The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-09
Power of Harmony to Strength
 en the System
LONG BEEN APPRECIATED
Maks the Songs of a Nation and No One Will Need to Prescribe It's Druas-Panists Lift Many
 Tons Daily.
BY FREDERICK RICE. JR.

1 for health. Rhythm as a life rule Music | as a tonic stimuant. Song as a preVen- l tive of respiratory diseases, an aid to
 individual supremacy.
 This ancient conception keeps coming i up as novelty in an age of scientific | discovery and experimentation. It is not l really a novel idea, of course. David l used music on Saul, and there probably
 were therapeutic musicians long before
 David.
 1 Still the idea is constantly recurring. | Music has been compared to an electric l force. At a recent meeting of the de- l partment of superintendence of the Ma i tional Educational association William l.. 1 Tomlins, the well known director of the 1 Worlds Columbian exposition of 1893, | said impressively:
 | Real music does not lend itself to | ignoble expression. Music vitalizes as | nothing else can. Under the influence of 1 music the careworn are refreshed and 1 strengthened, hearts are stirred, and all l feel themselves moved as If by one mighty bond of brotherhood. This power l of music can be utilized for the better
 ment of mankind Every school in the l land should be filled with song. Crown
 ups, too, may get out of music some- l thing that will give them strength to l fight the battle of life.
 "The whole nation can be benefited by ] the power or SOHR. Anu lIliS pOWei tdii 1 be utilized as electricity is at present. 1 which at one time was considered just 1 as intangible thing as music is by most 1 people now. AS in electricity so in music. | We have not learned half its uses. Music comes in q flash. Those who hear it l are lifted up by its power. A few take | strength and joy that music has given | away with them. It is from these few | that we can get an inkling of the power | which Is in music"
 High authorities approve the notion Of l the essential healthfulness of the musical pursuits. Practically all the great opera l singers have been husky and healthy. | 'Let me make the songs of nation and l I care not who prescribes the drugs" is l the paraphrase of a distinguished musi- elan who as teacher In the oldest and l largest of American music schools has witnessed the progress of hundreds or | young people who began their musical | education with evidence of physical frailty only to improve steadily in phy- sique and vitality.
 It would be strange If 1t were not so, considering the physical exercise which the serious student gets. Most important of all are the exercises in deep breathing
 which are part of the training or every singer Immunity from many of the most serious of ills is secured by proper habits of respiration.
 The other musical pursuits give valu- | able exercise. An ingenious statistician | has calculated that in four hours prac- | tice the pianist lifts the equivalent or I from two to four tons The tendency of | modern music Is to increase the amount l of lifting. Similar figures could be de- yeloped for other kinds of music. Then there is the physical power which experiments have shown music to have. Take for example its influence upon ami discovered that even on the lower orders of animal life-excepting spiders-muslcal tones may be used to produce both stimulating and depressing effects Lizards and scorpions were made to beat time with their tongues The cobra balanced himself on his tail while a lively air was played. Curator Frank C. Baker of the Academy of Science of Chicago, as result Of many tests with creatures In the Lin- coln park ZOO, is certain that the physi- cal health of the animals can be pro- noted by harmony or injured by dis cord Herr Baler, German violinist, has conducted experiments in the royal geological garden of Berlin. The species respond in various ways. He found, for instance that the puma Is peculiarly sensitive to music; that leopards are as indifferent as fashionable people at the opera; that lions get nervous and ap- prehensive; that hyenas are terrified; that monkeys are curious about the sounds but rarely express positive pleasure.
 Such facts are significant. They show that music is more than mere diversion. It Is force which can be reckoned with in the campaign in behalf of national health that is being waged. Where music Is common-good musc-there is health. On this subject Ralph l.. Flanders, who as manager of the New England Con- servatory of Music the largest school of Nf fhA ton Opera company, the most remarkable or
 development of American grand opera,
 has had exceptional opportunities to be
 familiar with the conditions in which
 candidates for musical careers pursue their studies, has said in an interview:
 Music students of whom there are
 said to be 10000 studying in Boston alone,
 are a peculiarly healthful class of peo-
 ple It has been the experience at this
 institution for nearly 50 years that with
 musical proficiency comes increased vi-
 tality and physical endurance. A con-
 servatory, of course, Is not a sanatarium.
 It is no place at which consumption can
 be cured with a song or heart disease
 remedied by practice on the violin. Prep
 aration for a musical career on the con-
 trary, means a lot of exhaustive and ex-
 hausting work. Investigations have shown that discords have as bad effect 
 a beneficial effect. That explains why extreme nervousness Is sometimes caused
 by the prolonged practice, especially be-
 fore the musician has gained complete mastery of his medium. It also explains the great importance of following only
 methods that are physiologically right.
 That is why correct hand culture Is so necessary to the prospective pianist
 That is why in learning to sing it is
 produce undue strain on the vocal organs,
 thus increasing instead of diminishing any tendency to tubercular or other dis turbance-exactly as the fluent and easy
 old Italian method of singing has never
 been superseded at the New England
 Conservatory. That is why a good man.
 ner of breathing is the first consider
 ation in preparing young man or young
 woman for career as singer That Is
 why in studying the string and wind in
 strument the student is not encouraged
 to keep on with an instrument that ir-
 ritates him. Difference of temperament,
 for instance, make it a great pleasure for
 one to learn such an instrument as the
 oboe, while another is constantly fretted
 by It's limitations. Germans and those of
 German descent usually enjoy, we find,
 learning the brass wind instruments while
 native Americans are like the French in
 getting more benefit and pleasure from
 the wood wind.
 "Over-doing is the music students
 danger That is the trouble in many European cities where young Americans study under no expert supervision, living ID