CATHEDRAL CHOIR.

Press, Volume XXXV, Issue 4906, 9 May 1881, Page 3

CATHEDRAL CHOIR.

TO THE KDITOB O7 THK PRESS. i Sib, —This is a subject which " Churoh- ( man," writing in your ieeue of Friday last, i might have passed unheeded. What special 1 teaching does a boy get in any one of oar t parish choirs, for whioh his services on the ( Sunday and weekdays does not amply repay ? t Is the present form of service the highest 1 standard a boy may aim at ? Iβ he to be f bound, during the time his voice el) all last, to ] remain in one ohoir in spite of circumstances ? i If specially fitted to undertake solo work is i he to remain in a choir where but the «im- J pleit form of service is used, and where he g may not exercise the special gift he may be '. bleseed with P Treating our parish choirs as i elementary to that of the Cathedral, are we to i refuse a boy the chance of attaining a higher i standard? Are we to keep that boy from ! farthering his study, and giving to the people c the plearare of hearing a rare gift—a boy's ] voice? Say that .a boy possessed of more < than average mental ability is attending a < country sohool, and gives promise of subsequent honor, ia that boy to be denied the ad* vantages of a higher education offered him by higher schools F As to the inducement held ] out by the Oathedral Commission, by way of < free tuition to choristers, has "Church- j man " thought of the extra time these boys 1 will bo called upon to give for their free tui- < tiou ? Does he not think it will bo hard ] earned by fourteen attendances at service ] during each week, leaving out praotice. It is j high time our boys received special tuition, i for I can say, without fear of contradiction, i that vre do not possess a dozen men who can i pass muster, tdo not admit any superiority j in the teaching the boys are likely to get, i but it will be from the regularity and system < of lessons that the benefit will come. i Yours, &3., I An Old Chokibtke. (