especially on the greater festivals. The principal reason for their use seems to be the fact that an elaborate service is thus secured with orchestral accompaniment. Many of these services are written in a very florid style, with elaborate solos, written with no idea of their ever being sung by a boy soprano. The result is, that it often seems to be a makeshift not altogether satisfactory. We must except the services of Gounod, which are much more susceptible to this adaptation, and seem to fit into an English service with much greater propriety than the more florid compositions of

Schubert, Weber, and others.

For seve

for music on these

ral years past, such orchestral services

have been heard at the Church of the Advent, in Boston, on the greater festivals, through the liberality of a wealthy parishioner who has taken great interest in church music, and in the boy choir movement in particular, and made it possible to have these elaborate services, to the great satisfaction of the many worshippers who are always present on those occasions. It behooves the English and the American composer to give to the church, services similar to those mentioned, written with orchestral accompaniment, so that the churches may not be dependent on foreign sources greater festivals.

In the days when quartette choirs pre

vailed, there seemed to be a general complaint that the choir appropriated the entire music of the service, so that the congregation was obliged to remain silent, even in the singing of the hymns. The simpler music used when the boy choirs were first introduced, made it possible for the congregation to supplement their ef forts, thus making the service more congregational. But as time went or, the music written for the choir gradually became more elaborate, so that it was feared by many that the old state of affairs had returned, and that the congregation would again be deprived of its right to be heard in the service. The question as to how much of the musical

office of music in religious worship is twofold,

sermon.

not only to express but also to excite devotion; and the devout worshipper can often be moved and made better as much by hearing an anthem as a Let the humble worshipper join in all parts of the service where he can render intelligent assistance, but let him remember that as the spire of the great church towers aloft, far above the choir transcepts and nave, so it is given to the trained choir to soar aloft far above and beyond, to heights where the great congregation cannot expect to follow. But let the congregation, listening in reverent silence, be moved to greater devotion, and

thank God for the exceptional musical gifts vouchsafed to the few, though denied to the multitude. There can be no greater model for a church service than Bach's Passion Music, written as it is for trained soloists, a trained chorus, and the great congregation, when those mighty chorals occur, in which each and every worshipper is supposed to join, thus making a service in which all the known resources of the musical art are brought into play.

We come now to the matter of voice culture. It may seem a strange thing to say that a boy's voice naturally is not musical; but it is true, nevertheless, except in rare instances. A boy when first asked to sing, or make a musical sound, is very apt to do it, "straight out from the shoulder," with the same tone that he would use in shouting to a companion in the street, certainly with the same location of tone, and that location the throat. It is often the wiser course, in beginning with such a boy, to make him take a comparatively high note, as softly as he can sing it, then the one next below,

he did before,"

and certainly a very noise, resembling the

different kind of tones of a flute rather than those of a street newsboy, shouting his papers. Different syllables are used by choir masters in first locating the voice. It has often been found that the syllable "who," will place the tone in the mouth, when other syllables like "la" and "ah "fail of accomplishing this result. It is much better to cultivate the voice downward, thus giving a pure and bell-like tone to the whole scale, rather than upward; for otherwise, as the voice ascends, the temptation is, to carry the chest tones up as far as possible, and then a decided break will occur resulting from the changes to the head tone. In singing downward, the head tone so modifies the chest tone in the lower part of the voice that, as before said, a perfectly even scale will result, with no perceptible break. After the voice is properly located, and it has become a matter of habit to produce the tones of the scale correctly, it will be perfectly safe to try the upward scale; indeed, it is an advantage at this stage to

Willie Cooper, St. Paul's Church, Kenwood, Chicago.

Until

gradually going down the scale. boys have learned properly to locate their tones, they should never be allowed to sing an upward scale, for the very reason, that the idea cannot be got out of the mind of the youthful chorister that the high notes are a little beyond his reach, and consequently require more and more exertion, as the scale proceeds upward. By beginning at the top, on the contrary, with a soft head tone, and working down, a very even scale is soon produced, with no perceptible break. Of course, all singing at this stage must be done very softly, until the voice is located, so that the tones proceed from the mouth rather than from the throat. Constant daily practice will so strengthen the voice, that, to use the boy's expression, he will be able in time "to make as much noise as

Dr. Gilbert, Organist of Trinity Chapel, New York.

do so, using the syllables do, re, mi, etc., exaggerating the lip motion, to assist in clear enunciation of the words; and to prevent that mouthing of words so common in many choir boys, whose lips never

seem to move either in Chant or Te Deum; unless the congregation is informed beforehand what particular anthem or canticle is being performed, it will never be able to find out from anything which is heard. It is one thing to be able to sing with the syllables, la, ah, or who, and quite another to be able to enunciate worls with the same tone of ⚫ voice. The exaggerated lip motion that we have mentioned will be very likely to accomplish this good result. The upward scale singing will have a tendency to give greater fulness to the lower part of the voice, without impairing its quality. Whereas, the constant singing of the downward scale, without some qualifying exercise like this, will in the end be liable to produce a hollow and disagreeable tone on the low notes. If a boy's voice is thoroughly placed and even, and he is taught to produce his tone in his mouth, he will never, except in rare instances, be known to sing flat; whereas if he uses his throat unduly he will be constantly "pulling up," from a lower to a higher pitch, often falling a little short of the proper intonation, and, consequently, will be very liable to sing flat. Of course the condition of the atmosphere has also much to do with the flatting so often heard in choirs. No body of singers can

hope to keep the pitch for any length of time, in a cold church, or in a cold room; a damp, muggy atmosphere is also apt to be fatal to correct intonation. But, under favorable conditions, choirs can be so trained as to be able to sing an anthem or canticle of considerable length unaccompanied without falling from the pitch. It is a capital idea for choir masters to have many parts of the service, like the versicles, responses, versicles, responses, and amens, sung unaccompanied; and oftentimes many