Getieral exposiswith the various communities to which he belongs. He must keep his
eye on the conductor, learn to count and to obey, raise his voice or
produce sounds from his instrument at the precise moment required
of him. He must be silent when he has said what he has to say. He must
also strive not to sing or play more loudly than the others, and must
modify the sound he produces at the command of the conductor or
when the score contains a note to that effect. On the other hand, if the
development of the music calls for a crescendo or a forte, the musician
must make the effort required of him, either alone, or with a group of
instruments, with the full orchestra or the whole choir. If the score
demands a silence, the musician must make no noise, sometimes even
holding his breath, refraining: from coughing, sighing or allowing his
presence to produce any unwarranted interference.
He will learn what time-signature and tempo, or movement require
of him. He will behave as the citizen of the ideal State should behave.
In the liberal democracies, the community demands no diploma, no
prior training, of the men at the head of affairs. I have always thought
that it might be a good thing to oblige them to undergo the discipline
of orchestral or choral music and thus to introduce them to the prac-
tices of harmony, order, obedience, and authority free of all demagogic
guile, compromise, cowardice, or self-interested weakness. The con-
ductor at his stand is the very model of the respected master. The per-
former, at his, is a perfect example of the reasonable citizen.
Choral music, from this point of view, has all the educative virtues
of instrumental music; but since it does not involve the possession of
instruments, requires only a relatively short period of training, and
may well provide an interest and an outlet for people who are too old
to learn to play the violin or even the cello or the flute, it can be used
as an introduction and a training in a large number of cases.
My fellow-countrymen, the French, perhaps because they are natural-
ly attracted by and inclined to a certain individualism, appear to be
less sensitive to the benefits of choral music than are other peoples,
such as the Germanic or the Slav races. But, in point of fact, the French
have always had very fine choirs in their churches and, from the Middle
Ages to modern times, have produced a wealth of this particular form
of music. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, many associa-
tions and schools have been established in France, which clearly show
that the individualistic individual certainly loses nothing by learning
to take his place in a well-regulated community. The Petits Chanteurs
?i la Croix de Bois, for example, have been welcomed with admiration
throughout the world, and this fine institution has aroused enthusiasm