will be sung in
a thin quality of voice. The place of the break or the absence of any
break at all will depend upon the degree of loudness permitted.

Pass now to a grade in which the pupils average eleven years of age.
These can use the thick tones as high as

[Music: d'' e'']

only with great exertion, and, if required to sing softly, will pass
into the thin register at a lower pitch than the primary class. Now, go
to a room where the children range in age from thirteen to fifteen
years. The girls will still use thick tones up to

[Music: b' c'' d'']

The pitch at which the break occurs will vary in individual cases
according to physique or ambition to sing well; but the boys (excluding
those whose voices have begun to break) will manifest the utmost
repugnance to singing the higher notes. "Can't sing high" will be the
reply when you ask them why they do not sing. And they are correct. They
cannot, not with the thick voice. Even when putting forth considerable
exertion, they will pass to the thin voice at

[Music: g' {or} a']

and lower, if they sing softly. This phenomenon, then, is the "movable
break" of the child-voice. The pitch at which the child-voice passes
from the thick to the thin voice depends first upon the age; second,
upon the amount of physical energy employed, and third, upon the bodily
vigor of the child.

It may also be added that boys' voices break lower than girls' during
the year or two preceding change of voice. When, now, it is remembered
that the adult female voice leaves the chest-register at

[Music: f' f#']

it will be admitted by everyone who has had actual experience in class
singing in schools or elsewhere, that the facts set forth in reference
to the ability of the child to carry the thick voice from one to eight
tones higher than the adult, has a very important bearing on the subject
of training children's voices.

But, is it physically injurious? It may be said that, as regards upward
forcing of the vocal register, authorities upon the adult voice are
united. Leo Kofler, in "The Art of Breathing," p. 168, says: "I have met
female trebles that used this means of forcing up the chest-tones as
high as middle A, B, C, and (one can hardly conceive of the physical
possibility of so doing) even as far as D and E flat. The reason why
this practice is so dangerous lies in the unnatural way in which the
larynx is held down in the throat, and in the force that is exe