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Charlotte Mason in Modern English
Charlotte Mason's ideas are too important not to be understood and implemented in the 21st century, but her Victorian style of writing sometimes prevents parents from attempting to read her books. This is an imperfect attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to modern parents. You may read these, print them out, share them freely--but they are copyrighted to me, so please don't post or publish them without asking.
~L. N. Laurio
PART I - The House Of The Body
Chapter 1 - The Assistants Of The Body: Hunger
The
Work of the Appetites
First, we'll consider the Assistants of the Body, not because they're
the most important Officers of State, but because in Mansoul, as in
every other country in the world, so much is influenced by the least
important people. The Assistants of the Body have the power to make
everything else in Mansoul go smoothly or miserably.
The well-being of the whole country depends on them. They build up the
Body, and they make sure that there will be other Mansouls to replace
this one when it passes away. If each Assistant took care of its own
work and didn't meddle with someone else's business, everything would
be fine. But there's a lot of rivalry in the government. Every one of
the members tries to convince the Prime Minister that Mansoul's
happiness depends on him. But if one of these members gets too much
power, disorder is the result.
How
Hunger Behaves
The Assistant called Hunger is the first of the appetites we notice.
He's
pg 12
very helpful. If he doesn't join us for breakfast in the morning, not
enough food is taken in and neither work nor play goes well in Mansoul
that day. If Hunger doesn't sit down to meals for whole weeks at a
time, the Body will begin to show thin fingers and hollow cheeks as
evidence that a good servant hasn't been doing his job. He is easily
offended. If someone says, 'I hate' bread and milk, or eggs, or
chicken, or whatever, and the person dwells on it, Hunger is repulsed
and leaves. But if a person sits down to meals without dwelling too
much on what they're eating, and thinks of something more interesting,
Hunger will help them little by little to clear their plate. And the
result is that nutrients and energy are taken in to build up the Body.
Hunger isn't only fond of treats. He likes things plain and good. But
if a person eats too many sweets and rich foods, Hunger changes his
character and becomes gluttony.
Hunger is a
Servant, But Gluttony is a Ruler
When Hunger becomes Gluttony, he tries to get the ear of the Prime
Minister. He says, 'Leave it all to me, I'll make Mansoul happy. The
only thing he'll want is what I can give him.' Then the trouble begins.
When Hunger was a helpful servant, Mansoul didn't spend too much effort
thinking about his meals until meal time, and then he ate what was set
before him with a healthy appetite. But Gluttony is different. Gluttony
leads his victim to the bake shop window and makes him think how much
he'd like this or that treat. All his pocket money goes for cookies,
donuts and candy. During breakfast, he thinks about what he wants for
dessert at dinner. And then he can't wait for it, and he pleads to have
it before dinner! He's always begging for a little bit of cake, or a
spoonful of jelly.
pg 13
or an extra piece of chocolate. He doesn't pay attention to his lessons
because he has a dollar in his pocket and is preoccupied thinking about
what he'll buy with it. Or, if he's older, he might have a few
dollars, but his thoughts are the same. Gluttony gets it all. A greedy
person snubs his nose at healthy meals and doesn't care about working
or playing because Gluttony has the ear of the Prime Minister. Almost
all of Mansoul's attention is on one thing - 'What can I eat?' Gluttony
begins with a little boy, and sticks with him his whole life. But, as
an adult, instead of obsessing over chocolate caramels, he thinks about
multi-course gourmet dinners that last for hours.
How
Gluttony Affects the Body
But you might think, if Hunger is supposed to build up the body, then
doesn't Gluttony do the job that much faster? It's true that gluttony
helps a person to put on weight, but it does it by adding fat instead
of the
muscles that make the body strong and useful. Gluttony doesn't build
muscle, and it causes illness and health risks.
How
to Avoid Gluttony
The best way to keep this enemy at bay is to stick to Hunger's rules.
The most important one is--don't obsess over your meals until it's meal
time, and, during the meal, talk and think about something more
interesting than food. As far as treats, we all want treats now and
then. But we should enjoy the chocolate or fruit we get at the table,
and not think any more about it. Sweets and fruits aren't always a part
of the daily routine and there's nothing wrong with using a certain
amount of pocket money for them, especially in order to share them. But
a child who spends all or most
pg 14
of his week's allowance on things to eat, or who is always begging for
a snack, is a poor victim of Gluttony. The best plan is to have
something else to spend your money on, a collection, perhaps, or
savings to buy a present or some major purchase that's worth having.
Gluttony will leave you alone when you stop thinking of only food and
treats.
pg 15
Chapter 2 - The Assistants Of The Body:
Thirst
Thirst
Likes Cool Water
Another very helpful Assistant of the Body is Thirst. You'll see how
useful he really is when you remember that the major part of the human
body's weight is made up of water. The water in the body is always
being used up in one way or another, and Thirst's job is to make up for
that loss. Thirst is a pretty simple guy. His favorite drink is pure,
cold water. Actually, he's got the right idea. When you stop to think
about it, water is the only thing we drink, although we like it with
things mixed in it. Sometimes nature does the mixing, as in milk or
fruit. Sometimes we do the mixing, as in tea or coffee. Some of these
mixtures are healthy because they have food value as well as liquid,
most notably in the case of milk.
But Thirst doesn't need or want anything himself in the water he
drinks. He likes it best clear and cool. If we live in hot climates, we
know how delicious cold water is. All little children like water, but
older boys and girls sometimes prefer the variety of something like
lemon juice to give it flavor. There's nothing
pg 16
wrong with this, but it's a bit of a shame that they've lost their
taste for plain water itself.
Drunkenness
Craves Alcohol
You wouldn't think that such a simple, useful Assistant could ever be a
source of danger to Mansoul. But Thirst gets the ear of the Prime
Minister and says, 'Leave Mansoul to me, and he'll never want anything
more than what I can give him.' And he would be correct, except that,
instead of calling him Thirst any longer, we'd have to call him
Drunkenness. Once Drunkenness has a person in his grip, that person
only wants nothing but drink from morning til night.
The furniture in his house, his children's food, clothes for their
mother, it all goes to buy more drink. The man's time, health and
strength are all wasted getting more drink until he finally becomes
homeless, friendless, sick and outcast. And all for the sake of drink.
But he doesn't care about his home or his friends. All he cares about
is more and more drink. By far, the majority of the world's sin, misery
and poverty are caused by Drunkenness.
Why
People Abstain
As you know, it isn't fresh, pure water that causes drunkenness. Men
long ago discovered how to ferment a substance called alcohol, and it's
alcohol that ruins thousands of men and women. Many conscientious
people, even as children, make a solemn vow that they'll never even
taste beer or wine or other strong drink, except for medicinal
purposes. They don't abstain because they're afraid they might become
alcoholics, although it's a fact that there's no way of knowing who
might fall into that terrible trap, or when it might happen. They also
abstain because every small
pg 17
act of good helps to stop the spread of evil in the world by setting a
good example to someone else. It's possible that every good example is
noticed and followed by someone, even though the person who set the
example might never know it.
That's one good reason to keep your taste for cold, pure water, and to
appreciate how delicious it is.
Chapter 3 - The Assistants Of The Body:
Restlessness and Rest
Restlessness
Helps Strengthen the Body
I'm not sure what the best name is for the two Assistants I'm going to
introduce to you now. They're both good servants to the Body. I guess
Restlessness and Rest are as good as any other names. You may have
noticed that babies are hardly ever perfectly still when they're awake.
They kick, play with their fingers or toes, crawl, grab, throw, pick
things up, laugh, coo, or cry. Children, too, have a hard time staying
still for very long for lessons. They want to run out in the yard and
see what their pet frog is doing. When school is over, they love to
play outside, racing or tumbling head over heels. Older children like
to
play baseball or football, or ride bikes, or hike in the mountains.
They
think they're doing these things just for fun, but there's more to it
than that. Restlessness, their helpful Assistant, doesn't leave them
alone. He makes them feel uncomfortable if they go too long without
doing something challenging and exhilarating. He's being a faithful
servant by helping to make Mansoul's body strong and supple, able to
swim,
pg 19
ride, jump, run, walk a good distance, hit well, and do every other
thing that the Prime Minister may need him to do. Restlessness has the
job of strengthening and toning the muscles that Hunger has fed.
Restlessness
Can be a Hard Master
Instead of being a good servant, Restlessness sometimes goes too far
and compels people to do things that are too hard for them. He might
push them to row too hard, climb too high, run too far, or jump too
energetically. Or, even worse, the Demon of Restlessness might possess
a person so that they can't settle down to do any one thing, whether
work or play, because they always wish they were doing something else.
That's a sad state to be in. It's only by continuing and persisting at
doing one thing steadily that we master it and learn to do it well,
whether it's baseball or algebra. So it's good to be on guard for the
moment that Restlessness ceases being a faithful servant and turns into
the turbulent Demon who drives people from one activity to the next and
won't let them settle into anything all their lives.
Rest
is a Good Servant
Generally, his brother and co-worker, Rest, steps in to say, 'It's my
turn now,' and makes the person feel tired so that they're glad to sit
down and be a spectator for awhile, or settle on the couch with a book,
or, better yet, get a good night's sleep so that they wake up refreshed
and ready for anything. In this way, the muscles take turns resting and
working. That keeps them healthy and helps them grow strong.
You'd probably be glad to hear of one Assistant who isn't followed by a
black shadow that threatens to ruin Mansoul. But it isn't so. Even Rest
has his Demon. His name is Sloth, and he says, 'A little more sleep, a
little
pg 20
more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep.' That's what
he asks the Prime Minister for. Once Sloth rules in Mansoul, the person
doesn't want to drag himself out of bed in the morning. He dawdles over
getting dressed, is late getting breakfast, is too tired to go for a
walk, finds games too much of a bother, drags his feet over
starting a project, finds making boats or whistles too much trouble,
doesn't feel like collecting stamps, lags in his school lessons so that
he's behind, mills around the baseball field with his hands in his
pockets instead of playing. He never goes out of his way to help
anybody--not because he's unkind or disagreeable, but because it's too
much trouble.
Poor guy! He doesn't even realize that, every day, he's falling more
and more deeply in the clutches of a hard taskmaster. The less he
exerts himself, the less he's able to exert himself even when he wants
to. Restlessness is supposed to keep his muscles healthy and in good
order, but Sloth relaxes and weakens them until it becomes a chore just
to raise the hand to the head, or drag one foot after the other. People
used to be very afraid of Sloth. They called him one of the Seven
Deadly Sins. But it seems like we don't about him much anymore. Maybe
we have so many things to do that we can't stand being lazy.
Nevertheless, if your friends accuse you of being idle about play or
work, or if they call you indolent, or, even worse, lazy, then don't
waste another minute. Pull yourself together, because the Demon Sloth
is upon you. Once you get into his clutches, you're in a bad way. Your
life is very much in danger of being ruined, just as much as if it were
Gluttony or Drunkenness who had a hold on you. But take heart. It's
easy to escape. Restlessness is always on the alert to save you from
Sloth right from the beginning. Get up! Do something, whether it's work
or play.
Chapter 4 - Assistants of the Body: Chastity
How
to Rule the Appetites
We've seen how each of the appetites--Hunger, Thirst, Restlessness and
Rest--is a helpful servant to the body. They work together to build up
and refresh the body. We've also seen that, if any one of these
appetites is allowed to gain control, it can ruin the life of the
person. To save ourselves from this fate, we need to eat, drink, and
sleep at regular times. We need to not even allow ourselves to think about taking it easy,
indulging in treats, or wishing for tastier drinks throughout the day.
Instead, we should have something worthwhile to think about so we won't
spend our time dwelling on things that don't really matter.
Each
Appetite has its Own Proper Time
There's another appetite that's subject to the same rules. It has its
own proper time, just like eating and sleeping. But its proper time
isn't until after marriage. In the same way that eating, drinking and
resting help make us strong, healthy and attractive, this appetite
helps to make sure that people have children. That way, there will
always be new people coming into the world as older people pass away.
This appetite has to do with a specific
pg 22
part of the body. I wouldn't normally discuss it here, but one of our
duties is to keep our bodies pure. It's similar to the case of the Tree
of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil that was planted in the Garden of Eden.
Uncleanness
You remember that Adam and Eve weren't supposed to eat fruit from that
tree. If they did, they would surely die. And you remember how the
serpent came and told Eve that they wouldn't die if they ate it. They'd
be like gods, knowing good and evil. I'm afraid that, in the same way,
people may do their best to make you find out about things you
shouldn't know about yet. They may tempt you to talk about and read
about and do things you shouldn't. They'll tell you that these things
are only natural, that you wouldn't have those parts of your body, or
those feelings about them, if you weren't meant to think and do those
things. It might help you to know that this sin is the sin of
Uncleanness. It's the most offensive and hateful of all sins. It's the
sin that good men and women hate and avoid more than any other.
Purity
The opposite virtue is called Purity. Jesus said, 'Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God.' That isn't just referring to seeing
Him after they die. That means 'seeing' Him with the eye of the soul.
They'll sense that He's with them, all around and beside them. When
they're tempted with this appetite, they'll remember that, 'You always
see me, God.' And when they think of that, they won't be able to make
themselves unclean with even a thought or a word. They'll turn their
eyes away from seeing anything evil. They won't allow themselves to
read, or hear, or say anything that causes impure thoughts.
pg 23
Glorify
God in your Bodies
This is the way they glorify God with their physical bodies. Every
child who understands this is a hero in God's eyes. They're fighting
the good fight and making the world better. When people who remain pure
get married, their children will be blessed. They'll be good, healthy
and happy because they have pure parents. God places the choice between
good and evil in front of every one of us, just like He did with Adam
and Eve. We can choose to obey, or disobey. Adam and Eve sinned and
death came into the world as a result. If you allow this sin in
yourself, if you even begin to have a thought that you'd be ashamed to
tell your mother about, then death will begin in you. Something in your
body and soul will begin to die. Fight the good fight. Don't be a
victim of unholy curiosity, like Adam and Eve were.
Our
Appetites Are Our Servants, Not Our Masters
Be careful that your appetites, which are necessary to your body, serve
you and don't become your master. Above all, remember that sin and
slavery to any of our appetites begins in our thoughts. It's our
thoughts that we have to rule and keep in control. How do we rule them?
It's very simple. When an evil thought comes, just think of something
else, something really interesting and nice. And say a little prayer in
your heart that God will help you as you do that.
pg 24
Chapter 5 - The Attendants Of The Body: The
Five Senses
The Assistants of the Body have their own Attendants, who act like
pages. They have a useful role, but, like the Assistants, they need to
be watched carefully for two reasons. First, to be sure they do their
work. And second, to be sure they don't become tyrants. Even though
they're just servants, if they're indulged too much, they'll try to get
total control and rule of Mansoul. People sometimes call these
Attendants our feelings, but
we'll call them sensations, since they
work through the five senses.
The
Sense of Taste is Pleasing and Useful
One of these, the sense of taste,
is not only pleasing, but is very
useful. When food doesn't taste good, it can be a signal that it's not
healthy. Taste is an excellent servant. People who know how to manage
him well will be satisfied and enjoy simple foods like milk, bread and
butter.
But,
if Taste is Pampered, It Becomes Our Master
People who pamper their taste become a servant of their sense of taste.
They complain that they don't like oatmeal, or they don't like chicken
or potatoes or eggs. Things have to have strong flavors to satisfy
their sense of taste. And, the older they get,
pg 25
the more difficult it will be to please them until it takes a
professional gourmet cook to make things good enough for them. The best
rule is not to allow yourself to get picky about food. Just eat
whatever is set in front of you. A wise person will even be glad when
something is served that he doesn't really like, or when he has to take
bad-tasting medicine. It gives him the opportunity to keep his sense of
taste in proper perspective, and make sure that it remains a servant
and not
a master. It's a good idea not to talk about our likes and dislikes. In
fact, it's good to not even know which flavor of jelly is our favorite.
Smell
Can Be Lazy
The sense of smell is another assistant. He's really a pretty good guy,
and he doesn't usually try to get control of Mansoul except as an ally
of taste. When he goes around smelling wonderful foods and making Taste
crave them, he's annoying. Other than that, he's harmless. But he does
have one fault that's bad in a servant. He can be lazy. Since his job
is important, his lazy habit has to be dealt with.
Smell
Should Give Mansoul a Lot of Pleasure
Smell could be the source of a great deal of pleasure. There are so
many subtle, wonderful odors in the world, such as the evergreen scent
of the box-hedge, or lime trees in bloom, or bayberry leaves that can
be carried around to add a pleasant scent as we go about our day. But
that's not all smell does.
Smell
Should Serve on the Board of Health
Smell should be quick to detect when there's any foulness in the air,
or any unpleasant, unhealthy odor around, no matter how faint. All
odors are really tiny particles floating in the air. By
pg 26
breathing them, we're taking them into our bodies. We only eat three or
four times a day, but we breathe in and out countless times every day
and night. It's probably even more hazardous to our health to breathe
in toxic odors than it is to eat food that isn't quite healthy,
although neither one is good. But, in some people, the sense of smell
has become so inactive that they're able to lean over an open sewage
drain and not notice any bad smell. The next thing we know, we hear
that they're sick, and it doesn't occur to anyone to blame that lazy
servant, Smell, for causing the trouble.
Practice
in Detecting Odors
It's a good idea to practice catching every sweet, wonderful fragrance,
and learning to differentiate the leaves of different trees, various
flowers, food smells, clothing materials, by smell alone. This would
keep the sense of Smell in good working order. Then he'd be able to
detect whether the air is fresh or foul as soon as he walks into a room.
Touch
is All Over
The Five Senses include five assistants, but the next three aren't so
much Attendants to the appetites--they're Assistants themselves. Touch
is very pervasive. he's all over the body at the same time. There are
only a couple of places, like the nails and teeth, where he isn't. He
collects a lot of useful information. He's the one who figures out
whether things are hard or soft, hot or cold, rough or smooth, piercing
or scratching, pricking or burning.
Touch
is Very Useful
You can understand how necessary Touch's job is. Without him, a person
might accidentally put their finger into the fire and never know it was
burning.
pg 27
Knives could cut, pins could prick, frost could bite, and fire could
burn, and we'd be oblivious, even while the body was being seriously
injured. Some people have a delicate, extra sensitive sense of touch,
especally on their fingertips. This helps them to work with delicate
things like watch springs and fine lace.
The
Touch of the Blind
Blind people learn to get the information from their fingertips that
their eyes would normally tell them. They can even learn to identify
the faces of their friends by touch, and whether they're well or sick,
happy or sad. Sometimes you hear that a person has a 'soft touch' when
he plays piano, and it really does seem as if his fingers aren't just
feeling the keys of the instrument, but the music itself.
A
Kind Touch
Some people, especially mothers, have such a kind touch that their
hands seem to smooth away our troubles. This kind of touch is only
learned by loving. Shakespeare thought that little Prince Arthur had
it. And many children do have comforting hands.
Practicing
Touch
The people who have the keenest and most delicate senses are also the
most fully alive. They get more interest from life. So it's worth our
while to practice using our senses. For example, we can shut our eyes
and learn to tell the difference between different kinds of cloth,
wood, metal, leaves, hair, anything at all, by feeling it.
Touch
Tries To Gain Control of Mansoul
It might come as a surprise to learn that a simple, useful servant like
Touch is no different from the rest. He watches for a chance to rule
the rest of of Mansoul. Have you ever found it
pg 28
hard to focus on your lessons or other work because something was
pricking, or you had a sting, or a cut that was hurting? When people
allow themselves to dwell on these trivial things that can't be
changed, they have no attention left to think of worthwhile things.
That's how one of the least members becomes tyrant over all the rest.
Do you remember the story of the Spartan boy and the fox? (Plutarch
mentions it in his Life of Lysander; the boy died rather than complain
of the pain of scratches while trying to conceal a fox under his
cloak). We don't need to go as far as the Spartans. After all, if
something painful can be taken care of, we should say something, or do
something to fix it.
It's
Good to Have Little Things to Put Up With
And yet, I think we should be glad to have opportunities to tolerate
little discomforts once in a while--a scratch, a cast, a scratchy
sweater--to help us learn not to dwell on such trivial matters. One
time, a man had to have his leg cut off. This was before Sir James
Simpson had discovered chloroform. The man was determined to simply not
think about the pain. He managed to keep his mind preoccupied on other
things so well that he wasn't even aware of the operation. That would
be too much for most of us, but it's not too much to try to bear a pin
prick, or even a bee sting, without making a fuss about it.
Sight
Brings Half Our Joy
The last two senses bring a lot of joy to Mansoul. I don't think they
have any serious faults as servants except for laziness and failing to
pay attention. Half of our joy in life come through our sight. The
faces
of the friends we love, bright sunshine, lovely flowers, green grass,
flickering sunlight on leaves, pretty clothes,
pg 29
small treasures, pictures, mountains, rivers, the vast ocean--our joy
in these things wouldn't be as great if we couldn't see them. Kind
friends would read to us, of course, but it wouldn't be the same as
taking a copy of the book and nestling in the branches of an apple
tree, or curling up in the corner of a window seat to read. The blind
are to be pitied. But there are others who are just as bad off, or even
worse, than blind people.
Eyes
And No-Eyes
Do you remember how Eyes and No-Eyes went out for a walk? No-Eyes said
it was boring and there was nothing to see. But Eyes saw a hundred
interesting things and collected all kinds of treasures in his
handkerchief. The people I know are either like Eyes, or No-Eyes. Do
you want to find out which one you're most like? I'll ask a couple of
questions. If you can answer them, then we can say you're like Eyes. If
you can't answer them, then you need to learn to answer them, and a
thousand other similar questions. Describe your living room from memory
without leaving out any details. Name a tree (it can't be a shrub) that
has green leaf buds. Do you know of any birds that have white feathers
in their tails? If you don't know things like these, then you have some
work to do. The world is a huge treasure chest full of fascinating
things to see, and every one of them is a new source of enjoyment.
Hearing
is Another Source of Joy
There's also a lot of enjoyment to be had from listening. But it's a
joy that many people miss because, for them, Hearing is a lazy servant
who doesn't do his job.
Have you ever been outside on a spring day and thought that the only
sound was the voices of you and your friends? And then suddenly
everyone was silent and you realized that nature had been putting on a
whole concert and you hadn't even noticed a single note of it? At first
pg 30
you may have picked up the calls of birds. Then, little by little, you
began to detect high voices, low voices, middle voices, small notes,
loud notes, and you wished you knew who was singing each of the songs
you heard.
The
More We Listen, the More We Hear
Then, as you listened more, you heard more. The hum of the grasshoppers
became so noisy that you wondered how you were able to hear your
friends earlier. Then the buzzing of bees caught your attention, and
then you
noticed the droning and trumpeting of smaller insects, and maybe the
bubbling and gurgling of a stream. The place you thought was so quiet
was really full of lots of different sounds and you wondered how you
could have been there for so long without even hearing them. That's
what happens when Hearing falls asleep on the job. Keep him awake and
occupied. Make him try to hear, and to discover a new sound every day
without any help from sight. It's a good idea to practice listening
with the eyes closed.
Some
Nice Sounds
Have you ever heard beech leaves fall, one by one, in the fall? That's
a beautiful sound. How about the tap, tap of a woodpecker, or a thrush
breaking the shells of snails on a rock? You can probably tell the
difference between a car and a motorcycle by the sound. But can you
tell a van from a car, or a delivery truck from a bus? Can you
recognize the different footsteps of all the members of your family? Do
you know the sound of every buzz and beep in your house? Do you really
listen to people's voices, and can you tell from their tone whether
they're sad or happy or pleased or annoyed?
Music,
the Great Joy We get From Hearing
Hearing should tell us lots of interesting things,
pg 31
but the one great and perfect joy that hearing gives us is music. Lots of people have put
their most beautiful thoughts into books, paintings, and architecture.
And some have put those thoughts into musical scores, to be sung with
the voice, or played on instruments. And these musical compositions are
so filled with the thoughts of their writers that people who love music
can tell who composed the music they're listening to, even if it's the
first time they've heard that particular piece. So, in a way, it's like
the composer is speaking to them and they love hearing what he has to
say. Even the youngest children can sometimes get some of this ability.
For example, I once knew a little boy, three years old, who could tell
when a piece his mother played was by Wagner. She played for him a lot,
and he listened. Some people
are better at this than others, but we could all improve our ability to
do this to some extent if we listened.
How
to Get a Hearing Ear
Take every opportunity you can to really listen to music. I don't just
mean songs, although those are nice, too. When you're listening, ask
whose music is being played. Little by little, you'll discover that one
particular composer has one kind of thing to say, and another composer
speaks in a different way. These messages of the musicians can't be put
into words, so it's impossible for us to hear them if we don't train
our ears to listen. One thing that helps to hear music is learning the
notes so that you're able to tell with your eyes closed what any note
is that's played on a piano or sung the voice. That can be as much fun
as doing a puzzle. If you aren't very good at it at first, don't be
discouraged. Hearing, like anything else, comes with practice. The time
will come when, from a whole
pg 32
group of singing birds, you'll be able to tell the difference between
the different voices. You'll know which is the thrush, which is the
blackbird, which is the white-throat, which is the black-cap, which is
the wren,
which is the chaffinch. Imagine how happy it must make a person when
every
bird's note sounds like the voice of a familiar friend!
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct any comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.
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