Thus, while a pianist or a violinist can, and indeed must, practise many hours a day, a singer cannot and should not do this, and therefore they have so much the more time available for the purpose of other study, including, I need hardly say, not only art and literature, but also the other branches of musical culture.
I know that singers have often been reproached in this matter and, I am afraid, not without good reason in earlier days, but I trust and believe that that time is passing away, and that vocalists nowadays are no longer looked upon as being necessarily lacking in general musical knowledge.
To which I need hardly add that many instances could be quoted of famous singers who are or have been admirably equipped also in other respects. The late Madame Sembrich was, for instance, a brilliant all-round musician who played both the piano and the violin with the ability of a professional. Madame Lilli Lehmann, still happily with us, although now advanced in years, is another whose accomplished art was based on fine general musicianship.
In point of fact the vocal student can hardly be too well equipped in the musical sense. He cannot hear too much good instrumental music; he cannot be too well acquainted with the works of the great masters; and, in short, cannot have too wide a basis of general musical knowledge as a foundation for his own specialised branch of the art.
To this end the study of an instrument is, of course, invaluable. The violin is an excellent instrument, though not so helpful from a vocal point of view as the piano. The piano naturally suggests itself as the most useful one for the purpose, since it helps directly in the pupil’s vocal studies and makes him independent to some extent of an accompanist. It also gives every facility for obtaining a thorough knowledge of harmony.
It should be employed to further the service of general musical study on the lines above suggested.
Nor should the musical training of the vocalist stop at playing the piano, for he should know something of composition and general theory. A musical education is, indeed, almost indispensable to the singer of the present day if he is to deal successfully with difficult modern music.
In short, the days have gone by when a singer’s accomplishments were summed up in the familiar formula of “Vox et praeterea nihil,” and he, or she, who expects to achieve a place in the front ranks at the present time must be prepared to use brains as well as vocal cords.
Chapter VIII
VOICE
NEXT comes the question of voice. That this is a fundamental requisite you will not expect me to tell you, although it may be noted, in passing, that some of the greatest singers have started comparatively ill-equipped in this respect—or apparently so.