ANYONE who wishes to strengthen, refine, and
develop his appreciation of the varied beauties of
music will naturally begin his study with folksongs.
In the sincerity and spontaneity of these songs there
is something profoundly refreshing, especially to a
taste jaded by luxury as much of our musical taste
is: so that we turn to them as instinctively as lovers
of literary expression, for instance, have always in
sophisticated periods turned to the ballads and songs
of the people. And as we find ourselves drawing
new strength from their musical genuineness, so we
purify our taste by contact with their child-like sim-
plicity and artlessness. Too much of our "advanced"
music is professional in spirit. Preoccupied
with the means of execution, brought by virtuosos
and by mechanical instruments to an inhuman per-
fection, it forgets the end which alone justifies all
these means -- the expression of feeling. It is as
empty as it is elaborate. The ideal of folksong is
just the opposite: it tries to express as much as pos-
sible in the simplest, easiest, and most natural way.

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