Chapter II: Musical Education

The following passages give a lively picture of what a music-master might have to put up with from young ladies of quality.

_Shrew._ II, i, 142. Re-enter HORTENSIO with his head broken.

_Bap._ How now, my friend? why dost thou look so pale?

_Hor._ For fear, I promise you, if I look pale.

_Bap._ What, will my daughter [Kate] prove a good musician?

_Hor._ I think, she'll sooner prove a soldier:
Iron may hold her, but never _lutes_.

_Bap._ Why, then thou canst not _break her_ to the lute?

_Hor._ Why, no, for _she hath broke the lute to me_.
I did but tell her she _mistook her frets_,
And bow'd her hand to _teach her fingering_,
When, with a most impatient, devilish spirit,
"_Frets_ call you these?" quoth she; "I'll _fume_ with them;"
And with that word she struck me on the head,
And _through the instrument my pate made way_;
And there I stood amazed for a while,
_As on a pillory, looking through the lute_,
While she did call me _rascal fiddler_,
And, _twangling Jack_, with twenty such vile terms,
As had she studied to misuse me so.

_Shrew_ II, i, 277.

_Bap._ Why, how now, daughter Katherine? in your _dumps_?

_Shrew._ Act III. i. Hortensio and Lucentio, the sham musical and classical tutors, give a lesson to Bianca. They quarrel which is to start first.

_Lucentio._ _Fiddler, forbear_: you grow too forward, sir.

* * * * *

_Hortensio._ But, wrangling pedant, _this is
The patroness of heavenly harmony_;
Then give me leave to have prerogative,
And _when in music we have spent an hour_,
Your lecture shall have leisure for as much.

_Luc._ Preposterous ass, that never read so far
To know the cause why music was ordained!
Was it not to refresh the mind of man,
_After his studies_, or his usual pain?
Then give me leave to read philosophy,
And _while I pause, serve in your harmony_.

Bianca settles the question, and orders Hortensio (l. 22):

Take you your instrument, _play you the whiles_;
His lecture will be done, _ere you have tun'd_.

_Hor._ You'll leave his lecture, when I am in tune?

_Luc._ _That will be never_: tune your instrument.

Lucentio now goes on with his 'classics'; further on--

_Hor._ [Returning]. Madam, _my instrument's in tune_.

_Bianca._ Let's hear. [_Hor._ plays.] O fie! the _treble jars_.

_Luc._ _Spit in the hole_, man, and tune again.

* * * * *

_Hor._ Madam, _'tis now in tune_.

_Luc._ All but the _base_.

_Hor._ _The base is right_; 'tis the _base knave that jars_.

Hortensio now takes his place, and addresses the classical Lucentio--

L. 58.

_Hor._ You may go walk, and give me leave awhile:
My _lessons_ make no music in _three parts_.

* * * * *

L. 63.

_Hor._ Madam, before you _touch_ the instrument,
To learn the _order of my fingering_,
I must begin with _rudiments_ of art;
To teach you _gamut_ in a briefer sort.

* * * * *

_Bianca._ Why, I am _past my gamut_ long ago.

_Hor._ Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.

The first of these three passages will be quite clear to the reader in the light of the remarks on the lute already made. The second should be read in connection with the name of the doleful dance above mentioned, the Dump. [See Appendix.]

The third quotation contains interesting allusions to the peculiarities of the lute. Lines 22-25 are very naturally accounted for. The lute, having at least eleven strings, took a long time to get into tune. Even our modern violins, with only four strings, want constant attention in this respect; and the lute, therefore, especially in the hands of an amateur, might well get a name for being a troublesome instrument. The reference to the 'treble' and 'bass' strings (_i.e._, the 1st and 6th) has been explained before. 'Spit in the hole, man,' Lucentio's very rude advice to Hortensio, will direct our attention to the variously shaped 'holes' which were made in the belly of all stringed instruments to let out the sound. On the lute, this hole was commonly a circular opening, not clearly cut out, but fretted in a circle of small holes with a star in the middle. But this was not the only way. A lute in South Kensington Museum has _three_ round holes, placed in an oblique line, nearly at the bottom of the instrument.[14] The holes on the viol were generally in the form of crescents, and were put one on each side of the bridge. On the modern violins, as everybody has seen, they are in the shape of , and are known as '_f_' holes.

[Footnote 14: See Frontispiece.]

Line 59, about 'lessons in three parts,' is of interest. Primarily, it is another form of 'Two's company, three is none'--but its musical meaning is very plainly present. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was very common to call the pieces of music in any volume for an instrument by the name 'Lessons.' The first meaning, of course, was that they were examples for the pupil in music, but the word was used quite freely with the purely general signification of 'Pieces' or 'Movements.'

One more word deserves remark--viz., 'to touch,' in line 63. This is used technically, and means strictly 'to play' on the instrument. The word comes both in meaning and form from Ital., _toccare_.

_Toccata_ was a common word for a Prelude (often extempore), intended as a kind of introduction to two or three more formal movements. The Italian for a peal of bells is _tocco di campana_, and we have the word in English under the form _tocsin_, an alarm bell. The trumpet-call known as 'Tucket,' which occurs seven times in the stage directions of six Shakespeare plays, and is also found once in the text (_Henry V._ IV, ii, 35), also is derived from _toccare_. Similarly with the German 'Tusch,' a flourish of trumpets and other brass instruments, which may be heard under that name to the present day.

The next passage confirms Morley's account of the high estimation in which music was held as a part of a liberal education. Baptista evidently considers 'good bringing up' to include 'music, instruments, and poetry.' Moreover, the visiting master was to be well paid,--'to cunning men I will be very kind.'

_Shrew_ I, i, 81.

_Bianca._ Sir to your pleasure humbly I subscribe:
My books, and _instruments_, shall be my company,
On them to look, and _practise by myself_.

* * * * *

_Baptista_ (To Hortensio and Gremio).
Go in, Bianca. [_Exit_ Bianca].
And for I know, she taketh most delight
In _music_, _instruments_, and _poetry_,
Schoolmasters will I keep within my house,
Fit to instruct her youth.--If you, Hortensio,
Or Signior Gremio, you, know any such,
Refer them hither; for _to cunning men
I will be very kind_, and liberal
To mine own children in _good bringing up_.

We find further on, in the same play, that to bring one's lady-love a music master was thought a handsome compliment.

_Shrew_ I, ii, 170.

_Hortensio._ 'Tis well: and I have met a gentleman,
Hath promis'd me to help me to another,
_A fine musician to instruct our mistress_.

Moreover, in _Pericles_ IV, vi, 185, we find that Marina, daughter of Prince Pericles, can '_sing_, weave, sew, and _dance_.' Also see V, i, 78, where Marina actually does sing, to rouse her father from his melancholy.