The Term’s Music

The Parents’ Review, 1925, p. 591

Books

The Term’s Music, by Cedric Howard Glover (Kegan, Paul, and Co., 4/6). Mr. Cedric Glover has done valuable service in producing in book form the papers which he has been for some years contributing to The Parents’ Review. He adds an able and thoughtful Introduction upon the now much-discussed subject of Musical Appreciation. Mrs. Howard Glover and her son, the author of this book, have been the pioneers in this important subject so that the experience here offered is at first-hand. Mr. Glover covers work for four years, taking one composer in each of the three terms. He defines the function of Musical Appreciation and tells us that the study of music should follow on the lines of the study of literature and history, “with both of which it has some affinity.” He considers “that music should be assured of an independent existence of its own—emancipated from the tyranny of performance”—that “the art must be distinguished from the craft”—that “too much time is spent in turning a potentially good listener into an indifferent executant and incidentally stifling the spark of enthusiasm by hopeless and unrewarded drudgery.” Mr. Glover would give all children, whether musical or unmusical, some instruction in music as an ordinary lesson, not as ‘an extra’. He then proceeds to show how this should be done and offers some explanation of his choice of great composers, and finally he maintains that the children, thus fostered in natural good taste, will learn to discriminate between good and bad whenever music is heard, Mr. Glover adds a plea for a careful censorship in the matter of hymn tunes. There is a syllabus with a set book and music both for the performer and the gramophone for each composer studied. The letterpress to each composer treats chiefly of the works set for study. The volume closes with a list of suitable questions on each term’s work.

We congratulate the author on his work and hope “for the children’s sake” that the book may find its way into all schoolrooms, both public and private.

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