voices in these upper grades are not
usually so clear and brilliant as they have been in the two or three
preceding years, the beauty and brilliancy of the child's voice
culminating at about the Sixth Grade.

[Sidenote: THE HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS IN PUBLIC]

In planning public performances for a high school chorus, many
difficult questions arise. Shall the program consist of miscellaneous
selections or of a connected work? If the latter, shall it be of the
operatic type, involving action, scenery, and costumes, or shall it be
of the cantata or oratorio type? And if the latter, shall heavy works
like the _Messiah_ and _Elijah_ be given, or shall our efforts be
confined to presenting the shorter and simpler modern works which are
musically interesting and in the rendition of which the immature
voices of adolescent boys and girls are not so likely to be strained?
A discussion of these matters properly belongs in a treatise on public
school music, and we can only state our belief here that, in general,
the _musical_ development of the children will be more directly
fostered by practice upon choral rather than upon operatic works; and
that extreme care must be exercised by the high school chorus director
in handling immature voices lest they be strained in the enthusiasm of
singing music written for mature adult voices. Whether this implies
the entire elimination of the _Messiah_ and other similar works, is
left to the discretion of each individual supervisor, it being our
task merely to point out the responsibility of the high school chorus
director for recognizing the difference between mature voices and
immature ones.

[Sidenote: THE PUBLIC PERFORMANCE]

In giving public performances with a large group of small children,
the director will need to learn that it is necessary to teach in
advance the precise shading to be employed at the performance. In
working with an adult chorus, the conductor expects every singer to
watch him closely throughout the selection, and many slight changes of
tempo and dynamics are made at the performance that have perhaps never
been thought of during the rehearsal. But children are usually not
able to keep their minds on the task in hand to this extent, and if
there is to be a _ritardando_ or a _crescendo_ at a certain point, the
only safe thing is to teach this change in tempo or dynamics when
first taking up the song, so that the expressional element may become
a habit in the same way as the