Here the writer would protest against the practice common in
many families, of having the daughters learn to play on the piano
whether they have a taste and an ear for music, or not. A young lady who
does not sing well, and has no great fondness for music, does nothing
but waste time, money, and patience in learning to play on the piano.
But all children can be taught to sing in early childhood, if the
scientific mode of teaching music in schools could be more widely
introduced, as it is in Prussia, Germany, and Switzerland. Then young
children could read and sing music as easily as they can read language;
and might take any tune, dividing themselves into bands, and sing off
at sight the endless variety of music which is prepared. And if parents
of wealth would take pains to have teachers qualified for the purpose,
who should teach all the young children in the community, much would
be done for the happiness and elevation of the rising generation. This
is an element of education which we are glad to know is, year by year,
more extensively and carefully cultivated; and it is not only a means
of culture, but also an amusement, which children relish in the highest
degree; and which they can enjoy at home, in the fields, and in visits
abroad.
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