Making Use of the Beautiful

By Mrs. Lillian M. White

When we face the much-mooted question, "Can pupils be taught expression?" there is great field for discussion. But if, as some claim, it cannot be taught, there yet remains the fact that teachers can project from their own personality the silent influence or inspiration that makes an atmosphere conducive to expression on the part of the pupil. Mental suggestion (that force as unseen as the one which makes the wireless message possible, and with almost as sure results), will do marvelous things along this line. Let teachers hold themselves in a confident, appreciative attitude toward the pupils' efforts, expecting the best; instead of letting critical, fearful thoughts regarding their taste or interpretation creep in, and the results are immediate and satisfactory. This has repeatedly been proven to be true.

From the very first, if possible, and at all events when the interpretative stage has been reached, pupils should make an exhaustive study of the lives of the great musicians; nothing helps more in trying to get at the meaning they intended to convey in their works. And hand in hand with this should go the study of the finest in all literature, both poetry and prose, and appreciation of all beauties, wherever found, in whatever field of art. Ruskin said a great thing when he told us that the beautiful was as useful as the useful.

Life itself, with its inevitable sorrows, makes possible the truest, deepest interpretation, for any great human experience illumines the soul and understanding, and there will insensibly creep into the voice, or be imparted to the ivory keys through the finger-tips the emotions and aspirations felt by the performer, even as Sarah Bernhardt in L'Aiglon not only felt the part, she was it.