The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-08
EDUCATIONAL
 VALUE OF MUSIC Study of the Piano One of the Great Moral Educa-
 tional Forces.

More than 400 years ago Leonardo Da Vinci, who like Alexander VOn
 Humboldt, was master of all the arts
 and sciences of his day, wrote-"No
 mans education is complete without | a Knowledge of music" Da Vinci, though better known to the present | generation as a painter, was musi- clan and a pedagogue, and in all re- spects was one of the most noted fig ures of the Renaissance. Not only.
 was he one of the greatest painters. l sculptors architects and engineers of | his day, but he was also one of the 1 best educated men of all time, having
 cultivated successfully anatomy, bot | any, mathematics, astronomy, poetry, l and music.
 | The views of one so highly accom- | plished are always interesting, and l Da Vincis avowal that a musical ed
 ucation was conducive of good nor
 als and a broader humanity are sig | nificant, for in addition to his great ability as scholar and an artist, one great feature of the man which made | him the most shining light of his age and career is this--he was a good
 man. That he has to say, therefore regarding the relation of music to morals will likewise be of interest It can be stated, as a general prin ciple, that musical nature can do no
 wrong, and it is true that those en- dowed with a great love of music have seldom, if ever, done any great wrong. 1t would be difficult to think of Paderewski, Schumann, Cho-
 pin or Beethoven as a burglar, forger, murderer or thief. Therefore, Da
 Vincis views regarding. the value of music as a part of a thorough educa-
 tion Is significant, particularly, be-
 cause he may be said to have been the father of the modern idea of our societies for the prevention of cruel ty to man and beast. Da Vinci was so genial and of a nature so sympa- thetic that to witness suffering of any kind gave him the keenest pain: in it his business to buy all caged pig cons and other birds exposed for sale, in order that these friendly winged
 creatures might be released, and this kindly man thought so much of music
 as humanizing art that he made it
 the keystone of all practical educa- ton.
 Da Vinci was master of nearly all the musical instruments then known. Had the piano and player-piano been
 known in his time. enough is known of his thoughts to justify the state ment that he would be among he strongest advocates of these instru
 menus, because the piano and the or
 gan is the one form of musical instru-
 ment in which both harmony and
 melody can be best combined.
 Because of the great popularity of
 the piano, it is no exaggeration to say that IL exercises pernapS the most
 humanizing influence in the world to-day. Not only did Da Vinci look
 upon music as great moral and ed
 ucational force, but the ancient
 Greeks classed music with charity,
 good taste and good manners, as an accomplishment necessary to fit one for the best in social and civic life.
 To-day it can be truly said that a mu-
 sical community is a genial and con
 genial community, and that the must
 cal family is good and happy family. Indeed, the Greeks are father of the
 theory, since verified by experience.
 that no ones education is complete
 without some knowledge of music.
 That idea pervades all of the Platon- ic dialogues and nearly the whole body of Green literature of the gold en age. Socrates, the father of mod
 ern science and education, advised the study of the flute, the Tyre, the harp and the 1cithara, so we have it from two of the worlds greatest men and thinkers that music is an ennob- ling humanizer and educational inf1u- ence, first Da Vincis saying, ''No
 mans education is complete without
 a knowledge of music" and again
 Socrates, For if a man knows noth-
 ing of music he is still ignorant