I know of many children who sing at entertainments, school, church, etc., and you will hear their parents say, "Scarcely a week passes that my daughter does not sing at some entertainment. If she were a little older, we would have her take up voice culture." Now, if your daughter is old enough to sing at entertainments, she is old enough to study. Either do not let her sing, or put her under the care of a good teacher. "How shall I know if she is under proper instruction?" A good teacher will, first of all, not allow her to sing at the top of her voice, which all children seem to delight in doing. A good teacher will not develop on the extreme =high= or extreme =low= tones. A good teacher will even up the =medium= register, teach her how to use the =breath on the tone=, how to =place= the tone, overcoming all seeming change from chest to head, will give her perfect pronunciation and enunciation. This can be done at any age from eleven years, depending on the individual. A girl who has good ear, and who does not lead the singing in school at eleven and sing at entertainments, can begin at sixteen or seventeen and develop into a very fine singer. "Should my son take up voice culture before his voice has changed?" This case is just the same as with the girl, =if he sings=. In fact, I have found in my twenty years' experience as singer and teacher that the boy who studies voice culture before his voice changes has an easy road to travel =after= his voice has changed. Many boys' voices have not finished changing until they are eighteen or nineteen years of age. The boy who studied before his voice began changing understands the breath control, the placing of the tone, and the pronunciation and enunciation. These four fundamentals are absolutely necessary in order to sing well; and whether his voice, after the change, develops into tenor or bass, these fundamentals remain the same, and enable him to continue, instead of merely begin. The boy, who has studied, or is under a good instructor, will know =when= to stop singing. I have known many boys with promising voices, who have ruined them entirely by singing or trying to sing =during= the change. But they were not boys who were under instruction, or they would have known better. I do =not= claim that it is necessary to begin the study of voice culture as a child, as this is entirely a matter of the individual, but I =do= claim that you can count on one hand the singers who have reached distinction and whose voices have lasted any length of time, who started their singing lessons after they were out of their teens. I have pupils who are making a good living as church soloists and on the concert stage, who commenced their study after they were twenty years old, but they are the =exception=, and not the =rule=.