CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



of those who have received what purports to be a 

 thorough musical education at school can read 

 even a common hymn tune at sight; while of those 

 even who can read at sight, but a small proportion 

 will have any idea what a piece of music sounds 

 like by merely looking at it without playing or 

 singing it over. 



A singer must have some standard of absolute 

 pitch given him to commence with, but after that, 



all he requires to know is the relative posi- 

 tion of the notes he has to sing. To give this 

 necessary information is the principal object of 

 Mr Curwen's Tonic Sol-fa notation. In it every 

 note is represented by the initial letter of its 

 sol-fa name, that sol-fa name denning at once its 

 position relative to the key-note of the music. 

 Here, for example, is God save the Queen, in Mr 

 Curwen's notation : 



KEY A. 

 d : d : 



tj : -.d : r | m : m : f | m :-.r : d | r : d : 



d : : 



s : s : s 



: m 



f : f : f | f :-. 



m ; f.m : r.d | m :-.f : s | l.s,f ;m : r | d : : 



Fig. 19. 



The full advantages of this notation are felt 

 just where the ordinary one becomes excessively 

 difficult namely, where a piece of music has gone 

 into a key very remote from the one indicated by 



its signature, or where modulations occur fre- 

 quently. Here is a phrase from Tannhanser, with 

 its translation into the sol-fa notation ; it speaks* 

 for itself. 



Key F| | : d i d . d : d . r | 



m., m : f . B i a . d : | 



Fig. 20. 



: B I . B I : d., r : m . m 



A change of key is represented by marking one 

 note with its sol-fa initials for both the original 

 and the altered key, so that it serves as a guide 

 in making the modulation ; after this doubly 

 marked note the initials are used as belonging to 

 the new key. The following would be the nota- 

 tion of a change from key C to key G, for in- 

 stance : 



d : 



The accent is denoted by suitable marks, a long 

 vertical line (a bar, in fact) for a strong accent, a 

 short one for a medium accent, and two dots 

 placed like a colon for a weak accent. The space 

 between two accent marks is called a pulse. A dot 

 divides a pulse into halves ; and a comma, into 

 quarters. The continuation of a note through 

 several pulses is denoted by horizontal lines ; and 

 a rest, by the pulse being left empty. Illustrations 

 of all these will be found in the examples we have 

 given. When a note is sharpened or flattened 

 without change of key, it is denoted by affixing the 

 letter e to its initial in the one case, and a in the 

 other, thus de stands for a note a semitone above 

 d, and ta for one a semitone below /. 



We have been able to watch many singing 

 classes taught on both notations, and have no 

 hesitation whatever in saying, that for teaching 

 vocal music, Mr Curwen's notation is incompar- 

 ably superior to the ordinary one. It has held its 

 own for more than twenty years now, and has 

 probably made as many singers in that time, in 

 our own country, as have been made by all other 

 agencies put together during the rest of the cen- 

 tury. The old musical notation, with all its defects, 

 is probably too widely known, and too deeply 

 rooted, to be superseded by Mr Curwen's ; but 



among those who value the spread of music 

 among our people more than the preservation 

 intact of any antiquated forms who, in fact, love 

 music for its own sake, and not for the sake of 

 its mere husk and shell Mr Curwen's method 

 and notation must find most hearty apprecia- 

 tion. 



HARMONY. 



The three most prominent elements in a musi- 

 cal composition are melody, harmony, and rhythm. 

 The first of these may be said to be a pleasing 

 succession of musical notes. We have already, in 

 speaking of the physical basis of music, shewn 

 that our choice of notes from which to construct 

 melody is to a certain extent limited. But the 

 actual construction of melody belongs to the com- 

 poser, and it would be impossible for us to enter 

 upon that subject here. We have incidentally, 

 also, said as much about musical rhythm (that is,, 

 the arrangement and recurrence of accents), as it is 

 necessary to say. It only remains, therefore, for us 

 to say a few words about harmony. Here we find 

 at the outset that two conflicting schools of theo- 

 rists exist, divided among themselves, into several 

 subdivisions, and pursuing a violent paper war- 

 fare, while the composers are all the time quietly 

 writing us beautiful music, utterly regardless of 

 any theories whatever. The older writers or* 

 harmony laid down endless rules, according to- 

 which alone the composer might express his ideas. 

 These rules were originally, no doubt, founded 

 upon the ear-experience of their authors, and were 

 intended to prohibit things that sounded ill, and 

 permit those that sounded well. They remained,, 

 however, petrified and changeless, while the ear 

 of musicians were always being educated to enj< 

 new harmonies and new progressions, and so 

 comes about that every great musician has broke 

 numberless rules, and has had his music cor 

 demned by the theorists accordingly. It has bee 

 accepted by the people notwithstanding ; and after ; 

 while, the theorists have come round and founde 



