TONIC SOL-FA SYSTEM.
Mb J- T. Smith, of Stoke, Nelson, recently gave a lecture in the Wesleyan •Church, Richmond, on the above method of learning to read vocal music. He strongly advocated the extension of the system to public schools. H e said : To eradicate an evil, we are told, is to commence at the root; and to deal with the musical cleticiences of the people we must begin with the children. And to accomplish this on a large scale it must be taught in public schools. It is quite as important as some branches of education that are now taught. In *ny opinion music would exert a beneficial influence on the children attending schools. A few of the advantages mav be enumerated here. It tends to promote physical health, a judicious use of the vocal organ tends to strenghthen the lungs and chests. A physician said that "if there was more singing there would be less consumption." It is a civilising agent. Where the population is scattered and cannot he brought together often, the social feeling is necessarily weak ; if children were taught to sing they would come together more frequently in after life, and music would exercise a wonderful influence on roughness of their manners. It helps the memory. If you wish to teach a child a life lesson write it in verse and set it to mu«ic. Music is a substantial part of education; it exercises the eye, the ear, the memory, and the voice. Singing, as a pleasure, moves the soul, and because of this it is philanthropic, patriotic, and worthy of our earnest endeavors to extend its influence as a moral agent in our schools, homes, and congregations. There is but one way to create a love for music iu the people, and that is to teach, while boys and girls at school, to sing by note.' There is a great advantage in teaching a child to sing by sight. Tea ;h a child a piece by ear and he is able to appreciate that piece only, but teacb him music, and you give him a blessing for life, a very well spring from which he can draw relief and sing his grief to rest. Can this be done 1 It can, and in the short time allotted to elementary education. Some people are so matte.rof fact, that because music will not patch a boot, or saw a plauk, they would exclude it from schools altogether. Is not this a mistake 1 Will not the lad who sings while he patches, and sings something healthful, work all the better 1 I think so ; and his song will keep his thoughts from wandering into bad ways. Children will sing something, the musical faculty is a part of their nature, and unless they are supplied with good music, many of them perhaps, will go to the alehouse ynd sing songs of ribaldry and obscenity. VMvHickson says "that Germany has been changed from one of the most .drunken to one of the most sober nations in Europe by the influence of music in common schools."
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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1155, 25 October 1871, Page 3
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517TONIC SOL-FA SYSTEM. Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1155, 25 October 1871, Page 3
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