Joseph Friedrich Bernhard Caspar Majer (16 October 1689,

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; 'Swabian Hall'; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the N ...

– 22 May 1768, Schwäbisch Hall), was a German musician from the beginning of the 18th century, a "significant writer" on music in the late Baroque era. He was a singer at

, an organist and

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

at St. Katharina, and author of two books, music methods: *1718, ''Hodegus musicus.'' Teaches singing. A later edition published Schwäbisch Hall by Georg M. Majer, 1741. *1732, ''Museum musicum theoretico-practicum.'' The author advertised on the title page that readers would learn how to thoroughly learn both vocal and instrumental music) (1732). A second edition came out in 1741. His second book was written to acquaint would-be musicians with information to help them learn to play instruments. The instruments included:

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

chalumeau The chalumeau (; ; plural chalumeaux) is a single-reed woodwind instrument of the late baroque and early classical eras. The chalumeau is a folk instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day clarinet. It has a cylindrical bore with ei ...

, transverse

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, 3-keyed

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

cornett The cornett (, ) is a lip-reed wind instrument that dates from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, popular from 1500 to 1650. Although smaller and larger sizes were made in both straight and curved forms, surviving cornetts are most ...

flageolet __NOTOC__ The flageolet is a woodwind instrument and a member of the family of fipple, duct flutes that includes Recorder (musical instrument), recorders and tin whistles. There are two basic forms of the instrument: the French, having four fing ...

, and 2-keyed clarinet, clarion trumpet, tenor and bass

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, alto and quint trombone,

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

, "harp" or

psaltery :''See Rotte (psaltery) for medieval harp psaltery & Ancient Greek harps for earlier psalterion'' A psaltery () (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

viola de gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bowed, fretted, and s ...

and

viola d'amore The viola d'amore (; ) is a 7- or 6- stringed musical instrument with additional sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin. Structure and sound The viola d'amore shar ...

. The book also includes the basics for reading music, a "survey of vocal music and intervals," and a dictionary of musical terms. What made him to be considered a significant writer was the annotations that he made in his personal copy of ''Museum musicum theoreticalo-practicum''. That city reside in the

Württembergische Landesbibliothek The State Library of Württemberg ( or WLB) is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, which traces its history back to the ducal public library of Württemberg founded in 1765. It holds about 4 million volumes and is the fourth-largest library ...

, Stuttgart. Tenor Bass Recorder fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 30.jpg, Tenor Bass Recorder Chalumeau fingering chart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 31.jpg, Chalumeau Transverse flute fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 33.jpg, Transverse flute Bassoon fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 35.jpg, Bassoon Flageolet fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 38.jpg, Flageolet Two-key clarinet Bass Recorder fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 39.jpg, Two-key clarinet Applicatio auf das Clarinett (1).jpg, Two-key clarinet (1) Clarion fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 40.jpg, Clarion Cornett fingering chart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 37.jpg, Fingering chart,

Lute fingerchart, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 66.jpg, Tuning the lute, fretboard Lute, chart of string-note relations, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 67.jpg, Lute, strings, their notes placed Psaltery notes, Museum Musicum Theoretico-Practicum page 72.jpg, Psaltery

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Majer, Joseph Friedrich Bernhard Caspar German writers about music Musicians from Baden-Württemberg German textbook writers