Music in edtlcation
the same way that the members of the body-hands, feet, eyelids and
teeth-are all necessary to human life. All our work and efforts must
be directed to promoting such a policy in passionate pursuit of peace.
We now have to define the possible means of using the broad musical
education of which I have been speaking to develop esteem and bro-
therhood between the peoples of the world. Everything that we do
should be conducive to full and true mutual understanding, always
bearing in mind: (a) the characteristics of each people’s musical idiom;
(b) the history of the development of our art and the most prominent
figures, both past and present, in each country; (c) the need for en-
couraging the interchange of musicians in all branches; (d) facilities as
regards material, such as printed music, recordings, books on music,
instruments, etc. ; (e) the need to study, in each country, the real pos-
sibilities of having works from other countries performed, that is to
say, of putting into practice our ideal of bringing people together
throughout the world.
This is the guiding idea in all Unesco’s work in association with
the International Music Council. All the affiliated organizations are
pursuing this same aim of international unity. The difficulties encoun-
tered are due to material causes which seriously hamper practical con-
structive co-operation.
As I have already remarked, musical life is so active throughout the
world that we are sometimes surprised to hear of the work being done
in countries where the achievement of such progress was not previously
thought possible.
We must cherish the conviction that, at this conference, we shall
discover means of mobilizing all our ideals and putting our art at the
service of the world’s great cause. In our future policy we must seek
to combine aesthetic and musical considerations with the idea, long
ago expressed for all time, that music is a tremendously powerful link
between men. We teachers, musicologists, composers and artists must
work untiringly to ensure that, with every day that passes, the link
becomes stronger.
[Translated from be French]