The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-05

l A NGW 1pIk CIlOlI ulIGClui, Wl1O ii"N
 made many tests, gives his opinion that
 the most flexible and artistically sat sfactory choir of boys is made up of boys of a uniform social grade; not nec- essarily sons of rich or even well-to-do parents, but children, who by inheri- tance and nature have gentlemanly qualities He has tried mixing the ele- ments, when an especially fine voice has | tempted him. and has found that one boys of course mould can do very much l to demoralize a choir. The choir that stands for the best musical proficiency l is now looked after on weekdays, and in all secular pursuits. The boys go to school together to the same teacher, and l have the same pleasures and recrea- | tions, wear a choir uniform, are
 marched back and forth to luncheon at
 a common table, and in every way are
 brought under one ruling influence each day of the S65, only dispersing at night 1 when they go to the home roof.
 l This plan permits the choir director to get complete grasp of his material as
 body, shut out any discordant ele-
 ment, and put the eighteen choristers on
 uniform level of excellence, both as to music and mental and moral training l that assures ideal results. To sing in | thorough unison, and enter into all the | meaning of the music, a choir must practice often, and especially where the members average from 10 to F years of age, and the interpretation of the music, | as well as of the music-score, is an | effort.
 | In a city of vast distances it is hard matter to get the boys together daily, unless they are in touch in other mat tera than the music This is why the choir school, secular as we'll as sacred, is an established feature in one New York church, and its plan is initiated as much as possible by other choir
 management all over the city. But to have a day-school and kindred advan- tages for the school choristers, takes
 money and building that most parish es cannot command; so that the next best thing is to get the boys as nearly
 as possible from the same section of town, that distance need not be in the way of their meeting; and to find enough boys with good voices in any given town section to make a satisfac- | tory choir takes energy on the part of | the choir-teacher. Every boy choir in | town has it's choir club and it's meet | ing-room, where the little fellows may play together and amuse themselves on
 afternoons until the hour of practice. | Every boy choir has some young wom-
 an sponsor-two or three, perhaps-who voluntarily undertakes to make things | pleasant for the boys.
 | This choir Is not pretentious in the | way of music, and Is formed from the | children of the chapel congregation. The boys get from 40 cents to $2 a month, and silver medal given by the young woman sponsor is the class sym has fewest demerits for a week Is en- titled to, wear the decoration during service. For certain backslidings and slips in conduct the boys are fined, but they are also rewarded for regular at-
 tendance at practice, and little excur-
 sions and holiday outings are planned
 for them. Some members of this vol
 unteer choir after a years service have
 secured places in the churches where
 they could get more pay, and no objec
 tion is made, since they are sons of poor
 parents, and in need of putting their
 talent to use. Some choristers get many
 demerits. It is very hard for a boy of
 10 years to sit absolutely still through a
 long service. There is constant temp
 tation to have a little sly fun with the
 boy next to him or the one back of him,
 and for each and every such infraotion
 he must pay penny of his salary.
 The boy choire are transitory in char
 acter. Some boys lose their child-voice at IA, some at 16. Often just when they have come to be of real value to the di-
 rector that premonitory squeak or harsh tone is heard for one day that forever closes their career as boy singers. Later, this chrysals stage of the voice will be past, and the boy sometimes developes a beautiful tenor or base voice, but his silvery, child-tonds are gone, and he takes off his choir vestments, both the cadet uniform of the choir school and the angel-seeved surplice, and retires to private life At this crisis the use he has made of chorister experience tells. If he was q promising student In other lines than music, if he shows a taste for books sometimes somebody comes for ward and helps him to good education l or to a good place in some business
 In a well-known choir-room, presided l over by the most thorough teacher in | town, hangs a group photograph of five | boy soloists, all small, from Il to 13, and | with exceedingly interesting faces. One is an English child, one from Minneapo- lis, one from a little Ohio town, one from New England. Their voices are exceptional both in strength and tone- quality and the star singer of the group is little Armenian, a child with the brilliant eyes, bronze skin, and aquiline | features that belong to the Orient.
 "The majority of good boy voices come from the country" said this choirmaster "The New York boy of | good percentage is apt to interpret the music well; he Is artistic and cultivated, | but his voice is weak. I attribute this to too much artificialty in his mode of | life"
 There Is amiable competition between expert choirmasters. One will train his boys in elaborate music, training each half an hour day, and giving the same brilliancy of effect that i is striven for in training a woman's voice. Another teacher is more con- and follows different school Each hears the others choir as often as, possible and gives honest need of | praise to the music, although the aims |