(To be concluded.)
[ON SOME POINTS OF DEPORTMENT IN SINGING.]
I hope you who read these words will not think that I am encouraging the vanity of which we all, girls and boys too, possess a certain amount, in giving a few suggestions which may help to dispel some of the awkwardness so often shown by the young and inexperienced vocalist.
How often, usually at the moment of going on the platform at some small amateur concert, have I heard the cry, “Oh, I must have a piece of music to hold in my hand!” from some nervous young singer, oppressed by the feeling that she is all hands and has nowhere to hide them!
How often has a pretty song, tastefully sung, been spoiled by a wriggling of the shoulders, or a rocking of the body from side to side most irritating to behold!
How often has a song “breathing of scent and flowers,” of love and spring-time, been warbled with a forbidding scowl and wrinkled forehead—the expression of the whole face suggesting some hidden agony rather than interpreting the spirit of the composition!
All these things are most distracting to a listener and detract considerably from the effect of the performance; and a little trouble and study, combined with the assistance of your good and true friend the looking-glass, will do much to improve matters.
Let us take the three points I have mentioned in their order.