MUSIC

A LA N G U A G E

LE C T U R E S T O

M U S I C ST U D E NTS

&

ET H E L H O M E
‘
S TRE SS OF ON HI
 PR E F A C E

TH E foll o win g le c tu r es were d elive r e d t o m u si c

students between the yea r s 1 9 0 7 an d 1 9 1 5 They .

have been partly rewritten so as t o be intelligible

to a different au d ience for in all c ases the lectures
,

were followe d by a discussion in which various

p o ints n o t d ealt with in the lectures were eluci d ated .

A n experience of eight yea r s in organizing

a training c ou r se fo r students who wish t o teach
ear trainin g on mo d ern l ines to cl asses o f average
-

chi ldren in the ordinary c urri c ul um of a school has

shown me that the g reat need fo r such students is
to realize the p r oblems no t only of musical educa
,

tion but o f ge n era l edu c ation

, .

O wing t o the nature o f all art work the artist is

to o often inclined t o see life in r eference to hi s art
alone I t is for this r eason that he sometimes finds
.

it di fli c u lt t o fit in with the requirements of school

life He feels vaguel y that his art matters so much
.

m ore to the worl d than such things as grammar and

g eography & but when asked to give a reason for his
faith he is n o t always able t o convince his hearers
, .

He feels with Ruskin that

The end of A rt is as serious as that o f othe r
beautiful things— o f the blue sk y and the green
,
6 P REFACE
grass and the clouds and the dew They a r e e i the r
, ,
.

useless o r they are of much deepe r function th an

,

’
giving amusement .

But he has not alw ays the gift o f wo r ds

o f which he c a n describe this function .

We want o u r artists and their visions and those , ,

o f them who c a n realize a perspective

their art takes i t s place with other educat ive force s

are amon g the most valuable educators o f the r i si ng
generation .

ETHEL H O ME
&E N S I N G TO N ,

J a n u a ry ,
1 916 .
 CO N T E N T S

C H AP .

I . TH E TR A I N I N G O F TH E MU S I C TE A CH E R .

‘
II . TH E O R G A NI &AT I O N O F M U S I C AL W O R & I N
S C HOO LS
I II . THE TE A CH I NG O F VO I C E PRO D U CT I O N
A ND S O NG S
IV . TH E S OL -
FA M ETH O D
V . F I R ST LE S SO N S TO B E GINN E R S IN E AR

T R A INI NG
VI . TH E TE A CH IN G O F SI G HT S INGING -

VI I . TH E TE A CH I NG O F T I M E A N D R H Y TH M
VI I I . TH E TE A C H ING O F DI CT AT I O N
I& . TH E TE A C H ING OF E& TE M POR I &A T I O N A ND

HARMO NY
& . TH E TE A CH I NG O F E LE M E N T A R Y CO M PO S I
TION
&I . TH E TE A CH I N G O F TR A N S PO S I T I O N
&II . G E N E R A L H IN T S O N T A & I NG A LE S S O N IN
E AR -
TR A I NING
& I II . TH E TE A CH ING O F THE PI A N O

& IV . S U G G E ST I O N S T O ST U D E N T S O N L E AV I NG
A T R A I NI N G D E PA RTM E N T .
 C H A PTE R I

TH E TRA I N I N G O F TH E M U S I C TEAC H ER

LE T us conside r the case of a young girl who has

finished he r school education and has supplemented
,

this by a special c o urse o f technical work in music ,

which has ended in her t aking a musical diploma .

S he now wishes t o teach .What are the chief

problems which S he will have t o face ? S he must
fi r st o f all make up her mind whether she wishes
t o confine her work t o the tea c hing o f a s o lo i n st ru
ment together with some work in harmony o r
,

counterpoint alon g ortho d ox lines o r whether S he

, ,

wi shes t o be in touch with m o dern methods o f

guiding the g e n era l musical edu c ation Of children ,

a s taken in some schools in the morning curriculum .

I f the latter She must enter on a course o f special

,

training .

There is also a practical reason why many who

wish t o teach music at the p r esent time are entering
a training department In a paper rece ntly issue d
.

by the Teachers Registration Council we find the

’

following paragraph dealing with Conditions o f

Regist r ation
The applicant must pro d uce evidence sat i sfac
tory t o the Council of having completed su cc ess
fully a cou r se o f t r aining in the principles and
I O TH E TRAI N I N G O F
methods of teaching accompanied by practice un d er
,

supervision The course must extend over a peri o d

.

o f at least o n e aca d emic year or its equivalent .

’

N o w those who have studied the question of the

,

teaching o f m usic in ac c ordance with modern

meth o ds have realized that music provides a la n
g u ag e which should be used primarily for self
,

exp r essi o n an d inter co urse with others The whole .

Of life depends on the expression o f ourselves in

relation t o the community S elf exp r ession is a .
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universal instinct which can only be crushed by

,

a course o f systematic ill t r eatment either self ,

i n fl i c t e d o r infli c ted by others I t is self i nfl i c t e d

.
-

if we conform t o false standards o f convention or ,

create for ourselves a standard of life which is out

of touch with humanity as a whole I t is inflicted .

by others if they force u s when young into a wrong

educational atmosphere and paralyse our faculties
,

instead of developing them .

To the favoured few real creative power comes

by instinct but t o a great many a small degree
,

Of this power can be given by education and in ,

this way an extra outlet i s possible f o r self expres -

sion The child should be trained when quite young

.

t o think in terms of music in the same way in ,

which it is trained t o think in its mother t ongue -

.

The fundamental work should be taken in class ,

not at an individual lesson and should be c o m p u l

,

sory for all children We do not inquire whether

.

a child is gifted in languages before we teach him

French and we must not ask whether he is gifted
,

in the language of music befo r e placing him in the

 TH E MU S I C TEAC H E R 1 1

music C lass A gain Sh or t f r e &uent le sso ns a r e

.
,

m or e beneficial t o the young beginne r than l o n g e r

less o ns at greate r inte r vals for as a new sense
, ,

is being opene d t o the pupil a lon g lesson p rod u c es

,

an unhealthy st r ain .

The scheme o f work t o be followed in su c h a class

will be dealt with lat er but we may note he r e that
,

training given in a c c o rdance with the above

mentioned aim will produce a marked increase in
the vitality an d gene r al intelligence of a child The .

reflex actions of intense c o ncentration fo r a Short

time followed by the giving out of cr eative work
, ,

will send a child back t o its other lessons with an

ale rt mind and with in c reased vi g ou r .

A large number of scho o ls an d private families

are offering posts to teachers who are able to tea c h
along such lines Every year the numbe r of such
.

posts steadi ly increases an d it will not be t oo much

,

t o predict that in the near futu r e few schools

in the first rank will be without teaching o f this
kind . The salaries offered are naturally highe r
than those obtained by t he o l d fashioned o rth o dox -

teacher as more has to be done and classes have

, ,

t o be managed instead o f indivi d ual pupils .

It is impossible t o ove r estimate the impo rtance

-

of securing plenty o f expe rience in tea c hing classes

o f average pupils of all ages unde r expert supe r vision
,
.

M any an apparently promising teache r has c o me

to grief in the first post taken because the knowl edge
,

gained has been too theoretical and has n o t been ,

checked by class experience with really average

pupils The &uestion of d is c ipline is an easy one
.
1 2 TH E TRAI N I N G O F
with an in d ividual pupil but in class w or k it assume
,
c

a different prop or tion .

Fo r the purpose o f teaching ea r t r aining with o ut

-
,

instrumental wo r k a high degree of musical gift

,

i s not necessary .A ny o n e wh o is fond o f music ,

sympathetic with children and willing t o wo r k

, ,

can manage the course o f work necessary bef o re

being able t o teach classes up t o a fai r standard .

The work which Often appears bewilderingly

,

di fficult to on e who sees it fo r the first time becomes ,

quite Simple when approached step by step and in ,

company with fellow students I t is also interestin g

.

t o know that some o f the most satisfactory results

Obtained in c ertain schools during the last few yea r s
have been a r rived at by teachers possessing only
an average knowledge o f an instrument but who ,

have thrown themselves with enthusiasm into the

study o f music as a living language S uch teachers .

are bound t o succeed because they are atta c king

,

the subj ect in a genuinely educational spi r it .

A word now on anothe r aspect o f the question

of training . There is going t o be an eno r mous
di fference in the young gi r l s outlook o n life For
’

perhaps the first time she has t o adopt the attitu d e

O f the one who gives n o t o f the one who receives
,
.

Hitherto she has been receiving food clothes money , , ,

education help in her di fficulties & c and now

, , .
, ,

Fate waves a wand and the child who has been the
,

centre of interest in her h o me and in her s c hool has

t o lea r n t o give — and to give gener o usly— as other s
gave t o he r .

F or the real teacher is neve r paid for all she does .

 TH E M U S I C TEAC H E R 1 3

He r sala r y i s not augmented in proportion t o all

the extra help she gives to the backward o r deli
cate pupil — t o the hours O f d r udgery outside ,

sch o ol hours willingly given in order t o be pre

,

pared for every eventuality o f School life S uch .

things are never paid f o r in m oney the only ,

reward is in t he partial realization o f the standard

att empte d.

A nother p o int The ideal teacher must have r eal

.

pe r sonality and this i s a thing o f slow g r owth but

, ,

which can be developed under expert guidance .

There must be sympathy tact and humour , , In .

adoptin g the attitude Of the giver instead o f the

receiver the young teacher is t oo apt to put away
the remembrance o f childish di fficulties and t o ,

forget the restless vitality which made her as a child , ,

long t o fi d ge t and do anything but learn

, .

There is another thing t o bear in mind The .

maj ority of amateurs are never subj ect t o the sam e

criticism as the professional Everything i s watere d
.

‘
down Very good has often been the verdict
o f the critic but an unspoken addition has been
,

fo r an amateur
N ow in a training department one o f the most
valuable p o int s of the training consists in the out
spoken comments A nd this does n o t only refer
.

t o musical work but t o personal faults We all

,
.

know that if a mannerism does not interfere with

the unity o f a strong personality it may be left
,

alone. But there are some mannerisms which

merely e xpress the weaknesses o f those who possess
them and which spoil the expression of the per
,
1 4 TRAI N I N G O F THE MU S I C TEACH ER
These must be cu r ed an d will be faithfully
so n a l i ty .
,

dealt with in the training department .

L astly if the course o f training be taken in

,

connexion with a school opportunities will be ,

a fforded of getting an insight into general organiza

tion and Schemes o f work for children o f all ages .

A n accusation often levelled at the musical

members o f a staff i s that they keep t o themselves ,

and do not identify themselves with the general

school life I n some cases t his may be due t o lack
.

O f willingness but in the large maj ority it is due t o

,

lack o f training in and realization o f the unity

, ,

o f such life .

A student who takes every opportunity given

t o her during her year of t raining will n ot only
learn ho w to organize the general musical life Of
a school through the medium of ear training and
,
-

song classes recitals music clubs & c but will be

, , , .
,

ready and proud t o Show initiative in other directions .

We cannot do without the visions o f o u r artists ,

and a country o r a school is the poorer when full

use is not made o f the driving force o f artistic
inspiration .
 CH A PTE R II

TH E O RGAN I ZATI O N O F MU S I CAL W O R &

I N S CH OO L S

TH E musical work in a school falls roughly into

four divisions
1. Ear training leading o n in later stages t o
-

harmony counterpoint & c

, ,
.

2. Voice production and songs .

3 Instrumental work
. .

4 Concerts music clubs & c

.
, ,
.

TO take these in order

1 . E ar -
tra i n i ng .

When the necessity for this w ork has been

realized the next step is t o consider how the time ‘

can be found for it in the school curriculum Those .

who have seen some o f the results in schools which

have taken the work for some years are sometimes
inclined to think that a large expenditure o f time
has been involved But provided the children
.
,

have begun the training when quite young it is ,

neither necessary nor desirable for them t o have

more than o n e forty minute lesson a week after
-

they have r eached the age of twelve years We must .

‘
remember that in all language work the ideal ’

plan is to begin with ve ry short and fairly fre

quent lessons Ear training which is t o be treated
.
-

o n the lines sug g ested will be opening up a new

1 6 THE O RGAN I ZAT I O N O F
sense to the pupil and the concentration necessary
,

is such that the children cannot stand the strain

Of a long lesson .

The following lengths o f lessons are therefore

advisable
F or children from four to seven years O f age ,

a quarter of an hou r four days a week

&

From e i ght to twelve years o f age twenty minutes ,

three days a week .

From thirteen years o f age upwards forty ,

minutes once a week .

N ow as to schemes Of work .

Fo r those between the ages O f fou r and seven

the time Should be Spent in Singing at sight easy
melodies in maj or keys and in ear tests o f t w o or,

three notes at a time .

For those between eight and twelve Sight singing -

in mino r keys and in two parts Should be added ,

also the dictation o f mel odies and o f two part tunes -

.

When this work is securely grasped the treatment

of chords can begin also extemporizing o f melodies
,

with the voice together with transposition and

,

harmonizing Of easy phrases at the piano .

F or child r en o f th i rteen years and upwards the

above can be continued t ogether with Sight sing ,
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ing in three parts dictation in three and four

,

pa rt s extemporizing at the piano and more definite

, ,

work in harmony counterpoint and elementary

, ,

comp o sition
.

A fter the age of f o u r teen it is well to make the

work voluntary By this time it is possible t o
.

distinguish between children who are suff iciently

 M U S ICAL W O R& IN S CH O O L S 1 7

interested in music t o make it wo rt h while fo r t he m

t o continue the work and those who will be more
profitably employed in othe r di r ections The latte r .

will have learnt how t o t ake an intelligent interest

‘
i n music and how t o listen when music is being
,
’

performed The classes will now become smaller

.
,

an advantage f o r the more detailed work .

It is important to note that the best results in

—
ear training will only be obtained if the classes do
n o t exceed twenty fi v e pupils in number -
.

2 . Voi ce Produ cti on a nd S ong s .

These classes can be larger without prej udice t o

the work but t he above classification as to age is
,

desirable Children between four and seven years

.

O f age will probably learn songs connected with

their kindergarten work so it is di fficult t o say ,

exactly the amount o f time t o be spent in song

lessons a s the work will overlap Th o se between
, .

eight and twelve Should have o n e song and voice

production lesson a week Of n o t less than twenty ,

minutes Those over thirteen will probably be

.

working at more di fficult songs and will need n o t ,

less than thirty minutes once a week .

3 . I n stru m e nta l Work .

It i s very desirable that all children up to the

age of eight who are learning an instrument should
do so in a class for the first year rather than in ,

individual lessons Much o f the fundamental work at

,

an instrument can become w e ari sorn e to a young child

unless taken in company with others of the same age .

1 87 8 B
1 8 TH E O RGAN I ZATI O N O F
A p r actical consideration involved is that this
makes it possible to charge a smalle r fee for each
pupil and this fact may influence a parent t o let
,

a child begin an instrument earlier than would

otherwise be the case .

I t has been found that children started in this

way develop much more rapidly than if they had
individual lessons The stimulus O f class work f o r
.

the average child cannot be over estimated -

.

’
When this preliminary year s work is over the ,

child can g O o n either t o three twenty —minute

lessons a week by itself or two half hours I f ear,
-
.

training i s being done at the same time it is possible ,

t o shorten the amount o f instrumental practice

each day In few cases should it be allowed t o
.

exceed half an hour up t o the age O f thirteen and ,

in many cases twenty minutes is found su fficient .

A fter the age Of thirteen it is again possible as ,

was the case with the ear training work t o distin -

,

guish between the musical Chi ld re n a n d the others .

The forme r should increase the amount o f practising

each day &the latter if they continue t o learn should
, ,

not exceed half an hour The piano lessons will in .

most cases con sist O f two half hours a week -

.

4 . Con ce rts M u si c Clu b s

, ,
(9 0 .

I t is a good plan to arrange f or a Sho r t recital

to be given every term at which not only the more
,

advanced pupils will play but children at all stages ,

Of development It is wise t o insist o n all music

.

being played by heart as in this way an invaluable

,

trainin g w i ll be g iven from the ve r y first .

 C H A PTE R III

THE TEACH I N G O F VO I CE PR O DUCTI O N

A N D SO N G S
IT is perhaps more rare to find a successful
teacher Of songs than O f any other subj ect in the
school curriculum There are many reasons for
.

this In many cases a visiting teacher takes the

.

work who finds it di fficult t o learn the names O f all

,

the children in o n e lesson a week and w h o therefore ,

starts at a disadvantage Then the Size O f the class

.

f o r songs i s always larger than that Of classes in

other subj ects and there i s therefore more induce
,

ment t o inattention o n the part Of the children ’

Nothing is more pitiful than t o se e a young ,

inexperienced mistress grappling with a large class

Of healthy restless chi ldren who know from
, ,

ex perience that the weekly song lesson may be

turned t o good account f o r their o w n little games
There is Of course the born teacher who sends
, , ,

an electric shock through the room directly She enters

it and who without asking fo r it secures instant
, , ,

Silence and eager attention S uch people are rare .

,

and it must be o u r t ask n o w t o give a few practical

suggestions t o those less fortunate people who do
n o t possess the innate gift but who are willing to
,

l earn .

TO begin with the teacher Of songs must have

,

real personality & and if sh e does not possess this by

 VO I C E P R O DUCTI O N A N D SO N G S 21

natu r e She must do her bes t to develop what S he

,

has. S he must be full Of vitality S he must under ,

stand children and above all She must be genuinely

, , ,

fond O f music in such a way that She cannot do

,

without it .The last qualification Often implies

a certain sensitiveness which finds a di fficulty in ,

accommodating itself t o a workaday world where ,

people have little time o r inclination t o study the

, ,

moods o f others Very artistic people are a well

’
.

known di fficulty t o the authorities o f schools I n .

order t o excel in their art they must not only have ,

‘
a capacity for t aking pains but a reserve sto re ’

Of emotional force o n which they draw f o r self

,

expression through their art N ow the possession .

o f s uch a reserve store does not always imply a

power O f keepi ng it in reserve During the course

of training the attention Of such people Should be
directed to the high ideals underlying all true
educational work & they Should real ize the real
function of music in education— that it is n o t to be
taken as a mere accomplishment or technical art , ,

but a s a means O f s e lf expression -

.

We will now consider a special case L et u s .

suppose that a new mistress is taking a song lesson

with a large class O f childre n who have the reputa ,

tion O f being troublesome t o manage O n entering .

the C lassroom it is a good plan to go straight t o

the platform without Speaking a word to the children
,

o n the way whatever they may be doing From

, .

this vantage ground the teacher should look the

class over f or a few seconds still without speaking , .

There is nothing more impressive to a restles s class

 '

22 THE TEACH I N G OF

than the sight of a mist r ess not in the least disturbed

by thei r doings yet taking everything in I f the
, .

mistress has cultivated a sense of repose and self

confidence this action on her part will pro d uce the
feeling of a centre o f force in the room— and the
force will radiate from he r The children without .
,

knowing exactly what has happened will feel ,

di ff erent and will be pliant and easy to manage

, .

Directly the mistress is conscious o f this change o f

atmosphere sh e can start the lesson But S he must .

now gradually merge he r personality into that O f

the class — she must work w i th them not outside ,

them It is di fficult t o put this idea into words but

.
,

all real teachers will se e the meaning There is no .

driving force t o equal that which works from within

a community— not from without .

N ow f o r the lesson itself .

I t should start with a few simple exercises in

voice production Excellent suggestions for these
.

will be found in a little book called Cla ss S i ngi ng f or

S chools with a preface by S i r Charles S tanford
, ,

published by S tainer Bell also in the B oard Of ,

Education Memorandum on Music A Special point .

must be dwelt on Children should never be allowed

.

t o use the chest register Their voices should be

.

trained d o wnwards I n the Singing o f s c ales there

.

Should be a leap t o o r a start on a note high enough

, ,

t o be o u t o f the chest register— such as the high E b .

The descen d ing scale should t hen be sun g Breathing .

exercises shoul d be t aken at the beginning of the -

lesson A good exercise i s t o exhale o n the sound

.

‘
sh
’
. The chil dren will stand in easy positi o ns
 P R O DUCT I ON A ND SO N G S
‘

VO ICE 23

fo r this the hands o n t he ribs s o that the y can feel

, ,

the ribs expanding and contracting during inhalation

and exhalation The shoulders should be kept
.

down The advantage in using the sound Sh is

.

that the teacher can thereby tell how l ong each

child makes its breath last .

When these exercises are finished and a few ,

scales and passages have been sung the class sh o uld ,

sit down while the teacher speaks about the new

s o ng t o be sung I n schools where sight singing is
.
-

taken as part o f the regular curriculum it is not

necessary t o work at this in t he song class In .

beginning a new song the chief thing i s f o r the teacher

t o get the class to seize the spirit o f it I f di fficult .

words occur they may be explained later but it

, ,

is absolutely essential that the children shall get

hold of some idea which they can exp r ess in singin g .

M r W Tomlins who came over from N ew Y ork

. .
,

in order t o show some o f hi s methods fo r dealing

with large classes produced some admirable results
, .

He worked up the enthusiasm of his classes t o such

an extent that the e ffect of their singing was
electrical & and it was all due t o the few words
he said before the s o ng was sung not t o any c o rre c ,

tions he made later I t i s not necessa r y for a teacher

.

t o condu ct the songs all the time during the lesson ,

or the fact that the class is expected to watch the

baton tends to make them rigid in their attitudes ,

and therefore t o a certain extent in their singing

, , .

The best results a r e obtained when a class stands to

sing S ome well meaning teachers forget that the
.
-

c hildren have probably been Sitting in their class

24 TH E TE A CH I N G OF
rooms for the greater part o f the morning and are only ,

too glad t o stand f o r a change They can si t between .

the songs when finding their places and SO o n

, ,
.

S ongs Should be C hosen in which the pitch i s not

too low Many people have the mistaken idea that
.

young children cannot sing high Listen to their .

Shouts i n the playground t o the notes they use ,

when calling t o each other and this idea will soon ,

be corrected The lowest note in the voice o f a young

.

child is generally E and it c a n take the high F o r

,

G quite easily .

Droners Should not be allowed to Sing with the

rest O f the class o r the pitch will be lost at once t o
, ,

s a y nothing Of the spoiling Of the general e ffect .

Flat Singing is Often due t o bad ventilation Of

the room more often still t o boredom A good
, .

plan in this case is t o raise the pitch a semitone

it is Often j ust as easy f o r singing and invariably ,

produces a sense o f cheerfulness .

Children Should never be allowed t o sing loudly ,

especially when very young I t is most di fficult t o .

cure the habit when once formed A ttention .

should be paid t o articulation from the very first .

A useful lesson is taught the class if from time t o ,

time half o f them g o t o the end Of the room and

, , ,

with closed books listen t o their companions

,

singing a verse O f a song whi ch i s new t o them The .

di fficulty they experience in following the words

will not soon be forgotten .

A ttacks should be absolutely precise The two .

and three part contrapuntal singing which is done

-

in the sight Singing classes is admirable f or this as

-
,
 VO I C E P R OD UCTI O N A N D SO N G S 25

the whole e ffect is blurred o r entirely spoilt in

s uch clear —cut work by a false entry .

F o r all large school functions such as a prize ,

giving the songs should be sung by heart This is

,
.

not nece ssary in ordinary class work a s the aim ,

there is t o teach as many good songs as possible in ,

order t o form a standard of real musical literature .

But at t he se t performance nothing i s more delightful

than t o se e children rise and without any flapping
, ,

of pages o r uncomfortable attitudes f o r seeing the

,

words in a book sing straight from their hearts

,
.

However simple the music o r the words the e ffect ,

will be well worth the little additional trouble .

O ur last consideration is that o f the songs t o

be chosen to learn L ittle children should rarely
.

sing anything but unison songs Folk songs such .

-

as those edited by Cecil S harp and ot hers and for , ,

the very little ones traditional nursery rhymes and

,

game songs are the best From the ages O f ten t o

.

fourteen years such books as B o o se y s N a ti on al S ong s ’

o r S o ng s o B ri ta i n should be the staple work while

f ,

f o r Older children the great classical songs may be

added A good book for these is the Golde n Trea su ry
.
,

published by B oosey .

S ongs by living composers should be strictly limited

in number though not excluded These have n o t stood
, .

the test o f time We teach S hakespeare in o u r litera

.

ture classes n o t a modern poet— the essays o f B acon

, ,

n o t those o f a mode rn essayist A nd o u r reason is

.

that the only way t o create a standard o f taste is t o

take our chil d ren t o the classical fountains of prose
and poet r y We must do the same in music
. .
 CH A PTE R IV

THE SO L -
FA M ETH OD
TO those who are not accustomed to the S o l fa -

notation it appears at first sight a useless e n c u m

brance . Excellent arguments are produced for
this V iew Many musical people can scarcely
.

remember when they could not sing at s ight and

write melodies from dictation They picked up .

this knowledge instinctively and cannot se e why ,

others should n o t do the same U nfortunately .

everybody has not proved able to do so hence ,

‘
a multitude O f methods for teaching them ’
.

The most familiar Of these consisted in trying

t o teach the pupil to sing intervals a s intervals , ,

at sight Thirds fifths sixths & c were diligently

.
, , ,
.

practised B ut pupils did not always find it easy

.

t o sing these intervals from all notes o f the scale ,

unless in sequence The maj or third from de li to m e

.

seemed easier than that from f a n t o lair and so on ,

.

Thus in the maj ority Of cases sight singing in classes -

resolved itself into the musical children leading ,

and the others following I t i s rare t o find a large

.

class in which there is not o n e musical child and the ,

only sure test O f progress i s t o make the less musical

children sing at sight alone from time t o time .

N ow if those who have picked up the know

,

ledge O f sight singing without knowing how they

-

did it be asked to explain how they arrive at their

2 8 TH E SO L -
FA M ETH OD
mental e ffect but in the minor key this is strictly
forbidden To t ake an instance I n the scale Of
. .

C maj or the child h a s been trained to feel the sharp ,

bright e ffect Of the note G the fifth from the key ,

note C I t would naturally feel the same effect fo r

.

the note E in the key O f A minor when related t o ,

the key—note A B ut the orthodox S o l fa teacher

.
-

says & N o Y o u must feel the calm soothing effect

.
,

Of E in relation t o C & Can the child be re a lly ’

trained in this way I f it were merely a difference

in detail O f the treatment o f the two modes this
error could be forgiven but it is a difference in ,

fundamental principle .

O ne of the many di fficulties caused occurs in

transposition o n the piano When transposin g .

from sa y C minor t o F minor the c hild m u st first

, , , ,

think in E 01 maj or so as to get the pivot Of reference, ,

then in A ? maj or for the new pivot A b Y e t all

'

the time its real sense O f pivot which be it noted , , ,

has been admirably trained by the S o l fa treat -

ment O f the maj or scale is in favour Of C and F ,

respectively .

The method evolved for the minor key by those

who wish to uphold the fundamental principle
Of the key note being the pivot Of reference f o r
-

a ll keys maj or and minor is a very Simple o n e

, , .

I t consists in giving to the third and Sixth of the

harmonic form o f the scale their logical names o f
m a n) and ta w The sixth of the ascending scale
.

in the melodic form will o f c Ou rse be the same i n

the minor a s in the maj or
&

There are two other points in the orthodox S o l i a -

 TH E S OL F A-
M ETH OD 2 9

system which are modified by those who wish t o

use it as a crutch t o staff notation The first o f .

these concerns the rather complicated time notation

of all but the first sets o f e xercises Directly sub .

divisions O f the beat are introduced the notation

becomes di fficult t o read without putting a strain
o n the eyes The little dots dashes commas & c
.
, , , .
,

worry childre n Experience has proved that when

.

a class is ready f o r anything beyond the very Simplest

time values it can leave the S o l fa notation alto -

gether and keep entirely to the staff n o tation

,
.

This is Of c o urse an advantage and is what is

, , ,

be ing aimed at .

The other point i s connected with the use o f what

are called bridge notes When a modulation is
-

introduced which entails a fairly long reference t o

a new key the note leading directly t o it is Of course
,

accidental in the fi rst key and diatonic in the second .

This is called a bridge note and must be thought Of -

,

in two ways first in the Old key then in the new

, ,
.

Thus its name must be changed as a prelu de t o ,

using the new pivot .

N ow in teaching sta ff not ation it is neither wise

,

n o r necessary to introduce extended modulations

very early The aim is t o make it possible f o r

.

children t o sing fairly easy melodies in all keys ,

maj or and minor with incidental m odulations as

, ,

soon a s possibl e — then t o revise the work intro ,

d u c i n g m ore di fficult modulations This end will .

be attained by deferring the use O f bridge —notes

until the children are ready t o sing melodies in the
minor keys which modulate t o the relative maj or .
30 TH E S OL F A -
M ETH O D
If the above mentioned plan fo r the treatment
-

the minor key be adopted bridge notes will

,
-

essential at this stage and the melodies at any rate

, ,

at first cannot be sung without their aid A further

, .

reference to this matter is given in the chapter o n

the teaching Of sight singing
-
.
 CH A PTE R V

FI R S T LE SSO N S T O B EG I N N ER S I N
EA R TRA I N I NG
-

TH E form O f these lessons will vary slightly

according to t he ages of the children We will .

suppose these to lie between seven and nine years ,

when the children c an read and write .

A t the first lesson the scale o f C maj or should be

played from middle C t o high C ascending only
, ,
.

Then repeat middle C and stop o n it a little D O

, .

this three or four times telling the children to count

,

the notes as yo u play up the scale When they are .

all sure that eight notes have been played a sk them ,

why they t hink you repeated the middle C at the

end They will probably say
. TO make it sound
finished In other words they have grasped the
.
’

’
ment al e ffect O f the key note i n e very key the -
,

pivot r ound which the other notes revolve G ive .

the hand sign for this note according t o the S o l fa ,

-

plan and tell the children that the note is called

,

d oli
. N o w repeat the scale but this time play it ,

from high C to middle C repeating the high C at ,

the end The children will se e at once what has

.

happened and that the high C now finishes the

,

passage Thus it will be called high d oli

. and
the hand Sign will be repeated but at a highe r level , .

B e careful n o t to bend the hand at the wrist when

32 FI R S T LE SSO N S T O
giving this sign o r the effect of finality and r epose
,

will be lost .

A t the second lesson repeat this work the children

, ,

telling you what to do Then make eight large dots

.

o n the blackboard and against the first and eighth

,

o f these write d oll and d oli

'
Now play the first .

five notes o f the scale and repeat the first as before

, .

A sk how many notes were played Then play .

them again but starting from the fifth downwards

, ,

and repeat the fifth at the end A sk the children .

why they think you did this A t first they will not .

be able t o express what they feel but gra du a lly ,

u w

the idea will emerge that yo u want t o call attention

t o something of interest P eople often call t o each .

other by singing up a fifth The new note is sharp .

and bright in sound when related to the key note -

.

Hence the hand sign G ive the name soh and .

,

write it against the fifth dot o n the board The .

children should now Sing from the three hand signs

known a ls o from the notes o n the board They
, .

Should also identify the notes when played in groups

o f two and three o n the piano .

When they c an d o all this easily the next note , ,

the third o f the scale is taken in the same way, .

‘ ’
The mental effect is calm and soothing hence ,

the hand Sign In addition to singing from the

.

hand signs and from the S o l fa modulat or which

,
-

is gradually being constructed o n the board t h e ,

children c a n now sing from the horizontal S ol f a -

not ation and from the sta ff notation The first

,
.

Of these is invaluable in the early stages as it a b so ,

l u t e ly precludes guessing In sin g in g fro m the .

 B EG I N N ER S IN E AR -
TRAI N I N G 33

modulato r this is possible t o a ce rt ain extent as ,

the relation o f each note t o the key note is shown -

roughly in di sta nce by the dots between the notes .

There is no such help given in the horizontal

notation .

In beginning the work in staff notation the n o tes

of the scale will be thought o f as steps in a ladder .

I n all keys when don is on a line m e and son are

, ,

also o n lines and high do&i is o n a space & but when

,

do& i is o n a space m e and son are on spaces and

, ,

high doh is on a line These are very simple matters

.
,

but children are simple people an d will not despise ,

such hints .

The next notes o f the scale t o be taken are ray

and te then f a n and la b The last two are the most
, .

di fficult A good pattern t o fix in the children s

.
’

minds is
d f rn l s t, d

which splits up int o

d f rn d l 3

If these are really known no trouble will be found ,

with the notes f and l .

P lenty of exercises should be given in which the

notes o f the scale are taken in relation to the high
d oh. P ossible notes should also be taken above
high doli (such as high ray high m e high f a ir in the , ,

scale of C ) and below doli With regard t o the latter .

,

the key m ay be changed from time t o time when

—
taking S o l f a work from hand signs or the modu
lator o r from S o l fa notation in order t o get a
,
-
,

wider range for the notes above mentioned Thus .

,

1 87 8
C
34 FI R S T LE SSO N S I N EAR TRAI N I N G -

if the class be given the dab of G maj or they c a n ,

sing l o w te low la h lo w soh and l ow f a ll o r as these

, , , , ,

notes a r e written in S o l fa notation t. l ' s , f , These

-

, .

points are s ometimes overlooked by mistresses and ,

the early training loses in thoroughness .

Directly the children are sure Of the diatonic

notes o f the key Of C maj or they should take the
sharpened fourth (f e ) the flattened seventh (ta w )
, ,

and the sharpened fifth (se ) L ater o n they will

.

learn that these notes Often introduce modulations &

to the dominant sub d ominant and relative minor
, ,

keys respectively .

Extemporizing with the voice may now begin ,

along the lines suggested in Chapter I & A n extra .

interest will thus be added t o the lesson and the ,

‘
child will have its first init i ation into self expression -
’

through the art of music .

36 TH E TEACH I N G O F
securely laid o r trouble will come later Those
,
.

who have had expe rience o f class work in kinder

ga r tens know the special di fficulties t o be met
the ir r egularity O f attendance the constant stream ,

o f new pupils coming in and so o n U nless plenty, .

of opportunity is given for revision the work will

su ffer in thoroughness .

F or children who take this work between the

ages o f eight and twelve no better scheme for sight
L
,

singing c a n be foun d than that contained in S omer -

vell s F ifty S tep s i n S ight si ng i ng supplemented

’
-

’
by the children s books A Thou sa nd E xe rci se s , ,

published by Cu r we n I t is essential to read care

.

fully the appendices t o this work especially that ,

concerned with the minor keys A nother book of .

sight singing exercises which follows the same

-

sequence is the Ra ti on a l S ight Rea de r by Everett , ,

published by B oosey .

I n teaching the keys o f G maj or and F maj or i t

is most important that the class shall themselves
discover the necessity f o r the F it and B I7 in the
respect ive signatures I nexperienced teachers some
.

times teach this as a dogma and thereby depri ve ,

the children Of the delight Of discovering it for them

selves .

Thus i i the scale of G maj or be played with E h

,

instead o f F t& the class will discover that l aw has

been played I nstead of te and will soon find o u t ,

how to correct the wrong sound .

S imilarly if the scale Of F ma &or be played with

,

B u instead of B b they will say that f e has been

,

played instead of f a h .
 S I GHT S I N GI N G
-
37

If the o rd e r o f keys taken be that of the F ifty

S tep s the f o llowin g d ia g ram will show at a glance
,

the un d e r lyin g plan

7 5 3 I 2 4 6
E b I b
B F C G | D | A

I t sh o uld be note d that so fa r as the positions of

the notes on the stave are concerned the key o f ,

A l) is as easy t o sing in as the key O f A D o as D , ,

and so on This fact i s sometimes overlooked an d

.
,

unnecessary di fficulties are create d for the children .

I t is important fo r a class t o sing at sight fluently

in o n e key before attempting a new o n e S ome .

te achers t ake key s in groups and try t o teach them ,

all togethe r This plan rarely leads to satisfactory

.

results .

M i n or & ey s .

I t is wise to defe r the treatment of these until all

the maj or keys have been mastered The harmonic .

form o f the scale o f C mino r should then be taken ,

t he children identifying the two notes new t o them

as the flattened third and sixth of the scale I t is .

a good plan t o get them t o sing a few melo di es from

the blackboard which a r e in C mino r but which ,

bear the signature o f C maj o r the flattene d thi r d ,

and sixth being supplied This imp r esses the n e w .

notes on the chil dr en .

L ate r o n the correct signatu r e sh o uld be evolve d

,

by experiment and the same plan followed for the

,

othe r keys before the r ule for finding the signature

,

I s discussed The melodi c fo r m of the scale can

.

then be taught an d both forms practise d t o give

,

~ I \
38 THE TE ACH I N G OF

plenty of freedom in the new tonality The va r ious .

minor keys should then be taken in the same order

as that in which the maj or keys were taken .

It is advisable to limit the work at first t o melodies

which do not modulate to the relative maj o r L ate r .

on when the children are fairly fluent they can

, ,

take these A t first they will have t o make use of

.

bridge notes at the modulation but with a litt le

-

, ,

practice they will soon be able to sing at sight to

,

l ah .

P a rt si ngi ng
-
.

Children should n o t be allowed to sing part songs

- -

until they can Sing at sight in parts The reason .

f o r this is that in the maj ority o f part songs the -

under parts are written too low for the child voice ,

and if they are p ra cti se d several times in succession ,

harm is likely to result I f on t he other hand the

.
, ,

songs can be read at sight the parts can be inte r ,

changed and the voices o f the children do not su ffe r

,

to the same extent The greatest di fficulty in teach

.

ing part singing is a moral one a child who t akes

-

an under part does not like the feeling o f some o n e

singing above her The voices must be divi d ed
.

carefully f or this work — some teachers prefe r to get

the balance o n the side o f the under parts in order ,

t o avoid the feeling that it i s necessary to shout in

order t o be heard T he ideal plan is t o interchange
the parts freely at the same lesson .

Exercises should be chosen at first in which the

under part starts on a fairly high note and if possible , ,

before the uppe r part ente r s in order to give con ,

fi de n ce The under pa r t should also m o ve freely

.
,
 S I GHT S I N GI N G -
39

and should not consist o f long holding notes E x e r .

cises in which the parts c r oss afford excellent practice .

G ood instances o f easy exercises are t o be found in

N o s 9 6 8 8 0 1 0 1 & c in Book I I I o f A Thousa n d
.
, , , ,
.

E x e rci ses also in the many canons t o be f o und in

that book .

S ight singing in three parts should always begin

-

with exercises written in the contrapuntal style .

There are inst ances o f these in Thre e pa rt Voca l -

E x e rci ses by R aymond published by Weekes

, ,

S ons . This book is also suitable fo r use where

men s voices are obtainable the two treble part s
’

be i ng t aken by two tenors and the transposed alt o ,

part by a bass .

A good series o f part songs i s to be found in the

-

Y ear B ook P ress which only admits songs by

'

stan d ard composers .

 CH A PTE R VI I
THE TEACH I N G O F TI ME A ND RHYTHM

I T is impossible t o over estimate the importance o f

-

ca r eful study before a teacher attempts t o train

child r en in a sense o f time and rhythm .

N o t only must an intellectual conception of the

imp or tance o f the subj ect be arrived at but a su b ,

conscious r ealization O f it The function Of rhyt hm

.

in the world should be perceived and such natural

,

phenomena as day and night the seasons the tides

, , ,

an d countless others see m t o be examples o f the same

,

principle The same influence may be traced in

.

social a c t i v i t i e s C W o rk cannot be organized and

.

carrie d on whe r e rhythmic o r de r is not found and ,

no conception o f the brain or o f t he artistic faculty

can emerge uninformed by rhythmic continuity .

A human being imperfectly endowed with a sense

O f balance or rhythm is a danger t o the community ,

and one who is entirely without this sense i s spoken

o f as insane
I n the training o f the teacher it is well t o call
attention first t o the rhythm o f speech before ,

entering int o that of music Those who have had

.

a literary educati on have already studied the

metrical properties o f poetry and prose They will .

readily agree that such phrases as

My fathe r s fathe r saw it n o t
’
.
’

Happy New Y ear t o you .

’
 TEACH I N G O F TIM E A N D RHYTHM 41

Be c ause I sought it fa r fr om men ,

I n d eserts and alone .

’

We must go back with P oliceman Day ,

B ack t o the City o f S leep

’
.

can be thought o f as written in 2 2 3 3 times , , ,

respectively .

M Jaques Dalcroze has shown through his

.
,

R hythmic G ymnastics the ext r aordinary effect that

,

rhythmic movements can have not only on physical ,

health but on mental and moral poise For highly

,
.

nervous children some such work is of especial

benefit but f o r all children it is o f great value
,
.

I t sh ould be supplemented in the ear training class -

by constant practice in beating t ime t o tunes .

The teache r begins by playing simple tunes with ,

strongly marked accents The children should

.

discover these accents for themselves an d should ,

be taught t o beat time using the prope r con d uct or s

’

beats fr o m the fi r st .

The French time names — ta ta t& & c —are i n va lu ,

-
, .

able in early st ages They are based o n sense impres

.

sion an d are picke d up quickly by the chil d ren By

, .

taking the crotchet a s the unit to start with the O ld ,

fashioned plan of exalting the semibreve the least ,

used note in music t o a primary place is avoided

, ,
.

I f the order given in S om e rv e ll s F ifty S tep s i n ’

S ig ht si ng i ng be followed the question of complicated

~
,

time w ill not be forced too early o n the attention

o f the children P upils trained o n othe r systems
.

have sometimes been found incapable O f singing

melodies w r itten in c o mpli c ated time even thou g h ,

they can beat time to the notes g i vin g the time ,

42 TEACH I N G O F TI ME A N D RHYTHM
names without mistake The same thing is notice
, .

able i n their inst rumental work This is due t o .

the fact that on e side O f their training has been

developed at the expense o f the other— time at the
expense of pitch There seems little point in teaching
.

a child such time values as -

when it can only read at sight in the key of C maj or

In taking an exercise in sight —singing for the first
time with a class at an elementary stage the following
practice has been found beneficial
1. The children sing the tune straight through .

at sight without stopping the teacher beating time

, , .

Mistakes are then pointed o u t and di fficult phrases

practised .

2 . The children stand and sing the tune straight

through again beating time as they do so
,
.

3 Individual children then stand and sing the

.

tune by themselves beating time In this way the

,
.

child gets to know the sound of i t s o w n voice and ,

the teacher c an correct any individual faults O f

intonation voice production & c
,
S ome children, .

will always have an inclination t o shout when t hey

sing with others partly through excitement an d
,

partly because they cannot hear their own voices

in any other way I f this be permitte d the quality
.

o f tone will rapidly degenerate and the e ffect ,

o f the whole class work will su ffer .

N othing is more delightful than to hear young

children sing quietly and without in any way
,

forcing their voices .

44 THE TEACH I N G O F D I CTATI O N
which do n o t necessarily begin o n the fi r st beat of
the bar The handwritin g exact position of acci
.
,

dentals & c should be carefully watched With

, .
,
.

young children it is well t o use manuscript books

wh i ch have the lines ruled very widely apa r t
’
a little child s hand soon gets cramped if it is made
&

t o write in an ordinary manuscript book .

When a class can t ake down simple melodies

correctly it is time t o begin two part wo r k A S a p re -
.

liminary get a child t o play middle C on the piano

, ,

th e n to combine with it each o f the notes of the

'

scale of C maj or in turn The cl ass will d ecide which .

o f these two part chords are pleasant to listen to

’ &

-
_ .

Opinion is generally unanimous in favour of the

third sixth and octave which will therefore be the
, , ,

basis of the first exercises in two —part dictation .

P lenty of practice should be given in is o lated

examples of these chords in more than o n e key , ,

before the class atte m pts to combine time with

tune . When they are ready for this the work ,

should begin with very simple ph r ases with plenty ,

o f repetition to enable them t o be quickly memorized .

A later stage introduces th e use o f passing notes .

I t is better to play the exe r ci se through fi r st without

these and when it has been written and cor r ected
, ,

t o play it again inserting the passing notes ,

.

Befo r e a class has finished the maj or ke ys it should

be ready for the dictation o f three pa rt cho r ds -
‘

A s the children are accustomed t o the sound o f the

c hord of the thi r d on all degrees of the scale it will ,

be a natural experiment to play a pa r ti c ul ar c o m &

bination o f thirds thus arriving at the triad A fter , .

 TH E TEACH I N G O F D I CTATI O N 45

this has been playe d on all d e grees o f the scale the ,

C lass should be asked to d ecide which o f these

c hords it will be well t o get t o know first They will .

r emembe r that the first three keys in which they

learnt t o sing were C G and F maj or and will , , ,

therefore su g gest that the tonic dominant an d , ,

subd o minant c hords should be chosen .

A t this sta g e it shoul d be pointed out that all

the notes of the scale are c ontained in o n e o r othe r
of these cho rd s This is a seed which if well planted
.
, ,

will suggest the first principles of ha r monizing

melo d ies late r .

We must now work at the three chords carefully .

B egin by making the class sing them in arpeggio ,

and in a definite rhythm so as to get precision ,

.

Each ch o rd should be sung once very slowly so a s ,

t o get the n o tes correctly an d absolutely in tune & ,

then twice more &uickly so as t o get the feeling of ,

ha r mony This step is invaluable in its later results

.

a child will often be heard t o sing di ffe r ent chords

in arpe g gio when in doubt as to the cho r ds t o use
,

in harmonizing a melody .

When the three primary chords a r e known t he

othe r s may be ad d ed together with the d ominant
,

s eventh and the inversions in all keys This last , .

step must n o t be hu rried The average class rarely .

finishe s three part chor d s in less than a year and

-
,

unless plenty of time is given diffi culties will crop

up later when four part cho rd s are begun
,
-
.

It is not enough for children t o be trained t o

listen t o the actual notes Of a chord— they must
&

feel the mental e ffect in the same way in whic h

,
46 TH E TEAC H I N G O F D I CTATI O N
they felt these effects in the case of the notes o f the
s c ale .

A late r step is t o make use o f the position of the

chord in a se &uence — fo r instance the child soon ,

gets to notice that many phrases end with the

progressi on subdominant dominant ton ic , ,
.

We now come t o the consideration o f the dictation

of four part chords These need not be sung in
-
.

arpeggio A s a first experiment it will be necessary

.

t o play the chord to the class with each note d o ubled

in turn so that they m ay feel the necessity fo r
,

doubling the best note .

This experiment is most valuable as it gets the ,

child away from the cramping feeling O f keeping

a rule merely because it is mentioned in a text book -
.

P lenty o f phrases with the primary chords in

r oo t position must be t aken before the other chor d s
are treated For at least a year the class will not
.

be able to w ri te four part dictatio n the time should

-

be spent in identifying the chords when played .

The chant form is the best for elementary work .

I t is very simple and can be adapted t o every sort of

,

sequence P assing notes appoggiaturas suspensions

.
, , ,

&c should be avoided at first

.
, When the diatonic .

ch ord s and their inversions are known the principal

mo d ulations should be studied I t will probably be .

necessa r y for the teacher t o writ e her own tests as ,

there a r e very few books of chants published which

contain enou g h exe r cises on the use of the easie r
chords .

The last step in the teaching of dictation is the

t reatment of what may be c alle d the mixed ph r ase
 TH E TEACH I N G OF D I CTATI O N 47

i . e . in the Course o f which the numbe r o f pa r ts

o ne

varies This is the mos t di ffi cult stage o f all and

.
,

will need the utmost patience o n the pa r t of the

teacher But by this time the children will have
.

begun some of the practical work at the piano

described in the chapter on The Teaching of E x te m
o ri z a t i o n and Harmony and this will help them
p
to recognize easily the drift of the mixed phrase .
 C H A PTE R I&

THE TEACH I N G O F E & TEMP O RI ZATI O N

A N D HARM O N Y
IN early days the a rt Of melody was developed
before that of harmony The same plan Should be
.

followed in the general musical education of the child .

A s every child possesses a voice but does not

in every case learn an instru ment I t is clear that ,

the fundamental training in music must be given

through the use of the voice The first step will
.

consist in learning how t o sing at si ght and ho w t o

t ake down easy melodies from dict ation P arallel .

with this work the C hild should be taught t o e x t e m

p o r i z e melodies
,
and t o sing them .

&uite little children will t ake pleasure in completing

a musical phrase of which the first few bars have
been given them The procedure will be as follows
.

1 . The teache r writes two bars in C maj or ,

2 time o n the blackboard

,
.

2 . The class sings it through twice first using the ,

S o l f a names for the notes then singing t o la h

-
, .

3 Volunteers are then asked f o r t o complete t he

.

phrase by adding another two bars

,
The more .

musical children in the class will at once respond ,

and their e fforts will stir the ambition of the others .

It will soon be a question o f taking the children

in turn a few at each lesson — so eager will they be
,

t o express themselves in melody .

 E & TEM P O RI ZATI O N A N D HARM O N Y 49

It is impo rt ant not t o be t o o critical o f these early

e fforts . The great thing is t o get the chil d ren
u n self —
-
c o n sc i ou s v a ri e t y o f melodic o utline an d O f
fi

r hythm will follow quickly enough .

The next step will be for two children in the class

to extemporize the whole phrase between t hem o n e ,

taking the first two bars and the other the last two .

The key and time should be varied as much as

possible — keys a fourth or fifth apart should be used
in succession or the children will assume that any
,

melody can be sung by them in any key which is ,

obviously not the case A melody sung in C maj o r

.
,

which uses middle C and high F cannot be sun g in ,

t he key o f G maj or with the child voice .

The class will now find it quite easy t o extemporize

the whole o f a four bar phrase S uggestions can be
-
.

made by the teacher such as ,

’
Begin on the third beat of the bar .

’
Introduce two triplets in the course o f the phrase ,

and s o o n .

When this becomes easy to them they will be

ready t o begin eight bar melodies -
A t first the .

teacher will give the firs t four bars and differe nt ,

members Of the class will finish the tune Modula .

tions should now be introduced The same procedure .

a s before should be followed until any child in the,

class can give the whole o f a tune in any given key ,

an d time and with a given modulation

,
.

—
N ext comes the sixteen bar tune in which at least ,

one mo d ulation should be introduced A good .

plan is t o begin with the well known simple form -

1 .Four bars t o the 2 3 cadence .

1 87 8 D
 50 TH E TEACH I N G OF

2 . Fou r ba r s t o the principal modulation .

3 R epeat the first four bars

. .

4 . Four bars t o the end .

Three children can be used for this in the following ,

way ‘

The fi r st child sings the first four bars the second ,

goes o n to the end o f the eighth bar then the first ,

child repeats what sh e sang and a third child finishes , .

This affords excellent practice particularly for the ,

first child who soon learns t o confine herself to

,

a simple Opening as this must be remembered and

,

r epeated later .

Memory plays a much larger part in the power to

extemporize than many people realize and if this ,

step in the preliminary work be conscientiously

taken there will be abunda nt results later .

We n ow come t o the important st age of e x t e m

p o ri z i n g o n the piano I t must be remembered
.

that a very thorough foundation o f the knowledge

Of C hords has been laid by the ear training work -
,

leading up to the power t o write d own chords from

dictation and t o sing them in arpeggio
,
.

The first exercise will consist in play ing a very

si mple t onic and dominant accompaniment o n the
piano while a melody is extemporized with the voice
, .

There is far more variety possible in this than appears

at first sight For instance the sequence o f the chords
.
,

m ay run in any Of the following ways among others & ,

I V I V I I V I

I & f
I V I I I v I

I I I V I I V I
I V V I I I V I
52 TH E TEACH I N G OF

The class is now ready for the treatment o f

modulations on the piano If the preliminary work
.

in cadences dominant sevenths & c has been c on sci e n

, ,
.

t i o u sly done in all keys there will be no di fficulty

in extemporizing a sung melody which modulates , ,

and adding a simple accompaniment at the piano .

O ther chords can now be added and the chil d ren ,

will be r eady t o extemporize short tunes entirely ,

at the piano without the aid Of the voice

,
To some .

people this may seem an easier thing t o do than to

accompany the voice but experience has proved
,

the contrary The child is so accust omed t o use the

.

v oice that it will at first be inclined to think o f all

melody as vocal and will be a little troubled when

,

told not to think about vocal pit ch .

The discipline of these early restrictions is obvious ,

an d cannot be over estimated I t quite does away

-
.

with the hymn tune style Of early composition

-
,

which is such a trap to many amateurs .

S ide by side with this work it is advisable t o get

the class to extemporize chants under the same ,

restrictions as have been put on the melodies ,

i e they will begin by using only tonic and dominant

. .

cho r ds then adding the subdominant and so

, ,

on . The double chant will give Opportunities for

more than o n e modulation being introduced at
a time This work will prepare the way for figured
.

basses and m ore formal harmony The children will

,
.

learn to avoid consecutive fifths and eighths because

they gradually notice the ugliness o f them which ,

seems a better plan than to learn to avoi d them as

a r ule
 E & TEMP O RI ZATI O N A N D HARM O N Y 53

There is an inte r esting r eferen c e t o meth od s o f

teachin g harmony in the B oard o f Education
Memorandum on Music issued in 1 9 1 4
,
.

The writer says

I t cannot be emphasized too strongly that t he
cur r ent method o f teaching harmony whereby ,

pupils a r e taught t o resolve chords on paper by

eye quite r egardless o f the fact tha t 99 per cent
, .

of them do not realize the sound of the chords

they are writing is musically valueless
,
.

I n no othe r language than that o f music would

it be t olerated that the theoretical rules o f gramma r
an d syntax should be so completely separated from
the actual liter ature from which they are derived ,

that the pupil should never have perceived that

there was any relation whatever between them .

‘
A nother very c ommon result of
the neglect o f
an aural basis f o r harmony teaching is that stu d ents
who can pass a di ffi cult examination and write ,

correctly by eye an a d vanced harmony exercise ,

are Often quite unable t o recognize t hat exercise

played over t o them on the piano or even t o w rite
,

down the notes apa r t fr o m the time of a hymn o r

, ,

’
a tune that they have known all their lives .

The whole chapter in this memorandum is well

wo r th reading .

The final sta g es in the teaching o f e xtemporization

will consist in &
1 . Expressing a given i d ea in musi c al fo r m e g ,
. .

a mar c h o r a gavotte
, .
54 E & TEM P O R I Z AT I O N
Extemporizing o n a given theme .

A lthough these last stages may be

be beyond the power Of the average child ex ,

e ri e n c e h as proved that it i s n o t s o provided the

p ,

previous work has been carefully graded and that ,

none Of the early steps have been omitted o r hurried

O V OI
’

.
 C H A PTE R &
TH E TEACH I N G O F ELEM ENTA RY
C O M P OS I TI O N

A musician has drawn attention t o the fact

WI SE
that music has a more important educational
function than any foreign language being a common ,

language for the expression o f emotion imaginative ,

power and rhythmic feeling He went on t o say

, .

that as a t raining it is o f use from the very earliest

, ,

yea r s and f o r all classes of the community

, .

I f we agree with this V iew— and it is encouraging

t o note the increasing number O f those who do so
we must SO organize the musical education o f chil
dren that a t ime comes when they will be ready t o
express themselves in music in the same way in
which they can express themselves in their native
tongue .

A n earlier chapter in this book has dealt with

the teaching of extemporizing first treate d as vocal ,

expression then as instrument al When a class of

,
.

children has arrived at the stage O f being able t o

extemporize a tune Of Sixteen bars in any given key ,

and time and introducing given modulations it is

, ,

quite ready t o begin the more formal study of c o m

position and t o be initiated int o the mysteries o f
,

form Hitherto the experiments of the class in this

.

direction have been chiefly spontaneous the teache r

has of set design left the child who is extempo rizing
 THE TEACH I N G OF

as free as possible but the time has now c ome for

,

a new window t o be Opened in its mind .

A preliminary talk should be given on the need

Of form in music I t must be pointed o u t that we
.

cannot be intelligible without it that it is not enough

,

t o have a language at our command we must have

s hap e in order t o convey our ideas to othe r s The .

child should realize that the great artists in all the

arts are under the same necessity as the youngest
beginner in composition Inspi r ation must be
.

embodied in a definite form o r others cannot sha r e

,

the vision o f beauty .

For a time the child now has to learn t o select

a m u src a l fo r m then t o choose a musical thought
,

which can be fi t ly expressed in it It will seem .

a cramping process after the free dom o f e x t e m

p o ri z i
,
ng but the child who loves the work will
willingly submit to the discipline It cannot be .
&

too Often impressed on the young teacher that

children as a whole li ke discipline They desp i se .

those who are indifferent to it and give a ready ,

submission t o those who expect it provided they ,

feel sure Of an underlying sympathy .

The first lessons in form should consist o f the

analysis of simple tunes preferably o f the Folk S ong
,

type . The forms known as A B A B A and the , ,

variants derived from these will be explained and ,

the class will write examples o f each at first not ,

ha rmonizing the melodies but afterwards doing so

,
.

The o ld dance forms will then be t aken A t this .

stage it i s absolutely necessary f o r those o f the class

who are musical and who wish to give a little ext r a
,
 E LEM EN TA R Y C O M P OS I TI O N 57

time to musi c t o go th r ough a course of strict ha r

,

mony and counterpoint en d less time will be wasted

if they do n o t do so The work will be very much
.

lightened because o f t he foundation already laid ,

for without knowing it the children have been

, ,

doing a little free counterpoint fo r some time when ,

they added vocal pa rt s t o a given melody and thei r ,

knowledge of practical harmony will make it pos

sible for them to t ake many a short cut in the formal
work .

The dance forms t ogether with very Simple fu g ues

,

‘
and c o ntrapuntal studies and a few free e x e r ,
’

cises in songs and short pieces will be as far as the ,

maj ority of children will get in the study o f compo

s i t i on But the r e will always be a few in each class
.

who will be eager and able t o go farther and t o ,

begin the study o f sonat a form F o r such c hildren .

,

and certainly for all teachers of music there can be ,

no better text book than H a d ow s S on a ta F orm

-
’

published in the N ovello P rimer S eries This book .

is Often described as more exciting than a novel

S o m e rve ll s Cha rt s for H armony and Counterpoint
’

are also most valuable and will save the necessity

,

o f a text book in these subj ects

-
a t any r ate for the
-

beginner who works under guidance

, .

There is on e curious fact about all but the most

musical children when they begin t o w ri te d ow n
tunes of their ow n comp o siti o n They make m i s .

takes which they have never made when e x te rn

pori z i ng the same type o f tune This seems to a r ise
.

from the fact that they suddenly feel self—conscious

— they ha ve more time to think when writing than
58 TH E TEACH I N G OF

when singing o r playing an d are inclined t o compose

,

o n e ba r at a time instea d o f phrase by phrase .

They will produce a tune of seven bars —they will

end on a weak beat— they will come to a full stop
in the middle o f an eight bar tune on the tonic
-

chord root at the t op — the last half of the tune will

,

have nothing t o do with the first half We could .

write a page Of their possible mistakes

The cure for these lapses i s t o insist on the tunes
being sung before being written The Old u n c o n .

scious habit will then assert itself and the little ,

tunes will fall into Shape .

It is a useful lesson t o get a class t o criticize all

original tunes when playe d by the young composer .

For o n e thing the criticism of ou r contemporaries

,

often carries more weight than that o f our elders

and f o r another the practice arouses the critical
,

faculty and teaches the children t o listen keenly

, ,

for they have n o t the written tune in front O f them .

A fter a little practice quite good criticisms will

be given by children They will notice such points
.

as a weak scheme Of keys — undue repetition of the

chief melody— a clumsy modulation— a trite ending
— an over laboured sequence — a tendency t o borrow
-

ideas from others and so on ,

.

&
t This training will be Of the greatest possible value
to t he m lat e r on in the concert room A S a writer
_
-
.

i n The Ti m es once put it

The vague impressions which are all that many
people carry away from the concert room would be -

r eplaced by definite experiences .

 C H A PTE R &I

TH E TEACH I N G O F TRAN S P OS ITI O N

A G R E A T many musical people will not t ake up the

subj ect Of transposition seriously because they have ,

no idea of the lines along which to work They all .

agree that the knowledge would be most useful to

them espe c ially from the point o f V iew of song
,

accompaniment but the path seems t o be beset by

,

so m any diffi culties and the results o f their first

,

attempts are s o pitifully small that they generally

,

give up all hope and all e ffort Then again some

,
.
,

Of the books published o n the subj ect are not very

helpful to the average student S ome o f them seem
.

t o start with the assumption that the student is

very musical and can do a great deal by instinct
,
.

They therefore give only the roughest direc t ions .

O thers begin sensibly enough b ut leave o u t so many

,

steps in the work that a student m ay be forgiven

for throwing them aside in despair .

N ow there are three chief reasons why the musi

c i a n would do well t o study transposition

.1 For the purpose o f song accompaniment .

.2 A s an aid to committing music t o memory ,

especially that written i n a fo rm where different

keys a r e used f or the pre se n tment o f the same
material .

.
3 A s an i nfallible test of a soun d gene r al
musi c al e d u c ation .
 TEAC H I N G O F TRAN S P O S I TI O N 61

The last r eason is not O ften a d vo c ated but a little ,

thought will Show that it i s impossible for the ave r age

student n o t specially g ifted in any way t o trans
, ,

pose even an easy piece o f music at Sight on the

piano without p r oving the possession o f a trained
,

ea r an d a kn owled ge of practical harm o ny For .

class wo r k with children it can be ma d e a still more

valuable test O f progress Fo r the average c hild .

will be &uite unable t o transpose a simple ear test

such as d f rn l s t , d —ou the piano f r om one key ,

t o another say a fifth away with o ut a goo d deal

, ,

o f accurate knowledge .

The first exercises in transposition will be very

simple— any child o f seven o r eight years old who ,

can sing at Sight and take down ea r tests in the

, ,

keys of C and G maj or can be expecte d to do them

, .

They consist in
1
. S inging any well known hymn tune o r simple
- -
,

melody o f the Folk S ong type using the S o l f a ,

-

names o f the notes I t Should be sung phrase by

.

phrase until every Child in the class i s sure of the

,

c orrect notes .

2
. The children should now go in turn t o the
piano and each play a phrase O f the melo d y first
, ,

in C maj o r then in G ,
.

I t is imp or tant t o emphasize the fact that the

tune must be well known t o them o r an extra d i ffi ,

culty will be introduced .

A s the children learn more and more keys these ,

tunes should be transposed into them .

P rovided the class does not consist of picke d

musical chil d ren the r e will alwa ys be a few in it
,
62 THE TEACH I N G O F
who do not learn the piano This work will be one .

of their Opportunities fo r learning a little about it .

Interesting results have been obtained from suc h

children if the teache r is enthusiastic and r eady
,

t o help .

B y the time that the class has begun the study

o f three part chords the transposition will become
-

more and more interesting as sequences of chords ,

can now be transposed When the first steps in

.

extemporizing on the piano are begun the trans ,

position advances by leaps and bounds The chil .

dren will be delighted to play their little tonic and

dominant accompaniments in every key— t o change
from maj or t o tonic minor by flattening the third
and sometimes the sixth o f the scale .

There is a sense o f freedom and power in such

work t o which the class will readily respond They
, .

so o n realize that certain melodies only soun d nice

in such and such a key and in this way the fo u n d a
,

tion o f a colour sense will be laid A lso apa r t

’
.
,

from the question o f the key in which a melody

sounds best to a child another point comes into
,

notice . The child cannot sing certain notes in

certain mel odies unless it keeps within a certain
range of keys This teaches them something The
. .

point has been referred to in the preceding chapter .

A ltogethe r it will be seen that the stu d y of

transposition i s Opening a new win d ow for them
into the fairyland o f music .

L ate r on when a child ca n compose short ha r

,

m o n i ze d tunes o f its own it is well to hold up

,

the ideal O f being able to transpose them int o any

 TRAN S P OS I TI O N 63

key and in cert ain cases where the m elody lends

, ,

itsel f t o the treatment from maj or t o minor and

, ,

vice versa This work must of course be voluntary

.
,

but a child is well rewarded when it finds that

it is only the first step which c osts an d that the ,

second o f such tunes is so much easie r t o t r anspose

than the first
A nd the time comes when a child will sit down
t o the piano and will extemporize quite happily
,

e ither in F maj or o r in F t&maj or whichever is sug ,

gested S uch work is well worth any initial trouble

.

t aken — i t is a combined process o f ear and mind

which has a far reaching educational e ffect
-
.

The last stage o f all in this work consists in

transposing at sight from the printed page Hithe rt o .

the ear and the mind have been chiefly employed ,

but n o w the ey e must be trained t o do its Share .

I t i s found useful to make children sa y the names

‘

o f the chords aloud when they are beginning this

sort o f transposition The habit sets up a connecting

.

link between the various faculties in use in some ,

curious way The eye c an help by noting the

.

intervals between successive notes in the various

parts and especially in the outer parts I t sees the
, .

general drift Of the piece before the mind comes int o

play— the coming modulations and so o n In fact it is .
,

n o t too much to s a
y that it i s best in certain musical ,

phrases to rely o n the eye alone e g rapid decorative

, ,
. .

passages which are not always easy t o analyse at

,

first sight .

A word Of warning must n o w be given Those .

‘
who attempt short cuts in this work wil l certainl y ’
64 TEACH I N G O F TRAN S POS I TI ON
come to grief u nless they are born with the faculty
,

— undoubtedly p o ssessed by a few o f being able

-

to transpose by a sort o f instinct S uch people are

.

fortunate but it is n o t ou r present task to attempt

,

t o guide them We are concerned with the avera ge

.

child taught in fairly large classes in the ordinary

, ,

school curriculum and with only a very limited

,

am o unt O f time at our disposal .

 CH A PTE R & I I
G ENE RAL H I NT S O N TA & I N G A LE SSO N I N
—
EAR TRA I N I N G

A LL those who teach ear training should keep

-

a book in which they write on o n e Side of the page

the proposed scheme o f work fo r each lesson an d ,

o n the othe r the actual work done A ll sorts of .

t hin g s may happen in the course o f the lesson t o

upset the prop o sed scheme The children may find
.

the new w or k easie r o r more di fficult than was

,

expected a question from a chi ld may suddenly

,

reveal a piece o f ignorance which necessitates a di gre s

sion— every tea c he r is aware Of the unknown
quantities in class work U nless the proposed
.

scheme of work is checked by what is done in each

lesson there will be di fli c u lti e s late r .

A ga i n each lesson must form a definite link

,

between past and future lessons I t is Often a t e m p t a

.

tion t o a teacher Of initiative t o draw attention

t o a new aspect of the subj ect in which She happens
,

t o be specially interested at the time when the ,

previous work is not in a fit state t o be left even ,

f o r two o r t hr ee lessons S omething happens t o

.

make he r r ealize this and the new piece of work is

,

hurriedly left— suspended in mid air as it were -

,

and is not r efe rr ed t o again until an accident recalls

it t o her mind S uch teaching certainly has the
.

charm of novelty t o a class but we must remembe r

,

1 87 8 E
66 G EN E RAL H I NT S ON
that one of the faults o f childhood is an undue
r eadiness to pass o n quickly to learn something
new before the previous work is secure .

In taking a lesson the teacher should aim at

speaking in her ordinary voice Inexperienced .

people sometimes imagine that it is necessary t o

shout when Speaking in a fairly large room But .

provided the voice is clear and the articulation ,

good a lo w voice carries j ust as well as a loud one

, ,

and certainly produces a greater sense of repose .

A nother fault t o avoid is monotony o f tone

we need modulations in speaking j ust as much as
in music and a class is keenly though Often u n c o n
, ,

s c i ou sly susceptible to this

,
A change of position .

is helpful The voice o f the mistress will brighten at

.

once if She comes down from the platform and walks

about a little But she must never turn her back
.

on a class when actually telling them something &

Musical people who have not the same experience in
,

such matters as the ordinary teacher constantly ,

do this and will even hide the greate r part o f a

,

blackboard when pointing to notes of a tune .

I n beginning a lesson the maximum effo rt will

be gained if communal work be taken before
individual i e sight singing before dictation
,
. .
-
,

extempo ri zing & c The reason fo r this is obvious

, . ,

a certain momentum i s thus generated which is ,

impossible later when the force has been di ffused ,

.

Before a tune is sung at sight the class should

analyse it giving the key time signature sta rting
, , ,

note modulations sequences general construction

, , , ,

&c . R emind the children from time to time that

68 GEN E RAL H I NT S O N
tell it what is wrong unless you are very short o f
,

time G et it t o sing the phrase it has written t o

.

S o l f a names — i n this way it will find out its own

-

mistake .

In writing notes either o n the blackboard or on

,

manuscript paper it is not necessary t o fill up all

,

the space between the lines as is done in printed ,

music I f c hi ldren are allowed t o do this they will

.
,

spend a long t ime over their exercises Teach them .

t o turn all t ails o f notes up which are written o n

lines o r spa c es below the third line and d ow n for ,

those above The direction Of the tails of notes o n

.

the third line itself w ill depend on t he context .

These directions refer Of course t o the writing o f, ,

melodies I t is Often necessary t o remind even

.

grown u p students that accidentals must be placed

-

b efore the note affected not after i t & also that a d o t

,

after a note which is written on a line must come

o n the s pace next a b ove not o n the line itself , .

Children often forget t hat t he leading note in a minor

key invariably car ries an accident al .

We must now say a little o n the subj ect of

revision It is a fault of the young teacher that she
.

Often entirely neglects this with the result that her ,

class can only sing accurately at Sight and do ,

dictation I n the last key learned During the first .

few lessons I n a new key it is cert ainly inadvisable

t o give exercises in the preceding ones as the wh o l e ,

attention must be concentrated o n the new tonality .

But othe r keys should be taken at least once in

three weeks A n imp atient person may say & But
.

prope r ly taught children could not forget so soon

 EAR -
TRA I N I N G 69

Y et &at
times we are all hazy on almost any subj ect
, ,

but it does not follow that we are either fools o r ,

badly t aught & we are simply human & A fte r all ,

machines get ou t of order so why not the most ,

complicated machine of all— the human mind ?

A gain it is only the inexperienced teacher who
,

thinks her class has been badly taught by her

predecessor Many a student in training is inclined
.
,

after the first lesson wit h a new class t o come t o ,

the distracting conclusion that the children know

‘
nothing This generally means that after the
’
.
,

holidays the former work needs a little revision

,

before new work is begun .

I n taking a fairly advanced class a teache r is

Often worried because there is n ot enough time
in a single forty minute lesson a week to to uch o n -

all of such subj ects as cho r ds cadences e x t e m p ori z , ,

ing transposition & c in addition t o sight Singing

, ,
.
,
-

and dictation I t is certainly quite impossible t o

.

do so and this is o n e o f the reasons f or apparently

,

Slow progress But there is however a good side .

, ,

t o the di fficulty for such work ought not to be ,

hurried and it is well t o leave a little breathing

,

space between the references to it .

Teachers are sometimes hea r d t o speak with

regret o f the high spi rits of their classes which lea d ,

t o restlessness But we should never r egret force .

in a child and we must realize that all pent u p force

,
-

needs a safety valve I t must be ou r business t o -

.

direct such force into safe channels & eep the .

children really busy give them plenty t o do an d , ,

there will be no cause to re g ret their vi tality .

E S
 CH A PTE R & III

TH E TEAC H I N G O F THE P IAN O

IT is impossible within the limits o f a chapte r t o

, ,

do more than dwell o n a few practical points con

n e c t e d with the teaching and organization Of this

work in a school A S was said in the preceding

.

chapter the ideal for all young children who are

,

about to learn the piano is that they should first go

through a short c ourse o f ear training I f this be -
.

’
done the progress in the first year s work w ill be
,

about three times what it would otherwise be If the .

ear training be done along the lines suggested in

-

earlier chapters the child will have been taught t o

,

Sing easy melodies at sight she will have approached

,

the question o f time b y means of the French time

n ames S he will have learned to beat time with the
,

proper conducto r s beat to find notes on the piano

’

, ,

and what i s more important to know these notes

, ,

by sound in relation to fixed notes

, .

I n this way some Of t he p r ocesses which a child

goes through in beginning to learn the piano a r e
taken one at a time in company with other child r en
, ,
L

and are therefore no t hurried .

When the time has come t o begin the piano the ,

c hild should j oin a class for this for one yea r S uch .

a class should not exceed si x in number Du ring

this time She will add t o he r k n ow le d ge t he first
p r incip les o f fin g e rin g will p lay easy exercises fo r
,
 TH E TEAC H I N G OF THE PI AN O 71

fingers wrist & c and will lea r n a few easy pie c es

, ,

and duets .

F r om the very first she will be taught t o analyse

a piece before she begins t o play i t— she will find
out the k ey time cadences sequences passages o f
, , , ,

imitation modulations & c I f the melody be within

, ,
.

the range o f the chil d s voice she will then sing it

’

beating time a s sh e does so A fter these p re li m i .

na ries it is only a question o f technique t o learn t o

play it The last stage will consist in learning the
.

piece by heart The day has long gone by when .

it was considered a sign O f exceptional musi c al

gift t o be able to do this A ll experienced teachers .

know that provided a child is having its ear trained

,

by some such method as that suggested above ,

it c a n learn a piece Of music by heart almost entirely

away from the piano That i s t o sa y instead O f .
,

the w e a ri so rn e repetitions which were formerly

necessary before a piece could be played by hea rt ,

it is possible directly the technique is mastered and

, ,

in many cases before this is done to learn the ,

piece away from the piano The benefit of this is .

Obvious and the nerves both o f the player and Of

, ,

the unwilling listeners are the gainers ,

.

A little thought will Show that it should be no

more di fficult f o r average children t o learn a piece
o f music by heart in this way than for them t o ,

learn a piece o f prose o r poetry by heart The .

initial steps are exactly the same — the language has

to be known and it is then a question o f memory
, ,

and memory alone Who would think of learning .

poetry by heart by the process o f repeating it aloud

7 2 TH E TEACH I N G O F TH E P IAN O

a hundred or more times ? Y e t this is what was

formerly done in the case Of music .

S ixty years ago no girl was considered educated

who could not play the piano a little S ince then .

a reaction has begun to set in The standard of .

p laying has gone up to such a degree that parent s

are Often heard t o say that their child is not musical
enough for it t o be worth while t o teach it an
,

instrument This is a pity Music i s used so much

. .

in o u r daily life that we cannot do without o u r

’
average performers The soldier marches best .

to a tune the sailor heaves h i s ancho r t o a song

, ,

the ritual Of all forms o f religion needs the aid O f

music & we need it not only in the pageantry o f o u r
,

processions but in the solemn crises O f life and death

,
.

F o r these purposes artists Of the first rank are not

necessary .

Every child however apparently unmusical

, ,

should be given i t s chance at any rate up to the ,

age Of twelve years During this time the stress .

,

Should be placed f o r the unmusical child not s o

, ,

much o n perfection Of technique but o n the ability ,

of playing easy pieces really well and t o read at ,

sight such things as duets song accompaniments & c , , .

If in addition the children have j oined an ear

, ,

training class they will at any rate be intelligent

, , ,

’
listeners for the rest o f their lives t o other people s
playing .

For all children Sight reading should form part, ,

n o t only o f every lesson but o f every day s practice

’
.
,

Many books f o r Sight rea di ng have been publi shed ,

well g raded some of them beginning with little

,
 TH E TEACH I N G O F TH E P I AN O 73

pieces in the treble clef only and going on t o a d ,

v a n c e d tests . The follo w ing are a few selected ,

fr om many other excellent ones

S ch afer (3 vols published by A u ge n e r)
.
, .

Hilliard (5 vols published by Weekes )

.
, .

S o m e rve ll (2 v o lS published by A u ge ne r and

.
,

Weekes respectively ) .

Taylor (1 v o l publishe d by B osworth )

.
, .

A s a child will need more than o n e such book in

the c ourse of her study and as she cannot play the ,

same test twice a plan has been made in some

,

schools for the music t o be sold second hand from -

one pupil t o another through the medium o f ,

a mistress in the same way in which ordinary

,

school books are sometimes passed on This .

reduces the expense o f constantly having t o buy

new books fo r sight reading A nother plan is to .

establish a lending library each child t o pay 2 d ,

.

o r 3 d a term
. .

‘
I n the teaching o f pieces music mistresses should ’

bear in mind that children must from time to time , ,

revise those which they have finished N othing is .

more irritating to a parent than to be told by a child

’
that it has nothing t o play t o a V isitor The .

mistress who is anxious t o get a pupil on as quickly

as possible often overlooks this point and an ,

ent irely wrong impression is given Of the c hi ld s ’

progress t o the parent .

We now come to the vexed question of the

interpretation o f music by children A n interesting .

point can be noted about the practice of the early

classical composers They & were accustomed t o
.
74 TH E TEACH I N G O F THE P IAN O
give the minimum am o unt Of indication as to tempo
and gene r al detail fo r the performance of their
works .

A nd to what con c lusion does this lea d us S urely

this— that these giants in music recognized the
necessity for eve r y performer of their works t o
express them se lves through the music subj ect t o ,

the broad conditions laid down by the compose r .

A S Hegel said & Music is the most subj ective O f

all arts A nd is it not true that it is this const ant
.
’

necessity f o r personal interpretation s o strongly felt ,

by the maj ority o f artists whi c h gives the permanent

,

interest t o music
We say by the maj ority o f artists for now
,

and then we meet an artist who seems t o have

strayed from the path Of beauty and w ho is devoting ,

his energies t o an ascetic determination to keep

alive o n e particular interpretation o f a composer s ’ ‘

work o r works & who di ctates these interpretations

,

to his pupils and who talks of other artists who fee l

,

the bounden duty Of self expression through the -

said works as outsiders and n o t in the cult

S uch musicians do not appear t o se e that such an
‘
attitude is idolatry pure and simple They have .

not pondered the well known anecdote o f Brahms

-
,

who when asked by a Singer whether his i nt e rp re

,

‘
t a f ion Of o n e o f his songs was the right one
answered & I t is on e o f the many hundred possible
interpretations .
’

A word must n o w be said on the organization

Of instrumental work in the school I t is important .

that this should be in the hands o f on e person who ,

76 TH E TEACH I N G O F THE P I AN O
do themselves j ustice but give pleasure t o their
,

listeners
.

P ieces played at such recitals Should invariably

be by heart The nervous pupil may possibly break
.

down at her first appearance but S h e will be quickly

,

succeeded by a more confident player the little ,

V ictim of nerves will be soon forgotten and the ,

experience gained in this way i s invaluable .

Before a recital a rehearsal should be held in the

same room in which the recital is t o take place .

Few people seem t o realize the immense difference

made to children by a change Of environment at
such a time The pupil who will play her piece
.

o n the piano without one mistake t o her mistress ,

and in the room t o which She is used will often be ,

troubled at playing it o n another piano and in ,

another room .

A child was once known t o break down in an

evening recital and when asked the reason said &
, ,

I have never played that piece before with a candle

near me and I didn t like the Shadows o n the piano
,
’
.
’

This sort O f remark gives a real insight into the

child mind .

A nother small point may be mentioned In the .

lessons j ust before a recital the mistress should go

t o the end o f the room in which the lesson is given ,

while the child i s playi n g her recital piece in order

'

that her supporting presence near the child may not

be missed at the recital .

The recital will probably be followed by some

form of reception by the school authorities of the
parents Of the pupils N o teacher Should miss this
.
 TH E TEAC H I N G O F TH E P I AN O 77

Opportunity of getting t o know the parents of her

pupils A friendly talk over the progress o r lack
.
,

of progress o f a child will often result in sympathetic

help being given at home and in any c ase the , , ,

teacher will probably learn something about the

character and home environment o f t he child which
will help her in her work .

P artly owing to lack of time and partly because ,

s ome pieces will not be ready a certain number o f ,

childr en will not be able to play at the school recital .

S uch children should be gathe r ed together at the

end of the term and should play t o the mistress who
,

organizes the work I n this way they too will gain .

experience and a little focus will have been made

,

for their work .

We must add on e final suggestion Each music .

mistress Should keep a register in which She notes ,

not only the names o f her pupils the times of their ,

lessons absences late arrivals & c but an exact

, , ,
.
,

list o f all the work done by them with dates This ,

.

is invaluable n o t only for gauging their progress

, ,

but as a means O f quickly ascertaining their work in

musical literature I t is alas & a day of examina.
,

tions and with the many little bo oks of studies and

,

pieces which have to be go t up for outside examina

tions there is a serious fear o f the syste matic educa
tion of a child in classical musical literature being
interrupted o r at any rate put on one side for a
, , ,

time S u c h a b o o k makes it possible f o r the mistress

.

t o keep a definite scheme o f work in view for each

pupil and the busier the mistress the more She will
, ,

need some such aid to her memory .

78 THE TEACH I N G O F THE PI AN O
The pupil should also keep a register in
,

sh e notes the exact amo unt of time spent daily in

practising and the way i n w hi ch she divides it

, .

This book should be brought t o each music lesson ,

and should also be shown t o the supervising mistress

at the end of each te r m
.
 C H A PTE R &IV

S U G G E S TI O N S TO S TUDENT S O N LEAVI N G
A TRAI N I N G D EPA RTM EN T
IN finishing a c ourse of training alon g the lines
we have been c onsidering it is well t o take a bird s
’

eye view of what has been done .

I n all c ommunal wo r k the results fall roughly

unde r two heads
1
. The getting o f new ideas an d Of n e w ways of
,

p r esenting o ld ideas .

2
. The development of character due t o the ,

mixing with fellow stude nts and with th o se who

a r e dire c ting the w or k .

S o far as the actual work is concerne d st r ess has ,

been laid on the following

1
. The necessity o f consi d ering music as a langua g e .

2
. Various methods for teaching in accordance
with this idea .

3 The principle of the inclusion of the work in

.

the r egular curricul um of scho o l s with class treat

,

ment .

In the short spa c e o f o ne yea r which is all that

,

can be g ene r ally spa r e d by the student it is i m p os ,

sible fo r he r t o r ealize the full bearing o f all that h as

been done I t is only when we see such work in
.

perspective afte r the lapse of a little time when it

, ,

has been possible t o work out at leisu r e s o me o f the

80 S UGGE S TI O N S T O S TU D ENT S
practical points involved that we c a n perceive all ,

the ground covered .

Many students have experienced considerable

di fficulty at first in doing themselves what they
have seen chil dren do who have been trained along ,

these lines i e t o write down two three or four

, . .

pa rt exercises in dictation t o transpose at sight , ,

t o extemporize without hesitation at the piano & c , .

The feeling o f working against time of examinations ,

t o be passed o f discouragement at apparently Sl ow

,

progress has possibly produced a state of mental

,

indigestion and the only cure fo r this is Time the

, ,

universal doctor .

The student is now at the point of entering a new

sphere of work The instrument has been sharpened
. .

H ow is the application t o be directed A word o f

warning is necessary The young and enthusiastic .

’
teacher fresh from the inspiration o f a year s work
,

with those interested in her devel opment is too ,

often apt to be over rigid in enforcing a new pre -

s e n t m e n t o f i deas .

This way or no way,

is her c ry .

N ow all sound educational work must possess an

intrinsic quality o f pliability it must grow expand , ,

and be capable of development in a hundred ways .

S mall points O f method must be adj usted t o the

particular class a n d pupil and a generous recognition ,

o f the useful parts o f other people s methods wi ll ’

be the surest way o f obtaining recognition o f our

_

o w n ideals . P rovided a firm attitude be maintained

o n essentials it is Often possible to compromise o n
,

mino r details A bove all an open mind must be

.
,
 LEA VI N G A T RAI N I N G D EPA RTMEN T 81

preserved in the presence o f advice however i n e x,

p e ri e n c ed
. Many a young teacher has f ailed in her
first post bec ause sh e has given the impression t o
those in authority that there is o n e and o n e only, ,

way in which she can do her work— o n e and o n e ,

only possible scheme o f division of classes and hours

,

fo r lessons .

A n a r range ment far short o f the ideal must often

be accepted with a courteous protest but it will
, ,

assuredly be modified later by the authorities when

the teacher has w o n confidence by arousing the
inte r est and enthusiasm of the pupils and by showing
,

good results from the lessons .

Has not every new presentment o f every subj ect

in the school curricul um been greeted w ith the same
chorus of depreciation at first Why should music ,

the latest ar rived o f the subj ects o n the regula r

cu rr iculum fare differently
,

R emember that the head o f a school has often t o

keep in mind n o t only his or her ideals in education
, ,

but the wishes o f a governing body and o f the

parents .

A Short demonstration of work done under i m

perfect conditions will often throw a flood o f light
o n the aims of an enthusiastic teacher who has been ,

struggling in di fficult surroundings I had n o idea

.

you were doing all thi s with the children has been
the admiring comment o f more than one forme r
unsympathetic critic and conditions are at on c e
,

altered in a generous spirit .

A bove all the young teacher must r emember

,

that it is of the first importance not t o lose her

82 S U G GE S TI O N S T O S TUDENT S
enthusiasm fo r the w o rk S he must keep he r self up
.

t o date by being in touch with general musical life

outside her immediate circle S he should belong to .

a musical society an d take every opportunity o f

,

attending lectures & c S he should organize musical

, .

clubs and meetings among her pupils and encourage ,

a healthy attitude o f kindly criti c ism .

A n d finally sh e must be always working at some

, ,

thin g to do with her own music for directly she ,

ceases t o put herself from time t o time in the atti

, ,

tude o f the learner S h e will cease t o be a sympathetic

,

and stimulating teacher .

It is a good plan t o keep a musi c al diary in which ,

our own progress and that o f ou r pupils is recorded ,

t ogether with n o tes on cu rr ent musical events

concerts attended an d so on S uch a reco r d is most
,
.

useful fo r reference and for encouragement in dark

,

hou r s when it seems imp o ssible to re establish a los t

,
-

sense of proportion .