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S10 ESTABLISHED MUSICAL NOTATION. [X. §113.
intended to be. Unless the vocalist, besides his own 'part' is provided with that of the accompaniment, and possesses some knowledge of Harmony, he canÂnot ascertain how the notes set down for him are related to the key-note and to each other. The extreme inconvenience of this must have become painfully evident to any one who has frequently sung in concerted Music from a single part.
A Bass, we will suppose, after leaving off on F#, is directed to rest thirteen bars, and then come in fortissimo on his high Eb. It is impossible for him to keep the absolute pitch of F in his head during this long interval, which is perhaps occupied by the other voices in modulating into some remote . key ; and his part vouchsafes no indication in what relation the Eb stands to the notes, or chords, imÂmediately preceding it. There remains, then, nothing for him to do but to sing, at a venture, some note at the top of his voice, in the hope that it may prove to be E, though with considerable dread, in the opposite event, of the conspicuous ignominy entailed by a. fortissimo blunder.
The essential requisite for a system of vocal notation therefore is that, whenever it specifies any sound, it shall indicate, in a direct and simple manner, the relation in which that sound stands to its tonic for the time being. A method by which |
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