LECTURE ON MUSIC.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1270, 3 May 1880, Page 2

LECTURE ON MUSIC.

At the teachers' music lesson in the High School - on rFriday evening, the teacher, ■■ Mr. Brownlee, supple?neiitf4 lessor) $ .perusal of wpl be interesting, to . many of ouir readers!: By the New Zealanii educational regulations, Standard L in vocal mußic requires that "■ A sufficient number of easy and suitable gongs, in oorreot»time and tune, and at a proper pitch shall be taught." Mr; Brownlee began by Baying that the future- of the pupil in in other branches of* education, defends greatly on the thoroughness of the instruction; received' in the infant room\ ■ and as WP fgej- certain ' that ere long time results of the musiq r wUl begteated by certain that the results will be unsatisfactory, unless teachers adopt more system in their treatment of the subject that which at present prevails in our schools gene-

believ&thatthe chiif e^o*[>f'all-school ulstrubtion j.vocd mustey&QOld'be tb« training ofscholaMirtorluitig ordinary music at sight. - • And the question ooum homo,to. us, Can ,the requisite kind t>( training be carried on successfully in the infant-«nd. j uniotclasses* _JWe and, feel convinced- muoh of this ' - work can be quicker andrbetterdorieia them than in is, providing you go Moiit tEe work In m proper way. Then,'sM tothework of the standard.' It requires * *ttfficiiiit number of easy and suitable songs,lncorrect time and tune, and. at a "propervpitoh. Ithink this regulation rather indefinite — " a sufficient number."-This might depend very much upon thevidea, ,of the inspector., JOne. might say ten, another might say twenty songs, and so on. The time' and tune- will- depend very nuch indeed upon the way the subjeot ias been treated by the teacher» and will >o a .correct index of his ;or her ability .in lietadling it. Teachers will remember that ihey cannot tell:wh*t 'amount of. instruc;ion they have imparted until they get it . Dack again fromtheir pupils;' and' the proper, pitch must" be: given by the teacher, rhis may- appear a very small matter, but [ cannot,; i well , imagine an inspector who would , not-be satisfied if ifte : s6ng beingsungwaa set in the key of E fiat* smd upon testing the pitch, with the teacher's own tuning .fork, found that' it was being aung in the?key of £ natural. The teacher, then, must' be thoroughly qualified to pitch any • key correctly. And now<for the- method of.vworkingwUp to the standard. s %At the outiet two'mistakes whioh we are apt tb fall into—. mistakes, .that, Iff will very muoh retard, our in tryirigjto teswh thp tjhildren : something of the notation they haveaoquiml aome . practioal skill, in music itself (ire all .know .well. that. theltHing 'muaic is quite distinct. from the; notation- which may be employed .to denote it), ,7 • To teach notation before miisio. wo.uld be quite as absurd as to- try-to teach a, chiijl to read before it; had . learned .to ;speak, : second error may.be more frequently com* mitted. It istrying.to teabh tfte ehildren belonging to a department in the -lump, without regard to their natural* ability, •- ag&i progress, -or length of time.in the room, This want of classification,'.begun in the infant room in the matter of muqic, is frequently - continued throughout- the whole school career of the . pupil< Of course, all instruction in. music jam l be given only to classes, and ye, cannot expect* more than legitimate class results; but although the. teaqhor .may direct his instruction, to .the. class: rather, than'to'' the individual, ■it ..cannot be. ' ; educational principles to say that the pfipils in each room should beaograded and -classified so that the ; individualmay'be'abla.to profit by - the- instruction given .to., the whole, f : TphiS' is the rule -with all other subjeots taught .in school, and ought also, as far ' as' possible, to be the rule in ' teaching vocfcl music. This leads us to' speak of the kind of train* ing which wiU produce the best -results, and also of the classification of pupils which will least -interfere with the general arrangements of the- school. .In grading pupils in the infant room we may conveniently have five divisions, respectively, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 5. • Into one' o|> other of these grades the child rdl V ape plaoed according to individual Kogrojss, Olads Q includes &U the • pupils that «ai* r?ad at sight a, simple song from notes written on the blackboard. : It is the highest' class in the department! In Glass 1 the.ohiU dren can sing individually anythiM be* tween the key-note and itg OQtavq. 01w .2 includes the children th*t »n sing the intervals bptwepn the key-ifote Slid its upper fifth. 3, embraoes all the children tliat can imitate' rb&dily and correctly a given s6und, bttt"*te uniible to sing individually such exercises 'ft* WQ required of the pupils in Class 8, Qlftss 4 being the lowest in tho room, all the children that sre either qnwilling-or nn* able ta imitate 4 given Bound, This classification requires a good' deal of systematic teaching arid individual testing before, it can be accomplished, but it can bo carried out in schools'even in the limita<\ time which is generally devoted to the |ubjeci, and I venture fq ijay that* properly carried oqt, thg rpgulta vrill be more factory, vfith less expenditure of time than can be obtained where classification is ignored. In teaohing infants, thejfirst thing to do is to train their ear and- voice to distinguish and imitate one sound. Aq soon as the class has succeeded fairly ta singing the sound given, the children may be tested _ individually s who fail are placed ifi; class 4> and those who succeed in clwVe- This" e^mination 1 will not occupy, much time, and if done at the first or second lesson will enable .the teacher to gauge the material he has to work with. A first examination will show that a large number of the childrW have apparently very littlg for "music, but do npt gome to the conclusion that -children who cannot imitate a sound after hearing it several times are eithe? toft young to learn, or taught. SUch "is n°t page, fdji tfcs children in olass g may nQV b$ possessed of better natural gifts of ear or voice than those in class 4, but possibly the one class may have heard a great doftl • more singing that the other, ThUl frtQt alone is ' quite sufflqipnl tq for thf) difieronce between tl\Q olMaefc | Whfin the firat classification if mftde, the pupils in Qlaßs 3 become doers,, and those in Class 4 listeners. It is important that the ohildren in the lowest graae be taught to listen* attentively, not only ta th(| teacher's pattern, but alsq ta we singing of the other childran. most generally those whq sing bes(, After, giving p.ne o.r two lessons W th« first of the settle, yoy n\ay teach the fifth, and also th<S third, taking «are thst the childfieni peiceive the proper mental effect of thes§ three tones in key, viz.; the strong first, the bright fifth, and the calm third. You may now examine the ohil« dren for the second time, testing eaoh in the' intervals of first, fifth, and third. This examination will take up more time than the first, and ! the pnpiis wiU the .advantage of hearing Qthf>r fkigg, The result of . eiiamiqstian wiU beth« of thf) plass into sections, You find, nmny of the pupils at this examination passing at qnoe from the lowest to the .highest grade. When you get a' large proportion of the ohildren into the second Class, you may teach them the seventh and the second of the scale, with their respective mental effeots, pterins and rousing, and sqhteouently you will teach them the fourth and the sfyth qf the s§ale,'with their mental efiecU, deso. late and weeping, I have now' given every tone and interval between the keynote and its octave ; and after a few more lessons on all the tones of the soale, you may again , examine, the resuH beinjj the dividing of the class into 1, 2, 3, and 4; bqt yqq be sure, if you 4 h <WlUghly, the time pqu get a number of the pupils into Class I, you will have very few left in Class 4. sTou will find amongst the youngest at| sagerness to get into the first Class; they loon find that it is a plage of honor, anq every gndeavor to. get there. Yon vill "find them eager to be examined, lackwardness and diffidence will disappear, md the work will become easy to' the leacher and pleasant to the pupils.r -When i t very large proportion of the pupils hsve jot intb the first Class,.you may hegin itudy of musical notfttion, for up to this point, your teaohing must be osrried on tntnout a word having, been about Rotation. In the t stages you' will find the hand-signii * of great' advantage. After which will oome the. modulator, and subsequently the black* board; and you may at thip stage find tint Rome of the pupil* vto em ling

Ter y vdl from the hand-signs and modubior M-Then they ue placed face to with the-notes on the blackboard, bat be careful and systematic and this difficulty will sooa vanish. conclusion, the mode of communication between the teacher and his pupils should be the voice of the one telling the others •wf&t to do, and showing them how to do it At the beginning cf your teaching anything more than this will be more of an hindrance than a help; bat when the ringing children can give the tones doh, jne, and soh properly you will find it advantageous to use the hand-signs in preference to the voice; and farther on yoa mast make good use of the modulator, and continually make reference to it when any difficulty makes its appearance. ' _ .