Spirit and Music | Page 5

satisfaction in walking down the silent aisle of the
church, after the most important ceremony in the world, as if the organ
were pealing out its good wishes in Mendelssohn's Wedding March?
Oh NO. Music we must have, for it has wedded itself to all our pomp
and ceremony, and if we may not have it in any other guise we must at
least end up with "Auld Lang Syne" or "For he's a jolly good
fe-e-ellow," or at any rate the National Anthem.
In the robust and plain-speaking days of old Pepys our forbears took
their Musick seriously. There was less of the gadding about that fills
the time to-day, and much of the melody was perforce home-made.
Any educated person was expected to be able to take his part in a glee
at sight, and some of the music was none too easy at that. The contrast
with the present lamentable lack of sight-reading ability is most marked.
The number of people who could do the same to-day is, in comparison,
small. We have not made progress in this direction, indeed we have
fallen back. But we have multiplied our choirs and our choral societies,
our Musical Festivals with their competitions have taken solid root,
training in musical work is now more widespread than ever before, and
these considerations have served, and are serving, to make music more
and more a part of the national life.
Sometimes indeed we happen upon music in unexpected quarters. One
of the most impressive scenes that comes to mind is an occasion during
the Great War--in which music played so valiant a part in sustaining the
morale of combatants and non-combatants alike--when, drawn up on
the departure platform of a Metropolitan railway station, in full kit and
in two long ranks, was a number of Welsh Guards. They were singing
some song in two parts, and while the one half sustained the melody the
others were rolling out a fine contrapuntal accompaniment with full,
resonant, and sonorous tone. The effect was quite remarkable. Song
heartens us when weary and helps the miles to slip past even though the
ditty be but "Tipperary" or "John Brown's body." In the emergency
someone will strike up a ditty or a hymn and at once the human spirit
and Will revive their native courage: did not the Titanic sink to the
strains of the hymn "Lead, kindly Light," sung by a group of those who
were facing death, and faced it with song upon their lips?

We have music in our heritage, we have Folk Songs by land and
Chanties that smack of the seas: in these there lies a wealth of melody
and sentiment of which we have made too little. But it is entirely
charming to see the way in which small children in the schools will
sing these songs with complete natural verve and appreciation. "Oh, no
John, no John, No" will be rendered with that Art which only springs
from artlessness. Surely it is to the young that we must look if the love
of music is to be fostered and encouraged in the coming years. "Let the
rising generation become thoroughly well acquainted with the best
Musical works through the medium of concert-lectures, the mechanical
piano-player, municipal, hotel, and garden concerts. Let them follow up
their knowledge with reading about Musicians' lives, work, and
influence. Throughout all this instruction--and from the very first--let
them become acquainted with the elements of musical theory, both in
their minds and also as exemplified on the pianoforte keyboard: and
when all this has been done we shall have a cultivated musical
public--a public that is able to discriminate between the good and the
bad, the true and the false art."[3] This may perhaps be the counsel of
perfection of an enthusiast, but progress lies more along the lines of
appreciation of music than in the personal performance of it. There are
thousands who are able to appreciate the technical mastery of an
instrument to every one who can accomplish it. Music as taught at
present in the non-elementary schools is largely a snare and a delusion.
A few are turned out with a musicianly equipment, largely in spite of
the system rather than by its aid, but the vast majority have little more
than a smattering of musical knowledge and a mediocre standard of
executive ability as the result of years of study. But the growth of the
artistic soul is not accomplished through the fingers, and indeed it is
not infrequently strangled at birth by five-finger exercises.
[Note 3: Newlandsmith. "The Temple of Art."]
Yet we are waking up. Music already occupies an unassailable position
in our daily activities, it will presently occupy a still greater place.
Nothing is still, and least of all does