MUSI C. 
322 
frequently feen thefe and other children, in my academy, 
performing exercifes upon theoretical propoiitions, will 
be aware how very far their ability exceeds any thing that 
•was required of them upon this occasion, time not admit¬ 
ting a further advance. Their readinefs and facility, how¬ 
ever, in performing the above exercifes—their clevernefs 
and adroitnefs- in correfting accidental errors, pointed 
out to them either by gentlemen of the committee, or by 
myfelf—and the introducing, in many inftances, changes 
from, and improvements upon, the firft form in which 
they had fet any harmony;—thefe evidences, I lay, of po- 
fitive knowledge, fo obvioufly exceeding any anticipation 
that the committee had formed, drew forth from the great 
body of them loud and reiterated burfts of the moll ge¬ 
nuine applaufe. For one ftrong evidence of this farf, I 
may venture to appeal to one of the committee, Mr. Griffin, 
who, in the honeft expreffion of his admiration, happen¬ 
ing to be fomewhat more vociferous than the reft, re¬ 
ceived from his more wary neighbour a gentle jerk of the 
fleeve, accompanied by a hint that there was to be no ap¬ 
plaufe ; to which Mr. Griffin fuddenly replied, with a 
warmth highly creditable to his candour, By G—, I 
can’t lupprefs my feelings.” 
But of this applaufe, where it had been agreed “ there 
was to be no applaufe,” more was made than the circum- 
llances would jultify; and it was rumoured in the newf- 
papers, that the committee had given an unqualified ap¬ 
probation to the fyltem. The Philharmonic Society there¬ 
fore now' thought thernfelves called upon to publifh the 
opinion which,upon the reprefentation of their committee, 
they had really formed. This they did in the following 
terms: 
“ Saturday, zzd Nov. 1817. 
Philharmonic Society. —A report being in circula¬ 
tion that this fociety have examined into and approved 
of a new fyftem of mufical education ; it is judged expe¬ 
dient to apprife the public, that, though feveral members 
of this body did attend an exhibition of fome pupils in- 
ftrufted by a new method, and that though they were 
pleafed with the alacrity and obliging attention of the 
pupils, and manifefted that feeling by the ufual mode of 
applaufe ; yet they in no way exprefi'ed their approbation 
of any part of the fyftem that claims the merit of origi¬ 
nality ; on the contrary, they almoft unanimoully agreed 
in an opinion by no means favourable to either the 
principles or pradfice of the novel mode of inftrurfion 
now attempted to be introduced. By order of the fociety ; 
W. Watts, Secretary.” 
Mr. Logier, however, confoles himfelf with producing 
letters of the warmeft commendation from feveral of the 
moft eminent of the profeffion, as Clementi, Cramer, 
Wefley, and Kalkbrenner, wdiich laft has fince joined 
him ; and he informs us, in a note, that “ there are now 
eftablilhed, upon this fyftem of inftrurfion, twenty-eight 
academies.” 
We have done Mr. Logier full and ample juftice, by 
dating the efferf of his fyftem upon the performance of 
his pupils in his own words; but, Ihould this Lancafterian 
mode of teaching mufic to pupils by dozens, obtain a 
firm footing in our land, let us hope, at leaft, that the 
demand for the fabric may increafe in proportion to the 
facility and rapidity of w'orking up the raw material ; 
otherwife it mud appear very impolitic, at a time w’hen 
fo many artifts in every profefilon are out of employ, to 
encourage the introduction of freffi machinery into any 
manufacture whatever. 
Of the SCALE, its Divisions and Inversions. 
Scale in mufic, denotes a gradual fuccefon of founds, 
either afcendingor defcending. All modern mufic arifes 
from the twelve femitones of the diatonic-chromatic fcale, 
and their repetitions in theorfave above and below. 
By the Scale of Nature, from which all other Icales are 
derived, we underftand that gradual progreffion of founds, 
v/hich Nature produces, either from the vibrations of a 
fonorous body, or from thofe of the air. The moft fim- 
ple fcale of Nature is that, which arifes from the tranf- 
verfe vibrations of a long firing, or from the longitudinal 
ones of the air in a long tube. 
It has already been noticed, under the article Acou¬ 
stics, vol. i. p. 87. that a found from a firing or a tube, 
as it dies away, will be divided into four different parts, 
which will be diftinrfly heard in fucceffion, namely, the 
note itfelf, its oftave above, its 12th, and its 17th. Now, 
as the three clefs, F, C, and G, treble, tenor, and bafs, 
are fifths above each other, their natural harmonies will 
thus form the regular fcale of notes. Let a firing tuned 
to F be ftruck, arid it will produce F,f, c, A ; then ftrike 
C, and you have C, c, g, E ; next G, and you have 
G, g, D, B. 
The moft ufual way of making the experiment is by- 
founding the thickeft firing of a violoncello, or of a dou- 
ble-bafs. But fignor Muffolini proceeded in a different 
manner, of which he has given us an account in his 
Treatife of Thorough Bafs, &c. publifhed in the year 
1798. 
“ To know and to fix the nature of thefe intervals, I 
made ufe of certain tubes or pipes, which are employed in 
Ruifia, for the performance of mufic, in a manner no lefs 
agreeable than extraordinary. The muficians are pro¬ 
vided with a number of wooden pipes of different lengths, 
each mufician taking one, which can only give a iingle 
note. Of thofe who are to play the part of the firft violin, 
for inftance, which they do from written notes, each at¬ 
tentively watches every occurrence of the note which be¬ 
longs to his pipe, and blows it according to its proper 
length of time ; and in this manner they execute, from 
beginning to end, the parts of the firft violin, fecond violin, 
tenor, and bafs, of any piece of mufic. I got one of thofe 
who played the bafs, and whofe pipe gave the note F, to 
found that note three different times. I went a few paces 
from him, that the found might be perfectly formed, and 
properly heard; and took with me the three muficians 
whofe pipes gave the orfave above; the 12th, or the fifth 
to the oftave; and the 17th, or third to the double oc¬ 
tave. We always heard, together with the principal 
found F, the three harmonic founds above mentioned, 
very diftinrfly. I had the further precaution of making 
one of thofe with me found his oftave F very foftly^ 
which we found in perferf unifon with the harmonic 
joined by Nature to the principal found. The fecond 
time of founding the principal or generating note, wc 
found the izth perfectly in unifon with the correfpondent 
harmomic ; and the fame on the third founding, as to the 
17th. The four founds then, were F, F, C, A. I next 
made the experiment with C, the 12th of the generating 
found F, being more homogeneous with it than the 17th. 
The refult we found to be, C, C, G, E; and, by the fame 
reafoning, the experiment repeated with G produced 
G, G, D, B. And it will be found that thefe threeexpe- 
riments fill up the extent of the orfave, and contain th# 
intervals required. 
“ If we examine thefe three fundamental founds, F, C, G, 
we ffiall find, that the found C is generated by the found F, 
and generates G; and confeq uently that it holds the place 
of the greateft relation in the feries, and ought to be par¬ 
ticularly attended to. We may therefore conlider this 
found, or note, as the centre of the fyftem, or, as it is 
commonly called, the hey. F, being a note a fifth graver, 
and by which C is generated, we ffiall denominate the J'ub- 
dominant; and G, which is acute fifth to, and generated 
by, C, we ffiall call the dominant. Thus, when any note 
whatever is taken and confidered in this double relation, 
it will Hand as the key. We have laid that our three ex¬ 
periments produced the threeferies ofintervals, F,f, c, A; 
C, c, g, E ; and G, g, D, B. Let the repetitions, as dif- 
tinguilhed by the linall letters, be fuppreffed, and the 
orfaves inverted; there will remain the feven intervals 
required, a fyftem known by the name of gamut , or dia~ 
tonicJ'cale, C, D, E, F, G, A, B~C.” 
3 la 
