compass must be kept within the vocal powers
of the youngest, and, from a voice-standpoint, weakest pupils. Protect
the voice, and nature will attend to its development.

From the time children pass the age of twelve years on to the period of
puberty, the child-voice is at its best, and if the use of the thin
register has been faithfully adhered to in the lower grades, the
singing-tone will now be both pure and brilliant. It will be found not
at all difficult to carry the same voice as low or lower than middle C
without any perceptible change in tone-quality, and G above the staff
will be sung with absolute ease. How much higher, if any, the compass
may be carried is open to discussion. It is not at all necessary in
school music to go any higher, for, even where it is deemed best to
raise the pitch of the song or exercise to avoid too low tones, the
pitch of the highest note will seldom be above G-- space above.

Still, it is the practice of choirmasters to carry the tone of soprano
boys much higher in vowel-practice, as high even as

[Music: c''']

and although that is a pretty altitudinous pitch, there are very few
choir-boys who, when taught to breathe properly, etc., will not take it
occasionally with perfect ease. The head-register, even in woman's
voice, is capable of great expansion, if good habits of tone-production
are followed. But again it is well to be on the safe side; and
choir-boys, who are selected because they have good vocal organs, and
who are drilled far more than school children, are hardly a criterion to
go by.

It must not be forgotten that the thin voice can be pushed and forced.
Good judgment must be exercised in controlling the power of voice, or
children will strain the vocal mechanism in trying to outsing each other
on _high_ tones.

The question, How high may boys or girls sing who have passed twelve
years of age and whose voices show no signs of break, is not so very
important after all, for if they have been well trained in soft tone, no
danger of vocal strain need be feared even if an occasional high A or B
flat is struck.

The reason for the ease with which children sing the high head-tones is
found in the structure of the vocal bands. They are _thin_.
Consequently, there is, compared to the entire substance of the vocal
bands, a larger portion proportionately set in vibration than for the
production of the head-tone in woman's voice. And when the child-voice
is so used that