Piano and Song | Page 3

notes, she could not keep time, she always used the
wrong fingers and could not learn it at all. Then I scolded her,--she only
cried; I tried a little coaxing,--that made her cry worse; finally I put an
end to the piano lessons, and she begged me never to begin them again;
and there you have the whole story.
DOMINIE. You certainly might have begun more judiciously. How is
it possible for a child to climb a ladder when not only the lower rounds,
but a great many more, are wanting? Nature makes no leaps, least of all
with children.
FRIEND. But did she not begin to climb the ladder at the bottom?
DOMINIE. By no means. She certainly never was able to reach the top.
I should say, rather, that she tumbled down head foremost. To speak
mildly, she began to climb in the middle; and even then you tried to
chase her up, instead of allowing her, carefully and quietly, to clamber
up one step at a time. Bring me your youngest daughter, Bessie, and I
will show you how I give a first lesson.
DOMINIE. Bessie, can you say your letters after me? so,--c, d, e, f.
BESSIE. c, d, e, f.
DOMINIE. Go on,--g, a, b, c.
BESSIE. g, a, b, c.
DOMINIE. Once more: the first four again, then the next four. That's

right: now all the eight, one after the other, c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c.
BESSIE. c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c.
DOMINIE. (_after repeating this several times_). That's good: now you
see you have learned something already. That is the musical alphabet,
and those are the names of the white keys on the piano-forte. Presently
you shall find them out, and learn to name them yourself. But, first, you
must take notice (I strike the keys in succession with my finger, from
the one-lined c to the highest treble) that these sounds grow higher and
become sharper one after the other; and in this way (I strike the keys
from one-lined c to the lowest bass) you hear that the sounds grow
lower and heavier. The upper half, to the right, is called the treble; the
lower half is the bass. You quite understand now the difference
between the high sharp tones and the low deep ones? Now we will go
on. What you see here, and will learn to play upon, is called the
key-board, consisting of white keys and black ones. You shall presently
learn to give the right names both to the white keys and the black; you
see there are always two black keys and then three black keys together,
all the way up and down the key-board. Now put the fore-finger of your
right hand on the lower one of any of the two black keys that are
together, and let it slip off on to the white key next below it; now you
have found the key called _c_; what is the name of the next key above
it? Say the whole musical alphabet.
BESSIE. c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c.
DOMINIE. Well, then, that key is called d.
BESSIE. Then this one must be e.
DOMINIE. And now comes f. Anywhere on the key-board you can find
f just as easily, if you put your finger on the lowest of any three black
keys that are together, and let it slip off on to the white key next below
it. If you remember where these two keys, f and c, are, both in the treble
and the bass, you can easily find the names of all the other keys. Now
what is the next key above _f_?

BESSIE. g, and then a, b, c.
DOMINIE. Now we will say over several times the names of the keys,
upwards and downwards, and learn to find them skipping about in any
irregular order. At the end of the lesson we will try them over once
more, and before the next lesson you will know the names of all the
white keys. You must practise finding them out by yourself; you can't
make a mistake, if you are careful to remember where the c and the f
are.
I told you that the sounds this way (I strike the keys upward) grow
higher, and this way (I strike them downwards) they grow lower. So
you see no tones are just alike: one is either higher or lower than the
other. Do you hear the difference? Now turn round so as not to see the
keys; I will strike two keys, one after the other; now which is the
highest (the sharpest), the first or the second? (I go on in this way,
gradually touching keys nearer and nearer together; sometimes, in order
to