try during the past few years, and there is evidently a very general
and earnest desire that children be taught to sing. It is also the wish
of those who are teachers to do their work well.

While there are many books to aid educators upon every other subject
taught in public schools, the literature on the voice, particularly the
singing-voice, is meagre, and it is believed that some direct, practical
hints on this topic may be welcome.

The following pages are the result of several years' experience in
teaching, and of careful study of children's voices. The author has
attempted to describe the physiological characteristics of the
child-voice and to give some practical hints regarding its management.
It is sincerely hoped that what is herein written may be useful and
helpful to those engaged in teaching children to sing.

FRANCIS E. HOWARD,
Bridgeport, Conn.
December, 1895

CONTENTS.
PAGE

Preface to the Second Edition, 3

Preface, 7

CHAPTER I.
Physiology of the Voice, 13

CHAPTER II.
Registers of the Voice, 25

CHAPTER III.
How To Secure Good Tone, 44

CHAPTER IV.
Compass of the Child-Voice, 72

CHAPTER V.
Position, Breathing, Attack, Tone-Formation, 81

CHAPTER VI.
Vowels, Consonants, Articulation, 95

CHAPTER VII.
Mutation of the Voice, 112

CHAPTER VIII.
The Alto Voice in Male Choirs, 125

CHAPTER IX.
General Remarks, 132

CHAPTER I.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE VOICE.

In former times the culture of the singing-voice was conducted upon
purely empirical grounds. Teachers followed a few good rules which had
been logically evolved from the experience of many schools of singing.

We are indebted to modern science, aided by the laryngoscope, for many
facts concerning the action of the larynx, and more especially the vocal
cords in tone-production. While the early discoveries regarding the
mechanism of the voice were hopefully believed to have solved all
problems concerning its cultivation, experience has shown the futility
of attempting to formulate a set of rules for voice-culture based alone
upon the incomplete data furnished by the laryngoscope.