the wide and only true way it can be studied. Nor
are these the only reasons why all classes of the
community, and musicians particularly, should bestir
themselves on this important (|uestion. Although
it is true that our Orchestral Concert Scheme goes
on, — by the skin of its teeth, so to speak, — yet the
time is not far distant when no artist, instrumental
or otherwise, will risk the attempt of concert-giving
in Glasgow. Even excellent musicians of European
reputation know that, if they were to venture to give
a chamber concert hei-e on their own responsibility,
they would most certainly have to pay for it out of
their own pockets.
The earnest lovers of nuisic in Glasgow have had
recourse to a praiseworthy stratagem so as to secure
that we are not left destitute of chamber concerts
altogether. Now, if there were an active centre of
nmsic in our midst, it would go a long way towards en-
suring an audience for any worthy musical enterprise
attempted ; even the students themselves would make
this a matter of tolerable certainty, so that local
musicians might once more venture to give concerts
on their own account with some chance of success.
It would be an easy matter to bring forward any
number of illustrations showing the unsatisfactory,
and in many cases unfair, results of musical examina-
tions, but we prefer to leave the question on the
broad ground on which all can agree, viz. that Scot-
land should do something better for herself than to
calmly rest contented with a system which does not
provide education, and is promoted for the benefit
of institutions at a distance.
The way is well paved in many directions, and the
present time shows a large and increasing tendency
towards doing all in its power to further the interest
that we have so nuich at heart. In all our Board
Schools the foundation is being securely laid for the
future edifice which should ultimately be erected
upon it, and the Tonic-Sol-fa System of instruction
is also assisting materially in making music an indis-
pensable factor in the training of the young, while
in private and other schools every effort is being
made to prepare ]3upils for a liigli -class musical
training on the same lines as for a university course.
But it all stops at this point, because, after school
is finished the musical aspirant has no resource left
except to take a few lessons in pianoforte or singing
from a local teaclier, or leave the country. The
local teacher may be excellent in his department, but
he is most assuredly unable to provide a musical
education in the full sense of the term.
This brings us to note a misundei-standing which
exists in the minds of a large number of people
reaarding the nature of a musical education. The
idea is widely prevalent that to study music, or to take
some music lessons, simply means an attempt to attain
a sufficient amount of proficiency on the pianoforte
to enable the student to fumble out a Mendelssohn
' Song without Words, or murder a Sonata by Beet-
hoven, or, in the case of singing, to gain just enough of
self-confidence to be able to inflict ' True till Death "
on a longsuff'erino- audience brought together for
charitable purposes and mutual appreciation — or
depreciation, as the case may be. It does not yet
seem to be at all iniderstood by parents and others
that the compositions of great musicians afford as
much scope for study as do the works of standard
authors in the field of literature, and that the
primary consideration in musical education should
be, not only to play and sing well, but also to be-
come acquainted with the works of Bach, Beethoven,
Mozart, Schubert, Bralnns, and Wagner — acquainted
in the sense of knowing them from having heard
them, just in the same way as one knows poems of
Milton or Tennyson, or the plays of Shakespeare,
from having read them. The mistaken impression
that the enjoyment of the great works of the com-
posers depends upon a profound knowledge of the
science of music is a totally erroneous one. It
cannot be too strongly urged that, until the majority
of persons are brought to see this, and to believe
that the want of interest they feel in listening to
good music is solely due to the fact that they liave
not taken a sufficient amount of trouble to put
themselves in the way of frequently liearing it, the
apathetic condition of our audiences will remain as it is, or grow gradually worse. Again, it is a mistake to suppose that, because of the existence of a certain musical community, the appreciation and desire for the art are in any way on the increase. The circle which forms the regular attendance at
our concerts, taking into account the population of a city like Glasgow, is a very small one.
It is true that a large audience meets every Saturday evening during the season in St. Andrew's Hall, but this may be taken as a proof of the sincere desire among a certain class to learn something; it is not the fashionable West-End circle which attends on these occasions, so much as the musical contingent just mentioned, augmented by a fair sprinkling of artisans and ordinary workaday people, who recognise the fact that the hearing of a large orcliestra, or chorus and orchestra, is very good value for the small sum of one shilling. But, be this as it may, it only goes to strengthen our case — viz. that there does exist a large section which requires direction. This can only be attained by focusing all who are sincere in their endeavours to know more about music, as well as those actively engaged in the profession, who feel that their art
