In 1870, Charles Spurgeon said, "Might you not thus most effectually serve the church, and please the Lord? The method of Mr. Curwen, and the use of his Sol-fa Notation, will much aid you in breaking ground, and you can in after years either keep to the new method, or turn to the old notation as may seem best to you" (Charles Spurgeon, "How Shall We Sing?" The Sword and The Trowel, June 1, 1870. pp. 276-277).
Who Was Mr. John Curwen?
- Charles Spurgeon recommended that song leaders learn and teach Curwen's method of "sol-fa notation."
- According to Charles Spurgeon, thousands of people, who could not read music before, learned to sing church music using John Curwen's method. ("How Shall We Sing?" The Sword and The Trowel, June 1, 1870)
- In the 1880s, for his research on worship music, John Curwen compiled a list of 700 books on the topic. (Studies in Worship Music by J. S. Curwen, preface, 1880)
- He wrote many books about music and even established a college of music and a music a publishing company, which remained in business for over 100 years.
- He was born in England in 1816.
- He became a Congregationalist minister in 1838.
- In 1864 he gave up being a full-time minister in order to devote his time to music education in the churches.
- His method of music education was actually largely inspired by and founded on Sarah Glover's work, and he acknowledged this.
- Zoltan Kodaly was influenced by his work. The Kodaly music counting method continues to be used around the world today.(National Association for Music Education. https://nafme.org/blog/kodaly-orff-and-dalcroze-a-whos-who-and-whats-what/)