The Boy's Voice Part 4

[A] Mr. Richardson has responded to my request for hints with such fulness and weight that I devote a separate chapter to his essay. In writing, he has specially had in view the difficulties of choir trainers in rural districts.

All that a writer on the training of voices can do is to lay down general lines, and give comprehensive suggestions. The teacher, to make any use of them must be indeed a _teacher_, not a mere mechanically automatic individual of only sufficient calibre to take the directions of a writer, and give them again. He should be both enthusiastic in his work, and willing to spend his strength in patience if he would have a choir of boys to sing _reliably_ well. It is of the greatest importance that work should be set out on right lines, and that a thoughtfully prepared scheme should be arranged before commencing. I would here give my experience of two choirs I had at different times in agricultural districts, and in one of them I was well satisfied with the progress we made, while in the other my work was completely thrown away. The reason for the failure in the second instance (which I foresaw from the outset) will be gathered from the following account of our plan of campaign. The choir was a village one which met for rehearsal once a week. The organist attended and presided at a harmonium, and, _nolens volens_, I had at the beginning of each practice to take the choir through the whole of the next Sunday's services. The boys' voices were, at the beginning of my connection, uncivilised, and at the end of it--fortunately the question of ways and means not allowing the interval to extend beyond a few months--were as barbarous as at the commencement.

There was absolutely no chance of making a name through these youngsters; and as to voice culture! How could it be possible to attempt it after labouring through such a programme as Canticles, Hymns, Psalms, Kyrie, and Amens?

I determined never to take office again unless I could have my own way in fixing the time-table of work. My success in the other case was owing greatly to the fact that I had one night a week entirely devoted to musical training and voice culture. This did not preclude us from relieving the drudgery of work by the singing of songs and hymns, _but_ it allowed me the use of an unfettered judgment in the _choice_ of what should be attempted. A teacher is heavily handicapped if after getting his boys for the first time to sing in the upper thin register, he is to follow his delicate work by singing half-a-dozen verses to a tune which will in the very first verse undo all that he has done, simply because its melodic progression encourages forcing. Experienced teachers will appreciate what I say on this point. Take such a tune as:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: &c.

KEY E[b]. { m:f s:l t:d1 s:f &c.]

--a tune which inevitably causes a wrong use of the registers by inexperienced boys. The tunes selected should further the work of the exercises, not undo it, and with diligence the teacher can find suitable tunes and chants for this purpose. My advice to all teachers is that before commencing work they should insist upon conditions that do not preclude success, and that they should not spend their labour in wearying drudgery with the full consciousness that to attain it is impossible.

One suggestion I would make is that the choirmaster, if he be not, as is often the case in villages, also schoolmaster, would do well to enlist the services of the school teachers in the village. It is not often practicable to have more than one--or two at the most--meetings of a choir during the week, and the length of the lesson must be, in consequence, at least an hour. For voice training in the earlier stages six lessons a week of fifteen minutes each are preferable to one of an hour and a half, and therefore I would urge the _necessity_ of getting hold of the sympathies of the school teacher, and putting him on right lines to work out the choirmaster's ideas, if the offices be not united.

Voice work should be begun in the infant school. At Swanley it was my practice to give, I believe, daily lessons in the Infant Department, and the remarks made by visitors will bear out what I am about to say as to the possibility of getting young children to sing, and sing like little angels. I was always as pleased to exhibit my infants' vocal powers as to show those of my more advanced boys, and success was, comparatively speaking, more easily gained with them than with older boys, for inasmuch as the difficulty of registers and breaks does not exist as such with these tiny ones, and unless our plans be artificial or formed of caprice, this is what should be expected.

In the infant school the teacher can take hold of the good that is innate, and mould it; in the higher school he has to spend hours and hours eradicating the bad habits which shouting and untamed license have allowed to grow. By all means begin with the infants, and let their songs and nursery rhymes be written so as to "give them a chance."

But I am asked to say something that may be helpful to the choirmaster having to train the vocal organs of boys who are beyond infantile methods. I will therefore suppose myself for the first time before an ordinary country group of lads with all the vocal faults that now appear indigenous to the locality. I should first get them to find the Upper Thin Register, and my plan is to confine the work to this region [Ill.u.s.tration: musical notation] and get the boys to sing "koo" to D, E, or F, making my own "Exercises," which are suggested by present circ.u.mstances:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY D[b]. d1 m1 m1 d1 m1 r1 d1 d1 r1 m1

Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY D. d1 r1 d1 l t d1 d1 t r1 d1

Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY E[b]. d1 r1 t d1 r1 d1 l s d1

Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY B[b]. s f m r d s m s s s]

As at this stage the boys know nothing of the diatonic scale, I let them imitate. The exercises _may_ be played on a pianoforte, if the teacher cannot sing them, though in the latter case it is preferable that he should adopt the plan of selecting his best pupils for the models.

I once had to commence with some uncultured boys, and knowing the difficulty of getting them to make a start, took with me a few of my own trained lads, who sang the exercises first, after which I added one or two of the beginners to them, and sympathetically they soon sang in the proper register with the others. By continuing the process of addition gradually I soon got the whole cla.s.s to sing as I wished.

At this first lesson the proper production of "oo" (vowel) should be obtained. I deal with the vowels as they arise, never observing a lack of clearness and purity without endeavouring to correct it. The foregoing exercises can next be used for teaching the intervals of the diatonic scale, for instance:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY F. { d1:-- s:-- s:-- d1:-- ]

calling the notes by their names, doh soh. Here, again, the proper vowel production must be sought for, and obtained. The difficulties will be varied in this respect with the locality. Often I have met with doh-_oo_. This, as well as ray-_ee_, and other faults that need not be specified, can be corrected at once. The beautiful intonation we had at Swanley I attribute in a large measure to the care bestowed on the production of vowel sounds. There must be no division of opinion among the singers as to how any particular vowel sound should be emitted. If there be not unity in this respect the intonation suffers.

The earlier exercises should be sung in unison, a correct division into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trebles being impossible until the boys have acquired sufficient confidence to show _what_ they are naturally. I have for a long time used with advantage the single chant form for exercises, making them myself.

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY F. { d1:- l:t d1:- d1:- t:1 s:t d1:- ]

In order to avoid waste of time in learning exercises they should be _short_, so that they can be caught up at once.

To get boys to sing in the register below (the Lower Thin) is the next step, the exercises now being confined between [Ill.u.s.tration: musical notation] and formed in the same way as those in the higher region. The difficulty is greater in getting rough boys to use this part of the vocal score correctly. The best way I have found to get them to discover it, is to sing [Ill.u.s.tration: KEY F. s f m r d]--beginning at C1, to koo. The notes are at first weak, and there is a tendency to "squork," if I may so term it. These exercises must be sung softly at first, and at this stage the schoolmaster can render valuable help if he will get his boys to read from their lesson books in this register instead of in the one below it.

I have to acknowledge a debt of grat.i.tude to one of our best and most painstaking teachers for giving me this hint. The reading will at first be weak, and in a monotone, and there being no flexibility, the boys will have difficulty in forming the usual cadence at the end of sentences, but practice will soon strengthen the weakness, and make this register as strong as the one below it. Between the one above and the one below, this "middle" one is apt to be overlooked altogether, and I have heard some fairly pleasing singing where it has not been recognised at all.

The third register (Upper Thick) should now receive attention, and in order to find it the pupils should cultivate it upwards with such exercises as--

[Ill.u.s.tration: &c.

KEY A[b]. d_1 r_1 d_1 d_1 r_1 m_1 &c.

Koo koo koo koo koo koo]

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 to _leap_ from one register to a higher, a stepwise ascent being an insidious snare. Koo and afterwards laa such tunes as:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY C.

{ s:m d1:s m1:-.r1 d1:s l:l s:d1 s:f m:-

KEY E[b].

{ m:r f:m r:- m:- l:s t:d1 s:- f:-

{ m:r f:m r:- l:- d1:s m:r d:- -:- ]

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[b]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 antic.i.p.ate them. This does not in the least detract from the value of the book, which must be the best _general_ guide 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 a _simple unaffected utterance_ in 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, say _aa_, 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, as _aa--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 a.n.a.lysing, 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 antic.i.p.ate 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 a.s.sured 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 of singing 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 can _sing_ who does not possess a sense of his power to do so. There should be encouraged an _abandon_ sort 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 be _correct_. 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.