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CHAPTER VIII

NOTATION, SIGHT-READING, ETC.

Most choirmasters, with but two practice-days a week, find themselves too fully occupied to teach the rudiments of music, time and sight-reading to the boys; but it is in the end a longer journey not to attempt it, than to spend a little extra time on these subjects in the first place. Choirboys should understand the (treble clef), the values and shapes of notes and Sip rests, sharps and flats, the staff, lines and spaces, dots, ties, bars, and the marks of expression in common use (a list of which will be found in the next chapter).

Time. The upper figure shows the number of beats in a measure; the lower figure, the kind or value of note. 2/4 3/4 4/4 2/2 3/2. Any upper figure into which 3 goes more than once, is "compound time," having so many groups of three notes 6/8 9/8 12/8 6/4, etc. If these upper figures are divided by 3, the number of beats in a measure is the result. Thus 6/8 divided by 3 gives two beats or groups of three notes each; as three notes always equal one dotted note of the next higher value, 6/8 equals 2 beats of dotted quarternotes, 4 being the next higher value to 8.

Boys should now be made to fill up measures on the blackboard to which various time-signatures have been set, and when singing should beat time, commencing with two in a measure.

Always teach boys to accent the "down-stroke."

A common error in time is to sing soft passages slower than written.

Sight-Reading. The question of sight-reading offers a large field, but the general principle of using easy intervals