Contribution of the professional to music educationance, he can learn much even from an imperfect performance. Only
an audience thoroughly familiar with the score, from the first to the
last note, would be justified in asking for a flawless performance. But
how many people can claim to belong to so select a group? Our listener
will not lay himself open to ridicule by demanding perfection when his
own powers of appreciation are so limited. His humility will afford
him opportunities of progress that are denied to the concert-going
snobs, and perhaps one day he will be brave enough to take the plunge
and become himself an instrumentalist or at least a member of a choir-
and thus, in a way, an ‘interpreter’.
[Translated from fhe French J
THE EDUCATOR’S
POINT OF VIEW
by
Bengt FRANZEN, Director, Swedish Royal Academy of Music, StockholmFirst of all, a few words about the music teachers in Sweden and my
personal occupation, because my point of view on the subject under
review may be conditioned by these factors.
In the elementary school the classroom teacher is responsible for
music education. In the high school-up to matriculation standard-
there are specialists, graduates of the Royal Academy of Music in
Stockholm. These specialists teach singing and musical appreciation
and theory, conduct the school choir and orchestra and give individual
instrumental lessons, especially in piano and violin, since these are
required for examination. The music curriculum in a Swedish high
school with 8 grades comprises 30 lessons a week: 20 of these can be
devoted to singing lessons in classes, 4 of them to the school orchestra,
and the remaining 6 to instrumental lessons-individually or in groups.
My work consists in organizing and in supervising these music
teachers during their training, which is done in schools in Stockholm
specially selected for this purpose.