The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-17
MISS LETA KITS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUSIC

to subscribe to the belief of Emerson that Life only avails, not the having lived"
 Before the war" said MT. Damrosch, most of our students who went abroad to study went to Berlin. Dres- den, Leipsic, Vienna; but few have finest teachers in France. This was known that there were many of the because the French were content to live in their own domain. and lead life of more CT less isolation. yet the French have. l\rhnps. the greatest genius for teaching of any people in the orld They have that character istic enthusiasm of the osllic race, in addition to a wonderful clarity of ex- pression and a keen analytical mind
 The idea ot the Normal School of Music may almost be said to have or iginated during the war some two years ago, vixen I was in France on musical mission. General Pershing, hearing that I was in Paris, sent for
 
 ,ment of our military bands. Many of the band leaders were so woefully lacking in the rudimentary knowledge to of conducting that I suggested to Gen. eral Pershing that a school should be established where these leaders could receive the much needed instruction. What America could learn from France, and in fact from all Europe, IS a deeper feeling for music. We do not need finer orchestras, for we already have the best in the world But our musical culture has a very thin, though highly cultivated surface. We must enrich our soil and cultivate 1t from the bottom up. and not from the top down. Our common peopIe'v leed greater musical encoura cement.
 Europe cannot understand how we ! maintain twelve orchestras, all sub ventioned. several of which are prob
 ably better than the best they have. Americas need is not so much for
 cated taste to appreciate that which We nave. There is no ensemble play | ing in the world such as we know Tn America. and this is cue to the gen. l erous cndow.nents which enable us to rehearse continuously, but it is the
 people in Europe who know how to ap- 1 preciate sue hmusic most thoroughly. l Tt is not my habit to give adYice un- less it is asked, but from now on the field for benefactors of music would 1 seem to lie closer to the lives of the common people and to enable them to express artistically their emotional na- | lures before they atrophy from lack Of such expression The following incident | will illustrate my meaning.
 This summer we were stopping one | night in the old town of Compiegn
 which was headquarters for the French
 during the war, and twas in inc of bon-
 bardment. About dusk we were wander l ing through the narrow, quaint streets
 when we heard the sound of music. Fol lowing the direction from whence it
 came we soon approached a little old
 church, and there, inside, was the town s band of sixty-five pieces engaged in re- hearsal. Its members were the small shopkeepers, mechanics and laborers Of the town. The band has since been dec- orated by the French government he- cause it is one of the few that kept go- ing during the five years of .he war. As
 soon as one after the other of the young men went into service, older men and boys took up the instruments and kept
 the ranks of the band filled. It was an 1 inspiring sight to watch them at re- hearsal. and they really played surprls- | ingly well.
 This. to my mind is something which should become a feature of every town
 and city in America. No small com munity should be without it's own Tnu- nicipal band, which should be led by a professionally trained leader who would know how to train an organization of amateurs which would be able to develop l the musical taste of their community ] and cultivate it's appreciation for music.