7 5 3 1 2 4 6
     E[b] | B[b] | F || C || G | D | A

It should be noted that so far as the positions of the notes on the stave are concerned, the key of A[b] is as easy to sing in as the key of A, D[b] as D, and so on.  This fact is sometimes overlooked, and unnecessary difficulties are created for the children.

It is important for a class to sing at sight fluently in one key before attempting a new one.  Some teachers take keys in groups, and try to teach them all together.  This plan rarely leads to satisfactory results.

Minor Keys.

It is wise to defer the treatment of these until all the major keys have been mastered.  The harmonic form of the scale of C minor should then be taken, the children identifying the two notes new to them as the flattened third and sixth of the scale.  It is a good plan to get them to sing a few melodies from the blackboard which are in C minor, but which bear the signature of C major, the flattened third and sixth being supplied.  This impresses the new notes on the children.

Later on, the correct signature should be evolved by experiment, and the same plan followed for the other keys, before the ‘rule’ for finding the signature is discussed.  The melodic form of the scale can then be taught, and both forms practised to give plenty of freedom in the new tonality.  The various minor keys should then be taken in the same order as that in which the major keys were taken.

It is advisable to limit the work at first to melodies which do not modulate to the relative major.  Later on, when the children are fairly fluent, they can take these.  At first they will have to make use of ‘bridge-notes’ at the modulation, but, with a little practice, they will soon be able to sing at sight to lah.

Part-singing.

Children should not be allowed to sing part-songs until they can sing at sight in parts.  The reason for this is that in the majority of part-songs the under parts are written too low for the child voice, and if they are practised several times in succession, harm is likely to result.  If, on the other hand, the songs can be read at sight, the parts can be interchanged, and the voices of the children do not suffer to the same extent.  The greatest difficulty in teaching part-singing is a moral one:  a child who takes an under part does not like the feeling of some one singing above her.  The voices must be divided carefully for this work—­some teachers prefer to get the balance on the side of the under parts, in order to avoid the feeling that it is necessary to shout in order to be heard!  The ideal plan is to interchange the parts freely at the same lesson.

Exercises should be chosen at first in which the under part starts on a fairly high note and, if possible, before the upper part enters, in order to give confidence.  The under part should also move freely, and should not consist of long holding notes.  Exercises in which the parts cross afford excellent practice.  Good instances of easy exercises are to be found in Nos. 9, 68, 80, 101, &c. in Book III of A Thousand Exercises; also in the many canons to be found in that book.