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“With such a programme before his pupils only the uninstructed teacher will put undue emphasis upon and give undue time to arithmetic and handicrafts, singing, acting, or any of the hundred specifics which are passed off as education in its entirety.” (Vol. 6, p. 73)
“Children have ‘Art’ in them.” (Vol. 1, p. 313)
“Hymns with a story, such as: ‘A Little Ship Was on the Sea,’ ”I Think When I Read That Sweet Story of Old,’ ‘Hushed Was the Evening Hymn,’ are perhaps the best for little children.” (Vol. 3, p. 143)
“Certain subjects of peculiar educational value, music, for instance, I have said nothing about, partly for want of space, and partly because if the mother have not Sir Joshua Reynold’s ‘that!’ in her, hints from an outsider will not produce the art-feeling which is the condition of success in this sort of teaching. If possible, let the children learn from the first under artists, lovers of their work: it is a serious mistake to let the child lay the foundation of whatever he may do in the future under ill-qualified mechanical teachers, who kindle in him none of the enthusiasm which is the life of art.” (Vol. 1, p. 314)
“I should like, in connection with singing, to mention the admirable educational effects of the Tonic Sol-fa method. Children learn by it in a magical way to produce sign for sound and sound for sign, that is, they can not only read music, but can write the notes for, or make the proper hand signs for, the notes of a passage sung to them. Ear and Voice are simultaneously and equally cultivated.” (Vol. 1, pp. 314-15)
“[T]he child’s knowledge of the theory of music and his ear training keep pace with his power of execution, and seem to do away with the deadly dreariness of ‘practising.'” (Vol. 1, p. 315)
If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent’s Review articles that would be helpful for this episode’s topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy.
Home Education (Volume 1), Part V, Chapter XXI
Ourselves (Volume 4), Book I, Part III, Chapter XI
I so enjoy listening to your podcasts. I get to listen as I am doing my exercising in the morning. 🙂
I so appreciate you talking about the small things that many CM'ers feel are not a necessity or feel that if they miss won't be detrimental to their child's education. I was definitely one of them and now I see how the small things really do matter.
I did not do the singing, handicrafts, and some downtime in the afternoon to process ideas and time to dive into interests. Now as my oldest is into his senior year I am seeing where these would have helped him in so many ways and so I am making sure I don't make those mistakes with my other children. You do not know where your kids interest will take them, or what they will eventually end up doing in their lives or in their careers. CM prepares children with such a broad curriculum that they will be prepared no matter what path they take.
Thanks again, your podcasts are a highlight to my week and I also really enjoy your piano playing in the beginning!!
Blessings to you all!
Thanks for all the great work you do in making this podcast available to us! As a side note, "He who sings prays twice" is attributed not to Luther, but to St. Augustine, a great Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church 🙂
I've been a listener for about a year now and I was really excited to see this subject pop up! It's something I'm passionate about. About 6 years ago, I realized that many homeschooled children were confident singers, but others were not able to carry a simple tune. I wanted to do what I could to provide a resource for parents to help teach their children basic music literacy. Children of the Open Air grew from that seed of an idea when the time was right. All glory to God!
Something that I noticed is that among the myriad of subjects we feast upon in a Charlotte Mason education, praising God with singing is the one that we know we will continue to do for all of eternity. I find inspiration in that.
God bless you ladies!
Heather Bunting
This was a really helpful podcast. I had searched for resources online myself and struggled. I am happy to find the three links you've posted here with folksongs and online Solfa Lessons.
I wonder how singing time played out in PNEU homes. If you have children in several forms, the timetables reflect different lengths of time and the programmes call for different numbers of songs (sometimes in languages younger siblings aren't studying yet). I imagine we would do singing together even across several forms (like Form 1b, Form 2b, and Form 4). So we need to adjust the expectations somehow.
Also, you remark about how Charlotte felt that students should only have well-trained teachers. But I'm thinking that even in a PNEU home, they wouldn't have had a trained teacher come for 15-20 minute periods several times a week. Perhaps this was part of governess training? It would be interesting to see if there are any discussions of actual practice in the Parents' Review.
In any case, I am looking forward to training my voice and ear alongside my children with some of the resources posted here. This term we began working on the Fifty Steps of Sight-Singing (Somervell) which was listed somewhere between Programme 94-96. It can be found free from archive.org. I was surprised at how my oldest had much more accurate pitch than me!
I totally agree Heather! Thank you for your excellent resource in "Children of the Open Air" – it is such a blessing!
I am glad you found the episode and linked resources helpful and that you are inspired to learn to sing more accurately. Singing in upper forms was also in the afternoons, presumably to work on longer and individual pieces, just as they practiced their instrumental lessons. I would sing the songs the children have in common during mornings, and have older students pursue more in depth studies individually. I am sure governesses were trained, and so were mothers, or families brought in music instructors who visited the families less frequently, but practice of lessons learned could have been done more frequently in the timetable spots allotted for them.
-Liz
Heather,
We are so grateful for your ministry in song and to teach our children the joyful gift. Thank you, thank you, for providing your knowledge to help so many of us. I have pestered a friend for years to do just what you are doing and gave up, then rejoiced to find your resource.
-Liz
Thanks for the encouragement and the correction. Luther was quoting St. Augustine.
-Liz
Your encouragement makes our hearts sing. Thank you.
For those who live in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, and California, there is a professional choir available for ages 4-adults, it's called Millennial Choirs. They are amazing. My sister who got her degree in vocal performance, and is apart of MC's adult choir in Arizona says this is the best professional vocal education children can get. https://www.millennial.org/
I have listened the podcast that I feel, will be much helpful for me to get knowledge about different arts of singing as well as adopting dissertation standards for my art dissertation.
Two of my children have been blessed to attend a Sol-Fa class as preschoolers-early elementary. It’s called Let’s Play Music. It’s a 3 year class, designed to be begun between ages 4-6 (although sometimes individual teachers will allow 7 year olds to start). I have been amazed at how much they learn. Since parents attend 1-2x a month (depending on year of class), I have learned some about singing also.
That sounds like a fun start, but should continue now to be a life-long pursuit.
-Liz