CHAPTER XII
The boy choir and its Problems
THE PROBLEMS The two special problems connected with directing a boy choir are:
- Becoming intimately acquainted with the compass, registers, possibilities, and limitations of the boy's voice.
- 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.
PECULIARITIES OF THE CHILD VOICEThe child voice is not merely a miniature adult voice, but is an instrument of quite different character. In the first place, it is not nearly so individualistic in timbre as the adult voice, and because of the far greater homogeneity of voice quality that obtains in children's singing, it is much easier to secure blending of tone, the effect being that of one voice rather than of a number of voices in combination. This is a disadvantage from the standpoint of variety of color in producing certain emotional effects, but it is in some ways an advantage in the church service, especially in churches where the ideal is to make the entire procedure as impersonal and formal as possible. In the second place, the child voice is good only in the upper register—the chest