on between the parts and the
whole that baffles so many people, and sends them away from the
concert-room remarking that they cannot understand "classical" music.'

CHAPTER XI

THE TEACHING OF TRANSPOSITION

A great many musical people will not take up the subject of
transposition seriously, because they have no idea of the lines along
which to work. They all agree that the knowledge would be most useful to
them, especially from the point of view of song accompaniment, but the
path seems to be beset by so many difficulties, and the results of their
first attempts are so pitifully small, that they generally give up all
hope, and all effort. Then again, some of the books published on the
subject are not very helpful to the average student. Some of them seem
to start with the assumption that the student is very musical, and can
do a great deal by instinct. They therefore give only the roughest
directions. Others begin sensibly enough, but leave out so many steps in
the work that a student may be forgiven for throwing them aside in
despair.

Now there are three chief reasons why the musician would do well to
study transposition:

1. For the purpose of song accompaniment.

2. As an aid to committing music to memory, especially that written in a
form where different keys are used for the presentment of the same
material.

3. As an infallible test of a sound 'general' musical education.

The last reason is not often advocated, but a little thought will show
that it is impossible for the average student, not specially gifted in
any way, to transpose even an easy piece of music at sight on the piano,
without proving the possession of a trained ear and a knowledge of
practical harmony. For class work with children it can be made a still
more valuable test of progress. For the average child will be quite
unable to transpose a simple ear test--such as _d f m l s t, d_--on the
piano, from one key to another, say a fifth away, without a good deal of
accurate knowledge.

The first exercises in transposition will be very simple--any child of
seven or eight years old, who can sing at sight, and take down ear
tests, in the keys of C and G major, can be expected to do them. They
consist in:

1. Singing any well-known hymn-tune, or simple melody of the Folk Song
type, using the Sol-fa names of the notes. It should be sung phrase by
phrase, until every child in the class is sure of the correct notes.

2. The children