Nevertheless, the girl who would be successful in concert must either
possess or acquire good health as her first and all-essential asset.
Notwithstanding the marvelous improvement in traveling facilities and
accommodations, the nervous strain of public performance is not
lessened, and it not infrequently happens that these very facilities
enable the avaricious manager to crowd in more concerts and recitals
than in former years, with the consequent strain upon the vitality of
the singer.
Of course, the singer must also possess the foundation for a good
natural voice, a sense of hearing capable of being trained to the
keenest perception of pitch, quality, rhythm and metre, an attractive
personality, a bright mind, a good general education and an artistic
temperament--a very extraordinary list, I grant you, but we must
remember that the public pays out its money to hear extraordinary people
and the would-be singer who does not possess qualifications of this
description had better sincerely solicit the advice of some experienced,
unbiased teacher or singer before putting forth upon the musical seas in
a bark which must meet with certain destruction in weathering the first
storm. The teacher who consciously advises a singer to undertake a
public career and at the same time knows that such a career would very
likely be a failure is beneath the recognition of any honest man or
woman.