In beginning a lesson the maximum effort will be gained if communal work
be taken before individual, i.e. sight-singing before dictation,
extemporizing, &c. The reason for this is obvious, a certain momentum is
thus generated, which is impossible later, when the force has been
diffused.

Before a tune is sung at sight the class should analyse it, giving the
key, time signature, starting note, modulations, sequences, general
construction, &c. Remind the children from time to time that the last
sharp in a signature gives the _te_ in a key, the last flat the _fah_;
that when modulating to the dominant key the _fe_ of the first key
becomes the _te_ of the second, in going from a key to its subdominant
_taw_ becomes _fah_, for the relative minor _se_ becomes _te_, and for
the relative major _taw_ becomes _soh_. Also that if in a minor key
_taw_ occurs in an ascending scale passage, or is taken or left by leap,
it is a sign of a modulation to the relative major.

In starting the tune the tonic chord is played, and the teacher beats a
whole bar, together with a fraction of the next if the tune begins on an
off-beat, before the class takes it up.

Do not _tap_ time when beating: it cultivates a habit of inattention on
the part of a class. Nor should the teacher beat time when the class is
doing so, unless for a moment, to correct an error. One reason for this
is that if the time signature be anything but [2/4] or [6/8], the
teacher's arm moves in a different direction in certain beats from that
of the class facing her, and this is most confusing.

Never correct a mistake by singing the right note yourself. This would