We have repeatedly urged our readers, both the teachers and the pupils, to adopt the plan of giving a recital as early as possible in the fall. This plan has three advantages and we are so firm in our convictions that we have come to consider the fall recital as one of the most important elements in practical work of musical education.
The first advantage is that it encourages and promotes summer practice. With the constantly extending summer vacations we have come to a position where many pupils find that it is not possible for them to take more than eight months' instruction during the year. Eight months' instruction . in a study in which the mind only is active may suffice, but in any branch in which manual dexterity is a part this limited amount of time is entirely insufficient. To remain away from the instrument for one-third of a year is sure to lead to inferior results. If the pupils practice all summer with a fall recital in mind, the condition is different and the summer is far from wasted.
The second advantage is that the fall recital opens the teaching season promptly and the pupil starts filled with enthusiasm and keenest interest. Instead of the unwilling faces and sluggish fingers, the teacher finds that he has to deal with eager, energetic pupils charged with the kind of dynamic force that can only come from the fields and woods.
The third advantage pertains particularly to the teacher's selfish ends. Instead of postponing the date at which his income should commence, he starts promptly earning the just fees to which he is entitled. Why should we dawdle along to the middle of October or the first of November and lose two months of our work? The only solution of the problem, as dozens of teachers have found, is the early fall recital.
If you have not thought of this before, sit down to-day and make a list of the pupils who could take part in such a recital and place opposite each name the piece which the pupil played best during the last year. Then write to the pupils suggesting the plan and make your programs the minute their answers are received. By active correspondence you can increase your income at least twenty per cent, by a little attention to business right now. Think it over.
