The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-11
EAST SIDES MUSIC HUNGER
GR0WDS or CHILDREN AT MISS
EMILE MAGNETS SCHOOL.
An Enterprise Inspired by sir walter Bessnt
Material Dificulties u Had 10 Fight
Against Remarks able Craving Of Jews
for Music-Ncw Peoples Music school.

Against -Remark able Craving Of Jews
for Muslc-Ncw Peoples Music school.
The largeness Of the name indicates the
ambitions and hopes Of a small group Of
people. At this moment the Peoples Music
School is only two months old and occupies
ak small rooms at 90 Norfolk street. one
az the hiving tenements OF the East Side.
Already il has 100 pupils, an orchestra of
twenty-eight players, a junior orchestra Of
eighteen and classes in sight reading and
harmony. and IL has given one concert
st the hall OF the Hebrew Technical Al
lance.
The school is an offshoot from the Settle
ment Music School. whose concerts and
pupils are now the pet interest of a large
group OF uptown people and which is nour
sishing nightly. But the settlement Music
School and the Peoples Music school are
due to the initiative OF the same person.
Miss Emile Wagner.
II 10 a far cry to Sir Walter Eesant's "All
Sorts and Conditions OF Men" but both of
these enterprises and many kindred works
may he traced bach TO this book. A dozen
years ago Miss Wagner was making micro
scopical drawings and pursuing her bio
logical studies at the Woman's College in
ldINlIIlOIc Will 81 Nit" W htl ihNulV
When she laid down Sir Walters book she
determined to devote herself to settlement
work.
Bringing with her a colony OF ants that
abe had been rearing in connection with her
graduating thesis and "A fiddle that beguiled
her leisure she sought the means of carry
ing ont her purpose in this city. II came
ct the old Mariners Temple. on Henry
...o., u-lo., , e-0, btplAryar tap bod laat,
started,
But shortly the good people who believed
that the chapel was sacr~s to religious
exercises objected to the music children
~trooping in and out. So the young pastor.
who was not 80 pious, placed a room in his
home at her disposal. The young pastor
and his flock soon went different ways and
the music school was again adrift
Miss Wagner then applied to the College
Settlement. which gave her the only room
available. This Yves in the basement. which
sle occupied subject to the Capriccs Of the
cook. Here she set up a piano, with one
child practising ON the bass while another
took her lesson on the treble; 30 great was
the demand. so limited the opportunity.
Here Miss Wagner was found by two
young women who. perceiving the work
she was doing under such hard conditions,
formed themselves into "A committee, en-
listed others and set about placing the little
enterprise on its feet
IL is intel re- sting to look bGck and pick up
these threads, for thisT persistence and this
discoura ze m nj lasted over a year in the
face of trials that cannot he set down here.
The College Ssttle ment Music School. as il
now cam to bc called. and the University
Settlement School. in time united. and Miss
Wagner was PUT at the head. The two
soon overlooked. and q sei Grate house IVES
needed.
No. 81 Rivington street, which once
had evil fame in the Red Light district. IVES
secured and ira nsformed. The police no
longer stood before the door, but a rroo.s-
SION of small IeoI Ie. with faces newly
scrubbed. in clean Inaforts n collars.
tugged at its bell after public school hours
were over.
Still nothing could be more humble. In
the basement be e the coal hin and the
furnace was a piano. In the onioe, where
lenches were crowded with children waiting
their turn. was a piano and lessons going On.
in a room with no window, and under the
gasiight two violins and a piano worked at
lrIos.
an rooms only large enough for an upright
iano and a chair. in halls and rassa geways
we ~ tttA1t tihS ttAlnS "a thaS ls@ssC "
the scratch Of the fiddle bow from $3.50 in the
! ~ftsrnoon until 10 at night. Every scrap OF
r. ace vas utilized, yet so limited were the
accommodations that out of the hundreds
of children applying only those whose talents
warranted il could be accepted.
The system of tinanoe and manag e ment
was naive and illustrated the enthusiasm
and resources of both workers and pupils.
Y he lessons were l21l minutes long; the fee
10 cents. Foul cents paid for a half hours
E,ranft1a nnf of ahnan annl M ntA fhn
revenue OF the school. which amounted to
500 a month.
Fourteen of the twenty teachers were vol
unteers from up town, women int rested IN
she enterprise. Eight were pupil teachers.
girls from IA to 10, who received 5 out OF
the Ia cents given for a lesson.
These girls soon became self-supporting;
that in. they earned "a much as their COM
panions in shops and factories, with the
difference in the favor OF hours. c%ongenial
employment and future prospects. others
less advanced were known as practice
teachers. These overlooked the practising
Of the little ones who needed watching in
their first lingering and bowling.
These practice teachers receive four cents
for each half hours service. With these
earnings they continued their own musical
studies. with the assurance hat they too
in time would become pupil teachers.
The children whose parents we're too poor
TO pay for their lessons earned their money.
w. wy WIN 4,es '.a
funerals and weddings, and thus paid their
wav. Almost all were Hebrews.
sit must be conceded. says Miss Wagner.
that the little Christians do not show the
musical susceptibility Of the little Jews"
To get the first violin for one of these
children the father in winter pawned his
overcoat. Clara, then going on 0. the eldest
OF five children. WAS a little Rumanian.
Her mother made p~assementerie ornaments
az 20 cents for twenty dozen and her father
psddled them. Thus the mother some
times made 81 ccnts n day. cared for her
family and did the washing after midnight.
Clara was a discovery out Of n free kinder
gsrten She was placed at a ~clavier. a
meaningless clatter Of ivories, aud forgotten.
After dinner the teachers seeing a light
burning in the school fastened to investi-
gate, and found Clara at the ~clavier. I'M
mindful Of time and unconscious OF hunger.
Clara is now one of the shining lights OF
the Settlement Music School.
May ] bring my little sister, asked the
pupil.
sHss she ever taken any ~lesson.?"
No. but she has learned to play on a
chair"
The child was brought and for the first
time placed at a piano. when she played
Q nuinDer OF Beyer's exercises that she had