LESSON TWENTY

MUSIC

1. The Aim of Music in the Public Schools.-Public school music has suffered from a misapprehension, on the part of the general public and most teachers, of its aims and possibilities. Music has been looked upon as an accomplishment for the talented and its study has been confined to those who displayed unusual ability or taste in that direction. This is no more reasonable than to say that because a child does not show evidences of becoming a great mathematician he should not study arithmetic.

Music has great educational value. Probably no one would deny its value as a culture study, but not all appreciate that in addition there is no other subject in the school curriculum more useful in training the senses and in mental discipline. Properly taught, music trains the ear, the eye, the voice and the hand and furnishes the best kind of exercise for the intellect. It is not the aim of public school music to turn out musicians, but to make appreciative listeners, to open up a world of esthetic enjoyment and culture for those who otherwise would never know this pleasure, and to arouse and strengthen the pupils so that they will do better work in every other study.

There is a certain fundamental knowledge of music that everyone can acquire. Any teacher who can teach reading can teach music, even if her knowledge of the subject is limited-provided always that she is willing to make the necessary effort. She should be able to sing the scale cor

rectly; she should be able to detect inaccurate tones and she should have some knowledge of music notation. Given these, plus a willingness to apply herself to the task in hand, she can begin the teaching of music and will find herself growing in power as the children advance.

2. Material. The teacher should provide herself with a pitch-pipe (the Congdon Chromatic pitch-pipe is the best') and a blackboard staff liner. She should have a plentiful supply of rote songs, among the best collections of which are the Songs of the Child World by Jessie L. Gaynor, and Songs and Games for Little Ones by Mildred and Pattie Hill. (See Bibliography.) A copy of the Rote Song Book, First Steps in Music, by Ripley and Tapper, will give the greatest possible help in the beginning. Later a book that will furnish material for practice is necessary for the pupils. For this purpose the Harmonic Primer by Ripley and Tapper is among the best. Charts, too, are necessary for the same purpose. If the board will not furnish them, the teacher can obtain the charts in pamphlet form and put the exercises on the board.

3. Care of the Children's Voices.-It is of the utmost importance that the teacher understand how to take care of the children's voices. This does not mean that she must give a course in voice culture, but it does mean that she should know how to preserve the natural voices of the children. There are a few simple rules, which, if followed, will be very effective.

First, remember that there is much more danger of singing too low than of singing too high. A child's voice is naturally high and clear and ought to be sweet rather than shrill. To preserve this child quality, everything

Lyon & Healy, 199 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, or any music store, will furnish this. The price is about 15 cents.

2 A good staff liner may be secured from the Atlas School Supply Company, 315 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, for about 20 cents.

should be sung in a high pitch. It is a good general rule to have the songs and exercises lie within the compass of the staff; that is, not below e, first line, or above f, fifth line, although the voices can be carried higher than f, and they can go lower than e if they start high and sing down and back. Many of the rote songs should be pitched higher than they are written. This may not be comfortable for the teacher unless she happens to be blessed with a high soprano voice, but she must remember that the children are to do the singing. While she is teaching the rote song she can pitch it for her own voice, but when the children have learned the melody, it must be pitched for their voices. The teacher should not sing with the pupils after they have learned the song.

In teaching the scale start with high do and sing down and up. In all vocal and scale drills follow the same rule. Have them sing the scale with the syllables loo and coo, both of which give a sweet, smooth tone.

In pronouncing words, as also in giving the scale syllables, dwell on the vowel sounds and not upon the

consonants.

More can be done for the voices of children in singing songs than in any other way, for here we have the emotional interpretation, of which more will be said under the head of Rote Songs.

Never allow the children to shout. Work for a clear, light, sweet tone, not for volume. It is better to say to the children, "sing sweetly" or "sing lightly," rather than always "sing softly." Just to say "softly" sometimes cultivates a suppressed, dead tone. What we want is a vital tone without harshness. Insist that everything, whether it be a scale drill, sight reading exercise or song, be given with this good tone. This brings better results than many vocal drills.

4. General Principles of Method. —Music is a language, and teaching music, in process, is much like teaching a child to use and read his "mother tongue." There is this difference for the teacher, however: A child comes to school with a certain vocabulary of words. He can talk. He has ideas which he can express in spoken language. He has no Vocabulary of tones. The teacher must do for him in music what the mother and his brothers and sisters have done in the use of words. She must furnish the vocabulary. She must lead him to express himself in tones. This power he acquires by imitation. When he can imitate he must learn to recognize what he hears. When he can hear tones and recognize them he is ready for a written representation of them, or what we call music notation. The final step is the interpretation of the written signs-or reading music-commonly termed sight reading. The steps in method, then, are imitation, recognition, representation and interpretation.

5. Imitation. (a) THE ROTE SONG. The rote song, or song to be taught by imitation, is the foundation of music study. By means of it a child's musical sensibilities are aroused, his feeling for melody and rhythm awakened. The songs should be selected with care that they be within the child's voice range, that the melody is simple and the rhythm well marked. Care must be taken, too, to select songs having the right kind of words. Mere doggerel will not do. The poem should be good as a poem without the music. It should be something that appeals to the child, either to his experience or his imagination. Children like fanciful things and even nonsense verses. The songs may be selected to correlate with the nature study, the geography, the study of trades and industries, etc. There are many beautiful songs of the seasons. In this way the music may enrich all the other subjects and stimulate the child's interest in everything.