tones and rhythms. This is particularly
necessary in teaching the same songs to several different groups
separately in preparation for a public performance in which various
groups that have not practised together are to sing the same numbers.

[Sidenote: ATTITUDE OF THE CONDUCTOR AT THE PERFORMANCE]

The conductor must always appear cheerful and confident when
conducting children (or for that matter, adults) in public, for if he
seems anxious and distressed, or worse yet, if he informs the singers
that he is afraid that they will not do well, his uneasiness is almost
sure to be communicated to the performers and there will probably be a
panic and perhaps even a breakdown. If the conductor seriously feels
that the compositions to be performed have not been rehearsed
sufficiently, it will be far better for him either to insist upon
extra rehearsals (even at considerable inconvenience), or else upon a
postponement of the performance. A good rule to follow in preparing
for a public performance of any kind is this: _Go through the work
over and over until it is done correctly; then go through it enough
times more to fix this correct way in mind and muscle as a habit._ Too
many performances are given upon an inadequate rehearsal basis, and it
has happened again and again that performers have been so busy
watching the notes that they have had no time to watch the conductor,
and the rendition of really beautiful music has been made in a tame,
groping, and consequently uninteresting manner. Our American
impatience with slow processes of any sort is as often to blame here
as the negligence of the conductor, the latter often arranging to have
a performance at an earlier date than he really wishes to because he
knows that his chorus will become impatient with the large number of
repetitions that a really artistic performance requires.

[Sidenote: THE HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS]

In directing a large high school chorus (sometimes numbering from five
hundred to fifteen hundred singers), the conductor will find it
necessary to study his score in advance even more than usual, for here
he is dealing with large numbers of bright and lively American boys
and girls, many of whom are not particularly interested in the chorus
practice and all of whom love to indulge in mischievous pranks of
various sorts. The conductor who is likely to be most successful in
handling such a chorus is he who, other things being equal, has
prepared his work most t