Smallwood’s Pianoforte Tutor
This piano tutor I think was first published in 1881 by William Smallwood. It is still in print and the copy that I have, although having no publication date looks as if it could be have printed about a century ago. This copy has been printed in Australia and is only authorized for sale in Australia and New Zealand.
According to one quote on the first page “Mr Smallwood may be called the young pianist’s friend’. There are a couple of pages of advertisements for the copy that published the tutor one of which is for Smallwood’s Celebrated 55 Melodious Exercises for the Pianoforte.
The index covers the sixteen areas that are covered in the tutor and some of these are - The Rudiments of Music, Pianoforte Keyboard, Daily Exercises, The Diatonic Scale, Duet, Introductions or Cadences in various keys, major or minor and a Dictionary of Musical Terms.
Smallwood begins by discussing the stave using the language of line and space notes and included in this, are the use of ledger lines. Straight after the recognition of notes, Smallwood introduces the rhythmic patterns along with their corresponding rests. He assumes that those using this tutor to be very able mathematically. Then he covers the position of the notes on the piano using the black keys as a basis.
The preparatory exercises are interesting with their use of the LH being played in the treble clef. Every note is fingered and the hands are played together right from the start. After this the LH does play in the bass clef and Smallwood introduces triple and compound time signatures very early. Triplets are presented on page 12.
After this Smallwood introduces the use of sharps and flats and begins talking about keys used in music. He asks of the player the ability to play similar and contrary motion scales of a number of major keys. Up next is a discussion about the diatonic and minor scales. Following this are a number of religious melodies.
There are a few duets before the introduction of cadences in various major and minor keys. Then he uses some well-known melodies from composers such as Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart and Steibelt. And prior to inserting all of major and minor scales written out Smallwood covers the use of ornaments.
Lastly there is a reference section covering chords, musical terms and a FAQ section. Some of the questions include - what is modulation, what is transposition, for what reason is it called a dominant 7th and so on.
William Smallwood biography
William Smallwood was born in 1831 and was baptized on the 19th June 1831 in Kendal, Westmorland. His father, also William was born in 1802 and his mother Alice, was also born in 1800. In the 1841 Census William is living with his family in Kendal and his father is a flour dealer. He has three sisters, Jane aged 6, Alice aged 5 and Grace aged 2.
In the 1851 Census, William is living with his family in Kendal and is working as an organist. His father is listed as a grocer and woollen weaver and his sister, Jane is a Music teacher.
By the age of fifteen Smallwood had been appointed as the organist at St George’s Church Kendal and by the age of eighteen he was working as a Music teacher according to one biography that I have read.
The 1861 Census sees William living in Kendal working as an organist. His father, now widowed, is working as a linsey worker which I gather is a shortened form of linsey-woolsey, which is cloth made from both linen and wool. Also living in the same household is his sister Alice who is a school mistress and his sister Grace who is a housekeeper.
The 1871 Census reveals that William is now the head of the family in Kendal and his father is now a retired grocer. William’s occupation is listed as Composer and Teacher of Music and Organist. His sister Grace is the housekeeper and they have one female house servant working for them.
In 1881 William is still living in Kendal with his retired grocer and tea dealer father, his sister Grace who is the housekeeper, his nephew John Winder who is a musical student scholar and a female house servant.
In the last Census in 1891 before William’s death, William is living in Kendal with his sister Grace who is the housekeeper, his nephew John Winder who is a Music Teacher and a female house servant. William is working as a Teacher of Music and is the organist at St George’s Church. His father died early in 1884.
John Winder must have inherited the house in Kendal and in the 1901 Census he is living with his mother Jane Winder and his aunt, Grace Smallwood. John Smallwood Winder is living in the same house in the 1911 Census along with his aunt, Grace Smallwood. The house has 13 rooms and there are two female servants to help with the upkeep of the house. John Winder is a Professor of Music and his aunt is living off her own means.
William Smallwood died in Kendal on the 6th August 1897 and probate was granted to his nephews John Smallwood Winder musician and John William Smallwood Metcalfe Professor of Singing on the 24th September 1897. The effects were valued at £5885 16s 2d. He is buried at the Parkside Cemetery in Kendal, Westmorland. His sister Grace died in 1913.
Smallwood was known for his compositions for learners of the piano and was one of the first to fully finger his pieces. This is certainly the case in Smallwood’s Pianoforte tutor although interestingly, in the latter part of the tutor continues providing the fingering for the RH however the LH has little fingering marked in. He also wrote some hymn tunes and many successful anthems.
This comes from The Saleroom website concerning an auction that was conducted in 2005 of some of Smallwood’s papers. It provides an interesting insight into William Smallwood’s life as a composer. It does state that these papers come from a direct descendant which is not strictly true, as Smallwood did not marry. Smallwood (William, Light Music Composer, 1831-97). An archive of sheet music, scrap albums and manuscript ephemera relating to William Smallwood and Smallwood Metcalfe, 19th and early 20th c., including three albumen print cartes-de-visite of William Smallwood, a scrap album of concert programmes and handbills from the concerts he attended, solicitors bills, receipts, etc., a few manuscript scores, a photo. of Henry J. Wood signed and inscribed by him to Smallwood Metcalfe, an album of newspaper cuttings about Metcalfe's Choir, and approx. 100. William Smallwood sheet music items in orig. printed wrappers and five bound vols. William Smallwood was a prolific popular composer of the late 19th century. He was born and lived in Kendal all his life and made a small fortune through the much reprinted 'Smallwood's Pianoforte Tutor'. He also transcribed and arranged for either piano or organ a quantity of music by Mozart, Haydn, etc. This archive comes from a direct descendent and many items bear his ownership signature. (a carton) .
The following is from the Musical Herald, 1st September 1897.
The death of Mr. William Smallwood, the writer and arranger of numerous pianoforte pieces of worldwide popularity, took place on the 6th ult. He was not of advanced age, having died in his sixty-sixth year. The writer was a life-long friend, and mourns his loss with many other musical associates. The end was rather sudden. Mr. Smallwood was recently found to be suffering from diabetes, but improved considerably; a paralytic seizure, however, cut him off instantly. Mr. Smallwood was a native of Kendal in Westmoreland, and came of a family distinguished for musical gifts. His father occupied the position of bandmaster, and was also instructor in singing, whilst his uncles on both sides were well-known instrumentalists and vocalists. He early attracted the attention and received much encouragement from the father of the present writer and others. As a little boy at the Wesleyan chapel he used to play that harsh predecessor of the harmonium, the Seraphine, and often acted as deputy at the organ at various services. Even at seven years of age, he played the flute fairly well, and was a proud boy when he was able, along with his father, to play Nicholson’s Beauties for the Flute, which at that time was one of the first and best series of duets for two flutes extant. When the old chapel was removed, he joined in the valedictory service, and recalled early days thus:— “When the organ was brought to the chapel, a chubby-faced lad, attired in a round-about jacket and wearing a cap upon his curly head, came to play it. There are men now living that compare that modest and clever youth with the most successful composer and arranger of to-day.” “For it is a fact that the most extensively-sold piano instructor, a choice selection of anthems and psalm tunes, and an almost innumerable number of pieces bear the name of William Smallwood, Kendal, the youth that played the first solo upon, and for some years presided with great efficiency at, the organ in the Methodist Chapel.” When fifteen years old, he was appointed organist of St. George’s Church, Kendal, a post that he held for fifty years, resigning it only at Christmas last. His Introduction and March, published by B. Williams, was his first published composition, and it was at once successful. He studied for some time under Dr. Camidge of York, and Mr. H. Phillips, the celebrated baritone, and as a young man always took advantage of his holidays to receive lessons from other eminent musicians in London, or on the Continent. By his eighteenth year, his time was fully occupied as a teacher. He is most widely known as a composer and arranger of pianoforte music for pupils in the earlier stages of their studies, and was the most successful of all his competitors in that particular line; as an instance of this, his pianoforte piece “Fairy Barque” sold in 1873 to Messrs. Brewer for five guineas, was sold for £1,012 at an auction five years later and realised £1,810 10s., when resold by an auction in 1896; by far the highest price ever given for a similar composition. Publishers may find it difficult to fill the place he leaves vacant. Though unambitious, both in melody and harmony his pianoforte compositions are pure in style, and it may be truly said that they “point to higher things, and show the way.” He himself used to sum up his position in the words of one of his publishers: “If you wrote music fully equal to that of Mozart or Beethoven, the public would prefer Mozart and Beethoven, but you prepare the way for the great composers, and the public shows its appreciation by buying what you and I supply.” He was one of the first fully to finger his pieces, and his early efforts, not by any means well-paid, were written to suit the needs of his own pupils. Among his best known arrangements were the series known as “Classics at Home,” “Little Buds,” “Little Footprints,” “Pleasing Themes,” “Choice Melodies,” “Steps Forward,” “Youthful Pleasure,” “Home Treasures,” “Flowers of Melody,” “Ball Room Gems,” &c., besides fantasias on Sullivan’s operas, volumes of exercises, and the very popular pianoforte instructor already referred to. But he did not confine his energies to this special line: his hymn tunes are to be found in many of the collections published during the last forty years; he also wrote many successful anthems, at least one of which, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” was frequently performed by the late Sir John Goss. The day before he died, he had a request from a firm of publishers to write an anthem for the coming Christmas. His own tastes were decidedly classical; he would play a fugue of Bach from memory, and in the spacious drawing-room of the handsome house he built in the suburbs of the town, in conjunction with his nephews, Mr. Smallwood Metcalfe of the Royal College, Mr. J. Smallwood Winder of Kendal, and others, frequently entertained his friends by giving charming performances of the highest class music. He was a genial and generous disposition; his fifty years’ service at St. George’s Church were practically given, as his various subscriptions more than equalled his very small salary. He spared no expense in educating his younger relatives for the positions in life they are destined to occupy, or to give pleasure to his friends. He showed great cheerfulness and buoyancy in all the concerns of life. In the presence of young people he was especially happy, and he took a great interest in them. His connection with Windermere College was maintained from his early days. William Terriss, the actor, was one of his pupils. Mr. Smallwood never married, but was content with the life-long attentions of an amiable and devoted sister. Probably so few dwellers in a somewhat remote country town could boast of so wide a circle of acquaintance amongst the musicians and publishers of the last half of the 19th century, by numbers of whom his comparatively early death at sixty-five will be deeply mourned. Rev. H. V. Banks, preaching at St. George’s Church, referred thus feelingly to his departed fellow worker:— “As fifty years organist of one church he attained a distinguished and almost unique position among organists. The good and time-honoured services which Mr. Smallwood rendered to St. George’s during those fifty years, and the regard in which he generally held is known to all. For the fifty years of his connection with this church, he has lived a quiet, useful, and consistent life, seeking to glorify God by the use of such talents as he possessed, and to serve his day and generation.” “His ability has been given ungrudgingly to the church, and his devotion to duty and punctuality is proverbial. If the finger of the clock pointed to the hour of service to commence and he was not in is place, the probabilities were greater that the clock was wrong than that he was late.” “He spoke but little while on earth. His tongue was not the pen of a ready writer, but with his fingers on the organ keys, as he led the voice of praise, he spoke to the soul of many a worshipper.” The Musical Herald, September 1, 1897, p. 297