14 (5 



THE 



EJDUCATO& 



mistakes. The pupil who has to teach himself, with only an 

 occasional pattern from some voice or instrument, must make 

 himself thoroughly perfect in pointing on the modulator, and 

 singing those pieces in which he has had the advantage of a 

 pattern, and they will help him to the rest. The first sign of 

 intelligence in a learner is that he know? when he sings wrong. 

 Let him always, in that case, go back to the key-note and 

 chord, and " try again." Many persons have taught themselves 

 to sing in this way, often making mistakes of which they were 

 ignorant for a while, but discovering their error and the means 

 of correcting it, in their efforts to sing some following exercise. 

 A teacher always by our side will, doubtless, save us from many 

 misunderstandings and blunders ; but he who cannot enjoy this 

 advantage, may work on sturdily and hopefully without one. 

 Let him remember that his first business is to use the modulator 

 so constantly that it shall become "printed'' in the eye of 

 memory. 



This introduces as our next topic that simple way of writing 

 vocal music which we intend to use r,s the companion and inter- 

 preter of the more difficult and complex " old notation," of 

 which we hope finally to make you master. It is the invention 

 of an excellent and intelligent lady- Miss Glover, of Norwich 

 and has been modified and adapted to popular purposes by Mr. 

 Curwen, in his "Grammar of Vocal Music," "Tonic-Solfa 

 Edition of the People's Service of Song," and other works^. It 

 consists of the first letters of the solfa syllables, which you have 

 used in learning a tune from the modulator, liritten doivn. 

 And if you have used the modulator till you ar$ 'able to carry 

 one " in your mind's eye," this simple notation answers the 

 purpose of pointing out the notes on that mental scale. But lot 

 it be remembered that this notation sliouid never be use* < 

 from a perfect modulator eitlier on paper before the learner, or 

 clearly seen in his mind's eye. When we remember that to 

 secure this mental modulator it is only necessary to learn the 

 proper position of seven notes, the effort does not appear a 

 difficult one ; yet, so inrooted is laziness in some people, that we 

 have found many who go on using tlie solfa syllables to no advan- 

 tage for years, without taking the trouble to loam this little ten 

 minutes' lesson, which would make those syllables, in connection 

 with the power of association just described, clear interpreters 

 of music to them. You will perceivo, then, that these notes of 

 the new notation do not appear to our own pupils as they would 

 to others, only on one horizontal line, but seem, as they sing 

 them, to rise or fall to their proper places in the scale. Some 

 persons have objected to this marking of the notes by the solfa 

 syllables, saying, " If the old notation must bo learnt at last, 

 however difficult it is, because it contains all the stores of clas- 

 sical music, then why not begin with that at once P why teach 

 two notations?" First, because there is reany no trouble in 

 teaching the solfa notation ; we have seen children in an infants' 

 school use it before they had learnt to read. It was to them, 

 as we have described it, simply the letters from the modulator 

 " written down." Secondly, because the old notation presents 

 such difficulties to the learner as to make it impossible to teach 

 music in any short time by its means alone. Many of the best 

 systems inako use of some simpler notation to interpret the old. 

 Mr. Gall, of Edinburgh, Mr. "Waite, and some others, make use 

 of a notation by figures. Dr. Bryce, of Belfast, uses both the 

 figures and the solfa syllables. And we have lately learnt that 

 a sort of solfa notation Yras printed under the notes with some 

 of the very earliest English psalm-tunes. It consisted of the 

 initial letters of the solfa syllables placed under the notes much 

 as we shall use them. Thirdly, because the use of some -such 

 new notation is the quickest and most perfect means of gaining 

 a real command of the old. Already, by the method which we 

 are now developing, many children in day-schools, in addition to 

 a large number of adults, have learnt to sing " at sight " from 

 tJie old notation. 



It is of small consequence what syllables are used for this 

 purpose. A great variety have been used at different times. 

 v\ a have chosen those given above because they are best known, 

 oaly changing SE into TE for the sake of having a different 

 initial letter from Son. We have given the English spelling of 

 the syllables instead of the Italian, as we have nothing to do 

 with the Italian language in these lessons. 



It may be easily noticed that, at certain distances throughout 

 a tune, the voice is delivered with increased distinctness and 

 force Tlii? combixiation of distinctness and force is called 



" accent." Close observation will enable you to distinguish 

 three degrees of accent thus produced the louder (or stronger), 

 the softer (or weaker), and the medium. Listen to a well-.-nnir 

 tune more closely still, and you will find that the accents recur 

 in regular order, and at equal distances of time. Take care to 

 verify all these assertions' by singing some well-known tune 

 yourself, or by listening to another. Then remeiubcr that the 

 distance of time from one of the louder accents to the next ir, 

 called a MEASURE. (It is sometimes inaccurately called a BAB.) 

 The distance of time between any accent and the next is called 

 an ALIQUOT, or equal part, of the measure. It may also bo 

 called a " pulse " of the voice. There arc four sorts of MEASURE 

 in common use. 



Tiie BINARY or TWO-PULSE MEASURE contains two aliquote, 

 one having the louder and the other the softer accent. We use 

 an upright bar to represent the louder accent, and two dots to 

 represent the softer. The binary measure may, therefore, bo 

 represented thus : 



etc., or 



etc. 



The TRINARY or THREE-PULSE MEASURE contains three 

 alicjuots, one of which has the louder and the other two tho 

 softer accent. It may be represented thus : 



etc., or 



etc. 



The QuA'r-KRNAKY or FOUR-PULSE MEASURE is formed from 



the binary by changing every alternate louder accent into one 



i,m force. \Ve represent the medium accent by a shorter 



bar than that used for the louder accent. This measure may, 



then, be thus represented : 



The SENARY or SIX-PULSE MEASUILK is formed from tha 

 trinary measure by changing every alternate louder accent into 

 a medium accent, and may be represented thus : 



| : : 



etc. 



You perceive that these measures often begin on the softer 

 or medium accents, but the imperfect measure is always com- 

 pleted at the end of a tune. Much of the delicacy and expres- 

 siveness of music depends on this proper recurrence of accent, 

 sometimes called rhythm. By neglect of this a properly beautiful 

 tune is often made dull, heavy, and unmeaning, while careful 

 attention to it will give beauty to some of the plainest molodies. 

 Many of our most popular tun-es owe their effect almost entirely 

 to rhythm, and it forms nearly the sole power of such instru- 

 ments as the drum and the tambourine. It makes even the 

 regulated step of the soldier and the dancer akin to music. The 

 philosophy o-f the origin of our sense of rhythm is treated very 

 admirably in the appendix to Dr. Bryce's " Rational Introduc- 

 tion to Music." Ho shows its connection with the pulsations of 

 the heart, which are multiples of the respirations of the lungs. 

 " About the commencement of each expiration of the breath, 

 there is one moment at which the effort, whether muscular or 

 elastic, is stronger than at any other time in the whole breathing. 

 This is most apparent in a person sleeping soundly, when the 

 mechanism of the body, not being controlled by the mind, follows 

 unceremoniously its own laws. . . . Between the expiration 

 and inspiration there seems to intervene a paiise, during which 

 the lungs are at rest ; but during or immediately after great 

 bodily exertion- running for example this pause disappears, 

 and expiration succeeds inspiration immediately, or with a very 

 brief period of rest. The same happens when the breathing is 

 impeded by disease. . . . Hence, a respiration may be divided 

 into two (Binary) or into three (Trinary) parts. If into three 

 parts they will be 1st, expiration; 2nd, pause; 3rd, inspiration. 

 If into two 1st, expiration ; 2nd, inspiration." 



Rhythm in its fullest sense has a wider range and more deli- 

 cate expression than can be given within the boundaries of a 

 single measure. General Thompson (Westminster Review, Oct., 

 1832), very beaiitifully describes it thus : ' Whoever has been 

 rocked in a boat upon what in plain prose mny be called ' the 

 ocean waves ' will have been conscious that besides the petty 

 furro'.v which lifted its head and stern alternately in a time 

 approaching to the vibrations of a church pendulum, there was 



