a half, and therefore I would urge the _necessity_ of getting
hold of the sympathies of the school teacher, and putting him on right
lines to work out the choirmaster's ideas, if the offices be not united.

Voice work should be begun in the infant school. At Swanley it was my
practice to give, I believe, daily lessons in the Infant Department, and
the remarks made by visitors will bear out what I am about to say as to
the possibility of getting young children to sing, and sing like little
angels. I was always as pleased to exhibit my infants' vocal powers as
to show those of my more advanced boys, and success was, comparatively
speaking, more easily gained with them than with older boys, for
inasmuch as the difficulty of registers and breaks does not exist as
such with these tiny ones, and unless our plans be artificial or formed
of caprice, this is what should be expected.

In the infant school the teacher can take hold of the good that is
innate, and mould it; in the higher school he has to spend hours and
hours eradicating the bad habits which shouting and untamed license have
allowed to grow. By all means begin with the infants, and let their
songs and nursery rhymes be written so as to "give them a chance."

But I am asked to say something that may be helpful to the choirmaster
having to train the vocal organs of boys who are beyond infantile
methods. I will therefore suppose myself for the first time before an
ordinary country group of lads with all the vocal faults that now appear
indigenous to the locality. I should first get them to find the Upper
Thin Register, and my plan is to confine the work to this region
[Illustration: musical notation] and get the boys to sing "koo" to D,
E, or F, making my own "Exercises," which are suggested by present
circumstances:--

[Illustration: Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY D[b]. d1 m1 m1 d1 m1 r1 d1 d1 r1 m1

Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY D. d1 r1 d1 l t d1 d1 t r1 d1

Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY E[b]. d1 r1 t d1 r1 d1 l s d1

Koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo koo

KEY B[b]. s f m r d s m s s s]

As at this stage the boys know nothing of the diatonic scale, I let them
imitate. The exercises _may_ be played on a pianoforte, if the teacher
cannot sing them, though in the latter case it is preferable that he
should adopt the plan of selecting his best pupils for the models.

I once had to commence with some uncultured b