• Principals of Music on the Knowledge of Notes [introduction to music reading, the staff, and placement of each note on or between the staff lines].
  
  

• Different Scales [the scale as a line of following notes ascending or descending by one step, no leaps. This section includes scale exercises of sustained diatonic notes]: In this section, Vanderhagen provides simple scale exercises, using only diatonic notes, and tone and breath development exercises. These exercises guide the student to play long notes, starting softly and crescendo as the scale ascends, and diminuendo as it descends, all the while focusing on the tone stability.
  
  

• Article 1 – Concerning All the Signs of Which Music is Composed [clefs, and different time divisions/meters]: A topic Vanderhagen covered very thoroughly in this 1799 method is different clefs. Although clarinet parts are only notated G clef, he found it important that the reader would get familiarized with F clef and all four C clefs. By that he proves his claim from the opening paragraph, that he aimed to encourage the beginning musician to acquire a better, and more rounded music education, and not only become a fair instrumentalist. As I discussed in previous chapters, this view was probably encouraged by the rising numbers of amateur musicians, and as an educator, Vanderhagen felt obligated to battle ignorance and mediocrity in the musical culture.
  
  

• Article 2 – Of the Value and the Shape of the Notes [presents diagrams of note lengths].
  
  

• Article 3 – The Dot, Rests, and Combined Rests [explanation regarding the value that the dot adds to the note, the notation of rests).
  
  

• Article 4 – Sharps and Flats + Accidental Signs + Effect of a Sharp and a Flat and the Natural [covers the symbols and intervals by which flats and sharps are added to change the key, or used as accidentals.
  In it he also provided the symbols for double sharps and double flats:                ]
  
  

• Article 5 - Sequence of Signs [introduces the repeat sign and the     , first introduction to articulation – slurs and detachee – and dynamics].
  
  

• Article 6 – On the Number of Sharps [and flats] Which Are Necessary in Each Key, and to Relative Keys + Observation on Article 6: For Knowing the Tonic Note: the article provides a straightforward, concise explanation with little text and many notated examples: The observation, on the contrary, is a long paragraph that I personally found a little clumsy and hard to understand. If I hadn’t been familiar with the subject, I doubt I could follow the description.
  
  

• Article 7 – On the Scale + Intervals + Inversions + Reason for the Function of the Notes Above [A thorough and clear review of the scale and the way it is constructed by five whole tones and two semitones. Also includes a comment about the leading tone in minor scales always being major. He also covers the topic of intervals and their inversions and explains why we call each interval by a certain name]: I particularly appreciated his addressing the “why?” issue, which, in my opinion, points to him being a sensitive and extremely experienced teacher. Vanderhagen's acknowledgment of the reader on that personal level shows that he had the sincerest intention of giving the student all the tools to really understand the discussed topic. This supports his statement in the opening paragraph.
  
  

• Article 8 – What the Intervals are Composed of [a diagram/musical examples that show how many tones and semitones make which interval. Clear and concise].
  
  

• Article 9 – Instruction on What All of the Inverted Intervals of Minor and Major, and the Augmented and Diminished Intervals, Become [Notated examples].
  
  

• Article 10 – Definitions of Italian Terms that are used for Indicating Tempos and Expressive Marking [straightforward and short definitions of basic music terminology]: Interestingly, Vanderhagen suggests the same shortened marking rinf for two different terms with two very different executed results:
  - Rinforzando – to swell the sound suddenly, it is marked rinf.
  - Rinforte – between strong and sweet, rinf or rf.
  
  

• Article 11 – The Measure [Vanderhagen emphasizes the importance of playing in time and suggests that tapping the time gently with the toes and heel can help to keep it (“beating the measure in the shoe”). He also stresses that one should avoid large movements, as they harm the player’s stability and are ungraceful.]: While I support his main argument and solution, I find the way of executing it quite clumsy and distracting. The “beating in the shoe” idea requires each beat in the bar to have a distinct foot motion, which reflects its role in the bar hierarchy.

Chapter IV: Music Theory

    It was not unusual for authors of methods for various instruments to include a chapter that discusses the fundamentals of music theory, rhythms, keys, intervals, etc. Interestingly enough, however, most clarinet methods written during the eighteenth century did not include this type of information at all. It can only be assumed that the reason behind that is that most clarinet players during the first half of the century were already accomplished musicians playing mostly oboe or bassoon and doubling on clarinet or chalumeau if necessary. In this case, there was no need to include a chapter about fundamental music theory, and indeed most early treatises discuss the matters of fingerings, usable range, and transpositions. The first method that has a small section of fundamental theoretical information is The Clarinet Instructor published in London around 1772. In this treatise, the writer shortly discussed note values, and different time signatures (2/4,3/4, 4/4, 6/8…). However, it wasn’t until 1796, with the publication of Fredric Blasius’ Nouvelle Method de Clarinette, that a comprehensive chapter about the basics of music theory was included in a clarinet method.

     Needless to say, Vanderhagen did not discuss music theory in his first method at all. However, when publishing his second edition in 1799, he added a thorough explanation of key themes in music theory. In the opening comments of this book, he explains the reasoning behind his decision:

"I believe that it is very rare that the same author has published two methods for the same instrument, but for two reasons I have decided to do so. The first is the favorable reception that amateurs have deigned to give to my first treatise though it is very short. Second, it has been my desire to make it better. I believe I am obligated further to offer this one to the public as a more perfect and more detailed work containing not only all the principles of the instrument, but also all the elements of music.
I believe that I am also obligated to make beginners able to understand what I want to teach them, what a second [interval], a third, a fourth, a fifth, etc. are and, eventually, whatever enters into the first principles of composition.
I boldly hope then that the students of the fine arts and even the masters who teach them how to play the instrument with which we are concerned here, will be grateful for the care that I have used to perfect this work."1

Thus, in this publication, he dives into this subject, and starts from the very beginning of music reading, while explaining what a staff is, clefs, rhythms and time divisions, keys, scale exercises, etc. He interestingly stresses the importance of the teacher in this learning process, claiming that his fingering chart should only refresh the students’ memory in the absence of a teacher.

Vanderhagen covered in this 1799 edition of his method all the very basic topics a beginning musician should be familiar with. The headers and titles of the subjects discussed are:

As demonstrated, Vanderhagen was extremely thorough in his 1799 edition when it came to covering the basics of music theory, dedicating eleven articles to the subject before even touching the clarinet, and revisiting some of the concepts throughout the book in exercises dedicated to rests, intervals, chords, etc. While in some methods the theoretical section feels, and reads, like a shallow filler, I feel like Vanderhagen truly and sincerely cared to inform his readers.

    Vanderhagen discussed music theory also in his 1819 method. The first thing I noticed in this method as opposed to the previous ones is the way he addressed his reader. While in the earlier publications, he talks in plural, including himself, other musicians, and the beginning student in the same “We”, here he clearly talks to the student in his texts - “You”. This immediately created a more direct approach, yet more distanced – putting him on a different level than the student. I personally have no opinion or preference on the matter, yet found it interesting to point out.2

Back to the 1819 edition, in here the writer first starts his book by introducing the twelve-key clarinet, numbering the keys, and explaining how each key should be employed. Only in Article 7, he starts touching on the basics of music theory. Naturally, much of the information, diagrams, and chapters are similar, or identical to the previous publication. The headers and the titles of the chapters are:

• Article 7 - General principles of music [A short paragraph on the importance of learning to play the scale. He provides a diatonic scale in whole notes, ranging from the lowest e to the highest c’’’’ – adding a comment that the beginning clarinetist should not rush to play the top notes until his embouchure is strong enough.] Interestingly, here again, he makes a mistake regarding the use of key no. 8 (B/F♯). He comments that in order to execute a good B♮ – a notoriously hard note to execute on the 5-key clarinet – the player should use key no. 9. His finger chart indicated that key no. 9 is the Bb/F key, while here he clearly indicates that the key in question is the B/F♯ key (no. 8).3 Considering the number of mistakes regarding this 8^th key, one must wonder just how well familiar, and “fluent” was Vanderhagen himself playing the twelve-key clarinet. This being said considering the fact that he spent the largest part of his career playing, writing for, and teaching the five-key clarinet.
  
  

• Article 8 - Concerning the Value of the Notes, as well as the Rests Which Relate to Them + The Measure + and Rests and Combined Rests [presents side-by-side diagrams of the values of notes, and the values of rests. Also discusses different time signatures, values and notation of rests].
  
  

• Article 9 - Accidental Signs + Effect of a Sharp and a Flat and the Natural.
  
  

• Article 10 - Sequence of Signs [introduces the repeat sign and the    , first introduction to articulation – slurs and detachee – and dynamics].
  
  

• Article 11 - Of the tone [key] with that which is relative to it [concisely sums up the topic of keys and relative keys, while providing a notated example. Also includes an Observation about the order and intervals sharps and flats are added and explains how to find the tonic in minor keys]: I found this explanation, particularly the Observation much clearer than that in the previous method. The notated example helps to demonstrate the concept of the written paragraph by showing the order in which flats and sharps are added. The notated examples allowed Vanderhagen to be less “wordy” and easier to understand. In this regard, this is a major improvement compared to the parallel chapter (Article 6) in the 1799 Nouvelle Method de clarinette.
  
  

• Article 12 - On the tonic and of the leading tone [short and clear paragraphs identical to the one in the previous method (Article 7)] No notated examples provided.
  
  

• Article 13 – On the Scale and on Intervals [Similarly to Article 7 in the previous edition, here the writer concisely explains the structure of the scale, the degrees, and the different intervals]: This article, although just as clear, is not as thorough as its paralleled chapter in the previous book.
  
  

• Article 14 - On the Different Intervals and Their Inversions + Terms Used to Nuance the Sound + The Dot and the Double Dot After the Note and Its Effect [Mostly notated demonstrations of intervals and their inversions. This article also includes short definitions of Italian terms of dynamics, followed by a short eight-bar exercise that includes dynamic markings both in text and symbols. Finally, Vanderhagen combined in this chapter also exercises and notated examples for dotted rhythms].
  
  

• Article 24 - The Measure [once again, Vanderhagen emphasizes the importance of playing in time]: he still uses the term “beating the measure in the shoe”. However, he omitted the use of different foot motions for the different beats and provided a simplified version of lightly tapping each beat with the toes.
  
  

• Article 25 - Terms and Explanation of the different pieces of instrumental music. such as Symphony, Symphony Concertante, Quintetto, Quartour, Trio, Duo, Sonata, and Concerto [Concise and clear definitions].

    In conclusion, and as evident by my previous comments, I believe that the intention behind the theoretical section is different in the two methods - Nouvelle Method de clarinette (1799) and Nouvelle Méthode de Clarinette Moderne à Douze Clés (1819). While in the first one, he wrote with great care and aimed to touch as many basic topics as he thought any musician should be familiar with, I found the latter method more basic and concise. As the explanation and most examples remained similar to the previous installment, the writer omitted the chapter that discussed the very basics of reading music, the one about different clefs, and the definition of Italian terms that indicate tempo and expression.