CHAPTER XV

THE TEACHER

One of the most gratifying and hopeful signs that our present intellectual progress is permanent is a tendency among parents and teachers to adopt the ways in which Nature intended the intellectual growth of the young to take place.

All through the animal kingdom the young is patiently and tenderly cared for and plentifully provided for until it is able to provide for itself. In this mankind has immeasurably degenerated.

As we go through the streets of a city where the poor are gathered, we find numberless evidences of neglected babies, sometimes intentionally illtreated. Even with the well-to-do and supposedly more intelligent classes, children suffer greatly through

mental and physical restraint. Often erratic parents, seeking relief from the tension of their restless nerves, abuse their children or by the gratification of their passions they jeopardize their happiness and good name.

We may be comforted with the realization that such theories as "Use the rod and save the child" and "Children may be seen but not heard" are now advanced only in humorous parlance.

The child is right because he is just out of Nature's hands, and she makes everything as nearly right as possible with the material she has at her command; she further helps in improving whatever shortcomings there may be if the child is given appropriate surroundings.

The intellect of the parents should be as a soft, mellow light to make the path which leads to their child's intellectual development attractive rather than painful by the

dazzling and bewildering searchlight effects. His efforts are most effective and success is fairly assured when a child is happy and does a thing because he wants to. The normal child is curious. Nature intended that this peculiarity in children should be a means to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge. Understanding this, the teacher can make learning expedient and pleasurable.

A teacher is intended to take the place of or to share the responsibility of the parents. He should have a feeling of love and good fellowship and, through these, analyze the wants of the pupil and devise means of supplying them by inciting the pupil to use his interest and apply his activities toward his own betterment. These are the natural requisites of a successful and desirable teacher.

It goes without saying that a teacher is expected to be especially well informed in

whatever branch of knowledge he is to impart. One could not be relied upon for the teaching. of the art of tone production unless he possessed the science. As no two pupils could be found in need of just the same treatment, it requires a precise diagnosis and an intelligent application of the remedy to assure the desired results.

As a general rule, in teaching the science and the art of tone production it is advisable to rush through the course as fast as the pupil can acquire a good understanding of the physiological action of the vocal organs. In this way whatever good there may be in the voice can be preserved and used to good advantage; and the course may then be gone over again with the application of all the principles, perhaps using part of the time in coaching on a composition suited to the need of the pupil. It makes the study more interesting and fully as beneficial.

With pupils too young to use a text-book, even with children of the lower grades, the teacher will benefit the physical development and guard the natural voice by the use of the exhaustion and catch breath exercises by counting, or scaling a few tones up and down, by reading and singing in the same way. These exercises can be made interesting and successfully used with a class. Very soon the children unconsciously adopt the same way of using the lungs in speaking and for simple breathing.

The teacher of the art of tone production should have at heart and constantly keep in mind the physical as well as the artistic welfare of his pupils. Only a small percentage of them can attain the rank of great singers or powerful orators, a few will become competent to teach the science and the art of tone production, but every one can improve his health, his physical