signs of expression were at first used only in connection with
instrumental music, but were gradually applied to vocal music also.

Other systems of notation have been invented from time to time in the
course of the last two or three centuries, but in most cases they have
died with their inventors, and in no case has any such system been
accepted with anything even approaching unanimity. The tonic-sol-fa
system[40] is used quite extensively in England for vocal music, but
has gained little ground anywhere else and the chances are that the
present system of notation, with possibly slight additions and
modifications, will remain the standard notation for some time to come
in spite of the attacks that are periodically made upon it on the ground
of cumbersomeness, difficulty in teaching children, etc. The main
characteristics of staff notation may be summed up as follows:

[Footnote 40: The _tonic-sol-fa system_ represents an attempt to invent
a simpler notation to be used by beginners, (especially in the lower
grades of the public schools) and by singers in choral societies who
have never learned to interpret staff notation and who therefore find
some simpler scheme of notation necessary if they are to read music at
all.

In this system the syllables _do_, _re_, _mi_, etc., (in phonetic
spelling) are used, the tone being arrived at in each case, first by
means of a firmly established sense of tonality, and second by
associating each diatonic tone with some universally felt emotional
feeling: thus _do_ is referred to as the _strong_ tone, _mi_ as the
_calm_ one, and _la_ as the _sad_ tone, great emphasis being placed upon
_do_ as the center of the major tonality, and upon _la_ as the center of
the minor. The system is thus seen to have one advantage over staff
notation, viz.: that in presenting it _the teacher is compelled to begin
with a presentation of actual tones_, while in many cases the teacher of
staff notation begins by presenting facts regarding the staff and other
symbols before the pupil knows anything about tone and rhythm as such.

The symbol for each diatonic tone is the initial letter of the syllable
(_i.e._, d for _do_, r for _re_, etc.), the key being indicated by a
letter at the beginning of the composition. The duration-value of tones
is indicated by a system of bars, dots, and spaces, the bar being used
to indicate the strongest pulse of each measure (as in staff notation)
the beats being shown by the