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:
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.
and so on, rising by semitones until you come to this:
