EXTRACTS FROM A PREFATORY MINUTE

OF THE

COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION.

THE

HE information derived from the Inspectors of Schools and from various other sources had made the Committee of Council acquainted with the fact, that vocal music has been successfully cultivated in comparatively few of the elementary schools of Great Britain. In the Sunday schools of great towns the children have commonly been taught to sing, in an imperfect manner, certain of the psalm and hymn tunes used in divine worship. These tunes are learned, only by imitation, from persons of little or no musical skill, and are therefore generally sung incorrectly and without taste. Thus the children acquire no power of further self-instruction, and little or no desire to know more of music. Notwithstanding these obvious imperfections, the children and young men and women employed in the manufactories of large towns commonly sing, during the hours of labour, the psalms and hymns they had learned in the Sunday schools,

In the infant schools singing forms one of the chief features of the instruction and discipline. It is, however, to be regretted that airs have frequently been selected for infant schools altogether unsuitable to very young children. The words commonly sung are rather foolish than simple, and fantastic than sprightly. The infant school has therefore done little or nothing for the improvement of the taste, or for the general diffusion of skill in vocal music in this country.

Though vocal music has hitherto been comparatively neglected in the elementary schools of England, there is sufficient evidence that the natural genius of the people would reward a careful cultivation. In the northern counties of England choral singing has long formed the chief rational amusement of the manufacturing population. The weavers of Lancashire and Yorkshire have been famed for their acquaintance with the great works of Handel and Haydn, with the part-music of the old English school, and those admirable old English songs, the music of which it is desirable to restore to common use.

The manufacturing population of Norfolk, in like manner, has shown taste in the cultivation of vocal music, and has rendered service in the production of the oratorios sung at the festivals for which Norwich has been celebrated. Similar evidences of the native genius of the people are scattered over different parts of England. Among the lower portion of the middle classes, the formation and rapid success of choral and harmonic societies is one of the most pleasing characteristics of the recent improvement of the class of apprentices, foremen, and attendants in shops, who

a century ago were (especially in the metropolis) privileged outlaws in society.

The chief reasons why singing has not been cultivated to a greater extent among the lower orders in Great Britain, consist in the too general neglect of elementary education, and in the fact, that vocal music has not been reckoned among the necessary subjects of the education of the poorer classes in this country.

Vocal music, as a means of expression, is by no means an unimportant element in civilization. One of the chief characteristics of public worship ought to be the extent to which the congregation unite in those solemn psalms of prayer and praise which, particularly in the Lutheran churches of Germany and Holland, appear the utterance of one harmonious voice. One of the chief means of diffusing through the people national sentiments is afforded by songs which embody and express the hopes of industry and the comforts and contentment of household life; and which preserve for the peasant the traditions of his country's triumphs, and inspire him with confidence in her greatness and strength.

A nation without innocent amusements is commonly demoralized. Amusements which wean the people from vicious indulgences are in themselves a great advantage: they contribute indirectly to the increase of domestic comfort, and promote the contentment of the artisan. Next in importance are those which, like the athletic games, tend to develope the national strength and energy; but the most important are such as diffuse sentiments by which the honour and prosperity of the country may be promoted The national legends, frequently embodied in songs, are the peasant's chief source of that national feeling which other ranks derive from a more extensive acquaintance with history. The songs of any people may be regarded as important means of forming an industrious, brave, loyal, and religious working class.

Every schoolmaster of a rural parish ought to instruct the children in vocal music, and to be capable of conducting a singing class among the young men and women. The instruction thus communicated would enable him, with such encouragement as he might receive from the clergyman, to form a respectable vocal choir for the village church. This, in itself, would tend to increase the attendance on divine worship among the uneducated, and would spread an interest in the services of religion, which might prove the first step to more important benefits. A relish for such pursuits would in itself be an advance in civilization, as it would doubtless prove in time the means of weaning the population from dehasing pleasures, and would associate their amusements with their duties.

Among the impediments to the introduction of a more general cultiva tion of vocal music among the lower orders in Great Britain has been the want of a method of instruction, facilitating the teaching of vocal music in elementary schools. As a preliminary to the preparation of such a method, their Lordships had directed their secretary to collect or procure, from various parts of Europe, where vocal music has been cultivated in elementary schools, the books in most general use in normal schools, and

in the schools of the communes, and of the towns. The manuals of vocal music were accordingly collected in Switzerland, Holland, the German States, Prussia, Austria, and France. These works were carefully examined, in order that their characteristic differences might be ascertained, as well as the general tendency of the methods adopted in these countries.

The chief common characteristic of these works is, that they are generally framed in the synthetic order, and proceed from the simplest elements, with more or less skill, to those which are more difficult and complex. The synthetic method appeared to be developed with the greatest skill and care in the work published by M. Wilhem, under the sanction of the Minister of Public Instruction in Paris.

The accounts which their Lordships received of the success of this method in Paris induced them to direct their secretary to procure for them the assistance of Mr. Hullah, who was known to have given much attention to the subject, and to have been already engaged in making trials of the method. They were directed to proceed to Paris to examine in detail the expedients resorted to in the practical application of this method to elementary schools, and also to communicate with the Minister of Public Instruction, and with M. Wilhem, previously to the preparation of this method for the use of elementary schools in England.

The Committee of Council confided to Mr. Hullah, in communication with their secretary, the duty of adapting the method to the state of instruction in the elementary schools of England, and of introducing such improvements as might be suggested by his own taste and skill.

The outlines of the organization of schools, according to the mixed method and the method of simultaneous instruction, were very briefly delineated in the Minute explanatory of the plans of school-houses, presented to both Houses of Parliament in the last session. A school organised on this method is divided into larger classes than the drafts of schools of mutual instruction, each of which classes is so arranged as to enable the children to receive instruction collectively. Their instruction is not confided to a monitor, but to a pupil teacher, or to an assistant teacher. A class of forty children may, by this method, readily receive instruction collectively of the pupil teacher or assistant teacher, if he be fitted by sufficient previous training to communicate it. A school of 160 children, instead of being divided into twenty drafts, each containing eight children, confided to the instruction of a monitor, would be divided into four classes of forty thildren, each instructed by a pupil teacher, or by an assistant teacher.

The apparatus necessary to convey instruction in vocal music to a class of forty children on the mixed method is, first, a copy of the lessons in royal octavo; secondly, a large black board, ruled with large staves, and supported by an easel; thirdly, a second large black board and easel, for the reception of such figures as may be required to illustrate the lesson. It is desirable that the whole of the music contained in the lessons should be printed on large sheets of paper, or on cloth, of such a size as to render