In this connection it should be said, that really it may be doubted if the common practice of assigning all boys, whose voices show signs of breaking, to the bass part, is right.
If boys have been kept upon the lower part, in all part singing and have never used other than the thick chest voice, then, when the voice begins to break up, it may be that they must sing bass or not sing at all. Boys trained in this way have never used the soprano head register and so if they sing alto, it will be with the thick chest voice of boyhood, which will now be the upper tones of the developing man’s voice.
Singing alto at the mutation period in this manner, strains the vocal bands beyond reason, and should not under any circumstances be allowed. It must be understood then in what follows, that singing alto in this, the chest voice, either before or during the break, is unqualifiedly condemned.
But we will suppose now that boys have been permitted to sing only in the head register, that they have been assigned to the upper part in part singing, for notwithstanding that usage is to the contrary, this is what should be done. As has already been suggested the voices of girls change less, and at a younger age than do boys, and they begin to show weight of tone and increased volume, at an age when boys are at their best as sopranos. Girls at this period should sing the middle and lower parts, but it must be said in passing that much of the music contained in our text-books ranges too low in pitch for them, or any voice except a low contralto or a tenor. They must not be permitted to use their voices at full strength, and special care should be taken of those who at this age show hoarseness. With girls as with boys, the change is accompanied with periods of great relaxation of the vocal bands, and during these periods the singing tone is either very light, or very loud.
Returning to the subject of treatment of boys’ voices during mutation, and premising that they have sung only in the head voice during childhood, the question arises whether they are not in many cases set to singing bass prematurely. It is obvious that during this period the voice is actually broken, divided in two. The lower notes are produced in the chest or man’s register, while more or less of the boy’s voice remains as upper tones. These tones, by the way, never are lost, they remain as the falsetto or head voice of the man.
Now the vibratory action of the vocal ligaments is much larger for the chest voice than for the head, or as we ordinarily call it, the falsetto. There is then no question that during mutation a boy can confine himself to the use of his old voice, or so much of it as is available at any time with very little strain. The tone will be light, in fact, during the active periods of laryngeal growth which characterize mutation, there will perhaps be no voice at all, owing to the congestion of the parts, but in the periods of rest separating the periods of growth, the vocal bands will respond. The compass of the head voice at this time varies largely, but it corresponds pretty closely to that of the second soprano, in three part exercises, or from C to C. If it is attempted to carry the voice down it changes to the chest register unless used very lightly.
Without attempting then to lay down positive rules for treating a voice which consists of fragments of voices, the above suggestions are made in the hope that they may receive the consideration of teachers and musicians.
[ CHAPTER VIII.]
THE ALTO VOICE IN MALE CHOIRS.
The suggestions of the preceding chapters are addressed directly to those who teach vocal music in public or private schools, but the general principles and rules are equally applicable to the training of soprano choir boys.