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NGtJTRAL IS POLITICS & R ELIGION—DEVOTED TO ART, SCIENCE, EDUCATION. MORALITY AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF SACRED MUSIC* •y b.f. white, Superintendent. ] SABBATH DAY. —C. ]I. D„ Original, by Wm. M. Howell. Come dearest Lord, and feed thy sheep, Ou this sweet day of rest. Welcome and precious to mv soul, Are these sweet days of love. O, bless this flock, and make this fold Enjoy an heaven y rest. Bt t what a Fabbath shall I keep, When i shall rest above. [for the Organ. CIRCULAR To be read before the Southern Musical Convention, Sept. 1555. BY COLUMBUS HOWARD. We are instructed, in the introduction to the work adopted by our body or in stitution, (viz: the Sacred liarp.) that ‘'‘Music consists of a succession of pleas* ing sounds,” leaving us to infer that a ■succession of unpleasant sounds would not constitute Music. In Older to airive at a moie definite idea ol the component parts ot Music, let us endeavor to ana j lyze the term Sound , or, iti other words, | endeavor to investigate ‘he cause and •effect of Sound. Vibration of the atm os* j phere is generally allowed to be the; cause of Sound. For instance, the ring* 1 ing ol a bell affords an example. The , Bell when struck by its clapper, vibrates, j as we may readily assure ourselves, by j ■touching the fingernail lightly to the bo* j •dy of the bell. Its vibrations agitate the i surrounding atmosphere which yielding I to the pressure, is condensed to a certain j, distance around, in proportion to the force ol the blow that caused the agila tion. The ait thus compressed immedi ately expands, and in doing so, repeats the pressure on the uu nexf iiPcontact | with it, and thus each vibration sends fuith a series ol circles, as it were, ol compressed air, similar iti effect produced on the sui la<r ol a still body of water dtstbtt^by.dropping a substance'; into it, and, like them, always lessening in bulk and lorce. ‘1 he air thus agitated, finally n ache 6 the ear, wl*ere it gives a similar impulse tit aneivous membrane, laud the mind thus receives the impres tion ot Sound. It i unnecessary to enter into the par* licular -qualities and minui ceot Sound, ■other than what relates paiticulatly to the subject upon which we propose to treat, viz: Music, ’lheie is a peculiarity in sounds entirely dependent on the charac ter ot the body soundedI—for 1 —for instance, a blow ii flicted with one substance on ano* ther. or the concussion ol atmosphere produced by a discharge of fire*arms or electricity, ptoducesonly a noise. But il a body be of such a conformation as to produce a succession of sounds of a suffi cient degree ol quickness, a tone is the result —namely, a noise composed of a number of sounds so close upon each other that they bring but one continued result to the ear. The vibrations of the stiings ol musical instruments, also co* Jun ns ol the air itself enclosed in tubes, such as Flutes. Trumpets, &c., are the most common examples of sounds of this kind. Such sounds are called musical. Although our Essay is intended to treat principally upon Vocal Music, still it is necessary to a complete investigation and understanding of the subject, that every one should be conversant with the funda mental principles ol Sound, its mathe matical proportions, details, &c., neces saiy to make Music. Let no one suppose that Music, either Vocal or Instrumental, •can be taught in a few lessons. It is just as difficult to gain a practical knowledge of Music as any other Science ; and, in fact, if anything, it is more so : for while most of other Sciences depend exclusive* !y on intellectual exertion, that of Mu-ic depends on the cultivation ol those (acui ties which can only be brought to perfect tion by a perse vet ing and patient course of practice. The study of Musical Sounds as a branch of Natural Philosophy, is calcula ted to give as much pleasure to the man of Science as Harmony itself can convey to the ears of those who are skilled in its performance —lor it can be proven that the natural character of the several sounds composing Muric bear to each other a relative proportion of mathematical pre cision. In fact, their relation to each other is truly remarkable, while the rela tion of the whole to the human mind must be considered as an interesting proof of that wisdom and harmony always apparent in the creative designs. In order to prove our position, we have only to,notice the following facls : Every TUB ORGAN. . one who has the least knowledge of the ! j cience of Music, knows that there are j but seven primary sounds in Music.— | There are five others that may be pro duced by a practical voice with some dis- > ficulty, but to the uncultivated human voice there aje but seven. ‘These sounds or notes are ot different degrees of shrill ness, one rising above another in regular succession. A person who knows noth ing of Music beyond having heard it per*, formed, will be ready to deny this assers j tion. but it is nevertheless true. The ! | voice may run up into other notes, but J ; all those are mere repetitions of the first’ seven, differing only in shrillness, being ; identical in every other respect. These : seven notes are designated by the first ; seven letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D, E F and G. Let an ordinary piece of } violin string be extended between two 1 ’ | points on a board—it may be made, accors ! j ding to its length and tension, to vibrate ! ’ exactly 240 times in a second. This pro i duces, according to the calculation of ! eminent-musicians, the note C, which is ’the natural Major Key, and is so called j because it is the most natural to the hu- , man voice—or, in other words, it is the i note which a man will find upon trial j that he is most apt to begin losing a tong. The reason of this is, that the membrane at the top ol the wind-pipe vibrates ex- ‘ actly the same number of times in a sec- I ond, producing the same sound. The 1 . equality, in the umber of vibrations is what makes the notes the same, and the effect hatmonious. Let us suppose, for experiment, that the string is forty-five inches in length— that produces 240 vibrations in a second, the note C. This being extended between two points near the surface of a board, the experimenter may place his finger upon ii in the centre, and strike either half, when he will find a much shriller note produced, being, in fact, the first C of anew series of notes —or, in musical pat lance, the octave of the first C, the vibrations in this case being doubled, viz: ‘ 480 in a second. Again, let tis snppose that the siting is I shortened one third, or to 30 inches long. | This will produce the letter G, as in this case tne length of the string is two thirds of the first, so the number of vibrations are one and a halt those of the former, or 360. all the oiliar notes are produced by different lengths ot the string as fol lows : B, 24 inches. 430 vibrations', A, 27, inches. 400 vibrations; F, 32$ inch es, 320 vibrations; E, 36 inches, 300 vibrations; D, 40 inches, 270 vibrations. The reason why we have been thus 1 particular, is to show the curious mathe matical proportions on which the various notes depend, thereby substantiating the 1 position that we have heretofore taken. Takiog C for one, and its octave at one half, we have various lengths of strings (or the intermediate notes in the follow* • ing proportions, viz: for D, 8 9; for E, •4 3; for F, 3-4; for G, 2 3; for A, 35; 1 and forß, 8-15; all of of which propor > lions are exactly reversed with regard to 1 the numbers of vibrations—the shorter 1 the string the greater the number of vi -1 brations. We see by the above scale, that the ’ proportions are not regular. The string ; is first shortened 3 inches, then 4, then ’ 2£, next 3ijf, and so on. Nevertheless, ’ these are the notes most natural to the 5 voice, and which the ear recognizes as beautiful. The string, if shortened at t more regular intervals, would give forth • musical sounds, but not the seven prima i ry notes of music—notes, those peculiar > sounds which all nations recognize as i such, and which nature has manifestly appointed to serve in that character, j Irregular, however, as the proportions t appear, there are some ol the seven notes . i more proportioned to each other than the rest. They are said to be more in har mony with each other, and the effect when they are sung together, is pleasing. ; a note always harmonizes with its octave, i or repeating note above it. This is sup posed to be because the vibrations are as ! two to one. C also harmonizes with G, ’ its fifth, because the vibrations are 2 to 3. Hamilton, Ga. Wednesday, October 17, j Some other notes, if sounded at the same j time with those a third above them, pro duce harmony, which may be accounted , for in the same way, their proportions be ing symmetrical. Thirds, fifths and oc taves are therefore pleasing and harmoni ous sounds, while seponds, forfhs, sixths and sevenths are lessiso. There have been flxperiments made of a veiy curious nature, by those who have examined into the pr mary principals and ! causes of musical sotnds. For instance, a long string ol the Piano Forte or Harp | when struck, the vibrations not only ex j tend along the full length of the string, but it has been ascertained that minor vi brations occur at different distances, cor responding with Ihifds, fifths, &c- Hav ing shown that the science of Music in i its fundamental principles is based upon j rules of mathematical precision, we will I next notice the mode of acquiring a prac tical knowledge of ( ts. The system generally introduced by which to acquire a knowledge of Music have been* made obscure, intricate and (almost unintelligible, by the useless in terposition of a mass of difficulties.— ‘Things in themselves actually plain and simple as the Alphabet, have been envel oped in mystery, and the primary princi ples of the art, notwithstanding their real ! simplicity, have been completely mvsti | fied by mass of technical terms. And this being the c^se, also brought vabout the opposite Alt(I s -frrr science has’ been apparently simplified by 1 , a r eat many methods devised for the purpose of diminishing the labor ol reflection and memory. But there are no by-ways and i short cuts to a knowledge of MuSic, (as we have stated in the foregoing part of these remarks,) any more than to Mathe matics. Like everything else, in order to acquire skill in its practice we must gain a clear knowledge of its principles, and this can only be done by application and perseverence. All that a teacher (can do is to divest the principles of un\ (necessary obscurity, and to present the j rules of practice in their simplest and most comprehensive form—the rest must I be done by the student himself. Although this, to the new beginner, will seem to present an almost insur mountable barrier, it is by no means so difficult as it would at first sight appear; and we have numerous instances where men have overcome all obstacles and ar rived at superlative excellence in musi cal knowledge—for instance, we have an account of Hayden, one of the most cel ebrated musicians the world ever knew, that when he first thought of writing mu sic he could get no one to instruct him. He war consequently thrown upon his own resources. Still he despaired not. He bought an old treatise on Harmony, and devoting himself so the study of it with all zeal, speedily acquired a maste ry of the principles of the art, and ere long became one of its brightest orna ments. Handel composed at nine years of age ; Mozart at six, and several other I eminent musicians wrote music at a very early age. It is true that these were men of extraordinary musical talent; but still the early age at which they wrote serves to prove that the science is not so very abstruce, when it can be compre hended by the mind of a child six years old. There is no station or degree of society in which music may not be cultivated with advantage; and the experience of the present day has shown, and is show ing more and more, that even the classes who earn their daily bread by the sweat of their blow, may find in music a recre ation within their reach, full of innocent enjoyment and pregnant with moral and social benefits. It has been found that the highest pleasures which it can imparl are accessible to the humble as well as to the highest, and that it is to the toil-worn mechanic and laborer that music dispense es its best and dearest blessings Those however, whatever may be their station in society, who are to derive such bene fits from music, must acquire a knowl edge of it as an art—whose principles and rules afford exereise to the intellect, and whose lofty and beautiful productions exalt and purify the mind. There ere many persons without this knowledge that exhibit much sensibility to music, and derive much pleasure from the simple strains in which, taught by nature alone, they give expression to their feelings; and there is no doubt that even to their untutored minds, music such as theirs, is a source of much high er and better enjoyment than the mere gratification of sense. For instance, the negro who chants his rude corn song as he performs his daily labor, seems to les sen his toil; and it is a fact universally known, that the one who is continually singing is always the most cheerful. But it is only, we lepeat, when music has become an art and where its exercise has become invested with the dignity of an intellectual pursuit, that its effects as an instrument of civilization and moral improvement become evident and strik ing- Evident as this has become so the civ ilized world, there are some (and a great many too,) living in the most enlightened portions ol it—yea, even in this glorious land of ours, who are opposed to schools instituted for the purpose of teaching music. They are opposed to teaching that most beautiful and essential branch of it, viz: Sacred Music. We,as creatures of the dust, are emphatically commanded to jiraise by and moreover.’ commanded “ toping? with the spirit and the undfrstandmg" 1 and how can we sing with understanding unless we understand how to sing ? j These persons are actuated perhaps by the same principles which influenced the good people in the year 1714. We are informed that the Rev. John Tuftsin that year published a small work on mu sic, Entitled, “Every plain and easy in troduction to the art of singing Psfoms, Tunes, with Cantos, Trebles of twenty eight Pslam tunes, contrived in such a manner as that the learner may attain the skill of singing them with the great est ease and speed imaginable. Price sixpence, or five shillings a dozen,” Small as this book must haye been to be afforded for sixpence, it was a great novelty—it being’ the first publication of the kind in New England, if not in Am erica. As late as 1700, there was not more than four or five tunes known in many of the congregations in this coun try, and in some, not more than two or three, and even these were sung altogeth er by rote (not note.) These tunes were York, Hackney, St. Mary’s, Windsor, and Martyrs. To publish at this time a book on Music, containing the enormous number of twentyeight tunes, was a dar ing innovation on the old time-honored customs of the country ; and the attempt to teach singing by note, thus commenc ed by Mr. Tufts, was most strenuously resisted for many years by that large class of persons everywhere to be found, j who believe that an old error is better than anew truth. Again. A writer in the New England Chronicle in 1723, thus observes: “Tru ly I have a great jealousy, that if we once begin to sing by rule, the next thing will be to pray by rule and preach by rule, and then comes Popery. How much we have improved in this respect ip the last one hundred and fifty years, we have but to look around and compare the present state ot society with the manner with which it was regarded in those days. Still this is called the age of improvement. Alas ! for the improve- 1 ment in the manner in which congrega tion* join in singing praise to God. Per haps people think it a matter of seconda ry importance, or no importance at all, while every thing else shows the pro gression of the age. But will God, to whom they profess to give thanks and worship for these very blessings and im provements, overlook the carelessnes and indifference with which they treat the most beautiful part of His worship? Let professors of Christianity think of this and ponder it well, for it is not a subject to be lightly passed over. [VOL. 4—NO* 33 ‘ The best system according to our judy* ment tor teachiug Vocal Music, is Wil’ helm’s method, as laid down by Cham* hers in his “ Information for the People.*’ He says, “ Wilhelm’s method has at least two peculiarities—lst, he uses no musical instrument 3d, he makes thorough musicians of his pupils as they proceed— not teaching them merely to imitate the sounds given by the Piano Forte, Flute, or Violin, but he teaches how far the voice is to be raised or lowered from one sound to by actual measurement if such a term may be used. He has based his method on three great principles Ist. That the human voice is the origin ol all music, and therefore the model for every musical insrument known. Experience has proved that if we take any given sound as a foundation and raise our voices by degrees, (to us most natural) we can produce seven dis. tinct sounds, each different from the oth* er, and following each other by a regular and definite succession. It is the aim of all instruments to imitate or nearly as pos sible these seven sounds. 2d. Sympathy of voices in large bodies of people This sympathy has not yet been sufficiently explained, yet the most acceptable of many theoiies on this point, is that of Dr. Arnate, that the vibrations caused in the atmosphere by a large num* ber of voices, has the remarkable effect of bringing all to the same pitch, and what is still more interesting, that all will fol* low or be ied by those that are correct, and never a correct voice y ield to one that is wrong, but maintain its position. 3d. That the study of an art should al ways be arranged on the constructive, or synthetic, not on the analytical method. The constructive method is understood as commencing with the next simple facts, and according to the general, through a series in which every step of the progress is distinctly marked, and which enable? the pupil without straining his faculties to arrive at results which might other/wvsft difficult of Vffiaking die dfWinstrumenthaM|r* ■ jrvefyjpihg utftfer proper yu,ftl an ce to the resources of the learner, he produces that independance of foreign aid so much de sired by all good singers— correcness of jntonation, trme, &c. There is one tiring however, that is very essential to the successful teaching of vocal music, and that is the qualifica tions of the leacher. He should not on ly understand principles but should b 6 himself a good singer, so that when he teaches he could sing with his pupils; they will learn twice as much in a given time as if taught by precept alone. We are fplly convinced that singing can only be taught by singers. The difficulty of learning to sing is greater with some than with others, yet, no one should be discouraged; there are great many persons whose voices both in reading and conversation are musical, highly so; yet they have never learned ro sing, having been early led to believe themselves destitute of the necessary taste and talent. A friend of ours, a plain common sense man, was accustom* ed to say in his peculiar* way, “Any one who can call hogs can sing.” The re mark has truth iu it, even though we should admit a somewhat wide diversity in natural character. Every one can read and speak with more or less accuracy, and of music too. Why cannot every one sing? We have somewhere read of a little girl who seemed to be as destitute of an ear for music as any one, yet her parents being determined that she should sing, contrived to set her a daily example.— This example, though not the most perfect,* aided bj’ the custom of singing in the day school and Sabbath.School, which she at tended, at length wrought a change on her and she became a good singer. If every one would drop the notion that they are destitute of an ear for music, and only try, we have no doubt that most, if not all, would accomplish the desired ret suit. The following story illustrative of the above, we beg leave to give verbatim as translated from a French paper:, I They used to say, “ that every soldier carried in his cartridge box a marshall’s baton.” Might not one say in thefedays, that every chorister carries in his wind pipe a fortune ? Here is one example at “ About thirty years sgo, in a little city of Italy, at Borgame, by a singular con trast the company at the Opera. Mouse was quite indifferent, while the chdnstcrs were excellent; it could scarcely have been otherwise, since the greater* part of them have become distinguished compa* sers. “There was others t sal lime