MUSIC.
LINDSAY ON FLUTE-PLAYING*.
IF we were pleased with the former part of the Elements of Kate-Playing, we certainly are not less so with that now beforemis; which we consider as altogether the most scientific, and at the same time the best practical work we have met with on the subject ; no mean praise, when one reflects on the rapid improvement which of late years has been &eructed in this popular and pleasing instrument by the precepts and example of NI c u oes oss, DetouET, WE I ss, and other celebrated flutists of our day. The First Part of this work (as probably our readers may recollect, from our notice of it, or better still, from their own practical acquaintance with it) is chiefly confined to the rudiments of the art,—the choice of an instru- ment ; embouchure ; large or small holes; tone ; tune; time; accentuation (a much more important point than it is considered by amateurs in general) ; the different scales ; and a variety of studies in the easier keys of D, G, C, and F major, together with their relative minors. Part II. opens with a description Of the harmonics, those pleasing and useful auxiliaries to a finished flute-player, and which i1iIr. NICHOLSON had the merit of lasing the first to introduce to public notice. For all practical purposes, indeed, we consider the Preceptive Lessons of that gentleman amply sufficient ; but Mr. LINDSAY is not satisfied with mere practice—he explains to us " the nature and origin of the harmonic tones." He begins at the beginning ; and his exposition of the theory of this part of the subject is at once pleasing and instructive. By the by, if we mistake not, Mr. LINDSAY ill practice goes a step beyond Mr. NICHOL SON himself : we are not sure, for instance, whether that great master would ever play middle G, and A in harmonics at all,—that is, fin- gered as lower C and D,—as shown in Ex. 79, (the Irish air " Aileen Aroon ");—but, upon trying it, we are inclined to think Mr. Lisassay is right ; for in a slow air like this, a greater uniformity of time is preserved, than if the first two notes of the bar were played one way, and the third another. We would, however, ask Mr. LINDSAY, whether he is strictly right in advising the upper D to be fingered as the harmonic of middle G ? We are aware that for rapid passages it may be allowable, and even ad- visable ; but surely, for holding notes it is too flat, and requires the left fore-finger to be raised. We agree with the author wheit, speaking of shakes, he observes that " the perfection of a shake will depend upon the justness of the two intervals in respect of tune ;" and must plead guilty to a wilful adherence to bad habit in this particular. But we are not the only instance of this persistence in error, for many there be besides ourselves
" Who know the right, and yet the wrong pursue."
We .have, for instance, been accustomed to shake the middle E (in the major mode of D) with the fore-finger of the right hand ; thus producing, not F # and E, as required, but a very fiat Si and B; which, played slow, will at once expose the Gothic enormity of the practice. It only shows to what abuses habit can reconcile us.
The article on " Double-topping" is good ; and we quite agree with Mr. LINDSAY, that the objections which have been made to Mr. Ntegtoesost's execution of this method of playing, "have not originated in the fair spirit of criticism." At the same time, we confess that the objections to the tic in too-tie, too-tie, have not been overlooked by us ; and the difficulty, nay the impossibility, of obtaining as dear and powerful a note from the last syl- lable as the first, has always appeared to us very great. To be sure, in very rapid passages, (and it is in these that double-tonguing is cliietly resorted to,) the defects are not so apparent; but slacken the time, and they become ob- vious enough. In fact, the slower such passages are played, the more distinct will be the too, and the more indistinct the tic. Mr. LINDSAY enumerates many other modes of double-tonguing ; as the tu-du—too-ta- tit-ta, and de-re of DROITE T. Now, with deference we say it, to us it appears, that, with the exception of the last (de-re), none of the others can be called double-tonguing at all. Take, for instances, the syllables too-ta, too-ta: this is single-longuing—striking every note singly with the tip of the tongue. We have laboured at it often, but were always glad to get back to too-tie, too-tic. It is a sort of sofa after a long walk.
The student will do well to pay particular attention to what is said on the subject of respiration, which is often grievously mismanaged ; and is pro- ductive of great inconvenience to the performer, besides marring the effect of what he plays, one false step not 'infrequently leading to many more.
Articulation, too, is a point greatly neglected by many players, especially amateurs. As in various other particulars, they are conscious they are wrong, but they do not take the trouble to set themselves right ; so as all the notes be but played, they deem it a matter of no great importance how they are played. But if they are right in this, the author might have saved himself the labour of directing how such and such passages are to be articu- lated. The pupil then knows better than his master, and expression goes for nothing. What a misery it is to have a conceited flip of a fellow with one of NICHOLSON'S Fantasias, or DROCET'S " God save the King" before him, tipping passages that should be shared, slurring those that should be tipped, making abortive attempts at double-tonguing—in short, murdering the piece in detail. We hope that the labour and cost bestowed on these volumes—(and both must have been considerable)—will be amply repaid to their ingenious author. They are admirably got up, and excellent in type, pithier, and exe- cution. There is also, owing to the close, yet perfectly clear manner in which the work is printed, a mass of matter collected in the several pages, which may well put to shame some of our modern fashionable composers and compilers.
* The Elements of Flute-Playing, according to the most approved Principles of Modern Fingering, and the present Advanced State of the Art, By T. Lindsay. Part U.
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