534 CALLOTECHNICS. 



monly distinguished as tones and semitones ; the latter occurring 

 between the third and fourth, and the seventh and eighth notes, as 

 above given. It is worthy of remark, that the octave may be subdi- 

 vided into two equal and similar parts, of 4 notes each. 



2. The basis of modern Musical Notation, is the staff, consist- 

 ing of five parallel lines, and their intermediate spaces, on which the 

 notes, denoting the sounds, are written. (Plate XII.) Each line, and 

 space, corresponds to some one note of the diatonic scale, and con- 

 stitutes one degree of the staff. A few more degrees may be added 

 above and below, by means of short lines called legerlines. The 

 staff itself may also be made to express a higher, or a lower group 

 of notes, by means of characters called clefs. These are the bass, 

 or F clef; the treble, or G clef; and the tenor, or C clef; which last 

 is sometimes used, for the intermediate parts of the harmony. The 

 staves for those parts which are to be performed together, are con- 

 nected by a brace. All the degrees of the scale are named from the 

 first seven letters of the alphabet ; their order, in ascending, being 

 A, B, C, D, E, F, G ; and, in ascending still higher, they are 

 repeated in the same order ; so that all the degrees of the same name 

 are octaves to each other. The bass clef is usually placed on the 

 fourth line, which hence is called F ; and then the lowest line of the 

 bass is G : and the treble clef is commonly placed on the second 

 line, which thence becomes G ; so that the lowest line of the treble, 

 or air is E ; from which the rest of the degrees may be named. 



When the diatonic octave, (sometimes termed the eight notes), 

 commences with C, the music is said to be in the natural key, or 

 key of C : and, in solmization, this letter is then called do ; the 

 next above, re; the next, mi; and so on, as already explained. 

 (p. 532, and Plate XII). The notes in this key, are all sounded by 

 the white keys of the organ or piano ; the semitones falling between 

 E and F, and B and C. But when the diatonic octave is made to 

 commence on a higher or lower degree of the scale, some of the 

 degrees require to be sounded either higher or lower by half a tone, 

 corresponding to the black keys of the organ or piano, in order to 

 bring the semitones in their proper place. This is denoted by writing 

 either sharps, or flats, characters so called, on the degrees which are 

 to be raised or lowered ; and these characters, at the beginning of a 

 staff, constitute the signature: but their effect may be counteracted 

 by means of another character, called a natural. 



The time allotted to the music, is divided into equal portions, pro- 

 perly called measures, by lines called bars, crossing the staff. In 

 common time, each measure is divisible into two or four equal parts ; 

 in triple time, it is divisible into three ; and in compound time, each 

 primary division of the measure is again subdivided into three equal 

 parts. Notes are varied, in shape and name, to denote the relative 

 times during which they should be sounded. A semibreve is as long 

 as two minims; or four crotchets; or eight quavers; or sixteen 

 semiquavers ; or thirty-two quadriquavers ; or sixty-four octoqua- 

 vers : and the same relation exists between the different rests, or 

 marks of silence. Notes are often connected by a tie or slur, to 

 denote that they are to be sung to one syllable, or played legato, thai 



