By Myrna Sloam
Always concerned with the promotion of the arts, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) delivered this speech on December 29, 1856. It can be found in the book, “Orations and Addresses” by William Cullen Bryant. NY: Putnam, 1873. The heading on the page notes that it was delivered at the close of a series of lectures by Richard Storrs Willis (1819-1900), but no location is given. Willis was a noted music critic and editor of the “The New York Musical World,” journal. He is best remembered for his hymn, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” It should be noted that Storrs also had a connection to Roslyn. He was married to Jessie Cairns of Roslyn Harbor in 1851. Jessie died in 1858 leaving three daughters and Willis later remarried. The daughters all married naval officers and lived near to each other, and to Bryant, in Roslyn Harbor.
“…Many persons entertain doubts in regard to the expediency of making music a branch of the education acquired in our common schools. Until these doubts are removed, we shall miss what is most desirable—the hearty and efficient cooperation of those who entertain them. There are a few considerations in favor of the affirmative side of this question which, I think, can hardly be too strongly urged. It is admitted, by those who have thought much on the subject, that the people of our country allow themselves too little relaxation from business and its cares. If this be so—and for my part I think there is no doubt of it—they will find in the cultivation of music a recreation of the most innocent and unobjectionable kind. The effect of music is to soothe, to tranquillize; a series of sweet sounds, skillfully modulated, occupies the attention agreeably and without fatigue; it refreshes us like rest….
Many persons relax from labor and care by the use of narcotics. Music is a better resource. A tune is certainly better than a cigar. Others, for want of some more attractive employment, addict themselves to the pleasures of the table. Music is certainly better than conviviality. In this respect the cultivation of music comes in aid of health. In another respect vocal music—which is likely to be the kind of music principally taught in the Common Schools—promotes the health of the body. If you observe the physical conformation of those who are accustomed to sing in pubic, you will perceive that they are remarkable for a full development of the chest. This is in part, no doubt, the gift of nature, for breadth and depth of the chest give power and fullness of voice; but in part it is the effect of practice, and the chest is opened and expanded by the exercise of singing. I have no question, for my part, that complaints of the lungs would be less frequent than now if vocal music were universally cultivated. It is an undisputed truth that those organs of the body which are most habitually exercised are preserved in the soundest and healthiest state.
Not only health, but morals, are promoted by the cultivation of music. It is not only a safeguard against sickly and unwholesome habits, as I have shown, but against immoral ones also. If we provide innocent amusements, we lessen the temptation to seek out vicious indulgences. Refined pleasures, like music, stand in the way of grosser tastes. If we fill up our leisure innocently, we crowd out vices, almost by mechanical pressure; we leave no room for them….
In making music a branch of common education, we give a new attraction to our common schools. Music is not merely a study, it is an entertainment; wherever there is music there is a throng of listeners. We complain our common schools are not attended as they ought to be. What is to be done? Shall we compel the attendance of children? Rather let us, if we can, so order things, that children shall attend voluntarily—shall be eager to crowd to the schools; and for this purpose nothing can be more effectual, it seems to me, than the art to which the ancients ascribed such power that, according to the fables of their poets, it drew the very stones of the earth from their beds and piled them in a wall around the city of Thebes.”
