MUSI C.
Instructions for the Pianoforte ; in which the Rudiments of Music are simplified and adapted to the capacities of the youngest Pupils. By JAMES CLARKE. Pupils. By JAMES CLARKE. This work does not differ in any material respect from others of the same kind which have preceded it. The examples are chiefly popular airs, judiciously selected and correctly fingered. Like many elementary works, it fails in precision and clearness when definition is attempted. Take for instance the explanation of Major and Minor Keys. "Every composition is written according to some scale. A scale consists of a principal sound termed the key, and the seven succeeding sounds termi- nating with the octave. The term key is also applied to the whole scale. Every minor key is the relative minor to some major key, being formed from its scale and signified by the same sharps or flats. In minor scales, the sixth and seventh are frequently raised a semitone in ascending," esc. It is obvious that terms are here used of which the pupil can form no adequate or clear notion, unless a master is at hand to explain this explanation ; and in the last definition, that is spoken of as an acci- dental occurrence, which is essential to the ascending minor scale.
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