THE CONTRIBUTION OF A UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC TO THE STATE AND UNIVERSITY

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By FREDERIC B. STIVEN

VERY thoughtful student of humanity to-day recognizes

that one of the great influences of civilization is music. He is indeed a man with a small vision, who belittles the importance of this art in the progress of the world. There is nothing that so binds together the hearts of men, that so draws them into a "fraternity of common need," that so consoles the brokenhearted or gives expression to the joyous enthusiasm of life, as music.

The history of mankind is the history of music. The hieroglyphic inscriptions of ancient Egypt and Assyria give proof that music was an important social agent of that early period; the Hebrew nation sang the Psalms of David, and gave praise to their Jehovah "upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery"; the early church depended largely on music for its inspiration and consolation; "Luther's battle was half won when the people began to sing the hymns of the Reformation"; the patriotism of the French was inspired to deeds of valor by La Marseillaise in the Revolution; "John Brown's Body," and "Tramp, tramp, tramp" kept up the spirit of the North in the dark days of our own Civil War; and no one has the courage to deny what music did in this last great war; how it fired the patriotism of the soldier; how it inspired the generosity of the man at home; how it brought tears to the eyes of the loved ones left behind; how it comforted the sick and the wounded.

There is no question, then, as to the importance of music in the economy of the world. Nor can there arise naturally any doubt as to the importance of the need of education in music. An art which through the ages has, even in its undeveloped state, exerted such an influence, must hold in its depths a power for good far greater, infinitely larger, than any that has yet been comprehended. Such a power must be utilized, then, in the building up of life, in giving more of joy and peace to man. What the world needs is not bread and butter but a changed mentality, and

music is one of the great factors which will go far in harmonizing the hearts of men. Because the world does need ideals of religion, art, music, these are as legitimate and important goals of education as are the more material branches.

For some years past American educators have been awakening to this fact. The educational progress of music in this country during the last half century has been remarkable. Indeed, a noted writer recently declared that not more than twenty-five years ago "music was not part of a serious education; it was a fashionable accomplishment. What were called 'lessons' were given, but nothing was taught. Such a method, if method it might be called, is now changed for a full, rational and liberal study, carried on just as thoroughly, as intellectually and as systematically as in any other serious branch of learning."

In this development, the thinking musician has been looking to the educational institutions of the country as the place where the furtherance of this progress can best be accomplished. "Music suffers like the drama," says a prominent critic, "from the common use of it among intelligent people for recreation and amusement, rather than as something intellectually profitable and demanding serious mental application as its right." To the university and the college, then, the serious-minded musician has naturally turned, and it is gratifying to see how the doors of those halls of learning are gradually being flung open to his art.

There has been a great deal of agitation in musical circles about the establishing of a National Conservatory of Music, sponsored by the Federal Government under the direct supervision of a proposed Secretary of Fine Arts. Some of the European countries, notably France, have for many years maintained National Conservatories of high rank. Indeed, practically all of the famous musicians of France for over one hundred years are products of the Conservatoire National, and the list is one of which France may well be proud. To many educators these names also give irrefutable answer to the arguments frequently heard against the institutional method of music study. But France is not America. The racial conditions, the governmental situation, the extent of the physical boundaries, the departmental divisions of the state-all are so different in France that the conditions under which the National Conservatory flourishes there do not exist in this country.

The population of France is overwhelmingly native born, akin in temperament, outlook, education. The United States is the most cosmopolitan country in the world. Every shade of

temperament, every phase of racial characteristic is to be found here; a thousand viewpoints have to be considered; an educational condition exists that runs the gamut from illiteracy to the most profound scholarship. The government of the French Republic has always fostered the arts, and the Minister of the BeauxArts exercises an important influence in the affairs of state. Our government has not yet formally recognized the fine arts, though probably the time is not far distant when there will be at least some departmental official recognition. In size France is smaller than our largest state; the United States covers an area sixteen times the extent of the French Republic, and it is this great geographical expanse of our country, with the attendant wide variation of popular interests and ideals, which forms the greatest obstacle to the successful establishment of a National Conservatory.

But this very obstacle gives rise to an opportunity for the individual states to build up within their own State Universities institutions devoted to this most beloved of all arts-music. Some of the states have already begun to develop this branch of higher education, and have organized Schools of Music in their State Universities on the same basis as the other colleges. In only one state, however, does the University offer to its young people a thorough education in the different branches of the musical art, with practically no financial expenditure on the part of the student. This is at the University of Illinois. To those who are conversant with the expense of obtaining an education in music this fact looms large, not only from an economic standpoint, but because it heralds a day when music will throughout the country be stamped with the State seal of approval as one of the legitimate factors in academic education.

With this opportunity for music study afforded to the everincreasing numbers of young people who are crowding the Universities there comes a special responsibility to the musicians who constitute the Faculty of such an institution. It will devolve upon them to so develop the instructional resources, to so foster a zealous enthusiasm, that they may send forth from their schools students who have received the broadening influence of academic studies, who are professionally well equipped as technicians, and who above all have retained for the art the love of the amateur, that they, in turn, may go out into every part of their own States to train the coming generation, and to educate the masses in hearing and understanding what is good in music. Too much stress cannot be laid on this last-mentioned opportunity-the educa

tion of the general public to a comprehension of the real message of music to mankind.

Dr. Dickinson says:

The necessity of instruction in the art of hearing music can hardly be denied by one who thinks about the matter. . . . The amateur, too long neglected, is beginning to understand his needs and to make them known. . . . He has no wish to become a brilliant player or vocalist, or if he has, there is no place in his life for the long preparatory drudgery. .. But he does wish to cultivate his ear and his powers of judgment, to know what to listen for, to hear what musicians hear in a musical performance, to learn in what consist the factors that make good music. in a word, he wishes to make music also, along with books and pictures and all beautiful things, a means of enriching his inward life.

In a University School of Music there are two ways by which this may be accomplished. First, of course, as has already been stated, by so training the students who matriculate in the School of Music that they may go out with an adequate education, and above all with an enthusiasm to spread the leavening influence of good music throughout their State. The second way, however, which will contribute to this accomplishment, is one of far greater importance. It is to bring into the lives of all the students of the University opportunities to hear and to study worthwhile music; to give to the seeking amateur that which will meet his needs; to awaken in the indifferent student an interest in this phase of his cultural education; to convince the scoffer that classical musicso called―is no more out of date than is Shakespeare or Browning, but is comparable in every way to the products of the great minds of literature. This, it may be said, is the outstanding service which a School of Music, as one of the Colleges, can render to its University.

In a survey of the departments of Music in the leading colleges and universities of the country, there seem to be four different aspects of study emphasized. First, musical composition, preceded, of course, by a more or less thorough course in the more elementary branches of theoretical study. Certain of the large Eastern Universities stress this side of the study of music, one of them even offering the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with music the major subject. The second class of schools lays emphasis on the side of virtuosity in public performance, seeking to graduate students who are preeminently successful as executants. A third class aims to give the students interested in music courses of a cultural nature only, leading to a better appreciation of the art, but neglecting to a greater or lesser

degree the practical and the theoretical branches. Then there is a fourth class of schools in which the ideal for the music department is a balance of the three aspects just mentioned-composition, executive ability, and a sincere appreciation of the art. This embraces that for which the ideal University School of Music ought to stand.

In addition to this there must be a certain proportion of time given to subjects of general cultural education outside the realm of music. Just what this proportion should be is a debatable question. Although the worth and necessity of such subjects is not to be denied, the fact that the musical education of the School of Music is of primary importance must not be lost sight of.

There is a tendency in most educational institutions devoted to the art of music to blight the individuality of the student. The process of putting every person through practically the same curriculum mould, hoping to turn him out the same kind of musician as his brother, is a fallacious one. It is evident that this could not be followed in other branches of the liberal arts or sciences with any degree of success. A student majoring in Philosophy, for example, can not be made to follow precisely the same curriculum as one who wishes to major in French, if he expects to have any specialized knowledge in his chosen subject. Just so it seems obvious that a student in music who wishes to major in public school music, for example, cannot be well grounded in his particular branch, if he has to follow practically the same curriculum as the student who is majoring in piano.

All education can be divided into two branches, vocational and cultural. Music by its very nature belongs to both. The course of study, then, of the ideal School of Music must look constantly at both these goals. There must always be borne in mind the fact that the duty of an academic institution of music is first of all to provide a foundation of general knowledge, a solid basis, comprehensive in its scope, which will give to its students a technical and an appreciative understanding of music and its relationship to other arts. In addition to this cultural training there must come some degree of specialization in a particular musical branch-the vocational aspect of the training offered. Just what the proportion of these two elements should be is the problem on which leading educators in music are focusing their attention at the present day.

But the School of Music should in no sense be a specialization school. The aim should be to give a broad fundamental training, with an opportunity to develop along one particular line, but not