Mu& educafioiori in societyCONCLUSION
All this shows how musical sensitivity can be developed in pupils. By
thus rendering our children sensitive to music in all its aspects, we
shall help them to appreciate to the full the great works they will have
the opportunity of enjoying in the senior classes of our secondary
schools and in our colleges.
At the same time, the dangers of purely passive lessons must not be
overlooked. The children must be induced to listen ‘actively’, trying
to discover for themselves the qualities of the work they are hearing,
its characteristic instrumentation, its form and its harmonic and
rhythmic character. This active interest must be constantly stimulated
by the teacher by means of questions, essays on the works they have
heard, etc.
It is obvious that this makes great demands on the music teacher,
from the psychological and educational as well as from the musical
points of view. It is to be hoped that these demands will be borne in
mind to an increasing degree in the organization of higher musical
studies in our country.
By working along these lines, we shall be able to train the young
people of today to appreciate public musical performances more fully
and enable them to gain more real advantage from the pleasures of
music.
[Translated from the French J