tics, he tries to join in. In those cases,
where the larynx undergoes a slow change in growth, it is often possible
for the boy to sing all through the period of change. The upper tones
may be lost, while there is a corresponding gain of lower tones. This
process, in many cases, goes on slowly and with so little active
congestion of the larynx that the voice changes from soprano to alto,
and thence to tenor almost imperceptibly. Voices which change in this
way often become tenor, but not invariably.

The question now arises, Should those boys who can sing while the voice
is breaking be required to take part in school singing exercises?

In Browne and Behnke's work, "The Child Voice," to which allusion has
been made, there is given a resume of 152 replies to the question: Have
you ever known of boys being made to sing through the period of puberty,
and, if so, with what result?

The answers were:

Forty correspondents have no knowledge.

Five think the voice is improved by the experiment.

Ten quote _solitary instances_ where no harm has arisen.

Ten know of the experiment having been made, and consider it has caused
no harm to the voice.

Eight mention results so variable as to admit of no conclusion.

Seventy-nine say the experiment causes _certain injury_, deterioration
or ruin to the after voice, and of this number ten observe that they
have suffered disastrous effects _in their own person_.

These answers were from English choirmasters, organists, music teachers,
singers, etc. It will be noticed that only fifteen of those who give a
positive opinion upon the subject think that boys can sing through the
period of break safely; while seventy-nine are positive that the result
is unsafe. The other replies are vague.

It must be remembered that many of the opinions are those of instructors
in cathedral schools, where one or two rehearsals and a daily church
service means a great deal of singing; while other answers come from
choirmasters who require of their boys equally hard work, though less in
quantity.

Every individual voice must be judged by itself, if such demands as
choir-singing are made upon it; and, while there are some cases, as
every choirmaster will probably agree, where no perceptible injury
results from singing during the change, the rule is that even when
possible, it is very unsafe.

But the daily time given to singing in schools is very short; the work
bears no comparison with choir-sin