Why?

 

Music and Art in Schools

by L. Winifred Nicholls
Volume 14, no. 7, July 1903, pgs. 535-537

In dealing with the question of art, it is the same idea which I should like to keep prominently in the foreground,the aesthetic value of the subject. A school of 300 girls cannot turn out 300 gifted artists, or 300 brilliant players, I am not sure that it would be an unmixed advantage if it could! but it can turn out 300 girls ready to take an appreciate interest in the best music, and the highest art, and this is what it ought to aim at. Every good school ought to feel it a serious reproach to its system if a large proportion of the girls leave it with a greater appreciation of a comic-song than of a sonata of Beethoven, or a keener interest in Comic Cuts than in a gallery of Old Master.

At the start of each school year I diligently sit down and choose three artists and three composers for our study. One of each per term. We start out great, and really enjoy our bi weekly picture study. We usually start each day listening to selections by our chosen musician. We may read a biography about either of them or I’ll just give a little biographical information each week as we go. It works just fine. So why is it, when the going get tough in this real life family of ten, that this is what gets dropped?

Why do I even bother? Why is it even a part of our home school? You can’t be tested on it. Young adults don’t need it to be accepted at college. It isn’t one of the three R’s.

When children have begun regular lessons (that is, as soon as they are six), this sort of study of pictures should not be left to chance, but they should take one artist after another, term by term, and study quietly some half-dozen reproductions of his work in the course of the term…We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child's sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at even a single picture.                                 vol 1 pg 309

But the people themselves begin to understand and to clamour for an education which shall qualify their children for life rather than for earning a living. As a matter of fact, it is the man who has read and thought on many subjects who is, with the necessary training, the most capable whether in handling tools, drawing plans, or keeping books. The more of a person we succeed in making a child, the better will he both fulfil his own life and serve society.   Vol 6 pg 3

These are the things I need to hear from Charlotte when the going gets tough. I need to be reminded why I am doing more than the three R’s, why I care, why I work so hard at this when public schooling is free and effortless. No, art study or composer study can not be measured by a standardized test or even sometimes by a narration. I have had a very scanty narration of a book or picture at one time only to hear or see later how much that very thing affected the formation of who my child is.

I had the absolute joy of visiting an art museum in Minneapolis with my adult daughter a few weeks ago. We went to see an exhibit of Rembrandt. We were both very excited. We spent three hours only looking at that exhibit. We went slowly, savoring each picture, whispering to each other about the nuances of light and color, wondering what the picture would have looked like without age, learning what makes a Rembrandt and how it is different from the works of his students. My heart was swollen with the delight that in adult life that this is who she is! She wasn’t there with me for “school” or to humor me. She was there because she is the kind of person who loves art.

When we walked out of those rooms, into the echoing hush of the rest of the art museum we tried very hard to look at some more art but finally we threw up our hands and admitted our hearts and minds were just too full. We had looked so completely and had studied so long that we were quite satiated. The feeling was very similar to looking at the delicious pecan pie on Thanksgiving day, but knowing you can not fit one more bite into your tummy.

Kaley loves all kinds of music and art. She likes the top 20. I wasn’t perfect ever at doing picture and composer study with her. But she has always appreciated what I did teach her. This spurs me on. I am encouraged this year to have a full year. To do all three of our artists, all six paintings each term, and to learn our composers music each term. Having a child that has graduated is a blessing and a curse for me. I reflect on her education and see so many things I did wrong, that now I would do differently. But a blessing because my work with her has made me a better teacher for my students now. The more I teach, the more this is a life, the more my children are fitted for life, not a career, and the more I see them care.

My point in writing this post is to share that these subjects are important and to keep me accountable to do them all year! I will share here what we do and when and how it goes. Above is our artist for term one, Jan Van Eyck and his self portrait, Man in a Red Turban, is our first picture study next week. I am excited to see what my students think of it. I love his expression!