International Conference on the Role and Place of Music in the Education of Youth and Adults; Music in education; 1955

Music in edmation

A more complete and thorough training will henceforth be provided

for these music teachers at the Centre de Formation PCdagogique

(teacher-training centre) to be opened in October 1953.

The task seems, initially, a very difficult one; it is not merely a

question of providing the teachers with the largest possible stock of

knowledge. Much more is required-the kindling in them of the flame

of enthusiasm that will make their words persuasive and their efforts

effective. They must be made capable of answering everything they

will be asked. Their will and determination to give, and to continue

giving of the best that is in them, must be aroused and strengthened.

TRAINING METHODS

Development of the Teacher’s Personalio

First of all, in order that teachers shall be well endowed with human
qualities and able to exercise a real influence, they must be helped to
discover and develop, of themselves, their own personality.
It is to music itself that we must turn to provide this initial
training.
Who can give and share anything valuable if he himself does not
possess an abundance of it? Before being entrusted with the task of
enabling others to enrich their lives through music, future teachers
must discover for themselves how music promotes the full develop-
ment of the human personality.
That is why a prime feature in their training is listening to every
kind of music, recorded and live. Having themselves travelled along
this road of discovery and experienced an inner awakening through
contact with great musical works, they will obviously be better placed
to guide the children and adults to whom they wish to reveal the new
world thus discovered.
Moreover, since total participation (active and physical) increases
pleasure and speeds the process of self-development, listening to
music is supplemented by the practice of it. Singing (solo and choral)
and instrumental music are obviously indicated for this purpose and
are, in fact, taught; and they are always accompanied by lessons in
physical gesture and expression. The subordination of bodily move-
ment to the vital impulse of music, and the exaltation of the dynamic
power of music by dancing, are two complementary aspects of this
process.