"Do you advise conscious action of the parts comprising the vocal
instrument, or do you prefer unconscious control of the instrument, with
thought directed to the ideal quality in tone production and delivery?"
was asked.
"By all means unconscious control," was the emphatic answer. "We wish to
produce beautiful sounds; if the throat is open, the breathing correct,
and we have a mental concept of that beautiful sound, we are bound to
produce it. It might be almost impossible to produce correct tones if we
thought constantly about every muscle in action. There is a great deal
of nonsense talked and written about the diaphragm, vocal chords and
other parts of the anatomy. It is all right for the teacher who wishes
to be thoroughly trained, to know everything there is to know about the
various organs and muscles; I would not discourage this. But for the
young singer I consider it unnecessary. Think supremely of the beautiful
tones you desire to produce; listen for them with the outer ear--and the
inner ear--that is to say--mentally--and you will hear them. Meanwhile,
control is becoming more and more habitual, until it approaches
perfection and at last becomes automatic. When that point is reached,
your sound producing instrument does the deed, while your whole
attention is fixed on the interpretation of a master work, the
performance of which requires your undivided application. If there is
action, you control that in the same way until it also becomes
automatic; then both singing and acting are spontaneous."