president's address — SECTION J. 721 



being done in the way of stimulating the habit of reading and the 

 taste for good Hterature, though, unfortunately, the home con- 

 ditions of a large proportion of our population are not such as to 

 make the indulgence of that taste particularly easy ; and it lacks 

 the social element unless reading societies are formed for the 

 common enjoyment of literature. I would venture to suggest 

 that there is here a fine opportunity for the useful employment of 

 Sunday schools and other Church premises, especially in districts 

 mostly inhabited by the working classes. Then the schools are 

 doing something, and might do more, in the encouragement of 

 nature-study and of the collection of specimens. But, after all, 

 the Fine Arts are the noblest form of recreative activity, and of 

 them all, music is by far the best and most attractive. A young 

 fellow who spends an evening a week in singing in a choral society 

 has added a new interest to his life, and he will easily find many 

 other similar ways of enjoying himself in the exercise of his vocal 

 abilities. He can get together a few of his companions into a 

 glee club ; he can join his church choir ; he can himself add his 

 modest contribution to the enjoyment of a social evening amongst 

 his friends ; whilst the development of his taste for music will 

 lead him to find constant pleasure in concerts and band perform- 

 ances where he can obtain the maximum of satisfaction at the 

 minimum of expense. Let him leave school, able to read music 

 and habituated to take his part in concerted singing, and a whole 

 world of healthy recreation is open to him, which will be his pro- 

 tection against a thousand ways of wasting or abusing his leisure 

 hours. It may be worth adding that choral singing is from the 

 point of view of physical health one of the best prophylactics 

 agiinst tubercular trouble in the lungs ; and the constant habit 

 of deep breathing which it necessitates has the best effect on the 

 general health of the child and the man. 



Turning now to the teachers' standpoint, it is certain that vocal 

 music is a subject that combines in almost a unique manner the 

 various characteristics required for educational purposes, in 

 addition to the value of the information and capacity actually 

 imparted. It holds the attention of the children with a con- 

 tinuous grip that few other subjects can command. It requires 

 and trains the co-ordination of ear and eye and throat muscles, 

 and is thus as practically serviceable in this way as Sloyd work 

 or drawing or any other kindred subject ; and if combined, as 

 it easily may be, with marching or dancing, it brings in other 

 muscular controls as well as that of the vocal organs. In a special 

 way it teaches the value of co-ordinated work, and the necessity 

 of unselfish co-operation by all the class in order to get the desired 

 effect. It is thus a magnificent disciplinary subject. Above all 

 it demands that the child shall at once do something himself as 

 the result of what he has learned ; indeed, passive recipiency or 

 cramming is altogether out of the question. It lends itself almost 

 necessarily to the Heuristic method of teaching ; and the child 

 is continually excited and stimulated by finding out his power of 



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