Popular Science Monthly 



8*:5 



Teaching Music by the 

 Picture Method 



ONCE in the duNs ahnost bcNuiid recall, 

 learning the alphabet was the first step 

 toward a possible college presidency; but 

 now children are taught to read at the 

 \cry beginning of their school work. They 

 learn to visualize phrases and sentences 

 l)y associating pictures with groups of 

 words, and they get through se\x'ral story 

 books in the course of a year instead of one 

 little primer. 



The same sentence-word-phonetic meth- 

 od is now being applied in teaching 

 rudimentary music. An electrical appara- 

 tus called a "music optigraph" has been 

 invented for the purpose by B. F. Miessner. 

 It consists of a small keyboard, the keys 

 of which are connected V\ith small in- 

 candescent bulbs behind a musical staff 

 printed on glass, on which any combination 

 of notes from two to five in number, within 

 the range of an octave and a half, may be 

 flashed before a student. Thus, whole 

 phrases are visualized at once, instead of 

 being pieced together note by note; just 

 as, for instance, the picture of a tree and 

 the words "This is a green tree" are visual- 

 ized by the child learning a language by 

 the modern method. 



The range of the instrument is from 

 middle "C" to the "G" above, and musical 

 phrases are flashed by pressing lettered 

 push-buttons corresponding with the notes 

 desired. The staff lines arc printed on dull, 

 semi-transparent sheets of pyrolin or cellu- 

 loid, behind which are the flashlights. The 

 notes appear on the lines and spaces of 

 this staff as solid ovals of soft red light 

 when the buttons are 

 pressed. The instrument is 

 self-contain- 

 ed in a ma- 

 hogany case 

 resembling a 

 suit - case. 

 The upper 

 part contains 

 the staff, 

 lights, etc., 

 and the lower 

 part the 

 push-but- 

 tons, batter- 

 ies and pitch 

 pipes. The 

 flashligh t 

 type of bat- 

 terj' is used. 



light is 

 garages, 



The electric optigraph whioli teaches the elements of music 

 by causing the pupil to visualize whole phrases at once 



The lamp has thirty 

 feet of cord wound 

 around a reel. A 

 swivel enables 

 it to be extended 

 in any direction 



An Extension Reel for 

 Electric Lamps 



WHEREVER an extension 

 needed or desired, as in 

 blacksmith shops, factories, stores or even 

 in the amateur workshop, this automatic 

 reel for the cord will be appreciated. It 

 is equipped with thirty feet of lamp-cord 

 and is secured to the wall or any other 

 convenient place through the arms of a 

 swiv'el-joint. 



This swivel-joint is a special feature 

 of the device. It enables the man to walk 

 in any direction with the 

 light. An 

 automatic 

 lock is pro- 

 Aided to hold 

 the lamp any 

 sj)ccified dis- 

 tance from 

 the reel. 



When it is 

 desired to 

 sliorten the 

 cord, a slight 

 forward pull 

 unlocks the 

 ratchet, the 

 reel revolves 

 and windsthe 

 cord back. 



