By FREDERIC H. RIPLEY
Principal of Longfellow School, Boston

and THOMAS TAPPER

Lecturer on Music in the Institute of Musical Art of the City of New York

HE Melodic Series presents a maximum number of choice songs and

a minimum amount of teaching. It does not require the use of any charts, and is especially designed for those schools in which a book for two grades is desired. So few are the directions needed for carrying on the work, so simple the arrangement, and so easy the gradation, that the course can be conducted without difficulty by teachers who have had but little experience in teaching music.

From beginning to end there is a consistently developed plan. The song element is made the basis of study, each idea being incorporated in a melody by means of which it is firmly fixed in the learner's mind. . The books afford an adequate presentation of forms, and a simple and natural development in rhythm, chromatics, and minor part-writing. There is a graded series of lessons in tone-study, and no departure is made from correct terminology and from music notation. The words, which are especially fitted for each grade, pertain to the child-world, and are cheerful and interesting. The pages are clear and open-not crowded.

These readers are rich in bright, happy songs, which are suitable, not merely for general use, but for special days, festivals, and seasons as well. In addition to selections from the works of classical composers and a large number of folk-songs, the books contain a noteworthy collection of songs contributed especially for this course. Never before have so many choice, original songs been brought together in a series of this kind.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

571 MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCISCO

NEW YORK

CINCINNATI

CHICAGO

JANUARY, 1908

EDITORIAL

C

The State Teachers' Association.

The Santa Cruz Meeting.

The forty-first annual meeting of the California State Teachers' Association has come and gone. The meeting, while not a particularly large one, was a good and an effective one. There is no virtue in mere numbers for numbers sake; large meetings may easily be poor meetings. Those who were interested and who usually take an active part in the meetings of the Association were there.

Council and Sections.

The Council held three sessions, with good discussions. Probably the most valuable constructive work of the Association is done in this small body, and a suggestion worth considering is that of increasing the number of meetings of the Council during the session of the Association. This would give time for a more careful consideration of recommendations and measures of importance.

The sections were in general well attended, and the programs were of such a nature as should prove helpful to those who were attracted by them. In a number of section meetings the discussions were good.

General Sessions.

The general sessions were interesting and well attended, the seating capacity of the auditorium being taxed to its utmost at every session. President Dailey, as presiding officer, deserves a word of special commendation for the labor he has expended in arranging for the meeting and for the direct and expeditious manner in which he handled the business of the Association. The addresses before the general sessions were good, and particular mention should be given to those

by President Black and Dr. Lange. Supt. Hughes of Toronto, who was the chief attraction of the meeting, spoke a number of times and at some length. He was particularly successful in catching his audiences and in winning their applause by his humor, his catchy statements and contrasts, his stories, and his rather rare ability as an actor of his part. He is the youngest old man the Association has listened to, with the exception of John Swett, for some time.

Santa Cruz.

The meeting place offered much that was attractive. The Sea Beach Hotel made a good headquarters for those who were fortunate enough to have rooms in that vicinity. The dining room facilities at the Casino were excellent and reasonable, and the service was equal to that of the best city restaurants. The Auditorium was one of the best convention halls that the Association has ever had the use of. The people of Santa Cruz did their best to entertain the teachers, and contributed much to the pleasure and success of the meeting. For this they deserve the gratitude of the teachers present.

A Permanent Meeting Place.

For a convention of the size that was held at Santa Cruz the facilities were sufficient. Had the convention been a half larger the facilities would have been entirely inadequate. As it was a number were not able to obtain good rooms. If the Association is to develop into what the State Association ought to become the plan of going about from one small city to another will have to be abandoned before long, and for the simple reason that the small city cannot provide adequate sleeping and eating accommodations for a large number, headquarters of sufficient size, or auditoriums and assembly rooms large enough and in sufficient number to meet the needs of the larger Association. What the Association ought to do, before long, is to locate permanently in Oakland or San Francisco, as the Southern Association has done in Los Angeles, and hold its meetings in one place year after year. If the teachers of San Francisco were to take one-half the real and disinterested interest in the State Association that the teachers of Los Angeles take in the Southern Association there would be no question about going to San Francisco as a permanent meeting place. It is the natural center and the proper place for the meetings of the State Teachers' Association to be