Muic in educationmelos of the new music and free rhythmical patterns, over and above
the rigid bar structure, are included in the methodical progression.
This facilitates the singing, hearing and understanding of contempo-
rary music and makes it possible to avoid the obsolete methods
hitherto employed in music teaching.
The task of developing the child's innate love of music and his
creative powers cannot be accomplished through technical exercises ;
it requires familiarity with singing, playing and dancing. In mastering
the elementary laws of musical structure the song is also the immediate
starting point. It is not the musical scale and the triad, but children's
songs that make children familiar with the elements of music. The
child's musical knowledge will become an organic whole only if the
music he has absorbed really lives for him. The methodical way leads
from bodily movement and singing to listening and writing. The in-
troduction of musical script and singing from it-formerly the funda-
mental problem of music education in schools-is now only one task
among many others, which are not successive but simultaneous (voice
training, ear training, instruction in rhythm, improvisation, folk song
practice, instrumental accompaniment, music lore). Today, the ques-
tion of methodical aids (Eitz method, tonic-do method, figure me-
thod) is no longer very important. The tonic-do method (reformed by
Josef Wenz), which, in addition to the solmization syllables (do, re,
mi, fa, sol, la, ti), employs characteristic signs, is widely used in
Germany.
In the basic melodical and rhythmical exercises, the child must be
encouraged to discover and invent by itself. The teacher therefore goes
carefully: he determines the sound range, gives the keynote, so that
the improvisation is kept within limits.
Music education must not be based on singing alone; it must employ
percussion instruments (with hand clapping and foot stamping as a
natural starting point) for the rhythmical element. Bar instruments
(glockenspiel and xylophone) enable the transition to be made from
rhythm to melody. Stimulating suggestions in this field have been
made by Emile Jaques Dalcroze and, more recently, by Carl Orff and
Hans Bergese. From the so-called childish instruments, which are ex-
cellent aids to the musical activities of young people, the way leads
to the recorder and the fiddle and then to the other melody and key
instruments. The school offers the child the opportunity, by working
with private music teachers or through a musical youth school, of
learning to play an instrument and taking part in group performances.
thereby fostering good house music as well as public musical activities,