Ragtime Music Good for Children

1914

Expert at Music Conference Defends Popular Songs — Says They Are Beneficial

Minneapolis, Minn. — Ragtime music and the singing of popular songs of the day does not injure the musical mind of the public school child, but rather encourages individual musical ability, says Ralph L. Baldwin, musical supervisor of the public schools at Hartford, Conn., who is in Minneapolis attending the seventh annual meeting of the National Conference of Music Supervisors.

"I have learned," said Mr. Baldwin, "that ragtime music or the singing of popular songs does not injure the child musically; that is, if not carried to an extreme. Ragtime music is nothing more nor less than a foot tickler for all of us, and it is a good change to fall back upon after pursuing music for some time. You know we have to have a change in music once in a while, just as we have to have a vacation or rest from our work, and this lighter vein of music is what brings about that change. It would not be good enough, though, for the public school pupil to just follow the popular songs of the day and do nothing else, for it leads to nothing."