Musical Intonation and Temperament. 513 



The mind of a performer is aided in conceiving the pitch he wants, 

 by one or more of the following means : First, his knowledge of ab- 

 stract pitch. Second, his knowledge of the key in which he is singing 

 or playing. Third, harmony with other performers. Fourth and 

 last, by the interval between his last pitch and the required one. 



These different means are of very different degrees of utility, and 

 it is of no small consequence on which the vocal performer is taught to 

 rely. The worst of all these I take first. It is going by the interval. 

 It is difficult to believe sensible teachers think they teach their pupils 

 to read in this way, but long unmelodious lessons of intervals, intended 

 for daily practice, in books of high repute, convince us that we cannot 

 be mistaken. Now, let the performer make the following perfect in. 

 tervals : up a IVth, down a 3rd, up a IVth, down a Vth, and he 

 will find himself just comma below where he started, as may be seen 

 by compounding the intervals. The notes sung may be Do, Fa, Re, 

 Sol, Co. This little example is sufficient to show that intonation by 

 intervals is a mere chimera. 



The other three modes must be used conjointly by every singer. 

 The third, (by harmony with other performers,) is the way the pupil 

 begins learning to sing — in unison or octave to the teacher. As a main 

 reliance in ordinary execution its effect is very bad. It soon renders 

 the performer hopelessly dependent. The pupil must early be taught — 

 not to rely on it, but to become as independent of it as possible. It is 

 only in the higher stage of his education that he is again to resort to 

 it, but in a different manner, to correct minute errors in pitch, which 

 can be corrected in no other way. For this purpose quartettes of per- 

 formers furnish a ready and invaluable aid ; but the best possible me- 

 thod is that of Viols accurately played. 



The second method, (by the scale of the key,) is the main reliance 

 of our best common singers, as that by harmony is of our worst. It 

 makes an independent singer of plain music. But modulations of the 

 key often throw him out — he shrinks from music plentifully sprinkled 

 with accidentals. Sometimes the key changes without any acciden- 

 tal in his part ; here he mentally applies names to the notes, indicating 

 their place in the scale he has left — he feels he is not singing the de- 

 cree he is calling, and breaks down in the middle of a passage that 

 looks easy enough, utterly at a loss why he cannot go on. The pro- 

 gress of music is continually introducing more elaborate harmonies, 

 by a free use of accidentals — hence this defective education will prove 



