tendance be required during the continuance of the duties of the school, and enforced in the strongest manner.'

It is unnecessary to illustrate the contrast between the last remark and the usual desultory mode in which singing is taught.

*

But the experiment has been tried in this country also. The system was first introduced, in Hartford, Connecticut, during the present summer. Several juvenile choirs were trained in a few months to sing in a manner which surprised and delighted all who heard them, by their accuracy in time and tone of expression. It was introduced into the infant school in that place with equal success, and a distinguished musician who visited it observed, in a letter on the subject, 'I entered upon the examination of the system with some prejudices; but the more I have examined it, the more I am convinced of its superiority over the common method, especially in the simple manner in which the principles of music are presented to the mind of the child. The pupils of the infant school which I visited, after a short period of instruction in rhythm (time) only, surpassed in accuracy of time our ordinary choirs of singing.'

The time allows but a very brief sketch of the mode of teaching music, to which I have referred.

The inductive system of instruction was introduced in Switzerland and Germany at the end of the last century by Pestalozzi, and has been adopted in this country, in reference to some subjects. Early in the present century it was applied to music, in the institution, and under the direction of Pestalozzi, by Pfeiffer and Nageli, who published a manual of instruction on these principles in 1810. This system has since

* Both these experiments were made with disinterested zeal by Mr Ives, now a teacher of music in Philadelphia. A manual of instruction by this gentleman will soon be published, to accompany the Juvenile Lyre, a collection of songs for children, chiefly translated from the works of the Swiss and German composers, prepared by Mr Lowell Mason, President of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston.

been diffused throughout the central portions of Europe, under various forms, and is acknowledged, in its fundamental principles, to be the only true one. These principles are,

1. To teach sounds before signs; to make the child sing before he learns the written notes, or their names.

2. To lead him to observe by hearing and imitating sounds, their resemblances and differences, their agreeable or disagreeable effect, instead of explaining these things to him: in short, to make him active, instead of passive, in learning.

3. In teaching but one thing at a time. Rhythm, melody, expression, are taught and practised separately, before the child is called to the difficult task of attending to all at

once.

4. In making them practise each step of each of these divisions, until they are masters of it, before passing to the next. For example, crotchets must be perfectly familiar in practice, before learning quavers; four notes must be sounded without hesitation, before learning the octave; and the elements learned must be combined in every possible form, before learning new ones.

5. In giving the principles and theory after practice, and as an induction from it.

6. In analyzing and practising the elements of articulate sound, in order to apply them to music.

7. Another peculiarity, which is not, however, essential to the system, is, that the names of the notes correspond to those employed in instrumental music, and are derived from the letters with variations for flats and sharps; a method whose utility is questioned by some, but which is deemed very important by others.

It will perhaps be useful to describe the manner in which these principles are applied. are applied. Instead of presenting a confused collection of mysterious characters, to serve as the mere signals for certain efforts of the voice, the reason and connexion of

which are never explained, and thus leaving the pupil the painful and humbling task of groping his way blindly in the steps of another, he is first called upon to utter a single distinct sound, and then a letter or word. He is told that the one is called a musical tone, for which the note is the sign; and the other an articulate sound, used in speaking, for which letters are the signs. He thus arrives at a simple conception of song, as distinguished from speech. He is then required to increase or diminish the length of the sound two fold or four fold, and learns the appropriate signs for notes of different length. He discovers the importance of some standard of length for these notes, in order that many voices may sound in unison. His attention is called to the manner in which measure is employed to regulate movement in threshing, hammering, marching, &c. He is requested to unite with his companions in marching around the room, in movements of the hands and feet, in pronouncing words and syllables; and is thus easily led to appreciate and to practise the beating of time, an operation usually so mechanical and disagreeable to the novice in music. He is brought, by experiment and example, to perceive the agreeable effect that may be produced by a series of monotonous sounds, from the mere variation of length and accent. This encourages him to that course of practice which is necessary to produce accuracy in measure, and prepares him to make the proper use of melodious sounds.

The next exercise of the pupil is to listen to sounds which differ in their pitch, to exercise his ear in discriminating between the higher and the lower, and then to imitate them. Several series of tones in succession are made in his hearing. He is called upon to decide which is most agreeable, and is gratified with the discovery that he has selected those of the octave, which forms the basis of music in every nation upon earth.

In order to apply the knowledge he has gained, he is now made familiar with the first half of the octave, and learns to understand and practise the combinations of which

these sounds are susceptible, before he proceeds to the second half. A few experiments will teach him the agreeable variations which may be produced in these same sounds, by the aid of emphasis and swell, and to perceive how they may be adapted to the expression of different feelings.

He is next led to perceive the striking difference which may be produced by a slight variation in the interval between some of these notes, and to discover the plaintive character of the minor key, and the peculiar effects of the various scales.

Two notes are next sounded together in his hearing, and then many others in successive pairs. He is called upon to decide which combinations are agreeable and which are disagreeable, and learns, with surprise, that he is pleased with those which all nations have pronounced to be in accord, and that he dislikes those which all have declared to be discords.

At every stage of his progress, the pupil is taught how the variations of sound he is learning may be applied in rendering language more expressive, and poetry more interesting. But this part of the course is equally removed from the ordinary mechanical mode of merely attaching a word to a note, "or the still more objectionable system of obliging children, before they can sing correctly, to repeat the solemn and touching sentiments of psalms and hymns, as mere exercises of voice, in every variety of discord, and without any attention to their meaning. The most simple and childlike language on common subjects is combined with the first notes learned. Words of a more interesting or poetic character are gradually introduced, as the child acquires the skill in music necessary to give them their proper tones and emphasis. Every stanza which he sings, must first be explained and understood. He must be taught to consider in what manner the words and notes must be uttered, in order to show the idea most clearly, and express the feeling most fully, and is thus led to discover the connexion between the ear and the heart. Above all, the explanations must be such as to awaken in him the feeling appropriate to the subject; and he must never be suffered to

employ the language of devotion without being taught its full import, and called upon to use it with corresponding feelings. From all these particulars, he learns, what is vastly more important to his future progress and independence of mind than any accomplishment, that music, like all other sciences, is a collection of facts, and of principles deduced from them, which it is completely in his power to observe, and to verify.

With a method like this, the rising generation may be prepared to occupy their hours of vacancy, to give delight to those around them, and to make the praise of God glorious; while their own views are enlarged, their capacities developed, and themselves trained to habits the most important, and feelings the most elevated.