Chapter XXV: Appendix: D

TERMINOLOGY REFORM

A recent writer[43] on _vocal terminology_ makes the following statement as an introduction to certain remarks advocating a more definite use of terms relating to tone production by the human voice:--"The correct use of words is the most potent factor in the development of the thinker." If this statement has any basis of fact whatsoever to support it then it must be evident to the merest novice in musical work that the popular use of many common terms by musicians is keeping a good many people from clear and logical thought in a field that needs accurate thinkers very badly! However this may be, it must be patent to all that our present terminology is in many respects neither correct nor logical, and the movement inaugurated by the Music Section of the National Education Association some years ago to secure greater uniformity in the use and definition of certain expressions should therefore not only command the respect and commendation, but the active support of all progressive teachers of music.

[Footnote 43: Floyd S. Muckey--"Vocal Terminology," _The Musician_, May, 1912, p. 337.]

Let it be noted at the outset that such reforms as are advocated by the committee will never come into general use while the rank and file of teachers throughout the country merely _approve_ the reports so carefully compiled and submitted each year: these reforms will become effective only as individual teachers make up their minds that the end to be attained is worth the trouble of being careful to use only correct terminology every day for a month, or three months, or a year--whatever length of time may be necessary in order to get the new habits fixed in mind and muscle.

The Terminology Committee was appointed by the Department of Music of the N.E.A. in 1906 and made its first report at Los Angeles in 1907. Since then the indefatigable chairman of the committee (Mr. Chas. I. Rice, of Worcester, Mass.) has contributed generously of both time and strength, and has by his annual reports to the Department set many of us to thinking along certain new lines, and has caused some of us at any rate to adopt in our own teaching certain changes of terminology which have enabled us to make our work more effective.

In his first report Mr. Rice says:

"Any one who has observed the teaching of school music in any considerable number of places in this country cannot fail to have remarked the great diversity of statement employed by different teachers regarding the facts which we are engaged in teaching, and the equal diversity of terminology used in teaching the symbols by which musicians seek to record these facts. To the teacher of exact sciences our picturesque use of the same term to describe two or more entirely different things never ceases to be a marvel.... Thoughtful men and women will become impressed with the untruthfulness of certain statements and little by little change their practice. Others will follow, influenced by example. The revolutionists will deride us for not moving faster while the conservatives will be suspicious of any change."

At this meeting in Los Angeles a list of thirteen points was recommended by the committee and adopted by the Music Department. These points are given in the N.E.A. Volume of Proceedings for 1907, p. 875.

Since 1907 the committee (consisting of Chas. I. Rice, P.C. Hayden, W.B. Kinnear, Leo R. Lewis, and Constance Barlow-Smith) have each year selected a number of topics for discussion, and have submitted valuable reports recommending the adoption of certain reforms. Some of the points recommended have usually been rejected by the Department, but many of them have been adopted and the reports of the committee have set many teachers thinking and have made us all more careful in the use and definition of common terms. A complete list of all points adopted by the Department since 1907 has been made by Mr. Rice for _School Music_, and this list is here reprinted from the January, 1913, number of that magazine.

TERMINOLOGY ADOPTIONS, 1907-1910

1. _Tone:_ Specific name for a musical sound of definite
pitch. Use neither _sound_, a general term, nor _note_, a term
of notation.

2. _Interval:_ The pitch relation between _two_ tones. Not
properly applicable to a single tone or scale degree. Example:
"Sing the fifth tone of the scale." Not "sing the fifth
interval of the scale."

3. _Key:_ Tones in relation to a tonic. Example: In the key of
G. _Not_ in the scale of G. Scales, major and minor are
composed of a definite selection from the many tones of the
key, and all scales extend through at least one octave of
pitch. The chromatic scale utilizes all the tones of a key
within the octave.

4. _Natural:_ Not a suitable compound to use in naming
pitches. Pitch names are either _simple_: B, or _compound_: B
sharp, B double-sharp, B flat or B double-flat, and there is
no pitch named "B natural." Example: Pitch B, _not_ "B
natural."

NOTE:--L.R.L. thinks that B natural should be the name when
the notation suggests it.

5. _Step, Half-step:_ Terms of interval _measurement_. Avoid
_tone_, _semi-tone_ or _half-tone_. Major second and minor
second are interval _names_. Example: How large are the
following intervals? (1) Major second, (2) minor second, (3)
augmented prime. Answer: (1) a step, (2) a half-step, (3) a
half-step.

6. _Chromatic:_ A tone of the key which is not a member of its
diatonic scale. (N.B.) An accidental (a notation sign) is not
a chromatic sign _unless_ it makes a staff-degree represent a
chromatic tone.

7. _Major; Minor:_ Major and Minor keys having the same
signature should be called relative major and minor. Major and
minor keys having the same tonic, but different signatures,
should be called tonic major and minor. Not "parallel" major
or minor in either case.

8. _Staff:_ Five horizontal lines and their spaces. Staff
_lines_ are named (numbered) upward in order, first to fifth.
_Spaces:_ Space below, first-second-third-fourth-space, and
space above[44]. (Six in all.) Additional short lines and
their short spaces numbered outward both ways from the main
staff, viz: line below, second space below. The boundary of
the staff is always a space.

[Footnote 44: NOTE:--Not "space below the staff" or "space
above the staff."]

9. _G Clef, F Clef, C Clef:_ These clefs when placed upon the
staff, give its degrees their first, or primary pitch meaning.
Each makes the degree it occupies represent a pitch of its
respective name. Example: The G clef makes the second line
represent the pitch G. Avoid "_fixes G on_." The staff with
clef in position represents only pitches having _simple_ or
_one-word_ names, A, B, C, etc.

10. _Sharps, Flats:_ Given a staff with clef in position as in
example above, sharps and flats make staff degrees upon which
they are placed represent pitches a half-step higher or lower.
These pitches have compound or two-word names. Example: The
second line stands for the pitch G (simple name). Sharp the
second line and it will stand for the pitch G sharp. (Compound
name.) The third line stands for the pitch B. (Simple name.)
Flat it, and the line will stand for the pitch B flat.
(Compound name.) N.B. These signs do not "_raise_" or
"_lower_" notes, tones, pitches, letters or staff degrees.

11. _Double-sharp, Double-flat:_ Given a staff with three or
more degrees sharped in the signature, double-sharps are used
(subject to the rules governing composition) to make certain
of these degrees, already sharped, represent pitches one
half-step higher yet. Similarly, when three or more degrees
are flatted in the signature, double-flats are used to make
certain degrees already flatted, represent pitches one
half-step lower yet. Examples: To represent sharp 2 in the key
of B major, double-sharp the C degree, or (equally good)
double-sharp the third space (G clef). To represent flat 6 in
the key of D flat major, double-flat the B degree, or (equally
good) double flat the third line (G clef). _Do not say_: "Put
a double-sharp on 6" or "put a double-sharp on C," or
"_indicate"_ a higher or lower pitch "_on_" a sharped or
flatted degree.

12. _Signature:_ Sharps or flats used as signatures affect the
staff degrees they occupy and all octaves of the same.
Example: With signature of four sharps, the first one affects
the fifth line and the first space; the second, the third
space; the third, the space above and the second line; the
fourth, the fourth line and the space below. _Do not say_: "F
and C are sharped," "ti is sharped," "B is flatted," "fa is
flatted." "Sharpened" or "flattened" are undesirable.

13. _Brace:_ The two or more staffs containing parts to be
sounded together; also the vertical line or bracket connecting
such staffs. _Not_ "line" or "score." "Staff" is better than
"line" for a single staff, and "score" is used meaning the
book containing an entire work, as "vocal score," "orchestral
score," "full score."

14. _Notes:_ Notes are characters designed to represent
relative duration. When placed on staff-degrees they
_indicate_ pitch. (Note the difference between "represent" and
"indicate.") "Sing what the note calls for" means, sing a tone
of the pitch represented by the staff degree occupied by the
note-head. The answer to the question: "What is that note?"
would be "half-note," "eighth-note" according to the
denomination of the note in question, whether it was on or off
the staff.

15. _Measure-sign:_ 4-4, 2-4, 6-8, are _measure-signs_. Avoid
"time signatures," "meter-signatures," "the fraction,"
"time-marks." Example: What is the measure-sign? (C) Ans. A
broken circle. What is its meaning? Ans. Four-quarter measure.
(Not four-four time, four-four rhythm, four-four meter.)

16. _Note Placing:_ Place a quarter note on the fourth line.
Not "put a quarter note on D."

17. _Beat-Pulse:_ A tone or rest occurs on a certain beat or
pulse of a measure. Not on a certain _count_.

18. _Signature Terminology:_ The right hand sharp in the
signature is on the staff degree that represents seven of the
major scale. Not "always on 7 or ti."

19. _Signature Terminology:_ The right hand flat in the
signature is on the staff degree that represents four of the
major scale. Not "always on fa."

20. _Rote, Note, Syllable:_ Singing by rote means that the
singer sings something learned by ear without regard to notes.
Singing by note means that the singer is guided to the correct
pitch by visible notes. Singing by syllable means that the
singer sings the tones of a song or part to the sol-fa
syllables instead of to words, neutral vowels or the hum.
"Sing by note" is not correct if the direction means simply to
sing the sol-fa syllables, whether in sight reading, rote
singing, or memory work. "Sing by syllable" would be correct
in each case.

ADOPTIONS OF THE 1911 MEETING AT SAN FRANCISCO

Arabic numerals, either 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, or 12, placed on the
staff directly after the signature and above the third line,
show the number of beats in a measure.

A note, either a quarter or a dotted quarter, placed in
parenthesis under the numeral, represents the length of one
beat and is called the beat-note.

The numeral and the beat-note thus grouped constitute the
measure-sign.

Illustrative statements covering proper terminology: the tune
"America" is written in three-quarter measure. The chorus:
"How lovely are the Messengers" is written in two-dotted
quarter measure.

The above forms of statement were adopted at Denver in 1909,
and are recommended for general use when speaking of music
written with the conventional measure-signs, etc.

In place of: "two-two time, three-eight time, four-four time,"
say as above: "This piece is written in two-half measure,
three-eighth measure, four-quarter measure."

MINOR SCALES

_Primitive Minor (ascending)_

The minor scale form having minor sixth and minor seventh
above tonic to be called Primitive Minor.

Illustrative examples. A minor: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, a; C
minor: c, d, e flat, f, g, a flat, b flat, c. [Transcriber's
Note: Supplied b flat missing from original.]

_Primitive Minor (descending)_

Same pitches in reverse order.

_Harmonic Minor (ascending)_

The minor scale form having minor sixth and major seventh
above tonic to be called Harmonic Minor.

Illustrative examples. A minor: a, b, c, d, e, f, g sharp, a;
C minor: c, d, e flat, f, g, a flat, b, c.

_Harmonic Minor (descending_)

Same pitches in reverse order.

_Melodic Minor (ascending)_

The minor scale form having major sixth and major seventh
above tonic to be called Melodic Minor.

Illustrative examples. A minor: a, b, c, d, e, f sharp, g
sharp, a; C minor: c, d, e flat, f, g, a, b, c.

_Melodic Minor (descending)_

Same as the Primitive.

ADOPTIONS OF THE 1912 MEETING AT CHICAGO

_Pulse and Beat_

The Committee finds that the words: Pulse and Beat are in
general use as synonymous terms, meaning one of the succession
of throbs or impulses of which we are conscious when listening
to music. Each of these pulses or beats has an exact point of
beginning, a duration, and an exact point of ending, the
latter coincident with the beginning of the next pulse or
beat. When thus used, both words are terms of ear.

_Beat_

One of these words, Beat, is also in universal use, meaning
one of a series of physical motions by means of which a
conductor holds his group of performers to a uniform movement.

When thus used it becomes a term of eye.

The conductor's baton, if it is to be authoritative, cannot
wander about through the whole duration of the pulse but must
move quickly to a point of comparative repose, remaining until
just before the arrival of the next pulse when it again makes
a rapid swing, finishing coincidently with the initial tone
(or silence) of the new pulse.

Thus it is practically the end of the conductor's beat that
marks the beginning of the pulse.

The Committee is of opinion that Beat might preferably be used
as indicating the outward sign.

_Beat-Note_

This term "beat-note" is already in use in another important
connection (see Terminology Report, 1911) and the Committee
recommends that those using the above terms shall say: "This
note is an on-the-beat note; this one is an after-the-beat
note; this one a before-the-beat note."

DEFINITIONS

_Matters of Ear_

Pulse: The unit of movement in music, one of a series of
regularly recurring throbs or impulses.

Measure: A group of pulses.

Pulse-Group: Two or more tones grouped within the pulse.

_Matters of Eye_

Beat: One of a series of conventional movements made by the
conductor. This might include any unconventional motion which
served to mark the movement of the music, whether made by
conductor, performer or auditor.

Beat-Note: A note of the denomination indicated by the
measure-sign as the unit of note-value in a given measure.

_Example_

Given the following measure-signs: 2-4, 2-2, 2-8, quarter,
half, or eighth notes, respectively, are beat-notes.

Beat-Group: A group of notes or notes and rests, of smaller
denomination than the beat-note which represents a full beat
from beginning to end and is equal in value to the beat-note.
(A beat-group may begin with a rest.)

On-the-Beat Note (or rest): Any note (or rest) ranging in
value from a full beat down, which calls for musical action
(or inaction) synchronously with the conductor's beat.

After-the-Beat Note: Any note in a beat-group which indicates
that a tone is to be sounded after the beginning, and before
or at the middle of the pulse.

Before-the-Beat Note: Any note in a beat-group which indicates
that a tone is to be sounded after the middle of the pulse.

To illustrate terminology and to differentiate between Pulse
and Beat as terms, respectively of ear and eye, the following
is submitted:

Whenever a brief tone involves the musical idea of
syncopation, it may be regarded as an after-the-pulse tone and
the note that calls for it as an after-the-beat note; when it
involves the idea of anticipation or preparation it may be
regarded as a before-the-pulse tone, and the note that calls
for it, as a before-the-beat note.

_Measure and Meter_

"What is the measure-sign?"

"What is the meter-signature?"

These two words are used synonymously, and one of them is
unnecessary. The Committee recommends that Measure be retained
and used. Meter has its use in connection with hymns.

* * * * *

The author does not find it possible at present to agree with all the recommendations made in the above report, but the summary is printed in full for the sake of completeness.

The Music Teacher's National Association has also interested itself mildly in the subject of terminology reform, and at its meeting in Washington, D.C., in 1908, Professor Waldo S. Pratt gave his address as president of the Association on the subject "System and Precision in Musical Speech." This address interested the members of the Association to such an extent that Professor Pratt was asked to act as a committee whose purpose it should be to look into the matter of reforms necessary in music terminology and report at a later session. In 1910 Professor Pratt read a report in which he advocated the idea of making some changes in music nomenclature, but took the ground that the subject is too comprehensive to be mastered in the short time that can be given to it by a committee, and that it is therefore impossible to recommend specific changes. He also took occasion to remark that one difficulty in the whole matter of terminology is that many terms and expressions are used _colloquially_ and that such use although usually not scientific, is often not distinctly harmful and is not of sufficient importance to cause undue excitement on the part of reformers. Quoting from the report at this point:--"A great deal of confusion is more apparent than real between _note_ and _tone_, between _step_ and _degree_, between _key_ and _tonality_. No practical harm is done by speaking of the _first note_ of a piece when really _first tone_ would be more accurate. To say that a piece is written _in the key of B[flat]_ is more convenient than to say that it is written in the _tonality of which B[flat] is the tonic_. The truth is that some of the niceties of expression upon which insistence is occasionally laid are merely fussy, not because they have not some sort of reason, but because they fail to take into account the practical difference between colloquial or off-hand speech and the diction of a scientific treatise. This is said without forgetting that colloquialism always needs watching and that some people form the habit of being careless or positively uncouth as if it were a mark of high artistic genius."

Professor Pratt's report is thus seen to be philosophic rather than constructive, and terminology reform will undoubtedly make more immediate progress through the efforts of the N.E.A. Committee with its specific recommendations (even though these are sometimes admittedly _fussy_) than through the policy of the M.T.N.A. of waiting for some one to get time to take up the subject in a scholarly way. Nevertheless the philosophic view is sometimes badly needed, especially when the spirit of reform becomes too rabid and attaches too great importance to trifles. A judicious intermingling of the two committees in a series of joint meetings would undoubtedly result in mutual helpfulness, and possibly also in a more tangible and convincing statement of principles than has yet been formulated by either.