THE BEGINNING OF MUSICAL ART 351 subject, especially with an accurate collection of musical pieces chosen from classical music and the folk-music of every country, agreed upon after being tried out for several years in the Model Montessori School in Vienna. Let us proceed now to a rapid review of the analysis and development of the factors concerned in musical education. RHYTHM AND RHYTHMICAL GYMNASTICS The motor preparation for rhythmic gymnastics may be con- sidered with reference to that exercise called 'walking on the line,' through which little children acquire perfect assurance in equilib- rium, and at the same time learn to control the movements of the feet and hands. It is during this slow, sustained walking that music may be introduced as an aid to the effort which has to be sustained. Having attained balance, however, education in rhythm must be begun. Many lullabies are suitable for accompanying these slow, uniform movements, which may be compared with the movement of rocking. The addition of music to movement is in this case a real accompaniment to the step which is already fixed, and it penetrates it. In contrast with such music, there is a rhythm which corresponds to running, and these two contrasting rhythms are those to which small children are most responsive. As con- trasts formed the first introduction to the education of the senses, the same is true for rhythmic education. Besides, the steps, slow and controlled by the difficulty of maintaining balance, and the run are the two ways of moving preferred by children between three and four years of age. On the contrary, the rhythmic jump is not only a movement which follows the establishment of perfect balance but it calls for a muscular effort to which the child is not equal, owing to the special proportions of the child body. As for the various steps corresponding to various rhythms, which would correspond to the graduations in sense education, they can be appreciated only at a later age (above five years of age).