The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-04-23

The Nev England Conservatory meth I'd
TOR the Piano Forte. Comprising The
First Three Grades of Instruction
PIP. 272, Quarto Boston G.. D.
Russell q. Co. 1915.
Boston Daily Nows.
Thousands, even in Boston, are una.
ware of the second revolution in music
reading that has occurred here within the
memory of those now living, In the first
quarter of this century all the notes were
called by four names: Fa, Sol, La and
MI. Fa was the first ard fourth of the
diatonic scale, Sol, the second and fifth ;
La the third and sixth f; and Nj, the sew.
enth only. For about fifty years the
seven Italian names have been used but
not as in France and Italy, where they
are used both in vocal and instrumental
music, as the seven letters are in Ger
many. England has its instrumental in.
struction from Germany, but the English
names Of letters are unsingable, the Ger
man Instrumental and Italian vocal sys.
TENS live there together, like the broad
and narrow gauges in Maine, or the
stone-and-grist on the Dutch mill.boy's
horse.
The Italian cocal system has been in
tfoiuced for some time in the New Eng.
land Conservatory and in the Boston
public schools, whore Prof. SharIand has
wrought out the most amazing results, of
which We have before told our readers.
And now we come to a wonder. DR..
Tourjee, who is at the head of this prog.
ress. gives us METHOD for the piano
pupils Of the Conservatory. 1t is a ro-
markable work. The besetting sin of
pupils is desire to take "pieces J" the
prevailing weakness of teachers gives
them pieces to their detriment. This
method gives them pieces to their hearts
content, wrought into its texture, and
simplifed to their conception and skill
Masterpieces are treated as the story of
Joseph in Egypt is, when it is put ipto
words of one syllable in a primer. The
book has grown not from one mans
teaching, as Others have, but from the
superintendent Of a large corps of the
best teachers in America, for years. As
demand of stupid prejudice, great cost
is spent on t'co editions of American and
Foreign lingering, between which there is
scarce straws worth Of choice. Bat IL
as all German. 1t calls B what the vo.
cal lesson calls 81, and calls what the
vocal lessons of the same school call do ,
We need not be told that the names of
notes are but scaffolding; when man
has mastered music it is all the same to
him whether the name of a note be F or
ia. But at the beginning it does matter
Fewer pianists learn to sing, fewer voca-
lists learn to play, because of the double
sets Of names of notes. And those who
learn both expend more time, money ,and
patience. The evil goes on under the
authors own eye. Many of his pupils, to
whom the invaluable vocal lessons of
Prof O'Neil are free, neglect them
And hours of the precious time of piano
classes are worse .han wasted on page %
of the Method, learning in German what
Prof Sharland has taught all the girls
and boys in Boston in Italian. 1t is as
if our writing-masters were Germans, and
taught our children to call the letters by
their German names only, for generation
after generation, telling US that it matter
ed not now to Longfellow and Sumner how
they had learned to write .
The advocates of the German instru-
mental system do not wish to introduce
their vocal system,-nor could they.
And their only argument in behalf of
their Instrumental system is In these
ruts We found the wheels in our child
hood, and in them they will run while
we live. The cost of the requisite alter.
ations in the Method. is no part of the OBJ.
stacle. The two fngerings necessitated
two sets of stereotype plates throughout
an Italian edition would call for altera-
tions in but five pages in the first thirty,
and but few after that. Shall We have
it ?