Intervals, Chords and Ear Training for Young Pianoforte Students

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. It is often noticeable how deficient musicians are in knowledge of their art, and how untrained their ears are in the power to follow intelligently harmonic progressions. Even an accurate knowledge of the more common intervals such as major and minor thirds, augmented fifths, diminished sevenths, etc., is by no means common. Nothing is more valuable to the musician, be he composer teacher, or executant, than some degree of inner hearing, i.e., the power to feel accurately the correspondence between the note, the written symbol, and the outward effect - the sound; so that if one is asked to sing a minor third or a major seventh, it can be easily done; or so that the same intervals may be instantly recognized when played. The author of this little book, feeling that children can't begin too early to have their ears properly trained, has compiled a simple and yet thorough set of exercises and examples in rudi mentary harmony. Far too much attention has hitherto been given to the mere playing of music, whereas a simple study of harmony and the cultivation of the ear should always go hand in hand with the training of the fingers. A faithful use of this book with even very young children who have a natural love for music will greatly broaden their knowledge, and so will raise the standard of musical intelligence among the public at large.