adult voice, but is an
instrument of quite different character. In the first place, it is not
nearly so individualistic in timbre as the adult voice, and because of
the far greater homogeneity of voice quality that obtains in
children's singing, it is much easier to secure blending of tone, the
effect being that of one voice rather than of a number of voices in
combination. This is a disadvantage from the standpoint of variety of
color in producing certain emotional effects, but it is in some ways
an advantage in the church service, especially in churches where the
ideal is to make the entire procedure as impersonal and formal as
possible. In the second place, the child voice is good only in the
upper register--the chest tones being throaty, unpleasant, and
frequently off pitch. In the third place, the child voice is immature,
and his vocal organs are much more likely to be injured by
overstraining. When directed by a competent voice trainer, however,
the effect of a large group of children singing together is most
striking, and their pure, fresh, flutelike tones, combined with the
appearance of purity and innocence which they present to the eye,
bring many a thrill to the heart and not infrequently a tear to the
eye of the worshiper.

[Sidenote: THE BOY VOICE IN THE CHURCH CHOIR]

In many European churches, and in a considerable number in the United
States, it is customary to have boys with unchanged voices sing the
soprano part, men with trained falsetto voices (called male altos)
taking the alto,[32] while the tenor and bass parts are, of course,
sung by men as always. Since the child voice is only useful when the
tones are produced with relaxed muscles, and since the resonance
cavities have not developed sufficiently to give the voice a great
deal of power, it is possible for a few men on each of the lower parts
to sing with from twenty to thirty boys on the soprano part. Six
basses, four tenors, and four altos will easily balance twenty-five
boy sopranos, if all voices are of average power.

[Footnote 32: In many male choirs the alto part is sung by boys; but
this does not result in a fine blending of parts, because of the fact,
as already noted in the above paragraph, that the boy's voice is good
only in its upper register. It may be of interest to the reader to
know that in places where there are no adult male altos, these voices
may be trained with comparative ease. All that is needed is a baritone
or bass