THOUGHT REVIEW[[C]]
General Principles
(1) Musical activity is always a form of play. (2) To be musical the child must be musical in response to his environment. (3) To the child noise is musical. (4) Musical education for the preschool child comes most effectively through formal education toward beautiful speech. (5) Musical education should begin in infancy by giving the child a musical environment suitable to elicit his response. Do the above statements by the author modify your own theories in regard to the musical education of your children?
Questions to Consider
(1) What may we be doing when we say to our husky two-year-old, "Oh, Johnny, don't make so much noise?" (2) Why is it that children so quickly lose their lovely childish intonations and inflections? (3) How does Doctor Seashore endeavor to help us recognize music in our children? (4) In our efforts to develop musical ability and response in the child, what errors do we, as adults, commit? (5) Is it ever too late for adults to cultivate a beautiful speaking voice? (6) Do you agree with Doctor Seashore that "genuinely beautiful speech is a revelation of beautiful character"? (7) What methods are you using with your young child to elicit musical responses? Are they in accord with Doctor Seashore's advice?
Discuss These True Situations
(1) I listened to the droning voice of a mother reading to her small son. Would it be better for the mother to tell the story with animation? (2) Mrs. Brown is what is termed "high-strung." She has much to do with household duties. Her three toddlers ask many questions, over and over again. She finds herself speaking louder and louder with each repetition. What would you suggest? (In a similar situation a five-year-old said, "Mother, why don't you relax a little?" C. E. S.) (3) In the Black household the radio is on continuously. Is this helping the musical education of the older and younger children? (4) "I simply can't get Johnny to practice his music lessons unless I sit down with him and make him do it," says Mrs. Young, who voices the complaint of many ambitious parents. What would Doctor Seashore say? (5) A mother, musically talented, said to me, "I simply can't help my children at all with their music. I get frantically impatient with them." (6) In a crowded railroad station I was admiring a lovely looking woman who held an equally lovely looking child by the hand. Then she spoke to the woman sitting next to me and it was with great effort I kept a look of consternation from appearing on my face. Her voice was harsh, metallic, unmodulated. Is it possible for her to help herself?
[C]. This outline was prepared by May E. Peabody, Supervisor, when it appeared in Parents' Magazine. It seemed to me so stimulating for thought about the reading that I have adopted this general plan for all the chapters in this volume. C. E. S.