Three little books of Musical Instruction have just appeared—I- Dr.
Cau.corr's Pianoforte Grammar, arranged by his Son, W. H. CALLCOTT. 2. The Juvenile Pianist, by ANNE RODWELL. 3. Familiar Dialogues on Thorough-bass, by J. JoussE. Treatises on the mere rudiments of music cannot contain any thing new ; and their value must depend on their comparative conciseness, cheapness, and accuracy. The first of the two before us is an abridg- ment of the first part of Dr. Cau.corr's well-known Musical Grammar, arranged in the form of question and answer ; and contains the ele- mentary knowledge necessary for the young pianoforte-player, conveyed in most correct and perspicuous language. The second goes over the same ground ; but the instructress is a great deal too fond of talking, and her language wants precision and accuracy. She says, for instance, that " bars answer the same purpose in music that punctuation does in language ;" a gross error. Bars mark the free in musical prosody; while the effect of punctuation is produced by the various kinds of cadence. .a be explains the word sestrao as being "a composition for six parts ;" and says that a sonata is " an instrumental composition containing many parts." In these definitions the word part is used with different meanings-to the perplexity, of course, of the young student. These two books are nearly equal in price and bulk, the one being 4s., the other 3s. 6d. ; but, CALI.COTT'S has decidedly the advantage.
Mr. Joesos's treatise contains the rudiments of Thorough-bass ; but the author's notions of the principles of harmony are confused and far from sound. He preserves the exploded method and nomenclature of RASIEAU ;-as where he speaks of the chord of the sixth and fifth being formed by the addition of a sixth to the common chord ; and where he calls the second inversion of the dominant by the ridiculous name of the "little sharp sixth." His explanation of discords by anticipation is quite erroneous. lie says-." In chords of retardation, (his phrase for suspension,) the upper part syncopates ; in chords by anticipation, the bass syncopates." This is a distinction of his own snaking. Suspension can take place in the bass as well as in any of the upper parts ; and anticipation is a totally different thing. We cannot complain of the very flimsy way in which Mr. Joesss has treated
is subject, for he could hardly have done otherwise in so small a compass : but strict accuracy and soundfless of principle arc indispen. sable in books of this kind, however brief.
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