"In Kofler (art of breathing) he speaks of the tremolo: 'As to the tremolo in the voice, I will only say that frequently the air is expelled forcibly in order to picture with the voice a violent outburst of passion and emotion, a light tremolo will produce a good effect to give expression to a feeling of fear, anxiety, or anguish; outside of this, the tremolo must never be used in singing. This is often done to hide a worn-out voice, but more often because the singer is under a foolish delusion that this tremolo is very expressive and dramatic. I know of no style of singing so unnatural as a perpetual tremolando brought on by injudicious training and the ignorance of the art of breathing correctly.'"

I consider that I would be derelict in my duty as a teacher of voice did I not insert this most important chapter in my book. I am glad to have the best authorities on my side of the subject. I think it is the true reason why we have such a dearth of fine singers in this generation. It certainly is not because we have not the voices. California can produce as fine voices as are found in Italy, but as fast as they are found some unscrupulous fake comes along and finds the unfortunate victim who begins training and in a few months the papers are full of this wonderful find and future songstress. Then a recital is planned and the beautiful young woman (if appearance has any value) certainly fills all that has been noised about her. Endowed by nature with a voice of unusual power and expressiveness she is a most promising amateur and will perhaps be heard from in the future. At least she will be if native gifts count. At last the opportunity has arrived to hear this young singer of a few short months' training in a group of songs. Our expectations are at the highest pitch as she appears in all her youthful charms. But alas, how quickly is the spell broken. This wonderful singer has fallen into the hands of an incompetent teacher and the beautiful voice has been damaged until the tremolo is unbearable and we listen with pity at the havoc made in a few months of force upon the beautiful voice by such teaching. There never was an age when so many singing pupils are being taught, and yet we have no singers. Pupils do not apply themselves seriously to the real study of the voice as they do to other studies. To sing a song is all they aspire to do. They consider it all useless nonsense to practice technic. They want the glory without the conscientious work which is a daily requirement. Very few singers of today are provided with real vocal technic. They learn to scream one note at a time. A short life and a merry one, great glory and great salaries, sacrificing their voices at the demand for big tone. Perhaps they rejoice in a brief season. Afterwards their names are forgotten. Good singing, as all other performances, consists in the due adjustment of every factor connected with it.

I had my first experience in 1894 with the voice of a young girl that had a perpetual tremolo. I was thoroughly amazed at the unsteady wavering of each note. At last I asked her why she did not sing in a steady tone. Her reply was she could not help it. I then inquired if she had former instructions. She replied she had. After trying in vain to get a pure tone, I told her I'd rather not teach her as I had no knowledge of how to relieve her of this defect which could not be allowed in a perfect singer. Her disappointment was so great as to cause her to weep. My heart was touched for her misfortune and I told her I had only one remedy and if she would try that I'd undertake the work of restoring her voice to its normal state if possible. This was Tuesday. I asked her to return on Friday and if I saw any improvement I'd teach her if she would obey orders. I gave her a lesson in the art of breathing, something which had been entirely neglected before, and sent her away. On the following Friday she took her second lesson, and the voice was as steady as if she had never done the other work. I continued to teach her for two and a half years and at my first recital she and I sang the duet, Qui est Homo, from Rossini's Stabat Mater, and although my age was sixty and hers twenty, I was able to use my usual strength in singing the song as if she had been a mature singer. At the close of the number we were greeted with bravos and applause that lasted for some time. It was the crowning reward for my weeks of patient training and careful watchfulness. I never taught her after that evening and I heard she had several other instructors. I heard, however, that she had never returned to the tremolo after I had once placed her voice in the right path. Had she been a student I think the state of California would have been proud to have claimed her, but she lacked stability in her work. She still sings but I have not heard her for years. This was my first experience.

In the year 1907 I cured twenty-five young people, both girls and boys, of this dreadful habit, which seems to be the death knell of all of our California young singers. Every one of these became addicted to this habit through wrong instruction by persons who were not teachers at all in the true sense of the word, not knowing the construction of the voice themselves so as to lead the pupil into the proper channel, having lost their own voices by these methods they were not competent to instruct others. How is it possible for them to guide the young singer when they cannot give a pure tone example themselves for the pupil to follow? Freshness and steadiness are the most valuable properties of a voice, but are also the most delicate and easily injured and quickly lost. When once really impaired they can never be restored. This is the condition of a voice which is said to be lost. The prostration of the vocal organs are thus brought on by injudicious training if not the result of organic disease. This must be understood by the competent teacher who should not be mistaken in the nature of the organ or attempt by obstinate perseverance to convert a low voice into a high one, or vice versa. The error is equally disastrous, the result being utterly to destroy the voice. The teacher's vocation is first to find the natural limits of the voice in question and then seek to develop them into their most beautiful tone production before attempting to develop either higher or lower tones until these have been properly understood by both teacher and pupil. The pupil should also at once comprehend the importance of guarding the voice from injury and not transform or extend his gifts beyond their natural power and capability. The voice is often seriously impaired in using the high notes in both chest and head registers, by forcing of the high notes, and exaggerating the timbres and, if often renewed, will eventually destroy the best voice and the tremolo follows in consequence and the once promising voice is lost and forever inevitably destroyed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

MORE ABOUT THE VOICE

"There is little difference in the place we fill in life:
The important thing is how to fill it."