Begg, Appendix VI.
James Dodson
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No. VI.
INSTRUMENTS NOT NECESSARY IN SINGING.
IT is sometimes alleged by the unenlightened, although it would be no argument even if true, that musical instruments are necessary to sustain the voice in good singing. It might as well be said that bladders are necessary to sustain the body in good swimming. The following high authorities, however, refute this idea.
“The practices, to be profitable, should be made without the help of an instrument, by the voices alone. It is therefore necessary that the leader of a choir or chorus should have a pitch-pipe or tuning-fork in his hand, to recall the singers to the point of divergence when they have flattened in the exercise.”—Treatise on Choir and Chorus Singing, by J. P. Fétis, Chapel Master to the King of the Belgians, &c., &c.; p. 7, footnote.
“From observation, we are led to believe the
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fact, that schools and choirs who have usually, from choice or necessity, practised singing without the aid of any prominent instrument, are more prompt and simultaneous in their performance, and their accent is less mechanical, than is found in those who have been constantly led by some powerful instrument. We have sometimes been led to believe that the doctrine of instruments being designed to sustain voices had become extinct. It is certainly convenient for learners of anything to have some leading-strings, to save them the trouble of exertion or close application. It seems, however, that some individuals or associations have become so dependent that they may be compared to the child who can walk by touching another’s fingers ever so lightly; but, take away the finger, and it falls. So with these singers; take away instruments, and they fall.”—Church Music in America. Boston, 1853. Pp. 136, 37.
DUNN AND WRIGHT, PRINTERS, WEST NILE STREET, GLASGOW.