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Show 470 REPORT OF BUPEFXNTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHSOLS. By ESTELLCEA RPENTERD,i mCtOr of Music, Shn Francisco, Gal. Ve often at firat children can not perceive that a sound is high or low. They must?e taught to listen. They must hear tones one after another, so that the ear rceive the difference in itch ""I;%fferent nationalities we &d ndfferent degrees of quickness in producing tones.. Some people are apparently tone deaf. This is caused by two reasons: One is the wrong use of the vocal owns, caused by disease or carelessness. and the other is lack . . . . . - - .. h.ws., f~zA-&e we t, do it? Fit$, insist on the uae of the breath in pwert ainping. 111 I I I ~~ , reviouat alk3 I haw ~howny ou how tu h a i n thi-. \\'hen this is wwa-rlli~ l.r,d,m a h1.d tliat crllite a numbc.r of children. a110 could not eo ut, or down. i n s ihe scale and simple t6nes. Thus we have remedied the first cause, &one use df t&z vocal organs. - We find there are still a number in the class that a n not sing the scale or a tune, or even raise the pitch one tone. These children should be allowed to listen quietly for at least a month, while the class sin s Then the careful teacher should give a little extra. tune to the children indivif~lly-patiently have them listen for hi h and low tones, and then have them imitate the teacher, building the scale tone fy tone gradually allow the ones that improve to join in the class sm ing It will be surphsing how many monotones in the come of the year or two wifi beable to sing the scale. If that step is accomplished, the rest will come. After children hme acquired sweet tones, both high and low, it is time to begin systematic work in the intervals. I have found that for independence it is best to begin with odsves afterwards taking np the tones of the tonlc chord in all combinations. When the chdren have acquired the habit of sin 'ng easily these tones with the a llables, then let them think syllables and sing tfe tones to 66 or 8. If they can %a this readily, then let them ractice the tones of the dominant chord in the various combinations, and con-nect t%em with the tones previously learned. Finally take up the tones of the subdominant chord. Be very careful to o slowly at first. Make the children think for themselves. Have them listen to jifferent tones and guess the syllable names. Appeal to the interest of the children, for they must he wide-awake. I find the hand signs very useful for the little children. Later use the vertical scale. When the children cm skip the intervals of the scale readily, allow them to sing simple melodies from the vertical d e ra pidly. This ear trainmg should be practiced carefully during all the years of the school life in connection with the note work, because by so doing the children acquire power and agility in tone hearing and tone production. Voro~. By ESTELLe CARPBNTEB, Dlreobr of Music, 68" Fmnoim, W. We ean help the free fiow of the breath b the use of consonants; the are a neces; sary evil in sm ing necessary because of t%e pronunciation, and evilgecause they areso unmusia?. Now when a consonant is given, such as 1 t, k, d, n it tends to choke the breath, but if the breath is checked then we are'likble to e< into wrong habits, so we must watch ourselves with the greatest care so that the %reath is both given and taken. I think the relation of the breath to the consonants is easily explained by this illustration: Imagine a. castle with long halls fmm the lowest hall up; every little while there is a door. Imagine that a eraon rushes through the hall and doom to the roof; necessarily he stop a very {ttle to open eaeh door, but then be mhes an. On the whole he is mavin ,and opening the doors makes him go faster between the doors. He never stops perkctly shll. Just so the breath must never stop; but of come while making the consonants the breath is held just the minutest part of a second, but it never becomes stagnant. Now, in singing, the consonants are doors, and thevowels are vocalized breath; they can be thought of as the spaees between the doors, or rather, we may say that the consonants are finite and the vowels are infinite. We 6tart with the finite for a foundation, and through the vowels we can express |
