MUSI C.
MUSICAL CULTURE AT PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
A FEW weeks ago we dealt with the estimate—in the main hostile—of the influence of "University musicians" given by, Mr. Baughan in a recently published volume of musical essays. It has since occurred to us that whatever influence, for good or evil, is exerted by University musicians may be traced back, in part at least, to the musical education they have received at school, whether public or private. This obvious deduction naturally prompts a survey of the position of music in our secondary schools,—an extremely interesting subject, but one for the adequate discussion of which the present writer is not fully equipped. Still, admitting the risk of generalising from imperfect and partial knowledge, it may not be amiss to set down a few notes based on individual experience and observation.
Are boys at public and private schools more musical than they used to be, say, thirty years ago ? The question is not to be answered off-band, but, within the limits imposed by personal knowledge, it ought not to be difficult to arrive at some general conclusions. The conditions under which boys are afforded opportunities for cultivating their musical taste remain tolerably constant at our public schools. First and fore- most, there is the school chapel ; second, there are the private lessons given by music masters ; and thirdly, there are the various societies, choral and instrumental, in which they have the chance of taking part in concerted music. Dealing with the last-named category first, it is clear that there has been a great advance in the organisation of instrumental music at our public schools. The brass band or drum-and-fife band of a generation back has now in many cases been supplemented by a string band, which on occasions, and with the necessary professional stiffening in the wood and wind, gives performances of classical music. In regard to teaching, again, there has been a good deal of levelling up. More care is taken in the selection of music masters and organists, and the standard of efficiency in these respects has undoubtedly risen. The same remarks, we think, must be taken to apply to the services in school chapels. It is not that the boys join more heartily in favourite hymns than their fathers did, but that the musician- ship of the choir and the choice of church music show the influence of the general progress in musical taste and eduea- tion which has taken place in the last quarter of a century. Again, it has become the practice—and a very excellent practice—at many public schools to supplement the public entertainments organised for the benefit of the school as a whole with concerts or recitals given by distinguished artists, and thus to afford opportunities to boys while still at school- of learning what first-rate music sounds like when interpreted by first-rate performers. What we have said, however, of this improvement in teaching and these improved facilities for hearing good music must be taken as applying chiefly to public schools. There are private schools where music is well taught, but the high fees frequently charged afford no guarantee of the efficiency of the teacher.
In the last resort, the question how far music enters into the life of an average English public or preparatory school boy is largely a question of time; and here the conditions are much the same as they were thirty years ago, if indeed they are not less favourable. There is this great difference between music in our primary and secondary schools, that in the former, though limited to choral singing, it forms part of the obligatory curriculum, while in the latter music has to be studied in play-hours. In other words, all the time devoted to music must be subtracted from that ordinarily devoted to pastime. Now it cannot be said that the competing attrac- tions are less potent than they were in the time of the last generation. The cult of games jias waxed rather than
waned since 1870. Certainly more games are played, to say nothing of the enhanced charms of bicycling, the enormous spread of photography, and the increased atten- tion very properly paid in many schools to drill and rifle- shooting. Again, schoolboys nowadays read the newspapers and magazines much more than they did thirty or twenty years ago. Taking all these attractions and distractions into account, the wonder is that so many boys are found ready to sacrifice any of their playtime to music lessons or practising, and it speaks a good deal for the popularity or persuasiveness of music masters that they are able to secure such creditable results. The number of boys at public or preparatory schools who attain any real proficiency as performers must always be small ; it is surprising that it is not smaller. Out of school- time the average boy, if he has any ambition, will naturally exert himself mainly in such a way as to enhance his prestige with and win the applause of his fellows, and there is little of either to be gained by working at the piano or violin. Com- pared with the glory of appearing at Lord's or Prince's, or even of gaining his house colours, such reputation as lie may attain sinks into insignificance ; and viewing the public-school system as a whole, we do not wish that it should be otherwise. To e•pect any radical change in the comparative values assigned to pre-eminence in art and athletics at our schools would be premature, to say the least of it. Nor are we prepared to assert that schoolboys of to-day are really more musical than those of the last generation. What we do assert is that they have more opportunities of hearing music, and that those who are prepared to make sacrifices are better
trained and taught. '
There are, however, two other factors in the situation which, though they have only recently made themselves felt, cannot fail to affect the whole question of musical education. The greater complexity of modern life is reflected at school as elsewhere. There are only twenty-four hours in the day, and the number of things to be done in it—whether needful- or not—constantly increases. There are more subjects to be studied, more games to be played, more interests to cultivate ; and though there may be a greater readiness to recognise the humanising influence of music, on the other hand utilitarian educationists insist with ever grow- ing vehemence that we should concentrate our efforts on • those subjects which make for national efficiency. In face of this strenuous cry, how can one expect that more time will be found for the cultivation of the musical taste F Simultaneously with this tendency we find the domain of music invaded by a host of time- and labour-saving mechanical substitutes for human performers. That their introduction must result, if it has not already resulted, in a diminution of the number of amateur executants is tolerably obvious, unless the testimonials of several eminent musicians are flagrantly insincere. As Professor Smart says in another column, machinery has in many cases—e.g., the camera and pianola—raised the standard demanded of the human com- petitor. To keep up to this heightened standard requires further specialising of a sort impossible at a public school. In these circumstances, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that in future fewer boys will learn musical instruments, and to this extent their practical musicianship is likely to diminish rather than increase.
There remains the question how far the gramophone and pianola are to be regarded as bond .fide and desirable means of musical education. The question is worth considering, because there can be little doubt that many of the rising generation are likely to owe their first acquaintance with music, good, bad, and indifferent, to these momentous inventions. For ourselves, we have never sought to deny their efficiency or, within certain limits, their value. The repertory now avail- able for mechanical performance is already very large ; it contains a great deal of classical music, and is .obviously capable of lending considerable assistance by preserving accurate records of the renderings of great artists, and thus perpetuating the best traditions. As regards the pianola, it should be borne in mind that the more musical the operator, the better the results produced. On the other band, it would be idle to deny that the more vulgar and trivial records are in the main the more popular. Furthermore, it may be contended that any device which leads to indefinite and mechanical multiplication must exert a sterilising influence on the creative side of art. What machinery has done for the plastic and pictorial arts machinery is already doing for music. It may help to educate the masses, but its ultimate end is repetition, not creation. Hence, as our public schools are a microcosm, it is only natural that in the sphere of music they should share the disabilities as well as the .advantages of an age in which the progress of culture is
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