time, using the proper conductor's beats from the first.

The French time names--_ta_, _ta-té_, &c.--are invaluable in early
stages. They are based on sense impression, and are picked up quickly by
the children. By taking the crotchet as the unit to start with, the
old-fashioned plan of exalting the semibreve, the least used note in
music, to a primary place, is avoided.

If the order given in Somervell's _Fifty Steps in Sight-singing_ be
followed, the question of complicated time will not be forced too early
on the attention of the children. Pupils trained on other systems have
sometimes been found incapable of singing melodies written in
complicated time, even though they can beat time to the notes, giving
the time names, without mistake. The same thing is noticeable in their
instrumental work. This is due to the fact that one side of their
training has been developed at the expense of the other--time at the
expense of pitch. There seems little point in teaching a child such
time-values as

[Illustration: (crotchet tied to first note of a quaver triplet,
followed by four semiquavers and another crotchet)]

when it can only read at sight in the key of C major!

In taking an exercise in sight-singing for the first time with a class
at an elementary stage the following practice has been found beneficial:

1. The children sing the tune straight through at sight, without
stopping, the teacher beating time. Mistakes are then pointed out and
difficult phrases practised.