Singing lesson

“ Singing is an art; both teacher and student must love their art or they cannot succeed. Everything the student is called on to do should be a distinct pleasure. To master the piano or the violin many hours of tedious practice are required. Students of singing are indeed fortunate to be spared the necessity of this tiresome work. In place of two or three hours' daily practice of scales and exercises, the vocal student need do nothing but sing good music. ”

“ The singing that haunts us, which becomes part of our life, which fills the memory with tender and happy images of other days and scenes, is not necessarily that of the finest voices, but of that mingling in music of voice and skill and feeling which weave an enchanted spell. ”

“ Almost as at the building of the tower of Babel, one teacher scarcely understands any longer what another means, and instead of harmonious endeavors to improve the art, teachers of singing are commonly found disputing among themselves. ”

“ In such a way of singing it is simply impossible that every separate voice should be attended to, even were the teacher competent to attend to it; while it often happens that at the most critical age, while the vocal organs are being developed, children sing with all the strength they can command. ”

“ On the practical side, the nature of the problem is by no means so simple. In actual instruction in singing, the subject of vocal management cannot readily be dissociated from the wide range of other topics comprised in the singer's education. ”

“ If, then, with the voice is given also the instinct, to use it, to sing is not an exceptional, but the normal thing to do. Only abnormal or unnatural conditions, such as prevail in what we call civilisation, prevent singing from being a universal habit. ”

“ Nothing can be more absurd than an elderly singing or dancing master frowning upon young people, whose one desire is to laugh, and adopting a more pedantic and magisterial manner in teaching his frivolous art than if he were teaching the catechism. Take the case of singing; does this art depend on reading music; cannot the voice be made true and flexible, can we not learn to sing with taste and even to play an accompaniment without knowing a note? ”

“ The faults in singing insinuate themselves so easily into the minds of young beginners, and there are such difficulties in correcting them, when grown into an habit, that it were to be wished the ablest singers would undertake the task of teaching, they best knowing how to conduct the scholar from the first elements to perfection. ”

“ It may be taken for granted that teachers of singing have always been aware of the existence of the problem of tone-production, and have always instructed their pupils in the correct management of the voice. ”

“ The greatest fault, however, is to be found in the present mode of teaching singing, which is so superficial that people have become accustomed to overlook the possibility of changing a voice and rendering it beautiful. ”

“ In time teachers will become quick to detect the change in register, and in time also the pupils who are trained to sing in the thin voice will yield to the force of good habit, as they once did to bad habit, and seldom offend by too loud or too harsh tone. ”

“ The education of the singer of to-day requires to be conducted on broader and more comprehensive lines than in the past, on account of the different conditions which have presented themselves. Singing—that is, the alliance and utterance of Music and Poetry—is one of the highest manifestations of the Beautiful, and is man’s supreme and greatest creation. ”

“ When anyone puts his ear to me and listens, he hears the reflection of his own heart's music, singing; so, you see, while I say that I am singing all the time, in reality I sing only when someone full of happiness hears his own singing as if it were mine. ”

“ Thus is there not only an æsthetical side to the art of singing, but a physiological and a physical side also, without an exact knowledge, appreciation, observance, and study of which, what is hurtful cannot be discerned and avoided; and no true culture of art, and consequently no progress in singing, is possible. ”

“ Accustomed to seek the beauty of the voice in its strength, it is attempted, before the time of instruction begins, to sing as strongly as possible from a full chest with the greatest expulsion of breath. Thence it follows, in the superficial way in which the study of the art of singing is at present conducted, that nothing more is commonly required of a teacher than that he should be able to drill his pupil in some pieces of tolerably well conceived vocal music, which the latter must sing as soon as possible in company. ”

“ They blunt the sense of melody, and at the same time they tend to induce throat stiffness. Beauty of tone and of melody should always be the guiding principle in the practice of singing.
All the elements of instruction,—musical education, ear training, and the acquirement of facility in the use of the voice,—can be combined in the singing of melodious compositions. While the teacher should know the precise object of each study, this is not necessary for the student. Have the pupil simply sing his daily studies, with good tone and true musical feeling, and all the rest will take care of itself. ”

“ We trouble ourselves to educate the voice only for the purpose of singing, and neglect the spoken word. We do not stop to think that singing appeals only to the senses and emotions, while speech appeals to the emotions and the intellect, and therefore charms and at the same time convinces. ”

“ Starting vocal instruction too early has been the precipice over which many a promising career has been dashed to early oblivion.
In choosing a teacher I hardly know what to say, in these days of myriad methods and endless claims. The greatest teachers I have known have been men and women of great simplicity and directness. The perpetrator of the complicated system is normally the creator of vocal failures. The secret of singing is at once a marvelous mystery and again an open secret to those who have realized its simplicity. ”

“ It would be as easy to stop the growth of the average boy with a word, or to persuade a crowd 30 of youngsters to speak softly at a game of baseball, as to induce them, or girls either for that matter, to use the voice gently, when singing with that register in which it is possible to push the tone and shout. ”

“ Singing is not my forte. A combination of bashfulness and a cigarette-smoker's throat produce from my larynx when I attempt to sing sounds which I have always felt must be acutely distressing to my hearers. But Marjorie listening gravely with her head on one side, made me repeat my performance. ”

“ An angry pupil cannot sing. In the singing he forgets his anger. Nothing so quickly recalls the wandering minds of pupils and gets them into harmony with the purpose of school, and makes them forget petty57 troubles, as a good, soul-stirring song in which all unite. Patriotic songs, devotional songs, folk songs, songs of the home and the heart, nature songs—the list is long—all have their use in the opening exercise. Glad or sad, as the teacher desires to stir the pupils, so let the morning song be in opening exercise. ”

“ The contempt in which music has been held by a portion of the English-speaking people from the time of the Reformation until quite recently, or shall we say until even now, has made its powerful impress upon opinions, tastes, and natural powers. Singing, with a part of our population, is literally a lost art, lost through generations of disuse. ”

“ Tone creates its own support. How does a bird learn to sing? How does the animal learn to cry? How does the lion learn to roar? Or the donkey learn to bray? By practicing breathing exercises? Most certainly not. I have known many, many singers with splendid voices who have never heard of breathing exercises. Go out into the Welsh mining districts and listen to the voices. They learn to breathe by learning how to sing, and by singing. These men have lungs that the average vocal student would give a fortune to possess. ”

“ To me it appears as the natural consequence of the whole manner and way in which the art of singing has been historically developed since its earlier high state of perfection.
The human voice is, of all instruments, the most natural, the most perfect, the most intimate in its relation to us, as, for the use of it, we have a talent or faculty innate, which, in the case of other instruments, can only be laboriously acquired, to say nothing of the fact that these instruments are first to be invented and put together. ”

“ But the culture of the technique in the art of singing requires a special faculty in the teacher, and, together with the finest power of observation, an ear, which not only perceives the purity of the tone, whether high or low, but feels also the direction of the aerial column, the too much or too little of the breath, the coloring of the timbre, &c. An æsthetically artistic education demands likewise that the singer should have the highest general culture. ”

“ If after a year or two of study they find they are wrong they are not greatly disturbed, but select another teacher, firm in the faith that eventually they will find the right one and be safely led to the realization of their one great ambition—to be an artist. It is this that has kept the art alive through the centuries and will perpetuate it. This impulse to sing is something no amount of bad teaching can destroy. ”

“ Nevertheless, some student will rush on to florid exercises before he can master this exercise. To sing it right it must be regarded with almost devotional reverence. Indeed, it may well be practiced diligently for years. Every tone is a problem, a problem which must be solved in the brain and in the body of the singer and not in the mind of any teacher. ”

“ Moderate singing, without exertion, and, above all things, within the natural limits of the voice and its registers, would even during the period of growth be as little hurtful as speaking, laughing, or any other of the exercises which cannot be forbidden to the vocal organs. But it is wiser not to allow boys to sing at all while the larynx is undergoing its change. ”

“ If teachers persist in leading the songs with their own voices and in singing exercises with the children, they can and most probably will defeat all efforts to secure the right tone in either the first, or any grade up to that in which changed 52 voices are found. ”

“ It has been plain to me as a teacher, and it grows stronger every year, that all success in singing arises from a comprehension of the ego within us, and the cultivation of these attributes bearing directly upon singing and music. Three only of those attributes may be considered now.
First,—ambition. What would you become? Yes, a musician and singer. Consult one who knows your body better than you and enough of your mind to judge well, and if he says you may become one, plan your life work to making your ambition gratified. Aim high. But few persons lack the capacity of singing well. ”

“ They are also preserved by early and correct singing from the many bad habits with which the teacher has to contend in adults. That special skill and care are required in a teacher who has in charge the voices of children, there can be no question. ”

“ The first effect upon singing when the thick tone is forbidden and the attempt made to substitute the use of the voice in the thin or head register may be disappointing. It will seem to take away all life and vigor from the singing. Teachers who enjoy hearty singing will get nervous; they will doubt the value of the innovation. In those grades where children range in age from twelve to fourteen years, the apparent loss in vocal power will disconcert the pupils even. ”

“ Thus, while every instrument, if anything is to be made out of it, demands years of practice, to the human voice alone is time denied, simply because, I suppose, almost every one has a somewhat natural aptitude for singing. ”

“ With young girls especially, whose vocal organs do not change so much as those of boys, the earliest possible beginning of instruction would be in the highest degree advantageous. It is owing only to the unnatural, overstrained method of studying the art of singing now prevalent that a principle recognized and applied in the learning of all other arts, and even in all the other branches of music, has universal prejudice against it. ”

“ Apart from this school instruction, now becoming so popular, people commonly venture to entrust their sons and daughters, but not until they are quite grown, to a singing master to be educated. But then it is expected that he shall, in the shortest time possible, often in the space of a few months, advance them so far that they shall be able to sing with applause before company. ”

“ The mind plays a prominent part where the voice is concerned. Worry, unhappiness, and mental strain of every description may lower the whole tone of the body, and, by lessening the inclination to sing, make singing more difficult. ”

“ One must not forget, however, that the exercise of singing, with its constant deep inhalation (and acting in itself is considerable exercise also) , tends much to keep one from acquiring an over-supply of embonpoint. ”

“ The numerous vocal music Unions and Männerchöre, as such, contribute as little as school singing to the elevation and improvement of the vocal art, the sole object of which is to cultivate the individual voice for artistic singing. Considered as a means of moral culture, the rise and increasing prevalence of chorus singing among all orders of the people merit commendation and aid, but not in the interest of the art of song. ”