Page:Essentials in Conducting.djvu/96

The advantages of the plan given above are:

1. That it places the boys in front where their less developed voices and often smaller numbers will insure better balance,^[1] and where also the teacher can more easily see what is going on in their midst.
2. It places all the boys in the same part of the room and thus removes the chief objection that boys with unchanged voices make to singing soprano and alto. There will probably not be a great number of these unchanged voices in any ordinary high school chorus, but there are almost certain to be a few, and these few should not be attempting to sing tenor or bass when their voice-range is still that of soprano or alto.
3. By placing the mezzo voices (of which variety there are usually more than of any other) between the sopranos and altos, they can be used on either the soprano or alto part, as may be necessitated by the range and dynamic demands of the composition in hand. In seating these mezzo-soprano girls the teacher may furthermore allow those who, although having mezzo voices, prefer to sing the alto part, to sit on the side next to the alto section and the others on the side next to the soprano section. If there are any boys with unchanged voices who are mezzo in range, they may be seated directly back of the bass section, thus keeping them in the boys' division and yet giving them an opportunity of singing with those who have the same range as themselves.

As will be noted in the plan, the conductor stands directly in front of the basses, the piano being placed on either side as may be most convenient, the pianist, of course, facing the conductor. In directing a large chorus, it is a great advantage to have two pianos, one on either side.

1. The essentials of this same plan of seating are recommended to adult choruses for a like reason; viz., in order to enable a smaller number of men's voices to balance a larger number of sopranos and altos by placing the men in the most prominent position, instead of seating them back of the women, as is so frequently done.