His lectures, which he wrote out in full, are remarkable for the amount of sheer "brain-stuff" that was expended upon them.

They are erudite, accurate, and scholarly; they are original in thought, they are lucid and stimulating in their presentation and interpretation of fact, and they are often admirable in expression.

They would reflect uncommon credit upon a writer who had given his life to the critical, historical, and philosophical study of music; as the work of a man who had been primarily absorbed in making music, rather than in discussing it, they are extraordinary.
As conveying an idea of MacDowell's methods in the class-room I cannot do better than quote from a vivid account of him in this aspect written by one of his pupils, Miss J.S.

Watson: "A crowd of noisy, expectant students sat in the lecture room nervously eyeing the door and the clock by turns.

The final examination in course I of the Department of Music was in progress in the back room, the door of which opened at intervals as one pupil came out and another went in.