THE BOY'S VOICE.

THE BOY'S VOICE

A BOOK OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON
THE TRAINING OF BOYS' VOICES
FOR CHURCH CHOIRS, &c.

BY

J. SPENCER CURWEN

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music; President of the Tonic Sol-fa College.

London:

J CURWEN & SONS, 8 & 9 WARWICK LANE, E.C.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER AND SONS.

Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.
1891

LONDON:
J. CURWEN AND SONS, MUSIC-PRINTERS,
PLAISTOW, E.

PREFACE.

The value of this little book, as the reader will soon discover, depends less upon my own work than upon the large number of choirmasters whose experience I have been fortunate enough, directly or indirectly, to lay under contribution. The conditions of the choir-trainer's work vary, in an endless way, according to his surroundings and opportunities. And it is just when work becomes difficult that contrivances and hints are most fruitfully evolved. Hence I have given in great detail the experiences of many correspondents, and some of the most useful suggestions for ordinary church choir work will be found to proceed from writers holding no great appointment, but seeking quietly and unostentatiously to produce good results from poor material.

In view of a second edition, I shall be pleased to receive letters from readers who have further experiences to offer.

J. S. C.

June, 1891.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE HEALTHFULNESS OF SINGING.

The boy's voice, though an immature organ of delicate structure, is capable of much work, providing only that its mechanism be rightly used and not forced. Some people are unnecessarily nervous about boys; as a rule, under competent guidance, they will get nothing but good from vocal work. A cathedral organist wrote to me the other day:—

"Our best solo boy, who has a splendid voice and who sings beautifully, has been unwell, and the Dean and Chapter doctor (who has an idea that every choir-boy should be as robust as a plough-boy) has just stated that the boy is too feeble to remain in the choir. Notwithstanding my remonstrances, the Dean and Chapter decided yesterday to uphold the doctor. I tried his voice last week, and he sang with full, rich tone up to the C above the stave, and that after he had been skating from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. I should have thought that a boy who could skate all day could not be in such a 'feeble' state as represented by the medical man. Three months ago a boy with a beautiful voice was sent away for the same reason. So you see what uphill work it is for me."

It is to be hoped that fastidiousness of this sort is not common. The abuse of the voice may lead, of course, to serious results. In the New York Medical Record of March 21, 1885, p. 317, there is a case recorded of the bursting of a blood vessel through too energetic singing, but this is altogether abnormal, and beyond the scope of our enquiry. The voice, properly used, will last as long as any other organ, and it benefits by exercise. Mr. D. W. Rootham of Bristol, who now at middle age has a strong constitution and a fine baritone voice, tells me that as a boy at Cambridge he sang for seven years at five services every Sunday. The thing seems incredible, and it is an extreme case, though it shows what work the voice, properly managed, will do.

Singing, it should be remembered, promotes health. It does so indirectly by causing cheerfulness, a genial flow of spirits, and the soothing of the nerves. It does so directly by increasing the action of the lungs. So far as these organs are concerned, singing is a more energetic form of speech. As we sing we breathe deeply, bring more air into contact with the lungs, and thus vitalise and purify the blood, giving stimulus to the faculties of digestion and nutrition. A physiologist, in fact, can trace the effects of singing from the lungs into the blood, from the blood into the processes of nutrition, back again into the blood, into the nerves, and finally into the brain, which of all organs is most dependent upon healthful and well-oxygenated blood. Dr. Martin (organist of St. Paul's Cathedral) has had many years' experience in training choir-boys, and he tells me that he has never known a boy to injure his voice, or lose it through singing. It is a question of method; if the voice be used properly it will stand any amount of work. He has seen boys disposed to consumption improve in health after joining the choir. The medical man who declared that if there were more singing there would be less coughing, expressed in a graphic way the healthful influence of vocal practice. Parents and guardians need never hesitate to allow their sons and charges to become choir-boys under proper choirmasters. They may be sure that nothing but good can come of the exercise.

Two cautions only are needed. The first is, not to sing during a cold. When a slight inflammation has attacked the larynx—that is, when a cold has been taken—the vocal cords are thickened, and the act of vocalisation causes them to rub together, which increases the inflammation. If the cold is a bad one—that is, if the inflammation is great—the singer will be compelled to rest, because the congestive swelling of the vocal cords will be so great that they will be unable to vibrate sufficiently to produce tone. But whether slight or great, the cold demands rest. Otherwise permanent injury may be done to the voice.

The second caution relates to the preservation, not of the boy's voice, but of the man's. There is no doubt that it is undesirable for a boy to continue to sing after his voice has shown signs of "breaking." What are the first signs of this change? Choirmasters notice that the middle register becomes weak, without any diminution in the power and quality of the upper notes, but that at the same time the thick register grows stronger, and the boy can strike middle C with firmness. "The striking of middle C," says Mr. G. Bernard Gilbert, "is usually sufficient to decide the point." The tradition of teachers is in favour of rest at this time, and a well-founded public impression counts for a good deal. The fact is that during the time of change not only do the vocal cords lengthen, but they are congested. An inflammatory action, like that which takes place during a cold, is set up. Hence rest is desirable. Nature herself also counsels rest because she reduces the musical value of the voice at this time to a low ebb. It becomes husky and of uncertain intonation. No doubt cases can be quoted of boys who have sung on uninterruptedly and developed into good tenors or basses, but there are cases equally strong in which the man's voice has completely failed after such a course. Sir Morell Mackenzie is the only medical writer who has advocated singing during change of voice, but not even his authority can upset the weight of evidence on the other side.

Nevertheless, on the principle of "hear both sides" I quote the following from a letter by Mr. E. H. Saxton, choirmaster of St. James's church, at Buxton:—

"Upon the question of resting completely from singing during the period of change of voice, I hold that one must be guided by the circumstances of each individual case. I carefully watch each boy when I am expecting the change to commence, and it usually shows itself by the upper thin register giving way. If I cannot immediately spare the boy from the treble part (and good leading boys are not plentiful), I caution him to leave high notes alone, never to force them, and as soon as possible I relegate him to the alto part, where he often remains useful to me for a year or eighteen months. All the time he is singing the alto part I keep watch over him, and forbid his singing as soon as there are indications that the effort is in the slightest degree painful. Generally I find this prohibition to be only necessary for notes above

. [[Listen]] Should a vacancy occur in the senior choir (if the boy shows signs of his voice developing to either tenor or bass) I get him passed from the junior to the senior choir, warning him, however, to be very careful of his high notes, and never to force them. My general experience leads me to the conclusion that it is a most arbitrary and unnecessary rule to lay down that every boy should rest at this time. In some cases it is necessary, no doubt, but my opinion is, after twenty years' practical experience, that in a large number of cases it is cruel, and about as much use with regard to the after-development of the voice as it would be to prohibit speaking. Speaking practically—not scientifically—I hold that the vocal organ is beneficially exercised when singing is allowed in moderation, and within the restricted limits which every choirmaster ought to know how to apply. I have experienced boys who have never rested developing good voices, as well as those who have rested. But I have no experience of boys who have never rested developing bad voices, though I have of those who did rest. I have three boys in one family in my mind now, one of whom had a good alto, the other two good soprano voices. The alto and one soprano never rested, and developed respectively a good tenor and bass. The other rested (through removal to another town), and developed a very indifferent bass."

In spite of this weighty and well-argued statement, my own opinion is that the preponderance of evidence is in favour of rest. It is certainly a new physiological doctrine for a short period of rest to injure or prevent the development of any organ. In short, I cannot see how there can be any disadvantage in a few months' rest, while from the other point of view there can be no musical advantage in the use of an unmusical instrument. As soon as the man's voice shows signs of settlement its practice should gently begin.

CHAPTER II.

MANAGEMENT OF THE BREATH.

Breathing in singing is a matter of the utmost importance. The breath is the motive power, the primary force, to which the larynx and the resonance chamber are but secondary. In speech we can manage with short breathing and half-filled lungs, but in sustaining the sounds of song, we need to breathe deeply, and to breathe in a right way. Manifestly the act of breathing consists of two parts—(1) the drawing in, and (2) the letting out of the breath. When we speak of modes of breathing, however, we refer to the drawing in of the breath. There are three ways of doing this. First, by lowering the diaphragm, and thus compelling the lungs to enlarge and fill the vacant space created. Second, by extending the ribs sideways, causing the lungs to expand laterally. Third, by drawing up the collar-bone and shoulder blades, causing the upper part of the lungs to expand. The third method is bad; the ideal breathing is a combination of the first and second. Upon this athletes as well as singers are agreed. This is the breathing which we practise unconsciously in sleep, or in taking a long sniff at a flower. The musical results of bad breathing are flattening and a hurrying of the time; hence the importance of the matter. Practice may well begin with a few minutes devoted to breathing exercises. Let the boys inhale a long breath through the nose; hold it for a time, and then slowly exhale. Again let them slowly inhale, hold, and exhale quickly, allowing the sides of the chest to collapse. Again, let them, while holding the breath, press it from the lower to the middle, and to the upper part of the chest, and vice versa. During this exercise the body should be in the position of "stand at ease." The spirometer, a useful but rather expensive little instrument, measures accurately lung capacity. These breathing exercises may be followed by practice in holding a single tone for a period just short of exhaustion.

CHAPTER III.

THE ART OF MANAGING CHOIR BOYS.

To some choirmasters the management of their boys is a perfectly easy matter; to others it is a constant source of trouble. Everything depends upon knack. Max O'Rell has some wise maxims on the subject which it may be well to quote. "Face the boys," he says, "or you will be nowhere. Always be lively. Never show your temper: to let the boys see that they can ruffle you is to give them a victory. Allow no chatting. Never over-praise clever boys; never snub dull ones. Never expect any thanks. If a boy laughs at a mistake made by another boy, ask him for the answer immediately, and he will be dumb. If you do not love boys, never become a choir [school] master."

Discipline is preserved by giving the boys seats in the same relative position at rehearsal and in church. There should be a double row of desks in the practice room, provided with a shelf for books, just as in the stalls. If the boys have to hold the books and music in their hands they stoop, and the singing suffers. Each boy should have a copy of the music, and it should bear his number, so that he is personally responsible for its good keeping. Punctuality at rehearsal is important. Let the choirmaster call for order at the exact time, and let the roll be gone over at once. To be unpunctual, or not to register early attendance, is to encourage laxity.

There is no doubt that the long services in many churches are trying to the choir boys. In some churches the morning service lasts two hours and a quarter. It is very hard even for an adult to keep his thoughts from wandering, and his eyes from glancing over the congregation during all this time. How much more hard is it, then, for a boy who is by nature a fidget, and if healthy, brimming over with activity? Nevertheless boys can be trained, if not to control their thoughts, at least to an outward reverence and quietude in harmony with the service. Reproof, if it is needed, is best administered in private. Boys should be paid, if only a small sum; this gives the choirmaster a hold upon them, and enables him to impose fines, if necessary. Payment can be increased for those who take Tonic Sol-fa or other sight-singing certificates, which of course increase their value as choristers. Let it be noted that the voices will carry further if the boys hold up their heads. This caution is especially needed when they are singing in the kneeling posture.

All that can be done to interest the boys in their work by encouraging the social feeling, will be to the advantage of the choir. Their hearts are easily won. An excursion, an evening party once a year are great attractions. Mr. H. B. Roney, of Chicago, advocates a choir guild, and in the choir-room he would have a library, games, puzzles, footballs, bats and balls, Indian clubs, and dumb-bells. He would open and warm the choir-room an hour before each service and rehearsal. To some extent he would let the youngsters govern themselves, and says that the gravity with which they will appoint a judge, a jury, sheriff, prisoner, and witnesses to try a case of infraction of the choir rules, would bring a smile to the face of a graven image. Prizes at Christmas are part of his scheme; these should be awarded for such points as punctuality, progress in music, reverential demeanour, and general excellence.

According to Mr. Sergison, organist of St. Peter's, Eaton Square, London, the choirmaster will have power if he make himself beloved. He should enter into the boys' way of looking at things, and remember that they have deep feelings. The boys should be arranged in classes, each higher class having higher pay, with sundry little privileges. Mr. Sergison says that by putting the boys upon their honour, and treating them well, he has always maintained strict discipline, and has never yet had to resort to corporal punishment. The Rev. E. Husband, of Folkestone, who is an enthusiastic choir-trainer, is strongly of opinion that for vocal purposes working-class boys are better than the sons of gentlemen. He finds that boys of a lower class have richer and fuller voices than those above them in the social scale. I was myself present, not long since, at a concert at Eton College, and although I was greatly struck with the purity of the tone, its volume was thin and somewhat shallow. One reason why working-class boys excel, probably, is that plain food and outdoor life keep the body in the best condition, so that the children of the poor, so long as they are well-nourished, are healthier than the children of the rich. But the working-class boys have also this advantage, that they begin life at four years of age in an Infant School, where they sing every day, and receive systematic Tonic Sol-fa teaching which is continued when they pass into the boys' department. Boys who are trained under governesses and at private preparatory schools often learn no singing at all. It is to be hoped that the diffusion of musical knowledge will make these class-comparisons, from a musical point of view, unnecessary. The choir-boys of Christ Church, Oxford, are all the sons of professional men, but then the choice is a wide one, as they come from all parts of the country.

The precentor of a cathedral writes to me on an important branch of our subject. I sincerely hope that his picture is not one that is generally true:—

"My own experience would suggest that in connection with the training of cathedral choristers the attention of cathedral organists might be very advantageously drawn to the very great importance of efficiency in the art of teaching—of imparting knowledge. The instruction given may be as good as could well be desired, but the manner of imparting it just as bad—such as would be condemned in any well-conducted Public Elementary School. Uncontrolled temper, the cane, boxing of the ears, are matters which go far to prove a teacher very seriously incompetent as a teacher. A cathedral organist is specially exposed to the temptation to hastiness and harshness, owing to the power he possesses. A parent values the position of a chorister for his son, and the organist is tempted soon to take advantage of the parent's unwillingness to withdraw his son. In a parish choir, either voluntary or paid at a very low rate, the exhibition of bad temper or discourtesy in manner is quickly followed, in all probability, by the loss of the offended chorister. Offensive manners on the part of the trainer quickly endanger the existence of the choir. Not so in cathedrals, and the cathedral organist knows this. 'I cannot think why that boy does not sing in tune; I have boxed his ears;' said a cathedral organist once to me quite seriously. This proves, I think, how blind even a highly-trained musician may be to the need for any art in the mode of imparting instruction. I fear there is a vulgar notion (only half defined, most probably) that irascibility in the musical trainer is a mark of genius. I write from experience, having been upwards of a quarter of a century in cathedrals, and a considerable portion of that time precentor."

In conclusion, the custom of throwing a halo of sentiment round choir-boys, and petting them, is much to be deprecated. It has become the custom to write tales and songs about them, in which they are made out to be little angels in disguise. All this is very foolish and harmful. Choir-boys, as a rule, are no better and no worse than other boys. They respond well to wise treatment, but need to be governed by common sense, and to be taught their places. I am myself somewhat to blame for illustrating this book with two pictures of choir boys. It is really inconsistent.

CHAPTER IV.

VOICE TRAINING.

Before commencing to train a voice the choirmaster must make sure that it is a voice worth training. He must take the boy alone, test his voice by singing scales, and try especially his notes in the treble compass, say,

[[Listen]] He must test his ear by playing phrases, and asking the boy to sing them. He must enquire into his theoretical knowledge, if any, and ask if he has had a Tonic Sol-fa or any other systematic training. The ear of the choirmaster must decide upon the voice. It is said by some that boys' voices partake of one or other of two qualities, the flute quality or the oboe quality. They differ, no doubt, in timbre, but these two divisions are not clearly marked. The diagram at the side gives the compass of the registers in boy trebles and altos. The names are those invented by the late John Curwen, and have the advantage of describing the physiological action that goes on. Thus in the Thick Register, the vocal cords vibrate in their whole thickness; in the Thin Register their thin edges alone vibrate; and in the Small Register a small aperture only is made, through which the sound comes. The registers are practically the same as those of women's voices. They may be shown on the staff, thus:—

I give below the staff another set of names which are sometimes used, but different voice-trainers attach to these different meanings.

It is undesirable to tell the boys anything about the registers. The spirit of voice-training at the present time is too analytical. The theory of the registers is for the teacher, not for the pupil. Some voice-trainers seem to think that it is their business to discover the registers, but as far as tone goes it is their business to conceal them. Trainers work better through possessing physiological knowledge, but the end is a smooth and homogeneous voice, blended and well-built.

Roughly speaking, the boys to be rejected are those who through carelessness, excitement, or confirmed habit, force up the thick register while singing. And those to be accepted are the boys who have sufficient reserve and care to turn into the fluty tone at the proper place, whether the music be loud or soft, and whatever be the shape of the melodic passage. The right use of the voice is most likely to come from boys who, whatever their social status, are well brought up, and have been taught to avoid screaming, coarse laughing and bawling, and if possible to speak in a clear way.

Voice studies are of two kinds. First come those which promote the building and setting of the voice. These are generally sung slowly. When the voice is becoming settled exercises for agility may be introduced. Of agility exercises most voice-training books contain plenty. There is a good selection in Mr. Sinclair Dunn's "The Solo Singer's Vade Mecum" (J. Curwen & Sons, price 1s.) and Sir John Stainer has written a set, printed on a card, which is published by Mowbray, Oxford and London, price 6d.

When the system of probationers is at work the voice-building exercises will not be much needed. The little boys will insensibly fall into right habits. They will learn to produce tone as they learnt to speak—by ear. But when a new choir has to be formed, the building exercises are necessary. And the first object of these is to make the boy feel the thin register and strengthen it by use. For this purpose such phrases as these, which leap into the thin register, and quit it by step are the best:—

These exercises should be sung to several vowels, but especially to the sound "koo," which will at first immensely amuse the boys, but will afterwards be found to throw the tone forward towards the teeth in a way that no other sound does.

Pure vowel tone goes with pure and resonant voice. The broad and pure vowels of the Yorkshire dialect have, more than anything else, produced the Yorkshire voices. Hence the choirmaster must make a determined effort to cure provincialisms in so far as they prevent the issue of pure vowel sounds from the mouth. The vowels should be sung in their vocal order as recommended by Mr. Behnke, oo (as in you), o (as in owe), ah (as in Shah), a (as pay), and ee (as in see). These may be taken to slow scales, thus:—

Let the choirmaster watch carefully for impure sounds, and call upon each boy to sing two measures by himself from time to time.

In singing the boy should stand upright and free. He must not lean or bend his body. The mouth must be fairly opened, but not too wide. As the voice ascends the mouth opens wider. The lips must lie lightly on the teeth, and the tongue should lie at rest, just touching the front teeth. If, for the sake of change during a long rehearsal, the boys sit, let it be remembered that there are many ways of sitting, and that the upright posture hinders the breath less than lolling and a crooked posture. Rigidity is the enemy of all good singing. Let the whole body and vocal apparatus be relaxed, and pure tone will result. "If I hear a boy forcing up his voice," said Herr Eglinger, of Basel, to me, "I ask the rest of the class to point him out, and they do it at once." This at once cures the transgressor and sharpens the consciences of the other boys. As to the vowel on which singers should be trained, there are differences of opinion. Maurice Strakosch, the trainer of Patti, Nilsson, &c., used "ha," which causes a slight breath to precede the articulation. This, he said, gives the voice a natural start. It is something like the "koo" of Mrs. Seiler. Learners he required to lower their heads while singing, and to show the upper teeth, so as to keep the lips out of the way of the tone. Mr. Barnicott, a successful choirmaster at Taunton, uses "ka." But as in the actual singing of the English language all the vowels are encountered in turn, it would seem reasonable that they should all be included in the practice.

Mr. Walter Brooks, quoted elsewhere, lays stress upon long-sustained notes in the scale of E flat, and up to G. These expand the lower part of the lungs, and produce steady, firm tone. They should be sung both loud and soft, the boys one by one and together. An admirable plan is to keep boys on the alert listening for faults, asking those not singing, "Whose fault is that?" Jealousy and conceit, says Mr. Brooks, are avoided by giving a solo to three or four boys to sing in unison. Three or four will blend better than two, and after proper rehearsal the tone is so like one voice that people say, "What a beautiful voice that boy has!"

As to balance of parts, the following table is given by Mr. H. B. Roney of Chicago:—

Mr. Stocks Hammond says that during voice exercise the boys should stand perfectly erect, with mouth well open, the shoulders being thrown back. After exercise in slowly inhaling and exhaling the breath, comes the uniting of the registers. This is accomplished by singing up and down the scales of C, D, and E to the syllable "ah." Each tone is taken with decision, and is followed by a slight pause. The same scales are afterwards sung to "oh" and "oo." This exercise should not last longer that ten or fifteen minutes. Staccato scales to "ah!" "oh!" and chromatic passages are introduced later.

Mr. G. Bernard Gilbert, F.C.O., of West Ham Parish Church, is an exceptionally skilled trainer of boys' voices. He meets his boys half-an-hour before each of the Sunday Services and "tunes them up," an admirable plan, which cannot be too widely imitated. The first thing he does in training boys is to teach them to attack and leave sounds with precision, neatness, and proper register or quality of voice. He gives chief attention to the sounds between

Mr. T. H. Collinson, Mus.B., organist of St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, has given me some interesting particulars of the training which his excellent boys undergo. The process of selection is as follows:—(1) Advertisement. (2) Trial of voice, and entry of particulars of school, school standard, father's occupation, &c. (3) Choice of most promising voices. (4) Inspection of homes, as to overcrowding, &c. (5) Appointment of probationers. (6) Full appointment, with religious service of admission by the Dean. The parents engage in writing to retain the child in the choir school until his voice changes, or to the average age of fourteen. The boys are taken at all ages from 9 to 12-½.

"Cultivation of tone, blending of registers, and accuracy of pitch are specially studied, the principal means being as follows:—(1) Mouth-opening (silently). (2) Breathing exercise. (3) Sustained notes piano, each to full length of breath. (4) Piano scales. (5) Simple flexibility exercises, e.g., Sir J. Stainer's card of exercises, published by Mowbray. (6) Crescendo and Diminuendo. (7) Behnke's resonance vowels, oo-o-ah. (8) Behnke's glottis-stroke exercises, oo-o-ah-ai-ee. (9) No accompaniment, except a single note on the pianoforte every three or four bars to test pitch. Where badly flat, a scolding, and going back to try over again. (10) At early morning practice no forte singing is allowed, as a rule.

"By the above means, especially sustained notes and piano scales, flatness is easily avoided, and the registers blend perfectly. A curious local peculiarity has to be specially treated in the junior boys. The Scottish 'u' as in 'gude' (good), 'puir' (poor), 'nü' (new), is identical with the French 'u' in 'tu' or 'Hugo,' and the little fellows sing an amusing exercise like the following:—

You should do two,

on every note of the scale, with special care to protrude the lips to a round whistling shape for the 'oo.' Very oddly they sing a good 'oo' in the falsetto register, and a certain solo boy used to sing Handel's 'How beautiful are the feet' in its first two phrases in alternate Scotch and English, the vinegary 'ü' in the first (low) phrase, and a fine round 'oo' in the higher phrase, where 'beautiful' begins on E flat.

"Raw candidates and ill-taught children generally come minus any register at all above

"Colds and petty hoarseness, interfering with the upper notes, are terribly common in this climate in the class of boys obtained for the choir. A successful soloist at Friday rehearsal may be found incompetent by Sunday, so that all solo work is carefully understudied. A few minutes each day suffice for the purely technical voice exercises. The services are many in number; three on Sunday, two on week-days, and occasional extra services at special seasons. The number of boys is kept up to say 30, and they are worked in divisions to minimise their duties. The boys are educated free, and seniors receive payment. 'I think that boys' voices are much like unto boys' legs—they need daily exercise if they are to be worth anything.'"

Mr. R. H. Saxton, of Buxton, writes:—"My choir boys are almost exclusively drawn from the working class, and the majority of them use the thick register for the speaking voice. I take them at nine years of age, sometimes younger if they can read fairly well, and my first effort is to suppress the thick register altogether in singing. If they were encouraged to use it they would most certainly abuse it by carrying it far beyond its proper range. Soft singing is the only effective plan I know of for removing the tendency to use the thick register. This I insist on in modulator voluntaries and time exercises. The time exercises are always laa'd on or above

"In training the thin register special care must be taken that the Upper Thin is brought out at

"From the first moment a boy comes under my care he is encouraged to take the Tonic Sol-fa certificates, and few leave the choir without having passed the Intermediate. I am of course now speaking of those boys who remain with us till they are no longer of use as boys."

I append an extract from a letter by Mr. J. C. E. Taylor, master of the Boys' National School at Penzance, and choirmaster of St. Mary's Church, which is interesting as showing the extent to which singing by ear can be carried:—

"The children here, as in most Cornish towns, are fond of music, and have a quick ear. I pick my boys from a school of nearly 400. I choose them by the way they read in school. They are generally of Standard V., and between ten and eleven years of age. If younger the Psalms puzzle them. I try a new boy's voice at the choir practice. If he has a sweet tone, and can reach F sharp, however faintly, I accept him, and keep him on probation at the practices. About half-a-dozen are so kept, and the best lad fills any vacancy occurring in the choir. I have no trouble as regards discipline, as a fine, or the knowledge that their places can be instantly filled by the probationers, keeps the choristers well in their places. At the choir practices I begin with running up and down the scales with their voices together, beginning soft, and allowing the voices to increase as the scales ascend, and diminish on descending, but holding on to the top-most notes whilst I play a chord or two on it. Then with a nod of my head they descend. At times one note is given them on which to cres. and dim., for breathing exercise. Not one lad knows his notes except as to their rise and fall and values. They depend on their ear entirely, even in the most difficult fugues."

At this church anthems and settings of the Canticles are sung every Sunday evening. The men are voluntary; the head boys get from 30s. to 40s. a year, the solo boys receiving 3d. or 6d. as an encouragement after rendering a solo or verse part.

In spite of all that can be written on the subject of voice-training, the art is one most difficult to communicate. Some teachers succeed; others fail. A remarkable instance of this came under my notice lately. The headmaster of a school asked me to pay his boys a visit in order, if possible, to discover the reason of the great falling-off in their singing. His previous singing-teacher had brought the boys to a high pitch of excellence. When he left, the singing was placed under the charge of an undermaster, who had for a year or more heard all the singing lessons given by his predecessor, who used the same voice exercises with the same boys in the same room. Surely, one would have thought the results must be the same. But the singing had deteriorated; flattening, and a lifeless manner had overcome the boys. The causes, so far as I could discover, were first that the new teacher wanted the magnetic, enthusiastic way of the old, and second, that he had not so quick an ear for change of register, and allowed the lower mechanism of the voice to be forced up higher than its proper limits.

This chapter focuses a large amount of valuable experience, but amid the many hints which are given, two ways of securing right tone stand out with marked prominence. They are, soft singing, and the downward practice of scales.

CHAPTER V.

INFORMATION ON VOICE-TRAINING, COLLECTED BY THE SALISBURY DIOCESAN CHORAL ASSOCIATION.

I am indebted to the Rev. W. Miles Barnes, rector of Monkton, Dorchester, for the following information, recently obtained by him on the subject of voice-training. It appears that for the information of choir instructors (some 200 in number) in union with the Salisbury Diocesan Choral Association, the advice of precentors and organists of cathedrals was lately sought as to the best way of correcting a very common fault in the singing of country choirs.

The following questions were proposed:

The following are extracts from the replies:—

Rev. F. J. Helmore, Precentor of Canterbury.

I should recommend the practice of the first five notes of the scales of A, B♭, B, and C, piano, taken rather slowly, and then of intervals from G to D, G to E♭, G to E, A to E, &c. &c. After that I would try them with the complete scales of E, F, F♯, and G, fast and forte, thus:—

If no improvement is perceptible, begin again. Practice is the main thing, after a boy has got to understand his faults.

Rev. W. Mann, M.A., Precentor of Bristol.

(1.) I think it almost impossible to remedy the evil you complain of after the boys have been accustomed to sing upper notes from the chest for some time—say one or two years. Our practice here is to secure boys between the ages of 9 and 11, before they have been singing elsewhere, or certainly before they have acquired any faulty tricks of forcing the voice.

(2.) In training boys' voices never allow them to shout. If they commence singing when young they may be taught by scale practice (always singing quietly) to bridge over the break which exists between the chest and head voice. This is an art, and requires experience.

(3.) Speaking generally, I should say that judicious scale practice is the remedy likely to be of most service in the case specified, teaching boys, by singing quietly, to glide the chest voice into the upper register. I recommend the syllable "la" as generally best for the purpose all through the scale. Boys should keep their tongues down, open mouths well, sing not through teeth, &c. &c. I find that boys acquire the cathedral style of singing (with the well-known flute or bell-like tone) chiefly by example. In singing with boys who have already acquired it the younger ones catch the style, just as birds are taught to sing by trained songsters. The untrained rustic can never naturally produce this tone, but much may be done by (1) careful scale practice; (2) strict enforcement of a quiet easy style, and rigid prohibition of shouting, or forcing the voice; (3) the occasional example of trained singers.

Rev. C. Hylton Stewart, Precentor of Chester.

The great thing is not to train boys up through break in the voice, but down through it, and so to coach them that the break becomes imperceptible. The top notes ought to be practised very softly until a good round note is procured. This, however, can seldom be done out of a cathedral, as it requires constant attention.

Rev. W. E. Dickson, Precentor of Ely.

In this Cathedral, and I suppose in every other, the boys have at least one hour of daily practice under the most favourable circumstances of quiet music-room and good pianoforte, and an able teacher. The two orderly services follow with the regularity of a clock, and in these the voices of the boys are balanced and supported by those of adult singers—presumably, good vocalists.

I think you will agree that no practical rules, available by instructors of village choirs, can be founded upon arrangements so far beyond their reach. To describe any "Method" of developing voices under such circumstances would be quite delusive.

A life-long experience in the training of parish choirs would lead me to say that the best approach to true voice production is made when a lady takes charge of the choir, and has the boys to practise at her own house.

To say that all instructors should use unwearied diligence and unfailing patience and kindness in the attempt to get soft singing, is only to repeat a very trite remark.

In schools, the mistake is often made of singing almost all the exercises in the key of C, and commencing all scales with the syllable "Do." In trying candidates for admission to the choir, we constantly find that they have been accustomed to a scale of 13 notes only (one octave) up and down. The scales should begin on all or any of the notes—D♯, B♮, G♭, &c., and the peculiarities of the intervals should be familiarly explained.

A pamphlet might be written. But there is no "Royal road."

J. M. W. Young, Esq., Organist of Lincoln.

The precentor has forwarded your note to me. In answer to your question asking how to prevent the trebles in country choirs from forcing the upper notes, I would suggest that when practising the choir, care should be taken that the trebles are never allowed to sing even the middle notes loud, only mf, and they should be frequently practised to sing piano. If this be attended to, it will, in a great measure, prevent the forcing of the voice on the higher notes, which should never be practised otherwise than softly.

Country choirs nearly always sing twice as loud as they ought to do, consequently the tone becomes harsh and grating, and they invariably sing the upper notes out of tune.

I never allow the Cathedral choristers to practise in a loud tone of voice, yet their voices are rich and mellow, and there is never any want of power when it is required. Any tendency to force the voice is checked at once. It will be found very useful to practise the trebles with the diatonic scale at a moderately quick pace, taking care to sing it smoothly and piano throughout, first to "OO," next to "Oh," and finally to "Ah."

CHAPTER VI.

PRONUNCIATION IN SINGING.

It is impossible to emphasise too strongly the importance of clear pronunciation in singing. The English, as a rule, pronounce indistinctly. "We carry on our talk," says Mr. H. Deacon, "in mere smudges of sound," a graphic and true way of putting things. The Scotch, Welsh, and Americans pronounce better than we do. Indistinctness and bad dialect arise, roughly speaking, from two sources—impure vowels and omitted consonants. The impure vowels are generally due to local habits of speech, such as the London dialect, which makes a colourless mixture of all the vowels. In some parts of Scotland also the vowels are very impure. The voice-training exercises given elsewhere are several of them directed towards the production of good vowel tone, but the danger is lest the power gained in these should not be applied to the actual words encountered in psalm, canticle, anthem, or hymn. A sentence containing all the vowels may be chanted repeatedly on a monotone, but after all the best exercise consists in constant watchfulness against mispronunciation in the ordinary weekly practice.

Man, according to Mr. R. G. White, may be defined as a consonant-using animal. He alone of all animals uses consonants. The cries of animals and of infants are inarticulate. So is the speech of a drunken man, who descends, vocally as well as in other ways, to the level of the beasts. This idea has been expressed in another way, by saying that vowels express the emotional side of speech, and consonants its intellectual side. All these distinctions point to the great importance of a clear enunciation of initial and final consonants, and a clear separation of words. A well-known bishop said to a candidate for ordination, "Before uttering a second word be sure that you have yourself heard the first."

It is of no use to give a list of common errors, because each part of the country has its own bad points of dialect. The choirmaster should take his standard of English from the best preacher and reader he has the chance to hear, and endeavour to conform his boys to it.

But localisms are not the only faults. Boys are very apt to clip their words in chanting, to omit the smaller parts of speech altogether, and to invent new and meaningless sounds of their own. The most familiar parts of the service need frequent and watchful rehearsal to prevent this tendency. Chanting, as a rule, is much too fast, and the eagerness of the boys must be restrained in this direction.

In those rare cases where pronunciation and elocutional phrasing reach a high pitch of excellence, the music of the service makes a double appeal to the heart. It bears not only the charm of sweet sounds, but the eloquence of noble words.

CHAPTER VII.

SINGING BY EAR AND BY NOTE.

Many choirmasters maintain that, considering the short musical life of the choir-boy, it is not worth while to teach him to sing by note. The quickness of boys' ears for music, they say, is astonishing, while their memories are equally good. Between the two faculties—ear and memory—we are told that all things necessary are supplied. The boys, it is said, don't like theory, and it saves time and patience not to have to teach it to them.

I am altogether at issue with this view. I believe theory can be made interesting to boys, especially if the Tonic Sol-fa system is used, and that if they are taught sight-singing the choirmaster saves himself a vast amount of trouble. The after musical doings of the boys should also be considered, and whether they become tenors and basses, or take to an instrument, the power to read music will be a happiness through their whole lives.

The leading anthems, services, and psalters are now published in the Tonic Sol-fa notation, so that boys who have learnt to sing from the letters at school may quickly be put to sing their parts in the church choir. The late Alfred Stone, of Bristol, who used the Tonic Sol-fa notation for his choir boys, found it a great time-saver. So quickly was the service music got through at the weekly practice that there was nearly an hour to spare for singing glees and getting up cantatas. Mr. Stone arranged his boys in two grades. The upper grade all held a Tonic Sol-fa certificate, and they received higher pay than the lower grade. The result of this arrangement was that the lower boys got the upper ones to teach them Tonic Sol-fa in their playtime, and thus saved the choirmaster a great deal of trouble.

A serious disadvantage of the ordinary way of learning to sing from the staff notation is that practice usually begins in, and is for several months confined to key C. For boys' voices this is the most trying of all the keys—the one most likely to lead to bad habits in the use of the registers. The keys for boys to begin in are G and F, where you can get a cadence upon the tonic in the thin register. A German choirmaster, whose choir is greatly celebrated, has sent me a little book of exercises which he uses, and I find that, as in most English publications of a similar kind, there are pages of exercises in key C, before any other key is attempted. In Tonic Sol-fa all keys are equally available from the first.

I have had a wide experience of boys taught on all systems, both in this country and abroad. I have been present, by the courtesy of choirmasters, at rehearsals in all parts of the country. And I have noticed that boys taught by ear, or taught the staff notation by the fixed do, make mistakes which boys trained by Tonic Sol-fa and singing from it, or applying their knowledge of it to the staff notation, could not make. The class of mistake I refer to is that which confuses the place of the semitones in the scale. A sight-singing manual which I picked up the other day says that the whole matter of singing at sight lies in knowing where the semitones come. And from one point of view this is true, but to the Tonic Sol-faist the semitones always come in the same places, i.e., between me and fah, and between te and doh. He has only one scale to learn, and as to modulation, that is accomplished for him by his notation, while the time marks, separating and defining the beats or pulses of the music, make rhythm vividly clear.

If choirmasters wish to save themselves trouble, and get confident attack and good intonation from their boys, they should teach them the Tonic Sol-fa notation, and let them sing from it always. The staff notation they can easily learn later on.

CHAPTER VIII.

FLATTENING, AND SINGING OUT OF TUNE.

The trainer of adult voices has constantly before him the problem of making his pupils sing in tune. With boys this matter is less of a trouble, for this reason. Many adults have fine voices which, if their intonation can be improved, will do great things. Others have incurably bad voices, but possessing the ambition and the means for studying singing, they come under the hands of the professor. In the case of boys, however, there is a preliminary process of selection by which the teacher rejects at the outset any defective ears and voices. The trainer of boys chooses his pupils; adult students of singing, as a rule, choose their teacher.

Even, however, when a good set of boys has been chosen and trained, every choirmaster is troubled from time to time by the evils which I have named at the head of this paper.

What are their causes? Probably no cause is so fruitful as a misuse of the registers of the voice, a straining upwards of the lower register beyond its proper limits. This may be placed in the front as a perpetual cause of bad intonation and loss of pitch. This straining is usually accompanied with loud singing, but boys who have formed this bad habit will not at once sustain the pitch if told to sing softly. Their voices, under these circumstances, will at first prove weak and husky, and will flatten as much with soft singing as they did with loud. A slow process of voice training can alone set them right. But as boys' voices last so short a time this treatment is not worth the trouble. Boys who have fallen into thoroughly bad habits should therefore be dismissed, and a fresh selection made.

Some choirmasters imagine that practice with the organ or the pianoforte will cure flattening and uncertainty. This, however, is not the case. Probably the effort to keep up the pitch which singers make when unaccompanied keeps their minds and throats tense and active, while the consciousness that the instrument is supporting them makes them careless. An instrument reveals loss of pitch, but does not cure it. No good choirmaster rehearses with the organ. A pianoforte, lightly touched, is commonly used, but the teacher should frequently leave his seat, and accustom the choir to go on alone.

It is a mistake to suppose that boys flatten because the music is too high. This is very rarely the case. They are more likely to flatten because it is too low. Boys attack high notes with greater ease than women.

Nervousness will cause a singer who has sung in perfect tune at home to sing sharp or flat at a concert. But nervousness does not greatly trouble boys.

Carelessness will sometimes cause these troubles. The way to cure this is to increase the interest of the rehearsal, to make the boys feel bright, happy, and comfortable.

To mark the breathing places is a good way of preventing flattening, which is often caused by exhausted lungs.

Singing is a mental as well as a physical act, and unless the boy has a clear conception in his mind of the sound of the note he wants, the intonation will be uncertain. Here comes in the Tonic Sol-fa system with its "Mental Effects," which give a recognisable character to each note of the scale, and guide the voice and ear.

Bad voice production, throaty and rigid, must always go with flattening and wavering pitch. The act of singing should be without effort; the muscles of head, neck, and throat should be relaxed. A boy inclined to these faults should be told to smile while singing. The tone will then become natural.

But in spite of all these hints, flattening occurs from time to time in the best trained choirs, and seems to defy the skill of the choirmaster. All agree that a half empty church, a cold church, an ill-ventilated church promotes flattening, and it may be added that certain chants and tunes so hover about the region of the break that they invite false intonation.

Mr. H. A. Donald, headmaster of the Upton Cross Board School, tells me that he has not much flattening, but that when it comes it seems to be beyond control. The discipline of his school is excellent, but on a given day there will come, as it were, a mood over the boys which makes it impossible for them, try as they will, to avoid sinking. Sometimes, but not always, this will happen in warm weather. He has more than once abandoned the singing lesson, and taken up some other study because of it. One day recently the boys were most attentive, and their vexation and disappointment with the flattening was evident. Another day it does not trouble them in the least. This is a school where voice-training is exceptionally well looked after.

Several correspondents have favoured me with experience on this point, and I now proceed to quote their letters. Mr. W. W. Pearson, of Elmham, writes:—

"Ordinary flat singing is the result of want of practice and experience. Chronic flat singing is incurable, as it is due to a defective ear. A new lot of choir boys will be liable to sing flat, and to lower their pitch at any time for the first year or so; but after they have been in training for a considerable time, I never find that there is any inclination to sing flat. The notes most liable to be sung flat are the third and sixth of the scale, or any high note that requires courage and increased effort. One of these, having been sung flat, is taken by the singers as a new departure, and being used as a standard, the pitch is lowered, and all succeeding notes are flat.

"When I first formed my present choir I was very much plagued with flat singing, but I am seldom troubled in that way now, and I think the reason is that a large proportion of the members have been under training for a long time.

"I used to find flattening prevail more in muggy, damp, or cold weather, and in heated rooms. I never allowed the choir to go on in this way, but stopped them at once, making them begin again after singing the scale of the key a few times. This, of course, refers to practice. In church I used to play the organ louder when I heard the pitch going down; or I would put on a powerful solo stop for the melody, and slightly prolong the final note of a cadence, in order that when the choir ceased singing they might hear the difference. When flattening occurred in the concert room I used to stop the accompaniment, which is, I think, about all that can be done under those circumstances. When the choir have been hopelessly bad in a hot practice room I have cured them by bringing them out into a cold room adjoining."

Mr. C. Hibberd, of Bemerton, Salisbury, writes:—

"To prevent flattening I give great attention to the posture, seeing that the boys do not stand carelessly. A careless posture, I think, betokens a careless mind. I am careful not to overtire the children. They sit immediately one piece is finished, and stand immediately I sound the first chord of the next piece. I always start the practice with a few simple voice exercises. When training the choir of a place far away in the country, I spent more time than usual in giving ear exercises (dictation), as well as voice-training exercises. I pay great attention to 'mental effect,' and endeavour to let each boy or girl have a Tonic Sol-fa copy of the music. The syllables recall the mental effect to the mind. There should be no uncertainty as to either time or tune, and both words and notes should be attacked or struck with confidence. I always practise scales downwards, and have as little to do with the harmonium as possible at practice. Boy altos I rarely come across. I tried them once, but found they aided in flattening. We have two men altos here, who sing in a falsetto voice. The boys here have a name for singing well in tune, and they are very willing to do anything to keep up their character."

Mr. Walter Brooks, in a paper in the Monthly Musical Record, expresses the opinion that the 3rd and 7th of the major scale are often sung flat. To cure this, each boy must tune up separately, then all should be tried together. Minor passages are often sung flat. Loss of pitch during service may, he says, be remedied, not by loud organ stops, but by playing the boys' part an octave higher. Sharp singing, which often arises from naturally defective or badly-trained ears, is cured best by checking those who can only sing loudly, and by insisting on piano singing. To put on more organ power makes the loud sharp singing worse.

Herr Eglinger, of Basel, whose qualifications I have referred to elsewhere, considers that flattening is generally due to fatigue. The membranes which produce the voice are not yet strong, and they relax, producing flattening. He works on the principle that children are quickly tired, and quickly rested, and gives the singing in small doses. Unfortunately, in church work the length of the dose is not a matter of choice. He notices, what others have noticed, that when the voices are divided into three parts, it is the middle part that flattens most; this is because it plays about the break. To choirmasters whose boys flatten, Herr Eglinger says:—

"Give rest; require a proper use of the registers; get sharp and exact pronunciation, especially of the consonants; and keep up with a strong hand the attention and interest of the choir."

I close this chapter by printing a short paper on the subject kindly written for me by Mr. W. H. Richardson, formerly trainer of the celebrated Swanley Orphans' Choir, which gave concerts in all parts of the country. Mr. Richardson, while he was at Swanley, obtained results of the most remarkable excellence. At Swanley there was no selection of voices: all were made to sing, and all were individually trained, as well as collectively. "My conviction," says Mr. Richardson, "is that there are no more defective voices than there are eyes and ears." The Rev. W. J. Weekes, late Precentor of Rochester Cathedral, said of the Swanley boys:—

"The smaller boys were first tested—some thirty or forty little fellows, some of them new arrivals. Here the tone, though of course not strong, was pure and sweet, such as would have done credit to cathedral boys after a couple of years' training, and they 'jumped' their intervals most clearly, lighting as full and fairly on the correct note as a bird does on a bough. Thence we moved into the larger schoolroom, where were assembled some hundred older boys, and such a body of sound, so full and pure, so free from throatiness, and so true in intonation as these hundred throats emitted, I certainly never heard from boys' voices before."

In 1885 I took the late Signor Roberti, teacher of singing in the Normal College at Turin, and an Italian composer of eminence, to hear the Swanley boys, and he afterwards wrote to Mr. Richardson:—

"I do not exaggerate in any way by saying that I found there a true perfection in tune and in rhythm, but above all, in what concerns the pure and correct emission of voices, the careful and judicious training of which confers much honour upon you, and I would be happy to see it even partly imitated by the teachers of the so-called Land of Song."

These facts are enough to prove the weight that attaches to Mr. Richardson's utterances:—

"My experience has been that flattening will give the teacher very little trouble after the pupils have been drilled with voice-training exercises, but until the voices are built and strengthened, he will have unpleasant surprises of all kinds. If he would have a reliable choir he must begin, continue, and end with regular voice training based on an undeniably good system. From the very outset the pupil should be taught to fear flat singing as a demon. With my boys I was for ever laying down the self-evident truth, 'People can endure your singing if it be tuneful, even though all other points of excellence are low, but no one can put up with your singing out of tune, except as martyrs.' The cause of flattening is always lack of culture. In the choirs I have trained it has ceased to trouble me after a few months. The habit of letting the pitch drop fosters itself in a remarkable manner, until at last the ear of the performer is perfectly satisfied with the production of a monstrosity. In proof of this I would mention a case which has come painfully under my own notice. A number of boys known to me have been in the daily habit of singing the tune:—

and as they have only had a 'go as you please system' to hold them in, they now commence flattening at once with a crescendo which culminates in the second line, and creates the effect:—

The original quite gone, they quite satisfied! The cause of continued flat singing is allowing the bad habit. I am not, of course, dealing with exceptional cases of natural inaptitude. These are rare, and I say this after having had some years of experience in testing individual voices. I could now with very little difficulty name the few pupils I had at Swanley who were naturally unable to sing tunefully, and I doubt not that nearly all my old scholars could do the same. They were in reality exceptions, numbering, during the whole of the time I was with them, not more than half-a-dozen.

"There is one stage in the voice training where the teacher finds his pupils (boys I am speaking of, my experience with adults not having been so extensive) habitually sharpen. In my own neighbourhood a teacher who has commenced to properly train his boys to sing, in a conversation he had with me told me of this, to him, unexpected difficulty. To get good intonation in part-singing, I found the singing of chords a great help. The class should be divided rapidly, and one note of the chord assigned to each section. Then it should be sung softly. This should be repeated with other chords, and followed by easy phrases. Voices do not at once blend, and until they do the singing should be never loud. I look upon the earlier work as tentative—a feeling for the beauty of perfection of pitch, tunefulness, and intonation. A practice to be condemned is that of learning the parts of a tune separately, and then bringing them together. There are, of course, places where it is absolutely necessary to give special attention to exceptional passages, but it is a mistake to teach each part as though it were an independent tune—to give the direction, which I have often heard, 'Now sing your part, and never mind what the others are doing,' or 'Don't you listen to any other part.' This system is answerable for the most offending cases of want of tunefulness, in which one part will sing on with the greatest of satisfaction in a key a semitone from that in which the part above or below is moving. The ear should be prepared by a symphony, or by thinking of the key before a piece is commenced. My own practice has been to wait after giving the key-note for the pupils to do this. I have recently come across a method of allowing the pupils to find the tonic of a song about to be sung, which in nine cases out of ten will make the opening as 'restless' as the sea waves. The teacher strikes the C fork, and the tonic being F, all the pupils sing C', B, A, G, F—doh. The C', B, A, G, F is, I think, as likely to unsettle the ear as anything that could be imagined. The teacher should give the key-note. He may teach his pupils to use the fork if he will, but not in a way so exquisitely calculated to unsettle the ear when it should be strongly decided.

"With regard to Registers, I do not know whether the nomenclature I employed with my Swanley choir will be commended by you, but as it was successful I will describe it. The registers we called, perhaps inelegantly, 'Top,' 'Middle,' and 'Bottom,' these terms being handier than Upper Thin, Lower Thin, and Upper Thick. The earliest exercises were in the Top Register—that is, the Upper Thin. Boys untrained are, taken in bulk, unconscious of the Thin Register. Having got them to sing, say C to koo, I have followed it by singing to the same syllable the tune:—

('Now the day is over,'—A. & M.), and the delight has been intense when the pupils have thus discovered how clearly and sweetly they could sing. When this is done great possibilities seem to open, and the pupil is on the road to perfection. B♭ and E♭ I found most convenient for change. The Small Register must have been used, as my lads sang up to C² with the greatest ease and finish, though one of our foremost teachers, in a conference I had with him on the subject, said he would stake his reputation that the small register was not employed by them. It received no name in our practices after that authoritative statement, and ever afterwards I was in dread of being called over the coals for allowing the Top register to get too high.

"Boy altos can be made to sing without flattening, though they invariably give more trouble than trebles on account of their willingness to let the lower register overlap the one above—to force upward. They should practise with the trebles such exercises as:—

so as to strengthen this part of the voice, which may be termed their flattening field."

CHAPTER IX.

ON THE TRAINING OF BOYS' VOICES.

By W. H. Richardson, Formerly Conductor of the Swanley Orphanage Choir.{*}

{*} Mr. Richardson has responded to my request for hints with such fulness and weight that I devote a separate chapter to his essay. In writing, he has specially had in view the difficulties of choir trainers in rural districts.

All that a writer on the training of voices can do is to lay down general lines, and give comprehensive suggestions. The teacher, to make any use of them must be indeed a teacher, not a mere mechanically automatic individual of only sufficient calibre to take the directions of a writer, and give them again. He should be both enthusiastic in his work, and willing to spend his strength in patience if he would have a choir of boys to sing reliably well. It is of the greatest importance that work should be set out on right lines, and that a thoughtfully prepared scheme should be arranged before commencing. I would here give my experience of two choirs I had at different times in agricultural districts, and in one of them I was well satisfied with the progress we made, while in the other my work was completely thrown away. The reason for the failure in the second instance (which I foresaw from the outset) will be gathered from the following account of our plan of campaign. The choir was a village one which met for rehearsal once a week. The organist attended and presided at a harmonium, and, nolens volens, I had at the beginning of each practice to take the choir through the whole of the next Sunday's services. The boys' voices were, at the beginning of my connection, uncivilised, and at the end of it—fortunately the question of ways and means not allowing the interval to extend beyond a few months—were as barbarous as at the commencement. There was absolutely no chance of making a name through these youngsters; and as to voice culture! How could it be possible to attempt it after labouring through such a programme as Canticles, Hymns, Psalms, Kyrie, and Amens?

I determined never to take office again unless I could have my own way in fixing the time-table of work. My success in the other case was owing greatly to the fact that I had one night a week entirely devoted to musical training and voice culture. This did not preclude us from relieving the drudgery of work by the singing of songs and hymns, but it allowed me the use of an unfettered judgment in the choice of what should be attempted. A teacher is heavily handicapped if after getting his boys for the first time to sing in the upper thin register, he is to follow his delicate work by singing half-a-dozen verses to a tune which will in the very first verse undo all that he has done, simply because its melodic progression encourages forcing. Experienced teachers will appreciate what I say on this point. Take such a tune as:—

—a tune which inevitably causes a wrong use of the registers by inexperienced boys. The tunes selected should further the work of the exercises, not undo it, and with diligence the teacher can find suitable tunes and chants for this purpose. My advice to all teachers is that before commencing work they should insist upon conditions that do not preclude success, and that they should not spend their labour in wearying drudgery with the full consciousness that to attain it is impossible.

One suggestion I would make is that the choirmaster, if he be not, as is often the case in villages, also schoolmaster, would do well to enlist the services of the school teachers in the village. It is not often practicable to have more than one—or two at the most—meetings of a choir during the week, and the length of the lesson must be, in consequence, at least an hour. For voice training in the earlier stages six lessons a week of fifteen minutes each are preferable to one of an hour and a half, and therefore I would urge the necessity of getting hold of the sympathies of the school teacher, and putting him on right lines to work out the choirmaster's ideas, if the offices be not united.

Voice work should be begun in the infant school. At Swanley it was my practice to give, I believe, daily lessons in the Infant Department, and the remarks made by visitors will bear out what I am about to say as to the possibility of getting young children to sing, and sing like little angels. I was always as pleased to exhibit my infants' vocal powers as to show those of my more advanced boys, and success was, comparatively speaking, more easily gained with them than with older boys, for inasmuch as the difficulty of registers and breaks does not exist as such with these tiny ones, and unless our plans be artificial or formed of caprice, this is what should be expected.

In the infant school the teacher can take hold of the good that is innate, and mould it; in the higher school he has to spend hours and hours eradicating the bad habits which shouting and untamed license have allowed to grow. By all means begin with the infants, and let their songs and nursery rhymes be written so as to "give them a chance."

But I am asked to say something that may be helpful to the choirmaster having to train the vocal organs of boys who are beyond infantile methods. I will therefore suppose myself for the first time before an ordinary country group of lads with all the vocal faults that now appear indigenous to the locality. I should first get them to find the Upper Thin Register, and my plan is to confine the work to this region

[[Listen]]

As at this stage the boys know nothing of the diatonic scale, I let them imitate. The exercises may be played on a pianoforte, if the teacher cannot sing them, though in the latter case it is preferable that he should adopt the plan of selecting his best pupils for the models.

I once had to commence with some uncultured boys, and knowing the difficulty of getting them to make a start, took with me a few of my own trained lads, who sang the exercises first, after which I added one or two of the beginners to them, and sympathetically they soon sang in the proper register with the others. By continuing the process of addition gradually I soon got the whole class to sing as I wished.

At this first lesson the proper production of "oo" (vowel) should be obtained. I deal with the vowels as they arise, never observing a lack of clearness and purity without endeavouring to correct it. The foregoing exercises can next be used for teaching the intervals of the diatonic scale, for instance:—

calling the notes by their names, doh soh. Here, again, the proper vowel production must be sought for, and obtained. The difficulties will be varied in this respect with the locality. Often I have met with doh-oo. This, as well as ray-ee, and other faults that need not be specified, can be corrected at once. The beautiful intonation we had at Swanley I attribute in a large measure to the care bestowed on the production of vowel sounds. There must be no division of opinion among the singers as to how any particular vowel sound should be emitted. If there be not unity in this respect the intonation suffers.

The earlier exercises should be sung in unison, a correct division into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trebles being impossible until the boys have acquired sufficient confidence to show what they are naturally. I have for a long time used with advantage the single chant form for exercises, making them myself.

In order to avoid waste of time in learning exercises they should be short, so that they can be caught up at once.

To get boys to sing in the register below (the Lower Thin) is the next step, the exercises now being confined between

I have to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to one of our best and most painstaking teachers for giving me this hint. The reading will at first be weak, and in a monotone, and there being no flexibility, the boys will have difficulty in forming the usual cadence at the end of sentences, but practice will soon strengthen the weakness, and make this register as strong as the one below it. Between the one above and the one below, this "middle" one is apt to be overlooked altogether, and I have heard some fairly pleasing singing where it has not been recognised at all.

The third register (Upper Thick) should now receive attention, and in order to find it the pupils should cultivate it upwards with such exercises as—

Within the limits of a short paper, it is impossible to give more fully all the needful directions for training the voices to cover up breaks, and to change from one register to another.

Suitable tunes should now be selected, so that the aim of the exercises may be extended. Remember that it is easiest to leap from one register to a higher, a stepwise ascent being an insidious snare. Koo and afterwards laa such tunes as:—

or,

Many ready-made exercises are to be found in any chant book, which can be used to strengthen the voice and build it. For voice exercise I like a high reciting note at the beginning, D¹, C¹, E♭¹, as by this we ensure getting the right register for the high notes, which will be a matter of doubt for some time if the question of suitability of melody be left out of calculation.

I strongly recommend the use of the time names. For some years I was prejudiced against them, but after trying them, believe them to be of the greatest value.

The teacher should give manual signs for his short exercises. Time is wasted unnecessarily if the teacher has to turn and write on the board. The objection to working through a book, only using prescribed exercises, is chiefly this—no book writer can provide for all the permutations and combinations that may arise during the actual work of teaching; it is impossible for him to anticipate them. This does not in the least detract from the value of the book, which must be the best general guide for by far the larger part of our teachers.

I have referred to the teaching of vowel sounds, and would say a word about consonants. My practice has been to guard against giving undue prominence to any individual letter, and to encourage always a simple unaffected utterance in singing. Rolling "r's" is very well, but to precede the vowel with a sound not unlike the noise caused by springing a police rattle is neither artistic nor pleasing. My custom was to first let the pupils sing a vowel, say aa, and require it to be held on as long as my hand was still. A sharp movement of the hand directed when the consonant should appear, as aa—t, &c., the appearance and disappearance being as close together as possible. It is a difficulty with beginners to sing such words as "night," "bright," &c., holding on the middle part, or vowel. I demonstrated that the singer has nothing left to sing after having too soon disposed of the vowel. I also gave exercises in prefixing a consonant to a vowel. Other points of detail will arise, such as in the word "sing." The habit here is to make the "ng" sound throughout the greater part of the durance of the singing of the word. By analysing, and showing by copying the bad model, the teacher will convince the pupil that "ng" held on is unpleasant. In singing laa, laa, laa, &c., at first pupils lower and raise the jaw. This should be at once stopped. But it is impossible to anticipate every difficulty that will arise under this head. I have said enough to indicate generally my method. I do not propose to enter into the question of breathing. One thing I would say—do not try pupils by requiring them to sing long notes at first, but do get them at the beginning to "phrase" to your pattern. This will from the first get the will to control the breath taking.

By all means introduce certificates. By the examination of individuals, the teacher will get truer knowledge of his learners' powers, and will be enabled to give advice of greater value because of its assured need. Let the examination be in public—before the other pupils—and so help to beget confidence in the pupil, without which success will be limited. The teacher should never do anything to destroy the confidence of his pupils, though I am bound to admit that I have not always been free from irritability and impatience in my dealings with pupils. The work is trying, the nerves of a teacher of singing are throughout highly strung, and very little cause is necessary to upset his equilibrium. He should therefore be ever on his guard to check any tendency to show impatience.

Never get a pupil to sing alone for the sake of showing his defects to others. No one can sing who does not possess a sense of his power to do so. There should be encouraged an abandon sort of manner. A gentleman once said to me, "I see how you make your boys sing; you tell them they can do it, and that makes them do it." The rigid watching of the beat of the conductor should not be too closely insisted on. No machine-like singing should satisfy, even though it be correct. The correctness of a great painter's production is not everything, and neither is it with the singer. There should an atmosphere of the liberty of freedom.

At Swanley my work was lessened by the interest that all my colleagues took in it. A moral force was constantly brought to bear on the boys, which made them work with a will and a determination to excel. Their success was the same in other departments of work, though not so prominently placed. The music teacher who has in himself the power to draw out the latent feeling of his pupils is the one who will best succeed. I would draw my remarks to a close with this advice:—Make your choir as large as possible. Take all who will come into it, and do not go through the form of "trying" voices that have never tried themselves, and of which you can form no opinion. For adults this is a necessity, but for children it is better to get one or two per cent. of naturally defective learners, rather than to turn away all but those showing undoubtedly exceptional ability.

CHAPTER X.

THE SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES OF AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS.

My object is to help those whose difficulties are greatest; who, so far from being able to pick out boys of musical talent and fine voice, are obliged to accept the material that offers, often of the poorest musical description. The country boy is a more healthy animal than his brother of the town, and there is no fault to be found with the natural volume of his voice provided he can be taught to place his registers rightly, to avoid straining the thick or chest register, to pronounce and phrase properly. This is, however, what the Americans call "a large order."

I have been fortunate in collecting information from several choirmasters in agricultural districts, who have conquered the difficulties of this task. First, I quote Mr. W. Critchley, choirmaster and schoolmaster at Hurst, near Reading:—

"The rural choir-boy differs somewhat from his brethren of the town in the following particulars. As a rule, he is duller, and slower in his perception; he is attentive and docile, but sluggish; he retains what he is taught, and therefore, as far as mere knowledge and memory are concerned, it 'pays' to take him in hand. His voice is strong, but rough, and this undisciplined strength is the cause of most of the trouble he gives. Moreover, he is exposed to the weather very largely, and this causes him to be more influenced by atmospheric changes than the town boy, and prevents, in a great measure, any great delicacy of finish from being obtained. So it will be seen that the country choir-boy requires special treatment in order to produce good results. Sometimes, when a village lies compactly together, a large amount of work can be got through similar to that which we find in towns, but generally the rural district is wide and scattered, and only a limited number of practices can be secured. Under these circumstances, I have found the best course to pursue to be somewhat as follows:—First and foremost, let the Tonic Sol-fa system be taught, it lightens the work of the choirmaster in a wonderful degree, and the boys bring an intelligence to their work which is unattainable by any other means. If the system has not been taught in the day school of the parish, it should be introduced at once; if that is not practicable, the choir-boys should be taught at a second practice-night. This second practice is required in any case, if anything better than mere 'scratch' singing be aimed at. All practices should be begun by voice exercises. On the extra night a greater amount of time should be taken up with them, for to a country choir-boy, who perhaps in the day is shouting to scare birds, they are vital. The lower register of a country boy is, as a rule, coarse, so it is important to get him to use his higher register as soon as possible. Show him first of all that he has, as it were, two voices, and point out that he is required, as Mr. Evans observes, to use that voice which is most like a girl's. He will be apt for some time to use this voice in the upper notes of the music only, and there will be a disagreeable transition to the lower register when the music comes down on G, or thereabouts. To conquer this, I use exercises which train the upper register downwards, such as:—

the object being to strengthen the upper register, and, except where the music touches D or C,

[[Listen]] to practically 'shelve' the lower thick register in the case of treble voices. In training upwards I insist on easy singing, no straining. I don't mean apathetic singing, for this is especially to be fought against in the case of country boys, as there is naturally a want of 'go' about them. I mean soft singing, but energetic. I tell the boys to sing like birds, and they generally understand from this that they are to use the upper register. I do not find much difficulty with them in the way of flattening. Except in the case of the younger boys, I often hear them a little sharp. The Tonic Sol-fa method trains their ears, and I get them to listen, and blend their voices; above all, to get rid of apathy. And if there should be a tendency with the younger boys to sing flat, I generally find that the application of the old rules as to position, loud singing, forcing the voice, faulty breathing, and inattention will remedy the fault. If it occurs in church, a judicious use of a four-foot stop on the organ often keeps up the pitch. I find, if the melody of a chant or tune has a great many of the 'thirds' of the chords in it (I mean as distinct from the fifth, root, &c.) it is often difficult, especially on a foggy morning, to keep it in tune, e.g.:—

[[Listen]]

or,

[[Listen]]

[[Listen]]

This is the case in a marked degree when the reciting tone comes about the natural 'break' of the voice. The remedy for this I find to be transition into another key, one which I judge to be more congenial to the state of the boys' voices. Here is where the usefulness of the Tonic Sol-fa system to an organist comes in. A lot of practice in mental effects has a surprising result in ear training. Sometimes, however, we get a clergyman who intones badly, and then it is quite a struggle to keep in tune.

"There are a number of other little points which tell against correct singing in a country choir; the generally thick enunciation, the provincialism, the difficulty in getting open mouths. I do a lot of reading by pattern, and pay attention to initial and final consonants. Country boys neglect these more than town boys. I practise without organ as much as I can. If an instrument is used, the piano is decidedly the best. I find Gregorian singing has a strong tendency to injure purity of tone and delicacy of expression. I do as little of it as possible.

"On the second choir practice night I spoke of, it is certainly good to take up glee practice, or a simple cantata. It sustains the interest, and makes the choir a bond of union in a country village."

Not long ago I found myself by chance worshipping in a remote village in East Somerset, Churchill by name. There was, in the parish church, a choir of six boys and four probationers, who sang so slowly and sweetly, not with the luscious fulness of some boys I have heard, but with such uncommonly good style for agricultural boys, that I was much interested. These small villages have, from the present point of view, one advantage. The day schools are "mixed" (containing boys and girls), and the teacher is a lady. Both these influences tend to the softening of the boy's voice. Miss Demack, the school-and choir-mistress at Churchill, has kindly written a few notes on the subject of her work, in which she says:—

"I certainly think that the girls' voices soften the boys'. I admit probationers at the early age of six if I find they have any voice, as I think the earlier the better. When I took my boys in hand, I found scale exercises very useful. I did not teach them any tunes until I had somewhat altered their rough voices. Another help was this: I had a girl with a particularly good voice, and made the boys imitate her as much as possible. This I found answered remarkably well. The boys seemed to adopt quite a different tone."

Miss Demack teaches singing in the school and choir by ear only, and knows nothing of the Tonic Sol-fa system.

I next give a short paper kindly sent me by Mr. George Parbery, choirmaster of the parish church, and master of the National School at Fordingbridge, Hants:—

"Dear Sir,—As choirmaster of the parish church here, and as one who takes great interest in the subject of singing in schools, I am happy to respond to your request, as we are essentially a rural district.

"I have occupied my position now nearly ten years, and am just beginning to find the benefit of the Tonic Sol-fa movement amongst my adult members of the choir, having now nine adults who have passed through the school with a good practical knowledge of the Sol-fa notation.

"When I commenced work here (coming from north of England) I was struck with the very disagreeable tone of the boys' and girls' voices. To say they sang flat does not convey how flat they sang, nor does it convey any idea of the tone, but the same may be heard any night at the Salvation Army meetings here. The vicar of the parish told me also upon my arrival here, that at a church in Bournemouth a former vicar used to import all his boy voices outside of Hampshire. So that you will gather that I had not a light task before me to produce a tone satisfactory to myself or the inspector. But I may safely say I have for some years satisfied myself, and last year our assistant-inspector spoke of the very beautiful quality of the boys' voices. I can assure you that it is only rarely that I find occasion to complain of the tone. The moment I hear the objectionable tone produced, I immediately stop the singing, even if in the middle of prayers. Mine is a boys' school, but I teach the girls singing with the boys. Now as to how I produced the change:—

"1. I introduced the Tonic Sol-fa notation.

[[Listen]]

"2. I used to practise very frequently for a few minutes upon the modulator, making abundant use of the upper—

"3. I prohibited all shouting on high notes.

"4. Particularly was I severe upon loud singing in lower notes, say,

[[Listen]]

"5. I established a degree of sound, and have it still, what is known amongst my scholars as 'singing in a whisper'—i.e., to produce singing as softly as possible. This idea I picked up in Cheshire from a good Tonic Sol-faist.

"6. I have one or two favourite hymns, which I always pitch higher than written, and thus compel the boys to use the upper registers. The boys know I like these hymns, and I never fail to appreciate them to the boys at the end of singing. I also have a favourite marching tune—I don't know the name, but I believe it is often set to the hymn, 'When mothers of Salem.' This tune is very lofty, and I believe the boys really enjoy its loftiness, but there must be no shouting. When the boys displease me, I tell them they drop their jaw too much, and they instantly know what I mean.

"7. I have very little alto singing in school, for the reason that it has a tendency to encourage loudness. In my choir I arrange for three or four of the oldest boys to sing alto.

"In conclusion, I may say I am thoroughly proud of my boys' singing from standard I. up to the top of the school, and I believe my success has been chiefly from abundant use of the modulator for scale practice, and never allowing loud singing. Proud as I am of my boys, the girls certainly excel them, and ten years ago their tone was worse, if possible, than the boys. I have no instrument in school, but occasionally use a violin."

A correspondent from another agricultural county—I will not give his name—favours me with some rules which he has used more or less for thirty years. In one school taught by the writer, the inspector said he could not distinguish the boys from the girls' voices—truly a high compliment. My correspondent names a new hindrance to church music in rural places, namely, the clergyman's daughter!—

"Practise the scales up and down to the words 'la' and 'ha,' the latter for the purpose of separating the teeth. Commence at the key of C to C¹, then from D to D¹, and so on upwards as high as the voices of the boys can reach, never resting satisfied until they cover two octaves firmly. In teaching new music, and, generally speaking, in accompanying the boys, play the note they are singing and its octave above—on the stopped diapason and flute if an organ, or the corresponding stops on a harmonium. Let there be no other accompaniment, and on every occasion the octave above the note sung. This is very particular. Check one voice singing above another. Have no leaders. Stop or subdue all harsh voices, and make them listen to, and try to copy the pure notes of the flute; let the boys sing well within their strength. If you lack power, increase the number of choristers, and subdue the voices. I always choose smooth flowing chants, with the reciting note ranging from F to C. I do not care to go higher than G above the line in anthems or services, but have trained them to start on B♭, 'The Sisters of the Sea,' by Jackson.

"I never trouble about altos, they are too difficult to get, and indifferent and troublesome when obtained, but in verse parts of services or anthems, one of the best boys will supply the deficiency, and even take up the lead in a chorus.

"Choirs experience a difficulty which is not included in your list of points. I have received £60 per annum as an organist, £50 and a house. On another occasion I was offered the choir-mastership of a church choral society of 60 members. At this time I was trainer and conductor of a choral society of 100 voices with string and wind accompaniment, the subject being The Messiah. Yet I was not considered competent at the church at which I played to put a tune to a hymn, but had to submit to the parson's daughter, who was qualified through taking three months' lessons from a German. On one occasion this lady went ten times through a hymn to please her father in trying to fit a four-lined tune of the wrong metre to a six-lined hymn! I offered to go through an eleventh time, but he never interfered again. I could give you many instances where these ladies themselves are the great drawback of good church singing, but on the other hand, I could mention cases where they never come near a practice, or interfere from one year's end to the other."

Knowing, as I do, the devoted way in which clergymen's daughters in many rural places train the choir, I hesitate to endorse this charge. The work needs to be done with tact and consideration. In the vast majority of cases these ladies are a great help. I do not approve the plan of playing the melody in octaves while it is being learnt, which my correspondent advocates. I give his letter as a record of earnest work.

Mr. W. W. Pearson, of Elmham, Dereham, Norfolk, writes to me as follows:—

"I have had, as you say, a great deal of experience in teaching singing, especially in rural districts; but the neighbourhood I have lived in for the last twenty years (Norfolk), is a very barren field for musical culture—the worst in my experience. The voices of those who do sing in this county are, on an average, a minor third lower than those of Yorkshire, North Wales, the west of England, and other places where I have had experience. They are also, for the most part, flabby, wanting in resonance and quality. Tenors are very scarce, and even the few who can sing in the tenor register, have not got the true tenor quality. This may be the effect of the low elevation above the sea-level, and the damp humid atmosphere; or it may be partly due to race.

"The plan I adopt for getting boys to use their upper registers is a very old-fashioned one; but it is very effective. It is to make them sing the major diatonic scale, ascending and descending; beginning at a low pitch, and gradually raising it by a semitone at a time."

Mr. C. Hibberd, of Bemerton, near Salisbury, whom I quote also in the chapter on "Flattening," dwells on the difficulties of the rural choirmaster. He says:—

"I have rarely come across the soft fluty tone in the country. I once met with a boy with it in the choir at Parkstone, near Bournemouth, and another here at Bemerton, but in both cases the boys were above the average of country boys, and the village was close to a larger town. In both cases, also, the boys had good and careful practice over and above the ordinary choir practices. At places farther in the country it seems an impossibility to get the tone. With only a few boys to pick from, it is a difficulty to find boys enough to fill up ordinary vacancies. With a great deal of trouble and practice one can get a great part of the roughness toned down, and, as a rule, that is all."

Several of my correspondents, it will be noticed, speak with great confidence of the use of the Tonic Sol-fa system in rural places. This system, useful everywhere, certainly attains its greatest usefulness in places where the task of the choirmaster reaches its highest degree of difficulty. To those whose only acquaintance with Tonic Sol-fa is a casual glance at a printed page of the new notation, it naturally seems strange that the use of a musical shorthand can affect the whole training of the boy. But behind the letters and punctuation marks, which go to make up the Tonic Sol-fa notation, there lies the Tonic Sol-fa method—a fixed and many-sided educational system, founded on the truest principles of education, carrying on simultaneously the training of the ear for tune and time, making progress sure because gradually developing the intelligence along with the voice. With Tonic Sol-fa, also, is associated a definite system of voice-training. Tonic Sol-fa teachers are all more or less of educationists, and have caught by observation or study the teacher's art. This is the cause of their success.

CHAPTER XI.

NOTES ON THE PRACTICE OF VARIOUS CHOIRMASTERS IN CATHEDRALS, &c.

I Summarise here information obtained, chiefly by observation and conversation, from various trainers of boys' voices at cathedrals and collegiate churches.

CHAPEL ROYAL, ST. JAMES'S.