The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1921-12-21
MUSIC AND EDUCATION

| Since education, after all, IS nothing
more nor less than a direction to.
wards truth given the mind, the lines
we quote from Robert Browning have
a depth Of meaning and significance
they offer the suggestion that nc
mental training can be complete and
inal if it neglects the moral, emo
tional and even the intellectual values
hat are produced by the concord OF
harmonious sound. No man is really
educated unless he knows all the ave-
.ues by which truth may be approach
ed. No matter how successful any
one might be in any of the sciences,
he would be lacking in the truest cul-
ture were he not familiar with all
the ages have given their souls to the
people of all time. knowledge of
poetry, sculpture and painting, we all
admit, is essential to that breadth of
earning upon which wisdom is found
ed, but this knowledge should not be,
and is not, any more an integral part
Of real education than is the appre-
citation of and the sympathy with the
meaning and beauties Of music.
1t is not alone because Of its in
! Auence upon our moral or emotional
natures that music demands consid-
Grafton as part of educational in
struction. 1t has real practical value
as well. If one understands the
method by which variety of sounds
are interviewer and blended into notes
of harmony he will by that much have
increased his own ability for SYM
metrical, orderly and logical think
ing. In the confusion of impressions
and ideas the thinker must be able
to throw out the false and discordant
and to combine those only that will
produce harmony. A training in mus
ical technique is form of mental
exercise and discipline that will
strengthen the perceptive faculties. 1t
should teach us to think straight and
by doing so will carry out the only
aim and mission of education. The
learned man is not he who possesses
an i'll assorted tumble Of facts; he is
the one who knows how to make use
Of what he has gained through read
ing, observation and experience in
forming his judgments.
Of recent days the educational
value of musical training has inn
pressed itself upon the minds of some
of our leading educators and music
has been made an elective course in
collegiate training. Some time ago
Penfield Roberts, writing in the New
York Evening Post, told the story of
the growth and development of mus
ical instruction at Harvard. AS he
expressed it,: "The art of Bach and
Beethoven has won and is filling a
place at Harvard no less valuable
culturally than those occupied for cen
turtles by the art of Sophocles and
Milton and the wisdom of Plato and
Aristotle" In other words, it has
been raised to the eminence of letters
and philosophy in the curriculum of
this great American institution
AS Mr.. Roberts tells us, the list of
elective subjects at Harvard for 1920
II contains IL courses and half cours-
es in music which count towards the
degree of ALB. or BIS, and which
may be counted towards higher de-
grees. The division of music has
been made a part of the faculty of
arts and sciences and the number of
students who select this musical train
ing is constantly growing. The re-
suit has been seen in the healthy and
enthusiastic accretions to the Pierian
Sodality, the Harvard band and choir
and the musical and glee clubs. The
latter, as musical critics agree, has |
attained a stage of excellence never
before achieved by a collegiate mus
ical organization. The leader of the
gloe club told Mr.. Roberts the story I
of how a collegiate singing organiza-
ton with a repertoire of college songs,
ballads and medleys was transformed
into a choral society capable of sup
erb interpretations of Palestine, Bach
and Debussy, and he used these tersc
words
They couldn't stand the jolt
they got by going from choir re-
hearsals of Bach and Palestine to
Glee Club rehearsals of trivial
pieces Immediately afterwards.
In the face of this it cannot be in
sisted that this elevation of musical
tastes and aesthetic appreciation Is OF
merely transient value. The bene- l
fciaries must have a finer and clearer
view on all the related activities of
life and their capacity for intellectual
enjoyment must be greatly broaden
ed and strengthened. In time they
should of themselves demonstrate the
wisdom of the Harvard faculty in dig
nifying the estate of music with the
rights and title that should belong
TO an invaluable aid towards the high
est culture.
As the universal tongue, music
should have a direct and powerful APP
peal to the students of languages.
They spend years, and without ques-
ton fruitful years in exploring the
mysteries and meaning Of ancient
and modern tongues, some Of which
have a direct parentage and others
a