hool courses in the _appreciation of music_.
Instructors in such courses are often so zealous in causing pupils to
understand the _machinery_ involved in the construction and rendition
of music that they sometimes forget to emphasize sufficiently the
product resulting from all this machinery, _viz._, _beauty_. The idea
of these courses is most excellent, and in time those in charge of
them will doubtless realize that the hearing of actual music in the
classroom is more valuable to students than learning a mass of facts
about it; and that if a choice were necessary between a course in
which there was opportunity for hearing a great deal of music without
any comment, and one on the other hand in which there was a great deal
of comment without any music, the former would be infinitely
preferable. But such a choice is not necessary; and the ideal course
in the Appreciation of Music is one in which the student has
opportunity for hearing a great deal of music with appropriate
comments by the instructor.]

In order to interpret a musical work, then, the conductor himself must
first study it so as to discover what the composer intended to
express. Having become thoroughly permeated with the composer's
message, he may then by instinctive imitation arouse in his chorus or
orchestra so strong a reflection of this mood that they will perform
the work in the correct spirit, the audience in turn catching its
essential significance, and each listener in his own way responding to
the composer's message.

[Sidenote: DEFINITION OF INTERPRETATION]

Musical interpretation consists thus in impressing upon the listener
the essential character of the music by emphasizing the important
elements and subordinating the unimportant ones; by indicating in a
clear-cut and unmistakable way the phrasing, and through skilful
phrasing making evident the design of the composition as a whole; and
in general by so manipulating one's musical forces that the hearer
will not only continue to be interested in the performance, but will
feel or understand the basic significance of the work being performed;
will catch and remember the important things in it, will not have his
attention distracted by comparatively unimportant details, and will
thus have delivered to him the real spirit of the composer's message.
This implies skilful accentuation of melody, subordination of
accompaniment, increasing the tempo or force in some portions,
decreasing them in other