Vocal Mastery

NG THE GREA

mountain top of victory to the younger ones who are striving to acquire the mastery they have achieved. Work, work and again-work! And if you have gained even a slight foothold on the hill of fame, then work to kee

De Strele

A GALL

fatigue of singing a r?le the night before. No, for her this event does not spell exhaustion but happiness, exhilaration. It is a pleasure to sing because it is not wearisome-it is a part of herself. And she enjoys the doing! Thus it happens that the morning after a performance, she is up and abroad betimes, ready to attend personally to the many calls upon her time and attention. She

s waiting to see her. Her delicate, oval face was aglow with the flush of healthful exercise, for she had just come in f

table divan, and at once began to spea

ng a voice and intelligence, can acquire these things, who knows how to go to work to get them. But if one has no notion of the process, no amount of mere talking will make it plain. Singing an opera r?le seems such an easy thing from the other side of the footlights. People seem to think, if you only know

Perhaps I might say the larynx is the most important factor of all. If you can manage that, you have the secret. But no human being can tell you exactly how to do it. Some singers before the public to-day have no notion of how to manage this portion of their anatomy. Others may do so occasionally, but it may only be by accident. They so

F-S

very keen ears-by learning the sensations produced in throat and larynx when I made tones t

onservatory there, and also musical theory and counterpoint. I shall ever be grateful I started in this way, with a thorough musical foundation, for it has always been of great a

y in practice. In trying to do this I had to find out everything for myself. And that is why I know them! I know exactly what I am about when I sing, I know what muscles are being used, and in what condition they ought to be; what parts of the anatomy are called into action and why. Nature has given me two great gifts, a voice and good health; for both these gifts I am deeply grateful. The first I have developed through arduous toil; the second I endeavor to preserve through careful living, regular

TRAIN T

hers. One is that the diaphragm must be held firmly in order to give support to the tone. It seems to me this is a serious mistake. I keep the diaphragm relaxed. Thus tone production, in my case, is made at all times with ease; there is never any strain. You ask if it is not very fatiguing to sing against

F THE

her hand, if the lips are nearer-or too near together, or are not managed rightly, stiffness or a throaty quality is apt to result; then the tone cannot 'float.' I have found the best way is to use the mixed vowels, one melting into the other. The tone can be started with each vowel in turn, and then mingled with the rest of the vowels. Do you know, the feathered songster I love best-the nightingale-u

ORI

, words and music together. For a great r?le like the Somnambula or Traviata, I must spend three or four years, perhaps more, in preparation, before bringing it to public performance. It takes a long time to master thoroughly an operatic r?le, to work it out from all sides, the singing, the acting, the characterization. To the lay mind, if you can sing, you can easily act a p

SITY FOR

with this necessity, as they have not the same need to use other languages in every day life. The singer can always be considered fortunate who has been brought up from earliest years to more than one languag

marking, for she was speaking with great fluency, and with hardly any acce

URA AND

"if later on your voice should

urci thought

I prefer the lyric and coloratura parts, they are so beautiful. The old Italian composers knew well how to write for the voice. Their music has beauty, it has melody, and melodic beauty will always make its appeal

TH C

ery artist should master. It is an almost endless study and an individual one, because each organism and mentality is different. Here, as in everything else, perfect ease and naturalnes

ER IN A

Management of the Larynx; b, Relaxation of the Diaphragm; c, Cont

for tone must always be a vital part of the singer's individuality, colored by feeling and emotion. Tone is the outlet, the expression of all on

y rest when the ard

aly this year. But even though I seem to rest, I never neglect

mile and clasp of the