Music As A Language | Page 4

harmony,
counterpoint, and elementary composition.
After the age of fourteen it is well to make the work voluntary. By this
time it is possible to distinguish between children who are sufficiently
interested in music to make it worth while for them to continue the
work and those who will be more profitably employed in other
directions. The latter will have learnt how to take an intelligent interest
in music, and how to 'listen' when music is being performed. The

classes will now become smaller, an advantage for the more detailed
work.
It is important to note that the best results in ear-training will only be
obtained if the classes do not exceed twenty-five pupils in number.
2. Voice Production and Songs.
These classes can be larger without prejudice to the work, but the above
classification as to age is desirable. Children between four and seven
years of age will probably learn songs connected with their
kindergarten work, so it is difficult to say exactly the amount of time to
be spent in song lessons, as the work will overlap. Those between eight
and twelve should have one song and voice production lesson a week,
of not less than twenty minutes. Those over thirteen will probably be
working at more difficult songs, and will need not less than thirty
minutes once a week.
3. Instrumental Work.
It is very desirable that all children up to the age of eight who are
learning an instrument should do so in a class for the first year, rather
than in individual lessons. Much of the fundamental work at an
instrument can become wearisome to a young child unless taken in
company with others of the same age.
A practical consideration involved is that this makes it possible to
charge a smaller fee for each pupil, and this fact may influence a parent
to let a child begin an instrument earlier than would otherwise be the
case.
It has been found that children started in this way develop much more
rapidly than if they had individual lessons. The stimulus of class work
for the average child cannot be over-estimated.
When this preliminary year's work is over, the child can go on either to
three twenty-minute lessons a week by itself, or two half-hours. If
ear-training is being done at the same time, it is possible to shorten the

amount of instrumental practice each day. In few cases should it be
allowed to exceed half an hour up to the age of thirteen, and in many
cases twenty minutes is found sufficient.
After the age of thirteen it is again possible, as was the case with the
ear-training work, to distinguish between the musical children and the
others. The former should increase the amount of practising each day;
the latter, if they continue to learn, should not exceed half an hour. The
piano lessons will in most cases consist of two half-hours a week.
4. _Concerts, Music Clubs, &c._
It is a good plan to arrange for a short recital to be given every term, at
which not only the more advanced pupils will play, but children at all
stages of development. It is wise to insist on all music being played by
heart, as in this way an invaluable training will be given from the very
first.
In the case of a prize-giving or large school function it is of course
necessary to show only the best work.
A music club is a great stimulus to the musical life of a school. A good
plan is to arrange a series of short lectures on such subjects as the
origins of harmony, acoustics, the chief difference between music of
different schools and periods, &c., and to follow these by accounts of
the lives and works of the great composers. Children are delighted to
come to such meetings, especially if their aid be asked in illustrating
the lectures by playing specimens of the music referred to.
In the organization of musical work in a school it is of the utmost
importance that there should be a central musical authority, responsible
for bringing all those engaged in the teaching into touch with each
other. If this be done, not only will overlapping of work in the various
classes and lessons be avoided, but a driving force of musical
comradeship will be initiated which will produce a genuine musical
atmosphere.

CHAPTER III
THE TEACHING OF VOICE PRODUCTION AND SONGS
It is perhaps more rare to find a successful teacher of songs than of any
other subject in the school curriculum. There are many reasons for this.
In many cases a visiting teacher takes the work, who finds it difficult to
learn the names of all the children in one lesson a week, and who
therefore starts at a disadvantage. Then the size