By Florence Mosley, Pupil of Shakespeare.
Class-singing.Class-singing is good for all; it educates not the voice only, but ear, eye and memory. Classes of young children should not be composed of less than fifteen or twenty; if the voice of a pupil is too audible to herself and her neighbour, she becomes self-conscious and shy; in a fairly large class the pupil merely swells a general body of sound. In a class of thirty the teacher should be able easily to detect a defaulter; she should not however correct by name, as this tends to produce nervousness; she should indicate the direction from which the faulty sound proceeds. A few voices should not be allowed to predominate over the others, and care should be taken to prevent any over-exertion of voice.
Position is very important; the pupils should stand upright, with heels together and hands loosely clasped in front. Good order must be maintained, and thorough attention exacted.
The classes for young children should not exceed half an hour in length, but for elder pupils forty-five minutes to an hour is desirable.
Notation.In each lesson a few test questions on notation should be given, and in order to avoid the answers proceeding only from a few of the more musical or quicker pupils, all answers should be written.
Ear tests.Ear tests are best taught by taking the middle C as a starting-point, the pupils being required to give the name of every note struck within the octave, and also of the interval so formed; when they are thoroughly familiar with all the sounds contained in that octave, the process should be repeated with another note as the tonic. Having written the ear tests, they should proceed to sing them, the conductor striking a note upon the piano and requiring the class to pitch any interval he mentions either above or below that note, without assistance from the instrument. By this means the pupils become familiar with the relation of one note to another, and so find no difficulty in reading.
Dictation.Musical dictation is another important means of training the ear; the melody of a simple well-known tune—if possible within the compass of an octave—should be played over; the key and starting-note being given to the class, they should be required to write down the notes of the melody from memory. At first it will be found necessary to play the tune over several times, until the class becomes used to the exercise. To more advanced classes more elaborate melodies can be given, and the harmonies filled in.
Rhythm.This is best taught by making each member of the class beat time, while the conductor plays tunes of various measures on the instrument used for accompanying the class. This enables the pupils to realise the strong and weak beats.
Another way is to dictate the notes of a melody to the class, making the pupils fill in the bar lines and time signature.
Reading at sight.The pupils should first read unaccompanied single notes from the blackboard, followed by easy exercises in unison, and then exercises in two or three parts; the more advanced classes should read some oratorio music and standard works.