d parts for
the strings. Meanwhile, he is, of course, taking every possible
opportunity of attending concerts given by symphony orchestras, and is
begging, borrowing, or buying the scores of as many of the
compositions as possible, studying them in advance, and taking keen
delight in following them at the performance; perhaps even imagining
himself to be the conductor, and having visions of changes in
interpretation that he would like to make if he were directing. As the
result of several years of this sort of study, even an amateur may get
to the point where he is able to conduct an orchestra from a full
score with some degree of skill, and hence with some little
satisfaction both to himself and to the performers.

[Illustration: TABLE SHOWING RANGES OF ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTS

_Note:_ The arrangement of instruments here indicated is essentially
that found in a modern orchestral score. The ranges given represent
practical orchestral usage. Additional tones possible for highly
skilled performers or on instruments with certain special keys (like
the low _b_ of the flute) are shown in brackets.]

CHAPTER XI

DIRECTING THE CHURCH CHOIR

[Sidenote: THE PROBLEM]

In taking up the special problems of conducting involved in directing
a church choir, we shall first of all need to consider the dual nature
of church music--its religio-artistic aspect, and in studying the
matter from this standpoint we shall soon discover that most of the
difficulties that have encompassed church music in the past can be
traced directly or indirectly to a conflict or a lack of balance
between these two factors. The churchman has not been sufficiently
interested in the _art_ side of church music, while the music
director, organist, and singers have all too frequently been not only
entirely out of sympathy with the religious work of the church, but
have usually been wholly ignorant concerning the purpose and
possibilities of music in the church service. The result in most
churches at the present time is either that the music is vapid or even
offensive from the art standpoint; or else that it emphasizes the
purely artistic side so strongly that it entirely fails to perform its
function as an integral part of a service whose _raison d'etre_ is, of
course, to inculcate religious feeling. "The church wishes for worship
in music, but not for the worship of music," is said to have been the
statement of Father Haberl at the Saint Cecilia Con