The San Francisco call., 1904-04-27
The Teaching OF AfHsic.
Pv w s. d MATHEWS
> tAuthor a. The Grtat In 8iuslc, "A P9I1'ar
4istcsv T.. Music" ''Hcw 20 Under
sta-a sfuEic." etc)


.ro5,-srht. 1904 5y Joseph z. Bowics)
The choice Of an avocaGon in life
is o. o:.eht 10 be determined by the
character and tastes Of the individual
and the opportunity the proposed avo-
cation offers. Il successfully pursued
far personal satisfaction and hnan-
cial fndcpeEdence. ANY svOcation not
anordIng 20 the individual a variety
OF mental qualifications. Of such char
scter that = man can properly take
an interest and q pride in it, is not
good ore 20 select Therefore the first
point for 'the young man 10 decide
concerning the profession of music
teaching is whether il would afford
him 2 Measurable field for hard work
for hard work IS the law of sue
cess in any profession. The second
point is often overlooked by the young.
and the man finds himself in q profess
sion which is overcrowded. or a profes-
sion which In its actual daily admin
istratiOn is irritating. troublesome.
exacting and unrewarding from a
mental standpoint. Remember that
the only satisfactions in life which you
can be sure Of are those you carry
within yourself Now in regard to
the satisfaction 10 be gained from
teaching music. one might take a short
cut. not unlike Punch's in regard TO
marrying. His advice was, Don't"
but he meant. Don't unless you have
to" So with teaching music. unless
music exerts over you a fascination
which makes everything else look
pale. il is very likely you might find
some other business which would give
a better reward. But the great pro-
portion Of those who teach music have
been caught in the fascination Of
music and have drifted into teaching
because they were not fit for anything
else. Boys are called to this vocation
sometimes. just as they used to be
called to preach, before salaries got so
low. relatively.
Financially considered the profession
OF teaching music has few very large
prizes. Unlike the profession OF medI-
cine. which in a city like Chicago af-
fords perhaps twenty prizes worth
above $4,000 a year (seyeral Of them
being for surgery. where rates are high
because responsibilities are also greaD
the profession OF music does not afford
a single prize Of so much as $4,000 TO
a teacher. and not more than one such
amount TO a teacher and player COM
hined. There are several, however. Of
5000 and several more Of $4,000 a year.
Half this sum is, however, a rather
handsome professional income TO prac-
titiOners Of good reDute and valued ex-
perience In the smaller cities the lead
sing teachers Of music are able to earn
somewhere about $1,000 a year. and
fes--
business tact may expect TO build for
himself such business in any city Of
~ 600 people or so. The average prizes,
Of course. are very much smaller. A
lady music teacher in a seminary
rarely has a larger salary than about
s7G0 or $500 and a home. The same
woman working independently for a
series Of years would build herself a
larger business which would be all her
own in place Of being subject to the
chances Of re-engagement from year to
year.
1t is unfortunate that very few teach
ers of music are thoroughly qualified
for their work In this respect the
musical profession is far below the
other so-called learned" (''instructed'')
professions. The trouble is that the
whole subject Of musical education
needs 10 be reconstructed from the
ground up-nOne Of our schools, or the
foreign either for that matter, cover
ing the ground at all adequately. OF
course IL one proposes TO teach music"
one should know music, and this means
that one should be able to hear music
in a musical manner, just as one who
knows the French language thoroughly
hears French. /. e., takes the ideas into
his mind as they pass, as the autOcrat
used to say, without stopping TO taste
them" Now All our schools take the
musical ear for granted and do nothing
70 educate it, whereas the musical ear
is an expert ear. an ear educated to
grasp tone--combinations and success
sions in a musical manner. This is the
first mistake. Then all Of the So
called theory" OF music is acquired in
purely abstract way, the pupil in
harmony after a year OF study not be-
ing able TO tell by ear tonic from a
dominant, a major from a minor chord.
or a nominative case from a verb. The
most serious break our sO-called mus
fcai educators make is in not educating
the students in what we might call the
literature" Of music-meaning there
hy the general body Of musical MASTER
works, as the expression Of composers
personalities. certain characteristic
musical ideals. typical beauties and
contrasts Of style. No school anywhere,
sin Europe or here, has classes or
courses in tone-pOetry systematized in
any rational way--in fact no such
classes Of any kind The pupils take
for lessons a piece by Haydn, n piece
by Mozart a piece by Beethoven and
a piece by Chaminade or Liebling, and
have no idea that there is any essen
tial difference in the musical idea illus
srated This is a fine thing, perhaps,
for KiunbaU Hall and Paris, but ii is
a trifc hard on Vienna and Salisbury.
There is quite a flourishing circle OF
teachers at tho present time who think
shat music is more successfully taught
10 children Tor the first few years upon
tables and toneless instruments. Per-
haps? NO. The art Of music consists