"I work regularly every morning on vocal technic. Not necessarily a
whole hour at a stretch, as some do; but as much time as I feel I need.
I give practically my whole day to study, so that I can make frequent
short pauses in technical practice. If technic is studied with complete
concentration and vigor, as it always should be, it is much more
fatiguing than singing an opera rôle.
"You ask about the special forms of exercises I use. I sing all the
scales, one octave each--once slow and once fast--all in one breath.
Then I sing triplets on each tone, as many as I can in one breath. I can
sing about fifteen now, but I shall doubtless increase the number. For
all these I use full power of tone. Another form of exercise is to take
one tone softly, then go to the octave above, which tone is also sung
softly, but there is a large crescendo made between the two soft tones.
My compass is three octaves--from C below middle C, to two octaves above
that point. I also have C sharp, but I do not practice it, for I know I
can reach it if I need it, and I save my voice. Neither do I work on the
final tones of the lowest octave, for the same reason--to preserve the
voice.