LESSONS IN MUSIC. 



and to bo heard at the opening and at the close of a tune, is 

 quite sufficient to produce a true "minor" tune ; and that many 

 fine melodit'f, manifestly minor, are formed on this model, using 



Unary nutu* of tin- common scale (from LAH, to LAH) 

 both ascending and descending, and not requiring the aid of any 



i:il note. No one can doubt that the examples given 

 nor tunes, nor hesitate to allow that they are form- <1 < n 



piiuon Hculo, and are simply distinguished by their making 



)n>|.rr mmirnf ul note, predominate. Accordingly wo 

 Ihi'l Dr. Crotch describing his "ancient diatonic minor key'* 

 (which corresponds with our common scale when yon reckon 

 from LAH to LAH') as "the scale of the ancient Greek music, 

 :uul found in the oldest national tunes, in psalms and cathedral 

 ; " Dr. Bryce speaking of this as the " proper " formula 

 of minor tunes, in which are written " multitudes of exquisite 

 melodies, especially among the ancient national music of 

 litl'.'ivnt countries ; " and Dr. Mainzer maintaining that thin is 

 the only true and the only agreeable arrangement of notes for 

 such tunes. By foot, then, and by competent authority, the 

 COMMON SCALE with LAH predominating is declared sufficient 

 to produce a true minor tune. But still, it may be argued, are 

 not BAH and SB, the " sharp eixth and seventh " (reckoning 

 from LAH, as though it were the key-note), always used in tunes 

 of this kind (instead of FAH and SOH) when the music ascends? 

 Are they not, therefore, essential at least to every minor passage 

 in which the music ascends from its sixth or seventh note ? 

 Must we not necessarily suppose a distinct scale in which these 

 essential notes may find a place ? We deny the proposition, 

 and the conclusion falls, for 



Secondly, it appears that the neiv notes BAH and SB (the " sharp 

 sixth and seventh") are not essential even in. ascending passages, 

 and that the use of them is entirely arbitrary. Nothing can 

 prove this more clearly than the great discrepancy and disagree- 

 ment among the best authorities on this subject. If there hod 

 been any fixed usage, long established by the requirement of 

 good ears, and the example of the best composers, such opposite 

 statements of facts could not have existed. In reference to BAH 

 (the "sharp sixth") we find Dr. Callcott describing this note as 

 " accidental," but rendered necessary for the sake of avoiding 

 what he calls "the harsh chromatic interval," FAH SB, "from 

 F natural to G sharp ; " while M. Galin and M. Jeu de Berneval 

 refer to this very interval as a " constitutive interval of the 

 minor mode," full of " melancholy," " replete with anguish and 

 tears," and speak indignantly of those who would " cancel '* 

 the very interval which is most " characteristic " of the " minor 

 mode." Is it not evident from this, that the use of BAH is 

 arbitrary by some approved, by others disapproved ? In 

 reference to SE, Dr. Callcott declares that it is an " essential " 

 part of the " minor scale " in ascending, but not to be used in 

 descending. M. Galin and M. Jeu speak of SE as " invariable " 

 and essential both in ascending and in descending, and M. Jeu 

 gives examples of its use in descending. Schneider, in hia 

 " Elements of Harmony," maintains the same opinion. Mar- 

 purg declares that " this custom (of using BAH and SE) by no 

 means changes the essential nature of the tonality (key or mode 

 reckoning from LAH to LAH 1 ), and the two sharps which are 

 prefixed to the sixth and seventh degree are purely accidental." 

 Dr. Crotch says distinctly of both BAH and SB, " these altera- 

 tions are only occasional." Sir John Goss says, " The sixth and 

 seventh (FAH and SOH) are generally made accidentally major 

 in ascending." Dr. Bryce ascribes the introduction of these 

 notes to modern musicians, who prefer harmony to melody. 

 Dr. Mainzer says that there are a very large number of com- 

 positions "in which the leading note (SB) does not appear 

 at all in the minor keys, and this is the cose with many com- 

 posers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries." 

 Dr. Mainzer thus concludes : " Let any one sing the above 

 scales one after the other " (four varieties of the so-called " minor 

 scale"), "and assuredly he will not belong in discovering which 

 of the four is the most agreeable and natural, and most in the 

 character of the minor tonality (key). It is evident that the 

 scales with leading notes (SE), instead of being pleasing, are 

 disagreeable to the ear, and impracticable to the voice. The 

 absence of the loading note (SE), on the contrary, often gives to 

 the melody something majtstic and solemn. The Gregorian 

 chant, so remarkable for melodious beauties, affords many proofs 

 of this, and also the popular melodies of different countries, 

 especially those of Ireland and Scotland, so muah admired by 



the greatest musicians." Barely here is example and testimony 

 enough to prove thea* note* whether food or bad at le**t 

 non-essential and arbitrary. 



One question yet remain*. Should no* the scale on which 

 minor tune* are framed be (till treated as a distinct one, and 

 something more than the common scale need in a peculiar 

 manner \ To which we answer Yes, /*< it dtstfucf; 

 otherwise, why multiply difficulties and conceal the troth '; Bat 

 it dearly it not, in any particular, distinct. First, in reference 

 to the " character " or musical effect of the notes the most 

 important particular of all the notes of the so-called minor 

 scale correspond precisely with those of the common one 

 (reckoning from LAH to LAH'). Not a single note of the com- 

 mon scale changes its character when used in a minor tune. 

 LAH is still the *orrouful, TE the pitreing, FAB the awe-imtpirimy 

 note, etc., as before. Next, in reference to the exact intervals 

 between the notes they are precisely the same as tho*c of the 

 common scale (from LAH to LAH'), with only this peculiarity, 

 that the graver (flatter) position of the " variable note" BAT is 

 ordinarily uted in tunes of this character, whereas it is only 

 occasionally used in other tunes. Premising that from DOB to 

 DOH' is commonly called by musicians a major key (beginning 

 with a major or greater third, DOH MK), and that a minor key 

 beginning on a note in the position of our LAH would be called 

 its relative minor, let us quote the following testimonies to the 

 last point. General Thompson says, " The change to the 

 relative (or, as it would more properly be catted, the tynonytnotu) 

 minor reduces itself to avoiding the acute second of the old 

 key (r') and using only the grave (r'j." Dr. Crotch says, 

 " Some authors make it " (the first note of the principal minor 

 key) " the some as the note LAH of the relative major key vix, 

 A in the key of C, a minor tone*' (smaller tone of eight 

 degrees) " above a (SOH). In that case all the natural notes 

 excepting v (KAY) correspond with those of the major key of 

 C." Turning to his illustrative plate*, we find the scale of 

 minor tunes requiring the smaller tone (eight degrees) between 

 DOH BAT, and the larger tone (nine degrees) between RAT ME, 

 while other tunes usually require a larger tone between DOB 

 BAT and a smaller one between KAY ME. In fact, the variable 

 note assumes its grave position. But it sometimes does the 

 same in the common scale. Is this, then, a peculiarity sufficient 

 to establish a new scale ': Moreover, is it not natural to 

 suppose that the common scale, which is found to be essentially 

 the mutical scale of all nations, must hold a peculiar accordance 

 with the ear and sympathies of the human race ': and is it not 

 proper, therefore, to consider this as the f>ne scale, and every- 

 thing else that cannot establish a distinct and independent 

 character as but a modification or a peculiar use of itt It is 

 certain that great detriment must be done to the mind of our 

 pupils, and great hindrance given to their progress, if we first 

 cause them to study and practise our throry, of a new and self- 

 contradictory minor scale, and then leave them to discover that, 

 in rwM>tc itself, instead of the artificial difficulties they have so 

 laboriously mastered, there is only to be found tht common scale, 

 so used as to produce a peculiar eftct and the merely occasional, 

 non-essential, introduction of a new vote ! 



Sometimes in the course of a tune 

 the music takes the " minor " charac- 

 ter, introducing the new note BE, and 

 returns again to the ordinary use of 

 the common scale. Occasionally, too, 

 the music passes into the minor of the 

 SOH KEY, making a new note, a tonule 

 below MK, which (to distinguish it 

 from SB of the original key) wo call 

 RE ; and not nnfreqnently it enters 

 the " minor " of the FAH KEY, origi- 

 nating another note, a tonnle below 

 BAT (r'), which we call DE. The modu- 

 lator at the side will illustrate these 

 changes. 



Another " transition " into what is called the " minor of the 

 same tonic" (DOH becoming LAH) is more proper to "tem- 

 pered " musical instruments than to the unaided voice. Ton 

 may treat it as transition into the key of KB flat, or, retaining 

 the syllables of the original key, the new notes may be treated 

 as chromatic. Thus you will have the oddly-sounding notes 

 MA, LA, and TA. 



