Thomas Tapper - Music Talks with Children

Music Talks with ChildrenPREFACE.
CHAPTER I. WHAT THE FACE TELLS.
CHAPTER II. WHY WE SHOULD STUDY MUSIC.
CHAPTER III. MUSIC IN THE HEART.
CHAPTER IV. THE TONES ABOUT US.
CHAPTER V. LISTENING.
CHAPTER VI. THINKING IN TONE.
CHAPTER VII. WHAT WE SEE AND HEAR.
CHAPTER VIII. THE CLASSICS.[26]
CHAPTER IX. WHAT WE SHOULD PLAY.
CHAPTER X. THE LESSON.
CHAPTER XI. THE LIGHT ON THE PATH.
CHAPTER XII. THE GREATER MASTERS.
CHAPTER XIII. THE LESSER MASTERS.
CHAPTER XIV. HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT.
CHAPTER XV. MUSIC AND READING.
CHAPTER XVI. THE HANDS.
CHAPTER XVII. WHAT THE ROMAN LADY SAID.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE GLORY OF THE DAY.
CHAPTER XIX. THE IDEAL.
CHAPTER XX. THE ONE TALENT.
CHAPTER XXI. LOVE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL.
CHAPTER XXII. IN SCHOOL.
CHAPTER XXIII. MUSIC IN SCHOOL.
CHAPTER XXIV. HOW ONE THING HELPS ANOTHER.
CHAPTER XXV. THE CHILD AT PLAY. This page formatted 2004 Blackmask Online.

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PREFACE. CHAPTER I. WHAT THE FACE TELLS. CHAPTER II. WHY WE SHOULD STUDY MUSIC. CHAPTER III. MUSIC IN THE HEART. CHAPTER IV. THE TONES ABOUT US. CHAPTER V. LISTENING. CHAPTER VI. THINKING IN TONE. CHAPTER VII. WHAT WE SEE AND HEAR. CHAPTER VIII. THE CLASSICS.[26] CHAPTER IX. WHAT WE SHOULD PLAY. CHAPTER X. THE LESSON. CHAPTER XI. THE LIGHT ON THE PATH. CHAPTER XII. THE GREATER MASTERS. CHAPTER XIII. THE LESSER MASTERS. CHAPTER XIV. HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT. CHAPTER XV. MUSIC AND READING. CHAPTER XVI. THE HANDS. CHAPTER XVII. WHAT THE ROMAN LADY SAID. CHAPTER XVIII. THE GLORY OF THE DAY. CHAPTER XIX. THE IDEAL. CHAPTER XX. THE ONE TALENT. CHAPTER XXI. LOVE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL. CHAPTER XXII. IN SCHOOL. CHAPTER XXIII. MUSIC IN SCHOOL. CHAPTER XXIV. HOW ONE THING HELPS ANOTHER. CHAPTER XXV. THE CHILD AT PLAY.

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MUSIC TALKS WITH CHILDREN

by

THOMAS TAPPER

Philadelphia Theodore Presser

1898

Dear child! dear girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
* * * * *
God being with thee when we know it not.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

TO THE CHILDREN AT HOME

Teach me to live! No idler let me be,
But in Thy service hand and heart employ.

BAYARD TAYLOR.

PREFACE.

A book of this kind, though addressed to children, must necessarily reach them through an older person. The purpose is to suggest a few of the many aspects which music may have even to the mind of a child. If these chapters, or whatever may be logically suggested by them, be actually used as the basis of simple Talks with children, music may become to them more than drill and study. They should know it as an art, full of beauty and of dignity; full of pure thought and abounding in joy. Music with these characteristics is the true music of the heart. Unless music gives true pleasure to the young it may be doubted if it is wisely studied.

Our failure to present music to the young in a manner that interests and holds them is due not so much to the fact that music is too difficult for children, but because the children themselves are too difficult for us. In our ignorance we often withhold the rightful inheritance. We must not forget that the slower adult mind often meets a class of difficulties which are not recognized by the unprejudiced child. It is not infrequent that with the old fears in us we persist in recreating difficulties.

There should be ever present with the teacher the thought that music must be led out of the individuality, not driven into it.

The teacher's knowledge is not a hammer, it is a light.

While it is suggested that these chapters be used as the subject-matter for talks with the children, they may read verbatim if desired. All foot-note references and suggestions are addressed to the older personthe mother or the teacher. There is much in the literature of art that would interest children if given to them discriminatingly.

THOMAS TAPPER.

BOSTON, October 30, 1896

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Chats with Music Students; or Talks about Music and Music Life.

A remarkably valuable work. It is made up of talks to students, calculated to make them think; of hints and suggestions which will be of immense assistance to those who are earnestly trying to become proficient in music. Boston Transcript.

No other book covers the same broad field which this covers in such a pleasant and inspiring manner. The Writer (Boston).

The Music Life and How to Succeed in it.

These ideas are worthy of attention from students and workers in all branches of art, science, and literature, who mean to be serious and earnest. Boston Transcript.

Exceedingly valuable because of its broad impartiality in its exposition of truth, its depth of understanding, and, above all, for its earnest desire, manifest in every word, to lead music students to a love for music itself.... It abounds in high artistic thought and insight. The Boston Times.

CHAPTER I. WHAT THE FACE TELLS.

And the light dwelleth with him. Daniel II: 22.

Once a master said to a child:

If thou wilt study diligently, learn, and do good unto others, thy face shall be filled with light.

So the child studied busily, learned, and sought how she could do good unto others. And every little while she ran to the glass to see if the light was coming. But at each time she was disappointed. No light was there. Try as faithfully as she would, and look as often as she would, it was always the same.

I do not know if she doubted the master or not; but it is certain she did not know what to make of it. She grieved, and day after day her disappointment grew. At length she could bear it no longer, so she went to the master and said:

Dear master, I have been so diligent! I have tried to learn and to do good unto others. Yet every time I have sought in my face the light which you promised , it has not been there. No, not a single time.

Now the master listened intently, and watching her face as she spoke, he said:

Thou poor little one, in this moment, as thou hast spoken to me, thy face has been so filled with light that thou wouldst not believe. And dost thou know why? It is because every word thou hast spoken in this moment has come from thy heart.

Thou must learn in the first days this lesson: When the thought and the deed are in the heart, then the light is in the face, always, and it is there at no other time. It could not be. And what is in thy heart when thou art before the glass? In that moment hast thou turned away from diligence, and from learning, and from the love of doing good unto others and in thy heart there is left only the poor curiosity to see the light which can never shine when it is sought. Thou canst never see the light of thy own face. For thee that light is forever within, and it will not prosper thy way to want to look upon it. It is only as thou art faithful that this is added unto thee.