57
MUSICAL COURIER
April 5,1923
According to your
means
masterpiece of painting cannot realize his dream unless he is possessed of wealth. But the music lover who longs for a Steinway is more fortunate. Though the Steinway is the Instrument of the Immortals—still it can be purchased for a price and upon terms within the reach of those whose means are modest.
Convenient Terms.
Used pianos taken in exchange.
STEINWAY & SONS,
Steimvay Hall,
109 East 14th Street
Steinway
THE INSTRUMENT OF THE IMMORTALS
MUSIC AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
By GEORGE H. GARTLAN Director of Music in the Public Schools of New York City
TESTING CHILDREN’S VOICES
The Assignment of Parts in Grade Work and Assembly Singing—Difficulties of the Average Class Teacher in Meeting
This Problem
scale from the given pitch. Those who sing the ascending scale with ease may with safety be assigned to the first soprano. Those who find it easier to sing the descending scale, and particularly where the tone broadens out in the lower register, may with equal safety be assigned to the alto part. The others may for the sake of part singing be assigned to second soprano. The first soprano should be watched with great care, and the moment a boy or girl shows any sign of straining or producing a shrill tone in the upper register that particular pupil should be tested individually and re-assigned. Very little harm, if any, can be done to those children who sing the lower part, provided their tone production is correct. The so-called break in a boy’s voice must be watched with equal care. He must not be permitted to sing part of the time• with a head tone quality and the rest of the time with a coarse or chest tone quality, because by such a result we know that the child is not singing properly. The use of the chest register is very important, but not at this stage of development.
The Voice of the Boy.
This is the most interesting problem in public school music. For generations choir masters have followed a course in training which has generally not been accepted as most desirable. It must be remembered that the choir master has a specific problem, and for some reason which has never ¡been explained, they have followed a custom of producing a most unnatural quality in the voice of the boy. The result has been satisfactory to them, but never to the child. The first weakness is an attempt to produce the hollow quality which is after all a vocal distortion, and which rarely permits of correct enunciation or diction. It is left to the auditor to determine the language in which they are singing, and frequently we guess incorrectly. They divide .their voices into two classes—soprano and alto. They keep boys on the soprano part until during the age of mutation their voices break. The boy becomes vocally discouraged, and many of them never sing again. This is in itself• a tragedy. Simply because a boy sings and reads well is no reason why he should be kept upon a soprano part until he is no longer. able to sing anything. The moment any signs of distress appear, or even vocal doubt, the boy should be placed upon the second part or the alto part and permitted to sing easily and without forcing. There ׳have been instances to the writer’s knowledge where boys have sung an alto part on one Sunday and the tenor part on the following. There was no perceptible break and the change was accomplished as nature intended it to be accomplished. Because of incidents like this the same common sense method should be applied to public school instruction. Teach children to sing naturally and no harm will ever result.
Fiqué Choral Concert and Pupils’ Recital
A large audience assembled at All Soul’s Universalist Church, Brooklyn, March 20, to enjoy a number of beautiful songs by the Fiqué Choral, under the direction of Carl Fiqué. The Women’s League is to be congratulated on having the opportunity of presenting such a fine body of female singers, so well trained, and with unusual excellence of voices. The ensemble effects were impressive, both as to tone-color and expressiveness. Particularly noticeable was the sweetness and purity of the high, and the resonance of the low tones. The first group—Steersman’s Song (from the Flying Dutchman), Rubinstein’s The Angel, and Schumann’s Gypsy Life—was well rendered. The next group consisted of Fiqué’s own compositions ; From Autumn to Spring was descriptive in character, and well portrayed by the choral. They Talk of Marietta, words and music by Fiqué, is quite humorous, sprightly and well conceived ; it was well rendered and pleased the audience so much that it was repeated.
The final group consisted of Kjerulf’s Last Night, Denza’s So Long, So Long, and Mildenberg’s Carmena, all familiar songs, well rendered. Alveric Bellenott’s beautiful lyric tenor finely expressed Campbell-Tipton’s A Spirit Flower, McGill’s Duna, and Sterling’s Slumber Time. Mr. Fiqué rendered in a masterful manner Liszt’s twelfth Hungarian rhapsody, and as an encore his own Danse Caprice. Annette Ewart recited dramatically MacKay’s Ashes of Roses, vividly portraying the different characters ; recalled, she recited The Lesson of the Fan. Although Katherine Noack Fiqué (at the piano) could not be seen by a large part of the audience, her presence was felt in her clear technical piano playing of the choral selections.
À piano and vocal program was given by students of the Fiqué Musical Institute, March 24,. fourteen numbers containing solos and duets by Beethoven, Ravina, Saint-Saëns, Becker, Buck, Liszt, Hennes, Wagner-Dorn, Verdi, Gartlan, Novello, Mozart, Chopin, Grieg, Puccini, Bohm, Ware, Schubert, Branscombe, Franz, Verdi, Lack, and two works for piano solo by Carl Fiqué, viz., Variations on a Bach theme, and paraphrase on a melody by Nessler. Those who performed these works with credit to their teachers were Dora Kurland, Sophie Edson, Margaret Rubel (who both played and sang solos), Gertrude Grishman, Etha Krieger, Gertrude Mirkus, Alice McLaughlin (pianist and singer), Marion Diefenbach, Edith Stich, Edith Siegel, Hildegarde Bevers and Florence M. Groves.
Austin Roy Keefer at Miami Beach
Austin Roy Keefer, American pianist, has been yacht cruising since February 1. He is now spending a couple of weeks at Miami Beach, before going on a cruise along the Florida West Coast. Mr. Keefer returns North the last of April to give recitals in Pittsburgh and in Philadelphia.
One of the most difficult and yet at the same time most interesting phases of public school work is the question of voice testing. Perhaps the greatest asset in this work is experience. Mr. Giddings says it is interesting because it never “stays put.” It is frequently found necessary, particularly in the upper schedule of an elementary school and in the first year of high school, to re-assign children to their voice parts several times during the term. The boy particularly must be watched during this time. It is a problem which really should not 'be left to the class^ teacher, but should be handled by the experienced supervisor and studied carefully at all times. It is an unfortunate fact that a great many supervisors enter their work without the necessary training in this phase of school work.
The object of public school singing really should be to develop the voices naturally. In the early stages the problem is very simple. The young child sings and the problem of the so-called monotone is not a difficult one. As the child progresses through school we find that the age of mutation varies according to nationality and physical growth. For this reason voices should be tested in every class and the children should not be forced to sing out of the normal range of their voices. Another problem which is difficult for the average class teacher is the question of voice quality. A child might be singing his part according to the actual musical pitch, but the voice quality could be such as to disturb the even balance of tone, and in the problem of voice testing it is equally important that only such children be assigned to a part as have the same voice quality. The problem of assigning children to parts usually occurs about the sixth or seventh grade. Previous to this part singing is accomplished by alternating voices. When we take up the question of three-part music the altos should be those who sing easiest in the lower register of their voices. They must sing without straining of anv kind, and it is somewhat of a tragedy when we consider that in certain instances children whose voices were normally high soprano were assigned, probably through carelessness, to sing the lowest part of a three-part song. A question frequently raised by teachers is whether or not at this time of the school course pupils should be compelled to sing the sanje part. Mr. Giddings in his book, Grade School Music Teaching, has this to say:
“The question often arises whether it is best to place a young voice on a certain part and keep it there until it changes. The answer is ‘yes’ for the following reasons: The voice, during the changing period, usually has a short compass. By this is meant that, though the pupil may 'be able to sing both high and low, the easy compass of his voice is usually pretty short, and to develop the voice properly he should use only the easy compass. Many contend that the'voice will develop better if a wide compass is used, but my experience has been to the contrary. I have always kept a voice, from the sixth grade through the high school, rigidly to one part until a test showed that another part should be taken. Long experience has convinced me that the voice that sings lightly and easily, in a limited compass during the changing period, will have a wider compass, more power, and a better quality in the end than the voice that has tried to cultivate a wider compass during the same period. If there were no other reason than voice preservation, the limited compass of the changing voice makes part singing in the upper grades and the high school a necessity.
‘*Whenever the bass part is represented, four-part music for mixed voices is required in order to furnish an easy compass for all the voices. Three-part music, arranged for soprano, alto and bass, should never be used in the grades mentioned, because it does not accommodate all the voices.”
How Voice Quality Is Determined.
There are various methods for testing children’s voices. In this problem, like with adult Voice training, there are so many differences of opinion that it is dangerous to advance any set theory as to how it can best be accomplished. There are two unmistakable voice qualities—the treble voice of the boy or girl, and the changed or changing voice of the boy. There is practically no problem in the first, the point merely being to develop as perfect a head tone quality as it is possible to develop in each individual. The second class presents a really serious problem. During the changing period it is no uncommon thing for the boy to sing part of the melody with a treble quality and then suddenly to find himself singing the same melody an octave lower with the quality of a man’s voice. Where this latter quality is present boys in the elementary school should be assigned to the bass part. In the high school where the voice is usually settled, the division is made into three groups—bass, baritone and tenor.
Classifying Voices.
The first thing which a supervisor or class teacher should do is to determine the different groups by voice quality. The second point is a sub-division of these groups according to range. The unchanged voices of children for general school purposes are best divided into three parts—first and second soprano and alto. As mentioned in a previous paragraph, the boy with the changed voice 'is assigned to sing the bass. The first step with the unchanged group is to have all children produce what is commonly known as “head tone” quality. This is best accomplished by having the children sing D fourth line treble staff, or E fourth space, on the syllables oo, noo, or loo. The singing of oo prevents any coarseness or throatiness and it places the tone well forward on the lip. The scale_ should be sung descending. The next step is to determine range. Give the pitch of G second line or A second space and have the individual pupils sing an ־ascending and a descending