The Boy's Voice Part 6

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 Yorks.h.i.+re, 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-fas.h.i.+oned 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 a.s.sociated 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Decoration]

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.

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 f.a.gs, 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 practice room 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 C1 was 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, ma.n.u.script 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 10-1/2, 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 a.s.sistants, 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 Sat.u.r.days, 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 quant.i.ty." 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. On Sat.u.r.days 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 att.i.tude 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 ca.s.socks 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 Lincolns.h.i.+re 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 "Ave Verum" 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A "BLACK BOY" AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

_Photographed by Mr. George Hadley, Lincoln._]

CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.

The boys rehea.r.s.e 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":--

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY C. { d1:t.l s.f:m.r d:r.m f.s:l.t d1:- -:- ]

This exercise, begun in C, was carried up gradually to B[b] above. It was sung first with a _dim._ going down, and a _cres._ 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--

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY C. { d.m:r.m d.m:r.m d.m:r.m d:-- ]

which was transposed gradually upwards, being sung to "ah." Next a triplet exercise--

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY F. d t_1 d r d r to d1 r1 d1 t d1 t]

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 whom go 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.