C. W. FULLWOOD.
There is a great deal of instruction and entertainment to be derived from systematic reading of books and magazines. Especially is this applicable to reading The Etude. When I receive my copy I look over the shorter articles, and freely mark sentences and paragraphs that strikingly coincide with my opinions and experience in the teaching and study of music. Afterward I do the same with the more extended articles, making marginal notes, etc. These markings are for reference when making review or study reading; thus I absorb the most useful articles to my individual profit. Among the first I turn to the “Publishers’ Notes,” for I am always interested to see what new novelties have issued from that wonderful hopper, viz., Theodore Presser’s Publishing House, and the terse, newsy way the “Notes” are written make them interesting reading. Then the “Musical Items” on the first page give an adequate idea of the musical happenings at home and abroad. The “Letters to Teachers” and “Letters to Pupils” are mines of information. In the early days of teaching it was a source of much encouragement to me to find that ideas and methods I had ventured to use, with fear and trembling, were often endorsed or set forth in those “Letters to Teachers.” It was a satisfaction to know I was safely treading in the footsteps of older and eminent teachers and musicians. Indeed, all through my teaching career I have found the help of The Etude invaluable.
The articles on teachers’ experiences and different ways of dealing with pupils are helpful to a young teacher. A greater part of my advancement and success in teaching I owe to The Etude, for I was so situated that I was forced to teach before I felt myself fully capable. But by study of musical works and constant perusal of The Etude I kept abreast of the times, and gave satisfaction to my patrons, and, consequently, to myself. The advertisements, too, are to be read with profit. It has for many years been a “fad” of mine to read and study advertisements, and I have gained information and instructive recreation from it. The “ads” in a musical journal show how the country is making musical history, and give an idea of the necessity of being wide awake in the musical profession, as well as other lines of business, in this hustling age.
My earnest advice to all students of music, and especially to young teachers, is to be a permanent subscriber to at least one wide-awake, progressive musical paper, and read and study it thoroughly. It is an investment that will repay an hundredfold.
