MUSICAL COMPOSITION

142 MUSICAL COMPOSITIONwith the fashions of a fraction of time. To dress themup in mock antique garments can only make themconspicuous and bizarre. To carry this argument astep further, the melodies of many folk-songs areinherently of the very strongest, and demand proportionatelystrong treatment if due balance is to bepreserved. There is no object in neglecting theresults of the advance which music has made fromthe experience of centuries, when the utilisation of itwill enhance their inherent qualities. A composer ofthe sixteenth century would not have used the styleof Dunstable for such purposes; nor would Stevenson,with his Haydnesque proclivities, serve as a patternfor an arranger of Irish melodies now. There is onlyone golden rule: set them as you feel them, withoutstraining after effects or lopping off modern formulas,if you feel they are natural and appropriate.In all songs carry out the same principle alluded toin a former chapter on writing for the pianoforte incombination with the violin. The voice, like theviolin, is (or should be) trained upon the pure scale.Avoid, therefore, making the accompaniment play thesame successive notes in unison with the voice. It isnot wanted in that capacity if the singer knows hisnotes and his intervals, and to double the melody is tofog it. The accompaniment is a distinct part in itself,and to mix it up with the vocal part means loss ofpower and range to itself. The singer needs all thesupport he can get in order to be able to be independentin his own sphere, but he does not want his stepsto be dogged at every tum, or his imperceptible rubatosto be mechanically defined as he makes them. Noamount of joint rehearsal will ensure perfect combina-