The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-25
CHOIR BOYS OF TRINITY.
They Have Worked For Months to
Excel on Easter Sunday.
Trinity's Choir Master Talks - The
Boys Receive From Forty to Five
Hundred Dollars Year and Receive
instruction Free.
Instruction Free.



Hundred Dollars a Year and Receive
Instruction Free.
Copyright
New York, March 24.-"Do. re, mi, ia,
sol, la, 81, do sang the choir boys after
they had settled themselves in their
chairs for the afternoon rehearsal. DO.
re, me, again, in : constantly rising key,
until the limit of the treble voices was
reached
Gently on the high notes" said the
patient choirmaster, whereupon the mis-
chievous Young rascals screamed literally
at the topo their voices. Bang went
the piano, makingsuc noise as TO drown
even their shrill notes and their voices
became suddenly angelic
This little exercise is the method used
! by DR. Messiter, the orgauist and choir
! master OF Trinity church, to timber uD
! the vocal chords of his young singers
! The choirmaster is Il genial gentleman
| who has held this responsible position
/ for nearly tWenty-eight years. This long
/ period In the harness would have been
! suniclent to wear out the nerves of a
/ man OF less even temperament But it
/ does not seem to have affected him, as is
/ evidenced by the attitude of the boys to-
! ward their kindly director For in spite
! OF their rnlschleYOus FRANKS. it is evident
/ that he has a great deal of influence over
| th en-, and they seem very fond of him.
When the exercise was finished to his
satisfaction the boys distributed the
! books which contained their first selection
! for the following Sunday.
Remembering my early struggles with
such composers as l.. o. Emerson and c.,
A. White, | was not little surprised
when one OF the choir boys, who remcm-
bered his good manners, handed me
copy of Schuberts mass in + fiat. These
youngsters, ranging from 10 to 10 years of
age, were going to attack the most difi-
cult music with the utmost complacency
! erhapS If | had been better acquainted
with the Episcopal service | might not
have been so much surprised, but never
| having had an opportunity to become
familiar with II, sat in open-eyed wonder
al the ease with which they sang the
| "Kyrie,' coming in in perfect time, and
striking the accidentals with "a clearness
OF tone that was refreshing.
Once they struck a false note and the
chOirmaster stopped them with, whats
that noten and they sang it right. 1t
was an accidental ID fiat in the key of E
nat, and 1t was not surprising that they
missed it.
The next selection was Mozart's Have
Mercy, O Lord. There is a strain in this
mass which is very soft and very slow,
and very difficult, the time being some
what broken in places, but there was not
mistake made in the rendering of it,
Their voices rose in eXultant strains,
away up TO A natural, in Il Have Said
Thou Art My God, - swelling with a con-
hdence of tone which indicated their
knowledge of music, if not their piety
The Easter mass is Handels .Magnih-
cat and "Nunc Dimittis, and an anthem
by the same composer, besides Mendels-
Of lrpS
and us.
Then came the creed, II Acknowledge
| One Baptism - and II [ OOk for the Res
direction of the Dead, ~ in angelic notes.
1t was in Mendelssohn's END Psalm in G.
minor that the second trebles first made
themselves heard. Their voices are very
sweet, but the choir-master informed me
that they were rare, and for this reason
he was compelled to substitute mems
voices for the alto parts. MANY people
object to this" he said, because the
quality of the voice is different 1t is al
ways falsetto, and not at all like the
mellow tones of the genuine second treble
of a boys voice.
DO you have any trouble getting the
first treblesl''
Mot much,' he replied. I'VE have
about sixteen boys, and only three of
them are altos, but there are plenty of
| Sopranos
u suppose they are all from New
York;"
''Oh, no; they come from Brooklyn and
Jersey City and the surrounding towns
After the rehearsal ! talked TO one of
the boys, who is a soloiSt. You are the
! boy VINO sang the solo in the Mendelsshon
mass are you not3'
YES, ma am he answered quickly,
with a pleased smile.
What is your name"
"Austln Davett'
And where do YOU liver"
No. 2l5 Mt Pleasant avenue New
ark
DO you enjoy singing?'
Yes, very much"
Il suppose you enjoy the money it
brings you as much as anything, don't
YOU"
"oh, yes I buy all my clothes and
have money in the bank"
''lndced"' | exclaimed in surprise.
perhaps you would not object to telling
me how much you are paid"
II get $40 a quarter said he, "but the
best soloist gets great deal more than
| do"
asked the choirmaster what was the
highest price paid to a boy soloist, and he
said some churches had paid as much as
$1,000 year, but that was unusual
We had boy once who came into the
choir at salary of sixty dollars a wear.
We didn't notice anything remarkable
about his voice. His mother was a poor
| woman. who washed the boys SUPPLIES,
! and we took him to help her more than
for any other reason. One day the second
soloist was absent and we were at a loss
for some one to fill his place. Ollie Huh,
our washerwoman's boy. had shown con
siderable readiness in reading notes. so
we let him try it. At first he sang rather
tinidly. but as he gained confidence, |
noticed stir among the men of the choir
as they leaned forward to listen, while
his mellow voice rang out fuller and
clearer at every note. His performance
the following Sunday decided his career
as choir boy, and he was engaged as
leading soloist at a salary Of $500 year.
What 40 you do with your recruits?
DO you not have trouble teaching them TO
read notes."
BOYS learn music more rapidly than
men. They take il just as they do their
arithmetic. Some learn more rapidly
than others. When they first come we