ore
often the fault of pupils and parents than of teachers. The calm, steady
work which lays a foundation for future mental power, is not
appreciated, and brilliant results are demanded at once.

And here I wish to speak of the study of music, as it is usually
pursued. From the tradition of David's soothing Saul by his harp, has, I
believe, arisen an idea that music is a thoroughly healthful, refreshing
influence, with a wonderful soothing power over the nerves. And yet the
nervous excitability, and even irritability, of musicians is proverbial.
We must make nice distinctions. The influence of hearing music is one
thing, the study of music is another. Unquestionably the power of music
to lift the mind into fresh regions of enjoyment, to change the current
of thought, to rouse and quicken the nervous action, and so to vivify
and raise the tone of health and spirits is very great. I have known
those to whom it is the best of medicine, and whom I believe it has
saved through severe trials, from utter despair and morbidness.

But even listening to music such as we now hear is a high intellectual
exercise. A symphony of Beethoven's, with its complicated movements and
rich harmonies, is quite another thing from the simple melodies with
which Browning so beautifully represents David as soothing the troubled
spirit of Saul. And when to these are added the passionate fervor of the
opera, the tax upon the nervous system is very great. Properly to hear
and appreciate the opera of _Fidelio_ or _Don Giovanni_ or the _Seventh
Symphony_ of Beethoven requires as much exercise of brain as to listen
to a scientific lecture. I do not deny its value as an influence, but it
is a positive value, not a negative one. It is _re-creation_ rather than
relaxation, and is no more fit to succeed a long, exhausting day of
study than a sermon, or a disputation, or any other change of
intellectual exercise. Still more is the study of music, and the
practice necessary to acquire command over so difficult an instrument as
the piano, a very great tax upon the nervous strength of our young
people. Many mothers consider the music lesson only as the using up of
so many minutes of time, and think it may rightfully be put into any
hour of holiday or rest. I have heard music teachers say that their
pupils came to them weary and listless, and their parents seemed to have
no idea of the amount of intellectual and even physical exertion which
the music lesson req