New Britain herald., 1915-05-04

! uSC DS taught JO- SlL SAiA S.s 1 to place his hands on the keys rlsht. Wonderful things can be done in this way, and instead of music being Just the means of entertainment It can be the means of lifting out from the body that submerged self which needs expression. ..t We are not at all interested in the talented child, because the talented child will always attract attention, like the possessor of physical beauty. But since the world depends upon the development of the normal child it is this one that attracts us. Such little one can be made to play well. We have proven this time and time again. yss tH
 There is really no such thing as tone deafness You can teach so much through music. There are so
 many possibilities that it is pity they cannot be worked out faster,
 And it is our firm belief, that it is
 not the brilliant musician who should
 be high priced; it is the devoted
 earnest teacher who is willing to work
 on what the child brings him.
 Here enters the serious question of the teacher and tho child. One type of man or woman cannot successfully teach all children. There is an OK cellent example of this in the music school, where one will often find teachers and children out of harmony, teachers who give up and declare that they cannot manage the child, and children who cannot learn from their instructors. When this occurs the teacher is changed, but the child is never sent away. So should it be with all who wish their children to study music.
 ] If you discover that your little girl or boy and their teacher are not n harmony with one another, make n change in the teacher. and if you l1ayc to do this twenty times before the right one is found, do it cheerful1y rather than sacrifice the spirit and perhaps the future mode of expres- sion and conduct of your child's life. l When should a child begin with ! music? That is a question asked nearly every day. The answer is: in the cradle It is the serious duty of every mother toward her child to sing l to it. Yet will you find the nursery song hummed and crooned in many families today?
 i True, there are some mothers "old- | idSHlOHSu enough LO SlHS IO IHei. little ones, they hum the nursery
 rhyme, the negro melody. These things cling to the child through life, and they give it the first .'attuning'' to
 music. One reason we have so many children today who are utterly in capable of carrying an air, who arc 1 really 'tuneless,' ono might say, iG because of the lack of this early home singing. 1 This musical retrogression is. di- rectly due to the women. Into their lives have entered certain elements Of
 social and business affairs that rob the
 l>home of reposa, the twilight hour Of
 peace and quiet, the close family com
 munion of interests is gone, with it
 has disappeared the nursery song,
 even with it are going the nursery tale
 land legend that form the basis of the
 folksong. In foreign countries yo,l
 will find folklore and folksongs be-
 cause the rspose still exists in the
 tEome, and until our mothers look to
 this side of home life we are going to
 tremain g, people without foiksongs or
 story tradition.
 ! There is no doubt that the music
 school movement has met with ex- traordinary success. That the young
 folk want to play and love music is
 praved conclusively through the fa ct
 that hundreds are yearly turned away
 because there is not room for them
 nor accommodation for their work
 l This predicts, beyond doubt, that in
 some years We will have a community
 of splendid amateurs. Just think of
 1 it. In five years thirty sister schools
 have sprung up over the country
 l teaching thousands of students! It is
 1 conservative to say that without doubt
 i'll ten years every town and city ,n
 ! the country will have a music schoo, 7 There must be some human interest ! for the sake of our social relations
 , that shall fuse our separate lives, and,
 2 if signs are to be depended upon, this
 ,, fusion of brotherhood will come
 through music.