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diff --git a/old/41013.txt b/old/41013.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee8a387 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/41013.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4135 @@ +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 + file which includes the original lines of music and + audio illustrations. + See 41013-h.htm or 41013-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41013/41013-h/41013-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41013/41013-h.zip) + + + 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.) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVICE TO SINGERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 41013.txt or 41013.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/1/0/1/41013 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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