g Choir Boys 8-11

CHAPTER IV.
Voice Training 12-22

CHAPTER V.
Information on Voice-Training, collected
by the Salisbury Diocesan Choral Association 23-26

CHAPTER VI.
Pronunciation in Singing 27-28

CHAPTER VII.
Singing by Ear and by Note 29-30

CHAPTER VIII.
Flattening, and Singing out of Tune 31-39

CHAPTER IX.
On the Training of Boys' Voices 40-48

CHAPTER X.
The Special Difficulties of Agricultural
Districts 49-58

CHAPTER XI.
Notes on the Practice of various Choirmasters
in Cathedrals, &c. 59-68

CHAPTER XII.
Notes on the Practice of various Choirmasters
in Parish Churches 69-74

CHAPTER XIII.
Alto Boys 75-89

CHAPTER XIV.
Schools for Choristers 90-98

CHAPTER XV.
Concert Songs for Boys 99-103

[Illustration: THE BOY'S VOICE.]

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 vesse