if the foolisness had been cut out there would have been time to learn to read as well. Reading of music cannot be taught by the lecture method nor by the stunt method. Many are trying both and failing. Children learn to read by reading, and to do this they must look at the book.

The first thing the teacher did when we went into the eighth grade room was to pick up some cards that had the figures of triads on them. She showed a card and the pupils sang the three tones called for. This was the last straw. We had seen enough a b c in disguise for one day and we took our leave. This last exercise made me think of Samanthy Allen's two friends: "One sang barrel-tone and the other sang also. It lacked tune some but sounded real well".

The best proof, besides these typical lessons, that we are still in the a b c stage of music teaching, is the amount of material used in the average system of schools. In word reading several books are used each year. In music one, or half of one, is deemed sufficient. Proof positive of what is wrong. In the second grade, if sensible methods are followed, the pupils should read musically any five primers on the market.

In many schools there is a feeling against the teaching of technical music below the third or fourth grades. By technical music is meant the reading of songs by note. As it is usually taught no one can be blamed for putting it late in the course-the later the better. If the music parallels the word reading in method there is no reason why it cannot nearly parallel it in time. To wait longer than the beginning of the second grade is wrong, and, with the meager time now devoted to the subject, results in depriving the pupil of even the chance of learning to read music.

Let us clear away the stunts and fads that have swept the country like the big hat and the measles, adopt sensible methods and make musical readers of our pupils, and give them something to keep in the shape of real musical ability and the memory of the good music they have sung. Let us teach music so that children learn on account of our teaching and not in spite of it.

Supervisor of Music, Oak Park, Ill.

T. P. GIDDINGS.

Special Chorus Work in the Elementary Schools

IN

A Few Practical Suggestions

every upper grade class of forty or fifty pupils, a number ranging from fifteen to twenty-five is found whose voices and general musical ability excel that of the rest of the class. In view of this fact it is but just to these pupils and to the rest of the school to furnish opportunity for some special work that will keep them thoroughly interested and well up to their ability. No argument is needed to prove that such work has a decided tendency to stimulate the other pupils to better effort and to create higher ideals throughout the school. In making the selection there should be no feeling that favoritism has been shown; and there will be none if the children are led to realize the justice of the plan. The method here proposed is very simple, and, as it has proved successful in the experience of the writer, it is given for what it is worth.

Each pupil is asked to sing one of the major scales, going to the higher and lower tones that can be reached easily, until the full range of the voice has been found. In preparation for this exercise the children are told to take deep breath, to relax the throat, and to sing easily and naturally. Sometimes it has been well to have the entire group sing the scale several times, making use of these helpful suggestions, but the final decision should be based only upon individual work. In this work, careful note should be taken of the quality of the voice in all parts of the scale, after having the child repeat, as often as may be necessary, the higher and lower tones, and upon this basis the selection is made for the voice parts. Often some quite remarkable discoveries are made. In one instance some unchanged voices were found among the older boys of the eighth grade which permitted them to use such beautiful songs as "The Old Canoe" and the better class of "college" songs that have stood the test of time and will always be good. It is not at all unusual to find a

sufficient number of low altos among the girls to enable one to use a large number of fine four-part songs for women's voices, for example, "Kentucky Babe", or the humorous "Dixie Kid". Somehow these little discoveries give new meaning to the work in music and the pupils take up the regular lessons with renewed zest and with an additional motive to get the fundamentals well in hand in order to do the special work more acceptably. While it is not a good thing to encourage the "show off" spirit, it is entirely proper and eminently desirable to teach children to be willing to give pleasure to others; and this should constitute another healthful incentive to earnest effort.

Next in importance comes the selection of songs, and it is evident that this should depend entirely upon the range of voices shown by the group chosen. Here is necessity for very careful discrimination. It should always be borne in mind that the selection of difficult songs is not the purpose, although some of these pupils, with some additional training, may be able to take up songs of that character. However, reasonably difficult songs should not be excluded. The chief motive is to study with greater care, and work out with better expression the songs that are chosen, however easy they may be, A very simple song excellently rendered is much more satisfactory, both to the performer and to the listener, than an elaborate composition poorly done. Many of the easiest songs are among the most beautiful and perform the most enduring service in elevating thought and stimulating action. Hymns like "Nearer, My God, to Thee", "Abide with Me", "Lead, Kindly Light", and songs like "Suwanee River", "Old Black Joe", and other well-known folk-songs furnish as fine material as can be found for studying shades of expression and learning to bring out the thought. Pupils who are trained to appreciate and express the beauty of such songs have woven into the warp and woof of their lives a fabric of strength that will make nobler men and

women.

In connection with these special opportunities, the large chorus composed of several of the higher grade rooms, deserves consideration. Here is the place to choose a skilful leader from among the teachers in case the principal has

not had sufficient experience in directing to handle this work successfully. Two hundred to four hundred children make an enthusiastic chorus that creates all the "musical atmosphere" desired. Unison songs with "go" in them are the best for such a chorus, although, occasionally, two-part songs can be used quite profitably. In these all may join heartily, whether they can "sing" or not. A college boy, who realized that his voice was sadly lacking in pleasing musical quality, said he could not sing but could "howl in a big chorus". These are the times when it is the right thing to sing with rollicking vigor that disregards the finer shades of expression, but here, too, one must consider the character of the songs that are to be so used. It is entirely possible, however, after the children have had this jolly time, to introduce successfully such a song as "Old Black Joe", or 'My Old Kentucky Home", as a delightful contrast, and because of the hearty relaxation the children will respond the more sympathetically to the somewhat serious study of these never-to-be-forgotten melodies that every child in the public schools should know and enjoy.

The careless way in which the ordinary church congregation usually sings the hymns mentioned above is not only poor music but actually sacrilege because it tends to a thoughtless disregard for the most sacred experiences of life. It would be worth much as an essential part of true worship to take some time of a service, occasionally, to teach the people how to sing these songs thoughtfully-"with the spirit and the understanding also". Such a startling innovation might disturb some of the "brethren", but if they had been given the right kind of training in the schools, they would certainly welcome the opportunity to worship truly through song. Teachers who are willing to do some earnest work along this line may be building better than they know for, while we should not rule out our very best "popular" music, there is great need of making our best music popular. May we not hope for the time when many of the "airs" of the world-renowned works of the great masters of music shall be as familiar to the children as some of the beautiful and enduring sentiments of the great literary masters? We Americans, as a people, have yet to learn how really to enjoy music

We are gaining in this appreciation year by year, and much credit has come to us from over the water because of our advance, but we are still lacking in permitting music to serve its rightful purpose for us. In a recent article, "The Gospel of Recreation", Miss Jane Addams clearly points to the duty of providing "connection between music and morals which was so long insisted upon by philosophers as well as poets". Children respond to music more quickly than to any other environment, and we should try to cultivate a healthy taste for what is wholesome and worth while, and still supply the need for good, clean fun. By giving such songs and so teaching them that they will successfully compete with the silly, coarse, and often vulgar songs of the vaudeville and "nickel" show, we shall perform a great service in developing a higher type of national character. "Let me write the songs of a nation and I care not who writes her laws."

With a course of study so full that there seems scarcely time to do anything well, the question of time naturally arises in this connection. In my own school the last half hour of each Monday forenoon has been used in teaching songs of the character recommended. The break in the regular work of the school has not been noticeable and the program followed has been heartily commended by the teachers. For the first three minutes there is an introductory exercise (with just enough formality to give a little dignity to the occasion) consisting of the "Salute to the Flag", the chorus of one of Sousa's stirring march-songs ("The Stars and Stripes Forever"), and the reciting of the "Chicago Civic Creed". The children seem to enjoy this brief, formal introduction very much and are then ready to take up with zest the songs that follow. If the time for the "selected" chorus can not be found during the regular school hours it will of course be necessary to arrange for periods on certain days after school. Some sacrifices of time and energy are demanded from pupils and teacher but the compensations are many. In considering choruses that specially appeal to boys or girls it may be possible for two teachers to arrange their programs so that one can take all the boys and the other all the girls of the two rooms for such studyanother desirable feature of this special chorus work that