Vernon Parish Democrat., 1921-03-31
CHILDREN AND MUSIC
By Caroline KOhlsaat
WHY should children sinq2

Because they love to sing; because
singing enriches their lives; because
lit develops their natural sense of
beauty.
p. Is beauty essential to life?
1t is.
I3. What is the relation of beauty to
life?
AS bread nourishes the physical Boz
dy, SO beauty is the food of the spirit.
Il. How may we bring beauty into
the lives of our children?
By teaching them to extract it from
the experiences of every day. By
helping them to find it in nature and
in art.
IS. What is art?
Art is the concrete expression of
mans feeling or capacity for beauty.
Art is only life in terms of beauty"
CThomas Whitney Surette.) = *"Art
lis an expression, satisfying and abid-
ling, of the zest for life" George Gis-
Ising.)
6. Which of all the arts is first acces-
sible to the little child?
Music.
u. How?
Long before a child can really ap-
preciate any other form of art or ex-
press himself in it, he can, in the sing
ling of little song, not onl y come in
contact with a perfect work of art,
but can completely ly realize himself in
the expression of it.
Is. Do all types of song bring about
this desirable end, (self-realization is
form Of beauty or develop the
sense of beauty9
No. As soon expect a healthy,
beautiful body to result from diet of
overstimulating, undernourishing food
as to expect a perception of beauty to
develop from a diet Of insincere or
tawdry music.
S g. How can a musically uneducated
parent safely choose songs for his
child?
2 There is one type of song that is
genuine, very simple, and truly beau.
H tiful, that was not composed for q
II commercial market, but that has liv
II ed for generations because it is thu
II sincere, spontaneous expression o
II fine feelings: this is called foil
II song" 1t is the best foundation OF
II which to build musical taste, for it i
Il the foundation of the music of all th'
II great masters.
Il 10. Are these folk songs available?
II Yes. Realizing the suitability o
H this type of music for little children
Il publishers are offering collection
i with the English translations or adap
H tations, when original words are un
Y suitable. Among these may be men
: toned: Our Old Nursery Rhymes
= harmonized by Moffat, pub. by Davic
!! Mackay, Phila., Pa; Every Child
Folk Songs and Games, collected b,
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, pub. by Mil
ton Bradley, Springfield, Mass.
Songs for the Little Child, by Clar;
Belle Baker and Caroline Kohlsaat
pub. by the Abingdon Press, Isl
Fifth Ave, New York; The Rote Sons
Book, by Surette and Dawson, pub
by American Society for Universe
Teaching, Phila. Pa.
II. How can these songs be used il
the home?
They are so simple that they require
very little musical training for thei
reading and they are so melodiou'
that they are complete without any
accompaniment. Nothing so surely
establishes musical taste nor so natur
ally contributes to the happy solidar
ity Of the home as family singing o.
fine old songs.
II. How does early singing affect q
child's interest in learning to play ar
instrument?
Singing is the best possible prepar
alton for instrumental study. AS nc
sane parent attempts to have his chile
taught reading and elocution, before
he has learned to talk, so no thought
full parent will plunge a child into thu
technical difficulties of instrumental
music before he has love of music ii
his mind and heart and repertoire
of fine songs as background o
foundation experience.
Active participation in fine music i
far better than passive enjoyment o
it. The seeds of beauty sown In
home where the family habituaIl!
sings, will yield incomparably finer re
suits than the presence there of tn
most expensive mechanical musica
instruments.
PARENTS