THE TEACHING OF DICTATION
So long as the work done in ear-training is in the very elementary
stages the best form of dictation will be:
1. Ear tests, consisting of two to three notes at a time, which should
be written in staff notation as soon as possible.
2. Monotone time tests, which should be quite short, as the constant
repetition of the same note in pitch is irritating to the more sensitive
ears in a class. This point is sometimes overlooked, with the result
that only the less musical children get any real benefit from the tests.
By the time that children can sing at sight in the key of D major they
will be ready to take down from dictation short melodic phrases in time
and tune. A useful plan is for the phrase to be played over three times,
the children listening carefully and beating time. They should then sing
the phrase once through to _lah_, and write it down.
This method of dictation is more satisfactory than that of dictating a
bar at a time, as it draws attention to musical phrases as a whole.
Later on it will be found possible to dictate in the same way longer and
longer phrases. Incidentally the memory is being trained as well as the
ear.
The class should be accustomed to write phrases which do not
necessarily begin on the first beat of the bar. The handwriting, exact
position of accidentals, &c., should be carefully watched. With young
children it is well to use manuscript books which have the lines ruled
very widely apart--a little child's hand soon gets cramped if it is made
to write in an ordinary manuscript book.
When a class can take down simple melodies correctly it is time to begin
two-part work. As a preliminary, get a child to play middle C on the
piano, then to combine with it each of the notes of the scale of C major
in turn. The class will decide which of these two-part chords are
pleasant to listen to. Opinion is generally unanimous in favour of the
third, sixth, and octave, which will therefore be the basis of the first
exercises in two-part dictation.
Plenty of practice should be given in isolated examples of these chords,
in more than one key, before the class attempts to combine time with
tune. When they are ready for this, the work should begin with very
simple phrases, with plenty of repetition to enable them to be quickly
memorized. A later stage introduces the use of passing notes. It is
better to play the exercise through first without these, and when it has
been written and corrected, to play it again, inserting the passing
notes.
Before a class has finished the major keys it should be ready for the
dictation of three-part chords. As the children are accustomed to the
sound of the chord of the third on all degrees of the scale, it will be
a natural experiment to play a particular combination of thirds, thus
arriving at the triad. After this has been played on all degrees of the
scale, the class should be asked to decide which of these chords it will
be well to get to know first. They will remember that the first three
keys in which they learnt to sing were C, G, and F major, and will
therefore suggest that the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords
should be chosen.
At this stage it should be pointed out that all the notes of the scale
are contained in one or other of these chords. This is a seed which, if
well planted, will suggest the first principles of harmonizing melodies
later.
We must now work at the three chords carefully. Begin by making the
class sing them in arpeggio, and in a definite rhythm, so as to get
precision. Each chord should be sung once very slowly, so as to get the
notes correctly, and absolutely in tune; then twice more quickly, so as
to get the feeling of harmony. This step is invaluable in its later
results--a child will often be heard to sing different chords in
arpeggio, when in doubt as to the chords to use in harmonizing a melody.
When the three primary chords are known the others may be added,
together with the dominant seventh and the inversions, in all keys. This
last step must not be hurried. The average class rarely finishes
three-part chords in less than a year, and unless plenty of time is
given difficulties will crop up later, when four-part chords are begun.
It is not enough for children to be trained to listen to the actual
notes of a chord--they must feel the mental effect, in the same way in
which they felt these effects in the case of the notes of the scale.
A later step is to make use of the position of the chord in a
sequence--for instance, the child soon gets to notice that many phrases
end with the progression subdominant, dominant, tonic.
We now come to the consideration of the dictation of four-part chords.
These need not be sung in arpeggio. As a first experiment it will be
necessary to play the chord to the class with each note doubled in turn,
so that they may feel the necessity for doubling the best note.
This experiment is most valuable, as it gets the child away from the
cramping feeling of keeping a rule merely because it is mentioned in a
text-book.
Plenty of phrases with the primary chords in root position must be taken
before the other chords are treated. For at least a year the class will
not be able to _write_ four-part dictation; the time should be spent in
identifying the chords when played.
The chant form is the best for elementary work. It is very simple, and
can be adapted to every sort of sequence. Passing notes, appoggiaturas,
suspensions, &c., should be avoided at first. When the diatonic chords
and their inversions are known the principal modulations should be
studied. It will probably be necessary for the teacher to write her own
tests, as there are very few books of chants published which contain
enough exercises on the use of the easier chords.
The last step in the teaching of dictation is the treatment of what may
be called the 'mixed phrase', i.e. one in the course of which the
number of parts varies. This is the most difficult stage of all, and
will need the utmost patience on the part of the teacher. But by this
time the children will have begun some of the practical work at the
piano described in the chapter on 'The Teaching of Extemporization and
Harmony', and this will help them to recognize easily the drift of the
mixed phrase.