none which does not help to train the mind. And this does no essential
harm to our art.
In the article I have already mentioned, Dr. Seeger wondered why
this conference was not to deal with specialized musical training. I
believe that this is simply a question of method. We have come here
to discuss music in a very broad sense, and the term ‘music education’,
as defined above, must, in our minds, be given the widest possible
scope. We must not think only in terms of the conservatories, univer-
sity colleges of music, or the enormous field of public primary and
secondary education. We must carefully consider all the forms of music
from which we derive daily benefit and by which our minds and souls
are constantly enlarged and enriched.
I shall therefore treat my subject in two separate sections, dealing
first with music education in the strict sense, and secondly with the
part it can play as an aid to international understanding. I shall try to
determine what we expect of music in education, and whether we ought
to set music other aims. I shall then go on to consider whether the aims
in question are attainable and whether their pursuit should be encour-
aged.
In the first place, progress can always be made in music education
throughout our lives. The advances of modern techtiology have done
so much to promote music that there is almost a tendency for us to
have too much of it.
Our art, which was once confined to schools and concert halls, is
now spreading to every corner of the earth. The sound of the wireless
is omnipresent, and we are indeed sometimes obliged to barricade
ourselves in so as to get away from the insistent noise coming from
the neighbouring houses. It has been said that the present age is suffer-
ing from over-saturation with music. The famous masterpieces which
we used to have to go out of our way to hear are now constantly ‘on
tap’-in the street, in public places, in circumstances which make it
quite impossible for us to appreciate them properly. This is a daily
problem in education, for the work of the schools may thus be abso-
lutely nullified and music may indeed become a real danger to the
mind.
Genuine musical activity, too, has come into our lives as it has never
done before. Thousands of people are busy organizing concerts. Ar-
tists travel from continent to continent, establishing contacts and forg-
ing links in a way which would have been inconceivable 25 years ago.
The scale of these activities is increasing daily, with the help, if not