the ability | to play means that the theory student can vitalize his knowledge; he can re- aIize what his eye shows him; he can train his ear as well as his powers of mind After that step has been taken alter 1 it has been found that. to quote President | Faunce of Brown: Students must be taught to execute music for the sane oi
 understanding 1t, rather than taught t6 understand it for the sake of executing it."-it will be easy to show that ont might as we'll talk about sunsets without ! ever seeing one as to spend ones enorts entirely on understanding music without hearing it. and as one will not always content ones self with vicarious musica lexperiences one will have to acquire
 technic of some instrument or of th' | voice."
 Music is coming into Its own.
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