In every thousand girls who aspire to Grand Opera probably not more than
one ever succeeds. This is by no means because of lack of good voices.
There are great numbers of good voices; although many girls who want to
be opera singers either deceive themselves or are deceived by others
(often charlatan teachers) into believing that they have fine natural
voices when they have not. There is nothing more glorious than a
beautiful human voice--a voice strong, resonant, if necessary, but
velvety and luscious if needs be. There are many girls with really
beautiful natural voices who have lost their chances in Grand Opera
largely because they have either not had the personal persistence
necessary to carry them to the point where their services are in demand
by the public or they have had the misfortune not to have the right kind
of a vocal or musical drill master--a really good teacher.
Teachers in these days waste a fearful amount of time in what they
consider to be their methods. They tell you to sing in the back, or on
the side or through the mask or what not, instead of getting right down
to the real work. My teacher in Berlin, at the Conservatory, insisted
first of all upon having me sing tones and scales--mostly long sustained
tones--for at least one entire year. These were sung very softly, very
evenly, until I could employ every tone in my voice with sureness and
certainty. I don't see how it could possibly have been accomplished in
less time. Try that on the American girl and she will think that she is
being cheated out of something. Why should she wait a whole year with
silly tones when she knows that she can sing a great aria with only a
little more difficulty?
The basis of all fine singing, whether in the opera house or on the
concert stage, is a good legato. My teacher (Nicklass Kempner) was very
insistent upon this. In working with such studies as those of Concone,
Bordogni, Luetgen, Marchesi or Garcia--the best part of the attention of
the teacher was given to the simple yet difficult matter of a beautiful
legato. After one has been through a mass of such material, the matter
of legato singing becomes more or less automatic. The tendency to slide
from one tone to another is done away with. The connection between one
tone and another in good legato is so clean, so free from blurs that
there is nothing to compare it with. One tone takes the place of another
just as though one coin or disk were placed directly on top of another
without any of the edges showing. The change is instantaneous and
imperceptible. If one were to gradually slide one coin over another coin
you would have a graphic illustration of what most people think is
legato. The result is that they sound like steam sirens, never quite
definitely upon any tone of the scale.