PREFACE
"A theory that is not the outcome of successful practice is worth but little: and only such practice is valuable from which a clear, intelligible theory can be deduced." [Bagge.]
Considering the numerous books already in existence on the subject of Choir-Training and Voice-Production, one might well be pardoned for asking the question, Is there room for yet another? The author, a choirmaster with twenty years' experience, having read a great many books on the subject, finds that those written by the highest authorities take too much for granted. As an example, most of the books by the great cathedral and other well-known choirmasters are written from the standpoint of their own experience, which experience, inasmuch as it invariably means dealing with only the very best of picked voices, boys especially, is practically valueless to the choirmaster of a small parish church in England, or a town church in America, where only the crudest of material can be obtained at the start, often without any "tradition" behind them; besides many other difficulties which a successful choirmaster of the prominent church is happily ignorant of, or does not choose to enlarge upon.
In the present little book, the author's intention is to discuss the formation of choirs, more especially boy-choirs, and their training. The book does not pretend to be exhaustive, but it is the result of many years' experience in meeting and overcoming the chief difficulties which confront the amateur and professional choirmaster.
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