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PUBLIC LIBRARY
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u
A5TOR, LENOX AND
TILDE.N FOUNDATIONS.
44 PAGES,
With which is Incorporated THE KEYNOTE.
VOL XXV.
No. i.
Published Every Saturday, at 3 East Fourteenth Street.
New York, July 3,1897.
19th Convention Music Teachers' Rational Association.
-i
The nineteenth annual convention of the
Music Teachers' National Association,
which opened its sessions at Grand Central
Palace, this city, on June 24 and closed last
Monday night, may be said to be the re-
naissance of that organization. President
Greene and his associates deserve the
heartiest praise for their splendid and tire-
less labors. Much work—earnest, effective
work—has been accomplished toward re-
vitalizing the institution, and it only needs
the co-operation of all interested musicians
to insure the organization being the power
for good it should and—if present indica-
tions amount to anything—will be.
The attendance at the convention was
large, 1,200 being enrolled for the meeting,
according to Mr. Greene. The programs
were of great variety and exceeding inter-
est. The hall was certainly large enough,
but was never intended as a lecture or re-
cital hall; it reverberated like a hundred-
chambered cave. Hence it would be waste
of time to discuss exhaustively the merits
of the many excellent recitals which were
given during the convention. Between the
poor acoustics of the auditorium and the
exterior noises everybody present—player
and audience—suffered unmentionable tor-
ture. Putting faultfinding aside, it was a
great convention, and an honor to the grand
army of musicians. It is destined to exer-
cise a broad, universal influence toward the
advancement of musical art and the inter-
ests of the musicians of this country, be
their standing humble or prominent.
*
*
*
*
At the opening session on Thursday,
Prof, Franklin W. Hooper, director of the
Brooklyn Institute of Arts, presided, and
in his address urged a broader education in
music. After the Metropolitan Orchestra,
under the direction of Adolph Neuendorff,
had played Weber's "Jubilee" overture,
John Jeroloman, President of the Board of
Aldermen, extended a welcome to the mu-
sic teachers on behalf of Mayor Strong.
Other addresses were made by Dr. A. T.
Schauffler, assistant superintendent of the
New York public schools, and by Herbert
Wilber Greene, president of the association.
His address was somewhat on the lines sug-
gested by him last year. The Music Teach-
ers' National Association is not a dele-
gated body. Its permanent membership is
extremely small. The annual meetings have
been maintained chiefly by the teachers in
and near the cities in which they have been
held. Years ago plans were discussed to
constitute its voting membership of dele-
gates from the State associations. But the
State associations are themselves the crea-
tion of the National Association, and many
of them are larger and much more efficient
in their way than the National Association.
Mr. Greene wants a change in constitution
and methods. In his address he said:
Wherein do we find a reason for alluding to the
necessity of reorganization? The keynote of the
situation to-day is the necessity for a general
recognizance of our importance as an educational
power. Until we comprehend our own possibili-
ties for influence and assert ourselves in their
presentation, how can we hope to command recog-
nition by powers that are higher than we? In view
of our membership numerically, territorially, and
of the trend of our efforts, our mode of research
and presentation, we have no right to call our-
selves a national body. Our title is a misnomer.
The musician has an instinctive sense of justice
which compels him to repudiate a thing which
bears upon its face the stamp of inconsistency. My
plea is for a national association. By that I mean
a representative body, a house composed of emi-
nent and successful writers, thinkers, and artists,
whose attainments have placed them in the van of
professional activity, whose opinions carry weight,
and who in every instance stand not alone, but as
representing either a university, a college, a
school, a society, or a constituency of their several
specialties. The voting power of this association
should be a delegated power. It first should be
able to show through its delegates the aggrega-
tion of attainment in every town and city of im-
portance. Second, it should constitute and main-
tain itself as a tribunal beyond .whose judgment
there could be no appeal, and as a medium most
directly in touch with institutional and other edu-
cational forces devoted to the furtherance of the
art. Third, it should wield an influence so strong
that it would receive recognition and co-operation
from the government, as well as the support of
capital. Fourth, it shou !d not only be able to dic-
tate the policy, but fix the standard for every
branch of musical effort. Fifth, in addition to its
delegate sessions, it should locate and control pe-
riodical conventions, where examples of artistic
attainment may be presented. These concerts
should comprehend only such musical and literary
efforts as would meet the unqualified approval of
the most cultured. Such are a few of the preroga-
tives of (rightly named; a music teachers' national
association. The musical profession of this coun-
try is exceptionally powerful, both in numbers and
intelligence. The intimate relation of music to
every phase of civilized existence renders its cul-
ture a necessity. It is incumbent, therefore, upon
this association that it be composed of capable and
distinguished men and women, and that their de-
liberations be conducted on a plane superior to all
individual considerations.
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YBAK
SINGLE COPIES, io CENTS
Education." These addresses were inter-
spersed with vocal and instrumental selec-
tions.
In the afternoon public school music and
popular sight-reading were discussed. Wil-
liam Bell Wait, superintendent of the New
York Institute for the Blind, presided.
Papers were read and addresses were made
byJohnTagg, of Brooklyn; H. E. Holt,
of Boston; Daniel Batchellerand Professor
John Zabonaky, of Philadelphia, and Miss
J. Ettie Crane, of Potsdam, N. Y.
Organ, piano, and song recitals were
given during the afternoon, at which the
members of the American College of Musi-
cians were present, at the association's in-
vitation. The Cantata Club, of Brooklyn,
sang several selections in its usually ad-
mirable style.
In the evening Silas G. Pratt delivered a
stereopticon lecture entitled "The Soul of
a Song," which was well received. He was
followed by Dr. H. H. Curtiss, who spoke
on "Visible Music," illustrated by the
stereopticon.
The opening day was closed by a recep-
tion to members of the association at the
Murray Hill Hotel.
SECOND DAY — FRIDAY.
Friday was ushered in with a business
meeting devoted principally to a proposi-
tion to change the basis of membership and
revise the constitution, which, after con-
sideration, was referred back to the com-
mittee, to be reported Saturday.
In the afternoon addresses were made by
A. J. Goodrich, on "The Theory of Inter-
pretation," and by Albert T. Strauch,
on "A Perfect Piano Action and Its
Importance to Piano-Playing," followed by
a recital on the Janko keyboard by Mme.
Pupin
At the conference on "Music in the Uni-
versity," in the afternoon, nearly all the
leading educational institutions in the coun-
try were represented, and the array of
professors who attended and took part in
the discussion was sufficient evidence of
the attention that is at present drawn to
the proposition to make music a part of the
college and university curriculum. The
speakers were A. J. Goodrich, of Chicago;
The Rev. Dr. Edward Judson spoke on Prof. E. M. Dickinson, of Oberlin, O.; W.
the "Educational Purpose of the Conven- J. Henderson; President Charles Cuthbert
tion," and Professor S. S. Packard read a Hall, of Union Seminary; Prof. A. A.
{Continued on Page 6).
paper on "The Place of Music in a Liberal