MUSICAL TALENT OF AMERICAN GIRLS
“Let me ask you one thing,” I said. “Has America good musical material?”
“As much as any other country, and more, I should think. The higher average of intelligence here should yield a greater percentage of musical intelligence.”
“Then there ought to be a number of American women who can do good work of a high order?”
“There ought to be, but it is a question whether there will be. They are not cut out for the work which it requires to develop a good voice. I have noticed that young women seem to underestimate the cost of distinction. It means more than most of them are prepared to give; and, when they face the exactions of art, they falter and drop out. Hence we have many middle-class singers, but few really powerful ones.”
“What are these exactions you speak of?”
“Time, money, and loss of friends, of pleasure. To be a great singer means, first, to be a great student. To be a great student means that you have no time for balls and parties, very little for friends, and less for carriage rides and pleasant strolls. All that is really left is a shortened allowance of sleep, of time for meals, and time for exercise.”