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HEAD MISTRESS OF THE KENSINGTON HIGH SCHOOL G.P.D.S.T. OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1916 PREFACE The following lectures were delivered to music students between the years 1907 and 1915. They have been partly rewritten so as to be intelligible to a different audience, for in all cases the lectures were followed by a discussion in which various points not dealt with in the lectures were elucidated. An experience of eight years in organizing a training course for students who wish to teach ear-tra

THE TRAINING OF THE MUSIC TEACHER Let us consider the case of a young girl who has finished her school education, and has supplemented this by a special course of technical work in music, which has ended in her taking a musical diploma. She now wishes to teach. What are the chief problems which she will have to face? She must first of all make up her mind whether she wishes to confine her work to the teaching of a solo instrument, together with some work in harmony or counterpoint, along orthodo

THE ORGANIZATION OF MUSICAL WORK IN SCHOOLS The musical work in a school falls roughly into four divisions: 1. Ear-training, leading on in later stages to harmony, counterpoint, &c. 2. Voice production and songs. 3. Instrumental work. 4. Concerts, music clubs, &c. To take these in order: 1. Ear-training. When the necessity for this work has been realized the next step is to consider how the time can be found for it in the school curriculum. Those who have seen some of the results

THE TEACHING OF VOICE PRODUCTION AND SONGS It is perhaps more rare to find a successful teacher of songs than of any other subject in the school curriculum. There are many reasons for this. In many cases a visiting teacher takes the work, who finds it difficult to learn the names of all the children in one lesson a week, and who therefore starts at a disadvantage. Then the size of the class for songs is always larger than that of classes in other subjects, and there is therefore more inducement

THE SOL-FA METHOD To those who are not accustomed to the Sol-fa notation it appears at first sight a useless encumbrance. Excellent arguments are produced for this view. Many musical people can scarcely remember when they could not sing at sight and write melodies from dictation. They picked up this knowledge instinctively, and cannot see why others should not do the same. Unfortunately everybody has not proved able to do so, hence a multitude of 'methods' for teaching them. The most familiar of

FIRST LESSONS TO BEGINNERS IN EAR-TRAINING The form of these lessons will vary slightly according to the ages of the children. We will suppose these to lie between seven and nine years, when the children can read and write. At the first lesson the scale of C major should be played, from middle C to high C, ascending only. Then repeat middle C, and stop on it a little. Do this three or four times, telling the children to count the notes as you play up the scale. When they are all sure that eight

THE TEACHING OF SIGHT-SINGING Instruction in sight-singing should begin by teaching the staff notation through the Tonic Sol-fa method. Objections to this are sometimes raised by very musical people, who have no recollection of any 'method' by means of which they themselves learnt to sing at sight, and who therefore think their pupils can pick up the knowledge in the same instinctive fashion. Experience proves that this is very rarely the case. With very little children it is well to keep entire

THE TEACHING OF TIME AND RHYTHM It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of careful study before a teacher attempts to train children in a sense of time and rhythm. Not only must an intellectual conception of the importance of the subject be arrived at, but a subconscious realization of it. The function of rhythm in the world should be perceived, and such natural phenomena as day and night, the seasons, the tides, and countless others, seem to be examples of the same principle. The same

THE TEACHING OF DICTATION So long as the work done in ear-training is in the very elementary stages the best form of dictation will be: 1. Ear tests, consisting of two to three notes at a time, which should be written in staff notation as soon as possible. 2. Monotone time tests, which should be quite short, as the constant repetition of the same note in pitch is irritating to the more sensitive ears in a class. This point is sometimes overlooked, with the result that only the less musical child

THE TEACHING OF EXTEMPORIZATION AND HARMONY In early days the art of melody was developed before that of harmony. The same plan should be followed in the general musical education of the child. As every child possesses a voice, but does not in every case learn an instrument, it is clear that the fundamental training in music must be given through the use of the voice. The first step will consist in learning how to sing at sight and how to take down easy melodies from dictation. Parallel with thi

THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION A wise musician has drawn attention to the fact that music has a more important educational function than any foreign language, being a common language for the expression of emotion, imaginative power, and rhythmic feeling. He went on to say that, as a training, it is of use from the very earliest years, and for all classes of the community. If we agree with this view—and it is encouraging to note the increasing number of those who do so—we must so organize

THE TEACHING OF TRANSPOSITION A great many musical people will not take up the subject of transposition seriously, because they have no idea of the lines along which to work. They all agree that the knowledge would be most useful to them, especially from the point of view of song accompaniment, but the path seems to be beset by so many difficulties, and the results of their first attempts are so pitifully small, that they generally give up all hope, and all effort. Then again, some of the books

GENERAL HINTS ON TAKING A LESSON IN EAR-TRAINING All those who teach ear-training should keep a book in which they write on one side of the page the proposed scheme of work for each lesson, and on the other the actual work done. All sorts of things may happen in the course of the lesson to upset the proposed scheme. The children may find the new work easier, or more difficult than was expected, a question from a child may suddenly reveal a piece of ignorance which necessitates a digression—every

THE TEACHING OF THE PIANO It is impossible, within the limits of a chapter, to do more than dwell on a few practical points connected with the teaching and organization of this work in a school. As was said in the preceding chapter, the ideal for all young children who are about to learn the piano is that they should first go through a short course of ear-training. If this be done, the progress in the first year's work will be about three times what it would otherwise be. If the ear-training be

SUGGESTIONS TO STUDENTS ON LEAVING A TRAINING DEPARTMENT In finishing a course of training along the lines we have been considering, it is well to take a bird's-eye view of what has been done. In all communal work the results fall roughly under two heads: 1. The getting of new ideas, and of new ways of presenting old ideas. 2. The development of character, due to the mixing with fellow students and with those who are directing the work. So far as the actual work is concerned, stress has been lai