The benefit of this is obvious, and the nerves, both of the
player and of the unwilling listeners, are the gainers.
A little thought will show that it should be no more difficult for
average children to learn a piece of music by heart in this way, than
for them to learn a piece of prose or poetry by heart. The initial steps
are exactly the same--the language has to be known, and it is then a
question of memory, and memory alone. Who would think of learning poetry
by heart by the process of repeating it aloud a hundred or more times?
Yet this is what was formerly done in the case of music.
Sixty years ago no girl was considered educated who could not play the
piano a little. Since then a reaction has begun to set in. The standard
of playing has gone up to such a degree that parents are often heard to
say that their child is not musical enough for it to be worth while to
teach it an instrument. This is a pity. Music is used so much in our
daily life that we cannot do without our 'average performers'.
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