It is evident then that the
learning of music ought not to impede the business of riper years,
or to degrade the body or render it unfit for civil or military
training, whether for bodily exercises at the time or for later
studies.
The right measure will be attained if students of music stop short
of the arts which are practiced in professional contests, and do not
seek to acquire those fantastic marvels of execution which are now the
fashion in such contests, and from these have passed into education.
Let the young practice even such music as we have prescribed, only
until they are able to feel delight in noble melodies and rhythms, and
not merely in that common part of music in which every slave or
child and even some animals find pleasure.
From these principles we may also infer what instruments should be
used. The flute, or any other instrument which requires great skill,
as for example the harp, ought not to be admitted into education,
but only such as will make intelligent students of music or of the
other parts of education. Besides, the flute is not an instrument
which is expressive of moral character; it is too exciting. The proper
time for using it is when the performance aims not at instruction, but
at the relief of the passions. And there is a further objection; the
impediment which the flute presents to the use of the voice detracts
from its educational value.
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