Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-02-06

uehBnuul 10 nave all InlS rnyluulc III
stinet grow up unconsciously from
happy playtime than to have IL left
until a child is old enough to be o n
scious Of his lack in this respect and
has TO 60 through exacting and tire
some drills to overcome IL.
Happy the child whose lot is cast
In a joyous musical atmosphere! There
is thus implanted in his inner being
a something which will help him to go
through many trials with a brave
heart and an uncOnquerable hope and
faith that this is after all a good
world.
We constantly hear mothers say,
mo, my children have no talent for
music and / shall not bother to have
them learn anything about it"
If l could feel that / had in all my
life made a few mothers, a few teach
ers, understand the difference between
music as a performance and music as
a life element, and thereby gained for
a few children this power which more
than any other stirs the vital forces
by which we live, l should feel that
my share Of life's troubles were a
small price to pay.
Rousing Feeling for Music.
A like misrepresentation in the do
main of art would Danish from home
and school the beautiful pictures and
art forms which awaken q love of all
that wonderful world Of beauty re-
vealed to the seeing eye and the ap-
preciatlve mind because, perforce, so
very, very few children have any tai
ent for drawing, painting or modelling.
One of the first steps in rousing a
feeling for music is to lead a child to
listen. How much stress is laid in u
scheme of education. upon teaching a
child to observe, to see; how little
upon teaching him to hear. The eye
is made dominant in all things and we
lose much enjoyment which u trained
sense of hearing might bring us. God
made the birds beautiful, but he also
gave them songs, so tender, so thrill
ing that the very breath stops that we
may listen, as we sit at twilight neal
the home of wood thrush or song spar
row.
To the open ear is not the gentle,
silyery murmur of the brook as it calls
through the forest as keen a delight
as is its crystal simmer in a setting
Of green, when we have followed its
call and found it's home?
Let us not forget that. the morning
stars sang together, and that he who
created them meant his children to
hear their music in the melodies and
harmonies of all his great creation.
The child brought up In the city
hasn't the beautiful sounds of nature
from which to get his first lessons in
listening, but mother and kindergart-
ner can make use of what they have.
Even the scissors grinder and rag
man help us out here. One of my lit
tie pupils, the daughter of musical
parents, gained her first idea of imi-
tating sounds correctly from a rag
mans call.
Lesson From the Rag Man.
AS we were having our lesson n
day we heard this song comeI was
going to say t1oat-in at the window,
but the ragman's tones are rather too
strenuous to be called floating tones /:
Rags, rags, rags; any old rags or
bott's." The tune can be written thus.
Do 81 la sol sol sol do do, but no words
can describe the quality of the tones.
At nee l initiated the theme and lit
tie Frances, to my great surprise, imi-
tated me exactly, whereas before this
she had hardly been able to get one
single note correctly. His tune was
unique and it appealed to her.
Lead the children to listen in every
way you can think Of. Tap on differ
ent substances, wood, glass, silver.
You may find a lampshade that gives
forth a definite musical pitch. Play
tunes on tumblers, tuning them to mu-
steal pitches by varying the quantity
of water in them and striking lightly
with silver knife or spoon. This de-
vice l found most useful in arousing
interest in music in a boy who seemed
to have no musical instinct whatever.
A writer says 'The greater part Of
children's time is spent in elaborate
representation and make-believe, and
the entire basis of their education Is
acquired through this directly assim-
ilative faculty" This applies most
forcibly to music and gives to those
who have the care of children almost
unlimited opportunity for developing
musical expression.
A lullaby song at the child's bedside
at night is a benediction beyond esti-
mate.
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