Chapter XII: General Hints on Taking a Lesson in Ear-Training

All those who teach ear-training should keep a book in which they write on one side of the page the proposed scheme of work for each lesson, and on the other the actual work done. All sorts of things may happen in the course of the lesson to upset the proposed scheme. The children may find the new work easier, or more difficult than was expected, a question from a child may suddenly reveal a piece of ignorance which necessitates a digression--every teacher is aware of the 'unknown quantities' in class work. Unless the proposed scheme of work is checked by what is done in each lesson, there will be difficulties later.

Again, each lesson must form a definite link between past and future lessons. It is often a temptation to a teacher of initiative to draw attention to a new aspect of the subject, in which she happens to be specially interested at the time, when the previous work is not in a fit state to be left, even for two or three lessons. Something happens to make her realize this, and the new piece of work is hurriedly left--suspended in mid-air, as it were--and is not referred to again until an accident recalls it to her mind. Such teaching certainly has the charm of novelty to a class, but we must remember that one of the faults of childhood is an undue readiness to pass on quickly to learn 'something new' before the previous work is secure.

In taking a lesson the teacher should aim at speaking in her ordinary voice. Inexperienced people sometimes imagine that it is necessary to shout when speaking in a fairly large room. But provided the voice is clear, and the articulation good, a low voice carries just as well as a loud one, and certainly produces a greater sense of repose.

Another fault to avoid is monotony of tone--we need 'modulations' in speaking just as much as in music, and a class is keenly, though often unconsciously, susceptible to this. A change of position is helpful. The voice of the mistress will brighten at once if she comes down from the platform and walks about a little. But she must never turn her back on a class when actually telling them something. Musical people, who have not the same experience in such matters as the ordinary teacher, constantly do this, and will even hide the greater part of a blackboard when pointing to notes of a tune.

In beginning a lesson the maximum effort will be gained if communal work be taken before individual, i.e. sight-singing before dictation, extemporizing, &c. The reason for this is obvious, a certain momentum is thus generated, which is impossible later, when the force has been diffused.

Before a tune is sung at sight the class should analyse it, giving the key, time signature, starting note, modulations, sequences, general construction, &c. Remind the children from time to time that the last sharp in a signature gives the _te_ in a key, the last flat the _fah_; that when modulating to the dominant key the _fe_ of the first key becomes the _te_ of the second, in going from a key to its subdominant _taw_ becomes _fah_, for the relative minor _se_ becomes _te_, and for the relative major _taw_ becomes _soh_. Also that if in a minor key _taw_ occurs in an ascending scale passage, or is taken or left by leap, it is a sign of a modulation to the relative major.

In starting the tune the tonic chord is played, and the teacher beats a whole bar, together with a fraction of the next if the tune begins on an off-beat, before the class takes it up.

Do not _tap_ time when beating: it cultivates a habit of inattention on the part of a class. Nor should the teacher beat time when the class is doing so, unless for a moment, to correct an error. One reason for this is that if the time signature be anything but [2/4] or [6/8], the teacher's arm moves in a different direction in certain beats from that of the class facing her, and this is most confusing.

Never correct a mistake by singing the right note yourself. This would be teaching by imitation--as we teach a bird to sing a tune--not teaching by method.

Remember that we are not aiming at artistic performance in a sight-singing class, so do not hammer away at a tune until the performance of it has reached your ideal. If you do, your aim is 'performance'--not sight-singing.

If a child makes a mistake in dictation, do not tell it what is wrong, unless you are very short of time. Get it to sing the phrase it has written to Sol-fa names--in this way it will find out its own mistake.

In writing notes, either on the blackboard or on manuscript paper, it is not necessary to fill up all the space between the lines, as is done in printed music. If children are allowed to do this, they will spend a long time over their exercises. Teach them to turn all tails of notes _up_ which are written on lines or spaces below the third line, and _down_ for those above. The direction of the tails of notes on the third line itself will depend on the context. These directions refer, of course, to the writing of melodies. It is often necessary to remind even grown-up students that accidentals must be placed _before_ the note affected, not after it; also that a dot after a note which is written on a line must come on the space next above, not on the line itself. Children often forget that the leading note in a minor key invariably carries an accidental.

We must now say a little on the subject of revision. It is a fault of the young teacher that she often entirely neglects this, with the result that her class can only sing accurately at sight, and do dictation in, the last key learned. During the first few lessons in a new key it is certainly inadvisable to give exercises in the preceding ones, as the whole attention must be concentrated on the new tonality. But other keys should be taken at least once in three weeks. An impatient person may say: 'But properly taught children could not forget so soon!' Yet, at times, we are all hazy on almost any subject, but it does not follow that we are either fools, or badly taught: we are simply human! After all, machines get out of order, so why not the most complicated machine of all--the human mind?

Again, it is only the inexperienced teacher who thinks her class has been badly taught by her predecessor. Many a student in training is inclined, after the first lesson with a new class, to come to the distracting conclusion that the children know 'nothing'. This generally means that, after the holidays, the former work needs a little revision before new work is begun.

In taking a fairly advanced class a teacher is often worried because there is not enough time in a single forty-minute lesson a week to touch on all of such subjects as chords, cadences, extemporizing, transposition, &c., in addition to sight-singing and dictation. It is certainly quite impossible to do so, and this is one of the reasons for apparently slow progress. But there is, however, a good side to the difficulty, for such work ought not to be hurried, and it is well to leave a little breathing space between the references to it.

Teachers are sometimes heard to speak with regret of the high spirits of their classes, which lead to restlessness. But we should never regret _force_ in a child, and we must realize that all pent-up force needs a safety-valve. It must be our business to direct such force into safe channels. Keep the children really busy, give them plenty to do, and there will be no cause to regret their vitality.