The coup de glotte, translated as "stroke of the glottis," refers to the manner in which a note should be attacked. This matter of attack already has been covered by inference many...
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 unnecess...
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 f...
In this list I have included songs with innocent, hopeful, joyous words such as boys may honestly sing. Words dwelling with sadness on the past, or speaking of life as bitter, I ha...
How is the alto part, in a church choir consisting of males, to be sung? In our cathedrals this part has been given, ever since the Restoration, to adult men, generally with bass v...
The subject of vocal registers is a difficult one--difficult to understand and, when understood, difficult to make intelligible to others. In fact, it is so difficult that some peo...
I should say that no one should be more scrupulous in his habits than the singer. It is more difficult to keep the keen edge of the voice in good repair than that of the sharpest r...
It should be remembered that in the old days, from which traditions of phenomenally high voices have come down to us, musical pitch was lower than it is now. In those days a tenor,...
I use the scale of E as a means of revealing to the ear points wherein the voice shows signs of failure. I use this scale because within it lie all the principal resonances involve...
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. Dea...
Further observations of a general character may be allowed to precede a more detailed consideration of method. Some people wonder why a person who is gifted with voice simply can't...
Air having been taken into the lungs, the act of exhaling it--the act of expiration--is, for ordinary purposes, a very simple matter. The elasticity of the parts of the body, the e...
Music is now recognised as one of the professions, taking its place by the side of Law, Medicine, and Divinity. Parents who have boys to start in life look for avenues of entrance...
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...
Above this chapter I might well have placed the following lines which George Eliot wrote above Chapter XXXI. of "Middlemarch." How will you know the pitch of that great bell, Too l...
We speak of the breath of life; and breath is the life of song. Beautiful singing is predicated upon correct methods of breathing, without which, though there be a perfect larynx a...
{ C2 { B1 Small { A1 { G1 {F1 Upper Thin. {E1 { {D1 {C1 Lower Thin. {B {A {G { {F Upper Thick. {E {D { C Lower Thick. { B1 { A1 { G1 Before commencing to train a voice the choirmas...
It is sympathetic vibration, manifesting itself in some instances in the chest and in the head cavities, and in other instances almost entirely within the latter, that gives to voi...
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 sp...
Vocal hygiene is a specific system based upon well-regulated principles for a specific purpose and applying to a specific class in the family of nations. But there is the differenc...
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...
By W. H. RICHARDSON, Formerly Conductor of the Swanley Orphanage Choir.[A] [A] Mr. Richardson has responded to my request for hints with such fulness and weight that I devote a sep...
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, the...
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 o...
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...
In the course of journeys and interviews extending over many years I have gathered much experience from choirmasters, and have watched and noted their plans. Here follow some of th...
Song, so far as voice-production is concerned, is the result of physiological action, and as voice-production is the basis of all song, it follows that a singing method, to be corr...