The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-12-02
THE TWO CONTRAsTED
"Tenie Sol Fa" and sold Notation
Compared.

Editor Herald:
As q great desl has been stated OF
late relative to the "Tonic Sol Fa"
and its merits. as well as the alleged
difficulties of the "Old Notation, %
and being requested by many to give
my views of the matter, as they con-
slider that only one side of the picture
has as yet been presented to them, ]
cheerfully do the writing if you will
spare the space. It is matter oil
regret that people in their enthusiasm
to advocate anything. be ir ever 80
good, will not give fair two-sided
view OF it, to those unable to Judge
for themselves, when it is 90 neces-
sary, 90 it is in this case. The masses
are almost ignorant OF either nota-
ton. Our music teachers are Tor
ought to be) able to teach either at
will; then why stretch the truth in
favor OF one and against the other.
From statements made we have been
given to understand that the one (.he
Uld) Is based upon wrong principles,
and almost impossible to learn, while
the other NEW is on the other hand
perfection itself. The plain truth az
/ understand it, is that beth are
based upon the came principles, as
tune and time are the chief elements
the teachers and pupils have to deal
with in teaching or learning to read
from either notation, and the sylls-
bles. or lines and spaces containing
notes are only objects or signs to rep
resent these two elements, and any
teacher placing the object represents
ing q thing before the thing itself
makes q serious mistake, something
ike putting the cart before the horse.
To compare the two, perhaps the
best way for all to understand would
be- to bear in mind that any musical
is simply a series OF visible
objects, each representing a musical
'ound, at the same time giving an
dea as to the length of time we are
10 dwell on the same. In the "Tonic
sol Fa" eystem We use the name
given 10 the sound as the object to
epresenf it to the eye just as We
would the word lone" to represent
hat number compare dob, me, sol.
ND enc. three. fvs) though abbrevi-
.tl0ns are often used. In the old
losation We use lines and spaces With
hsracters called notes placed upon
hem to represeutssounds. just az we
se tina figures l, 8, and 5, to repre-
{ at those numbers. As the student
O mathematics would have to learn
hese characters representing num-
ers, so must the musical student
earn these characters representing
ounds to read from this notation.
Bring enc up to be able to read. and
NIT TO teach him these figures, and
10 would al first readily believe that
be Only reasonable way to represent
III % bers would be to write their
ames lone" three" and "6ve,',
ut let him become acquainted with
be figures and their practical use,
nd I am certain he would pity any,
ne having to use the other treason
bic" mode. Just 90, let any one
lnacquainted with "notes" have the
yllable names which be can read,
md he can readily be led into the
,elief that it is the only reasonable
way to represent sounds. bot teach
Tim to understand the "notes and
taft" and he would not be deprived
If this knowledge for twenty times
he trouble he had to master it. But
the difficulties OF mathematics does
aot consist in the characters repre-.
,enting numbers. Neither is il the
peculiar notation used that makes or
breaks the musicians ability to
master bis art. provided. that notation
ia far reading enough to lead to the
But il has been stated that
the old notation is go complicated
that none but the most gifted can
master it," Those who state this
mean ''gifted musically," not with
general reasoning powers and ability
to recognize objects. Yet it is the
portian they claim is too
complicated, not the musical portion
as they must admit that tune and
time muss remain the same. as any
system could not obliterste the ne
cessity of mastering these in music.
But we will pass by this
bit of sophistry; tits truth we
are after. 1t ia true that people fail
to learn this notation when properly
taught? The fact is that out OF 2, GOO
pupils which I have had dur
ing the last four years I have tailed
to find one (gilted as otherwise) who
became discouraged because of the
dificultiessof the snotasion-no, moi
even q child who could read apo
reason, hes said II can't under.
stand or read the notes" when havs
presented them with care. Thi:
strikes conviction to my heart that ii:
not true,
Yeti know full we'll that it requires
a reasonable amount of Practice tC
master object-rsading. This every
student VINO devotes a reasonable
amount of time to the study OIL
mastering time and tune gets. AND