"Oh, yes, technic is most important; one can do nothing without it. When
I begin to study in the morning, I give the voice what I call a massage.
One's voice cannot be driven, it must be coaxed, enticed. This massage
consists of humming exercises, with closed lips. Humming is the sunshine
of the voice." The singer illustrated the idea with a short musical
figure, consisting of three consecutive tones of the diatonic scale,
ascending and descending several times; on each repetition the phrase
began on the next higher note of the scale. "You see," she continued,
"this little exercise brings the tone fully forward. As you feel the
vibration, it should be directly between the eyes.
"Now, after you have coaxed the voice forward in this way, and then
opened your lips to sing a full tone, this tone should, indeed must, be
right in the same place where the humming tones were,--it cannot be
anywhere else." Madame illustrated again, first humming on one tone,
then letting it out with full resonance, using the vowel Ah, which
melted into O, and later changed into U, as the tone died away. "This
vibration in the voice should not be confounded with a tremolo, which
is, of course, very undesirable. A voice without vibrato, would be cold
and dead, expressionless. There must be this pulsing quality in the
tone, which carries waves of feeling on it.
"Thus the singer entices the voice to come forward and out, never
treating it roughly or harshly, never forcing or straining it. Take
pleasure in every tone you make; with patience and pleasure much is
accomplished. I could not give you a more useful tip than this."
"Will you tell me how you learn a song?" she was asked.
"I first read over the text and get a good idea of its meaning. When I
begin to study the song, I never separate the music from the words, but
learn both together. I play the piano of course, and thus can get a good
idea of the accompaniment, and of the whole _ensemble_.
"I feel so strongly that real art, the highest art, is for those who
truly understand it and its mission. A dream of mine is one day to found
a school of true art. Everything in this school shall be on a high plane
of thought. The instructors shall be gifted themselves and have only
lofty ideals. And it will be such a happiness to watch the development
of talent which may blossom into genius through having the right
nurture. I shall watch this work from a distance, for I might be too
anxious if I allowed myself to be in the midst of the work. But this is
my dream, and I hope it will one day come true."