THE TONIC SOL-FA SYSTEM OF TEACHING MUSIC.
BY THEODORE F. SEWARD.
That music is one of the special gifts of the colored people has long been known and recognized. How to develop that gift in the wisest manner and to the best advantage of the race, is a question which ought to receive a practical answer, and as speedily as possible. If they are peculiarly susceptible to the refining and elevating influences of such an art as music, it is very desirable that these influences be brought to bear upon them just now, while in the formative stage of their history.
Fortunately, or as I like better to say, providentially, the way is now opened for that result. A system has been devised and perfected in England, and is now beginning to be generally adopted in this country, which so simplifies the study of music as to bring it within the comprehension of a little child. That system bears the name which stands at the head of this article. A technical description of the system would be out of place here. It is enough to say that the result is accomplished and the study of music now is made easy and delightful where it was formerly perplexing and confusing. How much this means for the colored people, with their musical gifts and inspirations, it is impossible to imagine. It is not to be supposed that such special powers were bestowed upon a whole race without some very important and far-reaching purpose. The unfolding of that purpose was begun in a very wonderful way by the Jubilee Singers. But their mission was among the Caucasian races rather than among their own people. The Tonic Sol-fa system comes to fill a widely different sphere, viz.: to give to the masses an intelligent possession of the world of music.
The A. M. A. has done a very wise thing in taking steps to test at once the value of this system for its constituents. They have commissioned a teacher to go to the Fisk University and teach it during the remainder of the school year. The method is so easy and natural that a thorough knowledge of its fundamental principles can be imparted in that time, and not only that, but all who learn it can teach it intelligently in their schools during the coming summer. Its advantages will thus begin to be felt in remote country districts, and the reform will be carried on just where such reforms should always begin, among the masses of the common people.
The teacher who has been appointed to this important post, Mr. J. W. Adams, is one who is singularly fitted by his history and antecedents to engage in this special work. Born in England, he was taken by his parents to the island of St. Helena at the age of three. When nine years old he accompanied his father, a sea captain, on one of his voyages. The vessel was wrecked on the coast of South Africa, and the young lad remained there for eighteen years. He traveled extensively throughout the country on trading expeditions, and thus became thoroughly acquainted with the manners and usages of the native tribes as well as of the British and Dutch settlers. He learned the Tonic Sol-fa system there and became so interested in it that at length he resolved to qualify himself as a teacher. It is certainly a singular and interesting fact, that the person who is first to introduce the system among the Freedmen of America should have learned it in Africa.