The plan of arrangement used in this book has in view a combination
of the recitation and lecture systems, and affords an opportunity for
teachers to apply the best principles of both. The paragraph headings
should be thoroughly fixed in mind and close attention should be given
to the words in heavy type and Italics that occur in the body of a
paragraph; together they form a convenient outline for the lesson. The
questions at the end of each lesson are to be used to test the pupils’
mastery of the lesson material; all available works of reference should
be consulted for fuller information than the limited space of one book
will admit of, each member of the class preparing one or more abstracts
to be read before the class. The review outlines and suggestions are
to be used in the same way, special attention being given to written
answers such as would be required in an examination.
With a view of furnishing the reader a considerable amount of material
on the _growth_ of music as an art, biographical sketches have
been made short, especially since so many excellent works of that
description are available at a small price. Emphasis has been laid on
the work of the men who developed music, on the influences which shaped
their careers and the permanent value of their contributions to music.
A clear knowledge of how music reached its present state is not to be
had by studying books, biographical and critical; the _works_ of the
composers must be examined, played and sung, compared, analyzed as to
methods of construction (Form) and expression (Melody, Harmony and
Rhythm), so that the student may appreciate the change from simple,
elementary processes to the free, polyphonic style found in the complex
modern piano and orchestral scores. Reference is made to representative
compositions by classical and modern composers, which are part of the
average teaching repertoire. The works of the earlier composers are
not, however, readily accessible, although good examples of the style
of the 16th and 17th centuries are in the cheap editions of Peters,
Litolff, Augener, Breitkopf and Härtel, and Ricordi.
The plan of this book provides for two lessons a week for thirty weeks.
This will occupy a school year and allow time for quizzes, reviews and
examinations. If more time is available, the work may be divided into
four, five or six terms and stress laid on the study of representative
compositions, the preparation of short papers on the suggested topics,
adding, as a feature to interest friends and music lovers generally,
public programs including music.
Musical clubs will find in this book material for several years’
programs, special attention having been given to the lessons on modern
composers and their music, the suggestions as to class-work applying
with equal force to the study classes of clubs. The individual reader
should follow out the suggested historical and biographical parallels
which help so strongly to fix in the mind the periods in which
composers lived.
Lessons III to VI were prepared by Dr. H. A. Clarke, of the University
of Pennsylvania; Lessons VIII to XIV by Mr. Arthur L. Judson, of
Denison University; Lessons XV and XVI by Mr. Preston Ware Orem, Mus.
Bac., of Philadelphia; Lessons XVII to XIX, XXI to XXIII, XXXVII to
XL by Mr. Frederic S. Law, of Philadelphia; Lessons XXV to XXXIII by
Mr. Clarence G. Hamilton, A. M., of Wellesley College; Lessons XLI to
XLVIII by Mr. Edward Burlingame Hill, A. B., of Boston; Lessons L to
LVI by Mr. Arthur Elson, of Boston.