Music in education
We may, at this point, quote an engaging phrase on which we might
expatiate endlessly: ‘Music unites men and civilizes life.’ This is a truth
which has been stated and restated for centuries past. At the opening
meeting of the International Music Council, Mr. Roland Manuel re-
minded us of the Chinese who contrasted music with ritual and hier-
archy. Music, they said, makes all men equal. It is like the elements in
nature, like life and death. It moves all hearts. This comment might
be broadened to apply to all the peoples of the world. Music knows
no frontiers, and is not affected by the barriers of differences in lan-
guage. It has a power of bringing men together which is unequalled
by the other arts. It has enormous strength and infinite power to unify
the nations. And all these qualities of music are very much increased
today by the various media of communication available to us.
This is certainly the first time in history that we have realized that
the West does not epitomize all music and that, even in the West, the
music of a couple of centuries ago does not represent the discovery of
the art of combining sounds. It does not matter to us whether this is a
sign of strength or weakness. We know that most men still chant their
monodies and have ancient traditions and age-long customs which
mean as much to them as Bach’s fugues or Beethoven’s symphonies
do to us.
For a very long time, with a ridiculous sense of superiority, we made
no effort to understand the people of other civilizations. Things have
now changed and, without overlooking the distinctive contribution of
European music, we are sincerely interested in the productions of other
continents. The differences in our civilizations merely increase our
desire for music.
Modern man is intellectually interested in the whole world; he
struggles against the barriers of regionalism and seeks to break free
of narrow parochialism. Wonderful collections of recordings have
given us some understanding of Balinese gamelans, Chinese drama
or Arab singing. The study of non-Western music has thus accustomed
us to hearing sounds other than those familiar to us, and we have
thereby gained a much better understanding of these exotic forms
which we had previously despised.
The contributions of ages of which we can learn only through books
are of real help in our conference’s work. The countries which have
led the musical movement have not always been the same. We have
entered into treasure houses which we had thought were vanished.
Machault, Dufay and the works of Gabrieli or the Prince of Venosa
constitute a perfectly natural artistic contribution prior to that made