Chapter V: First Lessons to Beginners in Ear-Training

The form of these lessons will vary slightly according to the ages of the children. We will suppose these to lie between seven and nine years, when the children can read and write.

At the first lesson the scale of C major should be played, from middle C to high C, ascending only. Then repeat middle C, and stop on it a little. Do this three or four times, telling the children to count the notes as you play up the scale. When they are all sure that eight notes have been played, ask them why they think you repeated the middle C at the end. They will probably say: 'To make it sound finished.' In other words, they have grasped the 'mental effect' of the key-note _in every key_, the pivot round which the other notes revolve. Give the hand sign for this note, according to the Sol-fa plan, and tell the children that the note is called _doh_. Now repeat the scale, but this time play it from high C to middle C, repeating the high C at the end. The children will see at once what has happened, and that the high C now 'finishes' the passage. Thus it will be called 'high _doh_', and the hand sign will be repeated, but at a higher level. Be careful not to bend the hand at the wrist when giving this sign, or the effect of finality and repose will be lost.

At the second lesson, repeat this work, the children telling you what to do. Then make eight large dots on the blackboard, and against the first and eighth of these write _doh_ and _doh'_. Now play the first five notes of the scale, and repeat the first as before. Ask how many notes were played. Then play them again, but starting from the fifth downwards, and repeat the fifth at the end. Ask the children why they think you did this. At first they will not be able to express what they feel, but gradually the idea will emerge that you want to call attention to something of interest. People often call to each other by singing up a fifth. The new note is sharp and bright in sound when related to the key-note. Hence the hand sign. Give the name _soh_, and write it against the fifth dot on the board. The children should now sing from the three hand signs known, also from the notes on the board. They should also identify the notes when played in groups of two and three on the piano.

When they can do all this easily, the next note, the third of the scale, is taken in the same way. The 'mental effect' is calm and soothing, hence the hand sign. In addition to singing from the hand signs, and from the Sol-fa 'modulator' which is gradually being constructed on the board, the children can now sing from the horizontal Sol-fa notation, and from the staff notation. The first of these is invaluable in the early stages, as it absolutely precludes guessing. In singing from the modulator this is possible to a certain extent, as the relation of each note to the key-note is shown roughly in _distance_ by the dots between the notes. There is no such help given in the horizontal notation.

In beginning the work in staff notation the notes of the scale will be thought of as steps in a ladder. In all keys, when _doh_ is on a line, _me_ and _soh_ are also on lines, and high _doh_ is on a space; but when _doh_ is on a space, _me_ and _soh_ are on spaces, and high _doh_ is on a line. These are very simple matters, but children are simple people, and will not despise such hints.

The next notes of the scale to be taken are _ray_ and _te_, then _fah_ and _lah_. The last two are the most difficult. A good pattern to fix in the children's minds is:

_d f m l s t, d--_

which splits up into:

_d f m--; d l s--_

If these are really known, no trouble will be found with the notes _f_ and _l_.

Plenty of exercises should be given in which the notes of the scale are taken in relation to the high _doh_. Possible notes should also be taken above high _doh_ (such as high _ray_, high _me_, high _fah_ in the scale of C) and below _doh_. With regard to the latter, the key may be changed from time to time when taking Sol-fa work from hand signs or the modulator, or from Sol-fa notation, in order to get a wider range for the notes above mentioned. Thus, if the class be given the _doh_ of G major, they can sing low _te_, low _lah_, low _soh_, and low _fah_, or, as these notes are written in Sol-fa notation, _t,_ _l,_ _s,_ _f,_. These points are sometimes overlooked by mistresses, and the early training loses in thoroughness.

Directly the children are sure of the diatonic notes of the key of C major they should take the sharpened fourth (_fe_), the flattened seventh (_taw_). and the sharpened fifth (_se_). Later on they will learn that these notes often introduce modulations to the dominant, subdominant, and relative minor keys respectively.

Extemporizing with the voice may now begin, along the lines suggested in Chapter IX. An extra interest will thus be added to the lesson, and the child will have its first initiation into 'self-expression' through the art of music.