MUSICAL COURIER
24
January 19, 1922
MUSIC AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
By GEORGE H. GARTLAN Director of Music in the Public Schools of New York City
INTERPRETATION AND APPRECIATION
Formulating a Course of Study for Music in Secondary Schools Based Upon the Fundamental Elements of Music Teaching
methods should be carefully articulated with those of the elementary grades and should be based on the pedagogic principles and methods applied in the earlier grades. It is generally conceded that there is more real pedagogy in the average elementary school syllabus than there is in the average high school syllabus on the same subject. It has always seemed to us that we expect too much of the high school pupil. This contention is based largely on the fact that the emotional element in music is strong enough to appeal through the purely sentimental side. The psychologic content in such writings as Robert Browning’s “Grammarian’s Funeral” is a little too subtle for adolescent mentality. Many teachers have been guilty of attempting to apply this kind of psychology to the undeveloped intellect of childhood, with the unfortunate result that no concrete or definite impression was ever made.
Education in its true sense is real fitness to do all those things which are necessary for life in a way which shall bring happiness and love of beauty and truth to all with whom we come in contact. Education in its limited sense means its fitness to accomplish in a little better way than our neighbor those things which are necessary to physical welfare, and so modern tendencies have been strongly in favor of specialized education. No one can doubt that it is necessary to develop commercial giants, technical experts, and professional men of all grades, but intensive thought and study in this direction should not exclude the development of the individual to the full understanding of real values in life, where he becomes unqualified to rise to the intellectual heights so necessary to greater success in his specialty.
Louis Kazee Gives Reception for Ada Sohn
Many prominent Philadelphia musicians attended the reception which Louis Kazee gave for Ada Sohn on Friday evening, December 30. Miss Sohn, the New York pianist, formerly of Philadelphia, presented an interesting program, assisted by Zema Camitta. Mr. Kazee continues to be busy teaching harmony and composition, in addition to piano.
Minnie Carey Stine Sings Via Wireless
According to letters and reports, more than 200,000 people heard and enjoyed the singing of Minnie Carey Stine when she very recently sang through the Radiophone, Her voice carried to eight states and as far north as Canada, and so great was her success that she has been engaged to give an entire recital, which event will take place in January.
Sittig Trio Concert January 23
The Sittig Trio, assisted by Edwin Grasse, composer-pianist, will be heard in concert at Aeolian Hall on Monday afternoon, January 23. The Sittigs will play Beethoven’s trio op. 11, in B flat major, and a trio by Edwin Grasse. Margaret Sittig will give, as a violin solo, Bruch’s concerto in G minor.
rhythm, accent, dynamics, etc., with a full regard for all marks of expression contained in the vocal or instrumental score. Second, the aesthetic side, including vocal diction, and all those elements which control the adjustment of vocal expression in keeping with the emotional content of the music. In studying interpretation of music in terms of the above it must be remembered that all technical features should be so executed as to conceal effort. By effort in this case we mean formal analysis of the composition to discover the technical side of music, before we develop the aesthetic side. In this manner technic is blended with and becomes part of the aesthetic interpretation of music, and is not approached as an abstract subject.
Music appreciation is the enjoyment which arises from knowing and doing as well as from listening. It has been an unfortunate feature of school work that many teachers considered appreciation of music to'be listening on the part of the pupils to all forms of musical demonstration, but teachers who confined themselves to this side of the work lost a valuable opportunity in not making it possible for high school students actually to participate in the performance of the music which they desired to appreciate. It is logical to deduce from the above that the appreciation of music_ should be founded on the practical and theoretical work in all grades supplemented by instrumental, vocal and mechanical renditions of acknowledged artistic .merit.
Form and Analysis.
There is a great deal of real enjoyment which is possible as a result of musical study when we consider that interest is aroused on the part of the average student by the general study of analysis, neither vague nor profound, which may be given of the form and content of music material. The scope and possibilities of demonstrations and appreciation are so great that teachers should exercise due discrimination in the selection of material for this purpose. One of the most attractive features should be the music assemblies at regular stated periods during the term, arranged for the purpose of arousing and sustaining the musical interest of the school.
Methods of Instruction.
It would be well if all teachers of high school music might be assigned on one or two days of the week to teach in the elementary grades. There is a considerable loss of effort between the two groups, and success in high school depends largely on the methods of instruction used. These
The pedagogical changes which have been effected in recent years in the teaching of music in public schools have encouraged the elementary more than the high schools. It is generally conceded that these fundamental changes have been for the good of the subject. We refer here to the substitution of appreciation of music through good singing, in place of the technical drill which became such an important part of school work. The fact that in most high school systems pupils were permitted to elect their subjects made it possible for a conservatory type of music instruction to develop itself within our school system. A great number of pupils, realizing that their voices were not at their best, showed no interest whatever in chorus singing. To meet this condition the high school authorities allowed assembly singing to deteriorate into the community style, and then organized a special chorus or glee club of the singing students, which on every public occasion represented the school proper. The very small minority elected such subjects as history of music, elementary theory, harmony, etc. As a result of this condition it was soon discovered that only 5 per cent, of the students in high school were studying music of any kind. The' other 95 per cent, were left to shift for themselves.
As we have stated before, the clever psychologist decided that music represented too much in the future life of the child to be neglected in school. It could not be left to the parent, because parents were guided entirely by the interest of the child and a desire on the part of the child to study music. If this desire did not evidence itself in some very definite form the parent never directed the attention of the child to the necessity for learning something about music in a definite way, whether through instrumental or vocal instruction.
The Purpose of Music.
The purpose of teaching music in high school is to encourage the love and appreciation of good music, and to acquire a fair degree of skill in its performance. This should be accomplished through the reading and singing of songs of artistic merit, through the development of glee clubs and orchestras, and through the study of appreciation of music in terms of the above.
Interpretation includes all of those points of detail that make for a direct and artistic rendition of the song within the limitations of the pupil. It is proper to classify the points of detail under two general heads. First, the technical side, including such items as attack, correct tempo,
FOUR OF THE GREATEST ARTISTIC BALLAD SUCCESSES I™
THANK GOD FOR A GARDEN Words and Music By VICTOR RECORD TERESA DEL RIEGO No. 64900		THE BLIND PLOUGHMAN Words By Pathe Record No. 72029 Music By MARGUERITE RADCLIFFE-HALL ROBERT CONINGSBY CLARKE
THERE IS NO DEATH Words By Music By GORDON JOHNSTONE Victor Record No. 45175 GEOFFREY O’HARA		HOMING Words By Music By ARTHUR L. SALMON Victor Record No. 45249 TERESA DEL RIEGO
Beautiful Ballad Successes Suitable for Any Program	SMILE THROUGH YOUR TEARS SOME DAY YOU WILL MISS ME By BERNARD HAMBLEN By MAX DAREWSKI THE WORLD IS WAITING FOR THE SUNRISE SOMETIMES IN MY DREAMS By ERNEST SEITZ By GUY D’HARDELOT I’D BUILD A WORLD IN THE HEART OF A ROSE JUST A LITTLE HOUSE OF LOVE By HORATIO NICHOLLS By HAYDN WOOD AH! THOUGH THE SILVER MOON WERE MINE .. I FOUND A PARADISE By HERMANN LOHR By DOROTHY FORSTER	
Selected
List of
Popular
English
Ballad
Successes
For
Singers
and
Teachers
Spring Love Song, A
Lohr
Spring Madrigal, A
Alcock
Spring’s Secret.. .Phillips
Spring Will Return with
You .............O’Hara
There’s a Girl in Kildare ...............Norton
Two Little Irish Songs
Lohr
Voga, Voga, Gondolier
Clarke
Wake Up! .........Phillips
Waking of Spring, The
Del Riego
Were I a Butterfly
Lehmann You and I and the Moon .............Phillips
Maytime Garden, A
Phillips
Melisande in the Wood
Goetz
Micky’s	Advice......Lohr
Mother	O’	Mine...	.Tours
Ould Doctor Ma’Ginn
Lohr
Peggy Malone... .Trotere Sound of the Irish Bells,
The ..............Trent
She Is Far from the
Land	........Lambert
Soul of the Spring
Phillips
Spring Flowers. .Johnson Spring Has Come, The
White Spring Is Calling, The
Lee
Little Fairy Tale..Morris Little Galway Cloak,
The ..............Lohr
Little Girl Waiting at Home, The.........Wood
Little Irish Girl, The
Lohr
Little Town in Ireland,
A .............Lockton
Love’s a Merchant.Carew
Magic Month of May,
The ............Newton
Maire My Girl Aitken Mavourneen Roamin’
O’Neill
May in My Garden.Wood May Morning, A...Denza Maytime .........Cowdell
I Found a Paradise
Forster
I’m Wanting You.Coates
In June ........Lambert
In Lilac Time.D’Hardelot
In the Month of June
Fisher
I Pitch My Lonely Caravan at Night.. .Coates
Irish Fusilier, The Squire Irish Guards, The German
Irish Love Song, An
Harty
It’s Springtime in Kil-larney ...........Maxwell
June Music ........Trent
Little Blossom Thoughts
of You......D’Hardelot
Cry of Spring, The Bath Fairy Lullaby	Quilter
Fairy Tales of Ireland,
The ............Coates
Galway by the Sea
Barclay
Gap of Dunloe, The
Slaughter
Gates of Spring, The
Coates
Geraldine
Coningsby Clarke
Happy Hills, The Forster
Happy Song-----Del Riego
Heart of May......Austin
Heart of Spring. .Phillips
Hills of Clare, The
Del Riego
April! April!
Coningsby Clarke
April Rain ....Lonsdale
April Song .......Newton
Asthore .........Trotere
Avourneen ..........King
Away in Athlone.. . .Lohr Barney O’Brien. .Sullivan Birth of Spring, The
Wood
Brown Eyes Beneath
the Moon .......Coates
Call of the Maytime,
The .............Brahe
Call of the Woods, The Bath
Charm of Spring, The
Coningsby Clarke
		
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