notation[Listen]
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 toleapfrom one register to a higher, a stepwise ascent being an insidious snare. Koo and afterwards laa such tunes as:—
notation[Listen]
or,
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notation[Listen]
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 bestgeneralguide 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 asimple unaffected utterancein 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, sayaa, 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, asaa—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 ofsinging 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 cansingwho does not possess a sense of his power to do so. There should be encouraged anabandonsort 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 becorrect. 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.
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Myobject 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 goodresults. 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.Allpractices 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 registerdownwards, such as:—
KEYS A to F. notation[Listen]
the object being to strengthen the upper register, and, except where the music touches D or C,notation[Listen]to practically 'shelve' the lower thick register in the case of treble voices. In training upwards I insiston 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 theirears, 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 tocomplain 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]notation
"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]notation
"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, andten years ago their tone was worse, if possible, than the boys. I have no instrument in school, butoccasionallyuse 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 beingThe 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 whodosing 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 lowelevation above the sea-level, and the damp humid atmosphere; or it may be partly due torace.
"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 surebecause 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.
image of sunset
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I Summarisehere information obtained, chiefly by observation and conversation, from various trainers of boys' voices at cathedrals and collegiate churches.
CHAPEL ROYAL, ST. JAMES'S.
Some years ago I attended a practice of the boys, under the late Rev. Thomas Helmore. It began with slow scales sung to a light pianoforte accompaniment. These were followed by rapid runs, the key gradually rising until the highest note touched was C above the treble staff. The vocable used was "ah." After this came time exercises, solfeggios, the pointing out of notes by the boys on and between the fingers of their left hands, which represented the staff. Mr. Helmore declared that new boys while singing nearly always (1) frown, or (2) hold their heads on one side. He was strict about avoiding these faults. In going over the psalms for the day, the boys sang mostly one by one, verse after verse. This was a searching test for the boy who sang, while all the others were actively criticising. The boys practised secular music by way of change. Four of them were monitors, four fags, and two probationers. The tone was refined and pure, Mr. Helmore himself being a good singer.
ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.
Here, owing to the size of the building, a tremendous volume of shrill tone has to be cultivated, which in the practiceroom is sometimes overwhelming. The practice I heard began with slow scales sung to "ah" (pianoforte accompaniment) ranging over two octaves, C to C2; each key between C to C1was taken, and the scale sung ascending and descending. This was loud singing, but not shouting. Then came agility exercises in the form of chords, rapid scales, &c., sung still to "ah." This daily "tuning-up" lasted ten minutes. Then (incidentally affording rest to the boys) came a short lesson on theory. Boys were called up in turn to write notes, signs, &c., on the blackboard. Practice now began. The boys sing a new piece to words at once, never sol-faing. They seldom try a piece more than three times before it is heard at the cathedral. They sit during rehearsal, standing at the Gloria Patri. The boys have a daily practice of an hour-and-a-half.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
The refined style of the boys trained by Dr. Bridge is well known. The abbey is small enough to allow the graces of singing to be cultivated. In the music room there are two rows of desks facing the same way, so that Dr. Bridge, sitting at his cottage piano, can cast a side glance full upon the boys. Two practices are held daily; one from nine till ten a.m. is spent in getting up the service music. The afternoon practice, at the close of evensong, is chiefly devoted to theory. A card hanging up on the wall shows exactly how the time of the afternoon practice is apportioned between the study of intervals, and scales, chanting, responses, manuscript exercises, the singing of Concone's solfeggios, and the practice of secular music. The excellent phrasing and pure tone are partly due to the practice of secular music, which gives elasticity and gentleness to the boys' voices. No formal system of voice-training is in use. The boys enter at from 9 to 10-½, not older. A new boy is placed in the middle of the row of choristers, so as to excite his imitative faculty to the utmost. Twenty boys is the full number, but only twelve of these are full choristers, the others being nominally on probation, a plan which serves to keep up the discipline.
LINCOLN'S INN CHAPEL.
There are twelve boys here. They come, with a fair knowledge of music, at about nine years of age, and receive from Dr. Steggall, or his assistants, three lessons of about two hours each every week. On Sunday, at the close of the morning service, there is a rehearsal with the men of the music for the afternoon, and for the morning of the following Sunday. The boys' practices are held in the choir-room, where Dr. Steggall, seated at a venerable Broadwood grand, coaches his little men, with care and neatness. On Saturdays, when half their lesson is done, the boys walk across to the chapel, and go through the Sunday's music with the organ. A pupil mounts to the instrument, while Dr. Steggall, book in hand, paces the aisle, or retires towards the communion table, constantly interrupting the singing to correct faults, or improve delivery. Meanwhile, the organ is played quite softly, that the voices may stand out clearly. Constant care is taken to prevent clipping of words in the most familiar parts of the service.
THE TEMPLE CHURCH.
Dr. E. J. Hopkins, himself an ex-choir-boy of the Chapel Royal, realises here his ideal of "quality, not quantity." He lays stress on the fact that he takes his boys at eight years of age. For a year or more, however, they are probationers. They do not wear surplices, although they sit close to the choir. They undergo daily drill in musical theory and voice-training, but in church they have no responsibility, and do little more than listen. When, however, the voice of one of the elder boys breaks, a probationer takes his place, and is much better for the training. The practices occupy an hour-and-a-half every afternoon. They are held in the little choir vestry, near the organ, where there is a cottage pianoforte, flanked by a couple of long music desks, at which the boys stand as they sing. They are taught in groups, according to the stage they have reached, and spend the lesson time in practising scales, voice exercises, pieces of music, and studying notation. The voices are practised up to A. OnSaturdays there is a rehearsal in the church, with the organ and the men of the choir.
LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
The choir here, directed by the venerable organist, Mr. J. W. M. Young, is noted for its chanting, which all choirmasters ought to hear. Mr. Young has made a special study of the Psalms, and changes speed and force frequently with the change of attitude in the psalmist. The recitation is delivered at the pace of ordinary speech, with elocutionary pauses as needed; it is sung neither faster nor slower than the cadence. Hence the whole effect is reverent and impressive. Mr. Young's published Psalter and Chants (Novello) should be studied, but the great excellence of his work can only be appreciated by a visit to Lincoln. All compilers of Psalters make rules, but Mr. Young carries them out. Mr. Young, who was a choir-boy at Durham more than fifty years ago, under Henshaw, tells me that it was no uncommon thing in his day for the boys to have three practices—8.30 to 10, 11 to 12, and 6 to 8. This in addition to the two daily services. The elder boys had to attend all; the younger were excused the evening practice. As far as I know, we have no such severe training now. Mr. Young likes to get his boys at eight; for two years, although they wear surplices, they do not sing. The sixteen boys receive free education, and board, pocket-money, and a present of £10 when their voices break. The younger boys are called "choristers," and wear surplices. The four senior boys are called "Burgersh-chanters," and wear black cassocks of a peculiar shape. In the town they are familiarly known as "black boys." The choristers attend a day-school with other boys who speak the Lincolnshire dialect; in this they suffer, for, as Mr. Young says, purity of vowels and beauty of tone go together. One of his maxims is, "use the lips as little as possible in singing; do all you can with the tongue. If you use the lips, then use them rapidly." The boys practise an hour-and-a-half each day. Mr. Young puts a high finish on all his work. Mozart's "AveVerum" was sung on the day of my visit with infinite refinement. At one point the boys took a portamento—a grace which very few choirmasters would attempt with boys.
A "BLACK BOY" AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. Photographed by Mr. George Hadley, Lincoln.A "BLACK BOY" AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.Photographed by Mr. George Hadley, Lincoln.
CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.
The boys rehearse in a small but lofty room. There is a double row of desks and seats down each side, facing each other. Dr. C. H. Lloyd sits at a small pianoforte, placed across one end of the seats, thus commanding all the boys with his eye. The "tuning-up" exercises lasted ten minutes, and began with this exercise to "ah":—
KEY C. {|d1:t.l|s.f:m.r|d:r.m|f.s:l.t|d1:-|-:-||[Listen]
This exercise, begun in C, was carried up gradually to B♭above. It was sung first with adim.going down, and acres.going up, and then the opposite. Then came an ascending, followed by a descending scale, similarly varied in key and expression. The next exercise was—
KEY C. {|d.m:r.m |d.m:r.m |d.m:r.m |d:—||[Listen]
which was transposed gradually upwards, being sung to "ah." Next a triplet exercise—
KEY F. d t_1 d r d r to d1 r1 d1 t d1 t[Listen][Listen]
At the higher part the second trebles sang a third below. Then followed the chromatic scale, up and down. Dr.Lloyd is not troubled much with flattening; when it occurs the men are more likely to cause it than the boys. They habitually sing the Litany, which lasts fifteen minutes, unaccompanied, and if they flatten at all, it is not more than a semitone. There is an unaccompanied service once a week. I noticed that breathing-places were marked in the anthems, and notes likely to give trouble were marked with a circle. Dr. Lloyd was by no means tied to the pianoforte during rehearsal, and frequently left his seat, and paced up and down, beating time while the singing went on. Theoretical questions on the pieces in hand were addressed to individual boys. These boys are the sons of professional men, and come from all parts of the country. There are now three undergraduates at Christ Church, who have been choir-boys. In the choir, on the day of my visit, was a boy of seventeen, who had sung for nine years; his voice had not yet begun to go. The curious custom is observed here of dividing the Psalms (between Decani and Cantoris) at the colon, instead of at the verse. It requires great readiness, and for those Psalms which are written in parallelisms, it is most effective.
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.
The boys here are divided into ten choristers and fourteen probationers. The choristers are on the foundation, and receive a stipend; the probationers get their schooling only. The choristers wear trencher caps and gowns; the probationers flannel caps, bearing the arms of the cathedral. The boys are nearly all from the city; there is no boarding-school. The lower floor of the choir-school is used for the ordinary instruction, which is conducted by Mr. Plant, an alto in the cathedral choir, and the upper floor is used as a music-room. Here the boys receive four or five lessons a week from Dr. Longhurst, and the probationers have also a lesson by themselves. All the choristers learn the violin; this has been the practice for many years. When, at festivals, there is a band in the cathedral, the strings are made up largely from old choristers, most of whomgo into business in the city. A system of rotation is adopted; thus, although there are twenty-four boys, not more than fourteen sing at any one service, the rest are at work at their ordinary lessons. A considerable drainage of boys takes place to the King's School, the leading grammar school in Canterbury. The choristers often leave to enter this school when their voices are in their prime.
Dr. Longhurst takes the boys very young; as soon after seven as possible. In choosing a boy, he requires both voice and ear to be good. Sometimes a boy excels in the one direction and not in the other; he can sing sweetly, but cannot imitate notes struck at random on the pianoforte, or else he has a poor voice and a good ear. But both endowments are necessary for a chorister. Dr. Longhurst, who was himself a boy at Canterbury, had a compass at that time of two-and-a-half octaves. As his voice changed he passed from first to second treble, then sang alto for seven years, and at last settled to tenor. He does not regard boy altos as desirable in cathedrals, but in parish churches, where no adult male altos are to be had, they are, no doubt, in place. Dr. Longhurst tells me that as a result of forty-eight years' experience, he can tell by the look of a boy whether he will make a chorister. There is something about the brows and eyes, and general contour of the face which guides him. He is never mistaken. Some time since a clergyman with whom Dr. Longhurst happened to be staying, ridiculed the idea that the musical capability of boys can be judged by their looks. He took Dr. Longhurst into the village school, and invited him to pick out the boys of the choir as they sat among others at their lessons. This Dr. Longhurst did quite correctly. He has no knowledge of phrenology, and the faculty has come to him simply as the result of long experience.
On the day of my visit I heard the boys practise in their lofty music-room. Dr. Longhurst sat at the grand pianoforte, and the boys were grouped in fours or fives round four music-stands, on which the large folio voice parts, in type or MS., were placed. These desks stood on either side of the piano, sothat the boys looked towards Dr. Longhurst. Not many voice exercises are used, nor is there any talk about the registers. Pure tone is required, and the boys have not "to reason why." Six or seven of the youngest boys took no part in the practice of the service music. When the elder boys had done, the younger came forward and sang some solfeggio exercises. As a help in keeping time the boys clapped their hands sometimes at the first of the bar, and beat the pulses of the music. In the single voice parts, with long rests, this is a help. The boys do not sing any secular music. At one time they did, but now, with the schooling, the ordinary practices, and the violin lessons, there is no time. Flattening does not often occur. As a rule, when they intone on G, the G remains to the end. The practice of singing the service unaccompanied on Fridays all the year round, and on Wednesdays in addition during Lent, must have a bracing effect on the choir. I was myself present on a Wednesday in Lent, and could detect no falling in pitch. The boys at Canterbury do not appear to receive much formal voice-training, and I attribute the excellent quality of their singing to two facts. First, Dr. Longhurst has evidently a knack of discerning a promising voice; and second, having established a tradition of good singing, the boys, entering at an early age, insensibly fall into it.
DR. BUCK'S BOYS AT NORWICH.
I have gathered from Mr. A. R. Gaul, Mus.B., of Birmingham, some particulars of the work of Dr. Buck, organist of Norwich Cathedral, who was known forty or fifty years ago all over the country as a trainer of boys' voices. Mr. Gaul was a boy at Norwich under Dr. Buck, and underwent the Spartan training which produced such notable results. "No chest voice above F or G" was his rule, and the flute-like voice, which goes by so many names, and is yet so unmistakable when heard, was developed in all the choristers. Dr. Buck had an endless number of contrivances for teaching his boys right ways. Each of them carried about him a pocket looking-glass, and at practice was taught to hold it in his hand, and watch his mouth as he sang.One finger on top of the other was the gauge for opening the mouth transversely, while nuts were held in the cheeks to secure its proper longitudinal opening. To look at the boys during this exercise, one might think they had the face-ache! However, no joking over these matters was allowed; there was a penny fine for forgetting the looking-glass once, and a twopenny fine for forgetting it a second time. To prevent the use of too much breath in singing, Dr. Buck would take a piece of tissue paper, the size of a postage stamp, hang it by a fine thread in front of the mouth, and make the boys sing to it without blowing it away. Tongue-drill consisted in regular motions of the unruly member, until the boys were able to make it lie flat down at the bottom of the mouth, and raise it to the upper teeth as required. It was a daily plan to practise certain passages with the lips entirely closed, this was done to prevent the objectionable quality of voice resulting from any stoppage of the nasal organs. There was no sol-faing; various words were used at scale-practice, chosen to develop the vowels, while a code of troublesome words and endings of words was drawn up, and repeated daily by the boys in the speaking-voice, so as to secure clear enunciation. I have more than once seen and heard it stated that Dr. Buck used to make his boys sing through the nose, with closed mouth, in order to get the higher register, but Mr. Gaul does not remember this. Dr. Haydn Keeton informs me that they had boy-altos at Norwich in Dr. Buck's time, so that he must have had more boys than usual to train.
SALISBURY.
A conversation with Mr. C. L. South, the organist and choirmaster, shows him to be a careful and able worker. The boys, who are boarded in the choir school, come from various parts. They are received at from 8 to 11 years; not over 11 unless the boy is very good and forward in music. The boys are chosen for their voices, but given two boys of equal voices, the one who knows most music would be selected. The music practice is an hour a day for five days of the week, underMr. South himself. "I recognise," he says, "two registers in boys' voices, chest and head, and with careful practice you can get the voices so even that you can hardly tell where one ends and the other begins. The great thing, I believe, is to make the boys sing softly, and to get their register even throughout." Mr. South adds that the imitative power of boys is so strong that the younger ones fall into the habits of the elder ones, and thus make formal teaching about the registers less necessary. For vocal practice he uses Stainer's and Concone's Exercises, also solos like "Jesus, Saviour, I am Thine," and "Let the Saviour's outstretched arm" (both from Bach'sPassion), as well as Handel's "Rejoice greatly," besides florid choruses from theMessiah. These are more interesting than formal studies, and they bring out the same points of breathing, phrasing, pronunciation, and expression. He sometimes introduces a song of this kind into the service as an anthem. On one occasion, when thirteen boys had sung one of the Bach songs in unison, a member of the congregation asked the name of the soloist. The voices were so perfectly blended that they sounded like one. The full number of boys is eighteen, of whom two at least sing solos. Mr. South does not use nor like boy altos. The service music is selected on eclectic principles, and covers the ground from Gibbons to Villiers Stanford. The boys sometimes give concerts, performing such cantatas as Smart'sKing Rene's Daughter, and Mendelssohn's "Two-part Songs."