time, all appearance of conceit should be suppressed, and corrections should be made without any "showing off" at the expense of a chorister, avoiding all remarks likely to hurt feelings. "Suggestions" from adult members of a choir should be ignored, if offered in public; privately, there is no harm in discussing a point with a member, for he shows his interest by bringing the matter up. There are many cases on record of an "obliging," "easy-to-get-on-with" choirmaster, who takes hints publicly offered by those he is supposed to teach, and loses his position by his own indefiniteness and failure to lead.
Age. In taking boys into a choir, considering all the preliminary training it is necessary for them to have before they are really useful, nine years old is not too young to start; five or six years' work can then be obtained before the voice "breaks."
Probationers. Whether the choir is large or small, it is advisable to have some boys even younger than nine as probationers. It is necessary that the vacancies, as they occur in the choir, should be filled up by those who have already had some training.
When regular choristers have become efficient, it is a good plan to let each become a sort of "godfather" to a probationer; each boy will readily take an interest in teaching what he knows to his probationer, and will take a certain amount of competitive pride and responsibility in trying to place his protégé in the choir before the others. A probationer should always stand next to his "godfather" in the practice-room, and full scope to a child's imitative powers can then be indulged in.
Apart from filling legitimate places in the choir by probationers, it is often a very good disciplinary measure to degrade a troublesome "regular," and put a probationer
