Genre:

Extract, Essay

Subjects:

Music, Education, Class, Schools, Colleges, Agriculture, Popularization, Progress

People mentioned:

Johann H Pestalozzi, Philipp E von Fellenberg , Michael T Pfeiffer, Hans G Nägeli

Institutions mentioned:

Yverdon Pestalozzian school, Hofwyl agricultural college

    Headed 'Translated from the Spanish for the Mirror', the essay begins by considering the beneficial effects of music, before urging that it should be taught to all social classes 'in primary schools, in conjunction with reading, writing, arithmetic, geometry and drawing' (3). Examines how singing has been incorporated into primary school education by a number of educational innovators. Observes that, in Switzerland, 'there are many elementary schools, in which the system of musical instruction has been reduced to practice, as laid down by Messrs. Pfeiffer and Naegali, of Zurich'. Describes their method, which is 'no other thing than an application, directed to musical science, of the analytical and philosophical path, traced out by Bacon, Locke, J. J. Rousseau, Condillac, Destutt, Tracy, Cabanis, &c.; the same which is now so successfully adopted in all arts and sciences to facilitate their study, and accelerate their progress'. (4)