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

The fraiuijig of the teacher

This education in bodily movement is of great importance: it brings
about a harmonious balance and a sense of joy that is invaluable for
the development of a ‘total’ personality.
Singing, instrumental music, education in bodily movement, and
dancing must be completed by training in dramatics and elocution;
these two deal in physical gestures, gestures that fashion and strengthen
the personality by compelling all its latent potentialities to reveal them-
selves. All these activities tend to develop the personality of the teacher.

Professional Training

The teachers’ professional training has a twofold object-to give them

the necessary qualities both as teachers and as musicians.

iMz/sical training. The auditory education of future music teachers takes

place by a process of daily practice; regularity is, indeed, one of the

main conditions for success in this field. Daily practice is given in

‘recognition’; dictation in all types of music; sol-fa, and reading. Vocal

training requires the same measure of perseverance.

In instrumental work, emphasis is on the practical side; all teachers

are required to study the piano in order to accustom themselves to

playing a keyboard instrument. In fact, some instrument of this kind

will always be at their disposal in the classroom, whether it be a piano

or a table harmonium.

Those who are already pianists naturally continue their work in this

field, but a special effort is made to develop their qualities as readers

of music, since these will be of great value to them.

The study of harmony is likewise necessary. In order to obtain the

Music Centres’ Teaching Diploma, the teacher will have to pass an

examination in the harmonization of a song with words for three ‘equal’

voices or four ‘mixed‘ voices (the music teacher might well have, at

some juncture, to perform a similar task for his pupils); and such

special studies are engaged in precisely with a view to practical use of

the knowledge acquired.

Training in teaching. A volume of basic knowledge is essential to all

future teachers. That is why courses and lectures in psycho-pedagogy

and pedagogy, as well as reports and descriptions of experiments in

teaching are provided for.

Ample pedagogical information is imparted to future teachers as

part of this basic knowledge; they must not leave the centre before