Mtlsic in educationbe at the mercy of general publishers. An example of how an enthusiast
in this line can run through his resources is that of the outstanding
musicologist of the earliest phase of our modern period, Mr. Chinna-
swami Mudaliar, who spent his whole estate in collecting and writing
down in staff notation the vast song material of the South, and in his
own lifetime could see in print only one volume of his unsurpassed
labour. As an institution, we in the Madras Music Academy have not
only brought out editions from manuscripts of our basic textual autho-
rities, but have always subsidized all music publication activity under-
taken by individual enthusiasts or smaller associations; as already
referred to, we are publishing and maintaining at high cost the only
music research journal in our part of the world. To Professor P. Sam-
bamurti again goes the credit of founding the only exclusive music
publishing house, but his concern publishes only his productions and
these are mostly graded textbooks answering to the needs of the school
and college courses in music.
I shall revert to the study of music in schooland colleges and the ma-
terials used in these courses. Reference has just been made to the text-
books compiled for these courses. Every resource in the shape of charts,
graphs, demonstrative instruments, sound apparatus, etc. is used to
make the student understand the technique of music and the physics
of sound. Excursions, periodical lectures, demonstrations, recitals by
students, competitions, etc., are arranged to keep aflame the musical
enthusiasm of the young. The students are taught to learn music by
the eye, from songs written down in notation. I need refer only to the
handbook on the teaching of music by Professor P. Sambamurti which
is, I am sure, the only work of its kind in India.
It is necessary to make at this stage a few observations on the ques-
tion of notation. The pioneer South Indian musicologist Subbarama
Dikshitar adopted in his monumental publication called the Smgita
Sumpruda_ya 13rddarSini an elaborate system of symbols to deal adequa-
tely with the variety of graces characteristic of our music. Subsequently
a somewhat abbreviated scheme of notation has been in use in our
printed editions of masterpieces. Attempts have also been made by
some to evolve an all-India notation scheme. But it has to be borne
in mind that so far as our music and its subtleties are concerned, the
written score is but a rough guide; without a live teacher, the paper
text may even prove harmful in the hands of the half-learned. To
illustrate the difficulty, there are occasions when a note just glances
over another, but to put down the latter in writing would eventually
lead to too pronounced a place for it which would in course of time