M U 
onefemitone. A natural , takes off a fharp or flat. The 
double fharp % or X raffles a note two femitones. The 
double flat 5 b > lowers a note two femitones. The flur '' s 
denotes that the notes it comes over are to be connected 
in playing as much as poflible. Little dots or fliort 
flrokes over the notes, are called Staccato, and fig ri fly 
the reverie, or that every note is to be played as ciii- 
tinfll as poflible. The paule m denotes a fhort celfa- 
tion of found, in order afterwards to proceed with 
more e fie ft. i'ovfegno, is ufed for a mark of refer¬ 
ence. The bar | divides notes when they amount to a 
certain "value. See the word Bar, vol. ii. p.703 and p. 301 
of this article. The double bar jj divides pieces into 
feftions or parts, and denotes a conclufion. Repeats, 
;J|l, ;||: ,or ;§l,take place lirfh from the beginning, after¬ 
wards from the right of the dotted bar. The tells for 
bars will be feen at Ex. 6. but it is to be obferved, that 
the number of bars rell is more ul'ually marked with 
figures on the lines. 
Of Time. —Time regulates the duration of mufical 
founds ; and divides their notes by bars, when they amount 
to a given-value. Time is either common or triple : in 
the firlt we count 2, 4, or 8, in every bar ; in the lafl, we 
count 3 or 6. 
CommonTime contains one femibreve, two minims, four 
crotchets, eight quavers, or their value, in every bar. 
This time is known by a femicircle, or (_, placed at the 
beginning, after the clef, as in Ex. 7. 
The barred femicircle is ufed to denote a quicker 
movement, and is called alia breve, becaufe it was for¬ 
merly with one breve in a bar. Ex. 8. This is now com¬ 
monly written with one femibreve in a bar, by dividing 
thofe of the alia breve into halves, as at Ex. 9. 
All other meafures are marked by figures placed one 
over the other. The figure 2 above the figure 4, in Ex. 
30. indicates 2 crotchets or one minim in a bar, and is 
called half-time. 
The moll ufual meafures exprefled by figures placed 
fraftion-wife at the beginning, are fhown at Ex. 11. where 
the upper figure may be called the numerator, being the 
number of parts contained in a bar; the lower one the 
denominator, or how many notes conflitute a femibreve; 
2 fignifies minims, 4, crotchets, 8 quavers, &c. and there¬ 
fore 3 fignifies three minims, 3 three crotchets, „ three 
2 0 4 8 
quavers, &c. Thefe are the three fpecies of triple time; 
namely, three minims in a bar; as at A ; three crotchets, 
as at B ; and three quavers, as at C. 
When two bars of three crotchets, or of three quavers, 
are united in one, by the omiflion of a bar, the time is 
called compound common time : common, becaufe every mea- 
fure is equally divided; and compound, becaufe each half 
is a Angle meafure of triple. Compound common- time 
has three fpecies in ufe: fix crotchets in a bar, as at D; 
fix quavers, as at E ; twelve quavers, as at F. 
Compound Triple Time is formed by dividing the mea¬ 
fures of fimple triple into nine parts: thus, three minims 
divided into nine crotchets, as at C ; three crotchets 
divided into nine quavers, as at H; and three quavers 
divided into nine femiquavers, as at I. 
A fpecies of time, containing five crotchets in a bar, 
has been ufed by Mr. Baumgarten with good effeft. 
Of Graces. —The old Englifli graces, as publilhed by 
Simpfon, (Divifion-Viol, 1667.) were divided into two 
clafies, the fmoothed and the fhaked graces. In the firlt clafs 
were the beat, backfall, double backfall, elevation, fpringer, 
and cadent; in thefecond, were the fliaked backfall, dole 
fhake, ihaked beat, fhaked elevation, fliaked cadent, and 
double relifii. But, as thefe are now obfolete, we fliall 
proceed to the modern graces, as exemplified on Plate II. 
ihovving how they are marked, and how played. 
The graces of melody are, the appoggiatura, the fhake, 
the turn, the mordente, the beat, the acciaccatura, the 
s 1 C. 319 
Aide, and the fpring. The chief ornaments of harmony 
are, the arpeggio, the tremolo, and the tremando. 
The appoggiatura is a finall note placed before a large 
one, from which it generally borroyvs half the value, and 
always occurs on the accented part of the bar. See Ex, 
12. Sometimes, however, the appoggiatura is only one 
quarter of the note it precedes, as at 33. 
When a finall note follows a larger, and depends upon 
that for its time, it is called the after-note, and occurs on 
the unaccented part of the bar. Ex. 14. 
Th ejhake confifts of a quick alternate repetition of the 
note above, with that over which the mark is placed ; and 
commonly ends with a turn from the note below. It 
begins, according to Handel and Baumgarten, with the 
low'ernote. Ex. 15. Some begin the fhake with theupper 
note ; but this feems to be laying the accent on the wrong 
place. 
The turn employs the note above, and that below; and 
is introduced in various w'ays, according to the time al¬ 
lowed. Ex. 16. The turnon dotted notes is in frequent ufe, 
and is generally placed over the dot, (o as to terminate the 
note. A fharp placed over the turn requires the introduc¬ 
tion of the half-note below. Ex. 17. The inverted turn. 
Ex. 18. begins with the note below. 
The mordentc, or tranfient fhake, is marked by Baum¬ 
garten like a common fhake, by Dr. Arnold and other 
authors thus,". See Ex. 19. / 
The beat is generally made at the diflance of the femi- 
tone below. Ex. 20. In the acciaccatura, or half-beat, 
the inferior note is llruck only once, and at the fame time 
with the principal note, but is immediately quitted. This 
is frequently ufed on the organ, and particularly in the 
bafs. It may in fome few’ inllances be found on the ferni- 
tone above, taken as a flat. Ex. 21. The German beat 
confifts of two fimall notes, which form a lkip, and defeend 
one degree upon the principal note. Ex. 22. 
The Jlicle confifts of two fmall notes, w'hich move by 
degrees. Ex. 23. The fpring confifts of two fmall notes, 
like the mordente, but very diftinft. Ex. 24. 
The tremolo is the reiteration of one note of the chord ; 
the tremando, a general fhake of the whole chord ; and. 
the arpeggio, an imitation of the harp, by the llriking 
the notes of the chord in quick and repeated fuccoffion. 
Of Fingering. —As it is our intention to make this 
treatife very ufefui to young praftitioners or, the organ and 
piano, we fliall fubjoin to thefe rudiments a few directions 
as to the pofition of the hands on the keys, with fome 
examples to facilitate the fingering of different pafjages ; 
for nothing can be of more importance to a beginner than 
to acquire at the outfet a Heady and judicious mode of 
fingering. 
Rameau has condefcended, in his Jaft work, “ Code de 
.Mufique,” to place the young mufician’s hands on the 
keys, and to regulate the fingers; but the bulinefs feems 
to have been better done by Couperin. Rondeau ex¬ 
cludes the ufe of the right thumb, which is an erroneous 
precept. Rameau’s fingering is the old French method, 
which has been long abandoned. Couperin was the firlt 
who treated the fubjeft with intelligence, in 1717 ; and, 
though his compofitions, for which the rules were given, 
have long fince been thrown afide and forgotten, moft of 
his rules are Hill good for mufic of a very different kind. 
He adviles parents to place their children under an intel¬ 
ligent mafter, at fix or feven years old; and preferibes not 
only the manner of placing the hands on the keys, but 
the carriage of the perfon. The height of the feat, if 
allowed to fit at fo early an age, fhould be fuch as W'ould 
place the wrifts on a level with the keys; the fingers 
fhould be curved fo as to be all of the lame length, fo 
as that each fhould cover a key. Something fhould be 
placed under the feet of very young ftudents, to prevent 
them from hanging loofe in the air, and to fupport their 
frame in a juft equilibrium; and this fupport fhould be 
diminifhed in proportion to their growth. The diflance 
at which a perfon of maturer age fhou'd fit from the in- 
ftrument fhould be about nine inches, and lefs in proper- 
4 tioa 
