CHAPTER TWENTY
WHAT I KNOW OF THE VOICE AND OF TEACHING
N TAKING up this subject, it is not my purpose to give lessons in voice culture on paper. There is, of course, but one way to sing and that is the right way. Every teacher thinks his is the right one. This can be proven only by the result upon the pupil. Does every teacher understand the training of the voice and can he impart his knowledge to the pupil and enable him to acquire a perfect mastery over the tone production and management of sound in singing with this invisible instrument? Can he surmount the technical difficulties and the mechanism of the vocal organs? The inner consciousness is the only safe guide for teacher and student.
The strictest attention should be directed in the beginning by all students to the exercise of forethought, deliberation and mental energy, attributes which are of the greatest importance, more so perhaps than physical strength. A conscientious singer is rewarded after arduous work by gaining the power of emotional expression which the human voice possesses beyond any other musical medium. There are two distinct branches used in the study of the voice—the technical and esthetic. The mechanism and healthy production of the voice and its development belong to the first work. Taste and feeling and a sympathetic and sensitive nature, combined with a cultivated musical organization, a poetic temperament and a pleasing personality, with magnetic fire capable of holding listeners enthralled, are of the other work.
In my long career in song I have especially noted the appearance of a singer. My first impressions have usually remained. In justice to the fine contralto, Schumann-Heink, I will relate my first impressions of her in song. Mr. L. Sherman of Sherman & Clay sent me, to my great delight, two tickets for the opera of "Lohengrin." I had never heard the opera nor the singer. When I heard her sing her role, her first notes so astonished me I just held my breath, I could not realize the voice of a woman, she sang like a baritone. The opera was given in German, and I thought I never heard such a masculine voice in my life, and the whole opera was spoiled by her number for me, and the impression was so lasting that nothing could induce me to hear her again after that opera. I could not bear to think of such a man's voice in a woman. This was when Mapelson was here in 1884. I never heard her again until 1908 at Ye Liberty. Everybody had lauded her all these years, and I never expressed my opinion but held to my impressions on my first hearing of her work. At last I asked myself, why should all these musical people call her great and praise her tone productions as being so perfect, and I stand alone in my opinion. I resolved, if she ever came again, to hear and see if the fault lay with me. The opportunity was granted me in 1908 and, engaging a box in the gallery, I took two pupils with me to hear the great singer and accord her justice if I had erred. I beheld a wholesome looking woman, but not beautiful. She was gowned in a stylish robe of rich material, and on her head a white lace hat with soft white plumes which lent a charm and softened her otherwise angular features. If I had received a shock at her first appearance, I certainly was the most surprised woman in the audience when she began her group of songs. Her first notes convinced me that she had changed her methods completely since singing in opera. She had found that singing in concert and singing the heavy work of Wagner were two distinct methods, and to succeed she had chosen the Bel Canto and forsaken Wagner. I never heard a more beautiful lullaby than she sang, with all tenderness and mother love running throughout her lines. Her German songs were also charming and well phrased and the interpretation perfect. Knowing the German language myself, I was able to appreciate and understand her rendering of them. It was only once she gave one or two of those former bellowing notes, and as quickly as she had uttered them she changed to the touchful notes that were more pleasing. I fully enjoyed the concert as much as I had disliked the opera which I heard in 1884 and which had left such an ugly impression. It is with the greatest pleasure that I also add my best appreciation of Schumann-Heink's singing, for she now sings just as an artist should who understands the art of singing, correctly, naturally, easily and comfortably.
To gain the height of vocal art is to have no apparent method, but to sing with perfect facility from one end of the voice to the other, emitting all the notes clearly and yet with power; to have each note of the scale sound the same in quality and tonal beauty as the ones before and after. This is the highest art and a lifetime of work and study are necessary to acquire an easy emission of tone. One must have a complete understanding of anatomical structure of the throat, mouth and face, with their resonant cavities which are most necessary for the proper production of voice. The whole breathing apparatus must be understood because the whole foundation of singing is breathing and control of all the functions which compose the musical instrument. A singer's reliance depends upon the breath, as on the stability to economize the air during its emission from the lungs. Steadiness, strength, flexibility and sustaining power of the voice depend upon this knowledge and intelligent use of it. I hold the art of singing in such reverence that I feel I am walking upon sacred ground when I am employed in the teaching of the human voice. It is notoriously difficult to give rules for singing to every one alike. I have found out in my long experience of development of different voices under my guidance that no two persons can be taught alike. As faces and people differ, so do also the voices. There are general rules to be observed that all can understand, but outside of that, teaching of the voice becomes an individual study of every conscientious and capable teacher. No one should attempt it unless he understands perfectly the anatomy of the muscles that are used and compose the vocal apparatus, their placement and uses. Instructors should be perfect singers themselves and able to give an example of every tone as accurately as it can be produced by the human voice. A teacher who cannot produce a perfect tone has not the right to teach. Why should the proper training of the voice continue to be the least progressive of all professions, and why should there be less care and work used in the development of the most beautiful gift that has been given to mankind, the human voice? While this gift has not been equally bestowed on every one, yet there is not a being who could not sing if he were properly taught. It is not the great-voiced singer that gives the most beautiful song. While he is to be admired for his grand tones and magnificent work, it has taken years of technique to produce those tones through perfect knowledge of breath control.
Teachers of the eighteenth century required many years of hard study from the pupils before they were considered competent to illustrate the art of tone production and before the masters considered them singers or sent them forth as exponents of their art. Why all this work to acquire the art of producing beautiful tones? We must use intelligent understanding in the use of this instrument which is such a rare gift to us. Thrice happy are those who are able to give to listening humanity the full comprehensive and soulful touch of song which the individual instrument is capable of producing. There is so much more in singing than the mere possession of a beautiful voice. The singer must be able to supplement the beauty of the voice with intelligence in the exposition of the song. But few realize how much skill this demands. No amount of intelligence will enable a person rightly to interpret a song if he has not learned the elements of singing or has not a complete command of the technique of his art. The most important element of beautiful song is the lung capacity, and thereon hangs the whole success; control of the breathing muscles. One has infinite gradations of the power of this column of air to produce the result in exquisite variations over the power and the coloring of his tones. Attack and management of the air column is an art in itself—a correct poise of the larynx. Upon the art of directing this column of air the quality of the tones depends. The greatest marvel is that those whom I have had to instruct do not know the first elements of breathing. To breathe to live and to breathe to be a singer are as far apart as the poles. Not one in twenty knows what lung capacity they have. The general rule is to breathe through the nose. That is all right if he is a gymnast or a ball player, but singing is just the opposite of this sort of breathing. Everything is relaxed and natural, the breath is inhaled through partly opened lips, slowly, evenly and quietly and allows not a particle to go through the nostrils until the lungs are completely filled and inflated. The large cells are in the lower part of the lungs, and when they are inflated and the diaphragm properly used so as to direct and control this column, one can sing as long as there is a particle of air to use. For seventy years I have used this method of breathing, and I am a perfect example of the preservation of the voice now in my seventy-sixth year, and have every note I ever used and can sing with as much power and breath control as I ever could. I feel no weakness or lack of strength in any part of my tone production.