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SCHOOL OF INFANCY.

10. Music is especially natural to us; for as soon as we see the light we immediately sing the song of paradise, thus recalling to our memory our fall, A, a! E, e! I maintain that complaint and wailing are our first music,^[1] from which it is impossible to restrain infants; and if it were possible, it would be inexpedient, since it contributes to their health; for as long as other exercises and amusements are wanting, by this very means their chests and other internal parts relieve themselves of their superfluities. External music begins to delight children at two years of age; such as singing, rattling, and striking of musical instruments. They should therefore be indulged in this, so that their ears and minds may be soothed by concord and harmony.^[2]

11. In the third year the sacred music of daily use may be introduced; namely, that received as a custom to sing before and after dinner, and when prayers are begun or ended. On such occasions they ought to be present, and to be accustomed to attend and conduet themselves composedly. It will also be expedient to take them to public worship, where the whole assembly unites in singing

↑ Richter says in Levana (London, 1886): “In the childhood of nations speaking was singing. Let this be repeated in the childhood of the individual. In singing, harmony and heart coalesce at the same time in one breast. . . . With what arms can a parent more closely and more gently draw the little beings toward him, than with his spiritual ones, with the tones of his own heart, with the same voice which always speaks to them, but now transfigured into a musical ascension?” Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow in Child and Child Culture (London, 1879), remarks: “Savages, like children, have the keenest desire for song and dance—i.e. for rhythmic sounds and movements . . . and music is before all other arts the awakening of the heart.”
↑ Plato remarks in this connection: “Rhythm and harmony sink most deeply into the recesses of the soul, and take most powerful hold of it, bringing gracefulness in their train, and making man graceful if he be rightly nurtured, but if not, the reverse.”

[1] Richter says in Levana (London, 1886): “In the childhood of nations speaking was singing. Let this be repeated in the childhood of the individual. In singing, harmony and heart coalesce at the same time in one breast. . . . With what arms can a parent more closely and more gently draw the little beings toward him, than with his spiritual ones, with the tones of his own heart, with the same voice which always speaks to them, but now transfigured into a musical ascension?” Baroness Marenholtz-Bulow in Child and Child Culture (London, 1879), remarks: “Savages, like children, have the keenest desire for song and dance—i.e. for rhythmic sounds and movements . . . and music is before all other arts the awakening of the heart.”

[2] Plato remarks in this connection: “Rhythm and harmony sink most deeply into the recesses of the soul, and take most powerful hold of it, bringing gracefulness in their train, and making man graceful if he be rightly nurtured, but if not, the reverse.”

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