Mmic in education
teachers which is compulsory for appointment to State schools. As it
was desirable to regularize the position of those music teachers who
had been employed in schools before the introduction of this measure,
compulsory summer courses were instituted for school teachers of
singing, who were required to pass an examination before a special
board for approval and formal qualification.
SUGGESTIONSWe will now examine two factors of vital importance-the teacher as
the corner-stone of education, and time as the basic factor in the
planning and giving of instruction.
Anyone carrying out educational work in his own sphere is acting
as a teacher, and the personality of the teacher is summed up in certain
basic qualities : sense of responsibility, sense of vocation, culture, desire
for self-improvement, energy and drive.
Desire for self-improvement should be the ruiron 8th-e of the genuine
teacher, and the link between the teacher and the taught. The master
must be an unwearying seeker after new knowledge, steadily enlarging
his own culture without any slackening in his active role. Conscious
of his educational mission, he must ever struggle to awaken and
develop in others a sense of beauty, a love of truth and work, a sense
of responsibility and an urge to improvement.
So far as music is concerned, everyone playing any part in dissemi-
nating and teaching it is acting as a teacher-concert artists, conduc-
tors and choir leaders, members of choirs, orchestral and chamber
music groups, music teachers in the schools, musicologists and
critics.
Any aid given to the teacher to ease and assist the fulfilment of his
noble task, in any of the forms which it may take, therefore contributes
to the progress of the community.
In the case of Peru, we repeat that all the efforts so far put forth
have greatly enriched our musical culture; but we know that we must
continue the fight in a progressive and idealistic spirit, to smooth the
way for the musicians and teachers of the future.
Music teaching throughout the republic as a whole is of the utmost
complexity owing to climatic, ethnic and cultural differences between
regions, and can only be carried on if large numbers of teachers
expert in the use of teaching systems adaptable to each place are
available.