choir consists of lessons on the elements of music, sight reading, vocal exercises, and the learning of the hymns and chants for the Sunday services, while a song or two is added towards the end of the term to relieve this otherwise somewhat solid bill of fare.

The second choir's work is on the same lines as that of the third, though, of course, the vocal exercises and lessons in sight-singing are more advanced. The work of the first choir is again an advance on that of the second. They are also mainly responsible for the singing in the chapel services, being, so to speak, the leading voice in the Canticles, Psalms, and Hymns. They also sing a different Anthem at every Sunday afternoon service. (It may be mentioned that this school is fortunate enough to possess two altos, two tenors, and three basses amongst its masters.) On Saturday evenings from 7-7.30 all three choirs assemble in the chapel to practise together the Hymns, Canticles, etc., learnt during the week, and the effect of this training on the Sunday services is most marked.

And now a word or two as to those boys who learn some musical instrument. There is, of course, the difficulty of the school time-table. Some time "in school" must necessarily be spent on the giving of music lessons.

The system adopted is to give lessons during school hours as far as possible to the pupils in the lower classes, for it is a fact worth recording that many boys in the higher forms prefer to sacrifice an odd half-hour's playtime rather than miss a Class lesson.

Practice time is, and always will be, a difficulty. Each boy is made to practise two half-hours a week, and writes the time at which he begins and ends his practice in books provided for the purpose, which are kept in the music masters' studies. Periodical visits are paid to the different practiserooms to ensure there being no waste of time.

Nothing has been said about "concerts with reference to the larger school. A concert, in the usual sense of the word, is here the exception rather than the rule, and for this reason: Every alternate Sunday evening a short musical programme is rendered in the "lecture hall," a large room containing a raised platform, and "graduated" seats, capable of seating 150. The whole school is present, and each boy is allowed to bring in a book to read in the intervals, or even during the music, if he is unfortunately incapable of appreciating the same.

It is on these occasions that the "instrumentalists" are given their opportunity. Naturally, the greater part of the programme-both vocal and instrumental-is rendered by the masters. But as soon as a boy becomes sufficiently advanced he takes his part in the programme with a solo on the piano or violin, or assists in a little orchestral piece for strings and piano. The "singers," too, are not forgotten, solos being occasionally sung by the boys, and sometimes a part-song is given by the first or second choir.

Thus it will be seen that in this school no effort is spared to make music an important feature in a boy's education, and to instil into his mind a love for the Divine art, which shall influence his after life far beyond that of which he can have any conception

SINGING IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

ONE of the most health-giving, mind-refreshing, and pleasurable exercises in which children can take part-God's gift of song has been strangely neglected in Preparatory Schools. It is the exception to find a school where singing is systematically taught. This condition of things may have arisen from the indifference shown towards the subject by the children's parents, or from the presumed difficulty of obtaining satisfactory results from the methods of instruction known to the principals of schools. The period in our national history when, upon the music books being handed round at a social gathering, every gentleman was expected to be able to take his part in a madrigal was followed by one in which Lord Chesterfield's maxim, "If love music, hear it; pay fiddlers to play to you, but never fiddle yourself: it makes a gentleman appear frivolous and contemptible," ruled the procedure in the domestic circle as in the more public of society functions. Neither in the nursery, in the schoolroom, in the drawing-room, nor in the church has the faculty of singing been cultivated to the extent which the means and opportunities for culture enjoyed by the upper classes would lead one to expect.

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This neglect has resulted in the boys in Preparatory Schools being backward in their appreciation of musical sounds, and therefore more difficult to teach in the earlier stages than the children in the Primary (Board and similar) Schools. Musical education should commence in the nursery, by which is meant that the child's musical ear should be trained to distinguish melodies and to enjoy sweet sounds by hearing the mother's, or that poorest apology for nature's own provision, the nurse's lullabies and nursery rhymes. The importance to the subsequent musical progress of children from infancy hearing and imitating such simple ditties cannot be over-estimated. This nursery education is well described by Mrs. Florence A. Marshall in the preface to her Solfeggi (No. 26 of Novello's Music Primer):

"In all teaching that must be best which most closely follows the method of nature. Now, music is a language, and is best learned as speech is learned, the unconscious powers of memory, association, and reason, working together to guide the ear and inform the tongue. The first thing in music grasped by a childish ear is a tune, or fragment of tune. That tune depends for its coherency and charm on certain harmonic laws according to which notes enchain themselves together, and to which every phrase has reference. The little singer knows as much of these

natural laws as he does of those he is obeying while he walks or stands or falls, or as he knows of the derivation of the words and idioms he uses while chattering at his play. He likes the sounds, and the tunes which they make up. He learns to distinguish them as he learns human relationships. Starting from my mother, my father,' my sister,' and 'brother,' it occurs to him in time that his brother is his sister's brother as well as his, that both are children of his parents as he is. He sees among his playmates the same family ties-brothers, sisters, parents; all different people, relationships the same; hence by-and-bye he realises the idea of a family. Nor, because he sees these alwaysrepeated relationships, does he mistake one individual for another. He knows Jack from Tom, and his own father from Jack's father. So in music, by means of melody, of many melodies all made up of different arrangements of sounds bearing yet certain constant relations to each other, his ear may be trained to recognise each of these sounds as they follow each other in ordered succession. If this takes longer than it takes him to learn his native tongue, it is because he does not hear the language of music spoken around him all day long, so that his musical faculties are only occasionally roused to activity. But as fast as his ear recognises each sound-relation, a sign for it may be given to him by which his eye knows it also. All this has nothing to do with the pitch of the notes. He may perceive that also, and should be led to notice it; but it is a thing apart. A tune he once knows he will know again, whether it be sung high or low, by a man or a woman, or played on an instrument.

Although this kind of nursery education is still greatly neglected, there has been, of recent years, an awakening with regard to musical culture, especially in its instrumental forms. "Fiddling" is no longer looked upon as a frivolous amusement, or pianoforte playing as being suitable only for girls. For many years the Public Schools and Universities have given greatly increased attention to the subject, and have afforded opportunities for vocal and instrumental practice which have contributed greatly to the musical development of the nation, while in the Elementary Schools the benefits the study of vocal music is able to confer have long been recognised. It is, in fact, not too much to say that the moral, intellectual, and physical condition of the children in those schools has been enormously improved by their systematic instruction in singing.

Singing is not only the most natural and heart-stirring of all forms of music, it is, as all musical educationalists agree in declaring, the one which should provide the basis of instruction in the other branches of the subject. Through the use of the voice should be cultivated that mental conception of the sound represented by the written note, which has been called “hearing with the eye," and that other faculty of analysing or naming the sounds heard which has been similarly described as " seeing with the ear." The study of vocal music has also an advantage over that of an instrument, because singing from notes may be successfully taught to large classes, whereas individual lessons

are required by the learner upon any kind of instrument. Another and a very important reason for commencing with singing is that a much smaller amount of time will produce far greater results than are obtainable from instruction upon the pianoforte, violin, or other 'instrument. The latter point is one which would doubtless weigh with the principal of a school who desires to introduce or to extend the study of music among his boys, but who is deterred by the difficulty of finding time in the already crowded school curriculum. The circumstance that

a considerable proportion of the boys on entering the school are unable to sing the simplest tune from memory; that others are unable to repeat a phrase of "God Save the Queen" after a pattern has been given; and that some cannot even imitate a single sound or alter the pitch of their voices higher or lower at the teacher's request, need not create a feeling of despair in that principal's mind. Frequent and carefully graded lessons given upon a good method will effect wonders. Inability to sing almost invariably arises from a defective or neglected ear, not from an absence of voice. By degrees a boy's dormant musical perceptions may be awakened, his ability to imitate given sounds would follow, and ultimately it may be possible to train him to produce musical intervals at will. This training in the case of some boys is a very slow process, and it has to be considered by those responsible for their general education whether or not it is worth while to persevere with them. The experience of a school where great attention has always been given to music may here be quoted. About one-third of the new boys are musically inclined, and can quickly be taught to sing, the remainder are more or less deficient in ear. Of the latter, those who fail to master the tones of the major scale after two or three terms are put to other work during the time of the singing lesson. These non-singers vary from one-quarter to one-third of the whole school.

The subject of instruction in singing may be divided into three branches: (1) Voice Production, (2) Singing from Notes, and (3) Rendering Songs or Part Singing.

Under the first head would come breathing, breath control in voice production, vowel quality, and resonance. Much could be said upon these matters, and specialists in this department of musical training would desire that all teachers should go through a complete course of study in these essentials. Failing a thorough knowledge of the subject (and it must be admitted that voice specialists differ considerably upon almost every detail of voice production) a short course of lessons in breathing and cognate exercises would greatly increase the teacher's usefulness. If no school took up the practice of singing until it was possible or convenient to engage an expert in voice training, it is to be feared the majority of schools would remain unmusical, or, at least, non-vocal, When voice production shall have been taught for years in all the Public Schools and Universities, assistant masters will be available for Preparatory Schools who have a thorough knowledge of the subject. At present the