Shortcomings in the Present State of Music Teaching and the Ways to a New Practice

The author analyses the causes of shortcomings in present-day musical practice at our schools and shows how they could be eliminated.
In the new educational work the song must be made the chief means, of artistic education, and it must not be fettered by pedantic didactics. Great attention must be given to the vocal cultúre of the youth.
The singing ability of children in individual grades of the school must be improved by setting up special after-school circles for the less vocally gifted children where they would be given additional lessons. An important requirement is a purposeful reduction of excessive teaching material.
It is necessary to eliminate from the first three years the methodical intonation system with too much theory. In the middle and higher grades it is necessary to simplify and perfect the teaching methods. Listening to music greatly suffers from the vulgarization of the interpretations and analyses of the musical compositions listened to. Music being an integral part of the whole national culture, the teaching of music at schools must also be closely connected with the other subjects taught, an(J must not be isolated from them by being conducted exclusively on musical lines. The present state of musical education will be greatly helped by the efforts now being made to improve the quality of textbooks in music, to equip schools with musical aids, and, above all, correctly to organize the establishment of Musical Departments at the Pedagogical Institutes for the training of teachers.