Year: 1879

Almost every parent having a daughter
to educate is pretty sure to be confronted
with this question. shall she take les
sons?' at an early period of the ''finish-
ing" process. And, in speaking of taking
lessons theipiano is of course understood
to be the instrument in question; for its
hold on the popular favor is so strong as
practically to rule out all others in the
great majority of eases. SO much does the
piano stand for, in estimating the social
status Of community that it conveys a
very Intelligent idea of the character of a
village in the newer settled portions of our
country, to speak of it as "a ten-piano
town. or Il forty-piano place


Ability perform on the national instru-
ment has therefore been one of the first
things sought for by daughters in well-to-
do families; and as step up and out of
the unlovely and often hard conditions of
common life, it was an ambition to encour-
age. That we have so much home music
in this land to-day, and have seen within
forty years so rapid and wide an increase
in the popular knowledge of really good
music. is due more to the piano than any
other instruments it might almost be said
than to all others.


The first thing to be considered in an
swering the question, Shall she take les
sons is whether she wants to. This idea
will probably be new to great many pa
rents. who act a though they suppose that
blossoms" are all that is required to make
Il musician We have not enough consid-
cred, in this country, the adaptability of
children to their avocatons; and so large
a share of the round holes in our indus
trial and professional activities are filled
with square pegs. and vice versa.


II a girl has no special liking for the
piano. and particularly if she be manifest
ly deficient in the natural gifts requisite to
its mastery, why should she waste her
time and you your money in vain attempt
to learn it Perhaps she could learn the
organ better, or the violin, or some other
instrument. Or if her ear be dull for
tones, her sense of time deficient, and her
physical and mental aptitudes are unsuited
for the loving and successful study of mu-
sic in any form, why not accept the fact,
and permit her to ascertain and follow
her bent in other directions? Every being
that can live can do something; this let
him do says gruff but wise old Thomas
Carlyle. The girls can not all play the
piano, but they are not, therefore, shut out
of accomplishments. Let them sing, or
sketch, or paint, or embroider, or make
and adorn their apparel, or lavish their
art instincts on cooking.


A good deal of this fertile forcing of the
inclinations comes from desire to .'have
some music in the house, and a very laud-
able wish it is; but why don't such parents
set a son to painting, though he may be
color blind and unable to draw a straight
line even with the aid of ruler, because
they want some pictures in the housep'
1t would be quite rs sensible a proceeding
rs the other. Good mechanical music can
he had much cheaper from music-box or
Il crank-organ.


1t is to be remembered, also, that piano
playing is an art that can be retained only
by continual exercise. Even the great
masters of the instrument depend upon
daily practice for the preservation of their
skill. If girls situation in life. is not
likely to be such that she can retain her
practice, either for profit or pleasure, it is
folly, and often cruelty, to teach her an
accomplishment and perhaps give her a
source OF delight that she must so soon
abandon


The question of providing music lessons
for the daughter, except in cases where
she is so clearly gifted as to make the
course plain, is therefore, in our
view, largely one of policy If you can
afford the money, and your daughter the
time, it is often worth her while to learn
the little that the majority of pupils acquire
as IA matter of discipline, and for the pleas
ure She may feel and give to others, in be-
ing able to play the sprightly measures
that enliven the social circle, or the simple
accompaniments for home songs. But if
pursued in this way, and for this purpose,
the course of instruction should not dis
courage and burden the pupil by its tedi
BUSINESS and severity, AS is o often the
case. 1t takes parents and teachers long
time to find out that what children study
with freedom and delight are the easiest
and best things for them to learn. Gold
en- Ruie for Harch.