endless, in matters of small detail, and the greatest difficulty in tabulation arose from this cause. Indeed, for some phases of our inquiry, it seemed that a table which would accurately classify all varieties of practice would require as many groupings as there were schools reporting, each school being in a class by itself. For these phases a broad basis of tabulation that would recognize fundamental differences only was adopted. Failure to answer, or indefiniteness in answering, was, in the end, accepted as final, because almost every paper received had some such failure, and to correct this would have meant the return of the paper and endless delay; and, on the other hand, no one question failed of definite answer on a large percentage of the papers, and the showing of this large number could, it was believed, be taken as representative. This belief grew to stalwart proportions as each fresh hundred of papers examined failed to change appreciably the averages and percentages revealed by the first hundred; till now it is reasonably certain that a comprehensive report for the United States would not change seriously the balance of values that are found in these present tables. Any possible exception to this assumed reliability, however slight or partial it may be, will be noted in the comment that will be made upon the separate tables. With so much of preliminary explanation, these tables may now be interpreted. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. (1) Is music required?..... and (3) Is the course graded?... In all, 681 towns and cities (school systems) returned tabulable These towns and cities have here been classified as to population (census of 1910) as follows: Class A, population 4,000 to 10,000; class B, 10,000 to 25,000; class C, 25,000 to 50,000; class D, 50,000 or more. 1 The number of schools of each class answering affirmatively or negatively to both questions is shown in the following table: TABLE 1.-Number of school systems reporting on questions 1 and 3, by population. "School" throughout is used to designate an entire town or city system of schools. In addition to the 280 schools reporting under class A, that this course is graded, 1 school reports the course as "poorly graded." 3 Percentage requiring music, 91. (2) How many minutes per week are given to it in each grade? TABLE 2.-Number of schools reporting on minutes per week, by grades. It is clear from a study of the table that the arithmetic of the school day or week operates in fixing the proportion of time given to music. The favored periods are 60 minutes, 75 minutes, and 100 minutes. The first probably means four 15-minute periods or, in higher grades, three 20-minute or two 30-minute periods; 75 minutes means five 15-minute periods or three 25-minute periods; 100 minutes means five 20-minute periods. In short, multiples of 5 (the number of days in the week) or of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 (convenient lesson lengths for various grades) are chiefly favored, with 75 minutes leading for the first four grades (five 15-minute lessons) and 60 and 100 minutes leading for upper grades and implying fewer lessons per week, but of greater length. (4) Give titles and authors of textbooks used in each grade. (6) Features of practice by grades: Rote singing; staff notation and sight singing. (8) What are the steps in your method of teaching children in primary grades to sing by note? The "song-study" or the "scale" method. The attempt to ascertain the growth of the "song-study" or "observation" method, which is of later origin than the "scale" method, so called, involved the consideration jointly of the replies to the three inquiries given above. The answers to all these were considered together, and the school under investigation was then classified as accurately as the nature of the replies permitted. Absolute accuracy, it was found, could not be obtained, owing, first, to a startling lack of any clearly conceived methods in a great many schools; secondly, to a great variety of more or less judicious fusions of method; thirdly, to some meager or even contradictory replies. It might be thought that the method avowed and followed in the textbooks used would give sufficient basis for classification, but in a multitude of schools the texts were administered in a manner quite foreign to their intention. The replies were most disheartening, because of the revelation they brought of a deplorable lack of pedagogical training and understanding. It is not that faulty methods were revealed, for it is not the intention here to imply that any well-considered and well-administered method is wrong; but the absence of any method, the lack of any known reason for the features of practice adopted, with the implication this carries of wasted hours, injudicious and untimely effort, uncertain and wavering procedure-this is lamentable. In view of this condition, the suggestion is here made that supervisors of music be required by school authorities to show an amount of normal professional training equal at least to that required of the grade teacher. This should include a study of standard music courses from the standpoint of psychology and pedagogy, instead of considering them solely as to practice, which is the present fashion in normal courses. Also the Music Supervisors' National Conference, the department of music of the National Education Association, and the public-school music department of the Music Teachers' National Association would make a valuable contribution to school music and to all musical education if they would appoint committees to formulate statements of the ideals, principles, and features of practice appropriate to the several courses, to the end that supervisors could choose wisely one path or another, and then within that path could adopt methods of procedure that would be consonant with the ideals of the course and, therefore, be efficient and successful. In general the reporting schools were classified by the method presented in the textbooks used, unless, as often happened, this was contradicted by other testimony. One standard course that is put forth as avowedly a conservative course, occupying middle ground, was yet classified, rightly or wrongly, as "scale" method, unless the other method was clearly reported, inasmuch as the greater number of correlated answers were found to reveal the scale method as the usual mode of treatment in connection with this text. The result of this classification was as follows: Song-study method, 260 school systems; scale method, 336 school systems; total, 596. (5) Do you give particular attention to voice building? is this done? How As all specific vocal drill is tabulated under the next series of queries, and as the second part of this present question does not permit of a categorical answer, a statistical record of the answers was not made. It is a pleasure to state, however, that almost every school reported affirmatively as to the first part of the query. The only divergence was with regard to the voice building being done incidentally or by special practices. A gratifyingly large number reported that the result was gained incidentally "by light, soft singing," "by constant use of the light, head voice"-such answers as these being frequent and typical. No feature of school practice shows more intelligent and careful treatment than this, and few questions elicited such interested and sympathetic replies. (6) Features of practice, by grades. The fact that certain possible features were here stated and inquired after seems to have constituted, to many who reported, a recommendation of these features as being quite desirable. Such an implication was not intended, and, being assumed,it has led to a somewhat larger showing than is normal. For instance, a number of schools that reported only "use of the light, head voice" under question 5, now answer the query as to vocal drill by stating that they practice it in all grades. Here the thought of incidental care of the voice is evidently extended to embrace the suggestion of vocal drill, though this latter term very clearly implies a special formal practice. Similarly, written work is likely to be claimed for all grades by schools that state that they do not introduce staff notation until the second or third grade; and there are other discrepancies, all tending to inflate the record of these special practices, such as cautious statements of “a very little in all grades," which statement, though doubtful, is a record necessarily classified in the affirmative column. One modifying thought must, therefore, be borne in mind while scanning these tables-that the practices are observed, as stated, in the given number of schools, but not by any means as separate and highly organized divisions of the school music course. This would imply a faulty system and an amount of time that it is impossible to obtain in almost any system. The real plan of administration is, therefore, much more unified and much more nicely proportioned than the records of these numerous activities might lead the student to expect. TABLE 3.-Schools reporting on features of practice, by grades. Grade. None. First. Second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Rote singing extends only Schools. Schools. Schools. Schools. Schools. Schools. Schools. Schools. Schools. through... Staff notation and sight sing ing begun.. Individual singing.. Vocal drill... Ear training.. Dictation.. Written work. Sight reading, using sylla bles, extends only through. Words at sight begun... Two-part singing begun.. Several interesting features in this table are worthy of consideration. The practice of rote singing extended through the grades appears to be well standardized. It is, in fact, better standardized than the figures indicate, for there is incidental evidence on the papers that some understood the inquiry (as was intended) to apply to rote singing only as a regular and integral feature of practice, while others reported its presence in grades where it is only occasional and irregular. There is, however, marked concurrence in abandoning rote singing as an essential feature in third grade, the sharp advance over the numbers doing this in second grade, and the sharp decline in numbers holding rote singing over to the fourth grade being very significant. The increase noted in the eighth grade is unfortunate. It is one of many indications met with that eighth-grade music is weak in comparison with the work in lower grades and does not carry the progress begun below to its proper fulfillment. It is disheartening, indeed, to find a considerable number of schools reporting "no music in the eighth grade," and many other schools give testimony that the work of this grade is little more than some poorly administered assembly singing by rote. Staff notation and sight singing begun.-Contrary to expectation, the first grade shows the largest returns for this feature. However, the answers to the eighth question prove that the staff work in first grade is quite commonly of the "observation" type; that is, consists in observing the staff representation of songs or melodic figures previously learned by rote rather than in calculating a way into new and unheard songs by reckoning up and down the staff. "From ear to eye"; "writing songs on board"; "notes to songs taught by rote"; "visualizing on staff of songs committed"; "familiar melody by rote, then by note"-these answers are taken from the first 15 papers picked up at random, and are typical of scores of others. |