ught they knew should have all at once become quite
another thing. And the unprejudiced mind joyfully confesses,
"Thus, thus, must it be."

It will soon be discovered by the amateur that in every case where an
effect such as that described by Weingartner has been brought about,
it is because the conductor has studied the music and has then made
gestures which were prompted by his sympathetic response to the
thought of the composer. In other words, the conducting was effective
because the feeling which prompted the gestures came from within, as
is always the case when an orator or an actor moves us deeply. This is
what is meant by interpretation in conducting; and we can scarcely do
better, in concluding our discussion of the whole matter, than to
quote once more from a writer to whom we have already referred.[22]

[Footnote 22: C.F.A. Williams, _The Rhythm of Modern Music_, p. 18.]

The great interpreters of instrumental music are those who
can most nearly enter into the composer's ideals, or can
even improve upon them, and who are able to give a delicacy
or force of accentuation or phrasing which it is outside of
the possibility of notation to express.... The days of cold,
classical performance of great works are practically over.
The executant or conductor now seeks to stir the deeper
emotions of his audience, and to do so he must pay homage to
the artist who conceived the work, by interpreting it with
enthusiasm and warmth.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC AS CONDUCTOR

[Sidenote: THE FIELD OF SCHOOL MUSIC]

The phenomenal progress which has been made during recent years in the
music departments of both the grades and the high schools of our great
public educational systems, together with the fact that a large number
of young men and women of real musical ability are entering the field
of public school music as a life work, make it seem worth while to
include a chapter upon the work of the music supervisor as conductor.
The writer has long contended that the public school systems of this
country offered the most significant opportunity for influencing the
musical taste of a nation that has ever existed. If this be true, then
it is highly important that the teachers of music in these school
systems shall be men and women who are, in the first place, thoroughly
trained musicians; in the second place, broadly educated along general
lines;