The Healthfulness Of Singing
The boy's voice, though an immature organ of delicate structure, is
capable of much work, providing only that its mechanism be rightly used
and not forced. Some people are unnecessarily nervous about boys; as a
rule, under competent guidance, they will get nothing but good from
vocal work. A cathedral organist wrote to me the other day:--
"Our best solo boy, who has a splendid voice and who sings beautifully,
every choir-boy should be as robust as a plough-boy) has just stated
that the boy is too feeble to remain in the choir. Notwithstanding my
remonstrances, the Dean and Chapter decided yesterday to uphold the
doctor. I tried his voice last week, and he sang with full, rich tone up
to the C above the stave, and that after he had been skating from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. I should have thought that a boy who could skate all day could
not be in such a 'feeble' state as represented by the medical man. Three
months ago a boy with a beautiful voice was sent away for the same
reason. So you see what uphill work it is for me."
It is to be hoped that fastidiousness of this sort is not common. The
abuse of the voice may lead, of course, to serious results. In the
New York Medical Record of March 21, 1885, p. 317, there is a case
recorded of the bursting of a blood vessel through too energetic
singing, but this is altogether abnormal, and beyond the scope of our
enquiry. The voice, properly used, will last as long as any other organ,
and it benefits by exercise. Mr. D. W. Rootham of Bristol, who now at
middle age has a strong constitution and a fine baritone voice, tells me
that as a boy at Cambridge he sang for seven years at five services
every Sunday. The thing seems incredible, and it is an extreme case,
though it shows what work the voice, properly managed, will do.
Singing, it should be remembered, promotes health. It does so indirectly
by causing cheerfulness, a genial flow of spirits, and the soothing of
the nerves. It does so directly by increasing the action of the lungs.
So far as these organs are concerned, singing is a more energetic form
of speech. As we sing we breathe deeply, bring more air into contact
with the lungs, and thus vitalise and purify the blood, giving stimulus
to the faculties of digestion and nutrition. A physiologist, in fact,
can trace the effects of singing from the lungs into the blood, from the
blood into the processes of nutrition, back again into the blood, into
the nerves, and finally into the brain, which of all organs is most
dependent upon healthful and well-oxygenated blood. Dr. Martin (organist
of St. Paul's Cathedral) has had many years' experience in training
choir-boys, and he tells me that he has never known a boy to injure his
voice, or lose it through singing. It is a question of method; if the
voice be used properly it will stand any amount of work. He has seen
boys disposed to consumption improve in health after joining the choir.
The medical man who declared that if there were more singing there would
be less coughing, expressed in a graphic way the healthful influence of
vocal practice. Parents and guardians need never hesitate to allow their
sons and charges to become choir-boys under proper choirmasters. They
may be sure that nothing but good can come of the exercise.
Two cautions only are needed. The first is, not to sing during a cold.
When a slight inflammation has attacked the larynx--that is, when a cold
has been taken--the vocal cords are thickened, and the act of
vocalisation causes them to rub together, which increases the
inflammation. If the cold is a bad one--that is, if the inflammation is
great--the singer will be compelled to rest, because the congestive
swelling of the vocal cords will be so great that they will be unable to
vibrate sufficiently to produce tone. But whether slight or great, the
cold demands rest. Otherwise permanent injury may be done to the voice.
The second caution relates to the preservation, not of the boy's voice,
but of the man's. There is no doubt that it is undesirable for a boy to
continue to sing after his voice has shown signs of "breaking." What are
the first signs of this change? Choirmasters notice that the middle
register becomes weak, without any diminution in the power and quality
of the upper notes, but that at the same time the thick register grows
stronger, and the boy can strike middle C with firmness. "The striking
of middle C," says Mr. G. Bernard Gilbert, "is usually sufficient to
decide the point." The tradition of teachers is in favour of rest at
this time, and a well-founded public impression counts for a good deal.
The fact is that during the time of change not only do the vocal cords
lengthen, but they are congested. An inflammatory action, like that
which takes place during a cold, is set up. Hence rest is desirable.
Nature herself also counsels rest because she reduces the musical value
of the voice at this time to a low ebb. It becomes husky and of
uncertain intonation. No doubt cases can be quoted of boys who have sung
on uninterruptedly and developed into good tenors or basses, but there
are cases equally strong in which the man's voice has completely failed
after such a course. Sir Morell Mackenzie is the only medical writer who
has advocated singing during change of voice, but not even his authority
can upset the weight of evidence on the other side.
Nevertheless, on the principle of "hear both sides" I quote the
following from a letter by Mr. E. H. Saxton, choirmaster of St. James's
church, at Buxton:--
"Upon the question of resting completely from singing during the period
of change of voice, I hold that one must be guided by the circumstances
of each individual case. I carefully watch each boy when I am expecting
the change to commence, and it usually shows itself by the upper thin
register giving way. If I cannot immediately spare the boy from the
treble part (and good leading boys are not plentiful), I caution him to
leave high notes alone, never to force them, and as soon as possible I
relegate him to the alto part, where he often remains useful to me for a
year or eighteen months. All the time he is singing the alto part I keep
watch over him, and forbid his singing as soon as there are indications
that the effort is in the slightest degree painful. Generally I find
middle f] Should a vacancy occur in the senior choir (if the boy shows
signs of his voice developing to either tenor or bass) I get him passed
from the junior to the senior choir, warning him, however, to be very
careful of his high notes, and never to force them. My general
experience leads me to the conclusion that it is a most arbitrary and
unnecessary rule to lay down that every boy should rest at this time. In
some cases it is necessary, no doubt, but my opinion is, after twenty
years' practical experience, that in a large number of cases it is
cruel, and about as much use with regard to the after-development of the
voice as it would be to prohibit speaking. Speaking practically--not
scientifically--I hold that the vocal organ is beneficially exercised
when singing is allowed in moderation, and within the restricted limits
which every choirmaster ought to know how to apply. I have experienced
boys who have never rested developing good voices, as well as those who
have rested. But I have no experience of boys who have never rested
developing bad voices, though I have of those who did rest. I have three
boys in one family in my mind now, one of whom had a good alto, the
other two good soprano voices. The alto and one soprano never rested,
and developed respectively a good tenor and bass. The other rested
(through removal to another town), and developed a very indifferent
bass."
In spite of this weighty and well-argued statement, my own opinion is
that the preponderance of evidence is in favour of rest. It is certainly
a new physiological doctrine for a short period of rest to injure or
prevent the development of any organ. In short, I cannot see how there
can be any disadvantage in a few months' rest, while from the other
point of view there can be no musical advantage in the use of an
unmusical instrument. As soon as the man's voice shows signs of
settlement its practice should gently begin.
More
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