Nevertheless, it was not until after the turn of the century that any real manifestation of this decline was to become apparent. Indeed the growth of tonic sol-fa as a choral singing method in Britain surpassed that of any other choral singing method during the nineteenth century. From modest beginnings and an estimated 2,000 tonic sol-fa-ists in 1853, the movement was able to claim 315,000 followers by 1872 (Curwen and Graham, n.d., pp.21,23) and to spread throughout the British Isles and to far outreaches of the British Empire including the Australian colonies, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada as well as to the United States. It was also introduced by missionaries to their converts in India, Madagascar, China, Japan and the South Sea Islands.
As a school music teaching method, the tonic sol-fa system was officially recognised by the English Education Department in 1860 and by 1891, two-and-a-half million children in Britain were receiving instruction in tonic sol-fa in elementary schools (Curwen and Graham, n.d., p.33). The tonic sol-fa method was also officially adopted by educational authorities overseas, one of the earliest to do so being the Council of Education in the Australian colony of New South Wales in 1867 (Stevens, 1980, p.81).
Two of the principle means that Curwen used to dissimate his Tonic Sol-fa method were firstly the Tonic Sol-fa College and secondly J. Curwen and Sons, Music Publishers. The Tonic Sol-fa College was founded in 1879 as the Tonic Sol-fa School with a building at Forest Gate on the east side of London. During its early years, the Tonic Sol-fa College instituted a system of certificate and diploma examinations (see Figure 4 for an Elementary Tonic Sol-fa Certiticate). In 1944 the College moved to Queensborough Terrace, W 2 and took on the name of' the 'Curwen Memorial College'. More recently the College was reconstituted as the Curwen Institute under the auspices of The John Curwen Society.
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发表于 2016-10-14 07:07:14
