# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S30
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

30 Proceedings of the 29th General or

ten, or even ten years ago. Closely connected with the better
musical education of the populace is the demand for better
organists.

We do not, of course, agree with those people — and there are
regrettably many of them — who believe that a teachers' seminary
should stand, in its musical accomplishments, on the same footing as
a music conservatory. That is an unreasonable demand, arising from
ignorance of what the task of a teachers' seminary actually is. Our
main task is to train capable teachers, and only secondarily comes
the task of also training such organists as can properly lead the
musical portion of a worship service.

We do recognize, however, that our seminary could and should do more
for the musical training of its students.

This, however, is not possible with the present teaching staff,
because there are too few of them.

Organ instruction, and the piano instruction that prepares for it,
are and can only be individual instruction. Class instruction that
would produce results is unthinkable. For greater convenience, and
especially to save time, we have divided our piano and organ
students into groups; but each student receives individual
instruction during the time allotted to him. Unfortunately, given
the shortage of teaching staff, this time had to be set too short.
Too many students had to be placed in one group, sometimes as many
as eight or nine. In other words, in one lesson period, eight to
nine students each received five to six minutes of instruction. That
the result of such instruction was still as good as it was is a
wonder.

Individual students, to be sure, achieved fine proficiency, because
they were especially gifted and showed particular interest in music;
but even these, and above all the larger number of moderately gifted
students, should be offered more instruction. We teachers always
felt that such instruction not only could not be thorough, but had
to cultivate a haste and superficiality that, in some students, was
not without harmful consequences.

In our conviction, at most four students should form a group — that
is, each student should receive ten to twelve minutes of instruction
in the lesson period. That this is still little enough is known to
anyone with any understanding of the matter. For, in the first
place, every student must have the opportunity to play for the
teacher what he has practiced; second, the teacher must make his
corrections and explanations and again play the pieces for the
student; and third, the new lesson must be prepared.

The regulations for our teachers' seminary require instruction in
music, in singing and harmony, in piano, organ, and violin