Still, it is the practice of choirmasters to carry the tone of soprano boys much higher in vowel-practice, as high even as
and although that is a pretty altitudinous pitch, there are very few choir-boys who, when taught to breathe properly, etc., will not take it occasionally with perfect ease. The head-register, even in woman’s voice, is capable of great expansion, if good habits of tone-production are followed. But again it is well to be on the safe side; and choir-boys, who are selected because they have good vocal organs, and who are drilled far more than school children, are hardly a criterion to go by.
It must not be forgotten that the thin voice can be pushed and forced. Good judgment must be exercised in controlling the power of voice, or children will strain the vocal mechanism in trying to outsing each other on high tones.
The question, How high may boys or girls sing who have passed twelve years of age and whose voices show no signs of break, is not so very important after all, for if they have been well trained in soft tone, no danger of vocal strain need be feared even if an occasional high A or B flat is struck.
The reason for the ease with which children sing the high head-tones is found in the structure of the vocal bands. They are thin. Consequently, there is, compared to the entire substance of the vocal bands, a larger portion proportionately set in vibration than for the production of the head-tone in woman’s voice. And when the child-voice is so used that no strain of the laryngeal structure is occasioned, that is, when the vocal ligaments are exercised in a normal manner, it cannot but happen that the muscles controlling the vocal bands will increase in strength, and that the bands themselves, composed as they are of numberless elastic fibres, will improve in general tone and elasticity.
The suggestions made in regard to the compass of voice are, be it said, simply suggestions based on experimental teaching and are such as it is believed may be followed with safety in school singing. If they do not square with the music of books and charts, why, as before said, it is a very simple matter to give a higher key for any exercise, than the one in which it is written. A supervisor, by marking the exercises in the desk copy, can ensure the use of the key he desires. If it is objected that the tones then sung will not represent the real pitch of the written notes, why that is at once admitted. What then? The idea of teaching absolute pitch is a chimera. Pianos are not alike in pitch, neither are tuning-forks. Classes will often for one cause or another end a half tone or a tone lower than they began even if the pitch as written is given. It may not be desirable to sing in one key music that is read in another, but it certainly is less objectionable in every way than is an unsafe use of the voice. The correct use of the voice must transcend all considerations in vocal music, and no sort of practice which misuses the vocal organs can be excused for a moment.
[ CHAPTER V.]
POSITION, BREATHING, ATTACK, TONE FORMATION.
One way to secure good position is to require the pupils to stand. Unless the singing-period directly follows a recess, or the drill in physical exercises, the pupils will welcome the opportunity. As soon as standing becomes irksome resume the seats. No further direction in regard to sitting position is necessary than that the body should be held not stiffly, but easily erect and self-supporting, resting neither upon the back of chair nor upon the desk in front. A doubled-up, cramped position is, of course, all wrong, and may be avoided if the pupils are permitted to alternate between sitting and standing positions; but, if required to sit as suggested for too long a time, the rule will soon “be honored more in the breach than in the observance.” This brings us to the consideration of