New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-15

Difference in Musical Ability Due More to Training
Than to Heredity

posed to be utterly deficient in music.
The student of heredity, fear, would
unhesitatingly have set down such
child as non-musical because of failure
TO inherit the prerequisites. Yet this
child, after being educated in a natural
manner, has acquired positive pitch,
has learned TO compose, TO express his
own feelings unsteady, and to analyze
compositions which would battle many
teachers.
Thus, although a child may come
from a supposedly unmusical family.
it by no means follows that the child
cannot develop musical ability Of q
high order. On the other hand, what
of the cases where the child of two
musical parents fails to show talent,
| have in mind one striking case of
this sort which | met years ago. The
father was a pianist of international
renown, the mother a gifted musician.
They hoped, of course, that their child,
with its double inheritance, would sur
pass either one of them; they conf
IDENTIFY expected such q result. The
child was set to studying music at an
early age, but made no progress what
ever; he was declared TO be dull, un-
interested, hopeless.
was naturally curious to find the
reason for this state of affairs, and
they were not hard TO find. Almost the
first inquiry | made disclosed the fact
that the child showed dislike for te-
dious hours Of practicing, and was
therefore frequently shut up in a dark
closet for an hour or two at time, to
instill in him a greater love for his
lessons. and spirit more obedient to
the wishes of his parents. Small Won
der that he lost interest in music; and
without interest. without an eagerness
TO learn, little can be done. But where
the interest and will exist, il is an un-
usually defective child that cannot &C
quire considerable amount of musical
ability; and the same to less extent
holds good of adults. Perhaps it may
be of interest if | explain in little
detail the views on this point TO which
twenty years of teaching have brought
me.
II the motive for studying music be
made clear and the method of teaching
be sound, we may count confidently on
the results. Browning says: at is
better Youth should strive, through acts
uncouth, toward making, than repose
on aught found made" We have made
the mistake in music teaching in the
pdSb VI putting VIC pAVuuNt W
another's mind before our children and
forcing them to copy it. Behind this
mistake is the wrong motive. The
main idea was to force the child to
copy, parrot-like, at the earliest pos
sible moment, the thoughts of some one
else. Music was looked upon merely
as a means of adornment, as something
to be plastered on the outside 70 add
TO the attractlyeness of the child. The
motive is altogether wrong. Not slav-
cry TO some one else's ideas but free
dom to express ones own ideas should
be the aim. Watch tiny child seated
on his mothers knee. She has been
playing and he has been told &c keep
his little paddles on her wrists, but
presently he pushes her hands aside
and substitutes for the beautiful COM
position his own incoherent pattings
and poundings Of the keys, striving
through sounds uncouth" to express
himself; but, alas he is stopped. IL
is as though two-year-old should tod
die to his mother and stammer with
his crooked little tongue: "See,
mamma, de sun is playing hide and
go seek wifi me-" and the mother should
say: you must not talk that way, my
child. You should say, as Homer
writes, 10! Dawn, the rosy fingered,
opes wide the gates Of Day" What
would be the effect Of this classical
method of teaching English upon ones
JOY and proficiency in acquiring the
mother tongue?