y become discouraged and stop singing entirely if
too many of them are insisted upon. It will be well also to apply to
this type of group singing the principles already discussed in
connection with community "sings," having the congregation sing alone
part of the time, having a stanza sung as a solo occasionally, making
use of antiphonal effects, and in other ways introducing variety and
placing more responsibility upon the congregation; and, most important
of all, calling attention more frequently to the words of the hymns,
either the preacher or the choir leader sometimes giving the stories
of their origin, and in other ways attempting to interest the
congregation in the meaning of the hymn as a poem. Perhaps a more
careful selection of the hymns would help also, especially if a
consistent attempt were to be made to give the congregation an
opportunity of practising the more musical tunes, so that they would
come to feel familiar with them and at ease in singing them. If the
choir director will take the trouble to go through the hymn book and
select forty or fifty really fine hymns and tunes that are not being
used, suggesting to the minister that these be sung sometimes in
connection with the more familiar ones, he will very often find the
minister more than willing to meet him half way in the matter. In
these various ways the choir leader and the minister may by consistent
cooperation inspire the congregation to the point where the vocal
response is as hearty and as _heartfelt_ as it used to be in the olden
days.

CHAPTER XII

THE BOY CHOIR AND ITS PROBLEMS

[Sidenote: THE PROBLEMS]

The two special problems connected with directing a boy choir are:

1. Becoming intimately acquainted with the compass,
registers, possibilities, and limitations of the boy's
voice.

2. Finding out how to manage the boys themselves so as to
keep them good-natured, well-behaved, interested, and hard
at work.

To these two might be added a third--namely, the problem of becoming
familiar with the liturgy of the particular church in which the choir
sings, since male choirs are to be found most often in liturgical
churches. But since this will vary widely in the case of different
sects, we shall not concern ourselves with it, but will be content
with giving a brief discussion of each of the other points.

[Sidenote: PECULIARITIES OF THE CHILD VOICE]

The child voice is not merely a miniature