LK^SONS IX (JIIEKK. 



229 



the foundation-note of koy- relationship, which we call DOH, had 



before been a low sound of the voice, and at the bottom of the 



of piti-li," now that thin governor of key-n l:itionhip 



H to bo at i itch of voice, it is necessary that it 



Hh'uilil In- placed higher on the staff. 



r student states his difficulty thus : " The key- 

 note of one piece not being always the same [in pitch] as that 

 of another, wo are not able to recognise, with the sol-fa 

 -\ ii.iM.- -. tlio ame sounds [in pitch] which wo sing to them in 

 utlnT pieces. What I would ask, then, is, whether we are 



- to sing the same sounds [in pitch] to each syllable, or 

 iiicri'ly to gnosa the sound of the syllable by its position in 



u to that immediately preceding :"' Decidedly, you are 

 not to sing the sol-fa syllables to the same pitch-sounds in one 

 tune which they had in a previous tune, unless the key-note 

 (DOH) is the same pitch in both. For we nse the syllables 

 to represent, to mind and ear, the key-relationship of notes. 

 And wo use the well-known letters c 1 , B, A, a, F, E, D, to repre- 

 sent their absolute pitch. We hope presently to show that this 

 practice of ours is both the oldest and the best. But do not 

 lot our friends suppose that upon any of the common plans of 

 solfa-ing they can associate a distinct idea of pitch with each 

 place on the staff. Take, for instance, the first place below the 

 staff. That place may be filled by any one of three perfectly 

 distinct sounds, by D, by D sharp, or by D flat. Now you may 

 call these three sounds by the same name RAY, for instance 

 but they are three most distinguishable sounds still. Your 

 syllable RAY, then, cannot possibly represent a distinct idea of 

 pitch. It can only stand for an indistinct, or, at best, a three- 

 fold idea ! Hence the indecision of voice, common among those 

 who pursue the fixed method of solfa-ing. 



3. Neither let our friends imagine that, even if they could 

 establish in their minds a fixed association of absolute pitch 

 with each place on the staff, in learning to sing at sight, it is 

 the attainment chiefly to be sought. For, undoubtedly, we 

 learn to recognise a note by the effect which it produces on the 

 mind ; and, as was amply proved in our eighth lesson, the 

 effect of a note on the mind arises not, except in a small degree, 

 from its pitch, bnt chiefly from its key-relationship. Some of 

 our readers will understand these remarks better when they 

 see this same phrase (essentially the same, though placed at 

 different heights in pitch) in the old notation. They will per- 

 ceive that the sol-fa syllables, which, having taken their pitch 

 from the key-note, represent thenceforth only relationship of 

 sound, remain the same in all three cases. And why should 

 they not ? for the tune is essentially the same ! 



KEY F. 



KEY D. 



I :. I r :- I 



: d I s : d 1 I m : S 

 4. Once more, let not our friends suppose, with the 

 student last named, that it is necessary to " guess " at the 

 sound of the notes, because DOH is placed wherever the key- 

 note is. If your DOH were fixed, and were nothing but another 

 name for the pitch-note c, as in the French method of solfa-ing 

 then, indeed, yon would have to " guess " at the sound of the 

 notes. For instance, when yon saw RAY, you would have to 

 " guess " which of the three RAYS (above-named) it was. Bui 

 if, on the English plan of solfa-ing, you make DOH the key 

 note, then RAY is always at one and the same interval from 

 BOH, and always produces a corresponding mental effect. And 

 as it is b}i this relative position and mental effect that notes are 

 most easily recognised and most correctly sung, you will soon 

 learn to know and to strike the right sound with a decision anc 



accuracy perfectly unattainable on the other plan, and without 

 any " guessing " at all. As Mr. Lowell Mason says, " Onrn 

 would bo more properly called the immovable DOH," for it i 

 mmovably fixed as the key-note. The other DOH is at all the 

 parts of the scale by turns. 



5. We are anxious to carry the perfect satisfaction of our 

 pupils along with us, and must therefore step aside a moment 

 onger to prove to them, once for all, that the method of solfa- 

 mg with " the movable DOH " especially LH dintingoinhcd 

 'mm the French method imported by Mr. Hullab is the oldett, 

 is supported by the best authority, and is in itself the best for 

 educational purposes. It seems generally admitted that Guido 

 Arotino, the monk of Arezzo, who in the eleventh century 

 invented both the staff and the use of the sol-fa syllables, 

 applied the syllable UT (for which DOH has since been sub- 

 stituted) to the key-note. (See the Musical Histories of 

 Dr. Burney and Sir J. Hawkins.) Morley, the first English 

 writer on music, adopts the same principle of measuring 

 interval from the key-noto. (See his " Introduction to Practical 

 Music," published A.D. l97.) We have an old English black- 

 letter Bible, dated A.D. 1629, with Sternhold and Hopkins' 

 Metrical Psalms appended. Here we find the tunes printer" 

 over the psalms, and the initial letters of the sol-fa syllables, at 

 then used, printed on the staff close to the head of the notes - f 

 and, notwithstanding the curious perplexity which arises from 

 the want of the seventh syllable 81 (which we call TK, to dis- 

 tinguish its initial letter from BOH), it is perfectly clear that 

 the syllables move with the key-note. The following advertise- 

 ment " to the Header " is prefixed to the book : " Thou shalt 

 vnderstand (Gentle Reader) that I bane (for the helpe of those 

 that are desirous to learne to sing) caused a new print of note 

 to bee made, with letters to bee ioyned to enery note : Whereby 

 thou maist know how to call enory note by his right name, so 

 that with a very little diligence (as thou art taught, in the 

 introduction printed heretofore in the psalms) thou moist the 

 more easily, by the viewing of these letters, come to the know- 

 ledge of perfect solefaying : whereby thou mayest sing the 

 psalms the more speedily and easily. The letters be these, 

 v for vr, R for RE, M for MY, F for FA, s for SOL, L for LAH. 

 Thus when you see any letter ioyned by the note, yon may easily 

 call him by his right name." This old book, circulated and 

 used with the Bible itself throughout the kingdom more than 

 200 years ago, contains, in fact, a " Tonic Sol-fa Notation ! " 

 The perplexity above mentioned led to the common nse through- 

 out England of what was called the Tetrachordal System, in 

 which the notes of the scale are thus named : Fa, Sol, La, Fa, 

 Sol, La, Mi, Fa. Here the syllable FA is used for the key-note, 

 and also for the fourth of course moving with them. " Look 

 well to your FAS, my boy," is the instruction which many an 

 old sight-singer, now living, received from his father or teacher. 

 This, also, is a tonic (or key-note) method of solfa-ing. The 

 far-famed French writer Rousseau gives strong and most satis- 

 factory reasons for the " movable UT or DOH." (See hia 

 "Dictionary of Music," vol. ii., p. 223.) 



LESSONS IN GREEK. VIII. 



THE THIRD DECLENSION (continued). 



THE adjectives which follow the nouns of the Third Declension 

 given in the last lesson, are 1, o, f} avarcap, to airarop, father- 

 less, a/j.rrrwp, a^rrrop, motherless, the genitive ends in opos -. 2, 

 6, r> app-rjy, TO apptv, manly ; gen. apptvos : 3, adjectives in uv (m. 

 and f .) and ov (n.), as 6 77 f t/Sai/iwf, TO euSoi.uov, happy ; and the 

 comparatives in tov, ov, iuv, tov. These comparatives, after 

 dropping the t>, suffer contraction in the accusative singular, and 

 in the nominative, accusative, and vocative plural. The voca- 

 tive is the same as the nominative neuter. 



Nom. 

 Gen. 

 Dat. 

 Ace. 



Happy- 



6, i} TO 



tvSa.tfj.ovot. 



Singular. 



Mart hositlr. Greater. 



&, TJ TO 0, 7J T 



"- M'C oxa A"C<" f - 



Vbc. tv&tunov. 



x01w. 



