718 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS — SECTION J. 



other words, the teaching of music should be carried out on parallel 

 lines to the teaching of English. First the child is taught to speak 

 distinctly and to pronounce correctly ; then he learns the meaning 

 of the alphabetical symbols, printed and written, and is made to 

 translate them into their vocal equivalents with intelligence and 

 expression ; and of course the extracts which are given to him to 

 read are chosen so as to cultivate his literary taste and to lead him 

 to admire only what is good in literature ; and finally he learns 

 grammar, so that he may be able both to express himself correctly 

 and to detect mistakes in the expression of others. Just in the 

 same way and equally early he should learn to use his singing voice, 

 to read and express vocally exercises carefully selected for their 

 musical purity and taste ; and then to appreciate the simpler laws 

 of their composition, and to express himself in accordance with 

 them. 



In both cases the most important thirg is learning to read, and 

 it ought to be as disgi'aceful not to be able to sing a part at sight 

 as not to be able to read intelligently a paragi'aph from the daily 

 paper. The ordinary musical notation should be employed, not 

 the tonic sol-fa or any other supposed labour-saving contrivance, 

 for the same reason that we teach the ordinary alphabet as the 

 foundation of English reading, because it is only through it that 

 the great mass of literature is made accessible to the child. Music 

 has a vast and glorious literature, only a very small part of which 

 has been translated into sof-fa notation ; and it is only through a 

 knowledge of the ordinary notation that it becomes available. 

 The ordinary notation is much easier to learn than the alphabet ; 

 with two hours good teaching a w^eek I am confident that any child 

 of ordinary intelligence would master it in a year, and be able to sing 

 anything of an ordinary character at sight. The greatest danger to 

 be avoided by the teacher is that the children should get into the 

 way of singing by ear and imitation. They pick up a melody almost 

 at once, and it the teacher is not careful, they will catch the notes 

 by ear from him and not from the printed symbols. This is the 

 peril of class singing ; a few children will sing from the notes, but 

 the rest will simply follow them by ear. Therefore each child must 

 be made to sing alone and to read exercises which have not been 

 sung to him ; new things must be constantly introduced, instead of 

 frequently repeating those which are already known. The teacher 

 must never forget that he is not a conductor endeavouring to get a 

 perfect performance of a few- pieces, but an instructor whose object 

 is to teach the children to read the notes before them — not to recite, 

 however perfectly, from memory and imitation. Imagine the 

 futility of trying to teach children to read by the constant repetition 

 in class-recitation of half-a-dozen well-known short poems, after 

 the fashion with which some of our girls' schools' speech days have 

 made us sadly familiar ; yet this is the method employed for teach- 

 ing singing in many, if not most, of our schools. A few part songs 

 or school songs are sung over and over again until they are known 

 by ear to all the members of the class, and they are then performed 



