al bands and
surrounding parts, that singing is positively harmful, but during the
intervals separating these periods, especially where they extend, as in
many cases, over several months, it would seem that the singing voice
might be used.

Each individual case must be observed and judged by itself. This is
entirely possible in choirs. If then the choir-master is careful to
observe and to humor the changing voice at all critical times; if he
will insist that the boy sing very lightly or not at all if it hurts
him, and if he will resolutely check any tendency to break into the
tenor or chest quality, he can train in a short time a good alto force
from his choir, and these young men so trained may become efficient male
alto singers.

It is true that in many cases boys may be carried through the mutation
period, and at the end show such light tone upon the falsetto or head
voice as to be of no value. The strength and timbre of the male falsetto
depends partly upon the character of the vocal bands and partly of
course upon the size and shape of the resonance cavities.

Men who have voices of wide range and good volume in the chest or usual
singing voice, generally possess strong head or falsetto tones, and it
may be that soprano boys who possess large voices, that is those which
show volume of tone along with purity, whose resonance cavities are
large, will prove to develop a better falsetto, as men, than those boys
whose voices are thinner. One other point remains to be disposed of.
Will the use of this voice by youth or adult, injure his other voice, be
it naturally bass, baritone, or tenor? No, it will not, and yet the
average choir-master will most assuredly be met with this objection or
fear. It is surprising that so many of those who are in the business of
trying to teach voice, should be ignorant of the character and range of
the male falsetto or head voice, but in spite of this ignorance, and
more or less prejudice against its use, the fear that by using it one
impairs the tones of the chest register or the usual singing voice, is
utterly unfounded. It is produced with far less effort and tension of
the vocal bands than is the chest voice, and is physiologically
perfectly safe. The mechanism which the larynx employs to produce the
falsetto is just as natural as the mechanism employed to produce the
chest voice. That it is an unusual voice with us is due to circumstances
of musical development. The advent of the m