ice of carrying the tones of little
children three and four notes below the first line of the staff will not
be tolerated.

The common, even universal, tendency of primary classes to drop in pitch
when singing with the usual thick tone might show anyone that the voice
was being used in an abnormal manner. Furthermore, the intonation of
children of any age is something horrible when the thick voice is used.
Even carefully-selected and trained boy choristers, if they use this
voice, are frequently off the key even when supported by men's voices
and the organ. So in addition to other reasons for using the thin
register may be added this, that habits of faulty intonation are surely
fostered by the use of the thick voice.

Picture to yourself the short, thin, weak vocal bands of a child of six
or seven years attached to cartilaginous walls so devoid of rigidity
that in that dreaded disease of childhood-- croup-- they often collapse.
That is not an instrument for the production of tones in the contralto
compass. No wonder the pitch is wavering. If infant classes are to sing
with the usual tones, the common advice to make the singing-exercise
short is extremely judicious. It would be better to omit it.

The intimation that the last word can now be said on this subject is not
for a moment intended, but experience has given some tolerably safe
hints in reference to the compass of the child-voice in the thin
register at the ages mentioned, and it is advised never to carry the
compass lower than E first line, nor higher than F fifth line of the
staff, and the upper extreme must be sung sparingly. The easiest tones
lie from

[Music: f' d'']

The injunction to sing very softly need hardly be repeated.

Passing now to children who range in age from nine to eleven years, who
are found in the fourth and fifth years of school-life, it may be
observed that there is quite a marked increase in the evenness and
firmness of their tones. It is quite possible, especially at the age of
about eleven years, to extent the compass to G above the staff and to D
or C below; but if it does no harm, it serves no particular good end
either, and unless care is taken, the children will push the highest
tones. All of the necessary music drill can be kept within the suggested
range, and it is just as well to keep on the safe side. Then again, the
extremes in age between children of the same class grow farther apart as
we ascend in grade, and the