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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Advice to Singers, by Frederick James Crowest
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Advice to Singers
+
+
+Author: Frederick James Crowest
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 10, 2012  [eBook #41013]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVICE TO SINGERS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Veronika Redfern, David Edwards, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
+generously made available by Internet Archive (http://archive.org). Music
+for audio illustrations was transcribed by Anne Celnick, Sarah Thomson,
+and the DP Music Team.
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/AdviceToSingers
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
+
+      Text enclosed by plus signs is Greek transliteration
+      (example: +epi-glotta+=).
+
+      Any ranges or simple exercises that have been depicted
+      on a staff in the original have been represented in this
+      volume using Scientific Pitch Notation. In this system,
+      C4 represents middle C and is set at 256 Hz.
+
+
+
+
+
+ADVICE TO SINGERS
+
+by
+
+FREDERICK J. CROWEST
+
+Author of "The Great Tone Poets" "Musical Groundwork"
+Editor of "The Master Musicians" Series, etc.
+
+      "Since singing is so good a thing
+      I wish all men would learn to sing"
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's Device]
+
+Seventeenth Thousand
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+Frederick Warne and Co.
+and New York
+1904
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Singing cannot be learnt from a book, and so far from attempting any
+such impossible feat as writing a book which might be called "_Singing
+without a Master_," the author's object--frequently insisted upon
+herein--is to point out the impossibility of overcoming the difficulties
+of singing without a teacher. At the same time, there are points upon
+which a master would not feel called upon to speak; nor would he
+(except, perhaps, in the course of a very long period of training) be
+likely to touch on many matters which, though closely connected with the
+life or business of an accomplished singer, yet lie rather outside the
+province of the voice-trainer.
+
+In a work consisting of detached paragraphs, and not being a continuous
+essay, it is not always possible to enter into full explanations of the
+reasons for certain statements; and (for the want of such explanation)
+one paragraph may _appear_ to contradict another. However, I can assure
+the reader that such paragraphs are only _apparent_ contradictions; and
+if he will take the trouble to think such points out for himself, he
+will find that they are easily reconcileable.
+
+There is no subject, perhaps, on which opinions are so divided, and
+prejudices run so high, as the proper method of training and using the
+voice; nor is there perhaps one more wrapped in mystery than is the art
+of singing. This is probably the result of that readiness with which
+almost every music teacher has hitherto undertaken to teach Singing.
+This book will not, I am sure, add to the mystery. A careful perusal of
+its contents should clear away many misconceptions, and place the
+student on the right road to that end which he or she has in view.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
+
+
+That another large edition of this little Manual should be called for in
+so comparatively short a time is sufficiently encouraging testimony of
+the worth of the book and the favour it has found at the hands of
+students of singing and others--a result the more gratifying to the
+publishers since hitherto it has been issued with an anonymous
+title-page. Often has the authorship of the little volume been
+industriously defended and disputed--not by myself--both in this country
+and America; but, on the whole, the identity of its originator has been
+well maintained. For my part matters might have remained so, especially
+as I am not insensible to the fact that there is much "preaching"
+herein--as indeed there must be in such a work, and some of the advice
+is of such a nature that its giver runs the risk of being placed upon an
+exceeding high pinnacle of moral excellence, or of being accounted the
+personification of all the virtues--both of which distinctions might
+scarcely be merited. The appearance of my name upon the title-sheet is
+the result of no wish of mine, and I have consented to it only out of
+deference to the pressing request of the publishers.
+
+A chapter on the Physiological Surroundings of the Voice has been added
+to this edition.
+
+                                                   FREDERICK J. CROWEST.
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION.
+
+Once again my publishers have informed me of the necessity for
+reprinting this Manual, which has been so successful both here, in
+America, and in the Colonies. I have nothing to alter in the work, but I
+must express my thanks for the marked support that has been given to
+this straightforward advice. Did space permit, much might be said
+relative to that growing complaint, "Teachers' (or Board School)
+Laryngitis" as it is called. For some time past I have been authorized
+to make observations at the chief Throat Hospitals in connection with
+this constantly increasing mischief, arising from an injurious use of
+the voice in Teaching, and which only proper Voice Production will
+remedy. While I cannot give advice here, I shall be happy to answer any
+communications of sufferers from this complaint.
+
+                                                   FREDERICK J. CROWEST.
+
+     24 AMPTHILL SQUARE, LONDON, N.W.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                  _Page_
+
+  PRELIMINARY REMARKS                                                  9
+
+  ON HABITS, DIET, &c.                                                13
+
+    Early Rising--Cleanliness--The Hair--The Teeth--Exercise--Dress--
+    Diet--Smoking--Late Hours--General Morality.
+
+  PRONUNCIATION AND STUDY OF WORDS                                    21
+
+    Nervousness--Pronunciation--Vowel-Sounds--Consonants--English--
+    Emphasis--Position of Lips--Study of "Words"--General
+    Education--Dramatic Study.
+
+  VOICES AND THEIR VARIOUS QUALITIES                                  28
+
+    Voices and their Names--Compass--Soprano--Mezzo-Soprano--
+    Mezzo-Contralto--Contralto--Alto--Tenore-Leggiero--Tenore-Robusto--
+    Barytone and Basso-Cantante--Bass--Buffo--Qualities of Voices.
+
+  INSTRUCTION, BOOKS AND MASTERS                                      47
+
+    Schools of Singing--Masters--Institutions--A First Opinion--Bad
+    Lessons--Bad Teachers--Books of Exercises.
+
+  PRACTICE                                                            53
+
+    Individuality--Perseverance--Facial Expression--Self-Accompaniment--
+    Position of Body, Arms, Hands, Throat, Tongue, Larynx--
+    Head-Singing--Throatiness--Clearing the Throat--High Notes--The
+    Scale--Forte, Mezzo-Voce, and Piano--Tone--Chest, Falsetto, and
+    Head--Scale Practice--First Exercises (_with Examples_)--Duration
+    of Practice--Singing in Tune--How to Begin--Variety--Chorus
+    Singing--Humming--Studying Songs--Imitation--General Musical Study.
+
+  ON STYLE AND EXPRESSION                                             71
+
+    Traditional Styles--Modern German _Lieder_--"The Cathedral
+    School"--Oratorio (_with Examples_)--Opera--Ballads--Recitative
+    (_with Examples_)--Slurring--Sentiment--Decision--Imitation--Public
+    Singing--"Holding" an Audience--Mistakes in Public.
+
+  ON TIME IN SINGING                                                  87
+
+    The Metronome--Accent--Exercises: four beats to the bar; three
+    beats to the bar; two beats to the bar.
+
+  ON THE CHOICE OF MUSIC                                             103
+
+    Music to Suit the Voice--"Original Keys"--Execution--Fashion--
+    Forming a "Repertoire."
+
+  PHYSIOLOGICAL SURROUNDINGS                                         109
+
+    The Larynx--The Thyroid--The Pharynx--The Voice; A Wind, Reed,
+    or String Instrument.
+
+  EXERCISES                                                          115
+
+    Exercises 1, 2, for Uniting Notes--Exercise 3, for Flexibility,
+    &c.--Exercise 4, on Intervals of Thirds--Exercise 5, on Intervals
+    of Fourths--Exercise 6, on Intervals of Fifths--Exercise 7, on
+    Intervals of Sixths--Exercise 8, on Intervals of Sevenths.
+
+  INDEX                                                              126
+
+
+
+
+ADVICE TO SINGERS.
+
+
+
+
+PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
+
+
+Whatever be the actual difference between the professional and the
+amateur singer, if a person is worthy of the name of singer at all,
+there should be no difference in their views of Art, and in their
+devotion to practice. Singing is an art, and one of the most difficult
+of the arts to master; and any one who attempts to learn it must be
+prepared to give the same devotion to it as is demanded by the sister
+arts of painting and sculpture. I do not mean exactly devotion of the
+whole time and energy of life to it; because, however necessary that may
+be for the professional, who has to make his living by it, such entire
+devotion to an accomplishment or an amusement (for such singing is to
+the amateur) would, for a non-professional, be frequently impossible,
+and very often wrong, as it would lead to a neglect of the duties of
+life. But, while the entire devotion of time and energy of a
+professional singer is demanded to master the various styles, and the
+immense mass of music, with which he or she will have to deal in the
+exercise of the profession, the amateur should bear in mind that such
+time and energy as he can devote to singing must be firmly restricted to
+doing what he undertakes thoroughly well--as well, in fact, as a
+professional. The amateur's position, which forbids him to make singing
+the work of his life, limits the range of his work, not the quality of
+it. He cannot, even if he have the voice of a Rubini or a Braham, master
+the difficulties of opera, oratorio, and ballad alike. Circumstances
+forbid him to conquer the world, but there is no reason why he should
+not be a king in his own special realm. To be that he will have to
+follow the same rules as though he were able to attack the whole
+universe of vocal music; for he should feel that the only difference
+between him and the professional singer lies in the sphere of their
+work.
+
+The same remarks apply to many professionals. _Very_ few can excel in
+all styles, and few in more than one. To attempt all is a great mistake,
+and will probably lead to failure, or at least mediocrity in all.
+
+But the first point that I would insist upon is the necessity for
+earnest devotion and regular work, both in professional and amateur, so
+that the term _Artist_ may apply to both. I shall be at no great pains
+to avoid occasional repetitions of incidental remarks. In a book
+intended for constant reference rather than for one perusal, and one
+divided, as this is, into short paragraphs, words may attract attention
+in one place, while in another they may have been overlooked. If,
+therefore, I err in this respect, I shall do so deliberately, my sole
+aim being to help and impress the student as much as possible.
+
+Remember that the human voice is the most delicate of all instruments,
+susceptible to more and more varied influence than any other. The singer
+has to combine in himself the instrument and the performer; and while
+all the artistic and intellectual qualities necessary for the
+instrumentalist are required by him, he is compelled beyond that to
+realize that he is a living instrument, and to exercise over himself all
+the care--and indeed far more than all--that players exercise over their
+most cherished "weapons." He has not only to learn how to sing, but how
+to be and to remain fit for singing. He, more than any other musical
+artist, will find that he is affected by moral as well as physical and
+intellectual causes, and he must face this fact boldly.
+
+In writing down the brief hints which this little work offers to
+singers, I shall therefore take in a range of subjects and enter into
+many details which may seem to have little to do with the practice of
+_Do_, _Re_, _Mi_. I do this advisedly, and I believe that such hints as
+those on general culture and habits of living are by no means the least
+important part of my work. I do not profess to teach my readers how to
+sing--(any singer knows, and I should like the public to know too, that
+singing cannot be taught by a book)--but to give "hints to singers," and
+many of those hints are on such subjects as it would be an impertinence
+on the part of a singing master to allude to. If the student takes
+offence at the _book_, it happily does not reach the author.
+
+Following out the previous thought, I shall try to turn the intending
+singer's attention to several other subjects, before I touch upon that
+of strictly musical interest. And if I here seem to "preach"
+occasionally, I shall never do so without cause, and never, I trust, in
+any spirit but that of the warmest sympathy with the aspirations and the
+peculiar trials and difficulties of those who are still in full vigour
+of youth and health.
+
+Remember that I give _hints_, not _rules_. It is quite impossible to lay
+down rules of living which shall apply alike to male and female, or to
+variously constituted natures. But I hope I may trust to the common
+sense of every individual to draw sound conclusions, and to form his or
+her own rules, by the help of these hints, and, the rules once formed,
+to adhere to them resolutely. If singing is to be done at all, it is
+worth while to do it well, and to spare no pains to that end.
+
+There is a good deal to be done by the student of singing before he
+attacks the strictly musical part of his difficulties. General
+education, if deficient, must be attended to; habits of living must be
+formed and followed out; faults of character, such as laziness, ill
+temper, slovenliness, impatience, and want of perseverance, must be
+bravely fought; for the study of singing, perhaps more than of any other
+art, will test the character severely in these respects.
+
+The student must be prepared to exercise a good deal of self-denial; to
+put aside all notions of self-merit for a long time to come; and to be
+humble, and ready to take a hint from any source. Whatever merits he may
+have at starting are certainly not due to his own skill; they are simply
+natural gifts, and the better they are, the more is there for him to
+learn in doing justice to them. Let him not waste time in admiring what
+he is, or has done; but let him keep all his energy for what he may yet
+be and for what he yet has to accomplish.
+
+
+
+
+ON HABITS, DIET, &c.
+
+
+The following paragraphs contain hints on various matters apparently
+little connected with singing, yet all of more or less importance to the
+singer. The voice, and the power of using it, depend so greatly upon
+general health, and health is so easily affected by habits of living,
+that I offer no apology for entering into some details which, though
+easy enough to write down, and read when written, would be difficult for
+a singing master to allude to or suggest without giving offence.
+
+
+=Early Rising.=--Practise early rising, and, if possible, take a short
+walk before breakfast. This tends to keep the circulation of the blood
+in a good condition, and that is, of course, of great importance to the
+lungs, and all the organs which singing requires to tax somewhat
+severely.
+
+
+=Cleanliness.=--Strict cleanliness is of the greatest importance. Take a
+cold bath every morning directly you get out of bed. Do not stand
+"pottering about," or you may catch cold, but go to your bath while the
+skin is moist with the perspiration which the warmth of bed has drawn
+out. If you let the perspiration dry, and then plunge into cold water,
+you run a great risk of giving yourself a severe chill. Sponge yourself
+well, and rapidly, all over, especially the chest, throat, back of the
+neck, and all round the loins; and dry the body thoroughly and briskly
+with a rough towel. Let no fear of damaging the complexion deter young
+ladies from this most healthy and necessary operation.
+
+In winter, if the circulation is naturally sluggish, it is as well not
+to take the bath perfectly cold, but merely add enough hot water just to
+remove the extreme chill. The bath ought to feel cold to you, even
+though it be not the coldest possible.
+
+It is well to take a warm bath once a week--if possible, just before
+going to bed. Do not have it hot, but simply warm, and, of course, use
+soap with it. Do not dawdle over it, but "have it and have done with
+it," and then get to bed at once. If you find the effect of it to be
+enervating or relaxing, take it less warm in future. The object of it is
+simply to open and cleanse the pores of the skin--a matter of great
+importance.
+
+
+=The Hair.=--The same rule of extreme cleanliness applies to the hair, and
+for the same reason, viz., its intimate connection with the circulation
+of the blood and the pores of the skin. Keep the hair well brushed, and
+have it frequently cut and shampooed. Avoid "pomatums," washes, and
+greasy messes of every kind: their smell is objectionable and their
+effect is generally to dirty the head. Moreover, the public have the
+good taste to object to the appearance of an artist before them who is
+evidently "got up" with pains for the occasion. A person who is
+habitually as clean as he can be, need never fear to appear in public,
+and may spare himself the disgusting application of "grease" to his head
+to make himself fit to be seen.
+
+If a moustache is worn, let it be kept within bounds, and not allowed to
+fall over the mouth, where it would affect the tone of the voice. Do not
+cut it straight along the lip, but train it right and left, allowing it
+to grow naturally and uncut. The advantages of the moustache are two: it
+acts to a certain extent as a respirator, and protects the mouth and
+throat as the eyelash does the eye, and it helps to conceal any slight
+distortion of the mouth in singing. This, I confess, is a doubtful
+advantage:--there ought to be no distortion, and if any were seen, it
+might, perhaps, be corrected. However, I give the opinion for what it is
+worth.
+
+
+=The Teeth.=--The teeth play such an important part in the production of
+the voice that every care should be taken to preserve them sound and in
+good condition--to say nothing of the part which they play in facial
+expression, a point to which every singer should attend. A bad state of
+the teeth at once affects the stomach, and that again the voice, so that
+no apology is needed for drawing the student's attention to this matter.
+Clean the teeth the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at
+night. Use a moderately hard brush, better too soft than too hard, with
+cold water, or better still, just lukewarm. Avoid all "dentifrices" and
+advertised nastinesses in the way of powders and "fragrant" washes. A
+mixture of powdered (not "prepared") chalk and orris-root, in the
+proportion of about three to two, is the best thing to use, and any
+chemist will make that up for you. Remember to brush the teeth inside
+and along the top, as well as outside; and if you find this difficult
+with the ordinary-shaped brush, get one of those which are sold for the
+purpose. If you find, in spite of your care, that your teeth become
+discoloured, the cause is probably that your stomach is out of order. In
+that case, go straight to a doctor, for the consequence of such
+derangement is that "tartar" is formed on the teeth, and this grows, and
+pushes back the gums, altering the form of the cavity of the mouth, and
+so affecting the tone of the voice.
+
+
+=Exercise.=--Be as much as you can in the open air. Take moderate walking
+exercise, but of course do not tire yourself before singing or
+practising. For male singers, rowing, riding, football and cricket (but
+without the shouting so often incidental to these games), racquets or
+tennis, and above all an hour or two weekly in a gymnasium, are
+excellent things; while for ladies, walking, riding, lawn-tennis, "la
+grace," and calisthenics are equally useful. If you live in a town,
+always walk in preference to taking a conveyance, when time and weather
+permit it.
+
+Never breathe through your mouth in walking, especially at night, or on
+coming out into the open air after singing. Keep the lips closed, and
+inhale the air through the nostrils. This is easily acquired, and to be
+able to do this will be found of great service in taking breath for
+singing; but out of doors it is most important, for the immediate rush
+of cold or damp air to the delicate organs of the throat, especially
+when the latter have been excited by the exertion of singing, is
+dangerous. It is a good plan, and a profitable use of the time, to
+practise breathing when walking, by filling the lungs, and utilizing
+each inspiration for as long a distance as possible.
+
+
+=Dress.=--Nothing can be said in favour of our climate for singing. With
+proper precautions, however, a great deal of trouble arising from this
+cause may be averted. In summer, as well as in winter, for instance, the
+writer would strongly urge the wearing of moderately thick-soled boots
+or shoes. Then, again, the neck and chest should never be exposed alike
+to a June sun and a December frost; but, instead, it should be
+moderately and reasonably covered. Great care should be taken never to
+get wet, especially wet or damp feet.
+
+In going out of hot rooms into the open air much pains should be
+exercised to keep the chest and throat covered up with an overcoat or
+cloak--however warm the weather may be. In _very severe_ winter weather
+the singer will derive much comfort by wearing a flannel
+chest-protector. Sitting about in gardens, and on lawns, in the evenings
+on even the warmest days, is not a safe indulgence for the student who
+is in earnest in the pursuit of his art.
+
+One caution is necessary as to "wrapping up," however. Do not over-do
+it. The constant use of a "comforter" renders the throat delicate and
+susceptible. All you have to fear is damp, not cold, in the atmosphere.
+A comforter, closely wound round the throat, promotes perspiration, and
+the risk of chill in removing it is greater than in not wearing it at
+all. Common sense must guide every one. It is impossible to make a rule
+for all.
+
+
+=Diet.=--As to diet: avoid everything that is at all indigestible. Live
+well, and take plenty of varied nourishment. The singer's system _must_
+be well nourished. Chocolate and coffee are better than tea; the latter
+is too astringent, and affects the nerves too much, if taken in
+abundance. Sugar, in moderation, should always be used with those
+beverages, and they should never be taken very hot. Bread is better than
+toast, but avoid hot or very new bread. Eggs and butter are good. Meat
+should be plainly cooked and not too well done. Pork tries the digestion
+too severely to be a desirable food for a singer, and the same may be
+said of veal. Fish is good for the singer, and he should if possible let
+it form a part of his daily _menu_. Creams and pastry are simply poison,
+and cheese should only be taken in great moderation. Fruit is an
+excellent thing if judiciously used. But here, again, hard and fast
+rules are impossible, because constitutions vary. Only remember the old
+proverb, "We must eat to live, and not live to eat."
+
+Never practise or sing upon an empty stomach, or soon after a meal:
+either of these habits will unfairly tax your digestive organs, and in
+so doing damage your voice. After a meal, all the energy of the body is
+required for the stomach; in a healthy person the extremities will
+generally be cold after a full meal, and the reason is that the
+digestive organs are using all the heat and blood that the body can give
+for their special work. Nature thus points to a rest of every other
+organ at that time, and you must not fight against Nature by attempting
+any such severe physical strain as the practice of the voice demands.
+
+All acids and astringents are bad for a healthy throat and stomach.
+Vinegar, highly-flavoured sauces, almonds and raisins, nuts of every
+kind should be avoided. Some of these are useful as remedies in relaxed
+throat, or congestion of the throat, no doubt; but I am speaking simply
+of what is desirable for a person in a state of health. In cases of
+cold, hoarseness, or indisposition of any kind, my prescription is,
+"Don't doctor yourself, but (as Abernethy said) '_Take advice_.'" Be
+very careful and abstemious in the use of spirits. Brandy is decidedly
+injurious, it heats and inflames the throat, and tends to constipate the
+bowels. Gin or whiskey is the most wholesome spirit, but take as little
+as possible of either. If you drink beer or stout, take draught and not
+bottled, and always in great moderation. All effervescing liquors are
+objectionable; therefore eschew champagne, Moselle, bottled ale and
+stout, _et hoc genus omne_. The fluids called port and sherry are cruel
+foes to singing. A glass of _good_ port is a fair medicine in certain
+cases, and the same may be said of very dry Amontillado, but if
+you have nothing the matter with you, avoid port and (so-called)
+sherry--especially the hideous compound of alcohol and molasses known as
+"brown" sherry--as you would poison.
+
+The best drink for singers is claret, or any light wine, French, German,
+or Italian. I myself find the latter on the whole the best, and such
+wines as Barolo Secco or Chiante are pure and cheap, and contain all the
+properties necessary for a singer's beverage. But in this as in all
+else, _moderation_ is a _sine qua non_. Fluids are apt to produce
+congestion or mucus in the throat and glands of the mouth, and that of
+course interferes with the free action of the muscles in singing.
+
+
+=Smoking.=--As a general rule it may be laid down that smoking is a bad
+habit for the singer, male or female (for there are females who are
+proud of being able to smoke cigarettes nowadays!). With many instances
+of great singers who have also been great smokers before us, it is
+impossible to say decidedly that singers must not smoke; but the habit
+is one to be very cautiously indulged in. If smoking in any case induces
+expectoration, it should at once be given up, for the habit of spitting,
+to which some smokers allow themselves (quite needlessly) to give way,
+is, in reality, the greatest evil of smoking; it weakens the throat,
+lungs, and chest. If a man can smoke without spitting or drinking, I
+confess that I am no great enemy to tobacco; but the "if" is a big one.
+
+A cigarette is certainly a safeguard against taking cold in coming out
+of a hot room into the open air, especially after singing; but strong
+cigars or strong tobacco in pipes are to be avoided, because of their
+effect on the nerves.
+
+
+=Late Hours.=--Avoid late hours. You require, not only a certain amount of
+sleep, but to take that sleep before the body and mind are at all
+overtaxed. From many causes, it is well known, the human frame is always
+at its lowest from about 2 a.m. till 5 a.m., and the nearer you approach
+those hours in going to bed, the less able are you to derive all the
+benefit which you require from sleep. Twelve o'clock is late enough for
+any one.
+
+Another reason why late hours are bad is connected not with physical
+facts so much as with morals. It is true, you may come to no actual
+harm, or get into no positive mischief, by being out late at night, but
+you place yourself in a position of risk--risk of cold, over-fatigue,
+inhaling vitiated atmosphere, &c., as well as risk to moral character,
+which latter, in its way as delicate as the voice, is injured not only
+by actual violation of right, but by all society, conversation, and
+literature which tend to dim its brightness, or (to use another
+metaphor) to spoil the purity of its outline by roughly knocking off its
+corners. At all events, as to the night side of "Life," you are better
+out of it.
+
+
+=Morality.=--Nothing can act more prejudicially upon a singer than those
+influences which are understood by that very inclusive term, a "fast"
+life. I would, therefore, urge upon the student the necessity of a
+religious avoidance of those influences. They dull the purity of thought
+which marks all true art; they deaden the intellect which art requires;
+and they injure the physical powers, without which all a singer's study
+may be suddenly rendered useless to him. All excess is bad, and
+self-restraint and self-control are of the greatest importance both to
+character and health. Many an anxious student has mastered the musical
+side of his art, but has failed under the rigid demands which the moral
+code makes upon an intending singer. It is of no use for a singer to be
+strong musically, and weak morally: the two preparations must go
+hand-in-hand; and while building up a structure of vocal greatness, his
+care must always be that the moral foundation will always support the
+weight of persistent study, and leave him favourably placed in the stern
+competition going on around him for a front place in the race for
+singing fame, and the inevitable honours. Keep these hints in mind,
+think them carefully over, and be your own moral doctor. That will be
+better than following any code of cut and dried rules. If you err at
+all, let it be on the side of self-denial, the hardest and probably the
+highest of all virtues.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE STUDY OF PRONUNCIATION AND "WORDS" IN SINGING, &c.
+
+
+The singer has to combine the arts of the musician, the public speaker,
+and, to a certain extent, the actor. Clearness of pronunciation and
+correctness of emphasis are included in the range of his study. Nor are
+these so easy of acquirement as many persons suppose. To a novice, the
+almost inevitable nervousness inseparable from the prominent position
+which a solo singer necessarily holds in the company, or before the
+audience to which he is singing, is very apt to render the enunciation
+less distinct and more rapid than is natural to him. His ear guides him
+less safely; and, in fact, every sense, influenced by the abnormal state
+of his nerves, is apt to play him more or less false. It is only by
+having carefully studied and mastered every detail of manner, posture,
+and speech, as well as of the music to be performed, that a singer can
+rise superior to the treachery of his nerves, in whatever form that
+treachery may show itself.
+
+
+=Nervousness.=--A few words as to nervousness. You will often hear persons
+boast that they are not the least nervous in public; and, perhaps, will
+feel inclined to envy them. Get rid of any such notion at once. If by
+"nervous" is meant "frightened," that is another thing altogether; and
+it is perfectly true that there are hundreds of persons who are not in
+the least afraid of appearing in public, nor affected by timidity when
+so appearing. But fear is only one form of nervousness. I firmly
+believe that it is impossible for a real artist ever to appear in public
+without being _nervous_. But the nerves act in many ways: the fervour of
+an eloquent speaker carried away by his subject; the "_abandon_" of a
+fine actor thoroughly entering into his part and identifying himself
+with it; the sustained energy of a declamatory singer; the faultless and
+unerring agility of a florid _soprano_, who astonishes her hearers by
+wonder on wonder of execution--all these things are due, in their subtle
+charm, to nervousness--_i.e._ to delicate nervous organization in active
+play. These artists are not frightened, it is true, but excited,
+stimulated, roused from the normal state of eating, walking, and
+sleeping; something of the spiritual kindles the mere physical forces in
+them--some breath of inspiration sustains that living power which so
+influences the hearers. In some way or other every great artist is
+always nervous; were it not so, the essence of their power would vanish.
+Persons of cold and phlegmatic temperament lack the very life-breath of
+art; and though they may train themselves into fair imitations of some
+great artists, they will generally be detected with ease, by any hearer
+of true sensibility, as imitations, not the real thing. Therefore do not
+be ashamed to admit that you are nervous, if it be so. Nerves are a
+cruel master, but a splendid servant; instead of letting them overcome
+you, force them to do your bidding; and instead of "nervousness" meaning
+"fear," you will find that it means courage and power to do your best.
+
+
+=Pronunciation.=--Study correctness of pronunciation and propriety of
+emphasis quite apart from singing. Remember that in speaking or singing
+in a large space and to a number of persons, every sound must have not
+only additional force, but additional volume. And that comes to mean
+that every vowel-sound in the words sung must be intensified, and every
+consonant be delivered with more accuracy than is necessary in ordinary
+speaking. If you were to pronounce the syllable "die" (for instance), in
+singing, _exactly_ as you do in speaking, you would produce on the
+notes or note to which that word belonged a thinness of tone which would
+be very ugly, and probably would not "carry" far. And the same with any
+vowel-sound--even "Ah," or "Oh,"--which, though not producing a thin
+tone, would certainly produce a coarse one, if sung exactly as spoken in
+ordinary conversation.
+
+
+=Vowel-Sounds.=--The reason of the need of this slight change is as
+follows. Every vowel-sound, like every musical sound (for vowel-sounds
+are nothing less than musical sounds) is composed of _two_ sounds.
+Combined with the prominent and chief sound which first attracts the ear
+is a second, which, though not prominent, lends point and force to the
+other. Thus our English vowel-sound "A" is really _Eh-e_; "E" is _E-e_;
+"I" is _Ah-e_; "O" is _O-oo_, or even _Aw-oo_; "U" is _Ee-oo_. Of
+course, I do not mean to say that those absurd-looking syllables really
+express exactly the sounds which we produce in speaking the vowels, for
+no combination of letters can do that, or can bring within reach of the
+eye the subtleties of sound in human speech; but if you attempt to
+pronounce those syllables, you will find that you are really pronouncing
+the vowels from which I "translated" them.
+
+Now, in conversation or rapid speaking, the subordinate sound of the
+vowel is scarcely noticeable, while the more prominent sound is heard
+for the short interval of time required. But in singing or public
+speaking, where the production of tone is more deliberate, the space to
+be filled with sound larger, or, in other words, the column of air to be
+set vibrating is greater and heavier, the _complex_ sound of the vowel
+must not be ignored. It is impossible to lay down any set of rules by
+which the student may overcome this difficulty; but every one, by
+bearing in mind the absolute necessity of attention to this point, may
+easily accustom himself to the slight change of pronunciation (as it
+will at first appear) which is required to give vowel-sounds when sung,
+or spoken "_ore rotundo_," the same tone, to the hearer's ear, as they
+have in ordinary speaking. As a general rule this is done by keeping
+the throat more open, the larynx (or "Adam's apple") as low down as
+possible, and the root of the tongue flat, depressed, even hollowed like
+the bowl of a spoon. The truth of all this may easily be tested by
+singing any short passage deliberately and distinctly, with the exact
+pronunciation of ordinary speaking, and then repeating it with attention
+to the above hints. In the first instance the result will be meagre,
+hard to be heard at a moderate distance, and very likely extremely
+ludicrous to the hearer. In the second, you will find that the tone of
+the notes gains in roundness and fulness, while the words are clearly
+heard in every part of the room with the exact effect belonging to them.
+I purposely refrain from attempting to write down the difference
+discernible in any words so sung, because, as I have already said,
+_letters_ cannot accurately express distinctions so delicate, yet so
+all-important to the singer, speaker, and hearer.
+
+
+=Consonants.=--In pronouncing consonants, be careful to give each its due
+value, but without exaggeration. Be especially particular to sound the
+_last_ letter of each word distinctly. But take care to avoid adding a
+slight sound (as of an _e_ mute) after the final letter: for instance,
+do not say "When other-_e_ lips," &c., or "bright-_e_ days," and so on.
+Do not over-aspirate the letter "_H_." "_N_," "_L_," "_M_," "_B_,"
+"_P_," and "_V_," are all letters requiring care in firm pronunciation.
+
+Avoid prefixing a slight sound of "_N_" to the first word of a song or
+passage in singing. It is a common trick with beginners to do this, and
+they frequently do it without being in the least conscious of it. It is
+produced by a kind of nervous feeling of the teeth with the tongue, as
+if to make sure that all is right for the start! I have heard an
+aspiring youth actually begin a well-known song thus: "_Nwaft her
+Rangels Nthrough the sky_," &c.
+
+
+=English Words.=--The English language is not the most suitable one under
+the sun for singing purposes; nevertheless, it is not nearly so
+intolerable and unfavourable an one as it is the fashion to make out.
+The grand old Scripture passages which Handel, Mendelssohn, and others
+have set to music testify to this. Yet musical care _is_ needed when
+singing English words, and especially in pronouncing the "sibilants," as
+_S_, &c. These "sibilants" must never be enunciated rapidly, or their
+ill effects will soon be found in a series of _hissings_. Let it be your
+study, then, to avoid this ill effect in singing English words, and to
+utter such sounds slowly and carefully, with the endeavour to produce a
+soft and agreeable effect; for it is, indeed, unpardonable to hear an
+English singer unable to render perfectly the words (if =not= the music)
+of his native country's songs and ballads.
+
+
+=Emphasis.=--Having accustomed yourself to carefulness over each letter in
+your pronunciation, the next thing is to study correctness of emphasis,
+&c. All this is apart from the strictly musical portion of your studies,
+and, while you can work at this without music, you will certainly spoil
+the effect of your singing (however good your voice and voice production
+may be), unless you do so study your "words." I should recommend you to
+practise reading aloud for not less than a quarter of an hour at a time,
+say once a day. Read _standing_; place your book on a desk, on a level
+with your eyes, and speak out deliberately, and with full tone of voice,
+and as much variety of intonation as the matter read requires.
+Shakespeare is your best author for this study. You will feel at first
+as if you were doing a very absurd thing, but never mind that--do it,
+and do it as well and as carefully as you can.
+
+
+=Position of the Lips.=--In speaking and reading aloud during your
+preliminary training for singing, be very careful that there be no
+change in the aperture of the mouth or position of the lips while
+uttering any one sound, however prolonged. If the lips move from their
+first position, however slightly, the tone immediately changes, and the
+pronunciation ceases to be pure and refined.
+
+
+=Study of Words.=--The words of a song are as much worthy of the singer's
+study as the music, that is, if the song is worth singing at all. I do
+not mean to say that in themselves they must necessarily be of equal
+merit, but that they require as much attention on the part of the singer
+to bring out their meaning. Study the text, therefore, apart from the
+music. Read the words aloud deliberately; master the sentiment of them,
+and note the prominent words and phrases, so as to be able to give them
+their due value when you have to combine them with the music. Avoid
+giving prominence to such words as "of," "for," "the," "and," "in," &c.,
+&c., but yet let each be distinctly pronounced, and not slurred over in
+an indefinite murmur. Learn the words of your song by memory. Master the
+text, and consider the whole from an elocutionist's point of view before
+you attack the musical side of the matter. A singer when singing in
+public should not be troubled with his words and music too.
+
+
+=General Education.=--An important branch of study is that of giving
+expression to the passions, and of communicating your conceptions and
+emotions to the minds of your listeners. No better training could a
+young singer have for forming such ideas than the earnest perusal of the
+works of Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe, Milton, Lytton, George Eliot, &c.;
+or in watching carefully and intelligently the acting of our best stage
+performers. For a singer to be successful, he or she must be in a
+position to express, and bring home to an audience, such emotions as
+love, hatred, anger, fear, grief, and pity; all these, and many other
+such feelings, have constantly to be transmitted by the singer, and it
+is to the most natural and faithful exposition of these, and that most
+consistent with the other equally important points of the art of
+singing, that the student's attention should for a long while be
+patiently and perseveringly directed.
+
+The singer should be a well-educated man, and he should know at least
+one other language beside his native tongue. He should be well read,
+too, in the best literature of these two languages. On questions of all
+the arts he should seek to make his views sound and true. He should seek
+to travel, and so enlarge his mind, for all this training will reflect
+itself in the work of an artist so liberally educated. An inferior
+education has been the bane of many a student, who has had the organ and
+all the necessary musical ability.
+
+
+=Dramatic Study.=--To be a successful public singer, even in the
+concert-room, one must be more or less an actor; and, therefore, the
+time and money bestowed in acquiring a sound knowledge of dramatic
+action and elocution will be well spent. For the lyric stage, such a
+study is imperative; but its utility to artists who aspire no higher
+than to ballad or oratorio singing cannot be too highly estimated.
+
+
+
+
+VOICES AND THEIR VARIOUS QUALITIES.
+
+
+The life of the singing voice is so comparatively short, that the study
+of singing is rendered more difficult than that of any other art. You
+may buy a violin or a pianoforte, ready-made and perfect, in your
+childhood, and nothing remains for you but to study the instrument
+diligently under a good master. But the vocal instrument cannot be said
+to exist at all, for purposes of singing study, before the age of
+eighteen or twenty in males, and (in our climate) sixteen in females.
+Even at those ages the organ is necessarily immature and undeveloped.
+Consequently the study of the art has to be carried on during the
+progress of the instrument to maturity.
+
+To counterbalance this disadvantage, however, we must bear in mind that
+that very study materially helps to perfect the instrument. Singing is
+by no means all "style," and the study of it includes the formation of
+the voice and production of a good tone, and it is, of course, easier to
+manipulate an unfinished article than a finished one--to educate youth
+and suppleness than to bring maturity and stiffness into subjection to
+new conditions.
+
+Therefore begin your study in the youth of your voice; but, recollecting
+that its life is the most short-lived of your faculties, let your study
+be most earnest and painstaking. Especially if singing is to be your
+profession, act upon the wise advice of Dr. Burney, and "Never go to bed
+till you have learned something which you did not know the previous
+night."
+
+
+=Voices.=--"What is your voice?" is a very common question, sometimes
+expressed in the rather less polite but more intelligent form, "What do
+you call your voice?" The answer almost invariably is either "Soprano,"
+"Contralto," "Tenor," "Bass," or "Barytone." Here is a warning for you
+at starting. Do not limit your notions of what voices are to those four
+or five generic names. Because choral music is generally written in four
+parts, for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, the non-musical public, and a
+great many musical people (some composers included) seem to think that
+those names are an inclusive description of every human voice.
+
+This would be of very little consequence if it were only a question of
+names; but it is of no use to say "What is in a name?" if the result of
+a wrong name is to lead to mischief. The misfortune of wrongly naming
+your voice is that it will lead you to practise wrongly, and to choose
+the wrong style of music for study and performance. For instance, a
+young lady may call herself a _soprano_ because she can "_sing up to
+C_," and may therefore fancy that the whole repertoire of a Tietjens or
+a Clara Novello is within her reach; and acting on this notion, she may
+fatally damage a naturally bright and pleasing voice by giving it work
+to do which belongs of right to a voice of totally different calibre,
+the _mezzo-soprano_.
+
+
+=Naming the Voice.=--Remember always that the character of a voice is
+determined not by compass or range of notes, but by quality, or body and
+_timbre_, of tone. Two ladies may have voices ranging from A to A--two
+octaves--and yet one might be a pure light soprano, and the other a
+genuine contralto; while in length of compass a mezzo-soprano may even
+beat them both. And so with male voices (the variety in which is even
+greater than in female), you may have a voice of pure tenor quality, and
+yet of such limited compass that your energetic barytone friend next
+door may make your life miserable with jealousy of the ease with which
+he bellows high Gs, G sharps, and even on great occasions an A or so.
+
+But compass has nothing whatever to do with the name of the voice: it
+may limit the quantity of music which can be performed, but it should
+have no influence on the choice of the style of music to be studied.
+This is a point of the greatest importance, therefore I repeat it
+briefly once more--_Your voice must be described and used with reference
+to its quality, or volume and timbre, and not with reference to the
+number of notes which you can sing._
+
+
+=Male and Female Voices.=--The actual varieties in tone and quality in
+different voices cannot, of course, be expressed on paper; but a careful
+use of your ears in listening to good public singers will soon teach you
+to discriminate. Female voices are of at least four kinds: soprano,
+mezzo-soprano, mezzo-contralto, and contralto. Male are of five or six,
+or even more. Alto; tenore-leggiero or light tenor; tenore-robusto or
+strong heavy-voiced tenor; barytone--basso-cantante (erroneously
+identified with the barytone by some persons); basso-profondo or bass.
+
+Beside all these divisions or species, voices must be again classed
+according to their power. Any one who has ever heard an opera singer in
+a moderate-sized private drawing-room, will readily appreciate the
+difference between a _voce di camera_, or "chamber voice," and a _voce
+di teatro_.
+
+
+=Compass.=--The respective compasses of the several voices may be roughly
+set down as follows, but it should be borne in mind that it is by no
+means a matter of course that a singer of any particular voice should
+possess or cultivate the whole range of notes supposed to belong to that
+voice. He or she may be none the less a tenor or a soprano because the
+one cannot produce an "_Ut de poitrine_," or the other "_F_ in _Alt_."
+There is a special individuality in every voice, as in every face, and
+therefore every voice must be treated, by a good teacher, on its own
+merits, as a thing in some respects unique.
+
+Perhaps it will be best, therefore, instead of saying that the compass
+of any given kind of voice is from ---- to ----, to say that music for
+such and such a voice is generally written between such and such limits.
+The range allotted by composers to the various voices is about two
+octaves to each--for solo work, of course--and is as follows, it being
+understood that the male voices are an octave lower in pitch than the
+female:--
+
+    _Soprano_, and _Tenore-Leggiero_, and in operatic music a certain
+    kind of _Tenore-Robusto_.
+
+    {from
+    {[Music: C4]
+    {to
+    {[Music: C6]
+
+    _Mezzo-Soprano_ and _Tenore-Robusto_
+
+    {from
+    {[Music: A3]
+    {to
+    {[Music: A5]
+
+    _Mezzo-Contralto_ and _Barytone_
+
+    {from
+    {[Music: G3]
+    {to
+    {[Music: G5]
+
+    _Contralto_ and _Bass_
+
+    {from
+    {[Music: E3]
+    {to
+    {[Music: E5]
+
+The basso-cantante is a low barytone, or high bass with a lighter
+quality of tone than the basso-profondo. The alto voice, or
+counter-tenor as it used to be called, is not a natural voice at all,
+but is artificially produced by training the _falsetto_ to the exclusion
+of the other parts of the voice. It is totally distinct from the
+contralto voice of a female, in quality, average compass, and the style
+of music best suited to it. It is of more use in part-singing and
+cathedral music than for solo work, although in some oratorios solo
+parts have been allotted to it. It is rarely pleasing when heard alone,
+for very few alto singers are able to avoid the appearance of singing
+with effort; and the whole performance, except in some instances,
+appears unnatural and forced. The alto voice ranges generally
+
+    from
+    [Music: G3]
+    to
+    [Music: C5]
+
+    but its best notes are confined to the octave of B flat.
+
+
+=Soprano.=--The soprano is generally clear, bright, and penetrating in
+tone; capable, if rightly produced, of "carrying" far without any
+appearance of force or effort. Its lower register is often weak and
+ineffective, and the forcing of those notes by a bad singer often
+damages the voice, and spoils the evenness of tone, which is of far more
+importance than power and noise in singing. Low notes, even if
+naturally weak, may be trained to take their proper share of the work of
+the voice, and every year will add to their natural power. Most soprano
+voices have a "break" on
+
+[Music: G4]
+
+and another, and more difficult one to deal with, on
+
+[Music: E5]
+
+or
+
+[Music: F5]
+
+The lower notes are the (so-called) "chest" register; the middle ones,
+between the breaks, the "falsetto," and the upper ones the "head" notes.
+I shall speak of these often-used and frequently-misapplied words
+presently; I merely mention them now for the sake of pointing out to
+soprani, what many young lady amateurs utterly ignore, that they have
+these "breaks," and possess "chest," "falsetto," and "head" notes, as
+well as male singers.
+
+Soprano voices are frequently capable of great flexibility, and passages
+are easy to them which tax the powers even of a light mezzo-soprano
+severely. The high notes, especially, are in many cases easily produced
+in a staccato manner, like notes of a piccolo flute, and an effect is
+thus made, which, though pretty and pleasing if judiciously employed,
+becomes a great snare to many singers, who for the sake of astonishing
+their audience work the upper part of their voices unfairly, and,
+neglecting steady use and practice of the lower registers, will very
+soon find that they have weakened the power and thinned the tone of the
+whole voice.
+
+But there are many voices of pure soprano tone which lack this
+flexibility: let the fair owners console themselves with the
+recollection that good _sostenuto_ singing is quite as pleasing, in the
+long run, as displays of vocal gymnastics. You may not be able to
+attempt the "_Dinorah_" Shadow Song, or the "Rejoice Greatly" in the
+"_Messiah_," but you will find that you have plenty of good work left
+for you in such music as "Dove Sono," "Deh vieni, non tardar"
+("_Figaro_"), or "Jerusalem" ("_St. Paul_").
+
+Moreover, you may possibly have what is a much rarer gift (in a pure
+soprano) than flexibility--you may have a tone of voice capable of
+executing declamatory music with fine effect. Music of this kind is
+generally appropriated by some mezzo-soprano of high compass, and more
+properly belongs to voices of that class; nevertheless, the effect of
+sustained declamatory music, well executed by a real soprano, is
+unrivalled in its way.
+
+
+=Mezzo-Soprano.=--The mezzo-soprano voice is perhaps the commonest of all
+female voices, and yet one of the rarest met with in perfection. It is
+fuller and rounder in quality than the soprano--less flexible, and more
+adapted to a _sostenuto_ or declamatory style. Mezzo-soprano voices vary
+so much that it is difficult to name any note on which the "break" will
+be found. Sometimes it is on the same notes as a soprano--sometimes on
+the same as a contralto--on the average, perhaps, nearer the former.
+Wherever it may be, however, a judicious teacher will soon point it out,
+and put the student into the way of rightly treating it. Teaching, and
+_good_ teaching, is especially necessary for voices of this class, for
+their fortunate possessors are generally ignorant of the value of the
+treasure which they possess in a good mezzo-soprano; and if it be of
+light quality, they fancy themselves soprani, and force the upper
+register of the voice in trying to "stretch their compass;" or if their
+low notes develop first, they think that "with practice" they are to be
+contralti; and by over-exercise and fondness for displaying those deep
+notes, they run the risk of widening the break, and rendering the
+quality of the whole voice hopelessly uneven.
+
+What lies within the sphere of a good mezzo-soprano has been shown in
+late years by a Grisi and a Tietjens, the latter of whom will live in
+the recollection of all who ever heard her, as the perfect model for
+every mezzo-soprano in the production of the pure tone and even quality.
+
+
+=Mezzo-Contralto.=--The name mezzo-contralto speaks for itself. It is by
+no means an uncommon voice, and if used with discrimination is an
+effective and useful one. Both in compass and quality it lies between
+the contralto and the mezzo-soprano. Heavier in tone, less resonant, and
+less flexible than the mezzo-soprano, it is yet lighter than the
+contralto. Pure contralto voices are so rare that many mezzo-contralto
+singers appear as exponents of contralto music, and by paying chief
+attention to the lower register of their voices, they become fair
+imitations, and more than passable substitutes, for the real article.
+The possessor of this voice must be guided by the advice of a good
+teacher as to the direction in which her voice should be trained.
+Sometimes the natural quality of the voice renders it advisable to
+attempt rivalry with the mezzo-soprano, rather than with the contralto;
+sometimes the reverse. It is a question for decision by a competent
+adviser in each individual case, and therefore I shall not attempt to
+lay down any decided rule, except my oft-repeated one, "GO TO A MASTER,
+AND A FIRST RATE-ONE,"--a point on which I shall have more to say
+further on. How impossible it is to lay down rules for a mezzo-contralto
+is shown by the fact that an eminent living "mezzo-contralto" is gladly
+accepted on our opera stage as a leading contralto, and yet succeeds
+admirably in such a part as Rossini wrote for a mezzo-soprano of the
+most florid kind--_Rosina_ in "_Il Barbiere_."
+
+
+=Contralto.=--The quality of a true contralto voice is so peculiar that it
+is impossible to mistake it for any other voice, although other voices
+may be mistaken for it. Of course, there are exceptional cases in which
+the contralto and mezzo-contralto are combined in one voice: the lower
+range being of full and pure contralto quality, while instead of the
+somewhat limited upper notes of the contralto, a rich mezzo-contralto
+range of notes may develop themselves; and in such a case careful
+training will be able to soften these two into each other, so that a
+complete voice of peculiar charm and great usefulness will result. But
+such cases, if not rare, are certainly the exception and not the rule,
+the deep and powerfully resonant tone of the true contralto being
+comparatively seldom met with. There is generally an awkward break
+between the low B and the D above it in this voice, and E flat or E
+are the highest notes within reach of the average contralto. Voices of
+this class are better adapted for a species of ballads, for solemn
+declamation, or music of a calm and flowing character, than for
+elaborate execution or lively melodies. But here again exceptions must
+be made in favour of those who have the physical means, as well as the
+artistic skill, to study such music as that of the _Page_ in "_Les
+Huguenots_," _Arsace_ in "_Semiramide_," or "_La Cenerentola_." For an
+average English contralto, however, the best line of study is in good
+songs and ballads, and, chief of all, oratorio music.
+
+
+=Alto.=--The alto, or counter-tenor voice, is said by a well-known English
+alto singer to be "simply a development of the _falsetto_--generally the
+_falsetto_ of an inferior bass voice." It is said to be almost peculiar
+to English singers, and to that fact is ascribed its extensive and
+effective use in the fine works of the English Cathedral School of
+composers. Of course, in a voice which is so artificial, there must be
+expected a worse "break" than usual--the break in this case being the
+point below which the falsetto cannot be extended, and where the natural
+"chest" quality of tone has to be used. This break generally lies near
+the same place as the contralto break--if anything, rather higher--say
+between C and E in the middle of the voice. The effective notes of an
+alto usually lie in the octave of B or B flat, and the repertoire of
+music for which this voice is suited is comparatively limited. That
+repertoire, however, includes the greater number of oratorios, a good
+deal of fine old Italian music, and a few old English songs; while a
+singer of cleverness and cultivation will find many ballads which he may
+make his own by the help of transposition and style of delivery.
+
+Great pains must be taken by the possessor of an alto voice in the
+formation and production of a good tone. The voice must be made to sound
+as _natural_ as possible; and, if necessary, power must unhesitatingly
+be sacrificed to sweetness. There is great danger of producing a harsh,
+reedy, or nasal tone, which, to the hearer, is simply distressing or
+offensive.
+
+Above all, let him be content to develop his own means, and to keep to
+music suited to or written for his voice. A good alto will make no
+effect, and will do his voice and style harm, if he "poaches on the
+preserves" of other voices--tenors, for instance, or basses--(singing
+the songs of the latter an octave higher). I once heard an alto--a fair
+singer so long as he stuck to his own work--make an absurd exhibition of
+himself by attempting the great song "Love Sounds the Alarm," in "_Acis
+and Galatea_," at a public concert!
+
+Let him also beware of the snare of contralto music. The alto in a man
+is totally distinct from the contralto in a woman. The tone is utterly
+different--the best notes of the one are certainly not the best notes of
+the other; and although in certain cases a contralto may sing with good
+effect music written for a male alto (_e.g._ in some oratorios), yet the
+converse is scarcely ever true. The low notes, which are so fine in a
+contralto, and so unlike any other tone except perhaps a few notes of
+some tenors, are utterly wanting in charm, and generally in power, in a
+male alto; while the sweet and ringing middle notes of the latter are
+far more effective in alto music than the (frequently) weak and
+uncertain middle notes of a contralto. Choose your music as you name
+your voice, by the quality of tone you can produce, and not by the range
+of notes.
+
+
+=Tenore-Leggiero.=--The _tenore-leggiero_ or "light tenor," is the male
+voice corresponding to the female soprano; it is perhaps the most
+delicate and difficult to manage of all human voices. In the present
+day, when fashion is all in favour of noise, it is difficult for any but
+the strong-minded to stand firm against the tendency to shout and bawl,
+which appears to be the highest aim of many singers, and the highest
+admiration of most audiences. Now for a light tenor to attempt this
+style of singing is simply suggestive of the old fable of the frog who
+tried to make himself as big as the bull, and burst in the attempt.
+There is a modern school of singing which, though it may be suitable
+enough for heavy voices such as basses and robust tenors, is fatal to
+light and delicate voices. The style of singing, and of music to be
+sung, by this voice, is quite different from that appropriate to strong
+and full organs; and, if you are the possessor of a light tenor, you
+must at once rid yourself of the common amateur fancy (a fancy, too, by
+no means confined to amateurs) that you must imitate a certain
+ever-popular living tenor, whose name has passed almost into a proverb
+as typical of the perfection of English singing. You _cannot_ be a
+"Reeves" or a "Braham," therefore it is only waste of time and strength
+for you to try. But there is a great deal of music which neither a
+"Reeves" nor a "Braham" could sing, which is well within your reach; and
+more than that, there is a great deal of excellent music which, though
+you cannot sing it _like_ them, you may render very effective in a
+totally different style. Very often a _pianissimo_ is quite as
+expressive as a _fortissimo_, and grace and sweetness are frequently an
+excellent substitute for power and force. You must be content to
+recognize that the latter are out of your reach, and that the effects
+which you can produce are to be attained by other means.
+
+However, while assuring you that power and force are not given to you, I
+do not mean to say that voices of your class need be at all inaudible in
+a space however large. The tone of a light tenor is generally clear,
+resonant, and penetrating; sometimes there is a metallic ring about it
+which is extremely pretty, if not forced. I have heard a light tenor,
+singing at the back of the Covent Garden stage, send his voice clearly
+out into the great theatre, with apparently more ease than his "robust"
+friend, who was shortly afterwards vociferating at the footlights.
+
+A light tenor must be careful not to force up the lower register of his
+voice beyond its natural and easy limit. The charm of the voice is in
+the perfect blending together of the lower, middle, and upper registers,
+and to do this the upper notes of each register should be equally at
+command, as the upper notes of that register or the lower notes of the
+one above it. In order to attain this, the change from one register to
+another should generally be made considerably lower than the place where
+the real "break" in the voice comes. For instance, supposing the "break"
+to be on E flat, the singer should be able to change his register as
+low as B or B flat, and to take all the notes between those two
+places, either in the upper or lower register, with equal effect.
+
+In voices of this character there is often one note which requires to be
+_made_--_i.e._, which is so naturally defective in tone and quality that
+it can only be produced effectively by imitating as nearly as possible
+the quality of the register above or below it. This note is generally E,
+F, F#, or (sometimes) G, between the middle and upper registers; and if
+you find that you unfortunately have such a refractory note, remember
+not to try and force the tone of it from the next note above or below;
+_e.g._, if your bad note is F, do not try to improve it by singing E
+well and then passing on to the F; but try and form the note from the
+fifth above or below (whichever it happens to resemble most in tone).
+Rounden the refractory note--give it a full tone in practising, and
+produce it well from the chest, letting the sound reverberate from the
+centre of the roof of the mouth--neither too far back towards the
+throat, nor too much on the teeth. Your teacher, if he knows his
+business, will soon put you into the way of this. Voices vary so much
+that these very general remarks must suffice here; but each voice, if it
+has its peculiar difficulties, has also, doubtless, its peculiar charm;
+and for light tenors, rich in both charms and difficulties, the rule is
+all-important: Do not try to imitate anybody else, but let your aim be
+to do the best that can be done with such natural gifts as you may have,
+aided by the best training that you can procure for them.
+
+
+=Tenore-Robusto.=--The robust or strong tenor is the male voice
+corresponding to the mezzo-soprano of a female. It is not an uncommon
+voice, but is rarely met with in anything like perfection. A robust
+tenor voice of large compass and round full tone is a treasure of the
+utmost value. The fact is, that too frequently the possessor of a good
+voice of this kind, instead of taking care of it and training it for the
+future, begins using it too soon, strains and forces it into coarseness,
+and spoils it for ever. People do not realize that a voice may be strong
+in quality and powerful in tone, and yet in itself be an excessively
+delicate thing to keep in order.
+
+Moreover, voices of this kind in their youth frequently resemble
+barytones, and their owners, fired with ambition to rival some popular
+barytone singer, mistake their vocation, and shout and bellow on the
+very part of the voice--the upper "chest" register--which requires the
+tenderest nursing to fit it for future difficulties. Consequently, when
+the voice develops with age, and the singer finds that barytone work is
+too heavy for the lower part of the voice, and that he can without much
+difficulty extend his compass beyond the barytone limits, he discovers
+that what he has been using as the top of his voice is nearer the middle
+of it, and that the mode of using those notes which he has practised is
+excessively difficult, if not impossible, with those which now lie above
+them. The result is either the creation of a very awkward "break," which
+even time and practice can never entirely remove, or else (and this is a
+commoner case) the same process of forcing which has been employed
+hitherto is applied to the upper notes, as far as strength can take it!
+This is the reason why so many tenor singers are utterly unable to
+produce the real tenor "tone," and sound like barytones forced up to a
+higher compass. There is no sweetness in the upper notes so
+produced--nothing but force and noise; while the hapless perpetrator of
+the howls which represent high notes turns scarlet in the face, and
+quivers all over with his exertions. I therefore give to tenors of this
+class exactly the same warning that I gave to soprani:--Do not ignore
+the fact that you have three, or at all events two, distinct registers
+of the voice, the (so-called) "chest," "throat," and "head." Do not
+suppose, when you hear a great singer produce on a high note exactly the
+same quality of tone as he produced on a low one, that he did it exactly
+the same way, or "got it from the same place," as some people say. The
+perfection of his training and the diligence of his practice have
+enabled him to assimilate the quality of one register to that of another
+so completely as to deceive your ear. The proof that this is true may be
+found in inspecting a great deal of music written for and sung by the
+most famous operatic tenors of the past--the singers of that pure
+Italian school of which so few disciples now remain.
+
+There are notes and passages in that music which no "chest" register
+could by any physical possibility execute, but some of which have been
+sung within the recollection even of the "rising generation" with all
+the effect intended, and with the very tone that critical slang calls
+"chest notes," (simply because it so closely resembles the tone of chest
+notes that few, if any, can detect that they are differently produced
+from the low notes.)
+
+For obvious reasons I abstain from mentioning the names of any living
+singers, but I can name one, not very long since dead, who attained the
+highest reputation here as a _tenore di forza_--whose "chest notes" were
+chronicled by the newspaper critics, and were the envy of aspiring
+youths--and yet who has ever been heard distinctly to deny that he ever
+produced those notes in the same way as the lower ones, and to laugh at
+the idea that such a thing was possible; and this was Mongini.
+
+I have entered into this at some length because it is a point which is
+more and more ignored by the singers and teachers of this generation. I
+might almost say that a school of singing exists the whole aim of which
+is to abolish the natural upper part of the voice, in order to stretch
+and force the one lower register up beyond its natural compass. I do not
+deny that in certain cases a voice results from this treatment which is
+powerful, effective, and capable of executing a good deal of music with
+much success and satisfaction to the performer; but for one case where
+this treatment so far succeeds, it fails in twenty to produce a voice
+both pleasing and useful; it is, moreover, in singers trained on this
+method that we most commonly hear the odious (and involuntary) trembling
+of the upper notes commonly called the _vibrato_.
+
+Therefore, to sum up those who find, when their voices begin to form,
+that the natural quality of their voice is lighter than that of a bass,
+had better make up their minds at once to give the voice fair play, and
+let it alone for a time; then consult a good master, or one really
+experienced in hearing singers, as to what the future of the voice is to
+be. It is by no means easy always to decide at that early period whether
+the permanent quality of the voice will be tenor or barytone, and
+therefore it is folly to try and settle the question for yourself by
+singing, in untaught style, music which may prove to have been all along
+unsuited to you. Your patience in waiting till the voice really declares
+itself will amply repay you afterwards by the absence of the
+difficulties which too early a use of the voice would have created for
+you to overcome.
+
+
+=Barytone and Basso-Cantante.=--The barytone voice is thus described in
+Stainer and Barrett's "Dictionary of Musical Terms:" "A voice of fuller
+quality than a tenor, and lighter than a bass, having a compass partly
+included in both.... This voice has only been distinguished by name as
+being of a separate character within the present century. Early writers
+indicate its existence by the use of its special clef. The term barytone
+is unmeaning unless it be looked upon as a corruption of barytenor; but
+it is quite possible it was borrowed from the instrument barytone or
+bardone, which occupied a place between the tenor and bass viols."
+
+The derivation of the name from "barytenor" is slightly absurd,
+considering that half that extraordinary word is Greek and the other
+half Latin; whereas the name barytone is a Greek word, used by
+Aristotle, and meaning "deep-sounding."
+
+The distinctive character which this voice has assumed within the
+present century is due, I believe, to the great change in the pitch of
+musical instruments which has taken place. In the last century the
+pitch was so much lower than that at present in use, that a "high
+barytone" was much the same as a "robust tenor." Consequently, music was
+not written exclusively for the barytone voice, its existence as a
+separate class of voice not being sufficiently recognized. Gradually, as
+the pitch was raised, the barytone separated itself clearly from other
+voices, and has now a repertoire of music and a style of singing of its
+own; and instead of appropriating tenor music, it, if anything, has
+stolen away some of the property of the bass; for the raising of the
+pitch which placed tenor music beyond the reach of a barytone has also
+rendered a good deal of music originally written for a bass far more
+suitable for a barytone, or at all events for a basso-cantante. I am
+well aware that by many musicians the basso-cantante is identified with
+the barytone. The distinction is so slight that it is not worth while to
+quarrel over names; but that the two voices are distinct I am persuaded.
+The basso-cantante is of fuller and rounder quality than the barytone
+proper; less flexible, less metallic in tone, and generally rather lower
+in compass. But the method of using both voices is the same, and for all
+purposes of amateur singers no distinction need be insisted upon.
+Professionals, however, who have to deal with heavy work on a large
+scale, will soon find that there is a good range of music more suited to
+the rich voice of greater volume and less flexibility (which I
+distinguished as the basso-cantante) than to the bright, flexible voice
+which has something of the tone of a full "tenore-robusto," and which is
+the barytone proper. Neither of these voices is much troubled with a
+"break," although there is a perceptible difference between the natural
+quality of the lower and upper octaves of the voice when quite
+uncultivated. This difference, however, which makes itself felt in the
+region of these notes, is got rid of in practice without any of the same
+difficulty which is encountered by tenors or contralti in managing the
+decided breaks in their voices. The possessors of barytone voices may
+therefore be looked upon as having comparatively "easy times of it."
+There is a large repertoire of music at their disposal, including much
+of the most popular ballad music of this century and the last; the voice
+is generally a favourite with an audience; the style of barytone singing
+is undisputed, and the singer will not find himself violently criticised
+by the partizans of a rival school of singing to that in which he
+himself has been trained, which is inevitably the fate of tenors!
+
+[Music: F3 G3 A3]
+
+Only let him avoid the temptation to shout, and to sing up to the very
+top of his compass at full pitch. Unfortunately, an English audience
+does like a noise, and appreciates plenty more than beauty of tone. It
+is tolerably easy for a barytone to be a showy singer, and therein lies
+the greatest danger to his chance of ever being a really good one. He
+must be content to go through his training quite as self-denyingly and
+perseveringly as any one else who is gifted with fewer natural
+advantages.
+
+
+=Bass.=--Of the bass voice less need be said here, not because it is a
+less important voice than any of the others, but because it is more
+generally known and better understood. A perfectly pure bass voice is,
+however, a rare thing. This voice has no upper register, properly
+speaking; the whole voice consisting of "chest" notes, and not admitting
+of even the process of developing upper notes of extraordinary quality,
+which is part of the training of a barytone or a basso-cantante. Power
+and richness are the chief qualities of charm in a bass, while
+flexibility and true intonation are the qualities most rarely found in
+that voice. The young singer who finds that he certainly is not meant by
+nature for a tenor, and also that with all his efforts the upper notes
+of a barytone are quite out of his reach, need not be discouraged by any
+lightness or thinness of quality in his voice from the hope that he may
+develop into a good bass. The full and rich quality of this voice is
+later in showing itself than is the case with any other voice, and the
+young singer must be content to study for some time with the compass of
+a bass and the quality of a kind of barytone, till Nature puts him in
+full possession of his powers. Only he must study bass music, and not
+try, because his voice is of barytone quality, to sing barytone music.
+Let him, on the contrary, avoid trying to extend the compass of his
+voice in the upper notes, and give his best attention to the lower ones.
+The upper ones will be well within his command in time, and if he will
+be content to let them alone at first, he may become a truly "celebrated
+bass;" but, if he persists in shouting at them now, he will never have
+anything but coarse upper tones, only fit to be heard behind a
+costermonger's barrow, or in "comic" songs at the Music Halls.
+
+
+=Buffo.=--The last remark reminds me that I have said nothing about a
+class of bass singers very useful in certain Italian and French
+operas--the _buffo_, or comic bass. The development of voice with these
+singers is of less consequence than the study of a peculiar style, a
+good deal of the point of their songs consisting in the entire
+elimination of anything like musical tone from many notes and passages.
+A clever and good buffo singer may very likely be able to sing other
+music well, but the style is so entirely dramatic and so utterly out of
+place anywhere except on the stage, that no amateur should ever attempt
+it, and no professional should appear _in a concert-room_ as the
+exponent of such music. Therefore, for those who wish to sing, any
+remarks on the peculiarities of a buffo bass would be superfluous; those
+who wish to study that line as a profession, for stage work, must learn
+all that they need from a regular dramatic teacher; while those who wish
+to execute English "comic" songs, may spare themselves any anxiety as to
+their voices: if they have any voice naturally, "comic" singing will
+soon destroy its charm, and that will not matter to them, for the last
+thing necessary to sing a "comic" song is the possession of a voice of
+any kind. Therefore, if you have a bass (or any other voice, indeed),
+avoid "comic" songs, and leave the "buffo" business to those who can do
+nothing better.
+
+
+=Qualities of Voice, Good and Bad.=--It may not be unwelcome to the
+student to have pointed out to him those qualities of voice which are to
+be aimed at or cultivated, and also those which are to be avoided or
+overcome.
+
+The charms of a voice are found among the following qualities:
+clearness, sweetness, evenness, flexibility, power, extent of compass,
+variety, brilliancy, firmness, persuasiveness.[1]
+
+[1] It used to be said of Rubini that "he had tears in his voice."
+
+On the opposite side must be ranked roughness, huskiness, feebleness (or
+want of power), shrillness (or want of depth), hardness and want of
+flexibility, dulness, or want of "ring," &c.
+
+It is, of course, impossible for any one voice to unite in itself all
+these merits or all these defects; and you cannot give yourself merits
+which Nature has withheld; but you may marvellously improve what natural
+merits you have, and do wonders in overcoming any difficulties which
+Nature has placed in your way.
+
+
+
+
+ON INSTRUCTION, MASTERS, AND "SINGING TUTORS."
+
+
+The voice, and how to use it, is a subject which has troubled many
+minds, and no doubt this will continue to be the case; but the difficult
+problem will not be solved by running to pettifogging teachers, who
+advertise to teach all that is known of singing, and a little more, in
+twelve easy lessons, without previous knowledge or practice at home, for
+the small fee of one guinea! Let it be stated once for all: singing
+cannot be taught in twelve easy lessons, and can scarcely be acquired in
+one hundred very severe lessons. Therefore distrust at once any one who
+holds out so tempting a bait to you; remember that there is no "royal
+road" to singing, any more than there is to the acquirement of any other
+art; and the person who tells you that he can teach you to do without
+trouble that which costs great artists the study of a lifetime,
+proclaims himself, _ipso facto_, to be a humbug.
+
+
+=Schools of Singing.=--There are several so-called Schools of Singing.
+There is a French School, which for any language but French is bad, and
+which very seldom turns out a pleasing singer. There is a German School,
+which is worse, being simply the production of coarse noise. Some people
+say that there is an English School. I hope there may be some day, but
+at present its existence is rather doubtful, unless those who talk of an
+English school of singing mean the Cathedral style--which for solo work
+is detestable--or the old school of Oratorio singing, with its
+Handelian traditions, which was not an English, but an Italian, and the
+best Italian, school.
+
+In fact, there is but one school of singing in the world, and that is
+the Italian. Whatever language you wish to sing in, whatever style of
+music you wish to study principally, you must train your voice, produce
+it, and learn to use it in the Italian method, if you hope ever to
+deserve the name of a singer.
+
+
+=Masters.=--Of course, in a work of this sort, it is impossible, and
+would be wrong if it were possible, to mention the names of living
+teachers: therefore I can only give general hints. If possible, study
+only under a master whom you know to have lived in Italy, and to have
+studied there for some years under some good master or in some good
+Conservatoire--Naples, Milan, and Florence generally supply the best.
+Possibly, for an English singer, an English master _who fulfils these
+conditions_ may be better than even an Italian, as he should understand
+better the peculiarities of English voices and temperaments, and would
+know at once where the chief difficulties would lie. Let me, however,
+correct a popular error. A good singer is not necessarily a good
+teacher, nor is it necessary for a first-class teacher to be able to
+sing at all. Nor need you necessarily look for your master among
+foreigners with fine sounding names. There are two or three good
+teachers of singing in this country who are foreigners; but there is
+also some native talent equally capable of teaching singing, as it is
+accepted in this country at the present time. These know the English
+style better than any foreigner can teach it, and after all, style is
+the chief consideration.
+
+
+=Institutions.=--As we have no real English School of singing, it is
+perhaps fortunate that we have no Conservatoire. There are, however,
+Institutions accessible to those who cannot afford to have masters at
+home or to place themselves under a private teacher. Of these, the chief
+is the Royal Academy of Music, in Tenterden Street, Hanover Square.
+There is also the National Training School of Music, the London Academy
+of Music, also the Guildhall School, and there is Trinity College,
+London, where I believe singing lessons may also be obtained. To all
+these establishments singing masters, more or less good, are attached,
+and it is open to any one to obtain admission to the concerts given from
+time to time at the institutions themselves, and to form some kind of
+opinion as to the teachers from the performances of the pupils. It would
+be well for an intending student to do this, for of course at any
+institution where there are several professors, one might suit you and
+another might not; it is even conceivable that one professor might do
+all for you that you could possibly require, while another professor
+might be an ignorant charlatan. Therefore, hear their pupils and judge
+for yourself, making inquiries at the same time of musical people who
+are qualified to express an opinion on singing. I must not, however,
+withhold from my readers my conviction that private lessons are better
+and more effectual than those taken in schools and academies. The terms
+at these public institutions are such that they preclude the possibility
+of more than twenty or thirty minutes being devoted to each pupil, and
+that is _not_ a sufficient time to bestow upon a lesson. Forty-five or
+sixty minutes are needed to give a good lesson; and the pupil who pays
+fifteen shillings or a guinea for this, does a wiser thing than the one
+who pays a fourth of that sum for, say, twenty minutes' attention.
+
+=A First Opinion.=--The actual successful teachers of singing in London
+may be counted on the fingers of one hand, and those who are qualified
+to teach singing, but who are not specially successful, may be found on
+the remaining five fingers. Each of these professors would probably not
+take less than one guinea the lesson, and it would, honestly, be far
+cheaper in the long run to pay this sum for one good lesson in singing
+than it would be to have fifty lessons founded upon wrong principles,
+even for nothing. And for this reason: teachers of this calibre will not
+trouble themselves about you or your guineas unless you have a promising
+voice, some general musical talent, and show signs of becoming, to some
+degree, a credit to your _teacher_, for to these men guinea pupils are
+very plentiful, and it is only reasonable that a guinea from a clever
+pupil should be worth considerably more to a sensitive artist than the
+same amount from a fool. Therefore, a first opinion from one such
+teacher may save your spending money, time, and energy on a pursuit in
+which you can never succeed.
+
+
+=Bad Lessons.=--Never take a bad singing lesson till you know how to sing.
+You may then do so (if you care to), and learn the "how not to do it" of
+singing. It is commonly supposed that the earliest singing lessons may
+be administered by any "dabbler," and the last touches given afterwards
+by a "finishing master." Never was there a greater error. Pay your
+guineas first, and your shillings afterwards. If you cannot afford to
+have good instruction in beginning to sing, you will be still less able
+to take it afterwards, for artistic reasons. Remember that every bad
+singing lesson which you take hardens old faults and creates new ones,
+and, moreover, takes you farther and farther away from your original
+starting-point. So, when you begin under the right man and the right
+method, you have to _undo_ all this that you have expended toil and
+money to acquire.
+
+
+=Bad Teachers.=--It is astonishing how much money is wasted by people who
+want to sing, through not going at once to the fountain-head for the
+necessary training. Because a man is a musician many people conclude
+that he must necessarily be able to teach singing! Such an idea is
+scarcely less monstrous than that of a man being a good physician and
+consequently competent to amputate a limb, or to take out and reset an
+eye. Do not follow this "multitude to do evil." Be as careful in
+inquiring about your singing master as you would be about your doctor.
+Both in London and in the country there are "professors" whose knowledge
+of singing stops at professing--the class of people who (very likely)
+keep a music-shop, tune your piano, play polkas and waltzes for your
+evening parties, and have a brass plate on their doors to this effect:
+
+MR. HANDEL MOSCHELES IGNAZIO JONES, PROFESSOR OF THE PIANOFORTE,
+HARMONY, THE VIOLIN, ITALIAN, AND SINGING.
+
+All honourable professions, no doubt; but to profess to combine them all
+is dishonourable, and insulting to the common sense of those who know
+anything of any one of the subjects professed. A singing master, if he
+is worth anything, must be a man of one trade--singing. For the teaching
+of singing is a "specialty," and the man who can teach it _properly_ is
+not likely to be a man of all (musical) work.
+
+
+=Books of Exercises, &c.=--There are numerous "Singing Tutors" published,
+giving rules, exercises, _solfeggi_, &c. Many of these are excellent,
+and some nearly perfect. But all alike are useless or worse than useless
+to the tyro, without a master. You might as well suppose that a child
+could learn to be a carpenter by having some fine wood and a box of good
+tools.
+
+I have before observed that voices vary as faces do; no two are exactly
+alike, each voice having its peculiar merit and its peculiar defect.
+Now, a good master will treat each voice on its own merit, and not place
+it at first on the Procrustean bed of a book of rules and exercises. He
+will probably write down his own exercises expressly for his pupil, and
+if not that, he will select certain exercises from the book, and forbid
+others to be attempted for a time. You must also let your master select
+such a book for you, so that you may have one in which the rules do not
+contradict those which he has already given you verbally, or else you
+will be perplexed with a multitude of counsellors.
+
+It is not till a certain stage in singing has been reached, under the
+training of a master, that any book of exercises can be of service to
+you. When that stage is reached, you will find such a work of great use
+in a part of your labours. Among such books may be named as especially
+good,--Concone's Exercises, Righini's, Guercia's, Nava's, Lablache's,
+and Lamperti's; but, again I say, do not choose for yourself. There are
+some excellent rules, as well as some good exercises, in an old work of
+the kind by Crivelli, and also in "Singing Exemplified," a work by T.
+Cooke. If you can meet with these, secure them--although I fear they may
+be long since out of print--for in the literature of singing the _new_
+is by no means certain to excel what was written in the days of our best
+composers and singers of operas and oratorios.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE PRACTICE OF SINGING.
+
+
+Remember that the voice is of all instruments the most difficult one to
+study, and to bring perfectly under control, especially for the first
+year or two. Do not attempt to cultivate it with the view to
+professional remuneration, unless you can set apart at least two hours
+daily for most careful study, and can also afford to wait at least eight
+or ten years for any _substantial_ pecuniary reward for your labours.
+
+
+=Individuality.=--It is of great importance to bear in mind that no two
+voices are exactly alike. To some singers is given quality of voice, to
+others quantity. And for each alike, steady, well-aimed, and
+well-ordered practice is indispensable. But, whatever you sing ought,
+like your voice, to have some touch of individuality: the song should
+seem to come naturally from you, and to be the spontaneous expression of
+your thoughts. At the same time you must not lose sight of the
+all-important guide which you have in the composer's intentions and
+wishes. Remember that a small and delicate voice may be made to go as
+far as, if not farther than, a voice of large volume and long compass.
+By judicious management, by touching expression of the softer feelings,
+by careful selection of music to be performed, the obstacles which are
+placed in a singer's way by want of power may be effectually removed,
+because the audience will irresistibly feel the influence of the
+singer's individuality. The difficulties of the singer who has the gift
+of quantity rather than quality of voice, are in some respects greater,
+because the necessity for thus impressing on his audience a sense of his
+own individuality is not so strongly forced on him by circumstances. Not
+only has he to labour to attain a good quality of tone, but he must also
+resist the temptation to fancy that "might is right," and that the
+"sensation" caused by a powerful voice is all that he need aim at. And
+here let me say, the way to get quality is to listen as often as
+possible to some leading singer of your own kind of voice. Try and
+imitate his tone; but above all practise with a medium tone--a
+_mezzo-voce_--listen for the beauty in your tone, and think of what you
+are doing when practising.
+
+
+=Perseverance.=--The surest means of improving and strengthening the voice
+is by constantly exercising and practising it. Just as the muscles and
+fibres of the legs of a pedestrian are increased and made capable of
+great exertion by careful training, so is it with the nerves and muscles
+of the throat. With judicious training, the compass of the voice is
+extended, its quality is improved, its tones grow rounder and firmer;
+and, if the master is a good one, and the pupil is willing to study
+patiently for some time, never resting content, but always aiming at
+further progress as year succeeds year, he may not unreasonably hope to
+attain a well-earned place in his profession, and its attendant reward.
+
+
+=Facial Expression.=--A looking-glass should form a part of the furniture
+of a singing student's study, for it is most important to watch the
+face--its features and expressions--when singing; and it is none the
+less useful for insuring the constant right position of the mouth. In
+respect to the facial expression when singing, there is a very great
+tendency to look too serious, too severe, and too hard when earnestly
+studying. Now, a cheerful and good-humoured expression does not
+necessarily imply carelessness, and it is far more agreeable to the
+audience than an anxious and troubled look. Some people look quite
+savage when singing; and when rendering passages of love and tenderness,
+their features are far more indicative of rage, revenge, and murder!
+And this very common fault is generally quite an unconscious habit. It
+is only to be remedied by constant care, and to this end practice before
+a looking-glass will be found very helpful.
+
+
+=Position of the Body.=--How to stand when singing has been explained by a
+great number of writers on the subject, and most of the explanations
+given have been chiefly remarkable as being entirely erroneous and
+false. The body should not be kept in a perfectly upright position, as
+it is (too popularly) believed that it should. The best position is when
+the body is well collected, with its chief weight upon the right leg and
+foot, with the head gently leaning forward, and the arms and, indeed,
+the whole carriage disposed in that manner which would indicate to the
+audience a sort of desire on your part to _persuade_ them and bring them
+over to your feelings and sentiments. When the right leg begins to tire
+with the weight of the body, the left leg can take its duty, when the
+right may be gracefully drawn back as in dancing. The best lesson on
+this subject, however, can be gleaned by carefully watching the _pose_
+of a good Italian singer during singing.
+
+
+=Self-Accompaniment.=--A sitting position is a very bad one in which to
+practise. All singing should be done in a standing position, and the
+student is strongly urged to adhere to this rule. Instead of sitting at
+the pianoforte, and accompanying an exercise or "solfeggio," it is far
+better to sound the first note of each passage therein, and master the
+same without any accompaniment. The advantages of this mode of
+practising must be obvious; but one of the most important is, that the
+attention is not divided between the pianoforte and the voice, while it
+leaves the singer free to give all his attention and care to the
+_production_ of the notes which he is endeavouring to sing artistically.
+
+
+=Position of the Arms.=--I would urge upon the student to hold a piece of
+music in his hands while he practises. There is a place for the hands
+when singing in public; but this place is neither the trouser-pockets,
+nor on the hips, nor behind the back, nor across the chest, but rather
+that position which is secured by _leisurely_ holding the music-sheet,
+not as if actually singing therefrom, but as though it were merely
+intended for reference, if required. This easy attitude not only gives
+the hands and arms their legitimate position, but also lends a grace and
+freedom to other parts of the body, all which points must be attended to
+in singing. Remember to keep the arms well away from the body. Some
+singers stick the elbows into the waist, as though to give support;
+instead of doing which, they hinder the free action of the lungs,
+besides giving an awkward look to the whole figure.
+
+
+=Position of the Hands.=--Do not let your hands hang down, but keep them
+well before you, in some position which allows of your turning the palms
+uppermost. In this way you (as it were) lock the joints of the
+shoulders, and put a check on the tendency to raise the shoulders, which
+is an invariable consequence of taking breath wrongly. Keep your
+shoulders well back, your elbows depressed, and your hands with the
+palms uppermost, and you will find it difficult, if not impossible, to
+indulge in the vice of heaving the chest and shoulders up and down, like
+the piston of a steam-engine!
+
+
+=Position of the Throat.=--One of the first conditions of singing well is
+to keep the throat open. To have the throat in its proper position the
+tongue must be kept down, and hollowed like the bowl of a spoon, its
+root being well depressed. Nor must the throat ever be allowed to screw
+itself up small, a common failing of many singers whenever they approach
+a high note. Most of my readers have yawned once or twice in their
+lives: if they will do it once more, in front of their looking-glass,
+and watch the inside of the mouth as they yawn, they will see and feel
+the exact position in which the throat should be during good singing. It
+will be useful to repeat this proceeding until the mind is thoroughly
+impressed and the memory familiarized with the feeling of the mouth and
+throat in this, the correct position for singing.
+
+
+=Position of the Throat, &c., in Soft Singing.=--When singing softly, or
+_piano_, as it is called, take great pains to keep your throat as open
+as you would for singing loudly, leaving it entirely to the mouth and
+lips to keep the tone soft, yet steady and firm. Do not forget, too,
+that in soft singing it is a great advantage to keep the mouth in a
+smiling position.
+
+
+=Position of the Tongue.=--The tongue, while being so useful, is
+nevertheless a very unruly member in singing. It has so great a tendency
+to get out of its place. Its legitimate office is to rest quite flat, or
+even hollow, in the bottom of the mouth, with its root well down, as
+this keeps the throat-passage clear, and with the tip of it just
+touching the lower teeth. Get a looking-glass, and continually watch the
+position of the tongue. Never allow it to roll up or turn about when
+singing, or the effect produced will be scarcely worth repeating. The
+tongue should occupy the least possible space in the mouth, and this is
+the case when the directions here given are carried out.
+
+
+=Position of the Larynx.=--The larynx, or upper part of the wind-pipe,
+plays a most important part in singing. Upon it depends all the beauty,
+and quality, and richness of the voice. The singer will do well to
+constantly think about the larynx, to watch it, to feel that it is well
+down below the mouth before commencing the first note of a song, which
+note must, under such circumstances, be rich, round, and penetrating.
+Then the larynx must never be allowed to rise above this fixed point. It
+may be deepened, and must be, for the higher notes, but it must never
+ascend, or nearly approach the roof of the mouth, or the sound-passage
+is closed, and the sounds become at once impure, vitiated, and without
+body or foundation.
+
+Try and guard against the bad habit of pushing forward the chin when
+singing, otherwise the tone cannot fail to be faulty. The chin should be
+well down on the chest, and the larynx quite low, to lead to an easy
+and pure production of tone. To be constantly moving both the jaws for
+every note, continually displaces the larynx, impairs the purity of the
+tone, spoils the articulation of the words, and, what is worse than all,
+produces a hideous expression of the features, which latter fault would
+alone be sufficient to prejudice seriously the chances of any singing
+artists. The lower parts of the jaws, not the upper ones, should do the
+work; and when a high passage or note is before the singer, the lower
+parts of the jaws should be exercised to drop as the notes increase in
+height. The singer's face should be controlled, if no other member can
+be so regulated.
+
+
+=Singing in the Head.=--There is, in all beginners, a tendency to sing too
+much in the head, that is, to have the foundation of the tones too high
+up in the throat. This fault is due to the difficulty experienced by
+beginners in keeping the larynx sufficiently below the mouth. The
+fulness of tone, the rich, round, and mellow quality which is so much
+admired in all good singers, is almost entirely owing to the voice being
+pitched low down, and not high up in the throat, towards the back of the
+head (as it _appears_ to be).
+
+A few trials of this will soon convince the student of the vast
+difference in the character and _timbre_ of the tones of these two ways,
+and also of the economy of the plan here recommended, so far as regards
+the wear and tear of the voice in practice.
+
+
+=Throatiness.=--Throatiness, or singing in the throat, is the common enemy
+of all English singers. Our language is the chief cause of this
+disagreeable habit, which we begin to acquire as soon as we learn to
+talk. Still, by diligence, the evil can be cured, and no better plan can
+be followed than to constantly practise singing the vowel-sounds Ah, A,
+E, O, throughout the compass of the voice, taking every possible
+care--and this is the point--never to allow the _tone_ to vary, nor to
+leave the teeth, and not to screw up the throat, especially in high
+notes. It is impossible to produce a "throaty" quality of voice if the
+throat is well open, and the tone is firmly directed, and kept on the
+upper teeth and front of the mouth. On the other hand, if the student
+screws up the throat, rolls the tongue, or practises singing without
+being constantly on the look-out for the "voice on the teeth," the
+result must be a "throatiness," which is most disagreeable to all people
+who have any real knowledge of what singing should be.
+
+
+=Clearing the Throat.=--Singers, good and bad, are often troubled with an
+apparent stoppage in the throat, and this inconvenience seems to be at
+its worst just at that moment when they wish to sing. To displace or to
+cure this stoppage, they begin hacking and coughing ("clearing the
+throat" as it is called), which proceeding, however, only makes bad
+worse for the time being, and finally grows into a habit, till at last
+such people cannot venture to open their mouths without first subjecting
+the throat to a series of these irritating "hacks." A good master will
+soon cure this complaint by refusing to continue the lesson whenever the
+pupil gives way to the bad habit. It is in many cases simply a nervous
+trick, and if the singer will accustom himself to _swallow_ instead of
+coughing, whenever he feels the sensation of which we are speaking, he
+will soon get rid of it. If it results in any case from real weakness of
+the throat, it may be beneficial to gargle three or four times a day
+with moderately strong salt and water, especially before singing. This
+does no harm to the voice, and by bracing and strengthening the muscles
+of the throat renders them more obedient to the singer's will.
+
+
+=High Notes.=--Many people find great difficulty in counting, with any
+degree of certainty, upon the top notes of their register. I know of no
+greater assistance towards bringing these out than that of well
+contracting the mouth and lips at the beginning of the passage in which
+these high notes occur, dropping the lower jaws, and securing a good
+play of the mouth as the highest note is reached, at the same time
+keeping the throat as open as possible, ejecting the sound to the
+audience with as much "lip-force" as can be secured, being careful that
+the tone is safe "on the teeth" before the note is "opened."
+
+
+=The Scale.=--There can be no doubt whatever that the grand groundwork of
+all singing is the diatonic scale. On it is built all the graceful forms
+and figures which belong to the great artist. Yet how few seem to know
+and to appreciate this fact! To excel, the diatonic scale must be
+practised most seriously and assiduously in its plain and simple form;
+nor must it be left until the student can sing every note therein
+purely, without wavering or flutter, and with precision, in the soft,
+medium, and loud voices.
+
+
+=Forte, Mezzo-Voce, and Piano.=--The singer will derive much advantage by
+bearing in mind that the voice has three main gradations which the
+Italians class as the _forte_, the _mezzo di voce_, and the _piano_. The
+management of these three is of vital importance, and the singer should
+certainly practise the scales in all three voices, and have each at
+command for every exercise and passage which he studies.
+
+
+=Tone.=--The tone of the voice must never be vitiated or rendered impure
+from any cause whatever. There is always a danger of this in passages of
+great energy and passion, but it should be remembered that whatever be
+the effect aimed at, it cannot be attained by any means which involves a
+change in the tone of the voice. The first and chief consideration must
+always be to produce a good tone in the right manner. If the tone be not
+good, the singing cannot be agreeable; and if it be not produced in the
+right manner, you have no security that it will be equally good
+throughout the voice, or in passages of all kinds.
+
+
+=Chest, Falsetto, and Head Voice.=--I have already said that there is a
+good deal of confusion existing as to the use of the terms "chest,"
+"falsetto," and "head voice." And this is scarcely to be wondered at,
+seeing that nobody has yet decided _how_ the three qualities of sound
+are produced, while everybody knows that the names are so far
+misleading, in that no sound whatever is really made in the _chest_ or
+in the _head_, but that all are due to the passage of air through the
+larynx, in which are placed the vocal cords upon which the air plays.
+The changes of sound which are spoken of as "chest," "falsetto," and
+"head" voices are due to changes in the position of the larynx and its
+surroundings, and in the action of the vocal cords. What those changes
+are, and how or why they cause the results which we hear, has yet to be
+discovered: there are several theories, but no one has yet ventured to
+claim the certainty of truth for any one of them. There is an excellent
+article on "The Larynx" in Stainer and Barrett's "Dictionary of Musical
+Terms," to which I would refer those who wish to understand these
+various theories. For my present purpose it is sufficient to point out
+that each of the names is an utter misnomer. The "chest" voice is
+probably so called because the vibrations of the notes in that register
+may be distinctly felt in the chest; and because the breath passes
+directly from the chest, as it seems, without any opposition in the
+throat, producing the sound on its way. The "falsetto," or range of
+notes above the chest, is so called (and rightly so) because in that
+register of voice the tone _feigns_, or imitates, the tone of the
+"chest" notes below, although it is certain that the sounds are not
+produced in the same way, for the position of the vocal cords and their
+attendant parts is different, and changes suddenly on the passage of the
+voice from the chest to the upper register. A falsetto, rightly trained
+and used, is one, therefore, which is true to its name, and so well
+imitates the "chest," that the hearer cannot distinguish the "false"
+from the real "chest tone." The "head voice," which many people persist
+in confusing with the falsetto, is so called because to the singer it
+feels as though the notes so produced came from the head. This is due to
+the larynx itself rising up in the throat and approaching the back of
+the head. It comprises, in reality, _all_ that part of the voice which
+lies above the "chest" register, all the lower part of it being shared
+by the "falsetto," exactly as the falsetto shares the greater part of
+the chest register. The falsetto, therefore, belongs to both, and its
+use is to carry, by its power of imitation, the tone of the lower or
+chest register into the upper or head register, so combining them that
+no audible change of quality, or "break," is perceptible.
+
+
+=Scale Practice.=--It cannot be too strongly impressed upon, or too
+frequently pointed out to, the singer (no matter what may be the stage
+of his or her artistic development) how desirable and advantageous it is
+to be constantly singing exercises and solfeggi in preference to songs.
+It is a popular fallacy, especially among amateurs, that the practice of
+scales and intervals should be left behind as soon as possible. Pray do
+not be mistaken. The never-failing daily practice of singing open chords
+in solfeggi, scales, and exercises, is fraught with advantages which
+cannot be gained by the study of yards, or even miles, of song tunes. As
+an instance of how much may be done in the study of scale practice, the
+writer would point out that this particular exercise should not be left
+until the student can sing the diatonic scales throughout the whole
+extent of the voice in one unbroken breath, and with one quality,
+character, and volume of voice. When this point has been reached, its
+peculiar efficacy will be so apparent as not to require any
+recommendation or advice for its daily continuance.
+
+
+=First Exercises.=--This is a book of advice, not of exercises, nor do I
+profess to teach you, but only to point out to you, how you must prepare
+to be taught. I cannot too often repeat that no book by itself can teach
+you singing, and my object is not to supersede a master, but to induce
+you to place yourself under a good one. However, it may happen that
+circumstances of time, place, or pocket prevent your doing so as soon as
+you would wish, and it is far better even to learn from a book what you
+can in the way of rules and exercises, than to go on singing by the
+light of nature, or under a cheap and inefficient master, or working at
+exercises too advanced for a beginner (which is as bad as not working at
+any at all). I therefore give here a few simple but most important
+exercises, which you may work at until you are able to place yourself
+under the care of a good master. Bear in mind, first, all that has
+already been said here about taking your breath, the position of
+standing, the form of your mouth, and place of throat, tongue, teeth,
+&c., and study the following exercises daily say to the extent of thirty
+minutes three times a day, with full attention to all the above points:
+
+[Music: C major scale, beginning at C4, in semibreves]
+
+Sing this fully and firmly. It should be begun and ended with the same
+quality and "thickness" of sound, as suggested by the even line over
+each note. You should be able to hold each note out in one breath for
+twenty seconds without the slightest alteration being perceptible in the
+tone, any more than there would be if it was a note proceeding from an
+organ-pipe. Practise it on each of the following sounds consecutively:
+"A" in "Bard," "A" in "Fate," "E" in "Steel," "I" in "Life," "O" in
+"Pole," "U" in "Rule," prefixing each sound by L, and so singing Lah,
+Lay, Lee, Li, Lo, Loo. In singing this first exercise, which for basses
+and barytones will be, of course, an octave lower, be careful not to
+force the lower notes, and do not seek to get a powerful tone thereupon.
+The tone does not need to be full and heavy on these notes, but rather
+should be a WELL-PRODUCED, light, and thin quality of note. The way to
+proceed is: (1) To inspire the breath from the bottom of the lungs as it
+were--not raising the shoulders. (2) Steady the breath for a second or
+so in the chest while you THINK the note you are about to sing, and
+while you prepare your throat and mouth for singing by lowering the
+larynx and opening the throat. (3) Then begin to sound the note--not
+from the back of the mouth, but from the tip of the tongue and the front
+teeth--thus taking the whole of the tone out of the mouth, which is what
+is required to be done. Sustain the note till you have only a little
+breath left--then finish off in a clean manner, and allow the remaining
+breath to leave the lungs and body in an orderly way.--Repeat the same
+operation for _every_ note, and if you desire to make progress, give a
+minute's attention of this kind to every single note.
+
+[Music: 2--Broken C major triad in semibreves beginning and ending on
+C4, then raising a semitone to continue the pattern.]
+
+and so on, rising by semitones until you come to this:
+
+[Music: Broken G major triad in semibreves beginning and ending on G4.]
+
+which is certainly the highest that you ought to attempt at present.
+
+Exercise No. 2 is a first step towards joining notes, and is another
+difficulty in the matter of _production_. The object to be aimed at is
+to sing the two notes which are bound (or tied) together with the same
+breath, and the same body and quality of tone. To step from C to E, the
+first movement in the exercise is to raise the voice a major third; but
+the student must pass from his mind any notion of raising the throat in
+order to sound the higher third. As the note E is higher than the C, the
+tone of the former must be generated lower in the chest than had been
+the case with the C. The higher the note to be sung, the lower must be
+its generating-point in the chest. This is the only way to OPEN the
+voice, and I need scarcely say that it produces an entirely different
+tone and method than are secured by the common habit of screwing and
+tightening the throat, in proportion as the notes ascend in pitch.
+
+Another good exercise which may be combined with the last-given is the
+following:
+
+[Music: 3--Broken C Major Triad in semibreves beginning and ending on
+C4, followed by a broken F Major Triad in semibreves beginning and
+ending on C4. Broken G minor triad in semibreves beginning and ending on
+C4, followed by a broken A minor triad in semibreves beginning and
+ending on C4.]
+
+This exercise (3) must be sung in the same manner as indicated with No.
+2, care being taken as each note gets higher to pass _under_ the
+preceding note, and not as it were to generate a high note over a lower
+one.
+
+After which you may take this:
+
+[Music: 4--C major arpeggio in semibreves, beginning on C4 and landing
+on C5. C5 is held for six beats prior to descending in crotchets in a C
+major scale, and holding the bottom C4 for four beats.]
+
+but sing it very slowly and deliberately, bearing in mind the production
+of the high notes.
+
+As you begin to get all these notes firm and round, you may take these
+same exercises in D, D flat, and E flat, but be very careful not
+to force the upper notes.
+
+[Music: 5--Interval practice by holding C4 for four beats and slurring
+to D4. After breathing, slur C4 to E4. After breathing, slur C4 to F4.
+After breathing, slur C4 to G4. Continue this pattern until C5 is
+reached. Then, begin on C5 and slur to B4. After breathing, slur from C5
+to A4. Continue this pattern until C4 is reached.]
+
+Exercise 5 is one where the question of the breath and its proper
+management becomes of vital importance. The reader will observe the
+notes are bound together, and the student's attention should be turned
+towards passing from one note to the other, without any appreciable
+difference in the _quality_--I do not say pitch--of the tone. Having
+inspired in the manner already explained, the singer will sound the
+_Do_ with a pure, sympathetic, not harsh or forced sound; and by
+_pressing down_ the breath, will _lift_ the voice on to the _Re_. When
+he has succeeded with the step of a second, he can go on to the step of
+a third, fourth, &c. The care must be to utilize the breath, always
+supporting the tone with the breath. If the sound wavers, then there is
+something wrong with the breath. You are either singing with too little,
+or are forcing the breath.
+
+[Music: 6--Beginning on C4 and holding each note for two beats, go up by
+semitones until E4 is reached and held for four beats. Begin pattern
+again, but begin on D4 flat. Continue until A is reached.]
+
+And so on.
+
+[Music: 7--Beginning on C5 and holding each note for two beats, go down
+by semitones until A4 flat is reached and held for four beats. Begin
+pattern again, but begin on a B4. Continue until G4 flat is reached.]
+
+And so on, descending the scale by semitones.
+
+[Music: 8--In minims, sing C4, E4, G4, C5, B4, G4, F4, D4. Begin the
+pattern again starting a semitone higher on D4 flat.]
+
+Practise No. 8 slowly and steadily, with perfectly even tone throughout,
+without any crescendo or diminuendo.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Let all the above exercises be taken successively, _forte_, _a
+mezzo-voce_, and _piano_, preserving exactly the same amount of tone
+throughout each passage, and holding the notes with the same force with
+which you attack them steadily to the end, not letting them die away.
+The trick of letting notes die away is easily learnt afterwards, but at
+present you have to master the far greater difficulty of holding notes
+firmly with unvarying tone. Practise these exercises on all the
+vowel-sounds already given. All such exercises are of course only
+variations of the diatonic and chromatic scales, so arranged as to
+prepare the voice for executing those scales evenly and perfectly, with
+equality of tone on every note; for till you can sing scales, you are
+not fit to sing songs of any kind.
+
+
+=Duration of Practice.=--Always guard against over-straining and
+over-working the voice. Do not sing or practise for a longer time than
+half an hour without allowing the voice rest for some time. If you have
+three hours at your disposal daily to devote to singing, the most
+economical use of the time is to divide it equally between the morning,
+afternoon, and evening.
+
+
+=Singing in Tune=.--Correct intonation is of the greatest possible
+importance in singing. Every singer should pay especial attention to
+this point. The heavier the voice, the more necessary becomes such
+attention, and therefore contralti and basses are strongly advised to
+lose no time in facing this (to them) considerable difficulty. Deep
+basses, indeed, are rarely perfectly in tune for any long time together,
+and some of the most famous bass singers have left behind them
+recollections of this painful defect. Therefore, whatever be your voice,
+do not take for granted that even the possession of a good ear will
+always ensure your singing in tune. Sometimes excellent singers, and
+good musicians too, will sing out of tune, perfectly aware that they
+are doing so, but, for a time, unable to prevent it from physical
+causes--relaxation of the throat, fatigue, indisposition, &c., under
+which conditions the muscles are unable to obey the will as usual. Do
+not, then, make too light of this matter, because you may think yourself
+quite incapable of singing out of tune; it is at all events wiser to be
+on the safe side. Therefore, never practise (nor sing, if you can help
+it) with a pianoforte which is not well in tune and well "up to pitch."
+And be very constant in practising intervals, such as major and minor
+sixths and sevenths, so as to be able to strike them as perfectly in
+tune and as unvarying in quality as the notes of an organ diapason.
+
+
+=How to Begin.=--Many people never make a good start when beginning to
+sing any piece. Now a very good remedy for a part of this evil is not to
+prepare yourself too soon. Use the bar immediately preceding that in
+which your part commences to gather up your faculties, and, to use a
+common phrase, "to pull yourself together;" then let the muscles of the
+body gently settle down. The ease and freedom acquired by this momentary
+call upon the system is very remarkable; and for the singer especially
+the hint cannot be too often acted upon.
+
+
+=Variety Indispensable.=--An unchanging volume of sound is very soon
+wearying to the ear; and therefore a singer who scarcely ever varies the
+pitch of his voice will find that however loudly he may sing, his
+audience will have a feeling of dissatisfaction, as though they could
+not hear him distinctly--the fact being that their ears, being fatigued
+with the uniformity of the noise, cannot do their proper work, and the
+attention therefore flags. One great secret of being agreeably heard by
+an audience is to vary the body of tone (not the _quality_ of it,
+observe). As a rule singers are left tolerably free to do as they like
+in this respect. Composers of songs rarely give them any help in the
+matter. In fact, nowadays so many people compose "vocal music" without
+knowing anything about the vocal instrument for which they compose, that
+it is not wonderful that they ignore their power of helping the singer
+by properly combining duly marked _forte_, _piano_, and _mezzo-voce_
+passages, so as to ensure a variety of effect. Therefore, in most modern
+music, a singer has to take his own "reading" of a song, and to make it
+as effective as he can by varying the power of his voice. It might even
+be taken as a rule that every _forte_ passage should be succeeded by a
+soft one. The voice should rise and fall, and be varied in its
+inflexions in that agreeable manner which is so marked in good orators
+and dramatic elocutionists.
+
+
+=Chorus Singing.=--If you are studying seriously for solo singing, you
+must discontinue all chorus singing, especially during training. Singing
+in church choirs and choral societies must be abandoned. And this not
+because there is no good to be learned there, but because the little
+good is by no means commensurate with the great amount of harm which is
+acquired along with the good. To enumerate here all the evil habits so
+easily learnt would be impossible. Not the least of them, however, is
+the tendency to shout louder than your neighbour, to use yourself to the
+bad habits of those on each side of you; to produce a bad tone; to
+"chop" the passages instead of phrasing them; to attack notes
+carelessly; to sing coarsely; to depend on others; to get into a
+machine-like regularity of rendering the music. All these evil habits
+are the result of chorus singing; and while many of them are detrimental
+to the voice itself, it may be safely said that any one of these habits
+is fatal to good solo singing.
+
+
+=Humming.=--Some people have a wretched habit of continually humming
+tunes. Pray do not get into this habit of singing unconsciously--than
+which nothing is more prejudicial to the voice. You should never sound a
+note without being perfectly aware of what you are doing, and that it is
+being done in the right manner. The faults acquired by "humming over,"
+as it is called, are of the worst kind, and, moreover, they are far
+sooner acquired than eradicated.
+
+
+=Studying Songs.=--Be careful, in studying a new song, not to waste either
+time or strength by a trifling and superficial treatment of it.
+"Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." First of all,
+_sol-fa_ the melody a few times in a full _mezzo-voce_. Then study it
+with rather stronger tone, paying attention to lights and shades, yet at
+the same time being chiefly occupied with the melody itself. Then make
+your breath-marks, and adhere to the same unfailingly. Then sing the
+melody once throughout, in order to find the weak places; having found
+which, you need no more practise the whole of the melody, but give all
+the attention to these latter phrases. Having mastered these, the melody
+will be complete. It will then be necessary to determine where the notes
+shall be made to _bend_ into each other, to add the _nuances_, a few
+graceful figures and effects which belong alone to the true artist.
+
+
+=Imitation.=--By no means the worst lesson which you can have will be
+gained by imitation of some acknowledged first-rate singer, whose voice
+is of the same kind as your own. Before going to a concert at which any
+such artist is announced to sing, procure copies of his songs (if
+possible), and make yourself acquainted with the compositions first of
+all. Then go and hear how those works are rendered by the singer who is
+to be your model; listen with your copy in your hand; make notes of any
+points which strike you, and while the impression made upon you is still
+fresh, go home and imitate them as closely as you can.
+
+
+=General Musical Study.=--If you want to be a good singing artist, many
+more things besides singing should be studied. You should be
+sufficiently acquainted with the pianoforte to play your own
+accompaniments, even of the most difficult songs, well enough to get an
+idea of them. Then a knowledge of harmony, counterpoint, and
+orchestration is of the greatest value. The study of the best scores,
+orchestral and vocal, should not be neglected, and further, the student
+should make himself or herself otherwise familiar with the rise and
+progress of the art, by reading all the best books on the subject,
+whether historical, critical, or biographical.
+
+
+
+
+ON STYLE, EXPRESSION, &c.
+
+
+The study of language, articulation, and deportment, the gradual
+formation and building-up of the singing voice, and the incessant
+practice of scales and exercises, are in reality only the necessary
+preliminaries to singing itself. Singing, or the proper use of the voice
+combined with the due enunciation and expression of the words, is
+nothing unless due attention be also paid to style, to the fit and
+effective execution of the music selected, due regard being paid both to
+taste and tradition.
+
+
+=Traditional Styles.=--Although the groundwork of all good singing is the
+same, the music to be sung varies greatly in style. There is church
+music, oratorio music, and opera music, as well as ballad music; and a
+certain nondescript--half recitative, half declamation--which is of
+modern growth, gives pleasure to many people (both performers and
+audience), and comprises the greater number of modern German "songs."
+
+
+=Modern German Lieder.=--This latest development of vocal performances, of
+which I desire to speak with all due respect, has no traditions
+whatever, but it has a style, decided, though (in my opinion) bad. It
+has, however, one merit: it imperatively demands that the singer should
+understand the meaning both of words and music, for the whole thing
+depends on expression and modulation. The composers of these works
+generally do their part fully in the way of modulations and
+accompaniment; but as they frequently forget to supply anything in the
+shape of a melody, the singer must do his best to touch or move his
+audience by his expressive delivery of the words in the musical
+inflections which (with this class of composers) occupy the place of a
+"tune." However, if you admire this kind of music, and have been
+properly taught to sing before you attempt to execute it, I have not a
+word to say against it: so long as you use your voice legitimately, this
+style of music can do you no harm, and if you study dramatic expression
+and elocution properly, you may doubtless produce an effect very
+pleasing to others who admire it. But the danger of such music to the
+untrained voice and untaught singer is very great indeed; and I do not
+hesitate to say that the frequent performance of it by such an one
+_must_ result in the ruin both of voice and style.
+
+
+=The Cathedral School.=--The one point in music wherein England has just
+reason to boast of her past, is the existence of a distinct class of
+music composed for her church service, and that music of a high order of
+merit. Distinctive in character, this church music--"services" and
+"anthems"--has created for itself a distinct school of singers, and, by
+tradition, demands a distinct style of performance. I have elsewhere
+stated that the "Cathedral School" of singing is "detestable for solo
+work," and so it is for any solo work except cathedral solo work, where
+the operatic or oratorio style of singing would seem to us, who have
+always been familiar with the traditional and one accepted style, out of
+place, and irreverently suggestive of the concert-room. It is difficult
+to describe upon paper the peculiarity of this style of singing, and it
+could only be learnt by imitation in its own home, the cathedral. Its
+chief characteristics are a sort of passionless "statuesqueness," a
+steadiness of tone akin to the notes of the organ, which is its only fit
+accompaniment, an absence of all attempt at personal display on the part
+of the singer. Its faulty tendencies are towards deficiency of
+expression and slowness of "attack;" these are apparent, generally, when
+a "cathedral" singer appears in the concert-room; but in church, the
+pervadingly reverent character of the performance takes off the
+impression of coldness and tameness in the individual singer, while the
+ear, accustomed to the slight difference in time with which the various
+organ-stops "answer," does not notice in the singer that want of
+"crispness" in the time which the accompaniment of an orchestra reveals
+at once.
+
+Unless you are really intending to sing professionally in a church or
+cathedral choir, the study of this style will not be of much use to you;
+you will find its good points equally insisted on in the oratorio school
+of singing, while its defects should be avoided in any. For =English
+part-singing= there is, however, no training so good, its traditions
+being exactly those of the finest old English secular part-music--the
+madrigals of Wilbye, Weekes, and Purcell, &c.
+
+
+=Oratorio.=--By oratorio singing--speaking of it as a distinct style--I
+may say at once that I mean the school of Handelian singing, of which
+the traditions are distinct, and which has only been slightly modified
+to suit the more modern oratorios of other composers. Of course,
+Mendelssohn cannot be sung exactly like Handel or Bach, but the general
+style of delivery should be the same, and till you can sing Handel, you
+cannot hope to be able to sing Mendelssohn. The ability to sing Handel,
+Bach, and Glueck, I believe to be the sole foundation for a pure style of
+singing either in opera or ballad music: the music is such that it
+cannot be trifled with--the difficulties cannot be evaded, but must be
+mastered--while the exquisitely smooth and vocal character of these
+great masters' music trains the singer to an evenness and solidity of
+style which is most valuable in any music that may be afterwards
+attempted. Moreover, the songs of Handel form an admirable school for
+the training of individual taste and judgment in the introduction of
+ornaments, the variety of phrasing, and other minute details of finish.
+Not that you may exercise your individual taste in introducing ornaments
+into Handel or Bach--far from it; but the songs are written with the
+express intention that certain ornaments should be introduced in
+particular places, and the style (and in many cases the notes) of these
+ornaments has been accurately handed down to us; therefore, in learning
+this traditional manner of singing such music, the student is trained to
+a knowledge of the appropriate place for the introduction of
+ornamentation and "grace"--the appropriate character of such
+embellishments, and the appropriate opportunities for introducing them.
+For instance, most of Handel's songs commence with a movement which is
+intended to be repeated at the close of the song, the middle part being
+generally a movement in some relative key, which is not repeated. The
+traditional style of giving such songs is to reserve ornamentation for
+this repeated first part, and thus to avoid the effect of sameness which
+would result from adhering in the "repeat" to exactly the same rendering
+of the music with which the singer gave it at first. Such ornamentations
+were taken for granted by the composer, and it was only because of a
+tasteless abuse of this privilege of adornment on the part of foolish
+singers, an abuse which became an unbearable nuisance, that in after
+years Rossini adopted the plan of writing into his music florid passages
+which should supply the singer with ornaments which were good of their
+kind and which were put in in appropriate places, rather then trust his
+airs to the mercy of inartistic "decorators." Handel, and the composers
+of earlier times than Rossini, omitted the ornamentation, so as not to
+hamper the singer, for, as has been well said by an old writer on the
+subject: "The same execution that would from one singer afford pleasure,
+might from another excite disgust: the compositions of old masters have
+no written cadences to a repeated passage, for this very reason, no
+doubt. But it is understood, and indeed expected, that the singer of
+talent should display his own taste by the introduction of such fanciful
+and graceful ornaments as may be best calculated to exhibit his voice to
+advantage, and thereby heighten, instead of lessen, the effect of the
+composition."
+
+The same writer, in explaining the reason for the introduction of such
+ornaments and changes, goes on to remark: "In conversation, though we
+frequently repeat words and even sentences, in expressing any particular
+subject, yet we might as naturally expect to see a person laugh without
+a smile, as give such repetitions without some variation in voice and
+manner.
+
+"The first part of an air is often written to be repeated. In justice to
+the author, when that is the case, simplicity of style should be
+inviolably preserved; but, on repeating the strain, free scope may be
+given to the imagination, taking it for granted that no person would be
+vain enough to attempt the introduction of his own fanciful graces,
+unless sufficiently master of the science to feel the propriety of going
+so far and no farther."
+
+Perhaps I may make the meaning of all this clearer by giving a few
+specimens of these traditionally accepted adornments in repeated
+passages.
+
+[Music:_First time._
+
+    ri - mem - - bran - za, Puoi di nuo - vo, &c.]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+    ri - mem - bran - za, Puoi di nuo - vo, &c.]
+
+[Music: _First time._
+
+    dol - ce ri - mem - bran - za, &c.]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+    dol - ce ri - mem - bran - - za, &c.]
+
+[Music:_First time._
+
+    Puoi di nuo - vo, di nuo - vo av - ve - len
+    ar ................... mi.]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+    Puoi - di nuo - vo di nuo - vo av - ve - len
+    ar ................... mi.]
+
+The above are taken from a fine song by Cesti (1660), "_Tu mancavi a
+tormentarmi_."
+
+The following are the adornments taught in the Paris Conservatoire, as
+traditionally correct in the famous old song by Lotti, "_Pur dicesti_,"
+where, it will be observed, one simple phrase, which occurs so
+frequently that it would be monotonous if unadorned, is made to yield a
+charming variety to the song by some elegant change at each recurrence.
+
+[Music: _First time._
+
+    quel so - a - ve ... car - o ...... si]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+    quel ... so - a - ve car ... o - si]
+
+[Music: _Third time._
+
+    quel ... so - a - ve car - o - si]
+
+[Music: _Fourth time._
+
+    quel ... so - a - - ve car - - o si]
+
+[Music:_First time._
+
+    pia - cer .................
+    ................. il mio pia - cer]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+    pia - cer .................
+    ................. il mio pia - cer]
+
+The following are from Handel:
+
+[Music: _First time._
+
+    While re - sign'd to Heav'n ... a - bove]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+    While re - sign'd to ...... Heav'n ........ a - bove
+
+                                (_Guardian Angels._)]
+
+[Music: _First time._
+
+    Trees where you sit, &c.]
+
+[Music: _Second time._
+
+     Trees where you sit, &c.
+
+                              (_Where'er you walk._)]
+
+And of course the list might be almost indefinitely prolonged. Certain
+of these ornaments, once highly popular, have wisely been allowed to
+drop, and that is why I lay stress upon the importance of _accepted
+traditions_. You may get hold of copies of many songs of this kind which
+have the names of great singers attached to them, and yet give
+variations of the text which have never been accepted or generally
+approved. The great Braham himself was a terrible offender sometimes in
+this respect. For instance, in singing "_Comfort ye_," instead of the
+passage
+
+[Music:
+
+    that her in - i - qui - ty is par - don - ed]
+
+he would sing thus:
+
+[Music:
+
+    that her in - i - qui - ty is par - don - ed.]
+
+And I have seen an old copy of "_Holy, holy_," in which the melody is so
+overlaid with little black notes, semi-quavers, demi-semi-quavers, and
+semi-demi-semi-quavers, that it is difficult to distinguish the notes of
+Handel's music at all! The admissible changes are all very slight, and
+any elaborate cadenza, or considerable addition, is pretty sure to be
+wrong. Final high notes are a frequent snare to aspiring singers; the
+traditions of the old school of oratorio singing are not in favour of
+them, and they generally vulgarize a song if introduced where the
+composer has not clearly opened a way for them. I have heard a tenor
+singer conclude the famous "_Thou shalt break them_," thus:
+
+[Music:
+
+    pot - - - - ter's ves - sel]
+
+and a soprano finish off "_He shall feed His flock_," thus:
+
+[Music:
+
+    ye shall find rest ........ un - to your souls.]
+
+--both of them pieces of vulgar display, bringing the personality of the
+singer before the audience instead of the beauty of the music, the sense
+of the words, or the merit of the composer. No such abominations are
+permissible in good oratorio singing, the rule of which is utter
+submission to the composer's intentions, and a conscientious endeavour
+to interpret his mind clearly to the audience; a pure and chaste
+delivery of words and music alike; a sustained excellence throughout,
+avoiding an attempt to astonish by bursts of power or brilliancy; and an
+entire absence of all claptrap or vulgarities to please "the gallery."
+
+
+=Opera.=--A great deal of what has been said about oratorio singing
+applies also to operatic singing. But I strongly advise you against
+attempting opera music until you have studied the more severe and solid
+style of the oratorio. The declamatory passages in opera are doubtless
+more brilliantly impassioned, just as the florid airs are more
+startlingly elaborate, than in oratorio, and the recitatives less
+stately and sustained; but the style of good opera singing is only to be
+founded upon good oratorio study (or its equivalent), inasmuch as it
+was out of the oratorio that the opera grew. Operatic singing allows
+more license to the singer than does oratorio; but the singer should
+have been taught first by the severer style not to misuse that license.
+At the same time when (as is not infrequent in operas of a certain kind)
+the composer has introduced airs for the express purpose of showing off
+a singer's voice, a well-trained singer may be accepted as interpreting
+the composer's intention rightly, when he or she elaborates _fioriture_
+far beyond the limits of which any hint appears in the score.
+
+Even here, however, traditional usage must have its weight: cadenzas
+must be strictly in character, and only introduced in songs to which
+such passages are appropriate. I once heard a florid cadenza
+interpolated at the close of "_Spirto Gentil_," by an aspiring young
+tenor, too full of conceit and "modern" ideas to take a hint from
+Mario's marvellous rendering of that song.
+
+And it must be borne in mind that it is only in operas of the Bellini,
+Donizetti, and early Rossini and Verdi school that such extreme license
+is granted. No such tricks can be played with the operas of Mozart,
+Glueck, Weber, or Meyerbeer, or with the later works of Rossini and
+Verdi, while the notion of altering a note, or omitting even a
+demi-semi-quaver rest, in those of Wagner, would be, to his admirers,
+flat heresy. In reality, the style of singing opera music is easily
+acquired by any one who is sufficiently advanced to be fit to attempt
+opera music at all. There are certain niceties to be acquired, and
+endless beauties of variety in the rendering of even small passages; but
+these things cannot be taught on paper.
+
+
+=Ballads.=--There is no greater mistake than to suppose that "any one can
+sing a simple ballad." Good ballad singing is one of the rarest
+accomplishments, and demands qualities in the singer which _may_ be
+wanting even in a person who can sing well both in opera and oratorio.
+To suppose that an untaught singer can do justice to any ballad that is
+worth the trouble of singing at all, is simply a mark of ignorance on
+the whole subject of singing.
+
+Ballads do not always require power or compass of voice, it is true, nor
+do they tax the singer on the score of flexibility or physical strength;
+but they are the severest test of enunciation, _mezzo-voce_ singing,
+neatness and readiness in producing tones of any gradation, and perfect
+control over the voice.
+
+To sing a ballad well demands a really cultivated taste, a certain
+dramatic power, suppressed it is true, but influencing the whole
+delivery; a sympathetic voice, and a manner which will enlist the
+interest and sympathy of the audience. Ballad singing is neither
+declamation nor recitative: there is no chance of surprising or
+astonishing your audience; but you _must_ contrive to please them, you
+must _touch_ them somehow; and, for an ordinary person in the costume of
+the nineteenth century, to "touch" others of the same species is not
+easy. Sometimes, no doubt, the words of a good song are in themselves so
+touching and charming that, so long as the music be not positively
+hideous or destructive of the sense of the words, the singer has only to
+let them be clearly heard, and the battle is won; but more frequently he
+has to trick his audience into interest in a song where the words in
+themselves are either hopelessly silly, or too obscure in sense for
+their full meaning to appear at a first hearing or reading. All that he
+can then do is to deliver it in such a way that they shall feel that
+there _is_ a meaning to it all, though they have not fully caught it
+yet, and so they may wish to hear it again. I do not, of course, mean
+any allusion to the ridiculous fashion of _encores_, but simply that the
+feeling at the end of such a song should be one of liking it
+sufficiently to wish to understand it entirely.
+
+Many songs would tell their own tale and produce their own effect well
+enough, if the singer would let them, and therefore the ballad singer
+must only be sufficiently self-conscious to keep himself out of the way.
+However good his singing, however original his reading of the song,
+_while he is singing_ it should all go to the credit of the song, and
+the hearers be charmed into forgetting _him_ till he is silent.
+
+
+=Recitative.=--Good recitative singing is of great importance, and
+requires careful attention and study. Recitative is midway between
+speaking and singing; it is a sort of modulated intoning, that is, that
+in delivering it the note and the word that belongs to it should be
+given with equal intention, and appear to belong to each other so
+completely that the musical sound should seem to be the natural
+intonation which the reciter would give to the word. Recitative is (_or
+was_) practically an attempt to express, in musical notation, the
+inflexions of the human voice in speaking; and how accurately, in some
+cases, musical notation can do this, will be seen at a glance by the
+following illustration:
+
+[Music:
+
+    Who   are you?]
+
+[Music:
+
+      Who are you?]
+
+[Music:
+
+    Who   are you?]
+
+--where the question is asked in the same words, but the musical notes
+express clearly three different sentiments, or degrees of sentiment.
+This should be taken into consideration by the student; and he should
+strive to give his recitative with as natural a delivery as he can,
+placing himself mentally in the position of a dramatic reciter.
+
+Steadiness of tone, clearness of enunciating consonants, and full round
+delivery of vowel-sounds are indispensable to good recitative singing.
+Every note must be distinct, and not the faintest suspicion of a "slur"
+or _portamento_ can be allowed.
+
+Recitative singing is not a thing which a student should try to teach
+himself, as he may not only waste his time, but gain notions which are
+erroneous and difficult to cure. For instance, take the recitatives in
+"_The Messiah_," as these are printed for the British public. Nothing
+could be more ludicrous than for a singer to appear in public and sing
+the recitatives faithfully as printed in the editions of this oratorio
+which are continually being disseminated throughout the land. Handel,
+let it be borne in mind, was _not_ well acquainted with the English
+language; and though he may have written good music, he was often very
+far from reaching good literary sense. Thus, as regards this latter,
+this specimen passage occurs in Handel's "_Acis and Galatea_,"
+
+[Music:
+
+    Where shall I seek the charm-ing fair?]
+
+Yet no one in his senses would think of rendering it other than
+
+[Music:
+
+    Where shall I seek the charm-ing fair?]
+
+inasmuch as there is some doubt of the chord 6/4 which forms the grace
+note being Handel's music, and because the sense of the words demands
+that no break shall be made between the words _seek_ and _the_. As
+Handel failed in his English, it is surely allowable to make good his
+deficiencies in this respect.
+
+The following paragraphs relate to certain minor details of style in
+singing, and apply to singing of every kind. They must be taken in
+conjunction with much that has already been said under the head of
+"Practice."
+
+
+=Slurring.=--Slurring up to a note is a very disagreeable and common evil
+to be guarded against. It matters not how far distant the note to be
+sung may be from the preceding tone; it should be attacked fearlessly
+and cheerfully, but _with an open throat_. The note to be attacked must
+not be prepared in the throat. The course should be this. The tone of
+the preceding note must not be moved, but the one required--say a very
+high one--must be obtained by the joint process of lowering the larynx,
+of sounding the note from exactly the same spot as the lower note, in a
+soft but fine tone, and thirdly, by getting such a ring in the note as
+it can only have in conjunction with the feeling that while the root or
+foundation of the note is in the chest, yet it owes much of its
+penetrating character and power to a sort of reflecting power which is
+given it from the extreme end of the spine bone, where it joins the
+head. Certainly no high note is properly _produced_, nor to be relied
+upon for a _crescendo_, unless the student has this feeling that it
+springs from the back of the neck; and, in rising to an upper note, the
+aim should be not at length to approach the upper note from beneath, as
+it were, but to "come down" upon it--to strike it from _above_ instead
+of from below.
+
+
+=Sentiment.=--Always try to convey the sentiment of what you may be
+singing through the tone of the voice. Love and anger cannot both be
+expressed with the same quality of voice. For the former, a delicate
+light tone well on the lips is desirable, while for the latter the voice
+should be produced lower in the stomach; yet the tone should still be
+kept on the lips; its character should be "darker," more round, and
+sonorous. "'_Tis this that racks my brain_": such words as these should
+never be sung in the same character of voice as "_Waft her, angels, to
+the skies_." It is good practice to take any piece and sing the melody
+on an open vowel throughout, with the object of showing the meaning of
+the song without the aid of words. Then, when this can be done, the
+words may be employed, and the result will be doubly happy.
+
+
+=Decision.=--Indecision is a very serious fault in singing. Do well and
+thoroughly whatever you decide upon attempting. If you have a _staccato_
+passage to sing, render it firmly in that style; if you have one that is
+_legato_, take care that this character is _strongly_ seen from your
+rendering. When you "slur," make it strong enough to be felt. If you
+bend as it were from one note to another, let your intention to do so be
+clearly apparent. Let a _forte_ passage be loud, and let a _piano_ one
+be really soft. Any half measures in singing are fatal. Precision and
+certainty are qualities which the student must always aim at attaining.
+Without them, singing becomes tame and unattractive, not to say
+tiresome.
+
+
+=Imitation.=--Imitation, which in many other arts becomes plagiary, in
+singing is most desirable; for singing, more than any other art, rests
+on tradition; there is even very little doubt that the peculiar charm
+and quality of a true tenor voice (for instance) is more due to
+imitation in a singer than to nature; that is to say, that it is the
+result of a transmitted culture--such imitation being the only means in
+which singers can reap the harvest of the experience of the great
+singers now to be heard no more, who have left their imitators to pass
+on to others what they themselves obtained by imitating and improving on
+_their_ predecessors. Therefore do not be afraid of being set down as a
+mere copyist, if you study and attempt to imitate the style of the best
+living singers. You will always have enough of your own merit or defect
+to distinguish your performance, if you are really a conscientious
+student, and you may learn a great deal by listening to the best public
+singers which can be taught you in no other way. Watch their stage
+deportment; their treatment of the weaker parts of their voices; their
+method of breathing; their manner towards the public;--in fact, every
+point which occurs to you,--and make some use of what you see and hear
+in your own studies.
+
+
+=Public Singing.=--If you have to sing in public, remember always to
+take a rapid but searching glance round your stage. This is a great
+point gained. As you step on to "the boards," notice (unobserved)
+the dimensions of the stage (if it happens to be new to you). Note
+the height of its ceiling, its surroundings, its draperies, its
+distance from your farthest auditor; then take up your position
+accordingly--bearing in mind that all your tone is wanted by your
+listeners, which requirement can never be met unless you yourself take
+the precaution to prevent the sound being held or carried back by the
+stage decorations. In a concert _salon_ or theatre, then, do not forget
+to get well to the front of the platform. At the same time you must not
+be _too_ close upon your stall occupants, or you may give them the very
+undesirable impression that at any moment you may fall over.
+
+
+="Holding" an Audience.=--The singer should carefully watch an audience so
+as to gauge its attention and sympathies. If it seems impatient,
+restless, and indifferent, the singer may be quite sure that he or she
+is exciting no interest. The best course then for one to do is to
+immediately change the style, alter the tone, give forth his or her best
+energies, and use every effort to become ingratiated into the good
+favour of the listeners. If such effects as these fail constantly in
+their turn, then the aspirant for vocal fame should give up, and devote
+both time and attention to further study, or to some other means of a
+livelihood; for a future great singer will not be failing constantly,
+and to be only a second-rate singer while there are so many is a thing
+_not_ to be devoutly desired.
+
+
+=Mistakes in Public.=--If you make a mistake in singing, do not add to the
+mischief by allowing it to alarm or disconcert you. Proceed onward as if
+nothing had happened. You may be quite sure that each one of your
+audience will not have detected the slip, for they cannot _all_ be
+critics. But bear in mind that such confidence as your adviser here
+suggests is not to be too often called into requisition. No great artist
+will ever make a serious mistake in public. How much more careful then
+should the young student be!
+
+
+
+
+ON TIME IN SINGING.
+
+
+I need perhaps scarcely remind my readers who are or who wish to be
+singers that _time_ concerns them quite as much as the conductor, the
+pianist, the violinist--in short, the whole orchestra. It behoves the
+student in singing to give early and careful attention to this important
+feature in his artistic training. You may have the voice of a Rubini,
+you may be a second Tamburini in quality and extent of voice, but unless
+you can sing in time yourself, and are able to do so with others, and
+with the counter-acting influences of an orchestra, you can never hope
+to rise in your profession. It may be argued that you have no desire to
+lay yourself out for a career on the lyric stage. Then, however, you
+shut yourself out from some of the largest prizes in the profession;
+beyond which there comes the question of oratorio business, and the
+growing taste for band accompaniments to songs. And if you restrict your
+ambition to a pianoforte accompaniment, time is needed even with that in
+order to produce anything like a satisfactory rendering of the piece you
+may be singing. The accompanyist may be a Sir Julius Benedict, or a
+Signor Randegger (than whom there is no better in this country, so
+neglected has this species of musical art-work become); but a perfect
+rendering depends not so much upon the pianist as the vocalist. If the
+singer flounders about with neither "rhyme nor reason," it is scarcely
+reasonable to expect the accompanyist, clever as he may be, to be always
+at his heels, like a cat after a mouse. I would therefore advise the
+student to invest his money in a Metronome--the most useful thing with
+which he could provide himself. They are not dear, bearing in mind their
+utility, and one will, I am sure, save the student much time and many a
+_fiasco_. Learn the working of this useful machine, and practise all
+your exercises with it. If you go to a good singing master, you should
+ask him to time your exercises to the pace at which you should sing
+them, and in this way you will not only be growing in a good habit, but
+your singing will be characterized by a crispness and a certainty of
+attack, which will be apparent to all musicians and amateurs with good
+taste. Your singing master will, no doubt, impress upon you the
+necessity of singing your songs in time, and especially of slightly
+accenting the first and third beats in the bar if it is common time, the
+first and fourth beats when it is compound common or 6/8 time, and the
+first beat when it is triple or 3/4 time. In this way there will be
+meaning given to your singing, and those who may be accompanying you
+will be able to feel where you are, and to keep time with you. In
+singing a passage like this from Cowen's charming song "Aubade,"--the
+master, if he knew his business, would instruct his pupil to slightly
+accent the words as I have indicated with the mark =V=, and to preserve
+_strict_ time throughout the passage, and especially in the taking up of
+the words after the long note on the word _sleep_. The accompanyist
+would, we may assume, do likewise with his pianoforte part, and in this
+way a perfect _ensemble_ would be secured.
+
+[Music:
+
+    Sleep, love, sleep,
+    the morn is wak - - ing,]
+
+With this brief introduction to the subject, I will proceed to give the
+student a few exercises in keeping and beating time, the assiduous
+practice of which will, I hope, soon place him in the desirable position
+of being able to sing in time.
+
+[Music: Ex. 1.
+
+Four beats in a bar.
+
+    Do Re Mi Fa Sol
+
+    La Si Do Do Si
+
+    La Sol Fa Mi Re Do]
+
+[Music: Ex. 2.
+
+    Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 3.
+
+    Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 4.
+
+    Do Do Do Re Re Re &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 5.
+
+    Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 6.
+
+    Do Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 7.
+
+    Do Do Do Re Re Re Mi Mi Mi &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 8.
+
+    Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 9.
+
+    Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 10.
+
+    Do Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 11.
+
+     Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Mi &c.]
+
+These exercises may be timed as slow as you like on your metronome--the
+slower the better--but 76 is a good pace to begin with; when you have
+thoroughly mastered them at 76, take them a little quicker until you can
+sing them accurately up to a good brisk time.
+
+No 1 has but one note in the bar, and this must be held on steadily for
+four beats of the metronome--care being taken to leave each note in
+sufficient time to take a fresh breath, and attack the second note and
+syllable in precise time with the metronome beat. I need, perhaps,
+scarcely point out that much good will be obtained if the student can
+accustom himself to _feeling_ in his mind the rhythm and beating, so as
+not to acquire the habit of trusting to mechanical appliances, which are
+dispensed with at public performances. The sol-fa-ing must be strictly
+adhered to, and in Exercises 2, 3, etc., it will be seen that the
+syllable must be sounded twice and four times respectively. With
+Exercise 5 the dotted note comes in; but I will not stay to explain
+that, as I assume that my readers will have acquainted themselves with
+the elements of musical theory before taking up singing. Especial care
+should be given to Exercise 7, as that is the first step in the
+difficult matter of syncopation, carried out elaborately in Exercises 8
+and 9. With Exercise 11 the question of Rests comes in, but the same
+remark that I made as to the dotted notes applies here. Everything that
+it is necessary to know about them should be found in any elementary
+musical grammar.
+
+Having mastered the above exercises, the reader may take the following
+with two beats in the bar--taking the precaution to set them at a slow
+time on the metronome, say 76, not singing them quickly until he is
+thoroughly acquainted with them.
+
+[Music: Ex. 1. Two beats to a bar.
+
+    Do Do Re Re Mi Mi Fa Fa Sol Sol
+    La La Si Si Do Do Do Si Si
+    La La Sol Sol Fa Fa Mi Mi Re Re Do]
+
+[Music: Ex. 2.
+
+    Do Re Mi Fa Sol La
+    Si Do Do Do Si Si &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 3.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 4.
+
+    Do Do Do &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 5.
+
+    Do Do Do &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 6.
+
+    Do Do Do &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 7.
+
+    Do Re Mi Fa Sol &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 8.]
+
+After which he may take the following with three beats in the bar:--
+
+[Music: Ex. 1.
+
+Three beats in a bar.
+
+    1 2 3
+    Do    Re Mi Fa Sol
+    La    Si Do Do Do &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 2.
+
+    Do Do Do &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 3.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 4.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 5.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 6.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 7.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 8.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 9.]
+
+
+
+
+ON THE CHOICE OF MUSIC.
+
+    There are, of course, no _rules_ to be given to guide the student
+    in the choice of music, except the general ones, to choose good
+    music, pleasing music, and music suited to his voice and powers.
+    But those general rules touch incidentally on a few points on which
+    it may be well to offer a few remarks.
+
+
+=Music must suit the Voice.=--Your music must not only be appropriate for
+your voice in compass, but it must be such as has been written for a
+voice of your kind. This is a most important thing to remember. Nothing
+is more provoking to a person of good taste and musical knowledge than
+to hear songs composed for a voice of one class sung by a voice of a
+totally different character; and yet this is a vice which even good
+artists will sometimes weakly succumb to. The popular song of Gounod's,
+"_Quand tu chantes bercee_," for instance, has been sung to death by
+many soprani and contralti, in various keys. One would have thought that
+the words alone would have shown them the utter absurdity of what they
+were doing; but no, for the sake of producing an effect (upon an
+audience who naturally supposed that public singers of high standing
+knew what they were doing, and why they did it), these good ladies
+committed what I do not scruple to call a vulgar and inartistic blunder.
+The song is a man's song, and no woman should attempt it.
+
+This fault is one which amateurs are very apt to fall into, and a long
+list might be made of songs which have suffered this unfair treatment.
+Soprani sing tenor songs--(I have often, in the early days of the
+popularity of "_Il Trovatore_," heard a soprano sing "_Ah, che la
+Morte!_"--tenors, those written for soprano--(_e.g._, I know an amateur
+tenor whose "crack" song is Iphis' "Farewell" in "_Jephtha_"). Contralti
+and mezzo-soprani steal bass and barytone songs, as "But who may abide,"
+from the "_Messiah_," and basses and barytones return the compliment by
+appropriating "What tho' I trace," or "O rest in the Lord.")
+
+There is a reason, quite apart from the question of taste, which renders
+this practice objectionable. A composer of any skill writes his
+accompaniment as well as his melody with reference to the voice which he
+wishes to sing it. Now, if that voice be--we will say--a soprano, the
+accompaniment will be written for a voice of that _pitch_, as well as of
+that character and compass; the progressions of harmony will be written
+with due regard to the actual place of the vocal notes in the scale. But
+directly the song is sung by a tenor--a voice which pitches every note
+an octave lower than the soprano--the relation of the vocal notes to the
+accompaniment is changed; notes that were intended to be fourths above
+the accompaniment will become fifths below, and progressions which were
+correct in the composer's intention become wrong in the effect produced
+by the singer. That is an extreme case, I grant, but it is only a fair
+instance of the sort of result which follows on such changes, and it is
+sufficient to show that the rule rests on reason and not caprice.
+
+
+"=Original Keys.="--Do not bind yourself, as some think it necessary to
+do, always to sing your songs in the original keys. Remember that opera
+and oratorio music, and a large number of modern "ballads," were
+composed for performance in large buildings, theatres, and
+concert-rooms. The keys, therefore, were chosen with due reference to
+that fact, and to the (in many cases) exceptional voices of the singers.
+The raising of the pitch in later years also affects the question.
+
+Now, if you have to sing in a drawing-room, the pitch, volume of tone,
+and style of delivery must be appropriate to chamber music, and not to
+the stage of Covent Garden, and the keys which are necessary for due
+brilliancy and effect in a concert-room are frequently unsuited to a
+drawing-room, giving an appearance of strain and noisiness to the
+singing. A good deal of opera music is as unfit for singing in a
+drawing-room as would be a grand symphony for performance there; and an
+artistic singer should bear in mind this principle of fitness in his
+selection.
+
+At the same time, if it is considered desirable to transpose a song, let
+it be only for that reason, and let the aim be to produce the same
+effect, _relatively_, in the drawing-room, as the song in its original
+key is intended to produce in the concert-room. Do not transpose
+recklessly, merely to "suit your voice:" if you are a barytone, for
+instance, do not sing tenor songs a few notes lower; or, if you are a
+soprano, do not transpose contralto songs to suit your register. For the
+_character_ of the music (if the music is good) suits the voice for
+which it was intended, and there is a risk of destroying that character
+by giving it to a voice of another kind. This has been proved over and
+over again on the stage in several notable instances.
+
+
+=Execution.=--Do not be too ambitious in selecting florid songs for
+performance either in public or private. "Fireworks" in a drawing-room
+rarely please, while in a concert-room they must be very perfect and
+first-rate in execution to do so. Of course, if you are a professional
+artist you must include such work in your studies, and even for the
+amateur the practice of florid music, under a master, is most desirable
+as an exercise. But where the choice of a song for a concert rests with
+yourself, sacrifice ambition to prudence, unless your voice is naturally
+a very flexible one, and your training in that style of music very
+complete. I give, on this subject, a quotation from an old and
+experienced writer on music and singing:
+
+"Execution is certainly one of the most difficult parts of musical
+science. Young singers are desirous of attaining it without reflecting
+whether, from the formation of the throat and various physical causes,
+they may ever be able to accomplish their wishes. Few, indeed, possess
+the power of execution in a pre-eminent degree. It is in part a gift of
+nature: those who have ever delighted as well as astonished us by their
+rapid manner of running through divisions must have been naturally
+endowed with flexible organs.
+
+"... Some voices may be compared to gems which in their original state
+are dull, and, to those unacquainted with their worth, of no value....
+It frequently happens that singers, from timidity or want of proper
+knowledge in exercising their voices, remain ignorant of their own
+qualifications. The hinges of a door which have continued for years
+undisturbed, will, when the door is re-opened, grate harshly on the ear;
+but every effort renders the harshness more tolerable, until, from
+frequent use, they move easily. Thus it is with the voice: on the
+flexibility of the _uvula_ and the muscles connected with it depend both
+the perfectibility of the shake and execution. But still it must be
+acknowledged that acquired execution should never be exercised by the
+side of nature otherwise than sparingly, even where necessity requires
+it, for the latter possesses an easy velocity which can playfully sport
+with its subject at will; but, however gratifying the power of execution
+may be considered by those who possess it, I recommend them not to be
+indiscriminately lavish, lest they cloy by too great a profusion, and,
+as Voltaire remarks, 'shine in trills and divisions, at the expense of
+poetry and good sense.'"
+
+
+=Fashion.=--The songs which are "the rage" at any time are always great
+snares for amateurs. Aspiring young singers hear a ballad charmingly
+rendered by some great singer, and straightway go home, send for it, and
+on the first available opportunity treat their friends to their version
+of it. This is really unfair to themselves, as it throws them into
+unwise contrast with the public singer who has made the song popular,
+and whose well-known rendering of it forbids ordinary hearers to judge
+the rendering of an amateur on its own merits, or by any rule but that
+of comparison. Moreover, "popular" songs--I mean songs whose popularity
+is largely due to their having been sung by favourite public
+singers--are by no means always good in themselves; or, if fairly good,
+by no means easy; or if good and not difficult, by no means always
+sufficiently so to make it worth while for an amateur to spend time and
+study on them. In very many cases the public singer has to sing these
+songs because he is paid for doing so, and gets a "royalty" on every
+copy sold; it is simply one development of the hydra-headed art of
+advertising, and such productions are known by the vulgar name of
+"pot-boilers," _i.e._, compositions hastily thrown off to bring in a
+little money "_to keep the pot boiling_." If composers who are capable
+of better things are reduced to making money in this way, we may be
+sincerely sorry for them; but speaking from an artistic point of view,
+the practice is reprehensible, and "pot-boilers" are not the kind of
+music which a young singer, anxious to improve, should waste time or
+money upon. I am far from saying that there are no good songs to be
+found among new music, but I think they seldom lie on the top of the
+pile.
+
+
+=Forming a Repertoire.=--In gradually forming your _repertoire_, or
+collection of properly studied songs for drawing-room or concert
+singing, do not be in haste to make it a large one. It is better to know
+only a few songs and do them really well, than to sing a large number
+indifferently. If you are studying for the profession, there is a
+considerable number of songs which you will be expected to know as a
+matter of course, but over and above such, every singer should have a
+special repertoire of his or her own, and it is of this that I now
+speak. Your selection of songs, like your singing, should have the stamp
+of your own individuality upon it. You should have a little stock of
+songs, with which your singing is in a way identified, and which you
+must be able to sing in a manner that at once stamps those songs as your
+property, so that another person might say, "I could not sing that song
+before you, it is one of your own."
+
+To form such a repertoire, you may have to go a little out of the beaten
+track of what is best known at the time. If opera music suits you best,
+look at the operas, never performed now, of Glueck, or the less known of
+Mozart's, or earlier works of Rossini, Auber, &c.; or else try and get
+hold of works not yet known in England, such as Macfarren's, Wallace's,
+Purcell's, and a few other such native dramatic composers. In a word, do
+not limit your notions of operatic music to what you hear year after
+year at Covent Garden or Her Majesty's.
+
+So, too, in oratorio: search in the less familiar oratorios of Handel,
+and such of his operas as you can get access to, and carry the same idea
+out in examining the works of other composers, ancient and modern. Good
+work has been done of late years by various publishers in publishing
+many works of this class, and there are plenty of these which are still
+unfamiliar and unhackneyed.
+
+The same with your songs and ballads: before you rush into the modern
+fashionable ballad, see if you cannot find a few that you can
+appropriate among the stores of old English music, or the detached songs
+of old Italian masters (many of which are magnificent as songs, and
+utterly unknown at present, except to the few).
+
+
+
+
+PHYSIOLOGICAL SURROUNDINGS.
+
+
+It is highly expedient that singers themselves, and intending students
+of the art, should make some acquaintance with the physiological
+surroundings which are brought into play in the process of voice
+production. A knowledge of the technical terms for the various organs
+directly involved is very essential, and the intelligent student will
+see the necessity not only for distinguishing such names as "larynx" and
+"diaphragm," but also of possessing some idea of their whereabouts in
+the human frame. No better course could be adopted for the acquirement
+of such a knowledge than attendance at the classes and lectures at the
+musical colleges and other institutions, which, from time to time,
+secure the assistance of qualified specialists to speak upon this very
+important branch of the singing art. No other mode of teaching is so
+well calculated to enlighten the uninitiated in the wondrous mechanism
+of the human voice, and to inspire him or her with an adequate sense of
+the watchful care and delicate treatment which a voice worthy of
+systematic training demands, as well as deserves, at the hands of
+students of both sexes. As a preliminary to a fuller inquiry into the
+subject, the following few notes may be fixed upon the mind:--
+
+
+=The Larynx= (+larynx+) constitutes the upper part of the wind-pipe. It
+is the seat of the voice, and essential parts of it are the "vocal
+cords" (_chordae vocales_), two membranes in a horizontal position across
+the larynx. It is popularly called "Adam's apple" (_pomum Adami_), the
+protuberance so often recognizable in the throats of bass singers, but a
+more correct use of "_pomum Adami_" is when it is applied to a
+projection in the thyroid cartilage--a part of the laryngeal structure.
+
+=The Thyroid= (from +Thyreos+) is a shield-shaped cartilage, and that
+part of the larynx which, in the case of both sexes, develops suddenly
+at the period when they pass from youth to mature age. Other important
+cartilages are the cricoid (from +krikos+), a ring-shaped membrane; the
+arytenoids (from +harytaina+ a pitcher); the epiglottis (+epi-glotta+),
+situated at the back of the mouth; and the cartilages of Santorini, or
+_cornicula laryngis_.
+
+The trachea, or wind-pipe, is capable of rising or falling, and thus is
+produced the perceptible movement of the larynx in the throat when
+speaking or singing. It is by lowering the larynx, and so commanding an
+expansion of the throat that the best tone is possible in the voice, and
+it is this open throat production which some teachers are aiming at when
+they charge their pupils to "sing from the chest." A more sensible
+request would be to "lower the larynx," since such a lowering of this
+organ places the throat in the most favourable position for emitting
+sound; as well as for enabling the lungs, or wind-chests, to act most
+advantageously upon the true vocal cords. Moreover, this lowered larynx
+production leads to the best results from the vocal cords themselves.
+The natural tendency is to sing as we talk, a process which involves a
+demand upon the upper fringes of the vocal ligaments only, but no
+long-sustained singing could be maintained by this means, nor does it
+requisition any art-knowledge or principle. Directly, however, we begin
+to utilize the lower edge of the vocal cords, we are verging upon the
+art of _producing_ the voice; _i.e._, creating a something which will
+not manifest itself without the first application of some art
+principles. Here lies the whole secret of singing, _viz._, the
+utilization of the lower portions of the membranous folds popularly
+called the "vocal cords," instead of working merely their topmost
+fringes, as do the innumerable tenors who sing "throaty," and as we all
+do up to a certain point, in the ordinary process of speaking. The
+singing voice and the speaking voice are two totally different
+productions, the former never to be acquired except at the hands of a
+capable master, who, himself, has been properly taught the principles of
+voice production.
+
+The lungs, or bellows, or air-chambers lie, as is well known, on each
+side of the chest, resting upon the diaphragm, and performing a very
+important function in singing. They supply the air which acts upon the
+vocal cords, and in true singing are the first organs for consideration
+by a vocalist, since so much depends upon the way the wind, or breath,
+is brought to bear upon the vocal cords. For this reason the abdominal
+method of breathing--the filling of the lungs from their bases--becomes
+the best method for inspiring the breath in singing. Doubtless, in
+breathing, the lungs are replenished from above downwards, but it
+requires something of the sensation of these air-supplying substances
+being filled from their bases in order to requisition the full help of
+the diaphragm, a great muscle which separates the lungs from the
+abdomen, and which may be called the fundamental basis on which all
+voice production rests.
+
+The Pharynx (+pharynx+) is situated behind the mouth, between the tongue
+and the arch forming the circumference of the palate. Its province is to
+reflect the voice on its issue from the glottis. It is an elastic
+aperture, and may be well styled the reflecting organ of singing. It can
+take various forms, and bears a great part in giving character to the
+sounds originated in the larynx.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Voice--a Wind, Reed, or String Instrument?_ Much discussion has
+spent itself in settling the question of "family" to which the vocal
+instrument properly belongs. The vocal chords are known to be composed
+of a yellow elastic fibrous tissue in their anterior parts, the
+posterior portions consisting of a tougher muscle or cartilage. Many
+maintain them to belong to the "string" family, since the sounds
+generated are produced as on a violin--the higher notes by increased
+tension, the lower tones by a reduction of the strain. In this process,
+the muscle, popularly known as the epiglottis-cushion--a fat mucous
+membrane--presses on to the vocal cords, modifying their vibrating
+length. Thus, in an extreme high note, the cushion presses intensely
+upon the cords, considerably shortening their one inch length. In
+reverting to a low note, this tension becomes withdrawn, and the whole
+length of cord is at play to produce its lowest tones. An unfortunate
+objection to this theory--that the vocal cords can be styled a stringed
+instrument, is the fact that no string of the small extent of the vocal
+cords could be capable of sounding either so many, or such low notes;
+moreover, the mathematical treatment of their vibrations, as governed by
+the tension, is not correct, as they are in the case of a violin. It is
+a useful theory, and method of reasoning, however, for those teachers of
+singing who maintain that to get high notes, a light and thin style of
+singing, and the use of the upper fringe of the vocal cords (the
+production point), is preferable, in contradistinction to those who
+declare that no really good chest note with any telling power worth
+considering is possible, unless the vocalist sings deep in his chest and
+gains the idea, as he goes for his note, of requisitioning with all
+effort the lowest depth in the cord. Surely this point presents the
+greatest difficulty for singers with whom compass, especially at the top
+of the voice, is an imperative necessity, albeit that people go on
+talking to the contrary; and it is a matter which needs settling among
+voice specialists and singing masters. We are told, and it is generally
+known, that the tension of the epiglottis-cushion produces a higher note
+just as the shifting of the finger on the violin string affects its
+tone--a process which may produce falsetto sounds, but which surely is
+not the basis upon which great Italian singers of the Mongini and
+Tamberlik type secured the great chest Cs, which, with their resonance
+and brilliancy, were wont to make our opera houses ring again. Is it not
+a fact that in voices of this calibre, as well as in those trained on
+what is known as the broad lines of the true Italian production, the
+whole surfaces of the vocal cords become more or less requisitioned, and
+that they vibrate the whole of their length and breadth, not merely the
+sides, rather than that any upper portion is mainly utilized while the
+lower parts are resting? The answer to this question would seem to
+indicate that the human voice is of the nature of a reed instrument.
+These membraneous organs, which we term vocal cords, are such that their
+whole surfaces must vibrate when brought into contact with a current of
+air from the lungs. The voice reed, in fact, vibrates freely backwards
+and forwards, and so corresponds with what are known as "free," not
+"beating" reeds--such as are found in concertinas, and the like.
+
+That the voice is something of an organ pipe (a flue pipe) is an
+illusion only indulged in by writers and teachers prone to descriptive
+language, which they do not stay to inquire into, either for their own
+edification or for the enlightenment of other people. There is
+absolutely nothing to maintain such an idea.
+
+It is important that the nature of the _materiel_ of the vocal cords
+should become widely known, since such a knowledge, elementary as it
+might be, would, at the outset, enable students to get at once upon the
+right road to singing. To grasp the idea that the initial
+sound-producing means are these bits of semi-lunar membranes, acted upon
+by the breath from the lungs, and that they vibrate violently or orderly
+in proportion to the care with which the breath is brought to bear upon
+them, is to master the first great difficulty in singing. This once
+grasped, it is not hard to realize that the sound emitted is moulded and
+shaped, modified and beautified by other organs of the laryngeal machine
+and its surroundings, as well as by such variable conditions as the
+state of the human frame generally, and the particular condition of
+those organs of the body most directly concerned in supporting the work
+of the larynx may happen to be in. It will save the student much time
+if, before he (or she) begins to study singing, some first acquaintance
+be formed with the physiological surroundings of the human voice, and it
+is worse than useless to go to a master who teaches singing in blind
+ignorance of, and doubtless contempt for, these physiological
+principles. The student who has familiarized himself with the structure
+of the vocal organs will have made a much more intelligent progress in
+his art than the one who has not, and will be competent none the less
+readily to understand the instruction of a qualified master than to
+detect the shameful pretence and humbug of the quack.
+
+
+=Board Teachers' Laryngitis--Clergyman's Sore Throat--Throat Exhaustion,
+etc.=--Among the greatest evils of this competitive teaching age is the
+mischief arising from the constant and at the same time injurious use of
+the voice. All who use the voice constantly must learn how to breathe,
+and _produce_ the voice. Failing that, serious mischief, which even the
+specialist of throat hospitals cannot cope with, must inevitably follow.
+The only advice that can be given here is, immediately that voice
+exhaustion sets in, to consult not _a doctor_, but a throat or voice
+specialist. The best institution in the world for throat troubles is the
+Throat Hospital, Golden Square, London, W.
+
+
+
+
+EXERCISES.
+
+
+This first exercise is a most useful one in the uniting of notes and in
+gaining facility. The student should at first practise it very slowly,
+mastering four bars at a time. Although I have divided it into fifteen
+examples, it is really but one exercise, with a minim rest between each
+phrase of four bars; and it is in this example form that I wish the
+student ultimately to sing it with the metronome, at say 76, taking
+breath _only_ at the rest-mark, and making the _crescendo_--not, be it
+observed, by forcing the tone and breath, but by a gradual pressing down
+of the breath.[2]
+
+[2] The Exercise should be a crescendo from piano to forte.
+
+[Music: Ex. 1.]
+
+[Music: A.]
+
+[Music: B.]
+
+[Music: C.]
+
+[Music: D.]
+
+[Music: E.]
+
+[Music: F.]
+
+[Music: G.]
+
+[Music: H.]
+
+[Music: I.]
+
+[Music: J.]
+
+[Music: K.]
+
+[Music: L.]
+
+[Music: M.]
+
+[Music: N.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 2 NAVA.]
+
+[Music]
+
+Exercise 2 is a further one for the practice of joining notes with the
+aid of the breath, without the least resemblance to a jerk with either
+the sound or the breath. To sing the exercise with advantage requires a
+very careful management of the respiratory organs, and its continuous
+practice is one of the best means of managing the breath. Having
+inspired the breath after the manner already indicated herein, proceed
+to sound the note F in a thin but firm and steady tone, which you must
+gradually swell, by pressing down the breath, as it were, into the
+following note G, which you will continue to hold steadily by keeping
+down the breath as long as you can. Though you raise your tone of voice
+in passing from F to G, you must dispel from your mind all notions of
+raising your breath or your _larynx_; it is just the reverse; you must
+lower these. Remember a golden rule--the higher your note the lower must
+it be generated in your chest, and your breath must be under the note
+supporting it, or there cannot possibly be any tone there. On reaching
+the highest limit of this exercise, the student will repeat the same
+operation down the scale, which I need scarcely say is less difficult.
+
+[Music: Ex. 3. NAVA.]
+
+[Music]
+
+[Music]
+
+Exercise 3 may be timed 76 on your metronome. It is a study to give
+freedom and flexibility to your voice. None of the notes should be
+forced, and the upper notes should be rendered with the mouth well open,
+and with a quality of tone as similar as possible to that of the lower
+notes. Breath should be taken (without losing time) at the rest-marks.
+There should be no break or jump in the tone, but rather it should be
+one unbroken stream of melody, as marked in the first phrase. The voice,
+in this exercise, should be constantly moving: no sooner should you be
+sounding the first note of the phrase than you should be moving to the
+second, from the second to the next, and so on. Be careful to sing the
+intervals exactly in time, and in descending to notes satisfy yourself
+that you are singing the exact tone, and that with certainty. Indecision
+is a grave fault in singing.
+
+[Music: Ex. 4. Intervals of thirds.
+
+     Do Re Mi Re Do Re Mi Fa Mi Re
+
+     Mi Fa Sol Fa Mi &c.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 5. Intervals of Fourths.
+
+* Here take breath.]
+
+[Music]
+
+[Music: Ex. 6. Intervals of Fifths.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 7. Intervals of Sixths.]
+
+[Music: Ex. 8. Intervals of Sevenths.]
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+     _Page_
+
+     Alto, 36
+
+
+     Bad Lessons, 50
+
+     Bad Masters, 50
+
+     Ballads, 80
+
+     Barytone, Basso-Cantante, 42
+
+     Bass, 44
+
+     Board Teachers' Laryngitis, 114
+
+     Books of Exercises, 51
+
+     Buffo, 48
+
+
+     Cathedral School, The, 72
+
+     Chest, Falsetto, and Head, 60
+
+     Chorus Singing, 69
+
+     Cleanliness, 13
+
+     Clearing the Throat, 59
+
+     Compass, 30
+
+     Consonants, 24
+
+     Contralto, 35
+
+
+     Decision, 84
+
+     Diet, 13
+
+     Dramatic Study, 27
+
+     Dress, 16
+
+     Duration of Practice, 67
+
+
+     Early Rising, 13
+
+     Education, General, 26
+
+     Emphasis, 25
+
+     English, 24
+
+     Execution, 105
+
+     Exercise, 15
+
+     Exercises, 115
+
+     Exercises, First, 62
+
+         "      Books of, 51
+
+         "      in Beating Time, 89
+
+     Expression, Facial, 54
+
+
+     Facial Expression, 54
+
+     Falsetto, 60
+
+     Fashion, 106
+
+     First Opinion, A, 44
+
+     Forming a Repertoire, 107
+
+     Forte, Mezzo-Voce, and Piano, 60
+
+
+     General Education, 26
+
+        "    Musical Study, 70
+
+     German Lieder, Modern, 71
+
+
+     Hair, The, 14
+
+     Head, Singing in the, 58
+
+     High Notes, 59
+
+     "Holding" an Audience, 86
+
+     "How to Begin", 68
+
+     Humming, 69
+
+
+     Imitation, 70, 85
+
+     Individuality, 53
+
+     Institutions, 48
+
+
+     Larynx, The, 109
+
+     Late Hours, 19
+
+     Lessons, Bad, 50
+
+     Lips, Position of, 25
+
+
+     Masters, 48
+
+     Mezzo-Voce, 60
+
+     Mezzo-Contralto, 35
+
+     Mezzo-Soprano, 34
+
+     Mistakes in Public, 86
+
+     Modern German Lieder, 71
+
+     Morality, 19
+
+     Music to Suit the Voice, 103
+
+     Musical Study, General, 70
+
+
+     Names of Voices, 29
+
+     Nervousness, 21
+
+
+     Oratorio, 73
+
+     "Original Keys", 104
+
+     Opera, 79
+
+
+     Perseverance, 54
+
+     Physiological Surroundings, 109
+
+     Pharynx, The, 111
+
+     Position of Arms, 55
+
+         "       Body, 55
+
+         "       Hands, 56
+
+         "       Larynx, 57
+
+         "       Throat, 56
+
+         "       Tongue, 57
+
+     Pronunciation, 22
+
+     Public Singing, 85
+
+     Public, Mistakes in, 86
+
+
+     Qualities of the Voice, 45
+
+
+     Recitative, 81
+
+     Repertoire, Forming a, 107
+
+
+     Scale, The, 60
+
+       "    Practice, 62
+
+     "Schools" of Singing, 47
+
+     Self-Accompaniment, 55
+
+     Sentiment, 84
+
+     Singing in Tune, 67
+
+     Slurring, 83
+
+     Smoking, 18
+
+     Soprano, 32
+
+     Study of Songs, 20
+
+     Study of Words, 25
+
+     Styles, Traditional, 71
+
+
+     Teachers, Bad, 50
+
+     Teeth, The, 15
+
+     Tenore-Leggiero, 37
+
+     Tenore-Robusto, 39
+
+     Throatiness, 58
+
+     Thyroid, The, 110
+
+     Time in Singing, 87
+
+     Tone, 60
+
+     Traditional Styles, 71
+
+
+     Variety Indispensable, 68
+
+     Voices and their Names, 29
+
+     Voice, The; A Wind, Reed, or String Instrument, 111
+
+     Vowel-Sounds, 23
+
+
+     "Words," Study of, 25
+
+
+Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
+
+London & Edinburgh
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Punctuation and formatting have been made consistent.
+
+Apparent printer's errors have been retained, unless stated below.
+
+Page 62, "disirable" changed to "desirable". (It cannot be too strongly
+impressed upon, or too frequently pointed out to, the singer (no matter
+what may be the stage of his or her artistic development) how desirable
+and advantageous it is to be constantly singing exercises and solfeggi
+in preference to songs.)
+
+Page 73 and 74, "shool" changed to "school". (You will find its good
+points equally insisted on in the oratorio school of singing, while its
+defects should be avoided in any.)
+
+Page 106, "divisious" changed to "divisions". (Those who have ever
+delighted as well as astonished us by their rapid manner of running
+through divisions must have been naturally endowed with flexible
+organs.)
+
+
+
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