The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-04-23
rHe SENSE OF REARING.
In Delicate Perception the Far y More
MmnMc-l IM.n Tho LHn.


The ear s. wonderfully compreh bsive
instrument As compared with % eye,
10 e. vastly superior Boz extent of the ensa-
tiou4 it b. capable of experiencing. y eeye
possesses barely uu octave and D n 81
sensations. whereas the average ear IS We
know hus range of six or seven. While
more acute ears have compass Of fully
I oct8ye,. And then the ear II a won
derIuilv accurate instrument and 60 lble
IF approaching minute differences that
would he wholly impossible in the % Of
the eye According to- Dr. W n : tone,
IAN architect or craftsman who be cen
two lines neither parallel nor in one 'Rue,
made an error of estimation By not
exceeding onc-thirtioth would gain redit
for unusual precision. But iu the ea one
thirtieth amounts 10 a quarter of a ,one.
and by ear one forty fifth is easily er-
mined a skllful piauoforte tune Can
do much more. lie j. called upon, in
stance, to distinguish between a tru and
an equally tempered ifth, where tuo diff
ference il only the huudredth of ton. He
should accordingly be able to recogni ,e az
least 600 different sounds in au u, ave.
More than this according 20 the ir e-ti-
cations Of Professor Mayer, it is po- ihle,
under specially favorable conditions and
for sounds whose pitch is near that o. %,
to distinguish from each other notes nich
do not differ 10y more than one hun dred
and twentieth of a seminole.
In the rapidity Of its appreciatiui The
ear is remarkable. In fraction of d sec
ond it can accurately refer any note to its
place in the scale and can just as easily
and quickly separate from each other sew
eral widely different notes. According to
recent Investigations, the ear is capable of
hearing a sound when only two vibrations
are made. II should therefore hear the
middle notes Of the pianoforte in the two
or three-hundredth part of second. II
requires more time, however for the ear
to distinguish the full characteristic Of a
note. To do this, according to the expert
meuts Of ENner, Auerhach and Kohl
rausch, from . TO 20 vibrations are neces-
sary.
With proper training and practice the
organ of hearing eau be rendered renarka-
bly, sensitive and accurate. There is rare
ly any physical defect in the ear itself The
defects ordinarily noticed and spoken Of
are such as can be easily romedied by cul-
tvatOn. The organ truly may never be
able to retain the remarkable range of
addition we have spoken of above; IL may
never become so "apprehensiye and dis
criminant" as the ear of Mozart, but its
delicacy can be increased and its general
appreciation of musical sounds wonder
fully improved. This IS especially true IL
the work Of instruction is begun in child
hood when the organ of hearing is natu-
rally most sensitive and most readily sus-
ceptible of cultivation. In making eNper-
iments with rods and tuning forks giving
very accurate sounds, | have frequently
been struck with the very great difference
in the ability to perceive such sounds as
manifested by young and old persons.
Even when the latter were trained musi-
clans, they were incapa BILE of hearing some
sounds that were quite audible to chill
dren who had no musical training what
ever. This fact, like many others that
might be adduced is a striking commcn-
tary on the necessity of beginning early
the training of the young, when eye and
ear--not to speak Of the other senses--ra
ever ON the alert and quick to detect soul ds
and forms and cOlors, which at later '1e-
| riod would entirely escape their obser, a
| tion. Etude