lu':'ij l^-^Girnt' Mrs. Justine Ward and a group of children from the School of the Annunciation. Manhattanville, after a demonstration. Pius X €b(iir cf Citurglcal music College of the sacred heart I33RD STREET AND CONVENT AVENUE SCHOOL OF ANNUNCIATION, MANHATTANVILLE. Child Writing an Original Melody. Class Singing it at Sight. 77IOULD you have a unique and delightful experience? You have only to enter the class rooms of anv of the schools mentioned in these pages at the time of the daily mufic lesson and listen to the children singing. If you make the visit we suggest you will be pleasurably amazed. For here you will find little children, some of them scarcely more than babies, singing with a confident ease that professionals might envy. You will see chubby lingers, that seem suited only for making mud pies, utilized to repre- sent the notes of the scale and manipulated with such skill and accuracy that in obedience to their behest melody flows from baby throats as spontaneously as from the throats of birds. You have thought of boys’ voices as remarkable chiefly for volume, but here you will And them characterized by ful- ness and perfection of tone, while all of them, boys and girls alike, bring to their singing the same eager- ness that they bring to their play, in which there is mingled something of the artist’s delight in achieve- ment. '• How has this been accomplished? Are -these classes made up of musical prodigies? Not at all. These children are perfectly normal boys and girls, though the method by which they are trained undoubtedly often brings to light the possession of unsuspected talent, not only for interpretation, but even for original composition. This method is the Ward Method, elaborated by Mrs. Justine Ward and propagated under the auspices of the Pius X Chair of Liturgical Music, established at the College of the Sacred Heart, Man- hattanville, for the purpose of carrying out the wishes of Piux X in the matter of restoring to universal usage the ancient liturgical chant. It is no new thing, this training of children to sing the ecclesiastical music. The ages of faith had their monastic and cathedral song-schools, in which boys were trained in psalmody, and we SCHOOL OF ST. IGNATIUS Boy Singing New Melody, Class Writing it Down. all remember Chaucer’s “Litel Clergeon,” who sang so sweetly his Alma Redempioris. But how did he learn it? He “Herkned ever the wordes and the note Till he the firste vers couthe al by rote.” With our ‘‘litel clergeons” there is no learning by rote. Harshness or shrillness of voice is first of all exchanged for resonant and balanced tone. The children are then taught the rules of rhythm, intonation, structure and form which govern musical oroduction. They learn to sing in correct time. They know musical tones as they know the faces of their friends, they use them as unconsciously as you use the alphabet when you read, they play with them as you might play with the petals of a flower. And from the outset they are shown the phrases and motifs that have gone to make great master- pieces. They become familiar with the ideas of sequence and repetition, with phrases and cadences, and they are taught to embody these great laws of music in simple original compositions of their own. Imperceptibly they acquire musical culture, for nothing that is vulgar or cheap will appeal readily to a taste that has found its natural food in the songs of Mozart, Brahms, Haydn, the splendid ancient folk melodies, and the glorious chant of the Church. The result is one that has hitherto required many years of training under expensive teachers, and that even then, as musicians know, has not been successful, except for a talented few. What then is this new method, that places the mastery of music within the grasp of little children and gives it, moreover, as only the Lord’s own gifts are given, ‘‘without money and without price.” It is not a fad nor a clever trick, but a reasoned reduction of the fundamental principles of music to their simplest form, and their systematization into a course based on an appeal to the intelligence and initiative of the ST. IGNATIUS DAY NURSERY Children 4 and 5 Years Old Singing Tones from Fingers. child. “It is wonderful in its simplicity and marvellous in its results,” write the Dominican Sisters, who conduct St. Vincent Ferrer’s School, New York City. It is not meant as a forcing ground for geniuses, but for cultivating the power of musical appreciation and expression latent in the average child. It combines the freshness of the “native wood-notes wild” with the assurance born of the conscious mas- tery of an instrument. No wonder Reverend Mother St. John of the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus, Sharon Hill, Pa., writes as she does: “Such little ignorant creatures last fall at the beginning of their work compared with the dainty finish of tone and the child-like confidence in sight-reading, ear exer- cises, and other matters connected with the first part of the method.” If Latin, as has been said, is “a language that God understands,” Gregorian music gives it wings and sends it soaring to God’s ears. Gregorian chant is the complement of the Gothic arch and the illuminated window and the carven stall. It is a component part of the pomp and circumstance with which we endeavor to enhance the earthly service of the King, an echo, though remote, of the chant of that multi- tude which no man can number, who fall upon their faces before His heavenly throne. Now the ultimate object of the Ward Method is to train singers for the proper rendering of this chant, the official music of the Church, which Pius X included in his magnificent plan for restoring all things in Christ. This is the work to which Mrs. Justine Ward is devoting her life, influence and resources, this is the object for which the Chair of Liturgical Music was founded at Manhattanville, and it is for this reason that so many bishops have given the Ward Method warm encouragement and so many pastors have gladly Inaugurated it in their schools. There is a note of enthusiasm running through the letter in which M. Joseph Bonnet, the great organist of St. Eustache, Paris, expresses his appreciation of the Gregorian singing which he heard at SCHOOL OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES. Boys Singing and Beating Rhythmic Exercise from Memory. Benediction in the Manhattanville chapel; “I want to express once more the great joy which I experi- enced during your rendering of the Gregorian chant. That Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament was deeply edifying and so perfectly rendered by such pure voices that I felt as though a veil inter- vening between us and Paradise had been withdrawn and the Lord who was before us was blessing the work. Still another testimonial out of many comes from the School of Our Lady of Lourdes, New York, taught by the Ursulines of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. Rev. Mother Helene, U- B. V. M., writes: “The children— boys and girls— from six to ten years old, are able to read melodies easily and to sing them with clear head tones. The choir master who has heard them is delighted at the prospect of having the boys so well prepared for his choir.” The method is that officially adopted by the Catholic University at Washington, and by the Col- lege of the Sacred Heart and has received the formal endorsement of the Auxiliary Committee of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome. Through the Catholic University it was introduced into the parochial schools of the diocese of Cleveland, and into many schools in Pittsburgh, where it is giving great satisfaction. The first school in New York City to introduce the method was the Parish School of the Annunciation, Manhattanville. It has been successfully in use for several years in many of the convents of the Sacred Heart, and is as suitable for academies as for parochial schools. It has been included in the training of the novices in the General Novitiate of the Sacred Heart Order in North America at Kenwood, Albany. Among the following schools in New York City which have intro- duced the Ward Method are: Home of the Holy Family, Our Lady of Angels, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Catherine’s, St. Gregory, St. Ignatius, St. Jean Baptiste, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Vincent Ferrer, The Holy Child Academy, St. Walburga’s. SCHOOL OF ST. VINCENT FERRER. Boys Singing Salve Regina (Gregorian) from the Hymnal Compiled by Mrs. Ward. The following are among the schools in Brooklyn that are teaching this method: St. Augustine’s, St. Angela’s Hall, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Cecilia’s, St. Francis Xavier’s, St. Jerome’s, the Nativity. Satisfactory results are also being obtained at Mt. St. Francis, Peekskill, New York; and of Our Lady of Good Counsel, White Plains, New York, while it has been introduced into most of the schools of the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Rochester and Philadelphia, its adoption in many of the schools of the last named diocese being due to the splendid results obtained from an Extension Course given by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus in Philadelphia in November, 1918, at which many received certificates from the College of the Sacred Heart, New York City. The apparent simplicity of the method should deceive no one into thinking that it can be mastered without time and study. Being based on definite psychological principles developed consistently and with infinite care for detail, a grasp of these principles with some practice in applying them concretely is essen- tial to full success in teaching the method. In order that the method may be within the reach of all, the Pius X Chair of Liturgical Music announces a series of Normal Courses, the details of which will be found on the last page of this booklet. These courses will deal with the basic principles of music reduced to their simplest form; with the presentation of these principles to children in the primary grades and to older people; and with pure voice production, special help being given individually to those teachers who require it. The Rev. J. B. Young, S. J., will supervise the voice production at the normal classes. Groups of children from the primary grades of the Annunciation School, Manhattanville, will illustrate the method during the normal courses. ST. EDWARDS’. PHILADELPHIA Child Producing a Melody by Pointing to the Children Who Represent the Tones of the Scale. NEW YORK PIUS X CHAIR OF LITURGICAL MUSIC. College of the Sacred Heart, 133rd Street and Convent Avenue, New York City. SUMMER SCHOOL. Normal Courses in Primary Methods of Teaching Music by Justine Ward. Taught at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.; College of the Sacred Heart, New York City. Endorsed by the Auxiliary Committee of the Pontifleal Institute of Sacred Music, Rome. (Courses Begin July 21st, 1919.) First Year Music July 2Ist to August 2nd Second Year Music August 4lh to August I6lh Third Year Music August 1 8th to August 30lh Hours: 10 A. M. to 12 M. every week day with a short intermission at 10.45. Demonstrations by Children at each Course. FEE for Attendance—FIVE DOLLARS. (Special rates for a number of teachers from a single school.) A certificate will be awarded to all who pass the written examination successfully. Organists who unavoidably lose classes through requiems will be given extra lime. Applications should be made in advance to the above address. GREGORIAN COURSE. An afternoon Course in Gregorian Chant will be given during the Summer School. Please apply to the Chair of Liturgical Music for particulars. PHILADELPHIA, PA. EXTENSION COURSES to be given by the Sisters of The Holy Child Jesus, at St. Leonard’s, 3833 Chestnut Street, Courses begin July 7th, 1919. First Year Music, July 7th to July 19th. Second Year Music, July 21st to August 2nd. Hours: 10 A. M. to 12 M. every week day with a short intermission at 10.45. All who wish to take a written examination at the end of the Course, and those who pass the Examination successfully, will receive a Certificate from the College of the Sacred Heart. FEE for Attendance—FIVE DOLLARS. Additional FEE for Examination (which includes Certificate), $2.00. (This Examination is not obligatory.) I