Tangier Sound

Dear Old Dad found me a folio of Stephen Foster songs printed back in 1934 a few weeks ago. I love the fact that you can still get stuff like this at flea markets for less than fifty cents because there is always something extra to go along with the music like a neat graphic or old advertisements.

What caught my eye about this little folio is that the back page features an essay (it’s really an ad for the Progressive Series line of music books - which you can apparently still find in used book shops) by the Art Publication Society of Saint Louis, Missouri entitled Music Education vs. Imitation of the Teacher.

It’s kind of cool because a lot of the things I use to present ideas and concepts are reflected in the essay.

. . . there is a vast difference between Music Education and the ability to move the fingers over the keyboard to produce a succession of sounds. In one case, there is initiative and musical understanding – the other is mechanical mimicry of the teacher.

Another paragraph reads:

Lacking a Music Education, the student can only mimic the teacher – there is no musical inspiration – he has no foundation of music knowledge upon which he can build and progress.

Reading this makes me wonder if the cool old dudes who pushed me to learn how music works were exposed to Progressive Series Teacher ads way back in 1934.