Raleigh High School - Excelsior Yearbook (Raleigh, IN)

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Some Reasons Why Music Should be Taught in all Public Schools A X V Music-! O! how faint, how weak. Language fades before they spell: ' Why should feeling ever speak, VVhen thou canst breathe her soul so well? NE of the annoying problems confronting the music supervisor today, is how to deal with tho e migrator pupils who come from the rural districts and towns where music is not up to grade. Practically all of our city schools require the teaching of music the same as that of any other study in the curriculum. If a pupil from outside ap- plies for admission to-say the fifth grade-and is up to the standard in other branches taught in that grade, he i permitted to enter, even though he may never have had any previous training in music and knows nothing whatever of the subject. I do not advocate that his musical illiteracy should prevent him from entering any grade in which he can meet the requirements in other branch- es. But the question is, what can the music super- visor do for him when he comes to the music lesson? Those who have come up through the grades thus far have had a musical training and experience such as he has not had and cannot now obtain, and with- out which he is incapable of doing the music work required in his grade. They have had a period of training in rote songs, of which they learn from seventy-five to a hundred. In doing this they ac- quire a valuable musical experience and become grounded in the first elements of rhythm expression and tone culture. During the second year they learn much about the notation of music through observation work on the notation of the songs previously learned by rote. During the first year they learned music-the thing itself. The second year they learned to observe the signs they already knew and thus lay the founda- tion for future sight reading. The work of the first year was devoted to ear training, that of the second year principally to eye training. Music work throughout the entire school period is based largely upon these two things. During the third year much about practical sight singing through the study of songs from their books and charts, mastering them partly by note and part- ly by application of knowledge gained through ob- servation. The fourth year was spent almost entire- ly in practical sight reading. Hence they entered the fifth grade with a fair knowledge of music nota- tion and the power to read plain music at sight. The fifth year is devoted to theory and much practice for the purpose of acquiring skill in sight reading and execution. Page forty three

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The Object of Domestic Science HE essential thing in the Domestic Science work is teaching the children helpfulness in the home, giving them a right appreciation for the business of home-making, teaching them the economic Value of the things brought into the home, their proper use and care, and giving them actual help in solving more economically and efficiently the Page flirty-i!VO particular problems which the home-makers in the community are called upon to solve. lt should he remembered that one lesson cannot make an expert seamstress or cook, and that many lessons are required to make an efficient home' maker.. GLADYS AUREIJ US, Supervisor.

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Now what can the pupil do who enters the fifth grade, having missed those first four years of val- uable training in the fundamental principles of the subject? He is absolutely helpless. lf he is espe- cially talented, he may catch on to some things and ride along, so to speak, but he is always lacking in independence, a load for the pupils to carry and a hindrance to any high attainment on the part of the class as a whole. lf he isn't especially talented, he flounders along blindly, learns nothing and soon loses interest in the thing he cannot comprehend. And one uninterested discouraged pupil is a menace to the success of any class. But the fact is, there is not only one of him so migratory in our population, that it is not unusual to find a half dozen or.even more of these pupils in a single class. ' Now why is this condition permitted to exist? Is it because music in comparison with other things taught is lacking in practical value as a means of education? But what is the opinion of great educa- tors of all times with regard to the practical value of music E! The educational system of ancient Greece was based upon music. Of course, with the Greeks the term music had a much broader significance than it has with us today. The arts of poetry, song and gesture were supposed to have emanated from the Muses, and they were all comprehended in the word musa, from which the word music is derived. It was a reproach not to be well versed in art. It was considered indispensable in education, from the de- veloping of a beautiful soul in a beautiful body, to the training Spartan youth for war Page fortv four There is not a single great educator of the pres- ent day who does not advocate the teaching of music as one of the most vital and practical subjects. The chief inspector of the educational system of England says: A musical atmosphere in education develops the higher ideals and brings the child into closer touch with nature. The spring with its fiowers, the summer with its fruitage, the autumn with its har- vest and golden glow, the winter with its snow, the rain and the sunshine, the darkness of night and the stary heavens about us, the coming of the morn- ing, the noonday, the setting of the sun, the glowing twilight and the deepening night, can only be in- terpreted to children in song and instrumental music. It was Froebel who introduced the occupational songs into education, putting the work of the world into music in simple songs, which have been most effective in giving the child higher ideals of the work of the farmer, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the shoemaker and of every useful occupation. It is a well established fact in Germany, that anyone who aspires to teaching in the public schools must stand an examination in music. Equally as much stress is laid upon the teaching of music in schools of Denmark, England, France and Switzerland. Philander P. Claxton, the United States Commis- sioner of Education, in an address delivered at the National Educational meeting at Minneapolis last summer, said: lf I were making a public school curriculum, I would put in a little reading and writ- ing, a little arithmetic, a little history and geogra- phy, and a great deal of music. The same author- ity said: Next to reading and writing, even ahead