tone-production. The boy who has been accustomed to sing with
an easy action of the vocal ligaments and with open throat will at once
become conscious of any unusual strain or wrong adjustment in the vocal
organs. If he has learned to sing well, he has also learned not to sing
badly.

The test to apply to the subject of boys' singing in school during the
break may be: Can they sing without strain or push? Can they sing
easily, or does it hurt? There is a certain amount of humbug in boys
that must be allowed for, but it does not affect calculations as to
their singing-powers more than upon their other abilities, if singing is
well taught.

The speaking-voice also indicates the state of the vocal organs, and
shows the effect of the break sooner than does the singing-voice. If the
tones in speech are steady in pitch, singing is possible in all
probability. If, on the contrary, the speaking-voice is croaky and
wavering, singing is difficult, if not impossible. As the object of the
study of vocal music in the public schools, in so far as it relates to
the treatment of the voice, is to develop good vocal habits, not bad
ones, it follows that if boys sing during the break it must be only upon
those tones which lie within their compass at any time, and that the
vocal organs must be used lightly, and without strain.

In nearly every upper grade room there will be a percentage of boys
whose voices are in a transition stage, some of whom can sing and others
of whom cannot. It requires judgment and tact to handle these voices,
but if boys have sung as they should up to this period, and have taken
pleasure in it, the mutual good understanding between them and their
teacher need not be disturbed. They are likely to do their best.

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