, see what extra work is involved in teaching the boys to
sing alto. Some boys do not take to alto very easily, and the extra work
given to the altos means that quantity taken from the trebles. I am
unable, in consequence, to give the necessary time to the elementary
work that one ought to give. We can only get one hour's practice in the
day, owing to the boys going to school.

"Then, again, as to tone. The tone of a choir with men altos, if they
are at all fairly good, is so much superior to one with boy altos. In
cathedral music so many anthems and services have trios for A.T.B. There
is not one boy in a thousand who can sing the trio in 'O where shall
wisdom' (Boyce) with a tenor and bass effectively. And how many there
are similar to that!

"I do not see how boys could work at all in ordinary parish choirs, for
here there are not the opportunities of teaching boys to read well at
sight. It is only by daily practice that one can make anything of boys.

"Yours faithfully,
"H. KEETON."

Dr. Frank Bates, organist of Norwich Cathedral, has favoured me with a
copy of a paper on the boy's voice, in which he says:--

"The compass of a boy's voice when properly developed is from

[Illustration: C to A B[b] or C]

The chest or lower register extends from

[Illustration: C to C or D]

The head or upper register extends from

[Illustration: C or D to B[b] or C]

No fixed compass can possibly be given to the different registers, as
the older a boy becomes the lower the change occurs; the head register
often being used as low down as A."

[Illustration: musical notation]

In a letter to me Dr. Bates says:--

"I quite think that, for ordinary parish church services, the effect of
boy altos, if properly taught, is all that one can desire."

In reply to my remark that the break comes in so awkwardly for boy
altos, Dr. Bates says:--

"I fail to understand the reason you quote for the non-usage of boy
altos. There is no change whatever in a boy's voice, _in its normal
state_, until [Illustration: musical notation] is reached. If the change
is made lower down all the brilliancy is taken out of a boy's voice. As
a boy gets older he uses the upper register much lower down. I have
known boys at the age of eighteen with lovely top notes but very poor
chest register. In such cases, when a boy's top register commences at
[Illustration: G] I can quite understand the difficulty."

There is evidently some conflict of nomen