MUSICAL EDUC A 'ETON TI1E UNITED STATES.

Tor mportance of rendering music a branoli of general education, is a subject on which, although we have had many to sympathize. with, we have had few to help us. Music has Lem so lo::„ regarded as a luxury, the exclusive property and pcs,cisill11 of affluence, that many persons, perliepe tl.e majotity of persons, can with difficulty be persuaded that the power of deriving and imparting pleasure from it is given to all. We. say to oil, as we say sight and beaming ere given to all, although some are born blind and sonic deaf. Siti,:ing, in this country, is taught with a view to individunl display ; ti• : ver of exhibiting a song being

the only object aimed at by the meet, r situ! ley the pupil; and the result of the ins trurtion is usually a e, mber of popular airs chiefly acquired by memory. Sinehee ...I enjoyinent, is rarely cultivated ; and it is an enjuj meta f; r habits have almoet

excluded one sex—fur what gentleman I. : -:t:g? It is this gene-

ral ignorance upon which quarks : impostors thrive ; and, accordingly, we find theta all arrayed egeM diffusion of musical knowledge among the people : but we fee: essured that the time is coming when their efforts will be powerless, end when we shall find our almost solitary efforts supported and seeentled by a force of public opinion too strong to be resisted. Intercourse with other nations will do murh to effect this. The example of Germany, and, we may now add, of Holland, Flanders, and France, speak more loudly and more con- vincingly than any arguments of ours, of the effect of musical educa- tion. And now, to shame us into imitation, comes our great American child. We have lately received from an unknown friend in the United States, some publications full of interest, and abounding with clear, philosophic, statesmanlike views of this subject, as well as with prac- tical results.

laThey consist of an annual series of Reports from the Boston Aca- emy of Music ; a very different thing both in purpose and result from the wretched humbug, dignified by the name of " Royal," which exists in this metropolis. The Boston Academy took its rise from the fol- lowing circumstance. In MO, a gentleman who had recently visited Europe with a view to see a report on the state of education there, delivered a lecture on the subject at Boston, in which he stated it to be one of the branches of common school education in Germany and in Switzerland; the ability to teach singing being regarded as an indispensable qualifi- cation ill a schoolmaster ; and that in consequence of this instruction, the musical part of public worship was performed with correctness by the whole congregation, in the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches.

"I found," he adds, "that in addition to sacred music, there was a large col- lection adapted to social life; fitted to cheer the hours of weariness, to cultivate the social and patriotic feelings, and elevate time moral taste, without suggesting one evil thought or exciting one improper emotion. Iliad been accustomed to regard the pursuit of music as suited only to musicians by profession, or females ; and, in our sex, as the mark of a trifling or a feminine mind. It was a sur- prise to me, therefore, to find it the companion of science and philosophy ; to hear it declared by one learned professor to be the most valuable, nay, indispen sable relaxation to his mind ; and to find another, in one of the most distin- guished universities in Europe, devoting his leisure to the gratuitous instruction of some of its students. Illy interest on this subject was increased as I pro- ceeded. In Germany and in Switzerland I found music to be the property of Me people, cheering their hours of labour, elevating their hearts above the objects of sense, and filling the periods of rest and amusement with social har- mony, in place of riot, noise and gambling. I could nut but a-k myself this question, Shall that which is deetued as essential to the education of the poor in Germany as reading, be thought too expensive a superfluity for Americans? shall an acquisition which is found perfectly within the reach: of European peasants, which serves to cheer their hours of fatigue and elevate their minds, be considered as unattainable by the yeomanly of the United States?"

In this country, supposing such an address to have been delivered, and any result to have followed it, the very first step, by common con.

sent and common usage, would have been to obtain either the nominal patronage of a lord, or (still worse) to encumber it with his cotipera- tion. In Boston, no such animal is to be caught ; and the officers of its Musical Academy appear as " Jacon ABBOT, President, DAVID GREENE, Vice. President, and Jemes PALMER, Secretary"—without even the addendum of a " Mr." Its objects are thus defined:

1. To establish schools of music for juvenile classes. 2. To establish similar schools for adult classes.

3. To form a class for instruction in the methods of teaching music.

4. To form an association of choristers for the purpose of improving sacred music in churches.

5. To establish a course of popular lectures on the nature and objects of church music, and the style and execution appropriate to it.

6. To establish lectures for teachers and other persons desirous of acquiring musical instruction generally. 7. To introduce music into schools, by means of teachers well qualified to convey instruction.

8. To publish circulars and essays, either in newspapers or periodicals, or in the forum of books of instruction, adapted to further the objects of the institution.

The Society engaged Mr. L. MASON (a gentleman who, we believe, visited this country last year) us their musical director. The Report of 1833 states that, at that early period, 1,300 children were receiving musical instruction.

In the Report for 1834 it is stated, that the number of pupils con- nected with the Boston Academy had increased to 2,200. We extract the following passage from it, as equally applicable to England and to A merica.

" It is not surprising that music has been cultivated so imperfectly and to so

limited an extent, when we take iutu view the estimation in which it has been held, and the course which has been pursued in teaching it and acquiring a knowledge of it. Its nature has not been understood. it has often been re. gulled as mere noise, or at hest as a series of sounds placed in a certain order, without any reference to expression, meaning, or power, and wholly destitute of utility. Who regards a knowledge of music as being useful, in any such sense as lie lases the art of reading ? Yet is music a language capable of producing thought and emotion; a language more instinctive in its otigin, more univer- sally prevalent and understood, better adapted to express the various emotions of the human soul, and more sure, when rightly used, to draw forth a response from other minds, than any other."

The Report of the following year records the progress of musical in- struction in various parts of the States. " The apathy which had here- tofore existed on this subject" is said to be "gradually giving way in proportion as information is disseminated. Numerous applications have been n made for qualified teachers, and the inducements to study music, with a view to teach it, are almost daily increasing in strength. A juster value is set upon the labours of an instructor in this department of education than formerly. Indeed, that it should ever have been held in contempt, has been owing, not to the nature of the profession itself, but to the character of those who have been engaged in it."

Whatever may have been the general estimate of the character of those persons in America who, in one way or other, get their living by music, we can hardly believe it to be so low as the prevalent one in Eng- lend, where neither character nor talent are necessary to success, and where impudence and intrigue are mole efficient for this purpose than either. Ilere, it is not the slightest bar or impediment to a man's holding a public musical situation, that lie is notoriously incompetent to the discharge of its duties : a " Composer to the Queen," for exam- ple, who has not the power to compose. A musical appointment here is regarded as a job—the giver having substantial reasons for conferring it, and the possessor only looking to what he can make of it. Truly is it added, in the document whence we have just quoted, that "where the character of the individual is sustained, the art or science with which he is connected is invested with corresponding dignity; but where this is forfeited, it correspondingly suffers in public estimation." The Report of the current year narrates the further diffusion of musi-

cal education among the American people. Time has now been given to test its practicability as a general branch of instruction, as well as its results whenever adopted. On both points the evidence is full and satisfactory—" The testimony of all those instructors who have en- grafted vocal music into their system of education is in its favour, without a single exception." This is an important and encouraging fact, and one which renders the extension of musical knowledge throughout

'Ye principal towns in the States certain.

Nor will such a fact be without its influence and its use here. We may be loth to take a lesson from our children, but, in this instance, we must make up our minds to do so; and the sooner the better. The sooner we sow the seed, the sooner will be the harvest ; and begin as soon as we will, the harvest will not be reaped till the next generation.

We must leave to our successors the pleasure and the reward of those labours which, though hitherto unaided, have not been in vain. The difficulty which is felt in America will soon be felt here—the want of proper instructors. The prevalent ignorance on the subject of music will, at present, favour the claims of pretenders and cheats. It does so now. In Prussia this is guarded against by an examination of every schoolmaster's musical as well as other acquirements, before he is allowed to engage in the imps.-tent duty of imparting instruction. In England the security must be more distant, and must arise from previous education. Ignorance is both the parent and the protector of quacks—the dunghill whence they spring and the nursery in which they thrive. With culture, all these rank and worthless weeds will disappear, and the produce of our soil will be vigorous and nutritious. - - —