Montessori Elementary Materials - English Restoration --- ## Chapter 18 - Music ## PART VI **MUSIC** --- \[318\]\ \[319\] ## I **THE SCALE** Since the publication of my first volume on the education of small children, considerable progress has been made in the matter of musical education. Miss Maccheroni, who came to Rome to work with me on experiments looking to the continuation of the methods used with primary classes, was successful in establishing a number of tests which constituted our first steps into this important field of education. We are under great obligations to the Tronci firm of Pistoja, which took charge of the manufacture of materials and gave us the most sympathetic cooperation. We had already prepared at the time of that first publication an equipment of bells to be used in training the ear to perceive differences between musical sounds. The methods of using this material were considerably modified and perfected again after the publication of my *Own Handbook* (New York, Stokes, 1914), in which for the first time appeared a treatise on musical method. The foundation of the system consists of a series of bells representing the whole tones and semi-tones of one octave. The material follows the general characteristics of that used in the sensorial method, that is, the objects differ from each other in one and only one quality, the one which concerns the stimulation of the sense under education. The bells, for instance, must be *apparently identical* in\[320\] dimensions, shape, etc., but they must *produce different sounds*. The basic exercise is to have the child recognize "identities." He must pair off the bells which give the same sound.  The bell system is constructed as follows: We have a very simple support, made of wood (of course any other material might be used) 115 cm. long and 25 cm. wide. On this the bells rest. The board is wide enough to hold two bells placed lengthwise and end to end across it. The board is marked off into black and white spaces, each wide enough to hold one bell. The white spaces represent whole tones, the black spaces semi-tones. Though the apparent purpose of this board is to serve as a support, it is in reality a *measure*, since it indicates the regular position of the notes in the simple diatonic scale. The combination of white and black rectangles indicates the interval between the various notes in the scale: in other words, a semi-tone between the third and fourth and between the seventh and eighth, and a whole tone between the others. Bells showing the value of each rectangle are fixed in proper order in the upper portion of the support. These bells are not all of the same size, but vary in dimension regularly from the bottom to the top of the scale. This permits considerable saving in manufacture; for, to get a different sound from bells of the same size, different thicknesses are required, and this entails more labor for construction and consequently\[321\] greater cost. But in addition the child here sees a material variation corresponding to the differences in quality of sound. On the other hand, the other bells on which the child is to perform his critical exercises are of *identical dimensions*. In the exercise the child strikes with a small mallet one of the bells fixed on the support. Then, from among the others scattered at random on the table, he finds one which gives the same sound and places it on the board in front of the fixed bell corresponding to it. In the most elementary exercises, only the whole tone bells corresponding to the white spaces are used. Later, the semi-tones are brought in. This first exercise in sense perception corresponds to the pairing practised in other sensory exercises (color, touch, etc.) The next step is for the child to distinguish differences, and at the same time, gradations of stimuli (like the exercises with the color charts, hearing, etc.) In this case the child mixes at random the eight bells, all of the same size, which give the whole tones of the scale. He is to find *do*, then *re*, and so on through the octave one note after the other, placing the bells in order in their proper places. Nomenclature is taught step by step as in the other sensorial exercises. To familiarize the child with the names, *do*, *re*, *mi*, *fa*, *sol*, *la*, *si*, we use small round disks, the circular form serving to suggest the head of the written note. On each disk the name of the note is written. The disks are to be placed on the bases of the bells that correspond to them. The exercises in naming the notes may be begun with the fixed bells, in order (with children who already know how to read) to associate the sounds with their names in the first exercise of pairing. Later, when the child comes to the exercise of putting\[322\] the bells in gradation, he can place the corresponding disk on each bell as he finds it. Some individuals, commenting on this material, have solemnly protested their native inability to understand music, insisting that music reveals its secrets only to a chosen few. We may point out in reply that, so far, our principal object is simply to distinguish notes so widely different from each other that the different number of vibrations can easily be measured with instruments. It is a question of a material difference which any normal ear can naturally detect without any miraculous aptitude of a musical character. One might as well claim that it is the privilege only of genius to distinguish one color from another somewhat like it. Particular aptitude for music is determined by conditions of a quite different and a much higher order, such as intuition of the laws of harmony and counterpoint, inspiration for composition, and so on. In actual practise, we found that when the material was used with some restrictions by forty children between three and six years of age, only six or seven proved capable of filling out the major scale by ear. But when the material was freely placed at their disposal, they all progressed along the same lines and showed about the same rate of improvement, as was the case in our experiments with reading, writing, etc. When individual differences appeared, it was by no means due to the *possibility* of performing these tasks, but rather to the amount of *interest* taken in the exercises, for which some children showed actual enthusiasm. Eagerness for surmounting difficulties and for high attainment is much more frequently found in children than we, judging by our own experience as adults, easily suspect. In any event, actual\[323\] performance is the only guide to the revelation of particular aptitude, of personal calling. When one of the larger children spreads on the table the eight bells of similar size to make up the scale by ear, the little ones pick up a single bell, sometimes reaching out for it with the greatest eagerness. They beat it with the mallet for a long time, they feel of it, examining it carefully, making it ring more and more slowly. The older children take special interest in the pairing, often repeating the same exercise many times; but an unusual charm is found in the successive sounds of the eight bells when placed in order; in other words, in hearing the scale. Nennella, one of the children of the "Children's House" of Via Giusti, played the scale over two hundred times in succession, one hundred for the ascending scale and one hundred back again. The whole class is sometimes interested in listening, the children following with absolute silence the classic beauty of this succession of sounds. Another child, Mario, used to go to the very end of the table—as far away as possible, and resting his elbows on the table with his head in his hands, he would remain without stirring in the silence of the darkened room, showing his extraordinary interest in the exercise in every detail of demeanor and facial expression. At a certain, moment, interest in reproducing the note vocally appears. The children accompany the scale with their voices. They strive for the exact reproduction of the sound which the bell gives. Their voices become soft and musical in this exercise, showing nothing of that shrillness, so characteristic of children's voices in the usual popular songs. In the classes of Via Trionfale it happened that some children asked permission to accompany vocally the scale that a child was playing softly on\[324\] the bells. The interest taken in this exercise was of a higher order than that shown by children in the singing of songs. It was easy to see that songs with their capricious intervals between widely separated notes and calling for pronunciation of words, musical expression, differences in time, etc., are unadapted to the most elementary exercises in singing. It was possible to test the absolute memory of the child for the different notes without any set exercise. After a long series of experiments in pairing, the children begin to make scales, using only one series of bells, and they repeat this exercise many times and in different ways. Sometimes, for instance, a child always looks for the lowest note, *do*, then for the next above it, *re*, etc. Again, a child will take any bell at random, looking next for the note immediately above or immediately below, and so on. It also happens that on picking up some bell or other, the child will exclaim on hearing its sound, this is *mi*, this is *do*, and so on. One child had made a splendid demonstration of the use of the bells before her Majesty, the Queen Mother. This was in the month of May. Although he had had no further access to the materials in his "Children's House" of Via Giusti, in the November following he was asked to use some musical pipes,[\[9\]](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/pg42869-images.html#Footnote_9_9) which he had hardly seen before, and which happened to be in great disorder since they had just arrived from the factory. There were sixteen pipes mixed at random, comprising a double diatonic scale. He took one of the pipes, struck it and said, "This is *si*," and immediately hung it on the appropriate hook of the support. On ringing the next one, he said, this is *mi*, and again put the pipe\[325\] in the right place. So he went on and arranged the sixteen pipes in accurate order on the two parallel frames. He had had a good deal of exercise during the preceding year and had preserved an absolutely accurate memory of the notes. As is the case with colors, geometrical shapes, etc., the children begin at this point to explore the environment. One will come to the teacher at the piano and say, striking a key, "This is *stee*," meaning that the note corresponds to the first syllable of the first word in some song he knows (Stella, Stellina). It happens that the key struck by the child is a *do*, the very note corresponding to the syllable *ste* in the song. We had many touching examples of this musical exploration of the environment. ### FOOTNOTE: [\[9\]](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/pg42869-images.html#FNanchor_9_9) The pipes are an equipment parallel to the bells. They are to be recommended for schools, which can afford a more sumptuous outlay. --- \[326\] ## II **THE READING AND WRITING OF MUSIC** Material: In "The Children's House" the musical staff is introduced by means of a board painted green with the lines in bas relief. On each line and in each space representing the octave to which the sounds of the bells respectively correspond, is a small circular indenture, or socket, into which the disk for each note may be inserted. Inside each indenture is written a number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The disks used in this exercise have a number written on the lower face and the name of a note on the upper: for instance, 1, *do;* 2, *re;* 3, *mi;* 4, *fa;* 5, *sol;* 6, *la;* 7, *si:* ***do—re—mi—fa—sol—la—si—do.*****\ ** This device enables the child to place the notes on their respective lines without making any mistakes and to examine their relative positions. The indentures are so arranged as to show an empty space wherever a semi-tone appears: *do*, *re*, *mi*, *fa*, *sol*, *la*, *si*, *do*. \[327\] In the semi-tone spaces black counters are to be placed. At a later stage of this exercise the staff is represented by a wooden board similar to the one described above, but without the indentures. The child has at his disposal a great many disks with the notes written out in full on one face. He can arrange thirty or forty of these disks at random on the board, keeping them, however, in their places according to the names of the notes; but each time the surface showing the name of the note should be placed downward on the board, so that on the line only disks without names are visible. When a child has finished this exercise, he is to turn the disks over without disarranging them and so determine from their names whether he has placed them properly. All the disks on a given line or in a given space should have the same names.\[328\] Should any doubt arise as to the proper place of a note, the other board with the numbered indentures can be used as a check.  When a child has reached this stage of development, he can practice reading the musical script, ringing the bells according to the notes he is interpreting. The musical staffs are prepared on oblong cards about seventeen centimeters broad. The notes are about two centimeters in diameter. The cards are variously colored—blue, violet, yellow, red. The next step is for the children to write notes themselves. For this purpose we have prepared little sheets which can be bound together into a book or album. We offer also a few songs employing two or three notes so simple in character that the child can make them out by ear on his bells. When, after some practise, he is certain he can copy the song, he writes the notes on his staff and so becomes the editor of his own music. ### Treble and Bass Clefs *Arrangement of the notes in the form of a rhombus:* All the exercises thus far have been in reference to the higher *clef*. However, no representation of this key has as yet been given the child. His first task is to learn the relative position of the notes on the two staffs. To supply this want, following the system of the Musical Conservatory of Milan, we have adopted the double staff.  \[329\]  > **A sheet on which the child writes his own music.** \[330\]  > **The notes written by the child.** \[331\] The broken line ([p. 328](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/pg42869-images.html#Page_328)) indicates the position of *do*, the point of departure for the scale. In fact, as the notes pass from line to space and space to line, they form the natural series: *do*, *re*, *mi*, *fa*, *sol*, *la*, *si*, *do*. The same situation develops as they go down the scale: *do*, *si*, *la*, *sol*, *fa*, *mi*, *re*, *do*. When the position of *do* has been determined, the other notes above and below it are easily found. From the *do* on the left the child can find his way to the *do* on the next octave higher and come down again. Likewise from the same point on the right (*do*) he can go down to the *do* of the lower octave and then go up the scale again. When these notes are represented on the combined staffs with the counters, the resulting design is a rhombus.  Separating the two staffs, the arrangement of the notes in the higher and lower key (the C scale and bass) becomes apparent and the different significance of the two series can be emphasized by placing to the left of the staff the two clef signs, which have been prepared as special portions of our material. \[332\]  In this way the children have learned the scale in *do major* in the two keys. The arrangement of the black and white spaces puts them in a position to recognize these notes even on the piano. Our material, in fact, includes a diminutive keyboard where the keys are small enough to fit the size of a child's hand. It can be used as an exercise for the finger muscles. As each key is touched it raises a hammer marked with the name of the note struck, which the child can see through a glass. Thus while the child is practising his finger movements, he fixes his acquaintance with the arrangement of the notes on the keyboard. This small piano makes no noise. However, a sort of organ-pipe mechanism can be fitted on above the hammers in such a way that each stroke, as the hammer rises, connects with a reed which gives a corresponding sound. All the exercises thus far have been based upon sensory experience as the point of departure. The child's ear has recognized the fundamental sounds and initiated him into real musical education. All the rest, such as the music writing, etc., *is not music*. --- \[333\] ## III **THE MAJOR SCALES** We have developed additional material for the teaching of the scales. Here we show a chart somewhat suggesting the arrangement of the bell material used in the first exercises. That is, the relative intervals between the various notes of the scale are clearly indicated. The *scale* is, in fact, a series of eight sounds, the intervals between each being as indicated by the black marks in the design: whole tone, whole tone, semi-tone, whole tone, whole tone, whole tone, semi-tone. In the *do major* scale the intervals are indicated as follows: a whole tone between *do* and *re;* *re* and *mi;* *fa* and *sol;* *sol* and *la;* *la* and *si;* and a semi-tone between *mi* and *fa* and *si* and *do*. If, however, instead of beginning with *do*, the scale starts from some other note, the mutual intervals characterizing the scale remain unchanged. It is as though the whole scale with its characteristic construction as regards tone differences were moved along. Accordingly, as our plate shows, under the figure of the two octaves there is another figure. This latter is a movable piece of cardboard which shows the construction of the octave in black and white. This movable card is fastened to the large chart by a ribbon. Supposing now we slide this movable piece, as indicated in the figure, to the level of *mi*. The intervals between the tones of the *mi* scale are the same as in all the other\[334\] scales. In other words, they remain as indicated on the small movable card. It is necessary, accordingly, to strike on the grand scale the notes corresponding to the white spaces of the movable slip: viz., *mi*, *fa* diesis, *sol* diesis, *la*, *si*, *do* diesis, *re* diesis. This process may be repeated by sliding the movable card to all the notes in succession. In this way all the scales are gradually constructed. This becomes an interesting theoretical exercise, since the child discovers that he is able to build *all possible scales* by himself.  > **The monocord. In the first instrument the notes are indicated by frets. On the monocord in the foreground the child places the frets as he discovers the notes by drawing the bow across the string.**  > **Material for indicating the intervals of the major scale and its transposition from one key to another.** We have, however, for this purpose a real musical material, as appears from our design. Here on a wooden form like that used for the bells, but two octaves instead of one octave long, we have arranged prisms of equal dimensions but painted black and white according to the tones they represent. Each prism shows a rectangular plate exposed to view. The plates are identical in appearance on all the prisms. They are, however, really of different lengths according to the different prisms. When these plates are struck, they give the notes of two octaves, the prisms acting as sounding boards. The sounds are soft and mellow and unusually clear, so that we do not exaggerate in describing this mechanism as really a musical instrument (resembling the Xylophone). In our design each piece is arranged in its proper position in the *do major* scale. Since the intervals between the tones are the same for all the scales without distinction, if the group of prisms is moved as a whole from right to left, sliding along the wooden form, some of the prisms will fall. The resulting effect is the same as that produced when the small card was moved over the larger chart (see above). No\[335\] matter how far the group of prisms is moved, the scale can be obtained by striking all the prisms corresponding to the white spaces on the wooden form.  > **The upper cut shows the music bars arranged for the scale of C major. The lower cut shows the transposition of the scale, preserving, however, the same intervals.** For instance, let us take away the two first prisms, *do* and *do diesis* on the left, and push the whole group of prisms from right to left until *re* reaches the point formerly occupied by *do*. If, now, we strike the plates which correspond to the notes of the major scale, we obtain the major scale in *re*. On examining the notes which make up this scale, we find: *re*, *mi*, *fa diesis*, *sol*, *la*, *si*, *do diesis*, *re*. This brief description will indicate how interesting this instrument is. It contains in very simple form and expresses in a clear and delightful way the fundamental principles of harmony. Its use can be made apparent to teachers by the three following tables. As the children derive in this way all the possible scales, they should transfer them to their copy books, making use of all the symbols of musical notation. The copying of the scales should be developed progressively: first the scale with one *diesis*, next the scale with two, then the one with three *dieses*, etc. Fine opportunities for observation are here offered. A child may see for instance that a scale with two *dieses* has the same *diesis* which appeared in the preceding scale; a scale with three *dieses* has the two *dieses* of the preceding scales, and so on. The *dieses* recur at intervals of five notes. Since in using the first material, by changing the third and sixth bell, the child was taught to recognize the harmonic minor scale, to construct it and listen to it, it is now an obviously simple matter for him to make up all the minor scales. We have thus developed exercises which prepare for\[336\] the recognition of the major and minor tones as well as for the recognition of the different tones. It also becomes an easy matter to play a simple *motif* in different keys. It is sufficient to move the series of plates, as has been indicated, and play them over according to the indications of the white and black spaces of the wooden form. \[*Transcriber's Note: You can play this music (MIDI file) by clicking* on the captions.\] [With all the plates in position.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_a_scale.mid)  With two plates removed.                [Scale of D.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_d_scale.mid)  With four plates removed.                [Scale of E.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_e_scale.mid)  With five plates removed.                [Scale of F.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_f_scale.mid)  With seven plates removed.                [Scale of G.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_g_scale.mid)  With nine plates removed.                [Scale of A.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_a_scale.mid)  With eleven plates removed.                [Scale of B.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_b_scale.mid)  [Scale of C♭.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/384_c-flat_scale.mid) \[337\] With one plate removed.                [Scale of D♭.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_d-flat_scale.mid)  [Scale of C♯.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_c-sharp_scale.mid) With three plates removed.                [Scale of E♭.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_e-flat_scale.mid)  With six plates removed.                [Scale of G♭.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_g-flat_scale.mid)  [Scale of F♯.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_f-sharp_scale.mid) With eight plates removed.                [Scale of A♭.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_a-flat_scale.mid)  With ten plates removed.                [Scale of B♭.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/385_b-flat_scale.mid)  Here is a specimen of key transposition:  At this point children usually develop great keenness for producing sounds and scales on all kinds of instruments (stringed instruments, wind instruments, etc.) [Scale of C.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/386_c_scale.mid)  \[*Transcriber's Note: The midis for this section are the same as the previous pages. Therefore they were not repeated for this section.*\]  One of the instruments which brings the child to producing and recognizing notes is the *monochord*. It is a simple, resonant box with one string. The first\[338\] exercise is in tuning. The string is made to correspond with one of the resonant prisms (*do*). This is made possible by a key with which the string can be loosened or tightened. The child may now be taught to handle the violin bow or mandolin plectrum, or he may be instructed in the finger thrumming used for the harp or banjo. On one of our monochords, the notes are indicated by fixed transversal frets, the name of each note being printed in the proper space. These notes are, however, not written on the other monochord, where the child must learn to discover by ear the proper distances at\[339\] which the notes are produced. In this case the child has at his disposal movable frets with which he can indicate the points he has discovered as producing a given note. These frets should be left in position by the child to serve as a check on his work. The children have shown considerable interest also in little pitchpipes, which give very pleasing tones. . . . . . . . Thus in composing the scales and in listening to them the child performs real exercises in musical education. A given melody in the major scale is repeated in various keys. In listening to it carefully, in repeating it, in observing the notes which make it up, the child has an\[340\] exercise similar to the audition of the note, but an exercise of a far more advanced character. [C Pitch.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/387_c_pitch.mid)  [D Pitch.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/387_d_pitch.mid)  [E Pitch.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/387_e_pitch.mid)  [F Pitch.](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/387_f_pitch.mid)  This exercise is to be the starting point for *understanding* melody. To make the hearing of music an intelligent act and not like the mechanical process which appears when children read, in loud monotone, books which they cannot understand and of the meaning of which they have no idea, preparatory exercises are required. We get this preparation through various exercises in the audition of various scales for the recognition of key, and in exercises on the interpretation of rhythm. --- \[341\] ## IV **EXERCISES IN RHYTHM** One of our most successful exercises has proved to be that originally conceived as a help in teaching children to walk, viz., "walking the line." It will be remembered that among the exercises in motor education used at the outset of our method, appeared that of walking with one foot in front of the other on a line drawn on the floor, much as do tight-rope-walking acrobats. The purpose of this exercise was to stabilize equilibrium, to teach erect carriage and to make movement freer and more certain. Miss Maccheroni began her exercises in rhythm by accompanying this walking of the children with piano music. In fact, the sound of the piano came to be the call signal for the children to take up this exercise. The teacher starts to play and immediately the children come of their own accord, and almost without exception, to take up their positions on the line. At the very beginning the music seems to be purely a signal, at best a pleasant accompaniment to the motor exercise. There is no apparent adaptation of the child's movements to the musical rhythm. However, as the same measure is repeated for a considerable period, the rudiments of this adaptation begin to appear. One of the children begins to keep step with the rhythm of the music. Individual differences in adaptation persist for some time; but if the same musical rhythm is kept up, almost all the children\[342\] finally become sensible to it. In fact, these little people begin to develop general attitudes of body, in relation to the music, which are of the greatest interest. First of all, the children change their gait according to the music: the light walk, the war-like march, the run, develop on the impulse of the rhythmic movement. It is not that the teacher "teaches" the child to change his walk according to the music: the phenomenon arises of its own accord. The child begins to interpret the rhythm by moving in harmony with it. But to obtain this result the teacher must play perfectly, carefully noting all the details of musical punctuation. The creation of musical feeling in the children depends upon the teacher's own feeling and the rigorous accuracy of her own execution. It will be useful to give here a few details on the execution of these first rhythmic exercises. The children begin, as we have said, by learning to walk on the line. They develop a passion for walking on that line, yielding to a fascination which grown-up people cannot conceive. They seem to put their whole souls into it. This is the moment for the teacher to sit down at the piano and without saying anything to play the first melody in our series. The children smile, they look at the piano and continue to walk, becoming more and more concentrated on what they are doing. The melody acts as a persuading voice; the children begin to consider the time of the music and little by little their tiny feet begin to strike the line in step with it. Some of our three-year-olders begin to keep step as early as the first or second trial. After a very few attempts a whole class of forty children will be walking in time. We must warn against the error of playing with special emphasis on the measure;\[343\] in other words, of striking more loudly than is required the note (thesis) which marks the inception of the rhythmic period. The teacher should be careful simply to bring out all the expression that the melody requires. She may be sure that the rhythmic cadence will become apparent from the tune itself. The playing of one note more loudly than the others, thus to emphasize the rhythmic accent (thesis), is to deprive the selection of all its value as melody and therefore of its power to cause the motory action corresponding to rhythm. It is necessary to play accurately and with feeling, giving an interpretation as real as possible. We get thus a "musical time" which, as every one knows, is not the "mechanical time" of the metronome. If it is certainly absurd to play a *Nocturne* of Chopin on the metronome, it is hardly less absurd and certainly quite as disagreeable to play a piece of dance music on that instrument. Even those people who have a great aptitude for feeling "time" and who play with special attention to exactness of measure, know that they cannot follow the metronome without positive discomfort. Children feel the rhythm of a piece of music if it is played with *musical feeling;* and not only do they follow the time with their footsteps, but, as the rhythmic periods vary, they adapt the whole attitude of their bodies to the melodic period, which is developed around the beats constituting the rhythm as around points of support. There is a vast difference between this exercise and that of having children march to the clapping of hands or to the time of *one*, *two*, *three*, etc., counted in a tone of command. A child of ten years was dancing to the music of a Chopin waltz played with most generous concessions to the different colorations indicated in the text. She put\[344\] into her movements a certain fullness of swing, to bring out the effect which a marked *rallentando* gives the notes. Of course this method of dancing demands on the part of the children a perfect and intimate identification of spirit with the music; but this is something which children, even when they are small, possess in a very special way, and which they develop in their long and uninterrupted walks on the line to the sounds of a tune often repeated. It is curious to see them assume a demeanor entirely in harmony with the expression of the music they are following. A little boy of three, during the playing of our first melody, held the palms of his hands turned parallel with the floor and as he walked he bent his knees slightly with each step. On passing from our first to our second tunes, he changed not only the rapidity of his footsteps, but the attitude of his whole body. Considered as something external this may be of slight importance, but considered as evidence of a mental state, the change in demeanor bears witness to a distinct artistic experience. The composer of the tune could well be proud of such a sincere response to his work, if the test of musical beauty be regarded as successful communication of feeling. Our second tune is a rapid *andante* somewhat *staccato*. The first was slow and blending (*legato*). The children feel the *legato*, answering it with very reserved movements. The *staccato* lifts them from the floor. The *crescendo* makes them hurry and stamp their feet. The *forte* sometimes brings them to clap their hands, while *calando* restores them to the silent march, which turns, during the *piano*, to perfect silence. The completion of the musical period brings them to a halt and they stand there expectant until it is taken up again; or if it be the end of the whole tune, they suddenly stop. \[345\] Beppino, a little boy of three, used to keep time with the extended forefinger of his right hand. The music was a song in two parts repeated alternately, the one in *legato* and the other in *staccato;* with the *legato* he used a uniform regular movement; he followed the *staccato* with sudden spasmodic beats. To-day forty children may be seen walking as softly as possible during a tune played *pianissimo*. These same children on the day when they first heard the *piano* kept calling to the teacher "play louder; we can't hear" and yet at that time the teacher was playing not *pianissimo*, but *mezzo forte!* At first the children interested in the first tune are deaf to any other. The children in the St. Barnaba School in Milan got in step with the first tune. They did not notice that the teacher had changed to the second and kept their step so well that when the first tune was resumed, the teacher found them in perfect time, while on the faces of the children appeared a smile of recognition, as it were, of an old friend. If the teacher is sufficiently cautious, she can discover without disturbing the children the moment when they have caught a new tune; and even if only a few succeed in following both of the first two melodies, the teacher can satisfy these few by alternating the tunes. This does not disturb the others who come, little by little, to notice the change in the music and to fall in with the new movement. In a public kindergarten at Perugia an attempt of this nature was made without warning by a lady, who, being a visitor, felt free to take this liberty. The children were invited into the large hall and left to themselves while the lady was playing on the piano our third melody, a march. The older children caught the\[346\] movement at once. After they had been marching for some time a *galop* was played. Some hesitation appeared in a few pupils while others apparently were not aware of the change in the music. Suddenly two or three began to run, as though swept away by the rhythmic wave, as though borne along by the music. They hardly seemed to touch that floor to which, but a few moments previously, the march seemed to have glued them at every step! A portion of the children in this class had taken seats in the sloping auditorium around the room. They were the youngest children; and when the victorious charge broke out to the tune of the *galop*, they began to clap their hands enthusiastically. Some of the teachers felt alarmed, but certainly the spectacle was an inspiring one. It follows that if we are to *tell* the children to "hop," "run," or "march," there is no use in our giving them music. We must take our choice: either *music* or *commands*. Even in our reading lessons with the slips, we do not tell the child the word that he must read. We must do without commands, without false accentuation of notes, without enforced positions. Music, if it be in reality an expressive language, suggests everything to children if they are left to themselves. Rhythmic interpretation of the musical thought is expressed by the attitude and movement of body and spirit. Nannina, a girl four years old, would gracefully spread her skirt, and relax her arms along her body. She would bend her knees slightly, throw her head back and turning her pretty little face to one side, smile at those behind her as though extending her amiability in all directions. Beppino, four and a half years old, stood with his feet\[347\] together motionless at the center of the ellipse drawn on the floor, on which the children were walking. He beat the time of the first tune with an outstretched arm, bowing from the waist in perfectly correct form at every measure. The time consumed in this bow of Beppino exactly filled the interval between one *thesis* and the next and was in perfect accord with the movement of the tune. Nannina, the same pretty girl we mentioned above, always grew stiff when a military march was played; she would frown and walk heavily. On the other hand, the intervention of the teacher to give some apposite lesson, tending to perfect certain movements, is something which gives the children extraordinary delight. Five of our little girls embraced each other rapturously and smothered the teacher with kisses when they had learned a few new movements of a rhythmic dance. Otello, Vincenzino and Teresa had been taught to get a better effect from their tambourines, their steps and gestures. Each of them thanked the teacher for the profitable lesson in a special way. Vincenzino gave her a beaming smile whenever he marched past her; Teresa would furtively touch her with her hand; Otello was even more demonstrative—as he went by her he would leave the line, run to her and embrace her for a second or two. If the spontaneity of every child has been respected; if, in other words, every child has been able to grow in his or her own way, listening to the tunes, following them with the footsteps and with free movements—interpreting them; if each child has been able to penetrate, without being disturbed by any one, into the heart of the beautiful fact which the understanding of music constitutes;\[348\] then it is easy for the teacher who has forty children (between three and five and a half years of age) only one assistant, and preferably perhaps a whole apartment instead of a closed room, to sit down at the piano and teach eight children a long and intricate dance,—the lanciers in five parts. And then just like the orchestra leader who has prepared his pupils, the teacher with a minimum of effort gets the very effect in dancing, etc., which teachers generally are so anxious to obtain. Then we can get marches, counter marches, simultaneous movements, alternate movements, interweaving lines,—anything in fact, that we wish, and with perfect accuracy besides; since every movement in the children corresponds exactly with the development of the tune. For instance, the children are marching two by two, holding each other's hand, during the playing of a short tune. At the end of this melody they slowly kneel, but in such a way that on the sound of the last note they are touching the floor very gently with their knees. There is something sweet about the accuracy and the perfect simultaneousness attained by the children, under the guidance of the tune. The effect of these exercises on them is to bring repose to their whole body and a sense of peace to their little souls. On one occasion in a school just opened in Milan, 1908, the children re-acted to the piano by jumping about in confusion, waving their arms, moving their shoulders and legs. This was really an attempt to represent by a sort of chaos the complexity of the rhythmic movements they were hearing. They were actually making, without any assistance from others, a spontaneous attempt at musical interpretation. They soon grew tired of this, saying that "the thing was ugly." They had, however, divined the\[349\] possibilities of an orderly motory action; and when they had become quiet again, they began to listen to the music with great interest waiting for the revelation of its deep secret. Then suddenly they began to walk again, this time regularly and according to the real measure. One of the children, whose graph was somewhat as follows:  (pauses, that is, on the line of quiescence, with frequent excursions into the negative field), took no part in these rhythmic exercises. On the contrary, he was always breaking them up by pushing the other children out of line or making a noise. Finally, however, he did learn not to disturb others; in other words, to stay *quiet*, something which he had never known how to do before. It is a great conquest for a disorderly child to gain the ability to become quite motionless, in a gently placid state of mind. His next step was to learn to move delicately, with respect for other people; and he came to have a certain sensitiveness about his relations with his schoolmates. For example, he used to blush when they smiled at him and even when he took no part in what they were doing, he shared their activities with an affectionate attention. From this point on Riziero (that was the child's name) entered on a higher plane of existence—one of order, labor and politeness. The fact also that children at times listen to the music, while remaining seated comfortably around the room, watching the other children dance and march, is in itself a pretty thing. The children who are seated become very self-controlled. They watch their schoolmates or exchange\[350\] a few words cautiously with each other. At times, even, they let themselves go in interesting expressions of movement with their arms. The manifestations of placidity and interest here seen cannot be disjoined from a healthful, spiritual upbuilding—a beautiful orderliness, which is being established within them. Obviously, a wonderful harmony springs up between the teacher, who plays with enthusiastic feeling and with all possible skill of hand and abundance of spirit simply because she feels the musical phenomena around her in the children, and the pupils who, little by little, are transformed under this influence, and show an understanding of the music, which becomes for them something more and more intimate, more and more complete. It is no longer a question of the *step*, but of the position of the whole body: arms, heads, chests *are moved* by the music. Finally, many of the children beat time with their hands, and interpret correctly without ever having been taught distinctions between 3 and 4 time, etc. When a keen interest in "guessing" the time is awakened in them, the children look about for various objects—wands, tambourines, castagnettes, etc., and the class exercise is developed to perfection. The child comes to be "possessed" by the music. He obeys the musical command with his whole body and becomes more and more perfect in this obedience shown by his muscles. Here is a pretty story which will show to what extent children can feel themselves dependent on the music which "makes them move." Once my father went into a room where a little Parisian girl whom he was very fond of was passionately marching to the rhythm of a tune played on the piano. The child usually ran to meet the old gentleman; but that day the moment she saw him\[351\] she began to shout to Miss Maccheroni, who was playing, "*Arrête, arrête!*" She wanted to go and shake hands with my father, something she could not do as long as the music was continuing to *command* her to move with the rhythm. And in fact, it was not until Miss Maccheroni stopped playing that the little girl was able to run and deliver her greeting. . . . . . . . We have prepared a series of tunes for this work and I think it will be useful to give here three which we finally selected because they have succeeded, whenever they were tried, in arousing in the children the phenomena above described. There are eight movements chosen from repeated over and over again and played with all possible accuracy, will surely, sooner or later, be felt in every rhythm by the children. The transition from following the time by ones (that is, one beat for every rhythmic element) to the indication of simply the beginning of the measure (that is, one beat on the *thesis*) appeared for the first time in a "Children's House" directed by Miss Maccheroni. There, one morning when the children were following the music with great pleasure, marching about and beating on tambourines, it was a girl who first caught the strong beat (*thesis*). A little boy behind her made the conquest a second later; but while the little girl lost what she had gained almost immediately, the little boy developed it to perfection. Shortly after other children made the same progress, apparently as a saving of effort; they began, that is, by beating once on every step. This required a rapid movement and an endless succession of beats. All of a sudden they began to beat on the first note of a measure. \[352\]  > **The children using the music bells and wooden keyboards. (*The Washington Montessori School, Washington, D. C.*)** Here, for instance, is a case of 4/4 time:  The children at first marked the time without regard to the measure, thus:  But the moment comes suddenly when they catch the measure: then they beat it as follows:  In other words, their beats fall only on the first note at the measure. Maria Louise, a little under four years of age, was walking to the sound of a 2/4 march, played rather lightly. Suddenly she called to the teacher: "*Regarde, regarde, comme je fais!*" She was making little skips, gracefully raising her arms on the first beat of the measure. Her invention was extraordinarily happy and graceful. Usually in teaching the divisions of musical time, it has been the custom to play *forte* the time called theoretically *tempo forte:* in other words, to strike hard on the first note of every rhythmic measure. In fact, teachers of children or young people can often be heard playing a tune with special emphasis on the first note of every measure and playing the successive notes *pianissimo*. Naturally the motory action corresponds to this: it will be tense for the strong beats and light for the weak beats. But what value has all this in relation to the feeling of the rhythmic measure? What is called theoretically *tempo forte* has no relation to the meaning of the words "strong" and "weak" in their ordinary sense. It is a question of *emphasis* and *expression*, which derive their nature from the laws of musical time and melodic composition and certainly not from the wrist muscles of the person playing. If this were not so, a person could play the first, second or third note of a measure as *forte*, whereas, in reality, it is the first that is always "strong."  > **Analyzing the beat of a measure while walking on a line. (*A Montessori School in Italy.*)** In practise, children, to whom the six tunes we proposed for the beginning of this study were played—and played always with rigorous musical interpretation and with expressiveness—succeeded in recognizing the first beat of the measure as "strong," and went on thus to divide into measures some thirty pieces of music of varied rhythm. Even the following year, after the summer vacation, they kept asking for new pieces of music just for the "fun" of working out the measure in them. They would stand at the side of the teacher at the piano and either with their hands or with soft playing on the castagnettes or tambourines, accompany their new piece of music. In general they would listen in silence to the first measure and then fall in with their little beats like any well-trained orchestra. They took the trouble no longer to march to the music: they were interested in this new form of study; while the smaller tots, delighted with the new music, were still walking undisturbed along the elliptical line on the floor which was to guide them to such great conquests! The strong beat (*thesis*) is the key that opens to the higher laws of music. Sometimes it is played, for reasons of expression, very softly and always possesses the solemnity of the note which dominates the rhythm. It may even be syncopated or lacking entirely, just as when\[353\]\ \[354\] the orator on reaching his climax pronounces in a very low voice the phrase which is to produce the great effect, or even pauses and is silent: this sentence rings powerfully in the ears of those who listen. The same error which leads to heavy stress, in playing, on the first beat of every measure in order to attract the attention of the children to it, also leads to suggesting secondary movements in addition to the one which marks the *thesis*. The children, for instance, must make four movements for a 4/4 time: movements in the air for the secondary beats, and a more energetic movement for the *thesis*. The result is that interest in the succession of movements replace attention to the fact of most importance, which is *to feel* the value of the first beat. Children who feel the first note because it is played "strong" and who proceed from one strong beat to the following strong beat guided by a succession of movements, are not, it is obvious, following the tune. One little girl who had been prepared by this method found herself, on having mistaken the beat, constantly persisting in her mistake under the guidance of her four movements. It is like presenting a cube or a triangle to children of three years with the teacher enumerating the sides, the angles, the apexes, etc. In reality the children do not get any notion of the triangle or the cube. Our children come ultimately to represent the secondary beats with the slight movements, as follows:  and then they count them. When we have, gone thus far we reach the point which is exactly the *point of departure*\[355\] for ordinary methods, namely, counting *one! two! three! four!* to keep step in time. . . . . . . . As a practical application of the information already acquired in the division of time into measures, we next pass to the exercise of playing the scales in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time and with the triplets. The scale, the classic type of the melody, lends itself beautifully to these interpretations of various measures. Every one must have passed hours at the piano playing simple scales and finding a delicious variety in the exercise. The *do* scale itself may be played, for instance, thus: *For the remaining musical pieces, click on the image to hear a midi of the notes played.* [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/405_scale_1.mid) or thus: [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/405_scale_2.mid) or thus: [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/405_scale_3.mid) Our little piano may be of use in this exercise; but it is better first to use an exercise more easy for finger movement and for the position of the hand: . . . . . . . Children who have succeeded in identifying and dividing the melody into measures and the measure itself into\[356\] 2, 3, 4, understand very easily the time values of the notes. It is sufficient to let the child *hear* each exercise *first* and he will repeat it with precision. Thus all kinds of dry explanation of musical *values* disappear. [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/406_scale_1.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/406_scale_2.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/406_scale_3.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/406_scale_4.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/406_scale_5.mid) The following notation [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/406_scale_6.mid) \[357\] presents no special difficulty if the child has once heard it. Our next step is to use some exercises for the analysis of the measure, for instance: [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/407_scale_1.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/407_scale_2.mid) The children follow these exercises, marching so as to put one step on every note. Even children of four years when prepared with the preceding exercises succeed in following these with the very greatest interest. They are\[358\] especially delighted with the long note which keeps them hanging in position with one foot in front of them on the line and the other one behind them also on the line. The position is that of a person who stops before bringing up the foot which is still behind him. Since the children already know how to *read* music, there is hung up before them a green chart (similar in dimensions to the musical staffs already familiar to them) on which is written the exercise which is being played at the piano by the teacher and which they execute on the floor-line. Examples: [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/408_scale_1.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/408_scale_2.mid) Here is another: [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/408_scale_3.mid) We even give a simple time like this one (composed by Professor Jean Gibert of the Montessori Primary School of Barcelona): \[359\] [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/409_tune.mid) Of course, sooner or later children fix their attention on the varying form of the notes and discover that this difference in form bears a relation to differences in time-value of the notes:  This is the time to give in very brief explanation the lesson on the value of the notes. Thereafter the child may write from memory a simple melody which the teacher has first played on the piano. Almost always the child writes this down with accuracy, showing that he has control over the musical values appearing in the melody in question. The child uses for this purpose a large green chart containing various musical staffs on which movable notes may be fixed at pleasure. These notes are equipped with a pin which may be pushed into the wood. The simple exercises given for the analysis of the measures, transferred into various keys, can after some practise in playing them on the system of plates be put into their copy books by the children. These exercises for measure-analysis are so simple that the children themselves have sometimes learned to play them on the piano. It then has happened that the class went of its own accord into the piano room; one child began to play and the others followed the music on the floor-line. The children as they walk ultimately come to sing the scales and the easy tunes (of which they have recognized the notes) pronouncing the names of the notes; but in so pronouncing them they soften, their voices to the point of attaining an expression\[360\] which may be called even artistic. When the teacher plays, the music gains the added charm of harmony, since the teacher can give not only the simple scale, but the relative chords, and this gives the scale a vigorous and very sweet fullness. These exercises in measure analysis have also been particularly useful in their application to gymnastic exercises. The children follow them with gymnastic movements, using especially the movements of Dalcroze, which are admirably adapted to the measures of 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, etc., and which have a real beauty. We discovered that these exercises proved to be complexly difficult for the children who had not practised sufficiently in the interpretation of the different note values. On the other hand, they were very easy for those who had come to have a clear feeling for these different values. This was proof to us that sensorial preparation must precede these exercises, and furthermore, that the only difficulty Dalcroze movements encounter in children arises from insufficient sensory preparation in the children themselves. In the same way we illustrate the different details of of musical writing: the dotted note,  the triplet:  the *legato*, the *staccato*, etc. Here is an example of a *legato* effect: \[361\] [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/411_quintet.mid) > **(Sonnambula. Quintet)** This example which derives all its expressive value from the ties, also brings out the value of the note:  We need, accordingly, a collection of musical selections in which the value of the notes is obvious and clear to such an extent that the children come to recognize the different values. This recognition must be obtained by ear through listening to the music, not by eye looking at the symbols while the teacher explains. The 1/4 note always has a different musical content from the 1/16 note. A musical piece made up of the 16th or 32d notes has a character of its own (joy or agitation); and a piece made up of half or whole notes has likewise its peculiar character (religious, sad, impressive). The same may be said of every musical symbol, the value of which is brought out by the note being played\[362\] with that value and in reference to that symbol. It has been held that in playing for children and in copying music for the use of children the expression-symbols should be suppressed. We should observe that these signs of expression bear to the music the relation that punctuation bears to the written sentence; their suppression takes away all value from the notes. For example, the *legato* and symbols which indicate that difference ( and ) have therefore the greatest value. The children succeed quite easily in using and reading the accessory symbols of music. They already know their meaning through having heard them. We have not found it necessary to use such signs as *sense objects*, such as bars (to be placed on the wooden staff to divide measure from measure), time fractions, parentheses and so on. Although we had these manufactured, we ultimately abandoned them because we found that they were simply in the way. On the other hand, we found considerable utility in our large colored cards with a single staff already described. On these are written various measures which the children read with a special pleasure and execute on their bells. . . . . . . . With all this a way has been opened to a really musical education. Once Miss Maccheroni, while executing her customary rhythmic tunes, reproduced a melodious religious movement, "*O Sanctissima*," which the children heard for the first time. The children all left the line and gathered around the piano to listen. Two or three little girls kneeled on the floor and others remained motionless\[363\] executing plastic poses with their arms. This revealed to us their sensitiveness to melody; they felt moved not to march but to pray and assume various poses. [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/413_tune_1.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/413_tune_2.mid) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/413_tune_3.mid) We have not yet been able to push our experiments far enough precisely to define the musical material adapted to children of various ages. We have, however, made a very great number of successful attempts to bring children to enjoy melody and sentimental expression in music. The practicableness and utility of musical auditions, or, if you wish, of concerts for children, graduated in difficulty, executed on various instruments, but on one instrument at a time, are beyond all question; this applies above all to songs reproduced by the human voice, when a well-trained voice is available. If a real artist should take up the task of analyzing for children the language of music, bringing them to enjoy it phrase by phrase and under different *timbres* (voice, strings, etc.), his new and scientific application of the art would be produced in the future from these groups of little ones, so intelligent in music, who follow the most expressive\[364\] tunes with so much passion and in a silence more absolute than any celebrated artist can dream of attaining in a meeting of adults! No one among these little hearers is cold, far away in thought. But on the faces of the children appears the interior working of a spirit, tasting a nectar essential to its very live. How many times a plastic pose, a kneeling posture, an ecstatic face, will move the heart of the artist to a sense of joy greater than that which any applause of a throng of people often indifferent or inattentive, can possibly give him! Usually only those wounded at heart by the difficulty of being understood by others, or discouraged by the coldness or rudeness of other people, or oppressed by disillusion, or filled with a sense of painful loneliness or need of expansion in some other way, feel in music the voice which opens the doors of the heart and causes a health-giving flood of tears or raises the spirit to a lofty sense of peace. Only they can understand how necessary a companion for humanity music is. We know, of course, to-day that music is an indispensable stimulant for soldiers rushing forth to die. How much more truly would it then become a stimulant for all who are to live! This conviction is already in the hearts of many people. In fact, attempts have already been made to reach the populace by concerts in the public squares and by making concert halls accessible to people of every class; but after all, do such attempts amount to more than putting the cheap editions of the classics into circulation among illiterates? Education is the prime requisite; without such education we have a people of deaf mutes forever barred from any music. The ear of the uneducated man cannot perceive the sublime sounds which music would bring within his reach. That is why though\[365\] the music of Bellini and Wagner is being played in public squares, the saloons are just as full as before. If, however, from these pupils of ours a whole people could grow up, it would be sufficient to go through the streets with a good piece of music and everybody would come out to hear. All those places where the rough and abandoned wrecks of humanity seek enjoyment, like homeless dogs looking for food in our ash-cans, would be emptied as if by magic. We would have an actual realization of the Allegory of Orpheus; for hearts which are to-day of stone would then be stirred and brought to life by a sublime melody. ### Singing Singing began with the scale. The singing of a scale, first in accompaniment with the bells and later with the piano is a first and great delight to the children. They sing it in various ways, now in a low voice, now very loud, now all together in unison, now one by one. They sing divided into two groups, sharing the notes alternately between them. Among the songs which we offer to the children, the greatest favorite proved to be the syllabic Gregorian Chant. It is something like a very perfect form of speech. It has a conversational intonation, the softness of a sentence well pronounced, the full roundness of the musical phrase. The examples given here have almost the movement of the scale. Many other verses of the Gregorian Chant have, like these, proved to be the delight of the Montessori Elementary School of Barcelona. There the children are especially keen about this very simple music which they like to play on the piano, on their plates (Xylophones) or on their monochords. \[366\] [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/416_chant_1.mid) Rorate Cœli de super et nubes pluant justum\ Puer natus in Bethlehem, alleluia. [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/416_chant_2.mid) Unde gaudet Jerusalem\ Alleluia Alleluia\ In Cordis jubilo\ Christum natum adoremus,\ Cum novo Cantico. \[367\] ### Musical Phrases for the Initial Rhythmic Exercises We give here in complete form the musical phrases used by us for the first rhythmic exercises. They are adequate for giving the sensation of rhythm and for suggesting the motory actions associated with the rhythm. This musical material now forms in our schools part of the material which is experimentally established. | *Works from which Selections are Taken* | *Motor Reactions Provoked* | | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------ | | 1. "Ancora un bacio," mazurka, Bastianelli          | Slow walk. | | 2. "Si j'étais roi," Adolphe Adam | Accelerated walk. | | 3. "Eagle March," Wagner | March step. | | 4. "Galop," Strauss | Run. | | 5. "Italian folk-song" | Hop. | | 6. "Pas des patineurs" | Sedate walk. | \[368\] ### ANCORA UN BACIO (*Mazurka*) [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/418_ancora.mid) \[369\] ### SI J'ÉTAIS ROI [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/419_sijetaisroi.mid) \[370\] ### EAGLE MARCH [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/420_eagle.mid) \[371\]\ \[372\] ### GALOP [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/422_galop.mid) \[373\] ### ITALIAN FOLK SONG [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/423_italian.mid) \[374\] ### PAS DES PATINEURS [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/424_pasdespatineurs.mid) \[375\] ### O SANCTISSIMA [](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42869/music/425_sanctissima.mid) --- \[376\] ## V **MUSICAL AUDITIONS** The movement entitled "O Sanctissima," played by Miss Maccheroni one day by chance among the rhythmic exercises, is regarded by us as an introduction to *musical audition*. It will be recalled that the children had been accustomed to alter their style of marching on the floor-line according to changes in the music. It had never, however, occurred to them to leave the line. When this piece was played they all crowded around the piano, motionless, thoughtful, absorbed; while two or three little ones fell to their knees and assumed various poses. This experience suggested to us the idea of "musical auditions," if you wish "concerts for children." Children, little by little to be sure, but no less admirably, enter into the spirit of music. After the numerous rhythmic exercises, as soon, that is, as they have mastered the problem of measure, almost any *sonata* is within their reach. They can handle not isolated movements merely, but whole pieces of music. The same is true of the auditions. At first, of course, it is better to select simple phrases; but gradually the children come to enjoy "the best music," joyfully recognizing the feeling which it expresses and which inspired it. Our pupils used to exclaim, for instance: "This piece is for weeping," "This is for prayer," "Now we must laugh," "Now we must shout," etc. We cannot, however, insist too strongly on the need\[377\] for the greatest possible care in the execution of the selections used. A child audience is a very special one. It demands something more than is expected by the average "intelligent audience." It is one in which musical intelligence must be *developed*. Our object must be the creation not merely of higher and higher grades of understanding but also of higher and higher grades of *feeling*. In this sense, we can never *do too much* for the children. It is a task not beneath the dignity of the greatest composers, the most accomplished technicians. Indeed, any one of such might well esteem it a privilege some day to hear it said of his work that it aroused the first love for music in the hearts of one of these little ones. For thus music would have been made a companion, a consoler, a guardian angel of man! It is of course not the lot of all of us to attain the exalted position of greatness whether as artists or technicians. We must content ourselves with assuming an obligation: with *giving* all the soul and all the skill we possess. We must conceive of ourselves as transmitters of the largess of music to our children. We must deeply feel our calling as bestowers of a divine gift. The following titles were all used successfully by us in our experiments. They are supplements to the "O Sanctissima" and a "Pater Noster." A. Narratives.\ \ *Trovatore:* "Tacea la notte placida."\ *Lucrezia Borgia:* "Nella fatal di Rimini e memorabil guerra."\ *Lucia di Lamermoor:* "Regnava nel silenzio."\ *Trovatore:* "Racconto di Azucena."\ *Sonnambula:* "A fosco cielo, a notte bruna."\ *Rigoletto:* "Tutte le frese al tempio."\ \[378\]*Fra Diavolo:* "Quell'uom dal fiero aspetto."\ \ \ B. Description.\ \ *Beethoven:* "Moonlight."\ *Bohème:* "Nevica; qualcuno passa e parla" (Act II, prelude).\ *Aida*, prelude as far as "Cieli azzurri."\ *Aida*, "Marcia trionfale" (containing the motive of the scene to which it belongs).\ \ C. Sentiment and Passion:\ \ *Gaiety:*\ *Traviata:* "Libiam nei lieti celici."\ *Sonnambula:* "In Elvezia non v'ha rosa fresca e bella al par d'Alina."\ *Traviata:* "Sempre libera deggi' io folleggiar."\ *Faust:* Peasant song, "La vaga pupilla."\ \ *Contentment:*\ *Aida:* "Rivedrò le foreste imbalsamate."\ \ *Passion:*\ *Traviata:* "Amami Alfredo."\ *Lucrezia Borgia:* "Era desso il figliuol mio."\ \ *Anguish:*\ *Lucrezia Borgia:* "Mio figlio, ridate a me il mio figlio."\ " " "Infelice, il veleno bevesti."\ \ *Threat:*\ *Cavalleria Rusticana:* "Bada, Santuzza, schiavo non son."\ \ *Allurement:*\ *Barbiere di Siviglia:* "La calunnia è un venticello."\ *Iris:* "La Piovra."\ \ *Comic:*\ *Barbiere di Siviglia:* "Pace e gioia sia con voi."\ \[379\]*Fra Diavolo:* "Grazie al ciel per una serva."\ \ *Invitation:*\ *Faust:* "Permetteresti a me."\ *Bohème:* song of Rudolph, "Che gelida manina."\ \ *Anger:*\ *Sonnambula:* "Ah perchè non posso odiarti."\ \ *Sorrow of sacrifice:*\ *Bohème:* "Vecchia zimarra senti."\ \ *Meditation:*\ Mendelsohn: Romances.\ Mozart.\ Chopin.\ \ D. Folk Songs and Dances.