General exposhofficially under the auspices, of the various States. We are here faced
with a technical problem and with the need for establishing a very
strict criterion on a sound educational basis. If we are to avoid serious
cultural dangers, we must not allow ourselves to be swayed by com-
mercial factors or by the desire to please the general public; nor, above
all, must we allow political proselytism to govern musical creation or
concert organization. It is one of the basic tasks of this conference to
consider the function of education with reference to each form of con-
temporary artistic activity.
Turning now to the means of instruction and information available
to listeners, we find that music lovers are particularly well catered for
in our times. Biographical and descriptive programme notes very often
give excellent accounts of specific works. Records, especially since
long-playing records have become common, are often accompanied
by real monographs on the musical background of a work, some of
which are written by recognized authorities-so that listeners have all
the material they need for a true appreciation of what they hear. This
development opens up a splendid field for education and an inexhaust-
ible mine of information, by which the education received at school
may be continued and extended. Just as there are museums for the
study of the visual arts, where groups of children or adults can attend
lectures suited to the scope of their knowledge, there are also ‘mu-
seums’ for the study of music-concerts, broadcasts and records. We
can always go on learning from them, gradually coming to understand
works which were once beyond our appreciation.
The seeds of instruction are thus to be found in everything around
us. Modern man learns in a thousand different ways. Whenever we
have to do with music, we have to do with education, and it is this
aspect of the question that we must consider here, realizing that, when
talking of music education, we must not regard it as confined to the
conservatories, universities and schools in general. Music education
goes on all the time, and includes the activities of cultural organizations
throughout the world, all the various media of diffusion, and concerts.
We now have to consider this whole vast process, and see how far it
may help to bring about better understanding between the peoples.
The main object of my talk today is to consider the possible interna-
tional implications of our contemporary treatment of music. We have
to find out how and why we can, through our art, strengthen the
bonds of human sympathy and how we can extend, support and
develop the efforts which are being made for this purpose.