MUSIC 



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MUSIC 



life." But his attitude proves nothing. He has 

 got along without music, but that is no evi- 

 dence that he has not needed it, that his life 

 would not have been far richer and better if 

 ita influence had been admitted. 



The man that hath no music in himself. 



Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 



Is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils, 



wrote Shakespeare; and while it must be ad- 

 mitted that he exaggerated, and that many an 

 excellent person has no love for music, it is 

 nevertheless true that music should have a very 

 real part in every life. The greater part of the 

 time of most people is given up necessarily to 

 material things to the struggle for a comfort- 

 able livelihood, perhaps even to a grinding 

 fight against poverty; and those elements are 

 sadly needed which can inspire, which can lift 

 the mind above sordid things and make clear 

 the possibility of a larger life. And this in- 

 spiration, this pleasure, freed from all taint of 

 worldliness, nothing can give more perfectly 

 than good music. Addison wrote of music that 



It wakes the soul, and lifts it high, 

 And wings it with sublime desires, 

 And fits it to bespeak the Deity. 



More than once in the history of the world 

 music has been an important factor in some 

 great movement. What the Marseillaise has 

 meant to France everyone knows how it has 

 been necessary at times to forbid its use be- 

 cause it fired to such fury and bitterness the 

 legions who sang it. The Greeks had a beauti- 

 ful story, half legendary, perhaps, but worthy 

 to be true, which well illustrates this point. At 

 one time in the very early days of Greece, the 

 Spartans, hard pressed by their enemies, sent to 

 Athens seeking aid, but the Athenians were too 

 jealous to grant their plea. Fearing to refuse 

 outright, however, they resorted to a subter- 

 fuge ; they sent as their representative the poet 

 Tyrtaeus, a man of song and not of action, 

 thinking that he could give no possible assist- 

 ance. But how great was their error! For 

 Tyrtaeus composed ringing martial songs, and 

 under the inspiration of these the Spartans re- 

 newed their courage and gained a glorious vic- 

 tory. 



The Study of Music. There is a word which 

 has been misused and overworked until it has 

 come to be held in contempt the word cul- 

 ture; and yet that for which it stands, if 

 genuine and not self-conscious, is by all means 

 to be sought. And no one can hope to have a 



true culture and a broad education without a 

 knowledge of music. At once, when such a 

 menl i- made, two objections arise. In 

 the first place, some critic will say it is neces- 

 sary only to enjoy music, not to be able to 

 produce it ; and anyone with ears can do that. 

 But this is not really true. It is true, of course, 

 that almost everyone receives some pleasurable 

 sensation from listening to music, but only the 

 trained hearer can feel a true appreciation and 

 derive the maximum of pleasure. The person 

 who has absolutely no musical knowledge can 

 no more hear all that there is to be heard in a 

 great musical composition than the child who 

 has read no further than "I see the cat" in the 

 primer can appreciate Shelley's Ode to a Sky- 

 lark. Such a child may, if he has an inborn 

 sense of rhythm, feel just a hint of the charm 

 of flowing lines, but that is very different from 

 an understanding of the poem. 



The second objection is that everyone can- 

 not become a musician. This is true, if by 

 musician is meant a singer, a performer upon 

 some instrument, or a composer; and for too 

 long music was held to be just an elegant ac- 

 complishment, reserved for those who had a 

 special bent for it. But times have changed, 

 and some musical training has been made a part 

 of general education; it has come to be under- 

 stood that everyone can be at least an intelli- 

 gent listener, if not a performer. As well say 

 that, because a child will probably never write 

 poetry, or give public readings, it is not neces- 

 sary for him to be acquainted with any poetry, 

 as to declare that the person who is not to be- 

 come a professional musician need not be 

 taught music. 



There is more than one type of musical train- 

 ing. There is drill in the rudiments of the sci- 

 ence, in the terminology, the notation, tin- 

 actual production of tones; for it is a fact 

 which admits of no contradiction that every- 

 one, whether he ever makes practical use of his 

 knowledge or not, can learn to "read music" 

 readily. Then there is that more theoretical 

 study which concerns itself with the hearing of 

 music rather than with the production; for it 

 cannot be too often stated that listening to 

 music requires a special training. When one 

 looks at a statue or reads a poem, the compo- 

 sition remains fixed before the eye. Attention 

 may be directed first to one part, then to an- 

 other, and then in the end the whole may be 

 subjected to a long examination. But in music 

 conditions are otherwise. Everything is fluid. 

 A certain melodious strain, an exquisite chord, 



