GUIDE TO MUSICAL NOTATION-MELODICS. § 17. As figures are used to designate the kinds of measure, so also figur are used to designate varieties of measure. The figures being written as the representation of fractions, the kind of measure is designated by the nun rator, and the variety of measure is designated by the denominator. NOTE. Varieties of measure merely furnish different signs for the same thing. To the ear they the same, to the eye only do they differ; the movement or degree of quickness depending not in the le on the kind of notes, which represent no positive, but only a relative length. EXAMPLES OF SOME OF THE MOST COMMON VARIETIES OF MEASUR CHAPTER V. MELODICS-THE SCALE, ITS NAMES AND SIGNS. NOTE -Before any explanation of the scale is attempted, or definitions or signs are given, let the s itself, or a part of it, be presented, by being sung slowly and distinctly by the teacher, beginning with pitch C, to the syllable la. Let it be repeated until the class have obtained a clear idea of it, after wł and not before, they may be required to sing it. Careful attention should be given to quality of 1 which, with everything belonging to taste, should be cultivated from the beginning. When the scale been thus taught, or when the pupils have become so familiar with it as to have some correct appr tion of it as a connected series of tones, and can also sing it with tolerable accuracy, names, definit and signs may follow. § 18. The Scale. Musical sounds or tones, when considered with respec the relation of pitch existing between them, are arranged in a certain se called the SCALE; thus the scale is a succession of eight tones, in a cer order of relative pitch. § 19. Names of the Tones of the Scale. The tones of the scale are named the names of numbers, beginning with the lowest, thus: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT. § 20. The Staff. The relative pitch of tones is represented by a ch called the STAFF. § 21. Degrees of the Staff. Each line and each space of the staff is DEGREE; thus the staff contains nine degrees, counted upwards fror est, there being five lines and four spaces. 22. Added Lines and Spaces. The compass of the staff may be extended by $23, Syllables. In elementary singing-exercises, or as helps to beginners, the Written. Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do. 1824. Absolute Pitch. Letters. Absolute pitch, or the pitch of tones inde- $26. The Scale as represented on the Staff. The scale may be représented 327. Clefs. To determine the position and pitch of the scale as represented $28. Clef-Letters. The letters commonly used as clefs are F and G. wnica st and It should be understood that a clef is merely a letter differing in shape from its ordinary form. NOTE-The pupal should be exercised in these tones, or in skipping from one to another until they become so familiar with them as to name them when they hear them, or to produce them when they are named or called for by the teacher; and from this they should be led to the practical knowledge of each Cull the flow-ers 'Mong the bow-ers, Sweetest po-sies Pinks and ro - ses, While the thrushes In the bush-es, This warm weather, Sing together. EXTENSION OF THE SCALE, AND CLASSIFICATION OF VOICES. § 35. The human voice is naturally divided into four classes: low male voices, or BASE, high male voices, or TENOR; low female voices, or ALTO, high §36. The following example exhibits the usual compass of the human voice, and also that of the different classes, as Base, Tenor, Alto, and Treble. CHAPTER VIII. MELODICS-INTERVALS. NOTE.-A true knowledge of intervals can only be communicated through the ear. Names, definitions, or illustrations, may be given while the pupil obtains no correct idea of the thing itself, which can only be acquired by a careful listening to tones and comparison of them. The ear alone can appreciate or measure intervals. The subject is one which cannot be understood until the ear has been considerably trained; this is the reason why it has not been presented earlier in this course. After intervals have been taught, the following definitions will be easily understood. § 38. The difference of pitch between any two tones is called an INTERVAL. Thus, the difference of pitch between one and two is an interval. § 39. In the regular succession of the tones of the scale, there are two kinds of intervals, large and small. § 40. The large scale-intervals are called STEPS; and the small scale-intervals are called HALF-STEPS. § 41. The intervals of the scale occur in the following order :---between one and two, a step; between two and three, a step; between three and four, a halfstep; between four and five, a step; between five and six, a step; between six and seven, a step; and between seven and eight, a half-step. NOTE. The terms tone and half-tone are in common use to designate these intervals; but as the application of the same word both to sounds and intervals is inconvenient, the discontinuance of the term tone and half-tone is recommended, especially in teaching. As the word ladder (scale) is used for designating the series of tones called the scale, it is quite natural to carry out the figure, and borrow from the ladder the word step by which to designate scale intervals. CHAPTER IX. THE MINOR SCALE. § 42. In addition to the scale already explained, there is another scale, differing from that in the relation or succession of its tones, or in the order of its intervals, called the MINOR SCALE; it is the soft scale of the Germans. NOTE-The scale which has already been explained, based on C, or of which C is one, may now be called the MAJOR SCALE. § 43. The natural Minor Scale is based upon A, or upon six of the Major Scale NOTE. The term natural is used here to indicate that the tones of which the scale is composed are the same as those belonging to the scale already explained. EXAMPLE. THE NATURAL MINOR SCALE REPRESENTED IN NOTES, WITH THE NAMES OF ITS TONES, THEIR PITCH, AND THE SYLLABLES APPLIED TO THEM IN SOLFAING. Names. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. |