First Tonic Sol-fa publication
The first issue of The Independent Magazine (Jan 1842) contained the earliest explanation of Tonic Sol-fa, John Curwen’s new method for teaching people how to sing based on solmization syllables. This “science of music” was eventually the most popular of competing singing methods and intersected with other schemes to systematize the making and marking of sound, attempts to control the masses, and campaigns to improve morality. Image: Tonic Sol-fa School Modulator and Complete Modulator, Singing for Schools and Congregations, ed. John Curwen, second ed. (London: Ward, 1848) ii. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.