The times., 1899-05-28
PIANO Study
MADE 4 GAME
The New System Eliminates
Drudgery From Scales.
Students Understand Music Before
Touching a Key.
All Done by Lot of Queer Toys
Which Are Named After
Notes.

BY the introduction of fascinating toys
and games, Miss Evelyn Ashton Fletcher
has succeeded in absolutely obliterating
the difficulties met with by children when
beginning their work at the piano. Not
only so, but it has transformed the teach
er from a patient drudge into an animated
comrade. Barely a year of regular, well
directed play, and the seeming miracle is
accomplished.
AS the initial step in this method, the
children are given a large box filed with
pretty, queer shaped toys, cut out of fine
thin wood, and painted black on one side.
Perhaps a child first picks out of the box
a curiously interesting scroll-like figure,
which he is told he may call Mrs. Treble
Cleft" and that it is rather fun to play
that she is the mother OF quite family
Of little children. Then comes a circular
sort of affair, Mr. Bass Cleft who is also
the happy possessor of a family. Or he
may take up an elliptical ring, or stem
seven or eight inches long with similar
ring attached, something like a pipe;
again the ellipse may be solid, and there
may be one, two, three or more hooks on
the stem. These the child takes into his
hands and plays with in all sorts of ways.
They are his dolls, his soldiers or what
not. and it is as easy to name them half
note or eighth note as anything else.
But all these imaginary little folks must
have house to live in, and how shall we
build it? All, Here is strong piece of
wood with five large enclosed wheels pro-
vided with springs-on the same principle
as tape measure-attached to it. The
tape lines are long and black and we may
pull them out to any length-across three
or four tables, if we like, and fasten them
at the end to another block provided with
hooks.
After constructing our house we may
add any number of extra stories by means
of some nice little wooden bars Qedger
lines, which we shall find in the box.
Then follows a variety of merry and in
teresting games in which the dollies and
soldiers are located in their respective
houses and rooms In the box of wooden
toys every sign and character made use of
in the entire repertoire of music are rep
resented-forte, piano, crescendo, sta
cato, slur, etc, etc, and the charming
little games introduced bring out their
significance while really amusing the
child. When later. therefore, he looks
into a music book, he sees nothing that he
has not played with and handled.
Before he has had time to become tired
OF this set of materials, he is given an
entirely new set and introduced TO the
pasting game. Large sheets of paper con-
tanning all the characters with which he
| is familiar-notes, quavers. rests, and
| bars, are put into his hands, and he cuts
them out and pastes them on to a large
staff. They are his paper dolls or soldiers
and while apparently playing, he learns
the name of the doll, its appearance po-
| he
position, and name of the note. Although
| large, the characters are somewhat re-
| duced IN size from the blocks. g.
The next process is sewing on cardboard
with bright colored worsteds, cleffs notes,
chords, etc, that have been previously
pricked in-an adaptation of kindergarten
methods. Again the characters have been
reduced in size. By this time, however,
the children have become so familiar with
the dots, curves, hooks, and lines that
they recognize them instantly under al
most any guise or in any size, and are
ready for the blackboard work which fol-
| lows.
After these four presentations. with
their unique games. he child is so famil-
lar with everything pertaining to nota ion
| that he can name note no matter what
its position. without any process of CONT
| ing up or down. To no class is this readi-
ness more amazing than to musicians, as
nine out of ten of them, after years of ex-
perience, are obliged to make Iaental
calculation when a note is much above or
below the staff. In some subtle way the
children have been taught positively IN
stead of relatively. At recent demon
stration of the work, for instance, the
teacher would point to a note perhaps
four spaces below the bass cleft. Instant
ly with no pause for counting, would
come the response &c below" From that
she would pass to three or four lines above
the treble cleft, and almost simultaneously
with the poise of the pointer would come
the correct name; the particular octave
being frequently identified by some curl
Gus appellation takens from their games
"tumble-down d." for example.
Time and rhythm are taugh, in an equal
ly simple, practical, and delightful man
ner. The child is given ferrules which fold
up by means of hinges, SO that he can di-
vide them into different measures. Their
he has boxes of blocks of all sizes, each
marked with the note or rest which it Iep-
resents. With these he builds many sortS
of things and plays numberless games, al
with view to teaching him the relativ,
values of different sizes. incidentally, ht
learns lot about fractions, and really be
comes so familiar with the division of tim,
in music that there is no mental strain in.
volved in deciphering very complicated
measures At the end of the seventh
week the teacher may put on the black
| board an intricate Bach fugue or Beethoven
sonata, without any division of the meas
ures, and the children supply bars viii
perfect ease and correctness. Games o
tapping and clapping serve to crystalliz
the mental conception.
One of the most delightful games il tha
with the "Tonleiter," small horizontal Tar
in black and white, provided with slots int
which may be slipped little strips OF wood
also in black and white. With this befor
him. the child proceeds TO take out MI
J Major Do" for a walk. He takes one step
two steps, three steps, and then hal
step, and so on 10 the top of the scale
Then comes Mr.. Minor Dos" turn. In a
incredibly short time the makeup of ever
scale. major and minor is at the finger
ends.
Finally comes the detachable keyboard
which is the piece de resistance OF the sys
, TEN, as children love nothing better tina
taking a piece of mechanism apart an
putting II together again. The sign Tor IN
sound is marked upon each key, and IN
( children after taking the keyboard apart
t and mixing up the notes in the most pro
miscuous manner can get them all int
place again sometimes in less than tw
r | minutesi A feat that, II is safe TO say
! would staegeh most musicians. From thi
( keyboard the child learns also TO build. an
I name intervals and the principal chords.
y Meantime the ears of these little tot
j have been trained to quite an astonishn
degree. BY the end OF the course most c
b them can recognize two or three tones a
: least, by the sound, One Of the ways use
is to give each Of them tone, and te
him that whenever he hears this particu
lar note, 1t is his baby calling; a prett
, method, by the way, to familiarize hir
: with the motif idea, Very early in th