February 16, 19 2 2
MUSICAL COURIER
42
MUSIC AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
By GEORGE H. GARTLAN Director of Music in the Public Schools of New York City
THE DIFFICULTIES OF RHYTHM TEACHING
The Natural Stumbling Block to Consistent and Progressive School Teaching
schools. The teaching of music appreciation through the medium of song singing has done a great deal toward bringing about this much needed change, and the growing popularity of elective subjects in music, together with credit for outside study, is developing the subject to a position of real importance.
Mariano Feliu Balseiro Both Pianist and Composer
Of the young pianists who have been heard in New York the past season, the young Porto Rican, Mariano Feliu Balseiro, deserves special mention, for he has won attention and success. Beginning studying in his native land, serious and highly talented, and provided by nature with musical temperament, he won at home such a position that
MARIANO BALSEIRO, pianist.
he was encouraged to supplement previous study with a course at the New York School of Music and Arts, Ralfe Leech Sterner president. He became the pupil of the eminent disciple of Liszt, Arthur Friedheim, and studied with him until his departure.
Like his fellow student, Howard S. Green, he then transferred his guidance to that other Liszt pupil, Prof. Ries-berg (successor to Friedheim at the Sterner institution), under whom he made altogether “astonishing progress,” to quote the head of the Mehlin firm, who followed Bal-seiro’s career.
October 6, he played at a concert given at the school headquarters, when the Musical Courier said: “Mr. Balseiro interested his audience with his own transcription of a Spanish song by Dueño; his spontaneous playing, imbued with the spirit of the music, was much appreciated and applauded.” Again, when he played Chopin’s scherzo in B minor, the same writer said: he did this “with superb dash and power,” and, at this particular affair, one of the prominent managers was present and highly complimented him.
He gave his own recital December 8, playing works by standard classic and modern composers, when a well known journal devoted space to the affair, as follows: “His program presented many difficulties, to which he proved himself equal, showing that he had had splendid preparation.
. . . His playing had dash and spirit, energy and accuracy. The numbers best suited to his style were Chopin’s ‘Military Polonaise’ and scherzo, of which he gave a brilliant execution. The audience filled the concert room and was enthusiastic in its demonstration of approval.”
Mr. Balseiro’s compositions are many, and include an operetta, many arrangements of South American airs of Spanish character, also a suite of waltz caprices which are highly original,_ modernistic, brilliant and graceful; an “Etude Acrobatique,” which is altogether unusual; a gavotte and mazurka. Most of these he has performed in New York with marked success. It is safe to predict a brilliant future for Mr. Balseiro, for he has already accomplished much. One has but to note the accompanying portrait to observe high intelligence, “the musician’s head” and determination to succeed.	•
Van Vliet Engaged for Troy Concert
Cornelius Van Vliet, the Dutch cellist, was engaged for a concert scheduled for Troy, N. Y., on February 13. Mr. Van Vliet has been active this winter as a prominent member of the newly organized New York Philharmonic Orchestra, besides making concert appearances.
If school supervisors were asked to name one point in the teaching of school music which presented constant difficulty, they would, no doubt, be unanimous in answering by one word—rhythm. There are at present two schools of teaching diametrically opposed: one, the so-called song method, wherein all problems in music are presented through imitation, and later analyzed from the song itself, and the other, the more pedantic type, of presenting the problems in rhythm based upon the musical experience of the teacher, rather than the experience of the child. The adherents of the latter are, as William Cullen Bryant has expressed it, “rock ribbed and ancient as the sun.”
The psychology of the teaching provides that whatever is taught to children shall be presented in the simplest terms, and based upon the experience of the child rather than the experience of the teacher. Any course in music which does not follow this theory is not a good course. It is equally true that many children graduate from elementary schools without any real conception of the relative values of notes. This is due largely to the fact that in the early stages of teaching too much attention is paid to the quarter note and half note, and too little attention to rhythmic forms which occur so frequently in music.
The Proper Place to Teach Rhythm.
Supervisors of school music have been progressive because the great majority are open minded and willing to accept anything which is good. There is a difference of opinion, however, concerning the exact point at which intensive study of rhythm should be introduced. The old fashioned method of teaching rhythm, that is, start with the quarter note, then by addition prove the half note, then the whole note, is, after all, the proper way to start. The mistake was probably made when the rhythmic figure, two equal tones to the beat, was introduced. It was thought that, in order to impress this sufficiently upon the minds of children, two years of drill were necessary before the teacher could properly advance to other rhythmic forms, such as the dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth, and the dotted quarter followed by an eighth. It was even thought necessary to present each rhythmic form in regular order and in all the common keys. The general feeling today is that such a procedure retards rather than aids the subject.
In teaching generally it is not considered a good policy to present a new point and then to drill on that point to the exclusion of everything else that may be articulated with that new element. Each year new suggestions are being offered for improvement of business, and these principles should apply equally to education, although much more caution should be exercised in adopting untried educational schemes.
The modern tendencies are largely toward combining the three or four problems of rhythmic difficulty at the same time and in the same grade. To insure success in a venture of this nature it is implied that no real tonal problems shall be introduced in the grade which is now to be devoted to intensive study of rhythm. By some such means as this all rhythmic difficulties shall be first presented through the medium of song. The teacher then selects from this song certain phrases, which may, if necessary, be■ temporarily isolated for drill. The child is again directed to train his eye to discover these rhythmic combinations from the printed page. He then learns the name of the figure, and from that time until the conclusion of the problem the element of necessary drill must enter and be determined by the teacher herself.
The Fallacy of the Opposite Method.
If the old fashion method of imposing adult experience upon the child were a good one, then children would know more about music. An investigation of relative values is not to be constituted as a direct criticism of the old method, because it had its virtues as well as its faults. But to adhere to the old type in view, of the fact that proper results are not obtainable is unfortunate for both teachers and pupils. The entire scheme of mechanical drill is incorrect, because rhythm must be felt before it is visualized. The great difficulty of bridging over the early steps in sight reading has made many teachers believe that little progress in music can be made in the first two or three years. The modern system of training the eye co-ordinately with the ear has advanced to the point where a great amount of real teaching can be accomplished in the first three years. And based upon this experience, music educators are now recommending that at certain times in the school course intensive work shall be done, not only in rhythm, but in tonal work as well.
We frequently hear the expression: “This child has no sense of rhythm.” When teachers make this mistake it is usually due to the fact that the child has never been asked to rhythmically express himself. He may be mentally retarded, and for this particular individual a modified system of eurythmics would produce a very beneficial result. Most people respond readily to dancing, and the average child delights in running, jumping and skipping—all three of which are just as much a part of his rhythmic knowledge of music as the various figures which he frequently learns so laboriously.
When we reduce school teaching to the theory that practically everything we do in music can be determined from a child’s own experience, and forget the fact that we must constantly be teaching the child something new, then real results will be accomplished.
A Forward Look.
It is not unreasonable to. assume that twenty-five years from now the methods which are being used successfully in schools will be completely out of date. Within the last ten years sufficient proof of the above statement has actually been realized in our system, and we are gradually compelling more teaching of real music and less of the technical elements which have so badly clogged music teaching in the
Erica Morini
VIOLINIST
Writes as follows concerning the
ithlOmL'YÏKlIIllill
Piano
Mason & Hamlin Co.,
Boston, Mass.
Gentlemen:
Next to my beloved violin, I look on the Mason & Hamlin Piano as the most inspiring of musical instruments. It seems to begin where all other pianos leave off in giving life and voice to the genius of music.
Very sincerely, (Signed) Erica Morini.