May 17, 1923
MUSICAL COURIER
MUSIC AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
By GEORGE H. GARTLAN Director of Music in the Public Schools of New York City
THE PROPER PLACE OF MUSIC IN EDUCATION
An Evaluation of Music as a Specific Study and Its Relation to Education as a Whole
progress in music education is constant. We dre certain that the development is not being retarded because-educators fail to appreciate its value, but merely the time element involved. Music in the school has come to stay, and will remain a constant balance wheel in the matter of equating subjects properly.
Franco De Gregorio Forming Company
Franco De Gregorio, well known New York vocal teacher and formerly leading tenor of the Quinlan Opera Company with which he toured around the world, is forming a company to give opera, oratorio and concerts, for appearances in South America, Cuba and this country. Owing to his former associations with various opera houses, Mr. De Gregorio :s well able to make the necessary negotiations and announces that he will be pleased to hear voices of advanced singers or talented beginners, who might be interested in appearing with the company. Appointments for hearing
FRANCO DE GREGORIO
may be made by telephone or in writing to his Metropolitan Opera House Building studios.
Apropos of the concerts that will be given, Mr. De Gregorio says that these will not be mixed programs, but that each will be devoted to one composer, such as an all-Schubert, an all-Mozart, an all-Spontini, or an all-Pergolese, etc.
Father Finn’s Summer Master Classes at Gunn School
Father William J. Finn, an authority on church music in America, conductor of the famous Paulist Choir, of New York, is to lecture this summer for the Master Classes at the Gunn School of Music, Chicago. The announcement has aroused great interest, but there seems to be a rather general idea that his sixty-hour course will be addressed to choir masters and organists only. This is inaccurate inasmuch as every one of the three series has values for anyone interested in choral art, either from the standpoint of vocal technic or in the larger problems of the literature. Public school teachers should find it valuable. The several headings of his syllabus show the breadth of the course.
Thus he will talk of the Merging of All Choral Elements in the Choral Ensemble, General Principles of A Cappella Singing, Modern Russian Choruses, Medieval Polyphony, Methods for Securing Accuracy in Pitch, Methods for Quick __ Rehearsal of Repertory, Collateral Requirements of a Choral Conductor.
Lee Pattison, who is the other "guest” at the Gunn School this summer, seems destined to be as popular a teacher as he is a pianist. Registrations for this class have been so numerous that it is necessary to instruct his admirers to move quickly if they desire time.
Easton Booked for Montclair Next Season
Florence Easton, who is now on a Western concert tour, has been engaged for a recital next season in Montclair, N. J. The Metropolitan soprano will appear in a concert program with Paul Althouse and Fred Patton.
More Summer Dates for Althouse
Paul Althouse, the Metropolitan tenor, will prolong his season this year by singing various summer engagements. The latest of these to be announced is at West Chester, Pa., on July 26, when he will give a full recital program.
To begin with, music as a school subject is well established. In the elementary school it is recognized as an unprepared and non-credit subject. In this case unprepared means that no home work is necessary as is required in special subjects as arithmetic, composition, etc. The non-credit means that proficiency in music (sight reading) is not a requisite for graduation, even though the subject itself is required by the school law. There is ample justification for this distinction when we consider that there was no desire on the part of educators to place music on such a practical scale as arithmetic. With each sucqeeding year there is a change of attitude toward school music, prompted primarily by the attitude_ of musicians from the outside who believe that the people in school music are not all that they should be so far as musicianship is concerned.
A Word of Explanation.
There are those who believe that school music should be subjected to a peculiar type of supervision from the outside. Suggestions have even been made that school music should be subject to government by a body of musicians of high standing who have made their reputation in the music world. This would be a good suggestion if it were not for the fact that people who have devoted themselves to this type of music might not be fit to serve as advisers in the highly technical problem of school music. This is by no means a reflection on musicians generally, but simply an explanation of the situation in general. The present age is an age of specialization, and therefore such a highly technical subject as school music which involves not only subject matter but also methods of instruction must be left in the hands of those who have devoted years of careful study and preparation.
The psychology of school music is not the same as the psychology of music in general. Perhaps the fundamental point of departure might be considered as.being the same, but *hat is about all. Thereafter the two are traveling on different roadways, but working toward the same end.
The musician who specializes in piano is actuated in his teaching by a desire to turn out piano virtuosos. He is not necessarily concerned with the musical education of ■ each student. That is frequently left to the student himself. His particular mission in this case is to perfect a certain amount of digital skill which will guarantee to that student a successful career. We have frequently heard it said by teachers that a student's general education and appreciation in music will come with experience. We assume that this experience is intended to convey his association with the outside world in general.
Criticism of School Music.
Just so long as we have school systems will we have critics who arc quite certain that they are not only right in their judgment, but are also in a position to offer all kinds of valuable suggestions which, fortunately for the children, never materialize. The very people who are most generous in offering their advice and suggestions would be the first to rebel against a similar type of suggestions offered in regard to their own life work. Strange as it may seem, there still exists a peculiar intolerance of opinion among musicians which should be wiped out and wiped out forever. It appears to us that the proper way to accomplish this is to broaden the education of musicians. Take them out of the narrow confines of their specialized work and make them see music in relation to the general problem of education.
The Place of School Music.
What then is the place of school music in the ordinary school curriculum? Certainly it is not intended to make every child proficient in music. Neither is it intended that every child shall have music as a personal accomplishment. The great big idea behind the whole movement is that music as it exists in the daily life of the average adult shall be brought home forcibly to the child in school: to show him that a knowledge of music, a value of its proper place in the world, shall not be a closed book to most people; that it shall be as easily understood as the daily reading of a newspaper. Musicians are responsible for the peculiar state of affairs. It is unfortunate that there are so many “posers” in music. The layman is no longer interested in the long haired variety of musician, nor is he willing to tolerate the over-exaggerated emphasis on the artistic temperament. While music still remains a great art, the advancement of music is on a purely business basis, otherwise there is no advancement, and therefore it is important that musicians as individuals should recognize the importance of reorganizing themselves.
Music in the School.
We now come to the problem as to exactly how much time should be devoted to music. There are a great many subjects in the school curriculum and approximately twenty-five hours a week in which to accomplish everything that has to be done. Music is allowed but 1/25 of the total time. We have never made sufficient research to determine whether or not this is the actual proportion of music in our regular lives. Offhand we would say that it is more than 1/25. There is certainly a great deal of time wasted that might properly be devoted to the business of educating ourselves. Still this does not answer the question as to whether or not music should have more time in common school education. We are convinced of one thing, and that is: 1/25 is not enough time to prepare properly the child for his service in the world. The proper place of music in education is to fit into every niche which has been left vacant by the failure of ordinary education and to prepare children properly for their great task of living. If more time is allowed how shall it be, used? Will it go to specialized education in music? Will it go to a superficial training in appreciation, or will it go to the ordinary routine of proficiency in technic? It is difficult to tell just which of these phases is the most important. The fact remains that
DR. CHERUBINO RAFFAELLI
From Royal Conservatory, Florence, Italy TEACHER OF SINGING AND PIANO 602 West 137th Street. New York City Telephone Audubon 5669
COLORATURA
SOPRANO
Opera and Concerts
ALLABACH
Personal Address: Studio Club. 35 East 62 St., N. Y. Management: LOUIS BRAND
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niTCTDDr DAftlETTI operatic and concert tenor
UIUJLiTL DUuIlLlli Graduate, R^al Conservatory of Music
MILANU, ITALY
Vocal Studios: 1710 Chestnut Street	125 East 37th Street
Philadelphia, Pa.	New York
Walter 1 1 __ ־■־־■־ Professor of Choral Music, n	B	■	■	Columbia University
Hcliry M M. M A JL Address 39 Claremont Aye.
williams. BRADY
TEACHER OF SINGING
Studio: 137 West 86th St., New York. Tel. Schuyler 3680
CHARLES SANFORD SKILTON
COMPOSER and ORGANIST
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas
MARIE SUNDELIUS Soprano
With the Metropolitan Opera Co.
Exclusive Management:
HAENSEL & JONES,	Aeolian Hall, New York
Edwin Franko Goldman
CONDUCTOR THE GOLDMAN BAND
"A Symphony Orchestra in Brass”	Columbia University Concerts
Personal address: 202 Rlverslds Drive, New York
eJ. FRED WOLLE
ORGANIST
Management: THE WOLFSOHN MUSICAL BUREAU.
712-718 Fisk Bldg., New York
o	ЛИЮ VU Voice Placement
a U L У UIIAJaEi and Opera Class
Address: 54 West 82nd Street. New York	Telephone 5880 Schuyler
DAN BEDDOE
TENOR
Voice Culture—Recitals and Oratorio
Cincinnati Conservatory oi Mnsic Cincinnati, Ohio
New York College oi Music
114-116 EAST 85th STREET
Carl Hein—Directors—A. Fraemcke All courses will continue during the summer.
SUMMER MASTER CLASSES
under the supervision of AUGUST FRAEMCKE, Piano Dept.; HANS LETZ, Violin Dept.
GEORGE S. MADDEN
BARITONE
Master Singer Concert, Recital and Oratorio
“He displayed to advantage his excellent diction and artistic sensibility.”— New York American.
GEORGE H. LAWSON, Manager
267 Macon St. Brooklyn, N. Y. Phone 7992-W Decatur