Tom and Luke Get a Family Pt. 06

So Luke made enquiries and got an appointment to see the cathedral precentor, who explained that if he was interested, the boy would have to undergo a voice test and if he passed, get enrolled at the Santa Cecilia scuola primaria. He asked if they were a Catholic family. "No, we are Anglicans. But Giovanni was baptized in the Catholic church." "That's good enough," said the precentor. We don't get many boys in Trabizona wanting to sing in the choir."

When Giovanni asked again about more singing lessons, Luke told him about the cathedral choir school. Giovanni at once said that he wanted to go for an audition.

Giovanni replied, "Tell me about the choir school that you went to, Pappa!"

"It was called Winton College School and I enjoyed it very much. I was a boarder, which meant that I stayed in school to eat and sleep from Sunday night until Friday afternoon, but went home for the weekend, except for Sunday night. I was living in the same town as my parents, but we were not allowed to go home until after Christmas and Easter, because we had to sing for the festivals in the college chapel. When our voices broke we moved up into the secondary school, where most of the boys did not sing."

"What do you mean, voice breaking?" asked Giovanni.

"When boys get to be about thirteen or fourteen, they reach something called puberty. Puberty is becoming a grown-up man. You will start to grow fast. Your legs, arms and cock will get longer, your armpits and other parts of your body will start to grow hair, and your vocal cords, the things in your throat that vibrate to make your voice, will also start to grow. As a result, your voice will get deeper and deeper and you will sound like a man, rather than a boy. You won't sing soprano any more, you will sing tenor, baritone or bass. But during the growing period, you won't be able to sing, because you can't control the sound that comes out of your mouth. So that's the end of singing for perhaps a year until your voice settles down and you can start to sing again as a tenor, bass or baritone."

TO BE CONTINUED