EDINBURGH FREE CHURCH. 2nd Year Students. The oral examination was most satisfactory; many of the lessons were excellent. The practical work at the certificate examination was generally good, but many of the patterns were wanting in finish. 1st Year Students. Some weakness was shown in the work (theoretical and practical) of the junior students. The average quality of the at the June examination were but little finish. EDINBURGH EPISCOPAL. 2nd Year Students. lessons was very good. The needlework exercises only fair, and the patterns, though correct, showed 1st Year Students. Neither the papers nor the needlework exercises were thoroughly satisfactory. GLASGOW CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 2nd Year Students. Owing to the large increase in the number of students it had been deemed advisable to divide the class into two sections; the average quality of the lessons was good, but the practical work at the June examination was weak. 1st Year Students. The needlework papers were generally very good; the diagrams and test exercises were also well done though somewhat lacking in finish. GLASGOW FREE CHURCH. 2nd Year Students. The oral examination was very satisfactory, though some of the lessons were heavy; greater life and animation would have rendered them far more valuable. The finished work of the students was very good, and the test exercises at the certificate examination were carried out with care. 1st Year Students. A high average of marks was gained by the junior students; their needlework papers and exercises were thoroughly well done. GLASGOW ROMAN CATHOLIC. 1st Year Students. The actual stitches in the needlework exercises were good, but the students had evidently found some difficulty in their patterns. They have, however, made a good start. REPORT, for the Year 1895, by SIR JOHN STAINER, Inspector of Music, on the Examination in Music of the STUDENTS in the TRAINING COLLEGES of SCOTLAND. MY LORDS, THE reduction of the requirements of the syllabus for the shortened college year 1895 makes it unnecessary for me to offer any general remarks on the results of the examinations in music. The detailed reports on the separate colleges (herewith appended) will, however, show that in many of them the teachers and students have made praiseworthy efforts to maintain their usual high standard, notwithstanding the smaller amount of time necessarily allotted to their musical studies. I have the honour to be, &c. JOHN STAINER. To the Right Honourable on Education in Scotland. APPENDIX. ABERDEEN (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND).-The usual students' concert took place the evening before the individual examination. There was no falling off in the high standard of musical efficiency for which this college has a well-earned reputation. The programme included songs, duets, part-songs, a pianoforte solo, and several arrangements for three pianos (twelve hands). It will be easily seen how much the students must benefit by their preparation for this concert when I mention that, amongst others, works by the following composers appeared in the programme: Beethoven, Schubert, Flotow, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Franz, Grieg, Rubinstein, Brahms, and Wagner. The separate numbers were not only well and correctly given, but in some cases, notably in the songs and vocal duets, the students showed a genuine musical sentiment. The female students whom I examined were, with a few exceptions. (some being without any natural aptitude for music), carefully prepared for the examination, and their work reached a very high standard. Mr. McNaught reports: "The astonishing energy and ability of the professor at this college again bore excellent fruit. He seems to draw every scrap of possible music out of his students. If the enthusiasm thus created lasts through the after life of students when they become teachers, the influence of the college teaching of music will be inestimable." [Not long after the above reports had been sent in, the talented and much respected teacher whose labours have been so often eulogized by the inspectors of music succumbed suddenly to a pulmonary attack following upon a chill. It is impossible not to feel that Aberdeen has lost in Mr. Hoffmann a musician whose talent, zeal, and hard work were producing widespread and most beneficial results, and whose kindliness and frank bearing endeared him to all who came in contact with him.-J. S.] ABERDEEN (FREE CHURCH). Before the commencement of the individual examination the students (male and female) sang some partsongs and a madrigal very nicely, though not without one or two slips. The sight-reading generally was fairly good, the ear-tests, however, were not answered without much hesitation. The six-eight time was the weakest point in the examination; very few of the students had completely mastered it. EDINBURGH (EPISCOPAL).-The students had been well prepared for the examination and the result was very satisfactory; the only weak point was the six-eight time; many who were well up in other branches of their work failed to master it thoroughly. Before the examination commenced the choral classes sang some two-part music very creditably. EDINBURGH (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND).-The average standard was very good; but, as usual in large colleges there were a few very unmusical students. The six-eight time was perhaps the weakest point in the examination. The concert given by the choral classes was highly creditable. Notwithstanding a few slips in the tenor and bass parts among the many difficult chromatic passages with which the work abounds, Spohr's cantata God, Thou art Great, was very effectively rendered; so also were Glinka's chorus Noble Chief and the march from Tannhäuser. Some part songs were excellently sung by a selected choir of juniors and another from the seniors. Mr. McNaught reports : year. "There was nothing special to remark in the individual examination. The general ability was certainly not above the average. No doubt there had been difficulty in balancing the instruction in the short time allowed during this The instrumental classes were as usual exceedingly interesting, and the results achieved in the face of all the demands made upon the time of students were certainly remarkable. The class system of pianoforte teaching is carried out to perfection by the highly capable and experienced teachers of this college. The concerted choral performances were excellent in many respects. The music given on these occasions is always of the best, and it is always got up with care and skill." Edinburgh (FrEE CHURCH).-I examined the male students of this college, and was quite satisfied with the result. The singing of the choral classes was excellent. The programme included compositions by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Smart, Macfarren, and others, some of them being charmingly rendered by a double quartet of selected voices. Two pieces deserve special commendation, He in Tears that soweth, by Hiller, sung by all the soprani, and a four-part arrangement of a national Swedish melody, The Hunting Song, sung by the men; but the whole of the programme was rendered with considerable taste and spirit. Mr. McNaught reports: "The female students had been excellently prepared and passed a satisfactory examination. The plan of selecting a small select choir to perform before all the rest of the students was an excellent one. An idea of refinement and a conception of good tone of voice are better gained by examples that can be imitated than by any amount of lecturing." GLASGOW (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND).—Although there were a good many among the female students who had nice voices and were endowed with a certain amount of musical taste, the examination did not show very good results. The sight-reading was perhaps fair, but the answers to the ear-tests and the exercises in six-eight time were certainly rather below the mark. The men were well up in their work and reached a high standard in all branches of the examination. Mr. McNaught reports: "There had evidently not been time to accomplish very good results, but a fair average was maintained. It was obvious that the teacher had had to deal with much raw material. Probably the colleges would be better served if the pupil-teachers were stimulated by a practical examination in music such as has borne good fruit in England. The training college teachers have far too often to teach the first elements of music to their new students." GLASGOW (FREE CHURCH).-The senior choral class (males and females) sang some choruses by Handel and also Faning's Vikings and Barnby's Sweet and Low. In the last-named piece much taste was shown, the others, though rendered with spirit and great correctness, were a little rough. In the individual examination the work was up to a satisfactory standard, except in the six-eight time, which was generally rather below the mark. Mr. McNaught reports: "On the whole satisfactory. The students are very ready with their knowledge-a readiness that sometimes betrayed them into haste in singing time exercises. The ear work was good." CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION, 1895. TABLE showing the AVERAGE NUMBER of MARKS obtained by STUDENTS of the SECOND YEAR in PRACTICAL SKILL in MUSIC. LIST OF TRAINING COLLEGES UNDER INSPECTION IN SCOTLAND. Name of Training College. Name and Address of Correspondent. For both Masters and Mistresses. EDINBURGH (Church of Scotland), John- | S. S. LAURIE, ESQ., 16, Chambers Street, ston Terrace, Castle Hill. Edinburgh. EDINBURGH (Free Church), Moray House J. WATT, ESQ., Free Church Educational GLASGOW (Church of Scotland), Dundas S. S. LAURIE, ESQ., Church of Scotland |