TONIC SOLFA. Various attempts have been made at different times to introduce a musical notation in which the staff with its lines and spaces is dispensed with. Jean Jacques Rousseau suggested, but afterward discarded, a notation where the notes of the scale were indicated by the Arabic numerals. A system similar to Rousseau's in its leading features, called the tonic solfa, has, through the influence of its principal pro moter, the rev. John Curwen (who obtained his main principles from the writings and practice of Miss Glover of Norwich), been brought into use to a considerable extent in singing schools in this country. It proceeds on the principle of giving the chief prom- inence to the fact, that there is in reality but one scale in music, which is raised or lowered according to the pitch of the key. The seven notes of the diatonic scale are represented by the solfeggio (q.v.) syllables, or rather Miss Glover's modification of me, fah, soh, te; doh standing for the key-note in whatever In .
ey the music is written. n the early exercises, the pupilsare accustomed to a scale or diagram, called the modulator, representing pictorially the exact intervals of a key, with the semitones in their proper places. In written music, only the initial letters of the solfeggio sylla bles are used—d, r, m, f, a, 1, t ; the higher octaves of a given note being distinguished by a ' above, as d', r' ; and the lower by a , or 2 m,.below, m, 2. The name of the key is prefixed to a tune as its signa ture, as 'key A," "Key B fiat "—the key-note being, in all the major keys, doh. To indicate rhythm, a perpendicular line precedes the stronger or louder accent, a colon : the softer accent, and where neces sary, a shorter perpendicular line I the accent of medium force. Pre paratory to writing the notes, the accent-marks are placed at equal distances along the page—thus, : : or : : : -• . . : orI : I : : I : A note immediately following an accent mar , is supposed to occupy the time from that accent to the next— thus,1 d:d:d d:d:d d, or d:r I m:d. A hori zontal line indicates the continuance of the previous note through another aliquot (the term used by Mr. Curwen for the distance of time between any accent and the next)—thus, d :— d : d. A dot divides an aliquot into equal subdivisions, d : m.r 1 d. A dot after a mark of continuance indicates that the previous note is to be continued
. . . I - .. 1 - . .. .
) Modulator.
through halt that aliquot—thus, I a :-. I m : a. A comma indicates that the note preceding it fills a quarter o the time from one accent to the next—thus, I d : r.m,f I ; a dot and comma together, three-quarters—thus, I f.,m : r.,d. An inverted comma . is used to denote that the note preceding it fills one-third of the time from one accent to the next—thus, : d a : 1,s,f m : r 1 d. An aliquot or part of it unfilled, indicates a rest or pause of the voice. A line below two or more notes signifies that they are to be sung to the same syllable. We subjoin an example of the tonic solfa shown alongside of the ordinary notation: In modulating into a new key, the note from which the transition is taken is indi, sated by a combination of the syllabic name which it has in the old key with that which it has in the new—me lair, for example, being conjoined into m'lah; and in writing this note, the initial letter of its syllable, as a member of the old key, is placed in small size before and above the initial of the syllable of the new, as ml, as. In the case, however, of an accidental, where the transition is but momentary, a sharpened note changes its syllabic vowel into e, and a flattened note into aw, spelled a, as fah, fe; soh, se; te, tea. In the minor mode lah is the key-note; the sharp sixth is called bah, and the sharp seventh se. The signature of the key of A minor is " Key C, minor mode." For a full explanation of this system see Curwen's Grammar of Vocal MILS*, or the periodical called the Sofa Reporter. The advocates of this notation maintain that it possesses advantages over the common system, particularly from the distinctness with it indicates the key-Dote and the position of the semitones; the cheapness with which it is printed; and the manner in which, they say, it develops the proper mental effects of notes in key-relationship, and employs them in teaching. It has, however, been objected to by others, from its withdrawal of the direct indication of pitch to the eye, which exists in the common notation, from its limited applicability to instrumental music, and from its acquirement not being, like that of the ordinary notation, an intro duction to the world of musical literature.