A Seventeenth Century View of Musical Education

Extract

The object of the short paper which I have promised to read to-night is to consider certain opinions upon “Music, and its importance in Education” found in the autobiography of a famous seventeenth-century dilettante, the Hon. Roger North. It will, I hope, interest you to hear what has been written upon this subject by a clever and acute observer over 200 years ago, particularly upon the subject of “Music in the home,” and as a factor in “Education.” It is, no doubt, of the utmost importance that the young should be encouraged to study music, and that, through them, the music of the home should be influenced in the right direction. Who can estimate the value of music in the family circle? You will hear in the course of my address how much this old seventeenth-century amateur, Roger North, thought of home music. Let me remind you of what Shakespeare thought of it. I quote from one of his sonnets:—

“Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,

Strikes each in each by mutual ordering,

Resembling sire and child and happy mother,

Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing.”