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Show THOMAS GILES When Plato said that musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rythm and harmony find their way into the secret places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace and making graceful the soul of him who is rightly educated, he uttered a sentiment which each succeeding age has increasingly emphasized, until it has come to stand as truth. Music is heaven's language, and sang the speech of angels. Poets play upon human passions, affecting the pulsative fibers as moods may temper the contact, lifting the soul to loftier purpose, soothing the pain of a wounded heart, and sometimes turning to brighter paths the feet of despairing ones. But the heart hath depths which the poet cannot reach. The soul hath emotions which cannot be clothed in words. Beethoven fondled the voiceless keys and the quivering strings gave forth inspired unfoldings of joy, of grief, of hope deferred, of longed for things that never come, beyond the power of other utterance than the Heavenly language of music. We read the story of the Cross and catch a little of its sadness. We hear it played and sung, as Buck has given it musical interpretation, and seem to stand in the presence of the dying Lord, weeping Mary, and sharing the anguish of the Mother and of John. Since the stars of the morning sang together, when the corners of the earth were laid, music has held its place as a potent force, and kept its charm as> a sweet evangel, in helping humanity upward. The Ancients sang their sacred psalms when woods were their only temples, the sky their only roof. The Hebrews sang by the Babylon streams with the woes of captivity upon them. The angels sang a rejoicing when the brilliant star of the East hung over the Bethelehem manger. The joyous throng bore palms before their Lord and sang their loved hosannas, along the mountain pathway, and in through the gates of the cities. The Pilgrims sang amidst the storm by the lonely rock of Plymouth. In every age, with every race, in war, in peace, when days were bright, and when the clouds were heavy, the simple song, the vi brant harp and lute, and all the glorious harmonies which men, inspired, have made, these, far more than mind can measure, have lifted grevious burdens, inspired anew the hopeless, cheered on the brave and joyous, and helpd to bring th longing soul in touch with the Eternal. W. M. ALEXANDER. Music expresses those emotional experiences of man which were beyond the reach of words. All art sprang from the power to feel deeply. Page One Hundred Twelve |
