520 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
Mz. Hort: In our discussion we are soaring above the more practical things in teach- 
ing. Music must be put on such a basis that the everyday teacher can do the work, 
and she does not have the time to study music in its higher forms. We must understand 
the universal law of teaching music.” When we shall. truly observe these laws, there 
will be far more progress than there is now. 
Mg. J. H. Kappes : To be a successful teacher you must feel it. There is too much 
;alk about the different systems. If you do not feel what you teach, these systems will 
se of no use to you. While a boy I was in company with Mendelssohn and other musi- 
vians. Mendelssohn said there was a good deal of nonsense in the five-finger exercises 
and meaningless éludes then in vogue. Why not use the music of Mozart, Rink, and 
rood old Father Haydn ? In regard to what classic music is, Mendelssohn said it was the 
kind that the more you heard it, the better you liked it; and the kind that was not 
classic was the kind that the less you hear it, the better you liked it. Mendelssohn and 
Silcher wrote the folk-songs for the masses. They were not conscious that they were 
writing classic music at the time, but they felt what they were writing. Bean enthusiast 
in your work if you would succeed. The primary teacher should not be satisfied with a 
ttle knowledge of her subject. 
Me. C. B. CaDY, of Chicago : What musical studies in the great masters should the 
teacher keep up for the sake of his own improvement ? Each specialist must get out of 
his specialty a part of the time, and practice in other lines. “We must not think of 
instrumental music alone, nor vocal, but music. We should learn to play different 
instruments, we should sing alone, and with others, and especially in chorus, to keep up 
our education and keep in touch with the various departments of music. We ought to 
study the works of all the masters and take up the whole field of art, and be educators 
as well as musicians. There must be preparation if we would accomplish anything. 
THE FUNCTIONS OF TEACHERS OF VOCAL MUSIC. 
BY J. E. LIGHTNER, SHARPSBURG, PA. 
Thesis : ‘“ What are the respective functions of the regular class teacher, and the 
special teacher of vocal music *” 
WHAT are the respective functions of the fingersand the hand ? Of the 
pinions and the wing ? As a nail is not driven and clinched with one 
stroke, so is a lesson not grounded in the pupil’s mind with one presenta- 
tion. The nail, to properly perform its functions, must be started aright ; 
must be of proportionate length to the thickness and density of the tim- 
ber ; must have the right slant; must be a goed nail. But a good nail, 
only of right proportions and started properly, will not hold the timbers 
sogether. It must have successive strokes, intelligently and persistently 
applied, until it is clinched, before it will hold. What the successive 
strokes are to the nail, the regular class teacher is to the pupil—driving, 
clinching the ideas, while the selection and starting of the nail corresponds 
to the special teacher’s function. 
Where both the regulars and the specialists are keenly alive to the situa- 
tion, and truly realize the responsibility of their callings, the discussion of 
this question is useless. = But such conditions frequently are lacking ; 
hence the discussion of this topic becomes essential. 
Of course the special teacher should have a thorough knowledge of his 
specialty, and the discussion of that point ought not to consume time.