GRADE SCHOOL* 
 MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 T. P. GIDDING S
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 
 * y
 
 GRADE SCHOOL 
 MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 FOR SUPERINTENDENTS, 
 
 MUSIC SUPERVISORS, 
 AND GRADE TEACHERS 
 
 BY 
 
 T. P. GIDDINGS 
 
 SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, MINNEAPOLIS 
 
 Caspar Krueger Dory Co. 
 
 772 North Water Street 
 MILWAUKEE, WIS.
 
 Copyright, 1919 
 
 By T. P. GIDDINGS 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
 
 
 5 TO MY FORMER SUPERINTENDENT 
 
 S ' W. H. HATCH, 
 
 WHO SO PATIENTLY AND HELPFULLY 
 
 GUIDED MY EARLY TEACHING, THIS 
 BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
 * 
 
 ^ 
 
 h 
 
 366958
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Efficiency 1 
 
 II. Singing 9 
 
 III. Rote Singing 24 
 
 IV. Rhythm 34 
 
 V. Reading Music 51 
 
 VI. Individual Singing .... 72 
 
 VII. Beginning Sight Singing . . 97 
 
 VIII. Ear Training 121 
 
 IX. Theory 146 
 
 X. Voice Testing 156 
 
 XI. Voice Training 181 
 
 XII. Material 198 
 
 XIII. Concerts and Entertainments 207 
 
 XIV. Conducting 220 
 
 XV. Grade School Orchestras and 
 
 Bands 229 
 
 XVI. Instrumental Classes . . . 244 
 
 XVII. Appreciation. Mrs. Fryberger . 247
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Mr. Giddings is one of those teachers who 
 insist on making sight-singing a necessary part 
 of music education. Those who cannot read 
 words are classed as "illiterates," and Mr. Gid- 
 dings makes the same classification in music. 
 
 Wherever music is taught, either in private 
 or public schools, much time is spent in doing 
 something with the notation. Mr. Giddings 
 believes that instead of surrounding it with 
 a veil of mystery and wasting time on stunts 
 this part of the music period should be em- 
 ployed in the most effective way possible in 
 teaching the children to read, and that all 
 vagueness as to the meaning of the symbols 
 of music should be removed from the minds 
 of the pupils. Mr. Giddings lets the class drive 
 ahead and "learn to read by reading." He 
 cuts out all unnecessary effort and focuses the 
 attention of the pupils on the work they are 
 expected to do, whether it be singing by note, 
 learning a rote song, "finishing off a piece" or
 
 viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 anything else that legitimately belongs to music 
 teaching. 
 
 In doing this, Mr. Giddings uses pure song 
 material as a medium, believing that the best 
 way to inspire soulful singing is to bring the 
 soul of the child in contact with the soul of 
 the composer without obtruding too much 
 soul-less talk about soul. 
 
 There is a great deal of soulful singing in 
 the Minneapolis schools, but it is not without 
 a foundation of good sense coupled with hard 
 work which gives joy to all concerned. 
 
 C. H. Congdon.
 
 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC 
 TEACHING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EFFICIENCY 
 
 Efficiency means using the easiest, short- 
 est, and most effectual way of doing any- 
 thing, either mental or physical, whether it 
 be calculating the transit of Venus or making 
 change for a dollar, building a battleship or 
 washing a dish. It means watching every 
 movement to see that it counts and that the 
 most work is accomplished with the least 
 expenditure of time and energy. 
 
 This applies to all work, both mental and 
 physical, done in the schoolroom, and it should 
 be the study of every teacher to turn the atten- 
 tion of every pupil to the way he does his 
 work as well as to the correctness of the result. 
 The pupil should be developing good life 
 habits rather than merely finding correct an- 
 1
 
 2 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 swers to problems. A teacher who allows a 
 pupil to work in awkward, ineffectual ways, 
 no matter how good the result, is doing the 
 pupil a lasting injury. 
 
 INITIATIVE 
 
 One of the best ways to secure efficiency is 
 to develop the initiative of the child as early 
 as possible. Teachers seldom do this. They 
 do altogether too much directing. Indeed, 
 they are so apt to direct every move the pupil 
 makes that the average class would be wholly 
 unable to leave the building at all unless some 
 teacher stood near and said "turn, stand, pass" 
 at them. This is especially true of the lower 
 grades. It has its logical result in the upper 
 grades and is the principal reason for all the 
 criticism directed toward the inefficiency of 
 children after they leave school. 
 
 It is not the course of study that is so 
 much at fault (although that may be open to 
 criticism), as it is the manner in which the 
 subjects are handled. The pupil is so seldom 
 allowed to use and develop his own initiative 
 that he has none to show when he leaves school
 
 EFFICIENCY 3 
 
 and has constantly to be directed in doing the 
 simplest operations. 
 
 EFFICIENCY IS NOW THE WATCHWORD 
 
 Of many schools and it is high time that 
 this watchword became universal. The chil- 
 dren have been permitted to come to school 
 and to learn to dawdle instead of work. The 
 first thing the schools should teach children 
 is how to work. We can make the child do 
 anything, but that is not the point. We must 
 make him want to work by giving him a mo- 
 tive and then showing him the best and 
 easiest method of accomplishment. But as the 
 motive cannot always be made plain at first, 
 we should not weakly wait until the pupil 
 wants to do a thing before requiring him to 
 do it. We should see that the children work 
 faithfully at whatever they are doing and they 
 will soon see that it is worth while. The 
 following incident well illustrates this point: 
 
 Some years ago a freshman in a high school 
 would not have his voice tested. He was 
 stubborn, so I took him to the principal, who 
 was one of the most gentle of men. He was
 
 4 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 also a good psychologist, and his amazing 
 exhibition of this faculty fairly took my 
 breath away. Without a word as to why we 
 were there, he leaped from his chair and 
 shouted at the trembling youth: "What are 
 you doing in my office? Go straight back to 
 ; your class and do whatever any teacher tells 
 you to do and never show your face in this 
 office again." We turned and went. When 
 we arrived at a secluded place, I stopped and 
 tested his voice. He offered no objection. 
 He returned to his class and the teacher put 
 him on the front seat. Later, he gravitated 
 to the back seat. His teacher soon reported 
 him to be the most interested one in the class 
 and he became one of the head pushers in the 
 High School chorus. All he needed was a 
 jolt. When he got that, he found that music 
 was a fascinating subject and one that well' 
 repaid hard work. 
 
 Efficiency is a study that taxes the keenest 
 minds and conversely it is a study that will 
 make all minds keen. Teachers should not 
 only study the subject matter but should also 
 study how to teach it in the shortest and best
 
 EFFICIENCY 5 
 
 way and at the same time teach the children 
 to think out the easiest and the best way of 
 doing their work. 
 
 There is the story of the man who never 
 laid a brick in his life, but after watching an 
 old bricklayer work, he taught the old hand 
 how to lay bricks four times as fast with half 
 the labor. Children need the same kind of 
 supervision and training. 
 
 Some years ago I had the good fortune to 
 teach with a red-headed teacher who knew how 
 to teach efficiency. She got her work done 
 with less fuss and feathers and less wasted 
 time than any other teacher I ever saw. On 
 the blackboard was the program for the day. 
 When the clock pointed to the time indicated 
 for the beginning of a lesson, she simply 
 tapped once with her pencil to turn one lesson 
 off and the next one on. The pupils hated her 
 the first day or two, but at the end of a week 
 they all liked her. At the end of the first 
 month they adored her and at the end of the 
 year every pupil passed. In addition to their 
 book knowledge, the pupils had learned some- 
 thing infinitely better they knew how to
 
 6 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 work. They also knew the value of time. 
 These pupils usually finished the work of 
 their grade a couple of months ahead of time. 
 This teacher's method was very simple. She 
 studied "efficiency," but it was before the day 
 this word was invented. Her first task with 
 a new set of pupils was to teach them to elimi- 
 nate all false motions and to waste no time. I 
 owe her a deep debt of gratitude, for she taught 
 me a lesson. 
 
 MUSIC AN EFFICIENCY STUDY 
 
 It may strike many people, especially mu- 
 sicians, as a great surprise to learn that music 
 is the best "efficiency study" in the curriculum. 
 
 One of the reasons why music furnishes 
 excellent mental training is the fact that to 
 be a good musician, or reader of vocal music, 
 a pupil must do several things at once. This 
 is plainly brought out in the chapter on individ- 
 ual work and in several other places. The 
 great reason music is valuable is the fact that 
 the pupil must think in time. He must train 
 his mind to think rhythmically and rapidly. 
 In every other study the pupil may go as
 
 EFFICIENCY 7 
 
 rapidly or as slowly as he pleases, but in music 
 the time is set and his mind must keep up. 
 
 MUSIC, THE GAUGE OF A TEACHER 
 
 Not only is music a fine efficiency study for 
 the children, but it is one of the best tests of a 
 teacher's ability to handle a school. If the 
 teacher is weak in discipline, or slow mentally, 
 the music lesson is the first to show it. Every 
 weakness in the management of the class will 
 stick out like a sore thumb when the music 
 supervisor arrives. 
 
 Efficiency must, of course, begin with the 
 teacher. A stream rises no higher than its 
 source and if the teacher is inefficient, it is 
 hopeless to expect anything else from the 
 pupils. 
 
 I know a high school teacher who is so effi- 
 cient that she teaches her six classes daily and 
 never has a paper left over to correct after 
 school. She does this while she is hearing 
 recitations. I have seen her listen to a French 
 class with one ear, a German class with the 
 other, and correct papers at the same time and 
 never miss a mistake. It seems impossible,
 
 8 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 but she says it is simple, and it looks simple 
 when you see her do it. She says it is only 
 using your brain as it was intended to be 
 used. One of her secrets is that the pupil 
 and not the teacher does the reciting. 
 
 There are "efficiency hints" all through this 
 book, and the music teacher who wishes to 
 make her teaching efficient should make a care- 
 ful study of the way these suggestions may 
 be carried out.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SINGING 
 
 One of the main essentials of school music 
 work is the proper use of the singing voice. 
 It is the first thing the pupil must learn. If 
 he does not sing with a smooth, pleasant tone, 
 the so-called music he makes will not only 
 sound unpleasant, but he will be unable to 
 correctly hear the tones he is making; his ear 
 will not develop as it should, nor will he learn 
 to read music accurately or rapidly. 
 
 Since it is very important that pupils should 
 habitually use a smooth, pleasant tone, let us 
 find out what is required to produce such tones. 
 
 While establishing smooth singing, or at any 
 other time, it is perfect folly to give the pupils 
 any breathing exercises. These usually make 
 the trouble worse, as they call attention to 
 taking in the breath. It is not inhaling that 
 the pupil needs to practice ; he can do that well 
 enough already. He must learn to send out 
 9
 
 10 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the breath slowly and evenly. Teach him this 
 by allowing him to practice singing long, 
 smooth phrases in songs. 
 
 If nothing is said about inhalation, but much 
 attention is given to singing long, smooth 
 tones and phrases, the pupil will soon learn 
 to take just enough breath and no more, and 
 all his attention will be centered on the thing 
 he must learn the ability to exhale properly. 
 In order that the pupil may know that he is 
 doing this, let him put the ends of the fingers 
 of the left hand on the middle of the front of 
 the waist line, with the thumb of the same hand 
 on the fifth or sixth rib as far back as it will 
 reach without moving the fingers from their 
 position. Now let the pupil hold a tone as 
 long as he can easily with one breath and no- 
 tice what his rib and waist muscles are doing. 
 The smallest child will observe that the ribs 
 and waist muscles are sinking in, steadily. 
 The next step is to teach the pupil to sing a 
 song and make these muscles sink in exactly 
 the same way on each phrase. This must be 
 practiced until the choppy singing disappears 
 and the use of the long, smooth tone becomes
 
 SINGING 
 
 11
 
 12 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 a habit. The teacher will often have to re- 
 sort to little helps to get the child to do this 
 habitually. If necessary the teacher should 
 take the young children, one by one, and by 
 putting her fingers on the child's ribs and her 
 thumb on the front middle of the waist line, 
 exert a gentle pressure as he sings, thus teach- 
 ing him how to move the muscles steadily. 
 As soon as one child learns this, let him teach 
 another in turn and so on until all have learned 
 it. 
 
 PHRASING 
 
 Phrasing is the habit of singing all the 
 words of the same phrase with one breath, 
 thus bringing out the meaning of the words 
 and music. The method of breathing, already 
 described, makes perfect phrasing possible. It 
 applies to language reading as well as singing 
 and it should be taught in language reading 
 the same as in singing. It will often be found 
 that the waist muscles jerk at each syllable. 
 This must be eliminated and the child taught 
 to move his muscles steadily, no matter how 
 many words he sings to each breath.
 
 SINGING 13 
 
 In all dictation exercises, make it a rule 
 that the pupil must hold the tone called for 
 until the teacher says "stop" or tells him to 
 do something else. This device can be used 
 in many ways and will be spoken of later. 
 
 Do not be afraid to teach even the smallest 
 child how to breathe properly. The kinder- 
 garten child can learn this as well and as 
 quickly as the high school student. Care 
 must be taken that pupils do not raise and 
 lower their chests in singing. Placing one 
 hand on the chest will soon obviate any motion 
 of this kind. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF SMOOTH SINGING 
 
 The success of school singing depends more 
 on smooth tones than on anything else. Good 
 expression is impossible without it. 
 
 Smooth tone is as important in teaching the 
 reading of music as it is in teaching expression, 
 as the following incident will show, which hap- 
 pened while I was visiting schools in a city 
 far from home. I discovered on this journey 
 that many supervisors do not work. They 
 watch the teachers do it. It struck me as a
 
 14 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 fine thing for the supervisor but not very good 
 for the grade teacher or the pupils. Super- 
 visors are supposed to be experts in their line, 
 and to see from them a little expert music 
 teaching occasionally might be good for both 
 grade teachers and pupils. 
 
 The grade teacher blushingly took the class 
 as we filed in. The supervisor walked to the 
 back of the room and eyed her stonily. The 
 lesson was a song in two parts and the pupils 
 (sixth grade) were exceptionally bright. In 
 the alto was a passage that had "sol," "sharp 
 sol," and "la" in succession. Instead of go- 
 ing up from "sol" to "sharp sol" they went 
 down and sang "sharp fa." The pupils joy- 
 ously yelled or barked the song correctly in all 
 but this place. It was enough to deafen one. 
 The teacher blushed still more as she explained 
 that the pupils had made the same mistake the 
 day before while they were learning the song 
 and she had been unable to get them to change 
 it. Then she commenced to drill them on 
 their mistake. They sang "sol," "la," and 
 "sharp sol" correctly when she called for them 
 in that order, but when she called for them in
 
 SINGING 15 
 
 the order in which they occurred in the song, 
 they invariably went down and sang "sharp fa" 
 instead of "sharp sol." She had them yell 
 these notes over and over for several minutes 
 and then gave it up. The supervisor then 
 took the class and drilled them in exactly the 
 same way for several minutes more with ex- 
 actly the same result. Neither of them had 
 found the trouble. The supervisor then 
 asked me to take the class. I refused at first, 
 as I did not wish to make myself obnoxious, 
 but finally consented. 
 
 The first thing I asked the pupils to do 
 was to sing softly and to hold the tone 
 asked for until I either called for another 
 or said "stop." I then called for "sol." They 
 gave one bark and stopped. I reminded them 
 that I had not said "stop." They tried again 
 and held the tone as long and as loudly as they 
 could with one breath. I reminded them 
 again that I had not said "stop." One of the 
 pupils remarked that his breath was all gone. 
 I said, "Can't you take another?" They saw 
 the point. Then I explained to them that not 
 only must they sing until I said "stop" but
 
 16 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 they must be careful to leave no gap between 
 the tones called for, also they should sing 
 softly. I then called for "sol," "la," "sharp 
 sol," "la." Then very slowly: "sol," "sharp 
 sol," "la" and they got it right. Then I told 
 the altos to sing the same thing from the book 
 very slowly and smoothly. They did so. The 
 soprano was then added and the song was cor- 
 rectly sung. Hardly a minute was consumed. 
 The trouble was that the children's tones were 
 so disconnected that they could not make the 
 necessary comparison. 
 
 The habit of singing smoothly and with 
 connected tones should be well established as 
 early as the kindergarten. It will remain a 
 habit if the pupils are watched carefully all 
 through their school life. In any grade the 
 pupils should often test their singing both by 
 ear and by placing the hand as already ex- 
 plained. This is especially necessary in read- 
 ing new music as pupils are very prone to sing 
 jerkily on a new song. 
 
 If the pupil can once get the idea that the 
 rib and abdominal muscles set going an end- 
 less stream of tone that flows steadily and un-
 
 SINGING 17 
 
 interruptedly as long as the breath lasts and 
 that this stream of tone simply takes the 
 syllables and words ihat are thrown into it 
 by the lips and tongue, the "bel Canto" habit 
 will be a reality. It is similar to the stream 
 that flows smoothly by as one, sitting on the 
 bank, sprinkles flowers upon its bosom. The 
 stream does not stop nor hesitate but picks up 
 whatever is cast upon its surface and carries 
 it along. The stream is the tone and the words 
 and syllables are the flowers and leaves the 
 singer throws upon it. 
 
 READING NEW MUSIC IS HARD WORK 
 
 Reading music is hard mental work and a 
 child needs to be thoroughly awake and under 
 perfect self control, both mental and physical, 
 to be able to do it well. The deep, steady 
 breathing necessary to smooth, good tone in- 
 duces exactly this state of mind. When a 
 pupil is in this state, he can read music rapidty 
 and well because both mind and body are 
 working harmoniously. Unsteady tones indi- 
 cate unsteady muscles and unsteady muscles 
 indicate an unsteady mind. One reacts upon
 
 18 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the other. One cannot hope to get good read- 
 ing until this calm mental and physical state is 
 attained and the sign of it is always the smooth, 
 steady, beautiful tone. This cannot be too 
 thoroughly emphasized. 
 
 SECOND GRADE 
 
 Smooth singing and singing to the end of 
 the phrase with one breath is especially im- 
 portant when beginning the reading of music 
 in the second grade. I have seen a class of 
 second grade pupils read page after page of 
 simple music at sight with rarely a mistake, 
 the sixth week of music reading. Other sec- 
 ond grade classes floundered and were able to 
 accomplish but little at the end of six months. 
 The difference was due entirely to the smooth- 
 ness of tone. With smooth tone there is al- 
 ways attention. Without it, there never is. 
 
 CAN CHILDREN SING 
 
 An eminent physician says that a child can- 
 not sing: he only chirps. Another says that 
 a child should not try to sing when too young 
 as his larynx is too small and unsteady. If
 
 SINGING 19 
 
 either of these eminent authorities had been 
 a voice teacher of the right kind and had taken 
 a few young children and shown them how to 
 use their rib and abdominal muscles, they 
 would have changed their minds at once and 
 would have known that the smallest child can 
 learn to sing smoothly. The one who said 
 that a child's larynx is too weak to stand the 
 strain of quiet singing must have lived a singu- 
 larly sheltered life if he never heard a baby 
 squall, or a child yell. The singing a child 
 does in school, when the work is properly 
 carried on, requires but a tithe of the number 
 of pounds pressure a child puts on his vocal 
 chords in yelling or crying. 
 
 BEL CANTO 
 
 Bel Canto is a magic term that singers often 
 use and a quality they seldom show. It is 
 nothing more or less than smooth, quiet sing- 
 ing, brought to its logical development. Every 
 child that goes to the public schools should 
 learn it and use it all his life. Any kinder- 
 garten or first grade child can learn it and if 
 he does not it is the fault of his teacher. If
 
 20 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 this smooth use of the voice becomes habitual 
 in childhood, the good voices will develop and 
 the world will have more fine singers than at 
 present. It is quite probable that much of 
 Adelina Patti's wonderful success lay in the 
 fact that she had the proper early training. To 
 be sure, she came from a family of singers, 
 but it is also true that she was taught to use 
 her voice correctly as soon as she was able to 
 talk plainly. The school should do the same 
 for every child. 
 
 SINGING AND MOTION SONGS 
 
 If the habit of smooth singing is formed on 
 slow songs, the same habit can be applied to 
 rapid ones and the tone will still remain smooth. 
 Smooth singing cannot be maintained with 
 motion songs because the breath cannot be ex- 
 haled slowly and steadily while the singer is 
 making motions. He needs to breathe more 
 rapidly to sustain life when in motion and as 
 this spoils the steady, slow breathing, the 
 smooth singing tone disappears. Teachers 
 sometimes toil to establish a smooth tone and 
 a few minutes later let the pupils dance and
 
 SINGING 21 
 
 sing at the same time and wonder why the 
 singing does not sound well. This trouble is 
 very widespread and should be stopped. I do 
 not mean to stop the motion songs or the folk 
 dances if they are done in a sane manner. 
 They are very interesting to children, but as 
 usually done ruin the singing tone. It is easy 
 enough to supply the music with the piano or 
 when that is not available, let half the pupils 
 sing and the rest motion. In this way all will 
 be happy and the singing will not be spoiled. 
 
 BEATING TIME VOCALLY 
 
 Another villainous misuse of the voice is 
 sometimes perpetrated. At the risk of be- 
 coming known as an old he-gossip, I will il- 
 lustrate this by telling of another visit I made 
 to a distant city some time ago. This super- 
 visor recognized but one element of vocal mu- 
 sic and that was rhythm. The uncanny part 
 of it was that although this man was a fine 
 singer himself, he made his pupils beat time 
 with their voices, the beats being induced by 
 abdominal convulsions. The singing sounded 
 like a series of vocal explosions. This
 
 22 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 teacher believed in ear-training, so of 
 course he wanted the children to hear the 
 rhythm. All heard it but the "stone deaf" and 
 they must have felt the vibrations. 
 
 This supervisor did not believe in beating 
 time with the hand or doing it in any other 
 way. I have forgotten his reason. He con- 
 fided to me that the tone might have been bet- 
 ter. He had a perfect ear himself and he 
 was worried because the pupils did not sing 
 in tune. How could they have been expected 
 to sing in tune when they never had sung in 
 their school lives and had never heard two 
 tones long enough or near enough together 
 to compare them to see if they were in tune. 
 
 It is amazing how little mechanical sense a 
 supervisor must possess when he allows such 
 work in his schools, since a little reasoning 
 would show that good tone is impossible when 
 the pupils beat time with their voices. We 
 are all apt to exaggerate the importance of one 
 of the things of which music is composed and 
 spoil the rest. Symmetrical development 
 should be our constant aim. 
 
 Necessary as smooth singing is in the lower
 
 SINGING 23 
 
 grades, where only one part music is sung, it 
 is even more important when taking up two, 
 three, and four-part music. If there is trouble 
 here, and there usually is, it is due to lack of 
 proper singing habits on the part of the pupils. 
 If they can make smooth, long tones and have 
 learned to listen well, they will have very little 
 trouble learning part singing, if the music is 
 suitable.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 ROTE SINGING 
 
 When a child first comes to school he has 
 a vocabulary sufficient to carry on an intelli- 
 gent conversation, and he is ready to begin at 
 once to learn to read. But since he knows 
 little or nothing about music, he must first 
 learn to sing a good many songs by rote and 
 thus acquire what might be called a musical 
 vocabulary, and also have the opportunity of 
 listening to good music, both vocal and instru- 
 mental, before he is ready to begin to learn 
 to read music. 
 
 With the child's music sense thoroughly 
 awakened (the music sense includes rhythm), 
 he can enjoy hearing good music and will 
 readily learn to express himself in song. 
 The child's first experience in singing should 
 be with simple songs and when he begins to 
 sing by notation, easy song material should 
 be the basis of his work. 
 24
 
 ROTE SINGING 25 
 
 Marching, dancing, and other physical ex- 
 pressions of rhythm may be used to advantage 
 by the children, but they should never be a 
 part of the singing lesson unless such exer- 
 cises are performed by a part of the class that 
 is not singing. 
 
 The young child should be taught the cor- 
 rect use of the singing voice and it will be 
 found that it is much easier to teach this at 
 the age of six than it is at the age of sixteen. 
 Any grade teacher can train the child voice 
 properly if she will follow the plan explained 
 in the chapter on singing. 
 
 Until the singing habit is well established 
 teach only rote songs that are short and simple, 
 slow and sustained. There should be some 
 wide intervals and many holds. The wide 
 intervals will be heard more readily than the 
 small ones and the holds will help teach the 
 children the singing tone as well as to sing 
 in tune. The following song meets these re- 
 quirements and is an excellent one to begin 
 with.
 
 26 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 CALLING MARY 
 
 WILL F AMI ART 
 
 U- 
 
 r rnrrr 
 
 & 
 
 Ma - ry! Hark, I am call-ing you I 
 
 &' 
 
 T+ 
 
 Ma - ry! Where can she be? 
 
 From Coagdon Musio Primer Number no 
 
 The rhythm may be changed without appre- 
 ciable harm and the jumps of an octave are ex- 
 cellent for ear training. 
 
 PRESENTING A ROTE SONG 
 
 The teacher should sing a new song through 
 once to the class. Sing it very smoothly and 
 enunciate the words very distinctly. Do not 
 talk about it, let the song speak for itself. If 
 the song is suitable and you have sung it 
 properly, the pupils will know all about it. 
 After you have sung the song through once 
 sing phrase by phrase and have them repeat 
 each phrase. The children should learn to 
 do this without being told each time. Self
 
 ROTE SINGING 27 
 
 direction should be learned early by the pupils. 
 
 In singing phrases of a rote song, require the 
 pupils to repeat them correctly after hearing 
 them once. The habit of attention is the first 
 thing a pupil should acquire in school and the 
 attention a teacher requires while teaching rote 
 songs is a sure indication of her teaching 
 ability. 
 
 If the pupils do not repeat the phrase cor- 
 rectly after hearing it once, look for the cause. 
 Usually it is the fault of the teacher. 
 
 There are a number of reasons why the 
 phrases are not repeated correctly after once 
 hearing. The phrase may have been too long. 
 You may not have been clear in your singing 
 or articulation. You may have sung too 
 rapidly. The pupils may not have been pay- 
 ing attention. 
 
 Teach the first song phrase by phrase 
 until the class can sing it as a whole. The 
 teacher should never sing with her pupils and 
 the piano should not be played until they have 
 learned the song. It is a great mistake to sing 
 with the children while they are learning to 
 memorize.
 
 28 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 WHY TEACH SINGING? 
 
 As soon as the class as a whole can sing 
 this first song correctly, let individuals try it. 
 When you have found a few who can get 
 through this song, take them one by one and 
 teach them how to sing, as explained in the 
 chapter on singing. I am well aware that 
 many will rise up and yell that this plan will 
 make the child self-conscious and will so 
 ruffle the pinfeathers of his spirit that his soul 
 will be unable to soar to the realms of song. 
 Turn a deaf ear to all such. Teach the child 
 how to sing and keep him at it until it be- 
 comes a habit. Then he will be able to express 
 his emotions in song because he will have a 
 singing machine that will respond to his emo- 
 tions. Until he has such a machine at his com- 
 mand he will be unable to express anything. 
 
 POSITION IN SINGING 
 
 Let the pupils stand a part of the time when 
 they are singing. When sitting, the pupils 
 should sit erect with elbows far apart resting 
 on the desk and the hands lightly folded in 
 front. This brings them into a position that
 
 ROTE SINGING 29 
 
 favors the correct use of the breathing muscles. 
 It will be noticed that some of the girls raise 
 the chest when taking breath. ( See chapter on 
 singing.) 
 
 When the proper use of the voice is estab- 
 lished on the first song, a number of other songs 
 of like character should be taught. Great care 
 should be taken that the phrasing is perfect 
 and the tone smooth the first time the pupils 
 sing the song. 
 
 When the smooth singing habit is well estab- 
 lished on the slow songs the teacher may in- 
 crease the speed of the songs and select more 
 rapid ones. Great care must be taken that the 
 pupils continue to use the smooth tone no mat- 
 ter how rapidly they sing. 
 
 ARTICULATION 
 
 Nothing has been said so far about articula- 
 tion and very likely it will be found that the 
 words are already spoken plainly. Good ar- 
 ticulation can easily be obtained if the tone is 
 smooth and steady. If the words are not 
 plain, simply tell the pupils to move their lips 
 so that the teacher can see what they are say-
 
 30 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ing. Do not tell the children, however, to say 
 the words so that you can hear them, since 
 that will bring out a stronger tone. You are 
 working for distinctness, which means more 
 marked and rapid movements of the articulat- 
 ing muscles and not a louder tone. Be very 
 careful also when pupils are trying to articu- 
 late well that they do not commence to jerk 
 their rib and waist muscles, as this will destroy 
 their singing tone and will also destroy the 
 effect of good articulation. No matter how 
 well the words may be articulated, they will 
 not be clearly heard unless they have a smooth, 
 pure tone to travel on. If teachers would 
 apply this principle to the reading of language 
 and especially to phonic drills the reading of 
 the pupils would sound infinitely better and 
 they would learn to read in a very much shorter 
 time. 
 
 MONOTONES 
 
 More will be said about monotones and out 
 of tunes in another place, but it will be found 
 that as soon as all the children have learned to 
 carry a smooth tone, most of these unfortunate
 
 ROTE SINGING 31 
 
 pupils will be reclaimed. This means that the 
 slow, smooth tone they have used has educated 
 their ears and singing muscles so that most of 
 them sing in tune. 
 
 COMPASS OF SONGS 
 
 This is a sore subject, for few composers 
 seem to know that children of the kindergarten 
 or first grade should never sing below "E" 
 (first line) or "F." They may safely sing to 
 the "G" above the staff. 
 
 A child voice has two registers the chest 
 and head. They might also be called the sing- 
 ing and howling registers. Between these two 
 registers there is a movable break and if the 
 child is permitted to sing loudly he will push 
 his chest register up as far as the song goes. 
 If he is taught to sing softly the song, com- 
 mencing on "E" or "F" (first line or first 
 space) will be sung in the head register and 
 there will be no trouble. With the head tone 
 properly used, the children can sing safely 
 from "E" (first line) to "G" (space above). 
 
 All teachers should read that excellent book 
 by F. E. Howard, "The Child Voice in Song"
 
 32 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 (published by Novello). Adopt the principles 
 he so well explains, but do not use the exer- 
 cises he advocates. They are not needed. 
 
 The number of songs taught in the first 
 grade varies greatly. Teachers sometimes say 
 that it depends upon the children they happen 
 to have, but it depends almost entirely upon 
 the habits the teacher has allowed them to form. 
 If the pupils learned attention and smooth tone 
 the first thing upon entering school, they will 
 have no difficulty in memorizing at least fifty 
 songs the first year. Of kindergartens I can- 
 not speak with much authority, as I have had 
 little experience with them, but the same prin- 
 ciple should hold good there. After two 
 months in school the pupils should be able to 
 learn a short song after hearing it once. 
 
 Teachers should not be discouraged by the 
 fact that a class may sing a song perfectly at 
 the first lesson and then partially forget it the 
 next day. This habit will soon pass. Sev- 
 eral new songs should be started at the same 
 time. Do not attempt to finish one song per- 
 fectly before beginning another; this will
 
 ROTE SINGING 33 
 
 make the pupils slow. They can learn sev- 
 eral at a time as rapidly as one. 
 
 The singing teacher and the kindergarten 
 and first grade teachers often clash over mo- 
 tion songs and rhythm games. This is 
 brought out in the chapter on singing. In 
 order to sing well the child must exhale 
 smoothly and very slowly. He can do this 
 if he is standing or sitting still. He will be 
 able to take breath enough to sustain life and 
 sing, if he has nothing else to do. Let him 
 make a few motions and his heart beats faster, 
 his breath must come more quickly to aerate 
 his blood and the singing is impossible. 
 
 But the teachers say the pupils like motion 
 songs. Of course they do. They like to play 
 leap frog but they should not sing while they 
 are doing it. If we are to have motion songs, 
 let half of the class do the motions and the 
 other half sing.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 RHYTHM 
 
 Rhythm is a most important part of music 
 and is the part that is most often misunder- 
 stood and mistaught. It is the second element 
 to be considered in teaching the reading of 
 vocal music. 
 
 Music is made up of time and tune. Time is 
 the framework upon which the tune hangs. 
 
 All teachers wish their pupils to develop 
 rapid, accurate thinking habits. Rhythm will 
 do this if correctly taught. Music is the only 
 study in which rapid, rhythmic thinking is re- 
 quired. When a class or a pupil sings a pas- 
 sage, be sure that the time goes on steadily, no 
 matter how many notes are miscalled. 
 
 Many supervisors and teachers do not agree 
 upon this. They are apt to think the tone is 
 the important thing. The frame of a build- 
 ing is always firmly in place before the orna- 
 mentation is applied. It is the same with 
 34
 
 RHYTHM 35 
 
 music. The time is the frame and the tones 
 are the ornamentation. No matter how lovely 
 the coloring, the painted picture will be a 
 failure if the drawing is faulty. 
 
 A listener does not easily detect mistakes in 
 tone. A mistake in time is noted by the dullest 
 ear. A missing shingle is seen by few, but if 
 the roof is caved in or the frame of a house 
 is out of plumb, even a casual observer will no- 
 tice it. The musical frame (time) must be 
 built before you can lay on the tones. 
 
 The pupil sings many slow, smooth songs in 
 the kindergarten and first grade to awaken his 
 ear and establish the singing tone. Many of 
 the later songs in these grades should be faster 
 and of more pronounced rhythm. Children 
 should hear many faster and more intricate 
 rhythms than the ones they are able to sing. 
 Let these be given on the piano or other in- 
 struments. 
 
 Teachers often allow pupils to wave their 
 hands, dance and prance, and go through many 
 elaborate motions as music is played. Such 
 rhythm exercises are fine as plays, dances, and 
 other physical exercises, but if one thinks that
 
 36 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 these performances are going to help the pupils 
 read rhythm later, they will be disappointed. 
 
 Do not have the children clap their hands 
 while they are singing, hoping it will help 
 them later in trying to read rhythm. It will 
 not do it. Do not teach children to beat time 
 while they are singing rote songs, thinking it 
 will help them later in reading. It will not. 
 In the first grade, do no time work in the sing- 
 ing lesson, except to have the pupils sing their 
 rote songs with a smooth, pleasant tone in 
 perfect time and tune. 
 
 SECOND GRADE 
 
 When pupils begin note reading in the second 
 grade, they should point to the notes with the 
 extended first finger of the right hand. The 
 wrist should lie flat on the desk and the hand 
 should move down and up from the wrist 
 joint, the first finger pointing once to each one 
 beat note and twice to each two beat note, etc. 
 The three other fingers should be closed and 
 the extended thumb pressed against the middle 
 joint of the extended first finger and against 
 the side of the closed second finger. This will
 
 RHYTHM 
 
 37 
 
 compel the pupil to move the hand from the 
 wrist joint. If he moves but the extended 
 first finger, the rhythm will probably be uneven. 
 If his whole forearm moves, he will be unable 
 to place the finger under the notes with ac- 
 curacy. 
 
 Beating time should be very accurately done 
 and the habit should be established once and 
 for all. With the wrist lying on the desk, 
 the hand should take the two positions alter- 

 
 38 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 nately as shown in the accompanying pic- 
 tures, the finger making an arc of not more 
 than three inches at each beat. The forearm 
 
 should lie easily on the desk or desk and book. 
 The hand should move down and up with 
 a quick, snappy movement and the pauses at 
 the bottom and top should be well marked. 
 The movements should be exactly equal in time. 
 Many of the pupils will put the hand down and 
 let it bounce up instantly like the motion of a
 
 RHYTHM 39 
 
 chicken picking up a grain of corn. This 
 should not be allowed. 
 
 The steady motion should become a habit 
 as soon as possible, and the teacher should 
 watch carefully to see that it never flags, no 
 matter if the music the pupil is reading is easy 
 or hard. 
 
 The teacher should bear in mind that the 
 pupil is not learning any particular piece but 
 is establishing a habit and she should see that 
 every hand moves in time, no matter how many 
 mistakes the pupil makes in miscalling notes 
 or singing wrong tones. This is a very vital 
 matter, and the teacher who allows a pupil to 
 read new music while beating time in a vague 
 way or not at all, and who allows the time to 
 be jerky and uneven, as the pupil stops to 
 think out the notes, will never get good re- 
 sults. Her pupils will never read music well. 
 Worst of all, the pupils are developing shift- 
 less mental habits. If pupils stop or vary 
 the time to get the notes right, they lose the 
 best and most valuable part of the music les- 
 son. We are trying to teach the child to do 
 steady, rapid thinking. We are trying to train
 
 40 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 his mind to work when he wants it to. Music 
 is the only subject where thinking in carefully 
 regulated rhythm is required. To lose this 
 training is not only to lose the best part of the 
 music lesson, but the music itself will be poor. 
 I cannot repeat this too often nor emphasize 
 this point too strongly. 
 
 Does it ever occur to the teacher that when 
 she uses the oft-heard expression, "Stop and 
 think," she is telling the child to do a very 
 foolish thing? The child should learn to skip 
 right along and think as he goes. Two sisters, 
 one good and the other practical, left their 
 front door just as the bell rang for school. 
 
 "Oh! There is the school bell," said the 
 good one. "We better kneel right down and 
 pray that we won't be late." 
 
 "Huh !" said the practical one. "We better 
 skip right along and pray as we go." 
 
 Moral: Make your pupils "skip along" in 
 time, thinking notes and tones as they go, and 
 they will arrive at the happy land of music 
 reading with better mental habits and be there 
 far sooner than if they stopped to "think."
 
 RHYTHM 41 
 
 VALUE OF BEATING TIME 
 
 Beating time, as outlined above, does a num- 
 ber of things for the pupil. It is also valuable 
 to the teacher. As the child beats time, the 
 teacher will have a good idea of what he is 
 thinking as she watches his pointing finger. 
 If the finger has a vague way of moving down 
 and up, the teacher may be perfectly sure that 
 the child has a very hazy idea of the time, and 
 beating time should be drilled upon until the 
 child's hand goes down and up from the 
 wrist at every beat, and the movement is a 
 distinct and snappy one. The finger should 
 point directly under the notes or rests. In 
 this way the teacher may be sure that the child 
 knows what he is doing and is not guessing or 
 following the other pupils or remembering the 
 tune. 
 
 I once visited the music work in a large city 
 where the pupils had never pointed to the notes 
 and had done very little individual work. 
 They beat time down, left, right, up, in the 
 good old-fashioned way and their reading and 
 rhythm were both very poor. The supervisor
 
 42 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 asked me what was the matter and I suggested 
 that we find out what the children really knew 
 about their music by asking them to point to 
 the notes as they read some new work. It was 
 a horrible exhibition of what they didn't know. 
 Even in the upper grades, few of the pupils 
 knew what they were doing. This supervisor 
 contended that pupils could not be expected to 
 point correctly. I contended that they would 
 point all right as soon as they really knew 
 what notes they were singing, but not until 
 then. Later this supervisor wrote me that his 
 pupils had learned to point correctly, to the 
 great improvement of their rhythm and music 
 reading. If these pupils had been required to 
 point to the notes in all the new music they 
 sang, the teacher would have noticed their lack 
 of knowledge, even if they did no individual 
 singing, and would have corrected the weak- 
 ness. 
 
 READING WORDS 
 
 When pupils are singing the words of a new 
 song for the first time, pointing is still more 
 important, as the teacher can then tell whether
 
 RHYTHM 43 
 
 the pupils are thinking the syllable names of 
 the notes as they sing the words or are merely 
 trying to remember the tune. In putting 
 words to the tune, the pupil must say the syl- 
 lable names mentally as he sings the words. 
 If this is not done, he merely guesses, remem- 
 bers the tune, or copies the other pupils. It is 
 not reading music when he does any of these 
 things. The position of the hand should be 
 changed when the pupil sings words. The 
 outside edge of the right hand should be laid 
 on the book above the music, the extended first 
 finger pointed toward the body, and the rhythm 
 of the song given by rolling the hand. This 
 will give a down and up motion to the ex- 
 tended first finger, showing the rhythm of the 
 song and also showing unfailingly whether the 
 pupil is thinking the syllable name of the note 
 or not. 
 
 The words of a song are usually printed be- 
 low the notes so the pupil should point above 
 the notes. It is the note we want him to see 
 before he sees the word, so that he will have to 
 think the tone he is to sing before singing the 
 word. The way his finger points is a sure
 
 44 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 index to his mental habit. If the end of the 
 finger falls a quarter or an eighth of an inch 
 exactly above the note, it is a sure sign that 
 the pupil has the note in mind and he will be 
 apt to sing the tone correctly. If the finger 
 falls on or below the note and covers it up, the 
 teacher may be very sure that the pupil is not 
 thinking what that note is. He is either trying 
 to remember the tune, guess at the note, or fol- 
 low his neighbor by ear. Teachers often fail 
 in these little points that sound so small and 
 unimportant. They fail to notice whether the 
 pupil's finger falls where it should or is an 
 eighth of an inch out of the way. It sounds 
 foolish to say that the variation of an eighth 
 of an inch in the falling of the end of a child's 
 finger makes any difference in his ability to 
 read music, but the fact remains that if the 
 finger does fall an eighth of an inch out of 
 the way, the child will not learn to read music 
 quickly or accurately. To the attentive 
 teacher, this eighth of an inch shows the 
 pupil's mental habit in music reading as plainly 
 as though she lifted the cover off his brain 
 and looked in. Perfection in anything is made
 
 RHYTHM 45 
 
 up of many small exactnesses. The maker of 
 any machine has to be very exact in small de- 
 tails. The makers of mental machines should 
 be much more exact, but, alas, how many of 
 us are ? 
 
 THIRD GRADE 
 
 The pupils in the third grade should point, 
 the same as in the second grade. Be sure that 
 the hand moves steadily, with a snappy motion, 
 down and up, pauses at the top and bottom of 
 the beats of equal length and that these two 
 motions are of exactly equal speed. If this 
 habit is perfectly established, the divided beat 
 will cause little trouble. 
 
 For years I have tried every new kind of 
 time beating I could hear of or devise, but 
 after trying them all, I still continue to use the 
 one invented by F. E. Howard. It is the 
 one outlined above and one of the best phases 
 is its application to the divided beat. 
 
 DIVIDED BEAT 
 
 The divided beat should not come too early; 
 the last half of the third grade is early enough.
 
 46 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 The first half of the fourth grade is better. 
 The teacher should still bear in mind that she 
 is not trying to teach rhythm. The pupil 
 knows rhythm already. He is trying to learn 
 to read rhythm and that is quite another mat- 
 ter. Pupils will have little trouble in reading 
 the more rapid rhythms if they can sing the 
 notes fast enough at sight. 
 
 To return to our text of teaching the divided 
 beat, select some simple song that contains ex- 
 amples of two notes to a beat and have the 
 pupils learn it by ear as a pattern song. Let 
 them point to the notes as you sing the song 
 for them. They will soon see that two half- 
 beat notes go to one beat. Now is the time to 
 show them that when they point to a one-beat 
 note, they make two motions of the hand, a 
 down and an up. These motions have been 
 going on before their eyes for a year or two, 
 but they have not seen them. 
 
 When the fact is well established that the 
 finger makes both a down and an up motion 
 to each beat while pointing to the notes, then 
 show the pupils that the hand goes down while 
 they sing the first note to the beat and comes
 
 RHYTHM 47 
 
 up while they sing the second note to the beat. 
 If they see this plainly, the pupils will have no 
 trouble with divided beats. When they make 
 mistakes in the rhythm, they should try to 
 rectify the mistakes by singing the song again. 
 If this fails, the offending measure or meas- 
 ures may be placed on the blackboard and 
 practiced until the pupils can do them cor- 
 rectly. Many teachers pick out the hard 
 measures and practice them beforehand, but 
 this is poor teaching. Pupils should learn to 
 do by doing and not by getting ready to do. 
 
 It will be found at this stage that most of 
 the pupils look only at the heads of the notes 
 and do not see the stems at all. In introduc- 
 ing the divided beat, it is necessary, of course, 
 to explain the significance of the stems and 
 their relative time value. 
 
 A steady and rapid tempo should be main- 
 tained while the pupils are reading new music, 
 otherwise the rhythm will be abnormal. The 
 pointing finger should touch the page for each 
 beat as before. When there are two notes to 
 the beat, it should touch under and between the 
 two.
 
 48 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 THE BEAT AND A HALF NOTE 
 
 When the beat and a half note (a dotted 
 quarter followed by an eighth) appears, it will 
 only be necessary to show the pupils that the 
 hand goes down and up while they sing the 
 quarter, down on the dot and up on the eighth 
 note. In singing the dotted eighth followed 
 by a sixteenth to one beat, the hand should go 
 down on the eighth and up on the dot as they 
 would beat a quarter note except that the six- 
 teenth note is "thrown in" before the hand goes 
 down again. When the smaller divisions of 
 time occur, like the triplet and four notes to 
 the beat, the pupils should be so well advanced 
 in reading rhythm that these groups will give 
 no trouble. 
 
 A new rhythmic problem should be taught 
 by ear and eye at the same time. That is, 
 when the pupils take up a new rhythm for the 
 first time the teacher should sing it for them 
 and at the same time show them how to beat 
 the time while they are looking at the notes. 
 This carries out the idea of teaching new prob- 
 lems by the pattern method.
 
 RHYTHM 49 
 
 MEASURE 
 
 The measure need not be taught further than 
 to let the pupil know that the space between 
 the two bars represents the measure and the 
 finger points as many times in each space as 
 the measure calls for. Before this, he has 
 thought of the individual notes and he has kept 
 his time by giving the time of each note. It 
 will now be well to have the pupil learn meas- 
 ures a little more plainly because in the more 
 rapid reading now encountered, they will need 
 this check to know where they are. 
 
 Accent 
 
 Accent takes care of itself if the voices are 
 smooth and steady. Accent should never be 
 mentioned as such. When the tone is smooth 
 and the music sung in perfect time, the accent 
 will appear. When accent is taught sepa- 
 rately, it is apt to spoil the singing. 
 
 When the song begins on the second or up 
 half of the beat, the pupils should be drilled 
 to begin in different ways. First, they may 
 put the finger on the book under the note and
 
 50 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 bring it up when the teacher says "sing." 
 Second, they may beat time before singing and 
 the teacher may say "sing" as the hand goes 
 down and the pupils may sing as the hand 
 comes up. This makes for mental alertness 
 on the part of both teacher and pupii. It is 
 well to drill on both ways. The teacher should 
 never beat time when the class is sight-singing. 
 They must keep their time unaided.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 READING MUSIC 
 
 Why do we learn to read music? For the 
 same reason we learn to read books; namely, 
 to know the content. Every one likes music 
 more or less, though in this age of mechani- 
 cally reproduced music, it is said that the mind 
 is becoming lazy and music reading is on the 
 wane. Nevertheless, there is in every one a 
 desire to do things for himself that no mechan- 
 ical device can ever overcome. 
 
 REASON FOR READING MUSIC 
 
 President Eliot said that there should be 
 more of the practical subjects taught like music 
 and drawing, and less grammar and arithmetic 
 and that music rightly taught is the best "mind 
 trainer" on the whole list. He might have 
 added that music is used more in after life 
 than anything else the pupil learns in school 
 except reading and writing. 
 51
 
 52 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 We hear a great deal nowadays (it is right 
 that we should) about music appreciation. In 
 some places the reading of music has been 
 either eliminated or put off until late in school 
 life and the time is devoted to listening to 
 good music. In other schools a little reading 
 of music is done in the lower grades but most 
 of the time is taken up with rote songs because 
 the supervisor is afraid that if the pupils do 
 too much reading their musical natures will 
 not expand properly. A glance at the sister 
 study, language reading, will show to any 
 thinking person that this is all "piffle." We 
 teach the child to read as soon as he enters 
 school and we make him read as early and as 
 well as possible, so that he may know and ap- 
 preciate literature. A person who cannot read 
 has a very limited knowledge of literature, and 
 we take great pains to make books for even 
 the blind to read. The same principles apply 
 to the reading of music. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF READING MUSIC 
 
 The smooth, connected tone, explained in 
 the chapter on singing, and referred to in many
 
 READING MUSIC 53 
 
 other places, must be used with every effort 
 the child makes to sing by note and should 
 always be the first consideration when he is 
 reading a new piece of music. 
 
 As rhythm is the framework of melody, so 
 it is the first element of music the child should 
 attempt to interpret from the printed page. 
 Rhythm should never be sacrificed for the cor- 
 rect reading of the notes. 
 
 The smooth singing tone, the rhythm and 
 the production of the correct pitch of the 
 tones represented by the notes must all be estab- 
 lished and maintained while applying words 
 to new music. 
 
 All this is meaningless, however, without 
 expression, which is the crowning feature of 
 good singing. 
 
 LOGICAL SEQUENCE 
 
 The foregoing considerations make clear the 
 logical sequence of the processes employed in 
 reading music, which are as follows: The 
 pupil should first learn to sing with perfectly 
 smooth, connected tones; second, he should 
 read the rhythm of the piece he is attempting
 
 54 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 to sing by note; third, he should read the 
 notes accurately and sing the tones in correct 
 pitch; fourth, he should add the words; fifth, 
 he should interpret the meaning of the piece 
 and sing with expression. 
 
 This logical sequence may be expressed 
 briefly as follows : tone, time, notes, words, 
 expression. 
 
 When the pupil reads a new piece of music 
 perfectly, he carries on all five of these proc- 
 esses simultaneously. If he does not read 
 music well, the teacher may be sure that some 
 of these processes are either being overlooked 
 or developed in the wrong order. If the pupil 
 can do only one of them at a time, he must 
 make a smooth tone, no matter what he makes 
 it on. If he can do only two of them at a 
 time, he must make a smooth tone and read the 
 time correctly. If he can do three, it must 
 be smooth tone, correct time, and correct pitch. 
 Then come words and expression, as already 
 explained. 
 
 The question may arise in the mind of the 
 reader, How can a pupil keep on singing when 
 he cannot interpret the symbols rapidly
 
 READING MUSIC 55 
 
 enough to produce a correct melody? This 
 may be answered by calling attention to the 
 teaching of writing by the arm movement. Of 
 course the pupil learning to write in this way 
 cannot form the letters accurately at first but 
 he is learning a freedom and speed of motion 
 that will enable him to write rapidly and with 
 a degree of accuracy and legibility that those 
 afflicted with the cramped finger habit cannot 
 attain. So in singing new music, the first 
 thing to be established is smooth, connected 
 tones. The pupil may aim at accuracy, but 
 this smoothness and continuity of tone should 
 not be interrupted. 
 
 ALWAYS MAKE MUSIC 
 
 It must not be forgotten that it is vocal music 
 we are teaching and in order to be interesting 
 to the child all his singing must be musical. 
 This should be true of new music as well as 
 the music he already knows. Even though he 
 makes many mistakes in the reading of new 
 music, it will have a pleasant sound if his voice 
 flows on in a smooth, connected singing tone. 
 
 Montessori and common sense tell us that
 
 56 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the time to teach a child is when he is ready to 
 learn. If he is not ready, it is very difficult 
 to make him learn anything. The average 
 child seems to possess a very effective, im- 
 pervious, and instantaneous curtain that he is 
 able to drop between himself and his teacher 
 whenever she tries to teach him anything that 
 is unnecessary. That is why the teacher 
 should study the child as well as the lesson 
 to find out what will make him open this cur- 
 tain as well as what makes him close it. She 
 must try to discover a way to make him want to 
 keep it open all the time. 
 
 SONG VS. SCALE 
 
 Years ago, in teaching children to read, they 
 were required to learn the alphabet first. 
 This took a long time and was very weari- 
 some. By and by some one had sense enough 
 to teach the child to read first and let him 
 learn his letters as he needed them. The great 
 pedagogical law that "children learn to do by 
 doing" was then applied to reading. The 
 child doesn't care about the letters, he only 
 wants to know what the book says. In find-
 
 READING MUSIC 57 
 
 ing out what the book says, he learns his letters. 
 
 To read music the singer must have a knowl- 
 edge of the intervals of the diatonic scale. We 
 used to teach these intervals as the first ap- 
 proach to music reading. This was an exact 
 parallel to the old alphabet method of teach- 
 ing language reading. Finally, some bright 
 mind thought of applying to music reading 
 the same principle that had been discovered for 
 language reading and a great change appeared 
 in the speed and interest with which the chil- 
 dren learned to read music. This called for 
 better song material, and to-day the best songs 
 in existence, adaptable for school singing, are 
 available. In many cities and towns the an- 
 cient scale method still survives, and the pupils 
 are required to toil through pages of dreary 
 exercises, but in most schools excellent song 
 material is in use. 
 
 The pupil now learns to read music by read- 
 ing it and he becomes familiar with the nota- 
 tion by using it. This makes the work far 
 more interesting and every lesson is a real 
 music lesson. The product of the child's laboi 
 is always available, for many of the songs he
 
 58 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 learns to read are memorized and added to his 
 repertoire. The manual training teachers 
 worked out the same thing years ago when they 
 quit teaching the use of tools first and let the 
 pupil learn to use tools by making something 
 useful to take home and keep. 
 
 USE OF SYLLABLES 
 
 As there are tones and intervals to be learned 
 and notes to be read, the question naturally 
 arises, What shall we call them? Everything 
 the child uses has a name so each tone of the 
 scale must have a name. The Italian syllable 
 names for the tones of the scale are now used 
 almost universally. When properly used, 
 these syllable names are a great help and when 
 improperly used they are a great hindrance. 
 This fact gave rise to a bitter discussion that 
 has now nearly died out, as to whether the 
 syllable names should be used or not. This 
 discussion usually arose when some instru- 
 mentalist strayed into the field of vocal music 
 and tried to teach sight singing. Never hav- 
 ing used syllable names himself (he learned to 
 read music on some instrument and so did not
 
 READING MUSIC 59 
 
 need them), he said they were of no use. He 
 forgot that when the voice is the only instru- 
 ment that is being used, the teacher and the 
 pupils alike need a set of names in order to 
 designate the tones. Teachers of sight singing 
 generally are accepting the syllable names as 
 almost indispensable. 
 
 Some teachers advocate the use of a common 
 syllable, others say that the pupils must learn 
 the intervals, so they begin by teaching the 
 minor second, the major second, etc. Some 
 say teach chords and others say let there be a 
 fixed "do" and sing everything from that. 
 How anyone has the patient cruelty to make 
 children swallow all these things I cannot 
 imagine. Why do they not look at history and 
 see who has taught people to read vocal music 
 most readily with the least effort? It was the 
 tonic sol-fa-ists. Apply the good points of 
 the tonic sol-fa system to the staff notation and 
 you have what experience has proved to be 
 the easiest and best way. 
 
 SINGING WORDS 
 
 As the pupil acquires skill in "singing by
 
 60 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 note" it becomes unnecessary for him to give 
 audible expression to the syllable names; 
 nevertheless, if he thinks them subconsciously 
 and at all times, he is more certain of the 
 tones. Singing the words to new music adds 
 another mental process which the pupils must 
 carry on without dropping the ones already 
 established. If any of the processes already 
 learned are discarded to give place to new ones 
 added, the work will have to be done over again 
 or the pupils will lapse into carelessness and 
 eventually go back to singing by ear. Many 
 teachers allow the pupils to sing the syllables 
 over and over until the tune is memorized and 
 then apply the words to the tune. Pupils will 
 never learn to apply words to music at sight 
 in this way. It is the failure of the teacher 
 to recognize this that gives rise to all doubt 
 as to the usefulness of syllables. 
 
 To test whether the pupil is doing this work, 
 look at his pointing finger as he is singing 
 words to new music (see page 42). Another 
 test is to say "note" suddenly. "Note" is the 
 signal for holding the tone with the syllable 
 name instead of the word. If the syllable does
 
 READING MUSIC 61 
 
 not come instantly, it means that the singer is 
 guessing. 
 
 Carrying on several mental processes at the 
 same time is difficult and the pupil is prone to 
 get around it by recalling the tune and guess- 
 ing or listening to the other pupils. 
 
 Sight-reading by syllables should be done in 
 all the grades. The practice of singing old 
 songs by syllable is entirely useless except at 
 the beginning of sight singing (see page 102). 
 
 One of the most pitiable exhibitions of what 
 remembering the tune will do to musical chil- 
 dren occurred during one of my visits to a 
 distant city. In one of the seventh grades 
 the pupils sang a number of three-part songs 
 by syllable. Their voices were pleasant and 
 the parts were well balanced and clear. After 
 some time I asked the teacher to allow the 
 pupils to sing the words to the last song and 
 received the following amazing reply: "We 
 have only worked on this song two weeks and 
 I fear they are not ready for the words yet. 
 However, I will let them try." They did try 
 and made a very poor showing. I then asked 
 that the pupils sing something they had never
 
 62 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 seen, words first. The teacher was "game" 
 though she told me she had never heard of 
 such a thing. She picked out a new song in 
 three parts and threw the pupils at it several 
 times, but they could net get beyond the first 
 chord. The trouble was they had always mem- 
 orized their tunes before putting the words to 
 them. 
 
 The next day we went back to the same 
 school and the supervisor was there. The 
 principal called the pupils from several of the 
 upper grade rooms to the assembly hall and 
 had them sing for an hour. During that hour 
 not a word was sung. All they did was to 
 sing old songs by syllable. This, of course, 
 only made the pupils more dependent on the 
 syllables. In either the song or scale method, 
 the use of syllables must be tempered with 
 wisdom. 
 
 TWO-PART SINGING 
 
 When two-part work is taken up, new prob- 
 lems are introduced and it is often discourag- 
 ing to find that some of the best pupils are 
 unable to sing the lower part. But if the in-
 
 READING MUSIC 63 
 
 dividual work has been well done and the 
 pupils are ready readers, this trouble will soon 
 disappear. 
 
 When a pupil begins reading two-part music, 
 he is confronted with a number of new prob- 
 lems and for this reason the music must be 
 very simple at first. Each pupil must sing his 
 own part correctly and at the same time read 
 and listen to another part wholly different. 
 There is not enough simple material in any of 
 the books now on the market to allow the pupils 
 to do this successfully without much loss of 
 time. Beginning two-part work with rounds 
 and canons is of doubtful value, as in both 
 these forms of composition the tune is the same 
 for all parts and pupils are still "following the 
 tune" when singing them. Rounds are very 
 pleasing, however, and it is well to use them 
 but as an aid to two-part singing they are apt 
 to be a disappointment. 
 
 Equally futile are the exercises often given 
 with the two pointers from the blackboard or 
 from the modulator. They look well and the 
 teacher presents the impressive picture of do- 
 ing something, but the time could be spent to
 
 64 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 better advantage in practicing two-part music, 
 using songs that are worth adding to the pupils' 
 repertoire. 
 
 Do not introduce two-part work too early. 
 The last half of the fourth grade is early 
 enough and the beginning of the fifth would 
 be even better. Most of the books and courses 
 of study call for it earlier, but it is not prac- 
 tical to force this work in the lower grades. 
 In beginning two-part work select a good, 
 simple song with slow rhythm and easy skips; 
 make two divisions of the class and assign the 
 parts accordingly. When the school has sung 
 the song correctly by syllable, let the pupils 
 take it by twos as outlined in the chapter on 
 individual work. All who are able to sing the 
 alto correctly in a duet should be seated in the 
 back seats. 
 
 It will be found that many of the pupils can 
 sing the alto correctly if they are helped in get- 
 ting started. Do not put such pupils in the 
 rear seats. Only those who are quick and 
 musical enough to take the tone as outlined in 
 the chapter on individual work should sit in
 
 READING MUSIC 65 
 
 the back seats. In front of them put the ones 
 that can carry the alto with help. 
 
 After the school has been thoroughly tested 
 on several songs and seated as explained, they 
 are ready to advance. A great deal of duet 
 singing should be practiced. Maintain the 
 perfect singing tone at all times. This is 
 especially essential in part singing. The tones 
 must be long enough and smooth enough to 
 make a clear impression and insure good 
 intonation. 
 
 TUNING 
 
 When singing two or more parts it is not 
 sufficient to blow the pitch pipe and let the 
 school start as in one-part singing. The 
 added element of tuning must be recognized. 
 When the teacher blows the pitch pipe let that 
 be a signal for the school to find the chord 
 and hold it until the parts are in tune. Then 
 she may tap twice or say "sing" as a signcl 
 to go ahead. 
 
 When pupils are singing new music in con- 
 cert, it is a good plan for the teacher to tap
 
 66 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 once when the harmony sounds "muddy." 
 This tap means to stop beating time and 
 point to the note on which the tap oc- 
 curred; hold the tone steadily and look 
 at the teacher for a criticism. The teacher 
 may ask, "Is the chord wrong? Is the tone 
 unsteady? Do you hear all the parts?" If 
 one part is wrong the teacher may say, "Listen 
 and see which part is wrong." If this does 
 not bring the offending part into line, she may 
 signal the other parts to stop (palm toward the 
 pupils). This will leave the offending part 
 still sounding and the pupils can then more 
 easily hear and rectify their mistakes. When 
 this part is right, the teacher may then beckon 
 the other parts to come in, one at a time, until 
 all the parts are sounding again. Then she 
 may tap twice and send them on their way. 
 The pointing finger still under the note will 
 enable each pupil to find the place instantly. 
 This exercise, properly used, will do wonders 
 for the pupils in helping them to hear and see 
 all the parts of the composition at the same 
 time. It will also do wonders for the teacher, 
 who may be vague herself. Whenever the
 
 READING MUSIC 67 
 
 teacher is not sure that the music is sung cor- 
 rectly, she should use this device. It will make 
 her a better musician. This plan should be 
 followed until both the teacher and pupils are 
 able to hear and read all the parts at once. 
 Then it may be laid aside. Over use is the 
 danger of all devices. This exercise will not 
 only improve the reading greatly but it will im- 
 prove the music because every chord can be 
 worked out until the intonation is perfect. 
 Orchestras, glee clubs, and choirs should use 
 this device a great deal for the improvement 
 of their work. 
 
 PART READING 
 
 Many supervisors and teachers resort to the 
 foolish practice of allowing a chorus to learn 
 one part at a time before the parts are sung 
 together. A little reflection will show the 
 futility of this plan. What is the pupil trying 
 to learn? He is trying to learn to sing against 
 another part or parts. He is trying to learn 
 to read several parts at once. Remembering 
 music is not reading it. When one part at a 
 time is learned, it then becomes a memory proc-
 
 68 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ess. The parts must all be learned together, 
 allowing the pupils to pause occasionally, so 
 that all the parts can be heard clearly. It will 
 take longer to teach the first few pieces in this 
 way, but it will give the pupils power to read, 
 and in the long run more music can be learned 
 and learned better. 
 
 MATERIAL 
 
 These methods and devices will enable 
 pupils to read music readily and accurately if 
 there is plenty of material for them to read. 
 Here is the rub. In many places only one mu- 
 sic series is adopted and four or five books 
 furnish all the material the pupils use from 
 the first grade to the high school. Children 
 cannot learn to read music without an abun- 
 dance of good, well graded material. The 
 Israelites left Egypt because they had no mate- 
 rial with which to work. Modern civilization 
 should not require the unhappy music super- 
 visor to "make bricks without straw." In 
 language reading they deserted the one book 
 idea years ago. 
 
 It is bad to hammer on one piece until it is
 
 READING MUSIC 69 
 
 learned by rote. Have several in the works at 
 once. It would be ideal, of course, if the 
 pupils could read each song once and get out 
 of it all there is in it music, words, and ex- 
 pression and then memorize the best songs. : 
 This is for the future, but it will be attained 
 some time. The music work should be done 
 artistically and the songs should be sung with 
 expression, but the pupils should learn to inter- 
 pret the expression and the artistry of the songs 
 as a part of sight singing. 
 
 Another plan that helps the reading of music 
 is to encourage the pupils to take their music 
 books home and learn to play their songs on the 
 piano. Many a child has taught himself to 
 play the piano without lessons by taking his 
 school music books home. With a little en- 
 couragement many will do this, to the infinite 
 betterment of the music in the schools. The 
 piano teacher will be benefited by this practice, 
 for after playing the tunes the school music 
 books afford, the pupil will want to take music 
 that is more distinctively for the piano and 
 the cause of music generally will be greatly 
 strengthened. The piano teacher will reap the
 
 70 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 harvest of the added pupils and become a 
 booster for the school music instead of, as is 
 often the case, an enemy of the music super- 
 visor. 
 
 TIME TOO SHORT 
 
 The fifteen minutes a day usually doled out 
 for music by a superintendent who has never 
 been able to see the value of music in the 
 schools, does not give time enough to make the 
 music work what it should be, and every influ- 
 ence possible should be brought to bear on the 
 pupils to induce them to do work out of school. 
 
 Pupils leaving the eighth grade should be 
 able to read at sight four-part work like the 
 simpler choruses from the Messiah. Nothing 
 less should be accepted as reading ability from 
 eighth grade pupils. If there were half an 
 hour daily, the material ample, and the teach- 
 ing what it should be, this could be accom- 
 plished. 
 
 Not only would the music be excellent if the 
 pupils could do this, but the voices would be 
 ready for the voice teacher. The pupils' minds 
 would be far quicker than at present. They
 
 READING MUSIC 71 
 
 would have initiative and self-possession, for 
 if a pupil can stand before others and read 
 new music well, he will never have the self- 
 conscious period we hear so much about and 
 which comes only because we have not given 
 him power.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 
 
 We are trying to do a number of things in 
 school music work and one of the most im- 
 portant is that of teaching the pupils to read 
 music. The musical effect of the singing of 
 young children is usually best when they 
 are singing in concert and for this reason much 
 concert singing should be done. But few 
 pupils learn to read music while singing in con- 
 cert. That can only be learned individually. 
 After pupils can read music individually, they 
 may practice reading in concert with profit, but 
 even then the slow ones have little chance to 
 improve. The swift pupil will sing the tone 
 before the slow one has had time to think it 
 out and the tone of the good reader will go in 
 the poor one's ear and out his mouth and never 
 touch his brain at all. 
 
 Years ago pupils clasped hands, swayed back 
 iind forth, and recited their lessons in unison. 
 72
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 73 
 
 This plan allowed a few leaders to do all the 
 work and kept the slow ones from learning 
 anything. This variety of poor teaching has 
 been largely laid aside, but it still survives in 
 school music and its survival explains the poor 
 results so often apparent in our public schools. 
 
 The necessity for individual work in music 
 has long been recognized and many schemes 
 have been tried to meet this demand. 
 
 When pupils do too much individual work, 
 they will not sing well together and when they 
 do too little, they will not read music well. In 
 this, as in all other things, there is the happy 
 medium to be sought. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF INDIVIDUAL WORK 
 
 It is sometimes difficult to get children to 
 sing alone. This depends, however, on the 
 way individual singing is presented. Children 
 realize the importance of doing things for 
 themselves and they will gladly sing alone if 
 individual work is put before them in the right 
 way and they are given time and practice 
 enough to do it well, for there is nothing in 
 the whole range of school work that children
 
 74 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 like better than to display musical ability. 
 An old teacher once said, "It is an easy 
 thing to make a pupil stand up and do a thing. 
 It is far harder to make him stand up and 
 want to do it." This last is true discipline 
 and true discipline is what we are concerned 
 with in all our school work, especially in music 
 
 MOTIVE 
 
 So let us look for the motive which will 
 make the pupil stand up and want to sing 
 alone. Then let us find the easiest and quick- 
 est way for him to do it. Of course, there is 
 the love of music and the love of singing and 
 all that, but let us look further and see if 
 there are not other things that also appeal to 
 the child. 
 
 In all his work the child instinctively wants 
 to do something worth while. He wants a 
 definite result to come and to come soon and 
 this result must be something that will appeal 
 to him. In the history of manual training we 
 have a fine parallel. Many of us can remem- 
 ber the time when all the wood that was issued 
 to the manual training pupil was a piece of
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 75 
 
 inch board about a foot square and he was ex- 
 pected to learn to use tools by reducing this 
 board to sawdust in various ways. To him 
 the result of all this hard work was nothing 
 but sawdust. No wonder he had to be 
 scourged to his class. Now he makes some- 
 thing useful that he can take home and keep 
 and there is a motive that brings him gladly to 
 his work. 
 
 To the child, one of the strongest incentives 
 to work in the music class is to have the music 
 he makes heard by some one. That is one 
 thing music is for. In looking back over my 
 own childhood, I will have to admit that the 
 desire to "show off" was one of the motives 
 that drove me to the piano (and the rest of 
 the family to the neighbors). Now this may 
 not be the highest motive to appeal to, but as 
 long as it is there, we may as well use it to 
 get the pupils started. 
 
 METHODS 
 
 A number of methods of doing individual 
 work have been devised. One which has at- 
 tained great popularity consists of small slips
 
 76 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 of paper each containing a few measures of 
 music, which are distributed to the pupils, each 
 taking one and singing it when his turn comes. 
 This plan is futile for several reasons. It 
 takes precious time to distribute the slips and 
 each pupil sees only the few measures he holds 
 in his hand. When a pupil has sung his in- 
 dividual slip, he has nothing to do but to listen, 
 which is a waste of time. Teachers who use 
 this method forget that pupils learn a great 
 deal about reading music by listening to others 
 while they themselves are following the music 
 the other pupil is singing. It is the same thing 
 that makes class reading in language so effec- 
 tive. Pupils profit by the mistakes of others. 
 Only the regular book should be used for in- 
 dividual singing so that all the pupils can work 
 all the time, whether they are singing or not. 
 
 It is very important that individual singing, 
 as well as all other school work, should be 
 carried on without loss of time. Schoolroom 
 efficiency is a study in itself and deserves the 
 most serious and painstaking consideration. 
 
 A great deal of individual singing should be 
 done in the first grade and in the kindergarten.
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 77 
 
 The following way is good because it does the 
 work without loss of time and develops not 
 only musical ability, but individual initiative. 
 
 The children should be seated according to 
 their ability, the most tuneful in the back seats 
 of each row. This is very important. 
 
 At a signal, let two pupils in the two rear 
 seats of the same row stand. The first one 
 should sing the song or phrase through once. 
 The second should take it up instantly when 
 the first has finished. When the second one 
 has sung he sits, but the first remains standing, 
 as the first one is to be the teacher for the poor 
 pupils in his row. While the second child is 
 singing, the third rises and is ready to sing as 
 soon as the second one finishes, and so on down 
 the row. The pattern singer in the back seat 
 sings with those who need help. He should 
 always stand behind the pupil he is helping, 
 otherwise he himself may be disturbed by the 
 bad ton*s of the poor singer. 
 
 All individual work, even in the kinder- 
 garten, should start at some signal and pro- 
 ceed without help or prompting from the 
 teacher. The best signal is simply to give the
 
 78 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 name of the song and blow the first tone of the 
 song on the pitch pipe. 
 
 INITIATIVE 
 
 The primary teacher usually fails in develop- 
 ing initiative. She is apt to feel that the chil- 
 dren are only babies and cannot be allowed to 
 do anything. She will tell each child when to 
 stand and when to sit, when to breathe and 
 when to eat, and when to do everything, so 
 that when a child reaches the second grade, in- 
 stead of having a single working habit, he is 
 a well-drilled baby, who insists on having 
 everything done for him. Montessori, for one, 
 is showing us the error of our ways. 
 
 The individual singing in the kindergarten 
 and first grade should go swiftly down one row 
 after another without prompting from the 
 teacher. The teacher should remember that 
 it is not the particular song the pupils are sing- 
 ing but it is the habit of work they are form- 
 ing that is of greatest importance. 
 
 SECOND GRADE 
 
 In the second grade the pupils should not
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 79 
 
 stand when they do individual singing from 
 the books, as their hands are too small to hold 
 the book in one hand and beat time with the 
 other. 
 
 In the second grade, as well as the first, the 
 pupil in the rear seat should be the teacher for 
 his row. It is the ready reader with the good 
 ear who should go to the rear seat, rather than 
 the ready reader with the poor ear. 
 
 When a pupil sings a passage correctly, the 
 school should approve it by singing it over 
 after him without being told. Insist that the 
 pupil sings the whole phrase with a perfectly 
 smooth tone and with one breath before it is 
 called correct. If a pupil stumbles the pupil 
 teacher, who follows down the row, takes up 
 the passage in strict time and helps the stum- 
 bling pupil through. The stumbling pupil 
 should immediately repeat the passage once 
 without help or prompting. The school should 
 not call it "correct" unless the pupil gets it 
 the first time without help. It is surprising 
 how discriminating these young pupils soon 
 become as they develop the habit of observing 
 critically as another sings.
 
 80 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 When all the phrases have been sung cor- 
 rectly, individually, and have been verified by 
 the school, the school should sing the whole 
 piece by syllable. Next the words should be 
 sung, a phrase at a time and verified in the 
 same way. The pupils should then sing the 
 song through with the words; then, without 
 prompting, hold their books in the singing posi- 
 tion and sing it again. Next close the books, 
 with thumb in place so as to be able to open 
 the book instantly, and sing the song from 
 memory. With proper expression developed, 
 another song is added to the repertoire of the 
 school. 
 
 Individual work, as outlined above, is valu- 
 able to the child in many ways. First, the 
 teacher folds her hands and tongue and lets 
 him work. The pupil is assured of a chance 
 to practice without fear of ridicule. He will 
 be helped when he shows his need for it and 
 not before. His perfect work will be rewarded 
 by a better place in the room and the approval 
 of his classmates. His mistakes will be cor- 
 rected without embarrassment. Feeling free 
 in every way, his mental energy can all be ap-
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 81 
 
 plied to the work in hand, and the mistakes 
 will become fewer and farther between. 
 
 The teacher is often so fussy that the pupil 
 is afraid to make mistakes and this feeling 
 makes him all the more prone to make them. 
 This is the nub of the whole matter. Individ- 
 ual singing is not something the pupil feels that 
 he is obliged to do, but it is an opportunity to 
 practice what appeals to him as something 
 worth while. There is nothing in school work 
 a child would rather do than to sing correctly 
 before his classmates. 
 
 THIRD GRADE 
 
 Individual work should be done in the third 
 and succeeding grades as outlined above, with 
 the addition that the pupils will stand while 
 singing. 
 
 In this grade and higher grades, it is ques- 
 tionable how much the teacher pupil should 
 help the weak ones. It is better not to do so 
 much helping as in the second grade, but to 
 establish the rule that the pupil who cannot 
 get started when he gets iiis chance and the 
 one who breaks down for any cause will lose
 
 82 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 his chance and the next one takes his chance 
 instantly. This plan has many advantages, as 
 it compels the pupil to prepare himself during 
 his study time and it makes him quicker to 
 seize an opportunity when it comes his way. 
 
 It has the following disadvantages: In 
 each class there will be a few who are too 
 indolent to work or who think it not worth 
 while or impossible for them to learn to read 
 music, so they simply stand up and lose their 
 turn. The clever teacher will soon spot these 
 and deal with them in various ways. The 
 teacher pupil may help them as in the second 
 grade, or better yet, the teacher pupil may drill 
 them out of school. This is something that 
 pupils like to do very much and a clever 
 teacher will have the poor ones kept up to 
 grade in music as well as in other things by 
 enlisting the aid of the better pupils. This is 
 good for all concerned. The teacher is free 
 to do other work, the good pupil improves by 
 helping another, and the poor one gets the 
 needed help. The great lesson of cooperation 
 is learned by all three.
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 83 
 
 TWO-PART WORK 
 
 When the school is singing two-part work 
 individually four pupils should stand at once. 
 The two in the rear should sing and the two 
 in front be ready to start when the first two 
 have finished. The element of team work is 
 now added to the individual work, and this 
 complicates matters. Each pupil has tp learn 
 to carry his part against another and, to do 
 this successfully, he must not only read both 
 parts but he must listen to two parts while he 
 sings his own. There should be a great deal 
 of simple material available for this purpose. 
 None of the music books now on the market 
 have enough simple material in two parts. 
 
 TUNING 
 
 In one-part work, blowing the pitch pipe is 
 a sufficient signal for starting. In two-part 
 work the two tones must be brought into har- 
 mony before the pupils start. In two-part 
 work, the teacher should blow the keynote with 
 the pitch pipe and the whole school should
 
 84 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 sound the first tone in each part, having pre- 
 viously been told which side of the room is to 
 sing the soprano and which side the alto. At 
 the sound of the pitch pipe, all sing their re- 
 spective first tones and hold them until the 
 teacher taps twice. This signal means that the 
 vwo pupils in the rear of the two selected rows 
 start to sing the passage while the rest listen 
 and study. If the first two pupils sing the 
 passage correctly, the whole school will then 
 sing it over after them to give it their approval. 
 If the passage is sung incorrectly, the next two 
 pupils take it up and so on until it is sung cor- 
 rectly. It will sometimes happen that when 
 only one part is sung correctly, the other pupils 
 belonging to that part will start to repeat the 
 passage as if both parts were right. This will 
 bring out the fact that the pupils who are not 
 singing are reading and listening to but one 
 part instead of reading and listening to both 
 parts. The teacher should stop them at once 
 as the school must not sing unless both parts 
 are correctly sung. 
 
 Two-part individual work is often very dis- 
 couraging at first, and teachers are tempted to
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 85 
 
 slight it and conclude that it is impossible. It 
 will often be found that the readiest readers 
 are slow to sing the lower part correctly, and 
 also that two pupils, singing, will not keep to- 
 gether well. Let the teacher remember that 
 the pupils are suddenly called upon to do twice 
 as many things as before and to do them in a 
 different manner and therefore they must have 
 time to practice and learn how. 
 
 When two pupils do not keep together when 
 singing two-part work individually, it will be 
 for one or more of several reasons. The 
 principal one is that they do not pay any atten- 
 tion to each other. The teacher will be 
 strongly tempted to beat time loudly or have 
 the studying pupils beat for them. Neither 
 should be done. Let the pupils stand in adja- 
 cent aisles and require them to listen to each 
 other. 
 
 LISTENING TO EACH OTHER 
 
 When pupils stand in adjacent aisles, it will 
 be necessary for them to walk about the room 
 to get into their places but this will give a 
 chance for them to learn another very valuable
 
 86 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 lesson. Let them learn to walk around the 
 room so quietly that no one hears them. Let 
 the singing pupils stand in the middle of the 
 room and the two pupils who are waiting stand 
 behind them so as to step into their places as 
 soon as the first two have finished. The first 
 two singers should then go to their seats with- 
 out passing the next two in the aisles. Do not 
 have the singing pupils stand in front of the 
 class. You want the other pupils to listen to 
 them and not to look at them. 
 
 The pitch pipe should not be blown for any 
 of the singers except the first two. Neither 
 must the teacher tell any of them, except the 
 first two, when to commence. If she does 
 either of these things, the pupils will lose the 
 best part of the exercise. Pupils must learn 
 to remember their starting tone. They must 
 learn to catch it correctly by listening to the 
 other part when they have forgotten their own 
 starting tone. When neither of the two pupils 
 can remember the correct pitch, the class or 
 the teacher may give it. 
 
 Two pupils must start when it comes their
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 87 
 
 turn without looking at each other. They 
 must do it by ear. This is the best kind of 
 ear training. A singer must learn to keep 
 with other singers by ear, and no child is too 
 young to do it. 
 
 When pupils get more expert in hearing 
 each other, they may stand at their own desks 
 and not in adjacent aisles. It is a mistake to 
 have them stand in the same aisle, as it brings 
 them too near together. 
 
 When all the passages in the piece have been 
 worked out correctly, individually, and have 
 been verified by the school, the school should 
 sing the whole piece in concert. 
 
 The words may now be taken up individ- 
 ually. When they have been learned in the 
 same manner as the notes were learned, all 
 the pupils may sing the piece through, point- 
 ing to the notes. They then stop pointing, 
 hold the books up and sing it again. Then 
 close the books and sing from memory with ex- 
 pression. 
 
 It is well to have all the pupils learn to sing 
 both parts, but it is hardly wise to let them sing
 
 88 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 both parts of the same piece. They may al- 
 ternate on different pieces. 
 
 KEEP GOING 
 
 The class should keep going without prompt- 
 ing in the two-part individual work the same 
 as in one-part. When one song is finished, the 
 pupils should take the next without being told. 
 If the teacher wishes to speak to pupils, the 
 individual work should go on just the same 
 unless she says "stop" or taps three times. 
 It is very valuable training for the pupils to 
 learn to go on with their work, no matter what 
 is happening around them. It also gives them 
 practice in keeping track of more than one 
 thing at a time. The old saw that speaks of 
 doing one thing at a time is but a half truth. 
 A child must learn to concentrate on several 
 things at the same time. It is the time that it 
 takes the average person to stop concentrat- 
 ing on one thing and focus his mind on an- 
 other that wastes his life and makes him in- 
 efficient. He should practice concentration on 
 several things while he is young, and the mu- 
 sic lesson is a fine opportunity for doing it
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 89 
 
 THREE AND FOUR PARTS 
 
 Individual work in three or four parts 
 should be done as outlined for two. Three 
 and four stand to sing and three and four 
 stand to wait. At first, pupils should stand 
 in adjacent aisles, as it is even harder to hear 
 three and four parts than it is to hear two 
 parts. 
 
 The school should sound the chord to start 
 the first group only and this group should start 
 singing when the teacher taps twice. This is 
 the signal for the first group to start singing 
 and the rest of the school to stop. The other 
 groups should sing without signal when their 
 turn comes. The school should respond only 
 when all parts are sung correctly. It is not 
 well to have the same passage sung too 
 many times, since the pupils will lose in- 
 terest and will get dull and slow in their read- 
 ing. The teacher must use her judgment in 
 this. If the pupils sing the same passage one 
 after the other and make the same mistake they 
 should be stopped and drilled on the trouble- 
 some passage, as it means that the later singers
 
 90 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 arc simply copying the first singer by car. 
 When each pupil makes a different mistake it 
 is well to let them work it out if it does not 
 take too long. A good rule is to allow groups 
 of pupils to try a passage and then if it is not 
 correctly sung at the third trial, let the school 
 sing it for them. It is difficult to make a rule 
 that will fit this, and each teacher must use 
 her own judgment. 
 
 In three and four-part work the question of 
 material is again a difficult one. No book on 
 the market gives enough simple material to 
 start either three or four-part singing. 
 
 A great deal of individual work should be 
 done in the seventh and eighth grades, in three 
 and four parts. 
 
 LOSE NO TIME 
 
 In all individual singing not only must the 
 different individuals and groups start without 
 being told, but they must also start in exact 
 rhythm with the preceding individual or group, 
 but they must do this without losing a beat. 
 To miss this point is to miss one of the best 
 and most vital things in individual singing.
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 91 
 
 In the whole range of school work there is 
 not a thing that approaches individual singing 
 in four parts as a mind trainer. Think of the 
 number of things a pupil must do when sing- 
 ing new music in a quartette. He must read 
 four parts; he must listen to four parts; he 
 must sing one part and do all this in time; he 
 must keep track of words, meaning and ex- 
 pression. The pupils who are not singing have 
 nearly as much to do and have the added re- 
 sponsibility of determining whether the music 
 is sung correctly or not. Of course, it de- 
 pends on the teacher whether individual work 
 has all these values or not, but when it is 
 rightly conducted it is of the greatest value. 
 When educators really see the value of this 
 work there will be much more time placed at 
 the disposal of the supervisor of music, and 
 the superintendent of schools will also see 
 that the supervisor of music uses his time in a 
 way that counts. 
 
 DICTATION 
 
 There is another form of individual work 
 that should be done in every grade from the
 
 92 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 second to the sixth inclusive. It is a writ- 
 ten exercise like the following: 
 
 The teacher should place a staff on the board 
 before the class is called. This staff should 
 be about three feet long, the lines very heavy 
 and at least three inches apart. The pupils 
 should be supplied with staff-ruled paper. 
 The teacher writes on her staff the signature 
 of the key the pupils are to use in the lesson. 
 The pupils do the same. The teacher then 
 blows the pitch pipe as a signal for two pupils 
 to rise and be ready to sing. Then she begins 
 to write groups of notes on the staff and the 
 first child sings them as fast as she writes. 
 He should sing them smoothly and hold the 
 last one until the teacher writes another group 
 or says "next." This means that the next 
 child sings, the first one sits, and another one 
 rises. The class looks at the board and listens 
 to the singer. Continue this exercise for half 
 a minute. The teacher should now dictate 
 groups of tones by syllable for the class to 
 write. Let some pupil sing the dictated notes 
 while the pupils in the rear seats go along the 
 aisles and see that the pupils write the notes
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 93 
 
 correctly. Continue this exercise for half a 
 minute, and then start the lesson in the books. 
 The last tone dictated should be the first one 
 in the piece to be sung. The individual work 
 just outlined is to encourage rapid visualiza- 
 tion. 
 
 SING WORDS FIRST 
 
 In doing individual work, as well as concert 
 work, pupils should sing the words first to their 
 songs in every grade as much as possible. 
 
 MOTIVE 
 
 A good motive for individual singing is to 
 limit the progress in the book to what the pu- 
 pils can do individually. Another is to give 
 concerts. In preparing for concerts, select the 
 program from the book that is being used and 
 teach the pieces as a part of the regular music 
 work. To qualify for a chorus, each pupil 
 should be able to carry his part in a duet, trio 
 or quartette, alone, against the other voices, 
 with a smooth, pleasant tone and come out on 
 the key without the aid of an instrument. 
 The pupils and teachers should unite in select-
 
 94 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ing pupils for these quartettes. The pupils 
 are often more difficult to satisfy than the 
 teachers. 
 
 One most amusing and instructive incident 
 occurred shortly before my first Minneapo- 
 lis concert. In one room I casually asked 
 how many were to be in the concert. Per- 
 fect silence. Some looked grieved and more 
 looked "huffy." The row of basses looked 
 sheepish. I asked again and a small girl 
 snapped out, "Nobody." I said, "That is 
 too bad ; what is the trouble?" With a wither- 
 ing glance at the row of big boys, she ex- 
 claimed: "None of the basses can sing." 
 There it was. None of the pupils could sing 
 in the concert, as they had to go by quartettes 
 and there were no basses available. I said, 
 "That is too bad. Your teacher and I haven't 
 time to do it. Why don't some of you pick 
 out the likeliest voices among the basses and 
 teach them to sing?" Their faces lighted up. 
 I said no more and went my way. Three 
 weeks after, I visited that building and at the 
 piano in the lower hall was a tableau : A big, 
 perspiring youth surrounded by three girls.
 
 INDIVIDUAL SINGING 95 
 
 They were all so interested that they didn't 
 notice me and I heard this Parthian arrow, 
 from the small feminine leader, light in the 
 quivering soul of the toiling bass. "You great 
 big Ike, don't you know that's 'do' ?" 
 
 There were other similar groups about the 
 building and, to make a long story short, that 
 room sent four quartettes. The boys had 
 learned several things besides how to sing the 
 test piece. They had had a small lesson in 
 public spirit, team work, and cooperation. 
 
 We had three general rehearsals of one hour 
 each, and the concert was a great success. 
 The chorus was a good one to handle, as each 
 member of it was an independent singer and 
 they quickly learned to follow the baton. 
 They sang in perfect tune, as each voice was 
 singing the part that was easiest for it. They 
 sang two verses of "Sweet and Low" unac- 
 companied and came out on the key. There 
 was no one absent from rehearsals or from 
 the concert, as each one knew that it meant a 
 whole quartette dropping out if one pupil 
 stayed away. The chorus was perfectly bal- 
 anced, as there was the same number on each
 
 96 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 part. There was no inattention or disturbance 
 at any of the rehearsals, as it was distinctly 
 understood that if there was, the one making it 
 would have to pick out the rest of his quartette 
 and take them home with him. They could 
 easily figure out what it would mean if the 
 disturbing one were left alone with the other 
 three members of his quartette and so there 
 was no whispering or other trouble of any kind 
 at the concert or rehearsals. 
 
 The effect on the district was immediate and 
 final. The people of that district were much 
 please! and the pupils got a new idea of the 
 dignity of music. Later we gave a number 
 of concerts in the different parts of the city, 
 and all the choruses were chosen in a similar 
 manner. 
 
 The pupils are now so used to individual 
 work that they take their turns as in other 
 subjects. They do not always sing correctly 
 and probably never will. But the fact that 
 they realize the value of individual work and 
 take that way to learn is sufficient guarantee 
 that they will get something permanent as the 
 years go by.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 
 
 Where to commence the reading of music 
 is a mooted question. Some say early, some 
 say late. Judging from results, some do not 
 seem to believe in it at all. Taking everything 
 into consideration, it seems that the beginning 
 of the second grade is the proper time to start 
 sight singing. 
 
 We used to begin teaching the scale the mo- 
 ment the child was safely in our clutches, but 
 we know better now and realize that he must 
 have a musical experience before he learns 
 to read music, the same as he must have a 
 language experience before he learns to read 
 language. The child should know a number of 
 rote songs, and be able to use his ear and 
 voice intelligently before he begins to read mu- 
 sic. I have seen most excellent reading done 
 by pupils in the first grade who commenced 
 note reading at the end of four months of rote 
 97
 
 98 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 work. This was under a very exceptional 
 primary teacher who believed in letting chil- 
 dren work. All children like to work until 
 they have become discouraged by the teacher, 
 who thinks it is her duty to keep her pupils 
 from working as long as possible. 
 
 PATTERN SONGS 
 
 Ten or fifteen of the rote songs taught in 
 the first grade should be used as pattern songs 
 for beginning music reading. These pattern 
 songs should be slow, short, and simple, with 
 well marked phrases and no divided beats. 
 There are a number of systems of music books 
 that commence the reading of music by the 
 use of pattern songs, but the pattern songs are 
 usually too long, too difficult, and too rapid. 
 They should be as simple as the songs to be 
 read by note later. It is from these pattern 
 songs that the children observe the process of 
 music reading. 
 
 The pattern songs should be very carefully 
 chosen and very carefully taught in the first 
 grade. The syllable names should never be 
 taught in advance as an extra verse in a rote
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 99 
 
 song, as is almost universally done. They can 
 be taught much more quickly and far more 
 effectively while the children are looking at 
 the notes. 
 
 The pattern songs should be in several keys. 
 Four or five in the first key, two or three in 
 the second, and one each in the rest of the 
 keys. Each phrase in the book first used 
 should be on a line by itself so that the 
 phrasing will be clear and the notes should be 
 very large and plain. 
 
 Great care must be taken to have the pattern 
 songs properly sung. If the pupils have 
 learned to sing well and can sing each phrase 
 with a perfectly smooth, steady tone, they will 
 have little or no trouble in learning to read 
 music. This point cannot be too strongly em- 
 phasized. If second grade pupils do not sing 
 with a smooth tone, it will be of no use to try 
 to teach music reading until the smooth sing- 
 ing habit is established. 
 
 The pupils begin learning the intervals of 
 the scale by singing the pattern songs from 
 the notation. The tones should be sustained in 
 order to make clear and vivid impressions. If
 
 100 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the tone is choppy, it is an indication of poor 
 attention. The attention is always poor when 
 the tone is jumpy and is always good when the 
 tone is smooth. The very fact that the tone 
 is smooth and sustained means that the chil- 
 dren have learned the self-control that is neces- 
 sary for the close application required in read- 
 ing music. When the tone is smooth, the 
 pupils will not only be able to hear and see the 
 various elements that make up the songs but 
 they will be in that calm, alert mental state 
 necessary for learning anything. 
 
 FIRST LESSONS IN MUSIC READING 
 
 Send to the fourth or fifth grades for as 
 many good readers of music as there are pupils 
 in the second grade class. Let these children 
 sit with the second grade pupils and teach them. 
 Much depends on the success of the first few 
 lessons. If a child understands a problem the 
 first time he looks at it, he has it to keep, and 
 a fine mental habit is formed. If he merely 
 looks toward it he gets duller instead of 
 brighter. Observation of this fact is one of
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 101 
 
 the secrets of the success of the Montessori 
 method. 
 
 READING PATTERN SONGS 
 
 Lay the books flat and square in the middle 
 of the desk. Open the books to the first pat- 
 tern song and have all the children sing the 
 words. The young children do not, of course, 
 know the syllable names, but the older chil- 
 dren can read them. The younger children, 
 knowing the words and the tune perfectly, will 
 be greatly interested in seeing the picture of 
 the song they already know. The older chil- 
 dren should sit at the right of the younger 
 ones and sing the pattern songs by syllable, at 
 the same time showing the young children how 
 to point to the notes. 
 
 HOW TO POINT 
 
 The last three fingers of the pointing hand 
 should be doubled against the palm. The 
 thumb should be held firmly against the middle 
 joint of the first finger. This will keep the 
 first finger stiff and make the down and up
 
 102 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 movement of the hand come from the wrist 
 joint as the first ringer, extended straight, 
 points just underneath the notes, one point to 
 each beat. This little trick of using the hand 
 correctly in beating time is very important. If 
 the child moves his whole forearm, he will not 
 be able to point accurately under the notes and 
 if he uses his finger only, it will be apt to go 
 too fast and destroy the regularity of the 
 rhythm. Regularity in the down and up move- 
 ment of the pointing hand must grow into a 
 fixed habit as soon as possible. The necessity 
 of this will be seen later. The children have 
 one habit already established, the steady move- 
 ment of the rib and waist muscles as outlined 
 in the chapter on singing. Care must be taken 
 that this first habit is not impaired while ac- 
 quiring the second. Without the first habit, 
 the second would be futile. 
 
 Let the older children teach the younger ones 
 this movement of the hand as they sing the 
 syllables of the pattern songs. Let the pupils 
 go over the pattern songs a number of times, 
 pointing to the notes as already explained. 
 Do not dwell too long on the first song, which
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 103 
 
 should be in the key of E or E flat, so that 
 "doh" comes on the first line. After going 
 over the first pattern song four or five times, 
 the older children should stop singing and let 
 the younger ones try it alone. The older chil- 
 dren may help when the younger ones stumble. 
 Be sure that the hands move steadily, no mat- 
 ter how many notes the pupils miscall. The 
 tone should go on smoothly, no matter 
 whether the children sing anything correctly or 
 not; in short, preserve the logical sequence of 
 sing first, time second, and notes third. The 
 older children will not be needed after the first 
 four or five lessons, although it may be well to 
 have one retained for each row for a week or 
 two longer, so that the younger pupils will not 
 go astray. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL WORK 
 
 Just as soon as the second grade pupils, as 
 a class, can sing the first pattern song correctly, 
 let individuals try it. In doing individual 
 work, start with the pupil in the back seat and 
 let each one try it down the row, the teacher- 
 pupil going down the aisle and helping each one
 
 104 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 as needed. Let each child try a phrase and if 
 it is right, let the whole school sing it after 
 him without being told. If not, let the next 
 pupil do it without being told, as they were in 
 the habit of doing in the first grade. You are 
 trying to develop initiative, so begin early. 
 
 Individual work, if skillfully done, will in- 
 terest the children very greatly and they will 
 soon ask permission to take their books home. 
 Let them do this, for it is by the constant sing- 
 ing of the pattern songs that children learn 
 tones and rhythm and become familiar with the 
 staff notation, knowledge that will soon be used 
 in reading new songs. 
 
 USE OF CHART 
 
 Prepare a chart that is a facsimile of the 
 first pattern song. As soon as the second 
 grade children can sing this song from the 
 books and a few of them can sing it individ- 
 ually, the teacher should point to the notes of 
 the same song on the chart and require the 
 pupils to hold each note until she points to an- 
 other or says "stop." The pupils should go 
 from one tone to another without making a
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 105 
 
 pause between. This will enable them to com- 
 pare tones more accurately and learn intervals 
 with much greater facility. It will also em- 
 phasize the habit of singing the "smooth, sus- 
 tained tone." In pointing to the notes as they 
 occur in the song, the teacher should require 
 the pupils to hold some of the tones longer than 
 the rhythm requires, in order to contemplate 
 the relationship to other tones. A slight varia- 
 tion from the melody will help the children to 
 image the tones more independently. The 
 pupils now begin to see, hear, and recognize the 
 different tones that go to make up the tune. 
 Much of the chart work should be done individ- 
 ually. 
 
 STAFF CHART 
 
 So far, the children have seen principally the 
 notes and very vaguely the places of the notes 
 on the staff. The next step is to make them 
 see the lines and spaces of the staff more 
 clearly. 
 
 Prepare a chart, consisting of a bare staff 
 with heavy black lines about three inches apart, 
 without clef or signature.
 
 106 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 The teacher points to the lines and spaces as 
 the children sing. The pupils hold each tone 
 until the teacher points to another line or space 
 or until she says "stop." The voices should 
 not stop when passing from one tone to an- 
 other. The teacher who neglects this point 
 will never teach second grade music well. The 
 school that sings with a perfectly smooth tone 
 will do ten times as much music reading as 
 the one that sings with a choppy tone. The 
 reason is this : the pupils are comparing tones 
 all the time and if the tones are short and far 
 apart they will forget one before the next is 
 heard. The slow tones compel deep breathing, 
 which in turn aerates the blood more rapidly 
 and makes the mind more active and retentive 
 of impressions. 
 
 The teacher may vary this exercise by calling 
 for the tones by naming the lines and spaces 
 thus : "Sing the note in the first line, on the 
 second line, on the second space," etc. The 
 pupils should be looking at the staff when they 
 do this. If each one had a large staff on a 
 piece of paper while doing this, it might also 
 nelp a little.
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 107 
 
 The children should have a great deal of 
 practice in recognizing the various elements 
 that go to make up the notation of music. A 
 number of little helps are here appended and 
 the children should do them as "seat work." 
 
 The best one to use is to let the children take 
 unruled paper and draw the staff and copy the 
 notes of the songs on the staff and write the 
 syllable names underneath. This can be done 
 with the pattern songs and the new reading 
 songs as they are learned. 
 
 Another device is to have small desk charts 
 with bare staves and allow the pupils to re- 
 produce the notes with lentils or small 
 disks. 
 
 This copying of the songs should begin as 
 soon as the pupils have learned the first pat- 
 tern song. The teacher will not have time to 
 correct all this seat work, but should allow 
 some of the quicker children to help the poorer 
 ones, 
 
 READING NEW SONGS 
 
 As soon as the pupils can sing the pattern 
 songs in the first key correctly, individually
 
 103 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 (the teacher must use her judgment as to how 
 long to wait for the slow, the lame, and the 
 lazy) , the reading of songs that have not been 
 learned by rote should begin. The class should 
 be ready for this at the end of the third week 
 sooner, rather than later. Care must be 
 taken not to be in too much of a hurry, but 
 there is greater danger of going too slow. 
 
 Now let the pupils turn to a song they have 
 not learned by rote. It must be very simple 
 and in the same key as the group of pattern 
 songs they have been studying. In the work 
 already done with the pattern songs the signal 
 for starting has been merely the blowing of 
 the pitch pipe. This is sufficient for the new 
 songs. Sound the pitch pipe and see what they 
 will do. If they are well prepared and the 
 teacher has not talked at them all the time dur- 
 ing the preparatory work, they will sing the 
 new song right off the first time. If they do 
 not do this, let them try again, in concert of 
 course. If, at the third trial, they do not do 
 this, go back to a pattern song in the same key 
 and repeat the preliminary drills already de- 
 scribed and then try again.
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 109 
 
 PHRASING 
 
 In all the pattern song work the teacher 
 should insist on proper phrasing. The book 
 should have one phrase to a line and the pupils 
 must be watched very closely to see that they 
 take breath only at the end of each phrase. 
 If this habit is well established the pupils will 
 phrase new songs properly. If they do not, 
 they must be made to do it at once. There 
 should be no poor phrasing with the new read- 
 ing. Not only must the pupils sing the phrases 
 correctly the first time, as to length, but they 
 must carry a perfectly smooth tone through 
 the phrase the first time they go through it. 
 Also the rhythm must be slow and even, no 
 matter how many notes they miscall or how 
 many tones they get wrong. 
 
 The logical sequence of reading music must 
 be observed: Tone, Time, Notes, and then 
 Words and Expression. Permitting the pupils 
 to stop the rhythm to get the name of the note 
 is very objectionable. Let them use any syl- 
 lable if they cannot think of the right one at 
 the right time. It matters not what mistakes
 
 110 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 they make in pitch or syllable names so long 
 as the tone is smooth and the rhythm steady. 
 If permitted, the pupils will quickly form habits 
 of uneven tone and rhythm that will be very 
 difficult to overcome. 
 
 Strict adherence to this rule of teaching the 
 elements of music in their logical sequence 
 will do much for the child's mind as well as 
 much for his music reading ability. The same 
 problem is found in the writing lesson. Speed 
 first and accuracy next. Teachers are apt to 
 think the tone or letter is the important thing. 
 The important thing is the habit the child is 
 forming. Get the big things right first. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL WORK 
 
 When the pupils can sing the new song cor- 
 rectly as a class, let individuals try. Let the 
 pupil in the rear seat sing the first phrase. If 
 he sings it correctly the whole school may sing 
 it after him to tell the teacher it is right If it 
 is incorrect, the next pupil takes it up and so 
 on down the row until some one sings it cor- 
 rectly. The pupils are supposed to be seated 
 according to ear and reading ability, placing
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING HI 
 
 best singers in the back seats. If a pupil names 
 the notes correctly and gets the tones wrong, 
 he must not be put in the rear. It is not a 
 good plan to have children with poor ears in 
 the rear seats, even if they do read well. 
 
 As this individual work goes on down the 
 row, the pupil in the rear seat should rise and 
 follow down the row to be ready to help the 
 pupils who stumble. This helping must be 
 cleverly done and the rhythm must not stop. 
 The helping child must help only when help is 
 needed and then help by taking up the tune 
 where the child stumbled and carrying it along 
 in time. The pupils must not call it right when 
 a child has to be helped. Allowing the pupils 
 to teach each other is a fine thing for the pupils 
 and leaves the teacher free to direct and teach 
 others who need it. 
 
 It is a good plan to allow the child who has 
 been helped to immediately try it alone once 
 or perhaps twice before the next pupil takes 
 it up. It will not do to allow him to try it 
 too many times, as the lesson must proceed. It 
 *s a poor plan to allow too many children to 
 try the same passage, as this will make slow
 
 112 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 readers of the class. A good plan is to allow 
 only three or four pupils to try the same pas- 
 sage and then if it is still sung incorrectly, the 
 whole class may sing it. The teacher must 
 use her judgment in this as in everything else 
 and fit her methods to her pupils. 
 
 SINGING WORDS 
 
 As soon as the class and a number of in- 
 dividuals can sing the notes of the new song 
 correctly, the words should be applied. The 
 application of words to notes must be skillfully 
 done if the pupils are to learn to read music. 
 What the children will want to do is to remem- 
 ber the tune. What they must do is to read 
 the tune as they are applying the words. In 
 other words, if the word comes on "do" the 
 child must think "do" as he sings the word. 
 This is where the teacher must watch the work- 
 ing of the child's mind very closely. 
 
 Instead of allowing the pupils to point to 
 the words while they are singing them, they 
 must point to the notes instead, to keep the 
 tones in mind. To help the teacher follow the 
 child's mind and to see whether he is thinking
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 113 
 
 tones through the notes or merely remember- 
 ing the tune, let the pupils point above the 
 notes so that the notes will come between the 
 end of the pointing finger and the words. The 
 pupil should lay the fist on the book above the 
 notes and turn the pointing finger towards him- 
 self. By leaving the outside edge of the hand 
 on the book or desk and rolling the hand there 
 will be about two inches down and up motion 
 to the extended first finger which will keep 
 the time steady and enable the pupil to bring 
 the end of the first finger just above the note 
 as he sings the word. This little point can not 
 be too closely watched by both pupil and 
 teacher. It is a perfect index to what the child 
 is thinking about. If he is thinking of the 
 syllable name of the note, the finger will come 
 down exactly above the note. If he is thinking 
 of the words only and trying to remember the 
 tune, his finger will come down anywhere. He 
 may cover the note and point to the word. 
 This means that he is not thinking of the note 
 at all but is trying to remember the tune. Here 
 is where teachers fail very often. The differ- 
 ence of an eighth of an inch in the placing of
 
 114 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the tip of the first finger when pupils are sing- 
 ing the words of a new song spells either suc- 
 cess or failure. This seems so small and 
 trifling a point that teachers often fail to grasp 
 it at all, and their music is a failure as a con- 
 sequence. I have often been criticized for 
 having pupils beat time too much, but beating 
 time and pointing to notes is not all for the 
 child it is partly to help the teacher to know 
 what the child is doing and the teacher who 
 does not watch closely the working of the 
 child's mind all the time he is in school had 
 better change her occupation. 
 
 When the pupils are reading the syllable 
 names of a new song, the time must go on cor- 
 rectly. In the reading of words, this is true 
 also but there are a few exceptions. When the 
 pupils are applying the words to a tune, let 
 them go through it in absolute rhythm the 
 first time. When they are sure of the rhythm 
 and the tone is perfectly smooth and there are 
 still some mistakes, the teacher may risk a 
 little help in the following way: If the pupils 
 are thinking the syllable names of the notes as 
 they are singing the words, there will be no
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 115 
 
 mistakes if they are thinking the tones cor- 
 rectly. To test this the teacher may tap once 
 (as outlined elsewhere) or say "note" when 
 the pupils are singing a word to a wrong tune. 
 At this the pupils should put the pointing finger 
 down on the book above the note and hold it 
 there while they hold the tone. If the pupils 
 respond instantly with the syllable name, it is 
 proof that they are thinking the syllable name. 
 If they hesitate and have to think before re- 
 sponding, it is proof that they have been guess- 
 ing and they should be trained not to guess but 
 to think. If they respond instantly with the 
 syllable name and have the tone wrong, the 
 teacher may tell them it is wrong but they 
 must find it themselves. If they do not get it, 
 the teacher may say it is higher or lower until 
 they find it. The tone must not stop during 
 all this and as soon as the correct tone is found, 
 the word should be sung, and at two taps the 
 rhythm taken up and the song continued. 
 
 FINISHING A SONG 
 
 As soon as the pupils can sing the words of 
 the song through correctly, while pointing, let
 
 116 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 them hold the book up in both hands with the 
 elbows on the desk as far apart as is comfort- 
 able, the chest held high and the top of the 
 book about on a level with the eye. Let them 
 sing the song through once, looking at the 
 book. Then let them close the book, keeping 
 the thumb in place, and sing the song from 
 memory. If they know the words of the song 
 and have read the meaning, they will sing it 
 with good expression, but if the expression 
 does not suit the teacher, she should ask the 
 pupils to tell her what the words mean and thus 
 bring out the meaning of the song with its 
 proper expression. It is not teaching expres- 
 sion for the teacher to stand up and beat time 
 before the class to show them how to do it. 
 The pupils must be left to express their own 
 ideas instead of the teacher's. As soon as 
 the proper expression is obtained and the song 
 memorized, the pupils have a new song added 
 to their repertoire. 
 
 Holding up the book and singing and then 
 closing and remembering and then starting 
 along on the next piece should be made a habit
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 117 
 
 as soon as possible and the children should 
 learn to know when a song is finished as well 
 as the teacher, without being told. The ma- 
 chine should be a "self starter" in all school 
 work and especially in the music. 
 
 THE SECOND KEY 
 
 When all the songs in the first key have been 
 learned, turn to the pattern songs in the sec- 
 ond key. The older children will not be needed 
 here and you will very likely find that if you 
 tell these children where "do" is in the new 
 key, they will sing the syllables correctly. If 
 they do not, the teacher may sing the syllable 
 names to the children until they know them, 
 the pupils pointing to the notes on the page as 
 before. A drill on the bare-staff chart will 
 help. If needed, a chart of the first pattern 
 song in the second key may be made and used. 
 This all depends on the way the pupils have 
 learned to use their eyes and ears in the first 
 key. Many teachers say that pupils should 
 change keys frequently, but this need is ex- 
 aggerated. They must stay on the first one
 
 118 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 long enough to learn it. Remember too tliat 
 in this first key they are also learning the in- 
 tervals of the scale as well. The third key will 
 go easily and after that it will make but little 
 difference where "do" is, so long as the pupils 
 know where to find it. Teach them at once 
 this rule, that the right hand sharp is "ti" and 
 the right hand flat is "fa." 
 
 ADVANCE INDIVIDUAL WORK 
 
 So far, concert work has preceded the 
 individual work. After two months in the 
 second grade this should be changed. The 
 new work should be taken individually first, or 
 at least a part of it. 
 
 A good proportion would be to have one 
 piece in advance sung individually first and two 
 in concert. The ideal way is to have all the 
 advance work sung individually, but this would 
 not allow enough practice in reading for all. 
 If there is too much individual work done, the 
 love of singing languishes. If there is not 
 enough individual work done, the pupils will 
 not know anything. The teacher must find the 
 happy medium.
 
 BEGINNING SIGHT SINGING 119 
 
 MATERIAL 
 
 The second grade should read at least four 
 or five of the primers now on the market. If 
 the children are confined to any one primer 
 they will never learn to read music any more 
 than they would learn to read words if they 
 used only one language primer. The great 
 need of school music is enough simple material 
 for this grade. The books all get hard too 
 soon. 
 
 COMPASS OF THE SONGS 
 
 Pupils in the second grade should not sing 
 below D. G above the staff will not strain 
 their voices, if they sing softly. Transpose all 
 music into this compass. 
 
 WRITING MUSIC 
 
 When second grade pupils have been reading 
 music about two months, they should begin 
 writing music to dictation as outlined in the 
 chapter on individual work (page 49). 
 
 It will be noticed that little has been said 
 about drills on intervals from the bare staff.
 
 120 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 The teacher should remember that reading new 
 songs is the best interval drill and she should 
 use her judgment as to how much special drill- 
 ing to do.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 EAR-TRAINING 
 
 To be a good singer, a person must not only- 
 have a good voice but a correct ear that will 
 keep him in time as well as in tune. Teachers 
 have invented numerous schemes for training 
 the ear. So numerous and so queer are the 
 devices used for this purpose that "ear-train- 
 ing" has fallen into disrepute among many 
 thinking teachers. It is true that the pupil 
 must have a great deal of ear-training before 
 he can do concerted or even solo work success- 
 fully, but it must be done in a sane and sensible 
 manner. 
 
 There are numerous "ear-training" stunts 
 that are worse than a waste of time. All of 
 those in which the teacher or pupil sings tones 
 for others to name belong in this category. I 
 recently met the principal of one of the grade 
 schools of a certain city and asked her how 
 she liked her new supervisor. She was very 
 121
 
 122 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 enthusiastic over the new arrival called her a 
 hustler and told how she had given the fifth 
 and sixth grades a new set of ear-training ex- 
 ercises that took ten minutes daily to perform. 
 As she had previously told me that the daily 
 music lesson was but fifteen minutes, I asked 
 her when the pupils were to sing. Her reply 
 was somewhat vague. 
 
 The usual ear-training stunts are bad be- 
 cause they prepare the pupil for the future 
 rather than the present. This makes them of 
 no educational value. To be useful, interest- 
 ing, and valuable, all drills and exercises should 
 have a direct bearing on the work in hand. 
 The need of drill should be made very apparent 
 to the pupil or there will be a lack of interest 
 and consequent waste of time and energy. 
 This widespread educational weakness is not 
 wholly confined to music. It pervades nearly 
 everything done in the schoolroom. 
 
 The best ear-training comes from singing 
 songs, either individually or in concert. Let 
 the pupil do enough of this in a proper manner 
 and his ear will be well trained without waste 
 of time, interest, or energy.
 
 EAR-TRAINING 123 
 
 The ear performs several very complicated 
 and important functions. It tells the singer 
 whether or not his voice is in time and tune 
 with other voices or instruments; it enables 
 him to recognize the power, quality, and rela- 
 tive pitch of sounds and to hear all the tones 
 that are sounding. 
 
 Keeping the voice in tune with other voices 
 or instruments cannot be learned too early. If 
 it is not learned at home, it must be taught as 
 soon as the child enters the kindergarten or 
 first grade. This is very closely connected 
 with smooth singing, and the teacher should 
 not forget that it is impossible to begin ear- 
 training of the proper sort before the child 
 has learned to make a smooth, steady tone, for 
 it is the pupil's own voice sounding with ethers 
 that trains his ear. Nothing else will do it so 
 easily or effectively. He may listen to musical 
 sounds, but he will not sing in tune until he 
 has had plenty of practice in making his own 
 voice blend with others. 
 
 When children begin to sing in school a 
 few of them will sing the tunes correctly the 
 first time they try. These are naturally tune-
 
 124 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ful ones or, as it is usually expressed, these 
 have "natural musical ears," and will not have 
 to be taught to sing in tune. These should 
 be placed in the rear seats. A number of 
 others will be able to follow the tune somewhat 
 closely but will not be able to sing perfectly 
 in tune. These should sit in front of those 
 who sing perfectly. Yet others will be found 
 who have no idea of singing in tune and these 
 will sit in the front seats of each row. 
 
 The latter two classes must receive special 
 attention in order to bring their voices into 
 perfect unison with the other voices. Later 
 they will learn to follow the tune alone. These 
 children must be tuned or taught to tune them- 
 selves in much the same way a piano tuner 
 tunes the piano. 
 
 BEATS 
 
 The following exercise is exceedingly valu- 
 able for improving the ear of the teacher and 
 making her more critical in detecting imperfect 
 intonation. Often teachers with a perfect ear 
 overlook these imperfections because they do 
 not know exactly what to listen for.
 
 EAR-TRAINING 123 
 
 Strike, very loudly, one at a time, a number 
 of keys near the middle of the keyboard, hold- 
 ing down each key until the sound has entirely 
 died away. If the piano is slightly out of tune 
 (it is better to use one that is a little out of 
 tune) the sound of each tone will waver or 
 will have "beats" or will "whine," as the piano 
 tuners express it. Some of the tones will 
 waver rapidly, some slowly, some not at all. 
 Three wires are struck by each hammer at the 
 same time in the middle of the modern piano. 
 When these three wires are exactly in unison, 
 the tone is perfectly steady. When they differ 
 in pitch, the tone is unsteady as already de- 
 scribed. The only thing the teacher need learn 
 in this exercise is to hear the wavers or 
 "whines" and a little practice will enable her 
 to do so. If the wavering is rapid, it means 
 that the tone is badly out of tune. If the 
 wavering is slow, it means that the tone is 
 more nearly in tune. If the tone is perfectly 
 steady, it means that the three wires are in 
 perfect unison. 
 
 The teacher must learn to hear the wavers 
 and "whines" in the singing of the pupils and
 
 126 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 tune the class as the piano tuner tunes the 
 piano. The pupils themselves should be taught 
 to listen for these wavers and to eliminate them 
 by sliding their voices up or down until the 
 wavers disappear and they are in perfect har- 
 mony with the rest of the class. 
 
 TUNING A CLASS 
 
 In the kindergarten and first grade perfect 
 intonation may be developed in the following 
 way : As soon as the school has learned a slow, 
 smooth song, teach the pupils to hold the 
 last tone in the song or a phrase as you signal 
 for it (as explained in the chapter on reading 
 music, page 35) by tapping once. If the tone 
 is not smooth (it will not be at first), stop 
 the poorer singers and allow only the better 
 ones to hold the tone until it is perfect. Then 
 bring the rest of them in one by one, stopping 
 those who make the tone waver as they enter. 
 This exercise may be used for a minute or 
 two at each lesson and all will soon learn to 
 make perfect unisons. 
 
 Do not construe this exercise to mean that 
 the pupils who make wavers should not sing at
 
 EAR-TRAINING , 127 
 
 all the rest of the time. It is only on the tests 
 that they should be dropped out and they should 
 have practice in coming in at every lesson until 
 they can take up the tone of the school without 
 interfering with its smoothness. The smallest 
 child will soon learn to listen for, hear, and 
 eliminate the wavers on long tones and after- 
 wards be able to apply the principle to more 
 rapid passages. 
 
 PART TUNING 
 
 When the music has more than one part, 
 the ear-training problems will be somewhat dif- 
 ferent, since the opportunity for discordant 
 singing is greater. Not only must the pupil 
 keep in tune with the other voices on the same 
 part, but the different parts must be in tune 
 with each other. To give the pupil a chance 
 to learn to do this, the teacher may use 
 the exercise outlined in "part singing" where 
 the teacher taps once and the pupils hold the 
 tone or tones they are singing. Let us sup- 
 pose the pupils are singing a three-part song 
 and the teacher wishes to test a certain chord. 
 When the pupils reach it, she taps once and
 
 128 GRAPE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 they hold the chord. If the chord is perfectly 
 smooth, she may tap twice and send them on. 
 The chord will waver if the tones of the chord 
 are not the right distance apart, even though 
 each tone is perfectly smooth when sung alone. 
 At this age, pupils should be able to hear 
 "beats or wavers," but suppose they do not. 
 The teacher may say, "Make it sound smooth." 
 If this does not remedy the trouble, practice 
 each tone of the chord separately until it is 
 perfectly smooth. After each tone of the 
 chord has been verified separately, combine 
 them one at a time, being sure that each added 
 tone does not make the combination waver. 
 As soon as the chord is steady, send the pupils 
 along by tapping twice. 
 
 SLIDING VOICES 
 
 In testing one-part music in the intermediate 
 grades tell the pupils to slide their voices up 
 or down a very little until the sound becomes 
 steady. Do this also when testing one of the 
 parts in part music. Put the parts together as 
 a violinist tunes his strings. Tell the pupils
 
 EAR-TRAINING 129 
 
 to slide their part up or down a very little until 
 the combination sounds smooth. 
 
 Singing in perfect tune can be learned by 
 any school if the habit of smooth singing is first 
 established and pupils are given practice in 
 smoothing up their chords. Part singing in 
 the upper grades can be and should be in as 
 perfect tune as a good string quartet. 
 
 Nothing in the whole range of music is love- 
 lier than young voices singing suitable music in 
 perfect tune. Tuning appeals ' o young people. 
 They are very quick to learn to sing in per- 
 fect tune if their attention is called to the beats 
 or wavers that arise from singing out of tune. 
 
 When the teacher is testing chords for 
 smoothness, let her stay away from the piano. 
 The temptation will be to step to the piano and 
 sound the chord for the school. If the teacher 
 does this, the pupils will get a bad example. 
 A piano is always out of tune on the chords, 
 even when an excellent tuner has just left it, 
 though the unisons and octaves are smooth. 
 An explanation of the reason for this is too 
 long to be put in here. Suffice to say, your
 
 130 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 pupils can sing in better tune than the piano 
 can because they can make smooth chords and 
 the piano cannot. 
 
 The following is another ear-training de- 
 vice for pupils who are singing part songs. 
 The teacher may call the words or syllables of 
 the song one by one and the pupils may respond 
 by singing each word or syllable called for. 
 They must not let the tone stop and must not 
 leave gaps between the tones. The teacher 
 should see that each chord is held until it be- 
 comes perfectly steady before she calls for the 
 next. Going through a piece that is badly 
 sung in the manner just described will im- 
 prove it wonderfully. This exercise, like any 
 other, is only to be used when needed. When 
 the pupils can sing in tune, its usefulness is 
 ended. It is but a device to establish the 
 tuning habit and when a habit is established, 
 pupils should use the habit and not the device. 
 
 REMEMBERING INTERVALS 
 
 After learning to recognize unisons, the ear 
 must acquire the ability to remember intervals. 
 Some ears will be able to do this at once and
 
 EAR-TRAINING 131 
 
 their owners will sing a tune correctly. With 
 these we are not concerned just now; our 
 work is with those who cannot do this. There 
 are no exercises to be given to develop the 
 ability of the ear to recognize intervals in tunes, 
 other than to let these pupils sing songs very 
 slowly in unison with other voices at first, and 
 then let them try to sing the same songs alone. 
 If they do not get the tune straight when sing- 
 ing alone, they should sing with a good singer 
 until the ear verifies and remembers the in- 
 tervals and keeps the singer in the right tune- 
 track. 
 
 VOICE QUALITY 
 
 A singer may be able to tell when he is sing- 
 ing in tune and also how much power he is 
 using, but it is always difficult for him to 
 judge the quality of his own voice. He must 
 be constantly reminded to listen carefully to 
 the quality of his tone. Almost all singers are 
 very sensitive about the quality of their 
 voices and bitterly resent criticism. This 
 is very foolish and teachers should be 
 very careful not to allow pupils to grow
 
 132 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 up with such sensitiveness. A singer needs 
 help on this point more than any other 
 because he cannot hear the quality of his voice, 
 and must be told again and again if it is bad. 
 He should be told this plainly and kindly by the 
 teacher, and pupils should be taught to tell 
 each other how their voices sound. The pupil 
 himself should be encouraged to ask how his 
 voice sounds. 
 
 If a voice does not sound well, there are a 
 number of things the pupil may do to make it 
 sound better. First, sing softly; second, send 
 the breath out more smoothly; third, hold the 
 chin out a little farther and open the mouth 
 a trifle wider. This subject is fully explained 
 in the chapter on voice training. 
 
 HEARING PARTS 
 
 The singer must learn to hear all the parts 
 that are sounding. This can best be learned 
 by tapping exercises, already given, where the 
 teacher taps once and the pupils hold a chord 
 in the song they are singing. This is a most 
 valuable kind of ear-training and a great deal
 
 EAR-TRAINING 133 
 
 of it should be done until the pupils are able 
 to hear all the parts distinctly. 
 
 Holding chords to allow the singers to get 
 in tune and to hear all the parts is not only 
 a most valuable exercise for singers in school 
 but also for church choirs and all other mu- 
 sicians doing concerted work, either vocal or 
 instrumental. Choruses and orchestras espe- 
 cially do a great deal of it. It is most valuable 
 for newly organized bands and orchestras. 
 The first thing the leader usually pays atten- 
 tion to is the time and spirit of the piece. 
 Intonation should receive the first and the most 
 attention. Wounds in the intonation are usu- 
 ally left to time and chance to heal. It would 
 be far better to stop the players on chords as 
 outlined above at the very beginning and let 
 them learn early to keep in tune with the other 
 instruments. 
 
 HEARING RHYTHM 
 
 The singer must also acquire the faculty of 
 hearing how fast or slow, how loud or soft the 
 others are singing, and learn to accommodate
 
 134 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 his voice to the others in both speed and power. 
 This is very important and should be drilled 
 upon from the beginning of school music to 
 the end. A good quartette choir learns to do 
 this after singing together for some time. 
 Some singers have this faculty naturally but 
 most of them have to learn it. It is a faculty 
 that children acquire very easily if given the 
 chance to practice it enough. 
 
 The teacher should never beat time when 
 her pupils are learning new songs or singing 
 old songs in concert. If a person cannot har- 
 monize with other voices and instruments both 
 in tune and time, he must be given the chance 
 to learn. If the teacher beats time in any way 
 the pupils will follow her and neglect to listen 
 to and neglect to hear the other singers and 
 players. If the piano is used a great deal the 
 pupil will follow that and not listen to the 
 others. He will not sing in tune as well with 
 the piano, as the smooth tone of the voices will 
 be drowned in the piano's roar, as it is often 
 played. Even when the teacher wants the 
 song sung faster, she should not show the 
 pupils how much faster nor should she in any
 
 EAR-TRAINING 135 
 
 way set the time. She should simply say 
 "faster" and let them get it. This will result 
 in pandemonium at first and the teacher will 
 be tempted to help. Help should not be given 
 because the pupils are simply trying to learn 
 to keep together by ear and they should be 
 allowed the chance. This is another place 
 where the teacher should fold her hands and 
 tongue and let the pupils work it out. 
 
 It should not be understood from the preced- 
 ing paragraph that the piano should never be 
 used in the schoolroom. Far from it. The 
 ideal schoolroom will always have a piano in it 
 and the piano will be used a great deal. It 
 should never be used until the pupils can sing 
 a song perfectly without it and then it should 
 be used as an accompaniment and not as a 
 "coverer." The piano covers a multitude of 
 vocal sins, but it sounds better with vocalists 
 who do not sin. 
 
 Choruses of three or four hundred should 
 learn to keep together by ear and not by eye at 
 first. When they are getting ready for a pub- 
 lic appearance, that is another matter, and then 
 they should learn to follow the baton so that
 
 136 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the expression desired by the leader can be 
 brought out. When the pupils have been 
 trained to listen to all the parts at once and 
 keep together by ear, it is a simple matter to 
 train them to follow the baton. 
 
 MONOTONES 
 
 There are very few real monotones, but it 
 is the term usually applied when people sing 
 out of tune. The first remedy for the mono- 
 tone is to teach him to cany a perfectly 
 smooth tone. This will not always cure him 
 but it is effectual in most cases. To prevent 
 the monotone from spoiling the ears of other 
 pupils, he should be seated in the front row 
 where he cannot be heard by the pupils back 
 of him. The foolish practice of making the 
 monotone keep still takes away his only chance 
 of ever learning to sing in tune. He must 
 learn to make his own voice go first, and how 
 can he do this if he keeps still? It is his own 
 voice, in combination with other voices, that 
 he needs to hear ; no amount of listening with- 
 out singing is going to help him. One might 
 as well try to teach a child to walk by holding
 
 EAR-TRAINING 137 
 
 him in the window to watch the neighbors go 
 by, as to set a monotone to listening. Let the 
 monotone sing softly and smoothly with others 
 and he will soon be able to adjust his voice to 
 correct pitch. 
 
 If a pupil has learned to sing with a sus- 
 tained tone and has not learned to sing in tune, 
 a simple exercise like the following will help 
 him to hear and make unisons with other 
 voices. Let the whole school sing a tone sev- 
 eral steps higher than the one the monotone 
 usually sings. While they are holding this 
 tone steadily, tell the monotone to slide his 
 voice up and he will always stop when he 
 reaches the pitch the others are holding. I 
 have never seen this fail and it is especially 
 effective with older pupils who have never 
 studied music. 
 
 Once in a great while a pupil will be found 
 who cannot slide his voice at the first attempt. 
 He does not know what you mean. Let this 
 pupil put his hands on his ribs to be sure that 
 he makes a smooth, long tone. Then let him 
 start his tone and while the other pupils sound 
 a higher one, let the teacher commence on the
 
 138 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 tone the monotone is sounding and slide up, 
 telling the monotone to follow her. The 
 teacher should slide away above the other 
 voices, as it is the wide interval the child hears 
 first. The monotone will usually do this after 
 one or two trials and will invariably stop when 
 he reaches the tone the other pupils are sound- 
 ing. He has now heard a unison and knows 
 how to bring his voice into tune with the other 
 voices. With a little help now and then he will 
 be able to work out his own salvation. 
 
 If following the teacher's voice does not 
 make the pupil raise his voice, tell him to yell 
 at some one in the next room or out in the yard 
 and his voice will at once run up to a higher 
 pitch. Let him keep doing that until he knows 
 what is meant by sliding up and then let him 
 try sliding into unison with the other voices. 
 
 Sometimes it helps a child who cannot raise 
 his voice to ask him to "trill" to someone at a 
 distance. Every child will be able to do this, 
 and from this higher tone he can work out the 
 unison with other voices and from the unison 
 the rest of the tune. This work should be 
 done after school, as there is hardly time to do
 
 EAR-TRAINING 139 
 
 all the individual work necessary to rescue 
 these unfortunates in the regular lesson time. 
 Other pupils are glad to stay after school to 
 help, if they are asked in the right way. 
 
 CLEAR PART-SINGING 
 
 When pupils start part singing, there are 
 always a few who drop from the pitch and 
 have to be tuned over again. This is especially 
 true in beginning three and four-part work. 
 The altos will be inclined to sing the soprano 
 an octave lower, and the basses will try to do 
 the same two octaves lower. Here is where 
 the teacher's ear needs to be trained as well aa 
 the pupil's and the tapping exercises will train 
 the ears of all concerned and the teacher will 
 know, as well as the pupils, when the pitch is 
 correct. 
 
 When seating the pupils in a school where 
 singing bass has just been begun, it is well to 
 put the basses in front of the second altos so 
 that the second alto boys will not be so apt to 
 go down and try to sing bass. They will want 
 to do it long before it is time and they must 
 be watched or they will be trying it in the class.
 
 140 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 When requested to sing their own part, they 
 will usually try to convince you that the part is 
 too high, but "be from Missouri" in such cases. 
 
 MOVE QUIETLY 
 
 Another very important form of ear-train- 
 ing is teaching a child to move without noise. 
 Children should be taught early in life that they 
 must not annoy others, especially in the school- 
 room where everyone is trying to hear what 
 is going on. Pupils who are allowed to go 
 "clumping" around are not only learning to be 
 very selfish, but are destroying the efficiency 
 of the class. 
 
 Young people who annoy others carelessly 
 should not be excused but should be taught that 
 carelessness is but a bad form of selfishness. 
 Noisiness is particularly heinous because it 
 steals from others their time and their nerves. 
 It is not sufficient to simply tell a child to be 
 quiet, he must be taught how to do it. Ear- 
 training on this subject should commence in the 
 home, but as it seldom does, the kindergarten 
 and first grade teacher must begin it. The
 
 EAR-TRAINING 141 
 
 solution of the noisy child problem is very 
 simple. He must be taught to listen to every 
 move he makes. As soon as he does this, he 
 will become expert in moving quietly. 
 
 It is foolish for a teacher to tell a room full 
 of children of any age to "sit still," because it 
 is impossible for them to do it. So why 
 weaken your hold on them by asking for some- 
 thing that cannot be done? There is a much 
 better and more sensible way. Let the teacher 
 ask how many can sit perfectly still for five 
 minutes. Nearly every hand will go up. The 
 teacher may say, "I am sure it cannot be done, 
 but if you think you are able to do it, just try 
 it" 
 
 Of course, some one will move in a few sec- 
 onds and that will prove her point. The effort 
 to sit perfectly still will be most tiring to all 
 and the teacher may then remark, "Of course, 
 you cannot sit still five minutes and nobody 
 wants you to try, because it is not a good thing 
 to do." 
 
 Everyone will relax and the noise will re- 
 commence.
 
 142 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 Now the teacher may ask, "Can you hear 
 well ?" Of course they will say yes. 
 
 "Now listen and hear how many noises are 
 going on." 
 
 It will become as still as death and the clock 
 will tick with terrific loudness. 
 
 "That is the way it should be in the school 
 room, so that we can concentrate our minds on 
 our work. Now as we cannot sit still and as 
 it must be quiet so that we can work, what are 
 we going to do?" 
 
 The answer will usually be, "Keep as quiet 
 as we can." 
 
 "That will not do, as we must be perfectly 
 quiet." The solution is simple. The teacher 
 may say, "Just use your ear every time you 
 move and it will be quiet. Move all you like, 
 provided no one hears you." This will put 
 into the pupil's hand the exact tool he needs 
 and then let him work out quietness for him- 
 self. When a child forgets and moves noisily, 
 he may be told, "Return to your seat, you have 
 left something behind you." He will return, 
 look, and find nothing. He will very likely 
 ask what it is he has left and the teacher may
 
 EAR-TRAINING 143 
 
 smile and point to her ear. The joke will be 
 on him and he will appreciate it and listen the 
 next time. 
 
 Moving quietly is extremely important when 
 individual singing is going on. Pupils must 
 learn to rise and move into their places so as 
 not to disturb the singers. This last form of 
 ear-training not only belongs in the music les- 
 son to increase the efficiency of the work and 
 to make the ears keen, but it will make the 
 pupil more observant in every way. The par- 
 ent or teacher who neglects to give the child 
 this ear-training is depriving him of one of the 
 best forms of culture that can be devised and 
 is sending him out into the world handicapped 
 with a pair of unobservant ears, besides allow- 
 ing him to make a nuisance of himself in many 
 ways. Nothing so makes for selfishness in 
 anyone as to feel free to disturb, or worse ye> 
 to be unconscious of the fact that he is disturb- 
 ing others. 
 
 Now please do not gather from the preced- 
 ing statements that I am such an old granny 
 that I want children to be like graven images 
 all the time. Far from it. No one appr$
 
 144 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ciates more than I do the value of noisy play 
 and freedom in activities. Discrimination is 
 what the child needs to learn and when he 
 learns the proper way and the proper places 
 to make noises, he will be more untrammeled 
 than ever because he will not disturb anyone 
 and will not have to be "said don't at" as often 
 as before. 
 
 Such training as outlined in the preceding 
 paragraphs would be of great value to audi- 
 ences of every kind. In any audience room 
 there is always the rustle of programs and 
 wearing apparel and other human sounds that 
 are wholly unnecessary. If the people who 
 make these sounds had been taught to listen, 
 not only to the music, but also had been taught 
 to listen for and to eliminate other sounds, they 
 would enjoy the entertainment far better so 
 would their neighbors. As a step toward this, 
 the music teacher should eliminate every sound 
 except the music from her music lesson. Even 
 the turning of leaves should not be heard. If 
 the pupil makes a noise, there are many things, 
 besides scolding, the teacher can quietly do to 
 remind him that he is disturbing others. The
 
 EAR-TRAINING H5 
 
 teacher may ask the pupil privately if his ear is 
 a little dim. Always lay it to dim hearing. 
 That will bring home to the pupil the cause 
 of the trouble and will show him just what 
 organ to use. Above all, do not say "sit still" 
 to your pupils. It is futile and every child 
 knows it and he stamps you as an unreasonable 
 being the minute you say "sit still." 
 
 One of the very best ear-training devices in 
 the whole list is the quiet teacher. I have 
 heard many a teacher mourn over the noisy 
 pupils she was caged with and every time 
 the teacher walked across the room her heels 
 beat a tattoo on the floor that would make a 
 snare drum rattle with envy. How could 
 pupils be quiet with such an example to en- 
 dure? A fine ear-trainer is a pair of rubber 
 heels on teacher's shoes. (I am not advertis- 
 ing any particular brand. ) They will not only 
 rest the teacher but will quiet the pupils won- 
 derfully.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THEORY 
 
 The theory of music is the knowledge a 
 person has about its construction, notation, etc. 
 Practice is what a person can do with music 
 either with voice or instrument. 
 
 Theory is sometimes a stumbling block to 
 the teacher, and the more he knows about mu- 
 sic, the more trouble he often has in teaching 
 it. The old pedagogical maxim, "A child 
 learns to do by doing," kept well in mind, will 
 smooth out the wrinkles in many a course of 
 study. 
 
 A most enlightening parallel on this point 
 is to be found in the teaching of languages in 
 high schools. Instead of learning how to 
 speak and write a foreign language, pupils in 
 the average high school acquire only the ability 
 to make vague and wavering translations. If 
 our teachers of modern languages would study 
 the way a child learns his mother tongue and 
 146
 
 THEORY 147 
 
 use the same method in teaching, the pupils 
 would get something tangible in a fraction of 
 the time they now spend getting practically 
 nothing. 
 
 Instead of remembering the great peda- 
 gogical truth stated above, the teacher of mod- 
 ern languages often commences the study in 
 the wrong way by smothering the pupil with 
 a mass of knowledge about the language so 
 that instead of being able to use the language 
 in a natural way, he has to spend his time 
 mulling over a mass of mental rubbish. 
 
 This same trouble often befalls the music 
 pupil for the same reason. There are number- 
 less facts he might know about music if there 
 were time to teach them; but comparatively 
 few of these facts are needed to enable him 
 to read and interpret vocal music intelli- 
 gently. 
 
 Let us see how much theory a child in the 
 grades needs to know and, in the light of the 
 pedagogical rule above stated, decide the order 
 of presentation to be observed. 
 
 Since we use only rote songs in the first 
 grade, there is no theory to teach in that grade.
 
 148 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 Many attempt to teach phrases, measures, ac- 
 cents, rhythm, and other things in the first 
 grade that are not needed. "Children learn 
 to do by doing," but it is the teacher's business 
 to see that they do the right thing at the right 
 time. 
 
 Children should commence to learn to read 
 music in the second grade and the first printed 
 page of music presented should be a pattern 
 song of simple structure, very plainly printed, 
 with each phrase on a line by itself. There 
 should be no divided beats and the notes should 
 be large and plain. The song should be slow 
 with simple rhythm and easy intervals. The 
 children should already know this song from 
 memory and be able to sing it correctly with 
 proper phrasing and a smooth, pleasant tone. 
 The teacher should first show the pupils how 
 to point to the notes as they sing the pattern 
 song. As each phrase is on a line by itself, 
 this process will be easy and the children will 
 soon learn that each note stands for a sepa- 
 rate tone of the song and that the proper place 
 to breathe is at the end of each line or phrase.
 
 THEORY 149 
 
 Measure and accent do not require attention at 
 this stage. 
 
 The pupil learns the value of the notes and 
 rests by experience in singing the pattern songs. 
 Here we encounter one of the worst incon- 
 sistencies in music notation. Instead of a 
 standard one-beat note, we have several. 
 How fine and how simple it would be to have 
 the quarter note the only one-beat note used. 
 It would make the path of the young music 
 student far easier, as there would be no need 
 of the mystifying fraction at the beginning 
 of the piece. Only one figure would be 
 needed to tell how many beats in a measure. 
 But as measure is not to be taught at the be- 
 ginning, it is only necessary to tell the child 
 that when the lower figure is four, the quarter 
 note gets a beat and when it is eight, an eighth 
 note gets a beat, etc. Later he can learn what 
 the upper figure means. At present he should 
 be taught only the note values; and let meas- 
 ure and accent teach themselves. 
 
 The children will learn the lines and spaces 
 of the staff by using them in singing the
 
 150 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 pattern songs by note and by singing new 
 songs by note. In designating the lines and 
 spaces of the staff, they should be numbered 
 from the bottom. 
 
 The pupils will learn the syllable names of 
 the notes as they go along and they will soon 
 begin to discover scale relations in the songs. 
 No time should be spent in teaching intervals 
 as such. The child's mind becomes adjusted 
 to the tones of the scale naturally and the 
 sounds soon become fixed in his memory. 
 This is one of the places where pupils and 
 teachers have wasted much time by not apply- 
 ing the great maxim that underlies all ped- 
 agogy. Instead of allowing the child to learn 
 the intervals by using them in reading both old 
 and new songs, teachers are very apt to spend 
 time in drilling on intervals apart from the 
 song. 
 
 Teaching the treble clef is of no importance 
 until the base clef is introduced, which is usu- 
 ally in the eighth grade. Then the pupils may 
 learn both the bass and treble in order to tell 
 which one they are singing from. 
 
 The signature may be used simply to teach
 
 THEORY 151 
 
 the position of "do." Teach the pupil that 
 when there are no sharps or flats, "do" is on 
 the line below. The right hand sharp is "ti" 
 and the right hand flat is "fa." When he 
 begins to write music, he may learn the posi- 
 tion of the sharps and flats by copying them 
 from the board or book. 
 
 In the latter part of the third grade or the 
 beginning of the fourth, the divided beat is 
 taught. It is well, though not positively neces- 
 sary, to teach the measure at this time. To 
 do this requires the teaching of bars and 
 double bars. 
 
 Chromatics are often found in third grade 
 music 
 
 CHROMATICS 
 
 If chromatics are introduced as they should 
 be in the books, they will be learned by sing- 
 ing them in songs, the same as the tones of 
 the common scale were learned. The first 
 few chromatics that appear should be sung by 
 f.he teacher and the school should learn them 
 by ear. The same ones should then be used 
 in various songs in different keys. Give the
 
 152 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 pupils the following rule: First think what 
 the note would be without the chromatic, and 
 remember that a sharp before a note means a 
 half step up, and the vowel of the syllable 
 name is changed to e. A flat before a note 
 means a half step down and the vowel is 
 changed to a. A natural before a note al- 
 ready flatted is the same as a sharp and a 
 natural before a note already sharped is the 
 same as a flat. 
 
 The following diagrams should be put on 
 the board when teaching this rule: 
 
 b 
 
 \ 
 
 Mfl> 
 
 The double sharp and the double flat follow 
 the rule for a sharp and a flat respectively.
 
 THEORY 153 
 
 Chromatics are easily learned in this way. On 
 no account have the pupils attempt the hope- 
 less task of writing the chromatic scales in 
 the different keys. 
 
 The plan of going to some other key to 
 teach chromatics is foolish. For instance, 
 many teachers teach "sol, fi, sol" by calling it 
 "do, ti, do" first. This is not only a waste of 
 time but it teaches the wrong thing, as it 
 makes the pupil think of another key when 
 he should be thinking of an accidental in the 
 same key. The best way to teach a chromatic 
 tone is to sing it to him until he knows it. 
 
 Never, under any circumstances, teach the 
 chromatic scale as a whole. It is never used. 
 The same may be said of the minor scales. 
 When a song in a minor key has been learned, 
 the teacher may simply call attention to the 
 sound of it, and if she wishes, she may ex- 
 plain to the class how to tell whether it is a 
 minor or not. If it is a minor, it often begins 
 and always ends on "la." 
 
 If the pupil can read in the major keys and 
 recognizes chromatics as they occur, he will 
 have no trouble with minors. There are
 
 154 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 teachers who say we must teach minor songs 
 by calling the first tone of the minor scale 
 "do" instead of "la," but how anyone in his 
 senses can stand for such an unnecessary bur- 
 den of foolish work is beyond comprehension, 
 unless he wants to make it hard instead of 
 easy and to keep the child from learning to 
 read music as long as possible. The same may 
 be said of the "fixed do" method. 
 
 Some systems of reading music compel the 
 child to figure out whether it is a minor third 
 or a major third before singing it. It does not 
 seem possible that such back-handed work 
 could be found anywhere in the world, but 
 veracious returned travelers assure us that it is 
 attempted in some remote centers of civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 What is the use of teaching chords to chil- 
 dren who are reading one-part music? It 
 might be well to do a little of it when they begin 
 to sing three-part music, for then they have a 
 chance to hear chords. The study of musical 
 facts not necessary to the work in hand is a 
 hindrance rather than a help. It might be 
 well to know the chemical ingredients of the
 
 THEORY 155 
 
 food we eat, but certainly the average child 
 will flourish quite well even if he does not 
 know that his food contains proteids, starches, 
 and other things. His digestive apparatus will 
 find that out without burdening his brain with 
 useless information. We are altogether too 
 apt to stuff a child's head with unrelated facts 
 and then wonder why his brain does not func- 
 tion better. It is a mercy that he has the 
 faculty of forgetting some of the things he 
 has learned. 
 
 When teaching theory be careful to follow 
 the rule that heads this chapter and see that 
 every item of theory you teach is necessary 
 and that the children themselves see the neces- 
 sity for it
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 VOICE TESTING 
 
 Voice testing is one of the most difficult, as 
 well as one of the most important subjects 
 that confront the music supervisor. It takes 
 time and experience to do it well and even 
 when it is well done, it never "stays put." 
 Like tuning the piano, it has to be done over 
 and over again. It is so big a task and re- 
 quires so much time that it is often left to 
 the pupils themselves, with disastrous results. 
 Another reason why it is not well done is the 
 fact that many supervisors of music are not 
 well prepared for this part of their work. It 
 is little short of criminal for a supervisor of 
 music to take charge of a system of schools 
 unless he knows how to test voices. 
 
 REASONS 
 
 If the voices are tested often and each voice 
 is assigned to the proper part and not forced, 
 156
 
 VOICE TESTING 157 
 
 they will develop naturally and satisfactorily. 
 Each voice should be watched especially dur- 
 ing the changing period, for the same voice 
 will often cover the range of all the different 
 parts before settling on the part for which 
 nature designed it. The supervisor and 
 teacher must exercise eternal vigilance and 
 move the voice when nature says it should be 
 done. Voices should be tested also for mu- 
 sical effect in ensemble singing. We are teach- 
 ing music and if the voices of the children are 
 not on the proper parts, there will be no music. 
 There is nothing lovelier in music than a chorus 
 of young voices, singing beautiful and appro- 
 priate songs when each voice is on the right 
 part, singing easily, pleasantly, and in tune. 
 There is nothing so unmusical as a chorus with 
 a number of voices on the wrong part. When 
 a voice is on the wrong part, there is little use 
 in trying to get its possessor to sing in tune. 
 It cannot be done, for a strained voice is seldom 
 able to keep the pitch for any length of time. 
 Even if the pupil does succeed in keeping the 
 pitch, the part he is singing will not sound 
 right because it will have the wrong quality.
 
 158 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 WHEN TO TEST VOICES 
 
 Voices should be tested for part singing 
 as soon as they show signs of changing. This 
 usually occurs about the beginning of the sixth 
 grade. In the two preceding grades, where 
 two-part music is sung, the pupils should al- 
 ternate. In the fifth grade, the low voices 
 should be put in the middle of the room and 
 be required to sing alto with the side of the 
 room which is singing the alto part. In the 
 sixth grade much three-part music should be 
 used. The voices begin to change here, and 
 during the changing period it is particularly 
 important, for musical and for educational 
 reasons, as well as for vocal reasons, that the 
 voices sing in a limited compass. From the 
 beginning of the sixth grade to the end of the 
 senior year in the high school, each voice 
 should be tested often. The voices are con- 
 stantly changing and each pupil should be in- 
 structed to ask for a test whenever he feels 
 that the part he is singing is getting hard for 
 him. In the individual work the voices can be
 
 VOICE TESTING 159 
 
 watched easily and tests given when the need 
 is indicated. 
 
 STAY ON SAME PART 
 
 The question often arises whether it is best 
 to place a young voice on a certain part and 
 keep it there until it changes. The answer 
 is "yes" for the following reasons. The voice, 
 during the changing period, usually has a short 
 compass. By this is meant that, though the 
 pupil may be able to sing both high and low, 
 the easy compass of his voice is usually pretty 
 short, and to develop the voice properly he 
 should use only the easy compass. Many con- 
 tend that the voice will develop better if a 
 wide compass is used, but my experience has 
 been to the contrary. I have always kept a 
 voice, from the sixth grade through the high 
 school, rigidly to one part until a test showed 
 that another part should be taken. Long ex- 
 perience has convinced me that the voice that 
 sings lightly and easily, in a limited compass 
 during the changing period, will have a wider 
 compass, more power, and a better quality in
 
 160 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the end than the voice that has tried to culti- 
 vate a wider compass during the same period. 
 If there were no other reason than voice pres- 
 ervation, the limited compass of the changing 
 voice makes part singing in the upper grades 
 and the high school a necessity. 
 
 Whenever the bass part is represented, four- 
 part music for mixed voices is required in or- 
 der to furnish an easy compass for all the 
 voices. Three-part music, arranged for 
 soprano, alto, and bass, should never be used 
 in the grades mentioned, because it does not 
 accommodate all the voices. 
 
 SYSTEM 
 
 Testing voices, like everything else, should 
 follow the best system that can be devised for 
 doing it quickly and effectively. The same 
 plan should be followed in every grade and in 
 the high school. Each pupil should be taught 
 to do the same exercise as rapidly and as 
 loudly as he can and keep at it until he is told 
 what part he is to sing. Two should stand at 
 once and as soon as one is tested, the next 
 should start instantly and sing his exercise
 
 VOICE TESTING 161 
 
 without being told. The rest of the class must 
 watch the singing pupil and see that he starts 
 on the right key. The pupil must try first and 
 if he does not start on the right pitch, the class 
 must give it. If the class has forgotten it, the 
 teacher will give it from the pitch pipe. The 
 exercise must be kept going at high speed and 
 no pupil should be allowed to stop to make 
 excuses. 
 
 The best exercise for testing voices I have 
 ever tried is the following: Let each pupil 
 begin on G, the second line of the treble staff 
 (if a changed boy voice, an octave below), and 
 sing the scale up through one octave and then 
 down two octaves, returning over the same 
 ground and going up and down until told to 
 stop. The boys should start this exercise in 
 the opposite direction because the boy voice 
 often shows during the first octave what it is 
 and it saves time to let the boys start down- 
 ward. 
 
 The pupils should all be required to go 
 through this exercise to the full extent, even if 
 they cannot reach the extreme tones easily. 
 Pupils often stop and declare they can go no
 
 162 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 farther long before the limit of vocal compass 
 is reached. So it is well to insist upon the 
 limit of "G" at each end. Tell the pupil 
 plainly that it is the bad spots of the voice 
 that you are looking for this time, and that he 
 must show all the voice he has. This explana- 
 tion will remove the timidity that every one 
 has when he shows the poor and hard parts of 
 his voice. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF VOICES 
 
 The unchanged boy voices and the girl voices 
 in the grades should be divided into four parts ; 
 first and second soprano, and first and second 
 alto. The changed boy voices will almost al- 
 ways sing bass in the grades. Few, if any, 
 tenors are found below the high school. 
 
 Voices in the high school should be divided 
 into eight parts : first and second soprano, first 
 and second alto, first and second tenor, first 
 and second bass. The first tenor is a rare 
 voice, even in the high school. The teacher 
 can determine how good the work has been 
 in the grades by the number of high sopranos
 
 VOICE TESTING 163 
 
 and tenors that develop in the high school. If 
 there are a number of high, easy voices in the 
 high school, the work in the grades has been 
 good. These are the two voices that are most 
 apt to be spoiled in the making. 
 
 A quick and effective way to tell the pupil 
 what part to sing is to hold the fingers up 
 when you have determined what the voice is. 
 Use the fingers of the left hand for the girls 
 and unchanged boy voices. First soprano, 
 one finger; second soprano, two; first alto, 
 three; and second alto, four. Take the right 
 hand for the changed boy voices. First tenor, 
 one finger ; second tenor, two ; first bass, three ; 
 and second bass, four. This is merely a little 
 trick to save time and the teacher's voice. If 
 you say what part the pupil is to sing you 
 will have to wait until he stops singing or he 
 will have trouble in hearing you. If you tell 
 him on your fingers, he will know instantly. 
 The attention he must give to these signals 
 will make him less self-conscious while sing- 
 ing and his voice will be more free. No mat- 
 ter how many times the voices are tested or
 
 164 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 how much individual work has been done, there 
 is always a little timidity about exhibiting the 
 bad spots of the voice. 
 
 CHOIR BOYS AND VOICE PUPILS 
 
 It is well to tell the pupils who are singing 
 in a boy choir to sing whatever part the choir 
 leader wishes them to sing. Even if the super- 
 visor does not agree with the choir leader, it 
 is well to defer to his judgment and avoid fric- 
 tion. It is the same with voice pupils. The 
 voice teacher should have the freedom to say 
 whether the pupil should sing in school or not 
 and what part he should sing. This is only 
 giving these people a fair chance. If your 
 views do not agree with theirs, talk it over 
 with them. Even musicians are reasonable 
 beings and it is a good idea for the supervisor 
 of music to be on friendly terms with the pri- 
 vate musicians of his community. Their sup- 
 port is a fine thing to have. 
 
 In testing voices, remember that it is the 
 quality and not the compass that decides what 
 the voice is.
 
 VOICE TESTING 165 
 
 SOPRANO 
 
 The soprano voice varies in power, heavi- 
 ness, or thickness of quality from the little girl 
 in the sixth grade to the young lady senior 
 of the high school. Sopranos in the grades 
 will have a much lighter, thinner tone than 
 sopranos in the high school, though the range 
 is about the same. A quality of voice that 
 sounds like a soprano in the high school would 
 be almost an alto in the sixth grade. The one 
 who is testing voices must keep in mind the 
 age and apparent physical development of the 
 pupil. 
 
 The soprano voice is usually light and clear 
 and ranges from middle "C" to "A" above the 
 staff. As the soprano sings the two-octave 
 scale called for in the voice testing exercise, 
 the high tones will be clear and brilliant and 
 the low ones thin and breathy, though most 
 sopranos will be able to make a light tone on 
 the low "G." The quality of the soprano voice 
 is much like the thin, high quality of the child 
 voice at the age of ten, though there are many
 
 166 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 varieties of soprano quality. In testing a 
 voice first determine whether it is soprano or 
 alto in quality. The alto quality is deep, rich, 
 and somber. It is more like the voice quality 
 of a grown woman. When you have decided 
 that the voice is soprano in quality, then de- 
 termine its easy compass and class it either as 
 a first or a second soprano. If the voice runs 
 up to high "G" and there is no sound of "pinch- 
 ing" on the upper tone and if there is a change 
 of quality about "D" or "E" on the f jurth line 
 or fourth space (which means that the break 
 between the middle and upper registers comes 
 in the right place), that voice can safely sing 
 the first soprano. If there are any constricted 
 muscles under the chin or in the neck while 
 singing, it is a sure sign that the voice should 
 not sing so high. Put all the sopranos thct 
 cannot pass these tests on the second soprano. 
 The second soprano is safe for any soprano 
 voice, c.s it has an easy range that will harm 
 no voice if the pupil does not sing too loudly. 
 A first soprano can sing up to G (space 
 above) and down to C (line below) safely if 
 she does not sing too loudly. The second
 
 VOICE TESTING 167 
 
 sopranos must stay between C (line below) 
 and E (fourth space). 
 
 Test th^ alto voice in the same way the 
 soprano voice is tested. (The alto quality is 
 more easily recognized when contrasted with 
 the soprano.) If it is determined that the 
 quality is alto, then class it either as first or 
 second alto. If the voice broadens as it de- 
 scends the scale and can give a full easy tone 
 on G (third space below), it is a second alto. 
 Any alto voice that cannot do this should be 
 placed on the first alto. If the supervisor is 
 careful to put all the doubtful soprano voices 
 on the second soprano part and all the doubtful 
 alto voices on the first alto and is sparing of 
 the number he places on the first soprano and 
 second alto, he cannot go far wrong in his 
 classification. 
 
 REGISTERS 
 
 As the voice descends the scale from G (sec- 
 ond line), a change will be noticed at D (space 
 below) or C (line below). These lower tones 
 constitute the chest register. The pupils 
 should be cautioned not to carry the chest regis-
 
 168 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ter higher than C (line below). If they sing 
 softly and easily, the chest register will take 
 care of itself. If they sing loudly, the chest 
 tone will go too high, and there is no vocal 
 sin that has quite the serious consequences of 
 an over-developed chest register. A peculiarly 
 vicious "blat" is the result. 
 
 There are many little pitfalls into which the 
 supervisor may fall in testing voices, which 
 experience will remedy. An alto will some- 
 times be found to have better high tones than 
 many of the sopranos, but if the quality is alto, 
 the voice should be placed on one of the alto 
 parts. Quality first is always the test. The 
 dramatic soprano voice may sound like an alto, 
 but it is a rare voice among school pupils and 
 it will come to no harm on one of the middle- 
 parts. 
 
 In testing a girl's voice, one need not be sur- 
 prised at anything it does. The boy voice is 
 sure to go down, but you cannot foretell with 
 any certainty what the girl voice is going to 
 do. It is just like herself. The girl voice may 
 change over night from a thin, wiry soprano to
 
 VOICE TESTING 169 
 
 a big, heavy alto. The deep tones may stay 
 with her the rest of her life or they may be 
 gone in a week. The girl voice is more difficult 
 to classify than the boy voice and therefore 
 must be watched closely. 
 
 THE BOY VOICE 
 
 Before changing, the boy voice comes under 
 the same rules as the girl voice and should be 
 tested in the same way. Most unchanged boy 
 voices show exactly what they are, but some 
 are deceptive. Immediately previous to the 
 change, the boy voice sometimes has a very 
 large upper tone that seems to be free and 
 easy. If these large, free upper tones ere ac- 
 companied by large, free lower tones, as they 
 almost always are, never let the boy sing 
 soprano. This voice is going down and it is 
 well to let it sing low rather than high. It is 
 here that choir leaders spoil many voices. 
 They often allow the boy to sing soprano long 
 after his voice begins to change. It is during 
 this time that the boy is most useful both on 
 account of the power of his voice and the train-
 
 170 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ing he has received, and it is a great tempta- 
 tion to the choir master to keep him on the 
 soprano part far too long. 
 
 All teachers who work with boys' voices 
 should realize the fact that when a boy's voice 
 begins to thicken, it means that his larynx is 
 growing and his voice will descend an octave, 
 more or less, during the changing period. If 
 the boy sings lower and lower as his voice 
 changes, his voice will never "break" but will 
 gradually deepen and will sound well and be 
 useful all the time, if he sings in a light and 
 sensible way. The reason a boy has trouble 
 with his voice when it is changing is because 
 he has overworked it. There is a brilliance 
 in the boy voice just as it begins to change that 
 is sometimes very attractive. He likes to use 
 it and his parents, his teacher, and his choir 
 leader also like to have him use it. A voice 
 that has been used too long and too hard as a 
 boy soprano seldom amounts to much after- 
 ward. There are a few exceptions. I am 
 heartily in favor of the boy choir. It is good 
 for the boy. I keep the choirs of my city as 
 full as I can, for it is the best kind of training
 
 VOICE TESTING 171 
 
 for the boy both musically and morally, to be 
 in a good choir. I am not in favor, however, 
 of letting the boys sing soprano as long as most 
 leaders think it wise. 
 
 If the boy voice breaks, it means that his 
 training has been faulty in some way. Instead 
 of mourning when a boy has to leave the choir, 
 the wise choir leader lets him stop singing 
 soprano a little earlier and puts him on the alto 
 part. The alto part in the average boy choir 
 is painfully weak and thin. These ex-sopranos 
 make excellent altos for a while, because they 
 have all the training of their soprano days. 
 A little later, when their voices are somewhat 
 lower, they can help out the tenor. Some of 
 them will stay there and be tenors for the rest 
 of their lives. The same road will lead the 
 majority of the boys to the bass. 
 
 I was much amused a number of years ago 
 at a choir leader who came to me in great ex- 
 citement, saying he had a boy in his choir 
 whose voice had never "broken." This voice 
 had simply rilled up and become a tenor after 
 the boy had been singing alto for some time. 
 This choir leader never knew the full historv
 
 172 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 of that particular boy, as I had told the urchin 
 privately to insist upon singing alto instead of 
 soprano when he was twelve years old. He 
 had been a fine soprano and the leader hated 
 to lose him, but the boy insisted and sang alto 
 just as he did in school. When I gave the 
 word, the boy asked to sing tenor in the choir 
 and, lo and behold, there he remained and his 
 voice was beautiful and had shown no signs 
 of breaking. I told the leader to come down 
 to the high school and he would see a dozen 
 boys who had passed through a similar ex- 
 perience. He had never treated a voice in that 
 way before and so he had never seen nature 
 do her perfect work. 
 
 The boy may just as well stay in the choir 
 from the age of eight to eighty as to be trained 
 for a few years and then be cast out. Telling 
 a boy to stop singing while his voice changes, 
 is a good deal like telling him to stop all ex- 
 ercise while he is growing up. If there is need 
 of his stopping, it will be due to careless train- 
 ing and, of course, that is the fault of his 
 teacher. The universal desire of the boy to 
 sing bass is but an instinctive knowledge of
 
 VOICE TESTING 173 
 
 what is good for him. Every normal boy 
 hates to sing high after he is twelve. He 
 would far rather sing bass or as near to it as 
 he can. This desire is on account of the 
 natural longing to be a man as soon as possible 
 and also because of the natural trend of the 
 voice. Boys should be warned against yelling 
 during voice mutation. It will do little good, 
 of course, but may deter some of the more mu- 
 sical ones and these are the ones that are most 
 worth saving. 
 
 Every supervisor of music and every choir 
 leader should read a little book called, "The 
 Voice of the Boy," by John J. Dawson.* Fol- 
 low the principles laid down in this book, but 
 do not do the exercises called for, as they are 
 unnecessary. 
 
 CHANGED VOICES 
 
 In the three upper grades and in the high 
 school, the boys will be found in all stages of 
 development. In testing changed boy voices, 
 start the pupils at G (fourth space, bass staff) 
 
 * Published by A. S. Barnes Company, New York.
 
 174 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 and let them sing down and up through the 
 two octaves as already explained. Insist that 
 they attempt the whole range of the two oc- 
 taves, for boys should learn to sing through 
 the break into the falsetto or the mixed 
 register, as the case may be. This means that 
 the older boys should be taught to keep the 
 remains of the lower tones in the alto voice as 
 long as possible, as this is the foundation of 
 the higher tones in the man's voice. It is not 
 well to use the higher tones very much until 
 they are well developed and can be produced 
 correctly. The change from one register to 
 another should occur as low as possible. 
 
 In classifying the changed boy voices, fol- 
 low the rule of "quality first and then com- 
 pass." Decide first whether a voice is a tenor 
 or bass and then classify as first or second. 
 
 TENOR VOICE 
 
 The tenor voice is recognized by its light 
 quality. The lower tones are sometimes thin 
 and weak. Voice quality is very hard to de- 
 scribe on paper and the best way to train your
 
 VOICE TESTING 175 
 
 ear for this is to listen to well-known local 
 tenors and get their voice quality in mind and 
 then, allowing for differences in age, test your 
 pupils' voices accordingly. The tenor voice 
 may be divided into two classes as to compass. 
 The first tenor should be able to sing the high 
 G with a clear, easy tone, without any constric- 
 tion of the throat muscles and with well defined 
 change in the voice quality at about D (sec- 
 ond space above). The others, of course, are 
 second tenors. 
 
 BASS VOICE 
 
 The bass voice is recognized by its thick, 
 heavy quality, especially in the lower tones. 
 The bass voices may be divided into first and 
 second bass. The second bass should be able 
 to sing a good low G (first line). The others 
 should be placed on the first or higher bass. 
 It is well to be conservative in the number of 
 pupils placed on the first tenor and the second 
 bass, as these are the two dangerous parts. 
 
 Each and every boy with a changed voice 
 should be told how low and how high to sing
 
 176 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 and be required to remain within the pre- 
 scribed compass, even when most excited about 
 the music. Each pupil should know that when 
 a tone is difficult, it should be skipped, for his 
 voice is more important than the music. There 
 will be other voices that can carry the tones he 
 is unable to give, and it is better to have poor 
 spots in the music for a little while than to 
 have a poor spot in the voice for life. 
 
 WHAT MUSIC TO SING 
 
 A great deal of three-part music for soprano, 
 second soprano, and alto is used in the sixth 
 and seventh grades. The voices are tested for 
 four parts. The first sopranos will sing the 
 soprano. The second sopranos and first altos 
 will sing the middle part and the second altos 
 will sing the alto part. When there are but 
 two parts, the first sopranos will sing the 
 soprano and all the rest will sing the alto. The 
 second sopranos are the sopranos whose upper 
 tones are not good. When a tone is not good, 
 do not use it. It is folly for any voice student 
 to practice his bad tones. They will never get
 
 VOICE TESTING 177 
 
 to be good that way. Bad tones mean bad 
 habits. Do not practice bad habits; practice 
 good ones and they will grow and cure the bad 
 ones. When bad tones become good tones by 
 the triumph of good habits, then use the tones 
 that have reformed, not before. So let the sec- 
 ond soprano sing the lower part in two-part 
 music in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, 
 but do not let them sing lower than C (line 
 below), even if the part runs lower. Be spar- 
 ing of unison songs in these grades, as they are 
 apt to strain some of the voices. 
 
 In four-part music in the eighth grade and 
 high school, let the first sopranos sing the 
 soprano, the second sopranos and first altos 
 sing the alto, telling the second sopranos to 
 stop at C (line below) and first altos at B 
 flat, no matter where the part goes. The sec- 
 ond altos, both boys and girls, may sing tenor 
 with the tenors, telling them, on pain of instant 
 vocal death, not to sing below G ( fourth space 
 of the bass staff). First and second tenors 
 will sing tenor as high as their voices permit. 
 The basses will sing bass and when there are
 
 178 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 two parts in the bass, there will be the voices 
 to sing them. All the other parts can be 
 divided when the music calls for it. 
 
 BALANCE OF PARTS 
 
 The parts may not balance when the voices 
 are tested in this way, but it is the individual 
 voice we must look out for and if anything 
 is to suffer, it should be the music and not the 
 voices. If the number on a part is small, they 
 need not sing louder, as will be the temptation, 
 but the larger parts should sing with less force. 
 This will make the music balance and teach 
 the valuable lesson of singing within the vocal 
 limits spoken of in the chapter on ear-train- 
 ing. 
 
 SEATING PARTS 
 
 When singing three-part music, the pupils 
 should be seated in the order in which the 
 parts come, from upper to lower. It makes no 
 difference whether the first sopranos are on the 
 left or on the right of the teacher. This 
 should be decided by the room and the occa- 
 sion. There is no iron clad rule for this.
 
 VOICE TESTING 179 
 
 In four-part work, the sopranos should come 
 first, then on down to the bass at the other end 
 of the chorus. When there are second alto 
 boys singing tenor, it is well to put them behind 
 the basses where they will not hear the bass 
 part so plainly. In this way they will be less 
 likely to sing too low, either from choice or 
 carelessness. If the pupils are good readers, 
 this makes no difference, but the bass and tenor 
 parts are harder than the others because the 
 pupils singing these two parts have changed 
 staves and voices, both at the same time, and 
 they must have time to get used to these new 
 things. 
 
 In the high school chorus and in all large 
 choruses, the room and its acoustics must be 
 studied in seating the parts. The logical way 
 is to seat the chorus with the sopranos on one 
 end and the basses on the other, but in many 
 rooms and on many large stages, this is not 
 feasible, as the pupils must be able to hear the 
 other parts and they must be arranged so as 
 to make this possible. Where the men are in 
 the minority, they are seated in front and in 
 the middle, with a sea of femininity surround-
 
 180 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 ing them. Where the choruses balance as they 
 should in high schools (and do when chorus 
 singing is obligatory), the best plan is to have 
 the sopranos and basses in the middle, next to 
 each other, and the tenors and second altos, 
 both boys and girls, on the end next to the 
 basses, the second sopranos and first altos on 
 the end next to the sopranos. This will give 
 the two leading parts the best positions and if 
 those on the ends can hear but three parts, they 
 will be the most important ones from the har- 
 monic standpoint. The basses and sopranos 
 being next to each other will be able to keep 
 together as they should.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 VOICE TRAINING 
 
 The voice training necessary in the public 
 schools is very simple and easy if done in the 
 right way. There is little training to be done 
 except to see that each child sings in an easy 
 compass and does not strain his voice. This 
 will insure correct vocal growth, and later on 
 it will not be necessary for the voice teacher 
 to run up an enormous bill correcting bad 
 habits. 
 
 To make this clear, let us study the physi- 
 ology of the vocal machine and see just what 
 we are concerned with, as to its use in singing. 
 
 The vocal machine has four parts : 
 
 The motor or lungs. 
 
 The vibrator or vocal cords. 
 
 The resonator, comprising the cavities of 
 the lungs, larynx, throat, head, mouth, nose, 
 etc 
 
 !S1
 
 182 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 The articulator, comprising the tongue, 
 teeth, and lips. 
 
 MOTOR 
 
 The use of the motor or lungs in singing 
 should be taught to every child, as outlined in 
 the chapter on singing, as soon as he enters 
 school or kindergarten. This should be taught 
 first, for the success of vocal music in the 
 grades and in the high school depends on the 
 skill with which breathing is taught. Breath- 
 ing should be taught so well in the schoolroom 
 that the voice teacher has little or nothing to 
 add to it later. Breathing exercises that are 
 not employed directly in singing are a waste of 
 time. The very best breathing exercise pos- 
 sible is to have the pupils sing long phrases 
 smoothly, as outlined in the chapter on rote 
 songs and also in the chapter on singing. If 
 the physical culture teacher wishes to give 
 breathing exercises for the development of the 
 lungs, there is no objection, but they are seldom 
 much help to the singer. Such exercises tend 
 to overdevelop the movement of the upper part 
 of the chest, encourage the pupil to take too
 
 VOICE TRAINING 183 
 
 much breath and send it out too fast, or hold 
 it at the throat, all of which lead to the forma- 
 tion of bad vocal habits. Children should 
 learn to take breath quickly through the mouth 
 and nose at once, without noise and without 
 allowing the chest to rise and fall. There is 
 little else to teach them about breathing. Girls 
 and boys should breathe exactly the same. 
 The position that the children should habitually 
 use in singing, and definite directions for 
 breathing are outlined in the chapter on sing- 
 ing. 
 
 Position has a great deal to do with the 
 success of the breathing and consequently with 
 the use of the voice. The old Italians said 
 truthfully, "He who knows how to breathe, 
 knows well how to sing." This is very true 
 and the pupils should always stand erect while 
 singing or sit erect with the back away from 
 the back of the seat, so that the muscles in the 
 sides of the back, under the shoulder blades, 
 can work freely. Leaning against the back 
 of the seat induces chest breathing. When the 
 pupil sways forward while singing, he will 
 breathe correctly. Placing the elbows far
 
 184 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 apart on the desk, if it is the right height, and 
 raising the chest, will bring the correct posi- 
 tion and induce proper breathing. This is very 
 important at every age, but especially with the 
 younger children. "As the twig is bent, the 
 tree is inclined," so if the child has held him- 
 self in the proper position while growing up, 
 he will be symmetrically developed, his lungs 
 will be strong and usable, and his voice will be 
 developed naturally. 
 
 In classrooms furnished with chairs or opera 
 chairs the breathing problem is harder. To 
 obviate this trouble, the pupils may stand a 
 part of the time and at other times may put 
 their hands on the chair back ahead of them, 
 holding the book in both hands. With this 
 position, the chest will not rise and fall and 
 the lower rib muscles, which are seldom prop- 
 erly developed, will be left free. 
 
 Voice teachers give breathing exercises of 
 various descriptions, but a breathing exercise, 
 unaccompanied by singing, is not only unneces- 
 sary but is frequently injurious. The thing a 
 pupil needs to know is how to send the breath 
 out slowly enough to make a good tone and not
 
 VOICE TRAINING 185 
 
 to hold it at the throat. Most of the breath- 
 ing exercises reverse this process. 
 
 VIBRATOR 
 
 The second part of the vocal machine is the 
 vibrator or the vocal cords. They are located 
 in the larynx, which is the enlargement felt at 
 the top of the wind-pipe. It is called the 
 Adam's apple. The story of the origin of this 
 name is that Eve was able to swallow the 
 apple she ate, but Adam had at least the rudi- 
 ments of a conscience and his apple stuck in 
 his throat. 
 
 It is unnecessary to go into details concern- 
 ing the vocal cords. It is sufficient to say that 
 they are automatic in their work and if the 
 voice is always used easily and pleasantly, the 
 vocal cords will grow and function properly. 
 
 REGISTERS 
 
 There have been many disagreements about 
 the registers of the human voice. I will not 
 attempt any argument, except to say that there 
 are registers in the human voice and any one 
 with a fair ear can hear them. It is especially
 
 186 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 important that the grade teacher and supervisor 
 be able to hear them. 
 
 A "register," so called, is a series of tones 
 made by using the vocal cords in a certain way. 
 For instance, in the woman's voice the lower 
 tones up to D (space below) are made in a cer- 
 tain way. For an octave above this tone the 
 vocal cords vibrate in a different way. At 
 about D (fourth line) still another change 
 takes place. These natural divisions of the 
 voice are called registers. If the reader is in- 
 terested in learning more about the way the 
 vocal cords perform, he may refer to any 
 standard work on the voice. Better read a 
 number of them and then use your common 
 sense. You will need it by that time. 
 
 All the supervisor of music or grade teacher 
 needs to know of this matter is how to tell 
 one register from another. Keep in mind, 
 when the upper tones of any register are being 
 carried too high, the voice is louder and sounds 
 strained. When the low tones of a register are 
 carried lower, the tone will be softer but pleas- 
 anter and the voice is not being strained. 
 
 It takes time to develop the vocal cords
 
 VOICE TRAINING 187 
 
 properly and the pupil should sing softly all 
 the time during school life so that the vocal 
 cords may grow naturally and function cor- 
 rectly. When, at the age of sixteen, the pupil 
 goes to the voice teacher, the long and difficult 
 part of voice training will have been done, be- 
 cause the vocal cords are healthy and strong 
 as a result of proper development. 
 
 The child voice, before the change, is 
 divided into two registers the chest register 
 and the head register. The difference can be 
 detected in the following way : 
 
 Take a number of children about eight years 
 old, who are strong and healthy, and let them 
 sing "America" with the vigorous tone many 
 misguided teachers think a patriotic song de- 
 mands. Pitch the song in "D," so that the 
 first tone is on the space below. It will sound 
 harsh and blatant. Try it again in "E" (first 
 line) and it will be worse. Try it again in 
 "G," where it is written, and if sung loudly it 
 will sound worse than ever. Then pitch it in 
 "A" and let the children sing softly and it will 
 sound very sweet and pretty, as children's sing- 
 ing should sound. The first three times the
 
 188 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 singing was in the chest register, which the 
 children should never use, and the last time it 
 was all in the head register, which is the regis- 
 ter young children should always use. The 
 ear of the listener will detect the difference at 
 once. This is the essential thing the teacher 
 of young children needs to know about regis- 
 ters. It is often said that if the pupil uses only 
 the head register, he will be all right, no mat- 
 ter what he does, but that is not true. He 
 must use even the head register properly and 
 not yell in it, for the head voice, used improp- 
 erly, will sound very bad and the quality of 
 the voice will be ruined. 
 
 When, in the sixth grade or thereabout, the 
 voice begins to fill up and deepen, the chest 
 register may be used, if used softly and easily, 
 and the vocal cords will develop as they should. 
 
 About this time the three registers will ap- 
 pear in the voices of the girls. The "chest" 
 register, which should never be used above "C" 
 sharp (line below) ; and the "middle" register, 
 which is safe up to "D" (fourth line) ; and the 
 "head" register, above that. 
 
 If the pupil sings softly, with a smooth,
 
 VOICE TRAINING 189 
 
 pleasant tone, the registers will take care of 
 themselves, though it is well for the teacher to 
 know what is going on, in order to be able to 
 help the few who will not do it correctly and 
 who are straining their voices by carrying the 
 registers too high. 
 
 The boys will usually show two registers 
 (sometimes three) just before the change. 
 After the change of voice, the boys will usu- 
 ally show two for a while, the chest and the 
 falsetto. They should use the falsetto as low 
 as it will work, since this will insure an easy 
 use of the throat and will be the foundation 
 for the mixed voice that will later come to the 
 baritones and tenors. It should come to basses 
 also, but seldom does, because they are more 
 apt to strain their voices. 
 
 NO VOCAL EXERCISES 
 
 There are no exercises that need be given to 
 develop the vocal cords in the schoolroom, as 
 the singing of the songs in the regular music 
 lessons, if properly done, with a smooth, soft, 
 easy tone, will do all the needed work. Here 
 again is a wise provision of nature that will
 
 190 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 save us much time if we have sense enough to 
 heed it. The voice will grow by use as nature 
 intended it to do, if we do not transgress any 
 of her vocal laws. The music lesson should be 
 devoted, not to vocal exercises, but to expres- 
 sive singing. But expression is often the bit- 
 terest foe of the growing voice. The expres- 
 sion must be adapted to the power of the voice 
 and not the power of the voice to the expres- 
 sion. It is not expression, but its misapplica- 
 tion, that so often spoils young voices. 
 
 If the voice has been used properly during 
 the growing period, pupils of the eighth grade 
 and high school ages should show a wide range 
 of easy tones. But they should not use a very 
 wide range of voice until later, even if the tones 
 are easy. The louder the voice is used during 
 the growing period, the shorter will be its com- 
 pass and life, and the poorer will be its quality. 
 The narrower the range used in the changing 
 period, the wider the range later. 
 
 RESONATOR 
 
 The third part of the vocal machine is the 
 resonator. This department of the voice has
 
 VOICE TRAINING 191 
 
 no place in the schools and it should be ignored, 
 or rather be left alone by the public school 
 music teacher. 
 
 The resonator is the series of cavities in the 
 lungs, throat, mouth, nose, cheeks, and head of 
 the singer. On their size, shape, and propor- 
 tion depend the power and beauty of the voice. 
 Many of these cavities are walled by bones and 
 cartilages, and are not changeable in shape or 
 size. Many of them are surrounded by 
 muscles and cartilages that can be moved at 
 will. If the rigid resonance cavities are ill- 
 shaped by nature, the tone will be poor and 
 little can be done to make it better, though a 
 surgeon can sometimes remedy such defects. 
 If the other cavities are ill-shaped by bad 
 usage of the muscles surrounding them, the 
 tone will be poor, and the voice teacher must 
 teach the pupil how to use these muscles prop- 
 erly in order to restore the natural tone quality. 
 We should see to it that the pupil grows up 
 with little or no bad usage of his muscles. 
 
 ADENOIDS ANT) ENLARGED TONSILS 
 
 The early removal of adenoids and enlarged
 
 192 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 tonsils is very essential to the proper growth 
 of the voice, both from the standpoint of health 
 and the standpoint of the use of the resonance 
 cavities. The voice will not sound properly if 
 these cavities contain foreign or diseased 
 growths and the child will be apt to force his 
 tone and thus endanger the whole vocal ma- 
 chine, unless these growths are removed. 
 School physicians should look after this. 
 
 The resonating part of the vocal tract is the 
 one that gives trouble to the voice teacher, and 
 it is well for the public school supervisor to 
 keep out of it altogether, as the development of 
 vocal resonance should be left until the age of 
 sixteen or later and then it should be carefully 
 done by one who knows how. "One should 
 wait until his voice is developed before having 
 it cultivated" is an old saying that has a grain 
 of truth in it, like all old sayings. This is true 
 in a way, because, to many people, cultivation 
 of the voice means cultivation of the resonance 
 only. 
 
 Proper voice cultivation means the develop- 
 ment of the other three parts of the vocal ma- 
 chine also the motor, vibrator, and articula-
 
 VOICE TRAINING 193 
 
 tor. The development of these should come 
 first and these should be developed in youth, 
 before the age of sixteen. The development 
 of these three parts of the voice should com- 
 mence with earliest infancy and be continued 
 right through the school life. It should be the 
 care of the public school music supervisor and 
 of all teachers that every child in the school 
 system should develop these parts of the voice 
 naturally and systematically. When the pupil 
 reaches the age of sixteen, and is handed over 
 to the voice teacher to be finished off (or up, 
 as the case often is), the voice teacher will find 
 that the three things that take the time are al- 
 ready done. It takes years of work to develop 
 the lungs, vocal cords, and articulation. With 
 this done and with all the muscles involved in 
 the production of the voice free and easy, it 
 is a simple matter for the voice teacher who 
 knows his business to take these pupils when 
 they reach the proper age and teach them the 
 correct use of their resonance cavities. In- 
 deed, the teaching is so simple that it is wholly 
 unnecessary to send a \ apil trained as above 
 to a voice teacher and pay the customary price
 
 194 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 for private lessons. A clever voice teacher, 
 who knows his business, can teach thirty pupils 
 in a class, as other high school subjects are 
 taught. The time will soon come when compe- 
 tent voice teachers will be among the teaching 
 corps of every high school. 
 
 It might be said also, in passing, that piano 
 playing and all other instrumental music will be 
 taught in the same way when people awake to 
 the value of a musical education and to the in- 
 expensiveness and utility of cooperation in mu- 
 sic, such as they now have in other branches of 
 education. 
 
 In leaving the subject of resonance, let me 
 again say, keep out of it in the public schools 
 until the pupils are in the high school and stay 
 out of it then, unless the pupils are in a small 
 class of thirty or less under a competent in- 
 structor. The voices will be spoiled for all 
 future time if they are allowed to use much 
 resonance in the grades and high school chorus, 
 until they are taught to use it properly. 
 
 As a sample of what loud singing will do, 
 put your finger under your chin in the middle, 
 half-way between the point of the chin and the
 
 VOICE TRAINING 195 
 
 neck, and see if the muscles harden as you sing. 
 If they do, it is a sign that your voice does 
 not sound as well as it should. This muscle is 
 a swallowing muscle and if you use it when you 
 sing, you will swallow your voice. The hard- 
 ening of this muscle pulls the resonance cavi- 
 ties out of shape, and, consequently, the qual- 
 ity of the voice suffers. 
 
 ARTICULATOR 
 
 The fourth and last part of the voice is the 
 articulator or the means we use to shape the 
 tone into intelligible speech. The articulator 
 is the tongue, lips, and teeth and, to a limited 
 extent, the roof of the mouth and the palate. 
 
 In order to articulate well, the rest of the 
 vocal machine must be used easily and all the 
 muscles must be loose so that they can move 
 easily and quickly. 
 
 Many people articulate too far back in the 
 mouth. This makes the articulation indistinct 
 or the tone suffers in some way, as the walls 
 of the resonance cavities are pulled out of 
 shape and the voice sounds bad. The articulat- 
 ing should be done as near the front of the
 
 196 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 mouth as possible. Quick and snappy move- 
 ments of the tongue and lips will make the 
 words distinct. 
 
 One of the difficulties in teaching singing to 
 the members of the English-speaking race 
 comes from the fact that they do not move their 
 lips and the tip of the tongue enough. 
 
 There are no exercises in articulation to be 
 given in the singing lesson further than to tell 
 the pupils to use a smooth, pleasant tone and 
 to say the words so they can be seen. A small 
 looking-glass, in which the pupil may watch his 
 mouth as he sings, will teach him more about 
 articulation in five minutes than he will learn 
 by listening to himself and others in half a 
 day. This little device will make the words 
 plain in the songs with a magical speed and 
 the pupils will see and remedy any trouble at 
 once. 
 
 Occasionally allow the pupils to read the 
 words of a song over two or three times 
 silently, as fast as the words can be pro- 
 nounced, moving the mouth as much as pos- 
 sible. This will make the articulation very 
 plain at the next singing.
 
 VOICE TRAINING 197 
 
 It is not well to have any exercises in articu- 
 lation other than the ones mentioned above. 
 They take time, and you may as well use the 
 songs the pupils are working on for the pur- 
 pose as to invent useless exercises. When do- 
 ing exercises in articulation, teachers and 
 pupils are apt to think of nothing but distinct- 
 ness and the tone is usually left to take care of 
 itself, with the result that the gain in distinct- 
 ness is more than offset by the loss in tone. 
 Both can be made to work well together if the 
 teacher is careful to do the work easily and not 
 too loudly. To many pupils and teachers, dis- 
 tinctness always means loudness. Distinctness 
 means moving the tip of the tongue and lips 
 farther and with a quicker, snappier move- 
 ment. 
 
 All these things apply to the voice at all 
 periods of its development. The changing 
 voice presents no problems to the teacher who 
 keeps the development of the voice in mind, as 
 outlined above.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 MATERIAL 
 
 The material for use in teaching school 
 music is a very important question. How to 
 get it is often a still more important one, as 
 school managements vary in their ideas of what 
 is necessary for music work. However, I 
 have always contended that it is the super- 
 visor's fault if there is not enough material, 
 for if the right kind of results had been 
 attained in the past, school authorities would 
 appreciate school music and provide ade- 
 quate time and material to do the work 
 properly. 
 
 When a child has sung through a book once, 
 its reading value is gone, though certain songs 
 may be sung over and over again for the pleas- 
 ure they give. Reading new music and singing 
 old songs should be carried on side by side. 
 This has been done for years but the trouble 
 has always been that the two were not in pro- 
 198
 
 MATERIAL 199 
 
 portion and the singing for mere pleasure was 
 given the preference. This is not so bad for 
 younger children because they will sing, no 
 matter whether they can read or not. But 
 later in the school life the evil effects of sing- 
 ing solely for pleasure begin to appear and if 
 the pupils cannot read music, they refuse to 
 sing by ear, even for pleasure, for the songs 
 they can learn by ear are too childish to suit 
 them. 
 
 The wise supervisor sees to it that the pupils 
 learn to read so accurately and so rapidly thci 
 they get the most pleasure, as well as profit, 
 from singing new music. Being able to read 
 readily, they will get all, or nearly all there is 
 in the songs, at the first reading. The parallel 
 is in the reading of stories. If the music stu- 
 dent has the same power in music that he has in 
 literature, there will never be any trouble in 
 getting the pupils interested in their music in 
 the upper grades and high school. 
 
 No one set, or even two sets of books now 
 on the market, are sufficient, though the 
 friendly vender of music books would have 
 you believe otherwise.
 
 200 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE 
 
 There are many books on the market for 
 rote work in these grades, but none of them 
 seems to recognize the fact that the singing 
 voice must be developed first before other work 
 is done. This requires songs that are slow, 
 easy and of limited compass, and to find them 
 one must look far and wide. Later, more 
 rapid songs may be used that will develop the 
 pupil's sense of rhythm. A pupil in the first 
 grade or kindergarten should never be allowed 
 to sing below the first line "E" under any cir- 
 cumstances, but this fact is very often ignored 
 by composers and renders the transposition of 
 many songs necessary before they are safe to 
 use. 
 
 SECOND GRADE 
 
 There is a wealth of material for use in this 
 grade, but much of the music on the market 
 is not well classified. Many of the books ask 
 for two-part singing from these small chil- 
 dren. Others ask for divided beats. Both of 
 these things are impossible if the children are
 
 MATERIAL 201 
 
 to read them. Both are possible if the pupils 
 are to learn them by ear. 
 
 A book containing- exercises without words 
 should never be allowed in any schoolroom. 
 Pupils should sing songs. Why waste time on 
 exercises? The pupil reasons that it is all 
 right to let the violin play songs without words, 
 as it has no tongue, but why should he sing 
 songs without words, when he has a tongue in 
 good running order ? The pupil must learn to 
 read the words and the music at the same time. 
 It is not real music reading until he can do 
 this ; it is only getting ready to read music. It 
 stands to reason that children should have 
 time, opportunity and song material appro- 
 priate and sufficient. Then let us not waste 
 time on the book that has in it exercises with- 
 out words. 
 
 INTERMEDIATE GRADES 
 
 In the middle grades, all that has already 
 been said about material applies with added 
 force. "No exercises, but plenty of good 
 songs," is the modern slogan. The grading 
 of material should be on a time basis. This
 
 202 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 means that the divided beat should not be at- 
 tempted until the pupils can read music rap- 
 idly enough to give the rapid rhythm demanded 
 by the divided beat. It is not the rhythm that 
 bothers, it is the pupil's inability to read fast 
 enough. 
 
 Pupils should not try to read divided beats 
 before the last half of the third year of school. 
 The beginning of the fourth year would be 
 better. The argument brought against this is 
 that it does not give the pupils sufficient 
 rhythmical development. This is a very doubt- 
 ful argument, but its baleful influence, if there 
 is any, can be nullified by the use of the piano 
 and rote songs. 
 
 When the divided beat is introduced ma- 
 terial should be used which would present the 
 same problem enough times for the pupil to 
 practice that particular problem so that he 
 would not forget it. In most of the books 
 the problems are so mixed up and presented 
 so few times in succession that the pupil gets 
 but a smattering of knowledge instead of prac- 
 tice enough to drive the problem home to stay.
 
 MATERIAL 203 
 
 This is a weakness shared by nearly all the 
 music books on the market. 
 
 PART SINGING 
 
 None of the present music books furnish 
 enough simple, plain music to begin part sing- 
 ing in either two, three, or four-part work. 
 In changing from unison to two-part music, 
 the pupil suddenly finds his work doubled, for, 
 if he is to read music in two parts success- 
 fully, he must read and sing his own part and 
 in addition read and hear the other part 
 Every time a new part is added a number of 
 new and disquieting things are introduced into 
 the pupil's work and he must sing enough 
 simple material to allow him to adjust himself 
 to the new conditions. Much more simple 
 material in two, three, and four parts should 
 be on the market than is now available, so 
 that when a pupil takes up part work of any 
 kind he will have enough easy material that 
 he may work on exclusively until he masters 
 part reading and singing. Then, when he has 
 learned to sing one part and listen to and read
 
 2(H GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the others on easy material, he will be able 
 to do the same on more difficult selections. 
 
 STORIES 
 
 All children love stories. They never get 
 too old for them. There are many stories set 
 to music in the form of cantatas and operas. 
 Pupils love them, and there should be many 
 of them used as a part of the regular cur- 
 riculum. 
 
 There are many three-part cantatas for 
 women's voices which, from their appropriate- 
 ness, seem to have been composed expressly 
 for use in the sixth and seventh grades of the 
 public schools. There is a fascination in these 
 cantatas that appeals very strongly to children. 
 We little realize the effect of fascinating ma- 
 terial on the reading ability of children. If 
 the material is of the right kind, the reading 
 will be phenomenal. It is the teacher's busi- 
 ness to get this material before the class in 
 profusion. 
 
 There are many cantatas for mixed voices 
 that are excellent for use in the eighth grade, 
 and a number of them should be used.
 
 MATERIAL 205 
 
 GRADING MATERIAL 
 
 In grading the material for the different 
 grades, it is not well to be too rigid nor to 
 insist that all schools or districts do the same 
 amount of work. The supervisor must re- 
 member that, though pupils are much alike the 
 world over, teachers vary greatly in their abil- 
 ity to handle the music efficiently and the speed 
 with which they can get their pupils through 
 a music book. Let there be enough material 
 to keep the swift ones busy and let the others 
 do as much as they can. Of all courses in the 
 schools the music course must be the most 
 flexible. 
 
 There should be much material for special 
 occasions. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Arbor 
 Day, Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays, 
 and many other occasions should be recog- 
 nized. Much material for these occasions is 
 found in the regular school music books. 
 Then there is the material for the various and 
 numerous concerts that should be given. 
 
 The supervisor should not fear to use diffi- 
 cult material in the upper grades. Many of
 
 206 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 the high school music books are good for the 
 eighth grades where there are basses. 
 
 HOW TO GET MATERIAL 
 
 This is a difficult question in many places 
 and the only answer is to get it some way. 
 Where the free textbook plan is in force, it is 
 easy, as then plenty of material may usually 
 be secured. Where the pupils buy their own 
 books, it would not be feasible to ask them to 
 buy as many as needed, and the School Board 
 should provide supplementary material.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CONCERTS AND ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 Concerts and entertainments are a very im- 
 portant feature of public school music and 
 they furnish a splendid motive for hard work 
 on the part of the pupils. The money thus 
 made can go to assist school projects, and the 
 pupil will learn to help pay for his raising and 
 education. Free education is apt to breed 
 selfishness because the pupils are seldom called 
 upon to contribute anything toward the up- 
 building of the school itself. The idea is con- 
 stantly held before the pupil that he must work 
 in school for the good that it will do him. In 
 music it can be brought home to him that he 
 should work also for the common good. 
 
 Concerts are fine for popularizing school 
 music. The supervisor may work for years 
 in the classroom, but unless his work is adver- 
 tised his people will fail to notice the results. 
 207
 
 208 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 Some may see that Johnny or Jennie can read 
 music, but it takes a concert or a musical en- 
 tertainment of some kind to bring home to the 
 community the fact that music is in the schools 
 and that the results are worth the money spent 
 upon it. This is especially true where music 
 is just being introduced. 
 
 Children love to appear in public, and some 
 adults will admit that it was not wholly the 
 love of music that drove them to playing the 
 piano and practicing vocal exercises, but the 
 fact that they were going to be asked to ap- 
 pear in public. Since this desire is so strong 
 in the normal child, the clever supervisor will 
 take advantage of it and use it to further the 
 musical education of the pupil. 
 
 As music in the schools is largely chorus 
 work, the entertainments should include much 
 chorus singing. This will bring more pupils 
 into it and the more people interested the bet- 
 ter, from the artistic, educational, and box- 
 office points of view. The music to be sung 
 can be made a part of the daily music lesson 
 and little extra time will be needed for re- 
 hearsals. In every series of music books there
 
 CONCERTS 209 
 
 will be found an ample supply of lovely music 
 for children's voices, which will furnish ex- 
 cellent program numbers for the chorus. It is 
 well to have all the pupils in the classes learn 
 the music that is to be sung at the concert. 
 When the entertainment is given, the chorus 
 should consist of the best singers only. There 
 will be some heart burnings, because some will 
 be left out who would dearly love to sing. 
 This feeling may be reduced to the minimum 
 by allowing the pupils to assist in the selection 
 of those who are to make up the picked chorus. 
 Children are very honest, and in selecting 
 singers they are often more particular than the 
 teachers. They are very quick to see that some 
 sing better than others and are satisfied with 
 the justice of the selection. Then the audience 
 is to be considered. They are paying for a 
 good entertainment and the school should make 
 the entertainment of as high an order as pos- 
 sible, and if some can make the show better 
 by staying out of it, they will quickly see the 
 justice of it and will even suggest it them- 
 selves. A clever teacher will not only be able 
 to reduce the disappointment to a minimum by
 
 210 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 allowing the pupils to assist in the selection of 
 the chorus, but will do a little toward a far 
 greater work, which is the raising of a race 
 of singers not afflicted with jealousy. Many 
 of those not selected to sing may be used as 
 ushers, ticket-takers, or employed in many 
 other capacities. 
 
 SELECTING THE CHORUS 
 
 Beautiful musical effects can be made with 
 choruses selected as outlined in the chapter 
 on individual work, page 93. Three and four- 
 part singing by good choruses from the sixth, 
 seventh, and eighth grades is one of the best 
 forms of music and is one that appeals to every 
 type of listener. A program made up of a 
 few selections by a fine chorus interspersed 
 with solos and instrumental numbers is very 
 enjoyable. A chorus selected as suggested is 
 a very easy one to handle, as each member is 
 an independent singer. 
 
 Several weeks before the date set for the 
 concert a bulletin something like the follow- 
 ing should be sent to the teachers : 
 
 "On May 18th a concert will be given by
 
 CONCERTS 211 
 
 the pupils of the eighth grades. The follow- 
 ing songs will be sung by the chorus. Each 
 room may send as many quartettes as it can 
 muster. Each pupil must be able to sing his 
 part alone in a quartette against the three other 
 voices. He must be able to sing with a smooth, 
 pleasant tone and come out on the key of the 
 test song without the aid of an instrument. 
 Select only those who can and will attend three 
 rehearsals and the concert." 
 
 Then give the dates of the rehearsals and 
 where they will be held; also the names of 
 the pieces the chorus will sing. The test piece 
 should also be designated. 
 
 Selecting the members of the chorus in this 
 way furnishes an incentive that keeps all the 
 pupils working at extra speed for some time, 
 as the final selection does not take place until 
 the week of the first rehearsal. It is also un- 
 derstood that if one member of a quartette 
 fails, the rest of the quartette must drop out 
 if there is no one to take the place of the fail- 
 ing member. This makes each one selected 
 feel his responsibility. Each pupil also knows 
 that if there is any nonsense at the general
 
 212 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 rehearsals or concert, the offending party will 
 take the other members of his quartette and 
 start for home. What will happen to him on 
 the way needs no comment, for each pupil is 
 smart enough to figure this out in advance. 
 As the personal responsibility of the pupils 
 and public opinion are both active in the right 
 direction, the order at the rehearsals and at 
 the concert will be fine. As each member of 
 the chorus is an independent singer and knows 
 his music, it is an easy matter to weld this 
 body of singers into a perfect instrument in 
 three rehearsals. 
 
 Nothing in the whole realm of music is love- 
 lier than unaccompanied part singing by a 
 chorus of young voices, when it is well done. 
 
 "at home" 
 
 An "At Home" with the music lesson as 
 the entertainment is a very sensible program 
 to give. The pupils of a class invite their 
 parents to come on a certain day and hear 
 them sing for an hour. The entertainment 
 may take any form, but the best and most in- 
 teresting one will be a regular music lesson
 
 CONCERTS 213 
 
 in all its phases, ending with a number of well 
 finished, expressive songs. Very few parents 
 and patrons of the school have a clear idea 
 of the school music work until they see an 
 actual lesson. The parents get a correct idea 
 of the work and the pupils will afterwards re- 
 flect the opinion of the parents in their school 
 work. When the parent thinks music is worth 
 while, the pupil will respect it all the more. 
 This form of entertainment cannot be recom- 
 mended too highly and it can be given without 
 extra time or expense. 
 
 An enlargement of this plan may be used 
 by several rooms uniting to give a program 
 of regular lessons to an audience. The stage 
 should be fitted with desks and made to look 
 like a schoolroom as much as possible. Give 
 a number of music lessons illustrating the work 
 from the kindergarten to the high school. In- 
 vite people in the audience to ask questions 
 on things they do not understand. A discus- 
 sion will bring out many points that the su- 
 pervisor may have forgotten and will prove in- 
 teresting and helpful to all concerned. 
 
 A room that sings well may visit other rooms
 
 214 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 or buildings and give short programs. Some- 
 times a lazy room is spurred into action by 
 hearing another room of the same grade sing 
 well what they themselves have not mastered. 
 A clever supervisor or teacher will see many 
 possibilities in these public exhibitions. 
 
 CONTESTS 
 
 A competitive festival is one of the best 
 forms of entertainment that can be devised, 
 but there are comparatively few of them held 
 in this country. Choirs may be selected from 
 each building, each room, or each grade, and 
 may compete with choirs from other buildings, 
 rooms, or grades. There are many ways of 
 doing this. One of the best is to leave each 
 school free to select its own choir and music, 
 though the kind of music should be settled 
 upon in advance and the choir limited as to 
 numbers. When the contest is held, there will 
 be a good program of sufficient variety to be 
 pleasing to the audience. The different choirs 
 may be marked by the judges as to beauty of 
 tone, balance of parts, clearness of articula- 
 tion, expression, appropriateness of selection,
 
 CONCERTS 215 
 
 and other points determined upon in advance. 
 
 Some extra numbers should be given while 
 the judges are out, and these may consist of 
 solos or combined choruses. The audience 
 may unite with the children in singing well- 
 known selections. This is a very pleasing fea- 
 ture to introduce into the program of any con- 
 cert and may be done in several ways. Where 
 there is proper equipment, the words of the 
 song may be thrown upon a screen. The 
 words may also be printed on the programs. 
 
 At some contests all the choirs sing the same 
 selection, but this makes it very monotonous 
 for the audience. 
 
 When sight reading contests are arranged, 
 they would better be carried on in private be- 
 fore the judges only, because there is the added 
 nervousness that makes a fair judgment im- 
 possible when the contest is public, and the 
 work is not usually good enough to be inter- 
 esting to an audience. These private contests 
 are most beneficial and cannot be commended 
 too highly, as they inspire the pupils to greater 
 effort. The teacher's most important task is 
 to teach the pupils to work joyfully at any-
 
 216 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 thing. Music requires more work than any- 
 thing else in school, but the motive is easy and 
 pleasant to apply. 
 
 PAGEANTS 
 
 Pageantry furnishes a good motive as well 
 as an outlet for the activities of many depart- 
 ments at the same time. For instance, the 
 pupils of an eighth grade class decided in the 
 fall that they would give a pageant of United 
 States history the following spring. They 
 learned the history better because there was 
 immediate need of deciding what to use and 
 what to reject. When they had selected the 
 incidents to be used, the English class wrote 
 the speeches, the manual training class made 
 the scenery, the drawing class painted it, the 
 sewing class designed and made the costumes, 
 the arithmetic class computed the cost and at- 
 tended to the business part of the production, 
 the physical training class staged it. Last, but 
 not least, the music class found, adapted, 
 played, and sang the music that went with the 
 pageant. That grade had a living, vital motive 
 for their history and other lessons. When the
 
 CONCERTS 217 
 
 pageant was given there was a fine entertain- 
 ment, a goodly sum of money was added to 
 the school exchequer, and United States his- 
 tory lived forever in the memories of those 
 pupils. Of course there was work and plenty 
 of it, but that was the best and most interesting 
 part of the whole thing. 
 
 OUT-DOOR CONCERTS 
 
 In the spring and fall outdoor concerts may 
 be made one of the greatest outlets for school 
 music. A plan that will prove very attractive 
 is to find a hillside with a flat at the bottom, 
 where the audience can sit on the hillside and 
 the singers on the flat. Arranged in this way, 
 every one in the audience will be able to see 
 and hear well. The acoustics depend on the 
 steepness of the hill. If it is shaped like an 
 amphitheatre, so much the better. The audi- 
 ence should be invited to join in singing a 
 number of familiar songs. This is called com- 
 munity singing, and the school children should 
 be accustomed to leading the crowd whenever 
 possible. A band or orchestra should be used 
 if available. A piaro or organ will do if there
 
 218 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 is no band or orchestra. A good plan, when 
 it is possible, is to have the words of the songs 
 thrown upon the screen and let the leader hold 
 his hand in the strong light next to the curtain 
 and beat time. The people will follow him 
 perfectly. Another way is for the leader to 
 have a pole with a ball on the end of it and 
 point to the words in time as the people sing. 
 Community "sings," under the management of 
 the supervisor of music, are excellent means 
 for popularizing his work. 
 
 There are numbers of entertainments that 
 can be given out of doors. The ingenuity of 
 teachers and pupils will suggest many more 
 than are outlined above. 
 
 There are a number of cantatas for women's 
 voices, like "The Lady of Shalott" by Ben- 
 dall, "Summer" by Abt, "King Rene's Daugh- 
 ter" by Smart, and many others that are per- 
 fectly suited for use in the seventh grades and 
 which make fine numbers for a part of a pro- 
 gram or for a whole evening. There are also 
 a number of cantatas written expressly for 
 children, such as "Hiawatha's Childhood" by 
 Whiteley. Everyone likes a story, and these
 
 CONCERTS 219 
 
 cantatas are wonderfully attractive. In the 
 eighth grade some of the cantatas for mixed 
 voices can be used with good effect. 
 
 Then there is that most fascinating thing, 
 the operetta, that is given with costume and 
 action. There are many of these for children 
 of all ages. There is one objection to them, 
 however; they employ comparatively few 
 pupils. In the cantata given as a concert num- 
 ber, a large chorus can take part. In the one 
 given with costume and action, comparatively 
 few can sing. However, the latter is useful 
 in its way and should be used.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CONDUCTING 
 
 This chapter is devoted to the subject of 
 conducting school orchestras, bands, and 
 choruses. 
 
 Conducting is for the purpose of giving 
 some selection in public so that the leader's 
 idea of the music will be interpreted by the 
 players or singers. This chapter does not ven- 
 ture into the realm of artistry. It only gives 
 a few hints as to how the artistry of the leader 
 may be most easily and definitely expressed 
 to the audience through the medium of the 
 body of musicians he is conducting. 
 
 TWO KINDS OF CONDUCTING 
 
 We are often called upon to observe two 
 
 kinds of conducting. One is the spectacular, 
 
 where the leader is the whole show; and the 
 
 other is the one where the leader uses the 
 
 220
 
 CONDUCTING 221 
 
 baton as it should be used, as the power to 
 weld the whole body of musicians into a con- 
 sistent whole. This quiet style of leading, 
 with a firm hold of the musicians, was won- 
 derfully exemplified by the late Theodore 
 Thomas. His beat was as definite as clock- 
 work and there was no mistaking it, even by 
 a novice. 
 
 The pupils should know their music so well 
 that they can play or sing it perfectly, without 
 cues. The leader shows the speed and dynam- 
 ics of the selection, but the singers and play- 
 ers count their own measures and know ex- 
 actly when they are to come in. This kind 
 of conducting is the best to use with amateur 
 orchestras and choruses. It keeps them alive 
 and makes them more self-dependent. For 
 the leader to do too much of the thinking for 
 the musicians is as bad as to sing and play 
 with them when they are learning new pieces. 
 
 In public performances, of course, cues 
 should be given, but the players should be so 
 well trained that the piece will not be spoiled 
 if the leader slips up on a few cues, as the 
 average amateur leader is very apt to do. The
 
 222 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 fact is, a good teacher of orchestra or chorus 
 work is seldom a good leader, while a fine 
 leader of an orchestra, band, or chorus is 
 seldom a good teacher. The two things are 
 diametrically opposed to each other and it is 
 very difficult to do both. A teacher must 
 keep still and let his pupils learn by experi- 
 ence. The leader does just the opposite. He 
 must keep everything going and preclude the 
 possibility of mistakes. This is good leading, 
 but very poor teaching, as the player or singer 
 should learn to lead himself first and then he 
 is ready to be led. This is one of the diffi- 
 culties for the average supervisor of music, for 
 he must be both a teacher and a conductor. In 
 learning new selections, singers and players 
 should keep together by ear, even in bodies of 
 several hundred. This gives them a most val- 
 uable ear training which they will not get if 
 the conductor beats time either visibly or 
 audibly. They should also sing with their own 
 expression first, after which the leader should 
 take hold and mould them according to his 
 own ideas.
 
 CONDUCTING 223 
 
 SYSTEM OF CONDUCTING 
 
 It is well for the supervisor of music to read 
 many books on conducting and use the good 
 points of all, but he must adopt some system 
 and stick to it so that his pupils may know 
 what to do. In any event, when he is con- 
 ducting, he must be the real leader and insist 
 that his musicians follow him perfectly, and 
 the more plainly and simply he beats, the bet- 
 ter they will follow. 
 
 The system of conducting here outlined is 
 simple and it is so generally used that no one 
 will have trouble in following it. 
 
 Any set of signals that will tell the players 
 or singers how the leader wants the piece to 
 go will do. Of course, the leader has made 
 an exhaustive study of the piece and if he 
 knows it by heart, all the better, because he 
 will then have his eyes free to see what his 
 forces are doing. As to the proper interpre- 
 tation, the leader is free to do as he pleases. 
 It all rests with him, and the players and 
 singers should do as he wishes.
 
 224 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 In beating time, the baton should move as 
 follows, in the different measures: In two- 
 part measures, the beat should be straight 
 down for the first beat and straight up for 
 the second beat. This will give a perfect 
 representation of the measure. In three-part, 
 the baton should go straight down, straight to 
 the left, and then on the oblique to the start- 
 ing point. In four-part, it should go straight 
 down, straight left, straight right, and then 
 straight up to the starting point. In six-part 
 measure, it either goes down and up, as in 
 two-part measure, three eighth notes to a beat, 
 or it goes down, left, left, right, up, up to the 
 starting point. The other divisions of time 
 are usually done as three and four-beat 
 measures. 
 
 HOLD BATON HIGH 
 
 The criticism is sometimes made that bring- 
 ing the baton straight down is apt to bring 
 it too low to be seen. The answer is that it 
 should go straight down so that down means 
 down, instead of some vague oblique direc- 
 tion, as it does so often. The leader should
 
 CONDUCTING 225 
 
 stand high enough to be visible to all, hold 
 his baton high and then move it but a short 
 distance. There is no reason for waving the 
 stick in wide sweeps, as the conductor often 
 does, unless the chorus is extremely large. 
 
 The length of the movement tells the power 
 of the tone to be employed, and the speed of 
 the baton, of course, gives the speed of the 
 piece. The fingers of the left hand may be 
 used to indicate power also. One finger ex- 
 tended may mean pp ; two p ; three m ; four f ; 
 four and thumb ff. The side of the baton 
 should be visible to the singers or players and 
 it should be of a very distinct color. White 
 is best. Some contrasting color should be 
 used by lady leaders. A small electric light 
 on the end of the baton is often used where 
 the footlights are bright. 
 
 VARY THE BEAT 
 
 When conducting rehearsals, the leader 
 should vary the time a great deal and never 
 vary it the same way. It is better to have the 
 chorus or orchestra alive and in a state of ex- 
 pectancy than to have them know in advance
 
 226 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 how fast or how slow, how loud or how soft 
 they are going to sing or play. If they are 
 too sure of what the leader is going to do, 
 they will not watch closely. This will make 
 the performance dull and soggy and will cause 
 the leader to tear his hair over the stupidity 
 of choruses in general and this one in particu- 
 lar, when it is his own fault. If the conductor 
 has his chorus and orchestra well in hand at 
 the rehearsal, and drills them, not so much 
 on the piece as in following the beat, he will 
 have the power to play upon his forces at will. 
 The leader seldom feels the same at concerts 
 as he does at rehearsals, and the feeling he has 
 for the music at the concert may be a far bet- 
 ter one than the one he felt at the rehearsal, 
 and the instrument, no matter whether it be 
 chorus or orchestra, should respond to his 
 needs. To be able to do this, the group must 
 be drilled beforehand, not on his moods, but 
 on responding to them. 
 
 The left hand is free to turn the music, give 
 the cues, and supplement the work of the right 
 hand. A gesture with the palm toward the
 
 CONDUCTING 227 
 
 chorus may mean softer, if they have not fol- 
 lowed the baton correctly as to power. A 
 beckoning with the left hand will bring out a 
 certain part louder. On holds the power may 
 be varied by moving the two hands nearer to- 
 gether or farther apart, for diminishes and 
 swells. 
 
 Successful conducting hinges on the move- 
 ments of the baton, which should be so defi- 
 nite that the dullest musician will be able to 
 see and follow them. Poor following on the 
 part of a chorus or orchestra is always the 
 fault of the leader. Obscure beats or gestures 
 do not compel close attention. It takes back- 
 bone to make people obey and the leader must 
 be firm, unyielding, and definite. 
 
 I am quite aware that the above system of 
 leading is opposed to the accepted systems in 
 many ways, but I have endeavored to put in 
 only the plainest necessities, eliminating use- 
 less pyrotechnics that make the leader con- 
 spicuous but ineffective. Better look like a 
 basswood image and be easily followed than 
 to be a picture of willowy grace and beauty
 
 228 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 with vague meaning. The concert will sound 
 better, and after all, the concert is to be heard 
 and not seen.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 GRADE SCHOOL ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 
 
 It is assumed that all the pupils in the grades 
 learn to sing and also to appreciate music by- 
 listening to it. A number of them will want 
 to go farther and learn to play an instrument. 
 For this reason, orchestras should be organ- 
 ized in every grade school. Such orchestras 
 will be crude from a musical standpoint, but 
 pupils who are going to be musicians should 
 begin early and the school orchestra will give 
 them a splendid opportunity. 
 
 The wholesome effect of school orchestras 
 on the music of the school and community 
 can hardly be overestimated. The orchestra 
 is the best known means of producing pure 
 music. The grades will train players for the 
 high school orchestra which will in turn con- 
 tribute musicians to the symphony orchestra. 
 This is what should happen and what is hap- 
 pening in places where the supervisor of music 
 229
 
 230 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 has been working at it for a long enough time 
 in the right way. Richmond, Indiana, has had 
 grade school orchestras for years. The work 
 was pioneered by Mr. Will Earhart. These 
 orchestras are graded as to the ability of the 
 players and when a player is able to get into a 
 better orchestra, he is allowed to do so. There 
 are two orchestras in the Richmond high 
 school, one more advanced than the other, and 
 in the town there is a symphony orchestra that 
 gives a number of concerts yearly. The latter 
 is made up almost entirely of players trained 
 in the school orchestras. This is a wonderful 
 record, but it is one that can be duplicated 
 wherever there is a supervisor of music who 
 is a musician and is also able to inspire his 
 pupils with a love for music. 
 
 MOTIVE 
 
 There must be a motive back of everything 
 that we do in this world and there must be a 
 strong motive back of the music pupil to in- 
 spire him to do the hard work necessary to 
 become a musician. He who would become an 
 expert player on any instrument must be pre-
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 231 
 
 pared to spend many hours in grinding toil. 
 The best motive is love of music, which every- 
 one has to some degree, but mere yearning 
 will not accomplish anything. Those who 
 play only the piano are not as apt to practice 
 as those who play in the orchestra. This is 
 because there is not the incentive of competing 
 with others, and the joy of being a part of a 
 great instrument. The grade school orchestra 
 furnishes such incentive. The public perform- 
 ance is the goal that will furnish a motive for 
 much hard work. It is like the baseball nine. 
 It is fun to play ball, but it is inspiring to play 
 before people. 
 
 It takes musicianship and leadership of a 
 peculiar kind to make a grade school orchestra 
 a success. The leader must be an enthusiastic 
 musician and one who is able to endure dis- 
 cords. He must be a good disciplinarian, for 
 there is a chance for a fearful lot of unneces- 
 sary noise in an orchestra that is not well disci- 
 plined. In this chapter I will not venture into 
 the musical part of orchestra playing nor into 
 an exhaustive treatise on conducting, as there 
 are already many books on the subject. The
 
 232 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 names of several standard books will be found 
 at the bottom of this page. Experience is the 
 best teacher, but the experience of others 
 should not be overlooked. 
 
 The organization of a grade school orchestra 
 presents some difficulties. Pupils almost in- 
 variably choose the violin. It is cheap and 
 easily carried; it is the best solo instrument 
 and "everybody plays it." The usual grade 
 school orchestra consists of a number of vio- 
 lins and a piano. This should not be. 
 
 It takes a good deal of tact and persuasion 
 to get the pupils to play other instruments. 
 They should be shown other instruments and 
 hear them played by some accomplished player. 
 They should be told that if violin players ever 
 
 "The Orchestral Instruments and What They Do." 
 Daniel Gregory Mason. Novello & Co. 
 
 "Instrumentation." Ebenezer Prout. Novello. (Small 
 edition.) 
 
 "Instruments of the Modern Symphony Orchestra." 
 A. E. Johnstone. Carl Fischer. 
 
 "The Band Teacher's Assistant." Arthur Clappe. 
 Fischer. 
 
 "The Practical Band Arranger." L. P. Laurendeau. 
 Fischer. 
 
 "The Amateur Band Guide." Goldman. Fischer.
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 233 
 
 want to play professionally, they have great 
 competition, because so many others play the 
 instrument; but if they learn some other in- 
 strument, there will be little competition. If 
 the schools buy the less popular instruments 
 and lend them to the pupils, a better balance 
 can be maintained. 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS PLAN 
 
 The plan used in Minneapolis may be of in- 
 terest. We have had grade school orchestras 
 for years, but they usually consisted of violins 
 and piano, the pupils paying their instruction. 
 Last year a new plan was tried with great 
 success. 
 
 The Board of Education supplied a pro- 
 fessional leader for each grade school orches- 
 tra once in two weeks and furnished ten dol- 
 lars' worth of music yearly to each orchestra, 
 under the following conditions : 
 
 There must be six or more different instru- 
 ments of the symphony orchestra represented, 
 drums, traps, and the piano not counting. Vio- 
 lins restrung as violas will be counted at first. 
 A beginner on any instrument may enter the
 
 234 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 orchestra, provided he is studying the instru- 
 ment and that instrument is not already rep- 
 resented in the orchestra. This permission is 
 only granted when the orchestra is being or- 
 ganized in the school for the first time. 
 
 A grade teacher must take charge of the 
 orchestra. She must be present while the pro- 
 fessional leader is giving the work and conduct 
 the orchestra practice when the professional 
 leader is not there. 
 
 The pupils must play in public whenever 
 called upon by the leader or other school au- 
 thorities. 
 
 This set of rules resulted in thirty of the 
 schools qualifying the first year. We have 
 over eighty schools and most of the others 
 are preparing to organize orchestras under 
 these rules. Many of them have an orchestra 
 already and have regular rehearsals, but lack- 
 ing one or two instruments, they are not able 
 to qualify. These rules add a great deal of 
 force to the plea that pupils play other instru- 
 ments than the violin. It created great interest 
 throughout the city, and Mr. Oberhoffer, direc- 
 tor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra,
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 235 
 
 himself kindly consented to be advisory head 
 of the movement. 
 
 This is having a beneficial effect on the com- 
 munity and is making orchestra playing popu- 
 lar. Furthermore, those who are playing in a 
 school orchestra are much interested in hear- 
 ing the great orchestra of the city, and thus 
 the musical appreciation of the whole place 
 is being improved. 
 
 TWO LEADERS 
 
 The plan of having both a professional 
 leader and a grade teacher in charge of a grade 
 school orchestra works well in two ways. 
 First, when the orchestra is needed to play in 
 the school exercises or for pupils to march in 
 the building or for any other purpose, the grade 
 teacher is always on hand to conduct it. Sec- 
 ond, good leaders are being developed among 
 the teachers. Many of the teachers who have 
 charge of orchestras are buying instruments 
 and learning to play, taking their places in the 
 orchestra when the professional leader is in 
 charge. 
 
 There should be no age limit for entrance
 
 236 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 to the grade school orchestra. Children 
 should be encouraged to enter as young as 
 they can. A child learns to play best when 
 he is growing up. A pupil's eligibility to an 
 orchestra should be conditioned on his ability 
 to play. In Minneapolis we waived this point 
 while we were organizing in order to get 
 started. Later we hope to have two orchestras 
 in each school, one for beginners and one for 
 those farther advanced. 
 
 Pupils who play well do not like to play 
 with beginners. The best players should be 
 taught to help the poorer ones, but the good 
 ones will be held back more or less. A good 
 plan is to divide the orchestra into two sec- 
 tions advanced and less advanced and let 
 them practice together a part of the time and 
 separately part of the time. Then both classes 
 of pupils will be accommodated. 
 
 MATERIAL 
 
 The old adage, "Cut the garment according 
 to the cloth," is particularly applicable when 
 selecting music for school orchestras. How- 
 ever, get enough material and have it good.
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 237 
 
 An orchestra player must be able to read music 
 rapidly and accurately. This necessitates a 
 great amount of material. The library of 
 every orchestra should be divided into two 
 parts. One part should consist of a great 
 number of selections that are to be played once 
 and then laid aside. This is to enable the 
 players to learn to do ensemble sight reading. 
 The other part should consist of the selections 
 that are to remain in their permanent reper- 
 toire. These should be rehearsed often and 
 thoroughly until every point is perfectly 
 brought out. 
 
 We have solved the problem very econom- 
 ically in Minneapolis by keeping the music for 
 all the grade school orchestras in a central 
 library and buying few duplicates. We thus 
 have a great variety of material at the same 
 price we would otherwise have had to pay for 
 a smaller variety. In a large city this plan 
 works well. A number of smaller towns might 
 club together and buy their music in common, 
 with the same advantage. 
 
 When a new piece is taken up, the orchestra 
 leader often lets the pupils take it home and
 
 238 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 learn it before it is played by the whole or- 
 chestra. This, to my mind, is losing the most 
 valuable part of the work. The better way 
 is to have it played at once at the regular speed 
 and let the players get as much out of it as 
 they can by playing it over, not more than two 
 or three times. Orchestra players must learn 
 to read new music rapidly, and no opportunity 
 to do this should be lost. 
 
 The leader may select the piece or pieces to 
 be learned perfectly and let the pupils take 
 them home and learn them thoroughly. At 
 the next rehearsal these pieces should be played 
 very carefully as to intonation, expression, fol- 
 lowing the conductor and everything that goes 
 to make artistic ensemble playing. Only the 
 pieces that are to go into the permanent reper- 
 toire should be finished in this way. The play- 
 ers are trying to become such ready readers 
 that they can interpret a piece the first time 
 they look at it. To do this requires much 
 practice at rehearsals. The player who reads 
 well when he is playing alone may not do as 
 well in ensemble sight reading. Pupils should 
 play new music the first time through at the
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 239 
 
 regular speed and keep the time perfectly, no 
 matter how many mistakes they make in tones. 
 All that is said in the chapter on vocal music 
 reading applies with added force to the reading 
 of music by the orchestra. The player who 
 does not think time before he does notes will 
 never make an orchestra player. The leader 
 must be very insistent on this point. 
 
 INTONATION 
 
 The weakness of all school orchestra playing 
 is lack of smoothness of tone, which results in 
 imperfect intonation. This is even more true 
 of young orchestra players than of young 
 singers. The players must be taught early to 
 make tones long enough and smooth enough 
 to be heard clearly. The development of his 
 ear and reading ability both depend upon this 
 point, which affects the other players as well 
 as himself. The proper development of a 
 school orchestra depends largely upon a rigid 
 adherence to the logical sequence of reading 
 music which is "tone, time, notes, expression." 
 
 Ear-training in the average orchestra is a 
 much neglected art and one that should receive
 
 240 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 early and unremitting attention. The first 
 thing a player should learn is to tune his in- 
 strument. If a pupil is old enough to learn 
 to play an instrument, he is old enough to 
 learn to tune it. If he has not ear enough to 
 tune it, the very effort of trying to tune it will 
 develop his ear. Take all the time that is nec- 
 essary for this before beginning to play. 
 
 To many orchestra leaders, the rhythm of 
 the piece comes first. When they are teaching 
 young children to play, they work for the 
 rhythm and let the intonation take care of it- 
 self. Pupils must learn to hold the tone of 
 their instrument steady enough and long 
 enough to compare it with the tones of the 
 other instruments, and they must also learn to 
 hear all the other tones that are sounding. 
 There must be much material of a slow, smooth 
 variety with many places where the players 
 may hold the chords and learn to hear the 
 harmony. When they can do this, they may 
 begin to play selections with more rapid 
 rhythm. 
 
 The instruments of an orchestra may be in 
 perfect tune when all the players sound the
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 241 
 
 same tone, but the music sounds disagreeable 
 when they begin to play. This is because the 
 players are listening only to their own instru- 
 ments and are not listening for perfect har- 
 mony. The leader should use the tapping sig- 
 nal, explained in the chapter on ear-training, 
 and have the players hold the chord until they 
 can hear all the tones that make up the chord. 
 This will teach the pupils to listen to the har- 
 mony while they are playing with other in- 
 struments. 
 
 The piano should not be used with the or- 
 chestra until the players can play a piece per- 
 fectly without it, because it covers up so much 
 of the tone of the orchestra that the players 
 cannot hear the different instruments. When 
 the players know their pieces well, the piano 
 will be an addition, especially when there are 
 not enough instruments to balance the parts. 
 I realize how bad the average orchestra sounds 
 without the piano, but it sounds just as bad 
 with it, only the bad sounds are covered up. 
 
 Another excellent ear-training device is to 
 divide the orchestra into sections with one in- 
 strument on a part, and let one section play a
 
 242 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 passage while the other players listen for dis- 
 cords. Then bring in the other sections, one 
 at a time, all listening carefully to the har- 
 mony. The instruments will not balance, of 
 course, and one player may have to be a mem- 
 ber of several sections, but that is a detail 
 easily worked out. A great deal of this kind 
 of work should be done. 
 
 There are many different exercises the leader 
 may use to train the ears of the players, but 
 the preceding ones are the most effective. 
 They will give the pupils the ability to recog- 
 nize unisons and chords. All the playing then 
 becomes excellent ear-training, as soon as the 
 pupils have acquired the habit of listening. 
 
 Conducting an orchestra is a simple process. 
 All that has been said in the chapter on con- 
 ducting applies to the orchestra as well as to 
 the chorus. A great deal of music, both new 
 and old, should be played without a leader, 
 the pupils keeping together by ear. There 
 should also be a great deal of music played 
 with the leader, and he should vary the time 
 often, as the pupils must learn to read the 
 baton as well as the music. The leader should
 
 ORCHESTRAS AND BANDS 243 
 
 give the cues a part of the time and leave them 
 out a part of the time, because the pupils must 
 learn to play both ways. 
 
 BANDS 
 
 A band is an excellent musical organization 
 for pupils in the grade schools. There is a 
 fascination about playing in a band that is pro- 
 nounced in boys of any age and especially in 
 boys of the grades. A good band is an in- 
 spiration, and every school should have one. 
 All that has been written about the orchestra 
 applies to the band.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 INSTRUMENTAL CLASSES 
 
 Closely connected with the orchestras and 
 bands in the grade schools are the classes in 
 instrumental music. Some time ago a wave 
 of interest in these classes swept over the coun- 
 try. Violin classes were formed at first, be- 
 cause the violin was the cheapest and most 
 available instrument. Emphasizing the violin 
 in this way makes trouble for the orchestra 
 later on, as already explained. 
 
 Teaching violin in classes has proved that 
 it is a waste of time and money to teach music 
 in private lessons, the same as it is a waste 
 of time and money to have a private tutor 
 for one child. A child gets along better in a 
 class, for there is the added incentive of the 
 other pupils doing the same thing. The 
 rivalry of class work is lacking in private les- 
 sons. The class sets the pace. With the class 
 plan there is always a widespread interest in 
 244
 
 INSTRUMENTAL CLASSES 245 
 
 instrumental music, and enough players are 
 developed to fill the orchestras. Every grade 
 school should have classes in instrumental 
 music. 
 
 It may be interesting to know how this plan 
 worked out in Minneapolis after one year's 
 trial under the following rules : 
 
 Any school may organize classes in instru- 
 mental music, to be taught after school. Sev- 
 eral neighboring schools may unite if there 
 are not enough pupils to form a class in each 
 school. 
 
 The number in a class must not exceed 
 twenty and each pupil must pay ten cents a 
 lesson. If a smaller number wish to form a 
 class, they may do so by paying more propor- 
 tionally. The teacher will receive two dollars 
 per hour lesson. The money will be collected 
 by the principal and paid to the teacher. 
 
 Only beginners will be taken into any of 
 these classes. No one who has ever studied 
 with a private teacher will be received into 
 these classes. 
 
 This plan was placed before the private 
 teachers of the city and met with their enthu-
 
 246 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 siastic approval. Some of the best teachers 
 in the city expressed their willingness to take 
 some of these classes for the good of the cause, 
 even though the pay was far less than they 
 received for private lessons. The clause that 
 forbade the taking of pupils who had studied 
 privately made the teachers feel that this was 
 not a move that would result in taking their 
 pupils from them, but was rather a move to 
 give them more pupils later on. The private 
 teachers are much interested in anything that 
 helps the cause of music in general. 
 
 For further information on this subject, the reader 
 is referred to "Gidding's Public School Piano Class 
 Method," published by Oliver Ditson Company, Boston.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MUSIC APPRECIATION IN THE 
 SCHOOL CURRICULUM 
 
 BY AGNES MOORE FRYBERGER 
 
 There are two distinct phases to every art; 
 the technical and the esthetic. Music, as re- 
 lated to the school curriculum through text- 
 books, has emphasized the former. The sub- 
 ject has been considered almost entirely from 
 the standpoint of the performer thus ignor- 
 ing both composer and listener. A plan con- 
 ceived along broader lines would more nearly 
 approach the ideal. It is therefore with sat- 
 isfaction that one notes increasing tendencies 
 to expand the treatment of the subject in the 
 school room. 
 
 The term "Music Appreciation" means the 
 sensing of esthetic values in the art; of get- 
 ting a definite impression of the artistic and 
 beautiful. It is this phase that justifies the 
 claim of music to universality. Only a few 
 247
 
 248 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 members of society can compose music; a 
 larger number may perform ; but all may enjoy 
 and understand the appeal of the emotional art. 
 
 In his thoughtful little monograph, "The 
 Basis of Practical Teaching," Dr. Bryan says, 
 "Impression is the first consideration in child 
 development, this to be followed by reflec- 
 tion, organization and finally expression." 
 Applied to music one might say that this dis- 
 tinctive subject should impress tre child so 
 definitely that he will think about it and can 
 tell about it. Children associate music with 
 earliest experiences. Little girls sing to their 
 dollies; little boys march with toy drum and 
 whistle ; there is the street band and the circus 
 parade with the steam organ. Music is a nat- 
 ural part of young life. Its earliest appeal is 
 to the emotional nature. Alas that so many 
 should pass through life without getting more 
 than primitive response from so enriching an 
 influence. 
 
 In common school custom, music may be 
 added to the child's experience through text- 
 books, phonograph records, piano pieces, and 
 perhaps small orchestra. Music appreciation
 
 MUSIC APPRECIATION 249 
 
 dependent upon school text-books is restricted 
 to songs. Text-book literature is a fertile 
 subject for discussion, but sufficient at present 
 is the admission that in every "Series" the 
 songs might be classified as "regular, irregu- 
 lar and defective" ; or "good, bad and indiffer- 
 ent." Compilers of music books have found it 
 necessary, in the scheme of teaching essentials, 
 to include songs which have no farther in- 
 terest than to illustrate problems of rhythm, 
 tone and theory. This is not a matter of re- 
 gret if the class gets the purpose of such songs. 
 Upon this point depends the vital principle of 
 teaching Music Appreciation. Does a child 
 think of the music he sings or hears; if so, 
 what does he think of it? Pursuing this 
 thought, a teacher should require some sort 
 of comment upon every sort of song sung in 
 the class. This is merely an application of 
 the idea stated elsewhere in this chapter, that 
 a clear impression must be gained in order to 
 secure a definite expression. It is indeed 
 gratifying to discover in each new series of 
 text-books a finer discrimination in the selec- 
 tion of song material. Each book should
 
 250 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 have a supplementary syllabus through which 
 the teacher might wisely direct thought along 
 most profitable lines. It is not intended to 
 present in this chapter an outline for such 
 syllabus. Sufficient to say that points of a 
 good song as well as common errors in song- 
 making should be understood by the class to 
 aid them in forming judgments upon songs in 
 general. As a final observation of every song 
 the class should notice in the upper right-hand 
 corner of the page the name of the composer 
 or the source of the music, and in the upper 
 left-hand corner the author of the words. It 
 is only due honor to have the class impressed 
 with the names of those who have created 
 music which endures. 
 
 The great movement to raise the common 
 people to an understanding of general esthetics 
 began in 1857, in Manchester, when John 
 Ruskin delivered his memorable lecture upon 
 the "Political Economy of Art." He advo- 
 cated the elevation of public taste by educating 
 the common people to understand the principle 
 of truth and beauty in art that they might ac- 
 quire a sense of discrimination and apprecia-
 
 MUSIC APPRECIATION 251 
 
 tion. It is an old and familiar story, but of 
 abounding interest because elect and exclusive 
 members of society opposed the idea of artis- 
 tic things being for the laboring classes. They 
 argued that the reproduction of great works 
 of art in cheap media was sacrilege, and the 
 application of artistic design to cheap wall 
 paper, carpets, furniture, etc., a social crime. 
 The fact that the movement grew until art 
 was introduced into the school curriculum 
 justified the abuse which John Ruskin endured 
 in the beginning. It is now possible to get 
 a copy of every great work of art in a penny 
 picture, and esthetic designs are so universally 
 applied to common and useful things in life 
 that one can scarcely believe that it was not 
 always so. 
 
 Closely related to the movement of good 
 pictures and artistic design for all is one of 
 the present day in behalf of good music for 
 all through the use of the player piano and 
 the phonograph. As in the earlier movement, 
 so now there are a few objectors who cry 
 out against "canned music" and the inartistic 
 idea of grinding out music from a machine.
 
 252 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 The number of such, however, grows steadily 
 less. The phonograph has been a strong 
 agent in bringing music closer to the general 
 public. It has become almost a necessary part 
 of school equipment. That it is used so often 
 as an entertaining diversion rather than an 
 educational instrument lies in the fact that 
 teachers have not yet worked out a definite 
 and simple plan of presenting phonograph les- 
 sons. It is with much satisfaction that those 
 most interested in this educational medium note 
 the constantly increasing number of phono- 
 graph records being made for school purposes. 
 Already there are hundreds of selections suit- 
 able for the elementary grades. Furthermore, 
 these bear such close relationship to standard 
 subjects as to seem a necessary factor in teach- 
 ing such subjects. There are phases of his- 
 tory, geography, literature and art which seem 
 to have little real interest to children until 
 vitalized by suitable music. 
 
 The psychology underlying the presenta- 
 tion of lessons through phonograph records is 
 sound and no different from that used with
 
 MUSIC APPRECIATION 253 
 
 other subjects. It requires of the teacher, 
 first, musical judgment and an understanding 
 of child interest; and, second, old-fashioned 
 common sense in relating the music to the 
 child proceeding of course from the view- 
 point of the child. It may not be irrelevant to 
 say at this point that generally speaking there 
 has been a contrary method of presenting the 
 subject of music appreciation whereby proce- 
 dure from the teacher's viewpoint imposed 
 upon children a mass of facts from musical 
 history and biography. This sort of knowl- 
 edge is not of prime interest since it bears no 
 relation to the child's experience. A demand 
 for such knowledge will follow if interest in 
 the music itself be first awakened. In the 
 words of Hamlet, "The play's the thing." 
 
 In the desire to relate the school room to 
 the child's common experience outside of 
 school an occasional lesson on appreciation may 
 be based upon the musical knowledge of a 
 class regardless of text-books. The follow- 
 ing method of starting a lesson has been found 
 effective.
 
 254 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 Teacher: "Name a piece of music you 
 think is good." 
 
 Pupil : "Humoresque." 
 
 Teacher: "Spell it." (The word is writ- 
 ten on the board.) 
 
 "How many know it ?" 
 
 "How does the tune go?" (Someone may 
 start it and the class follow by singing with 
 "la" or whistling.) 
 
 "Who wrote it?" (The name of the com- 
 poser, Dvorak, is obtained from the class and 
 spelled, if possible.) 
 
 "Who was he?" (Greatest Bohemian 
 composer.) 
 
 "How many can play this piece on the piano 
 or violin?" (The teacher may arrange to 
 have it played for the class.) 
 
 Teacher : "Name another composition that 
 is old, or that you think will live a long time." 
 
 This trend may be continued ad libitum and 
 will impress upon the class the fact that music 
 is a subject worthy of thought and discussion. 
 
 When children march to music through the 
 school halls the music should be good. A 
 teacher or advanced pupil in each building
 
 MUSIC APPRECIATION 255 
 
 should be responsible for marches and select 
 those which are worth hearing. For many of 
 the children it is the most impressive music 
 heard in school. There is a certain distinc- 
 tion attached to those who play for marching 
 and any pupil should recognize this fact and 
 aspire to play good marches in the best pos- 
 sible manner. In this connection it is sug- 
 gested that piano pupils select several marches 
 for study with their respective teachers. In 
 each grade room above the third, let there be 
 one pupil responsible for placing the name of 
 the daily march upon the board; as, played 
 to-day, "March of American Patriotic Airs" 
 Sousa; or, Triumphal March from the 
 grand opera, "Aida" (pronounced Ah-eed-ah). 
 (If possible, publications of good school 
 marches should be provided by the music de- 
 partment for each school.) 
 
 Finally, teachers should require comment 
 upon every kind of music which children hear, 
 since only through hearing their opinions is it 
 possible for them to advance toward the goal 
 which they do not see. Intelligent comment 
 upon music is the result of a thoughtful atti-
 
 256 GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHING 
 
 tude toward the subject. We cannot criticize 
 that which we do not understand or at least 
 we should not. After singing or listening to 
 a piece, ask sound and relevant questions as: 
 What can you say about it? Could you talk 
 about it at home? Does the piece make you 
 think of any other? Do you hear good music 
 often? Where? Name some pieces. What 
 is the most impressive thing in this piece? 
 Describe the tune. How many of you sing 
 about the house? or whistle? Name a tune 
 you sing. Does it make the home better? 
 Did you ever know a grouch to sing? 
 
 In developing this thoughtful consideration 
 for music it is well to begin with that which 
 is familiar as popular and folk songs, and 
 about which a class would most readily talk, 
 then lead on to unfamiliar compositions. Be- 
 gin early in child life. Musical appreciation 
 can be most effectively taught at an early and 
 impressionable age. This seems worthy of 
 remark since until recently the thought of dis- 
 cussing music was reserved solely for high 
 school students. 
 
 In conclusion, present all lessons in the
 
 MUSIC APPRECIATION 257 
 
 schoolroom on music primarily from the 
 standpoint of the educator rather than from 
 the musician. The child is to be taught and 
 not the subject. He will wish to learn the 
 subject if the method of the teacher be correct. 
 If the teacher of public school music must 
 depend for endorsement upon one class solely, 
 let it be from educators. Later, if need be, 
 let him strive for approbation of the musical 
 fraternity through his musicianship. In the 
 two he will have builded upon a rock that will 
 not crumble. 
 
 For further study of music appreciation the reader 
 is referred to "Listening Lessons in Music," by Agnes 
 Moore Fryberger. (Silver, Burdett & Co.)
 
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