At this point children usually develop great keenness for producing sounds and scales on all kinds of instruments (stringed instruments, wind instruments, etc.)
[Transcriber's Note: The midis for this section are the same as the previous pages. Therefore they were not repeated for this section.]
One of the instruments which brings the child to producing and recognizing notes is the monochord. It is a simple, resonant box with one string. The first exercise is in tuning. The string is made to correspond with one of the resonant prisms (do). This is made possible by a key with which the string can be loosened or tightened. The child may now be taught to handle the violin bow or mandolin plectrum, or he may be instructed in the finger thrumming used for the harp or banjo. On one of our monochords, the notes are indicated by fixed transversal frets, the name of each note being printed in the proper space. These notes are, however, not written on the other monochord, where the child must learn to discover by ear the proper distances at which the notes are produced. In this case the child has at his disposal movable frets with which he can indicate the points he has discovered as producing a given note. These frets should be left in position by the child to serve as a check on his work. The children have shown considerable interest also in little pitchpipes, which give very pleasing tones.
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Thus in composing the scales and in listening to them the child performs real exercises in musical education. A given melody in the major scale is repeated in various keys. In listening to it carefully, in repeating it, in observing the notes which make it up, the child has an exercise similar to the audition of the note, but an exercise of a far more advanced character.
