Excerpt from Musical Examinations: How to Study for Them {l the doors of the musical profession stand wide open. All may enter, whether competent or incompetent, trained or untrained; artist i' or charlatan. No entrance examinations are required, as in other q professions, and there is no regulation by the State; except when g: persons are employed by the State to teach music in the public schools. This condition is probably due to the belief that music is one of a the arts. While this is more or less true, it'is equally true that accept 2 ance of remuneration converts an art into a profession. As such, the gpublic has a right to demand thorough training and competence. This is not unreasonable when one considers the fact that the amount of money spent on music and music teaching, in the United States, exceeds the total expenditure of all the educational institutions, gincluding public and private schools, high schools, and colleges. V It would be unfortunate if the State undertook the regulation or 'g'licensing of those engaged in the various branches of the musical profession. Much better results can be obtained by the adoption by each branch - of a high standard of musicianship that is based on years of preparation, and.tested by means of examinations. Efforts along this line have been made by various Music Teachers' Associations with more or less success, but none of them has equaled the work done by the American Guild of Organists in its desire to '1 increase the efficiency of its members. Its examinations are compre Q3 hensive in scope, and calculated to test the fundamental training of the candidates, and to prove their fitness as professional musicians. That such fundamental training is so often lacking is due to the fact that very few are deliberately and carefully educated for the profession. Entrance into it, in most cases, is due to force of circum stances, or an ardent love of music. Progressive training, such as is insisted upon in the study of Law or Medicine, does not seem to be considered necessary. In order to remedy this condition, as far. As possible, examinations - based on general musicianship - should be provided, that not only serve as a guide to proper musical education, but which will also exact the most careful preparation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.