YOUR AIM
Singers may be divided into two classes. No, I do not mean, as some
might suppose, those who can sing and those who cannot, though that is a
possible classification. I mean in this case those who sing for mere
pleasure and those who intend to make a career in this way. It is for
both that these pages are intended.
As we have often been told, whatever is worth doing at all is worth
doing well, and there is no reason why the singers who practise our
beautiful art only for the enjoyment of themselves and their friends
should not make the most of the powers which the good God has given
them. I think, indeed, that it is their plain duty to do so, if only in
the interests of their hearers. And I am glad to think that nowadays
many see the matter in this light.
However it may be in the case of professional singers--upon which point
I shall have something to say presently--there is, I suppose, no doubt
that the standard of amateur singing has enormously improved during
recent years.
The days when it was thought that anyone, however poorly equipped, had
the right to stand up and perform in public, have passed away, and in
those circles, at all events, where there is any kind of pretension to
general intelligence and culture it is expected that all who come
forward in this way shall show themselves to be possessed of at least
some knowledge of the rudiments of the art.
As to the general necessity for study on the part of those who aspire to
sing, few words, I suppose, are necessary. If every one can sing after a
fashion, there is, I venture to say, no branch of the art of music which
demands a more arduous apprenticeship and more prolonged study, if all
of its higher possibilities are to be realised.
Precisely, however, because singing is in itself such a purely natural
proceeding, this elementary fact is too often overlooked. “Singing,” it
has been well said, “derives its power from nature, but owes its
perfection to art,” and this is a fact which, I am afraid, is too often
forgotten.
People, who would not dream of attempting to play the violin or give a
piano solo in public without thorough preparation, will have no
hesitation in standing up and attempting to sing, although they may be
just as little qualified in the one case as in the other. They do not
realise that the voice is, in reality, one of the most delicate and
difficult of all instruments and demands in consequence no less study
and practice than any other before it can be really artistically
employed.
There is, moreover, another aspect of the singer’s art which should
never be forgotten. I allude to the fact that the singer is necessarily
a reproductive artist--one whose business it is from the nature of the
case to reproduce and interpret the music of others.
This imposes a duty and an obligation which should never be lost sight
of. A singer has not only his own reputation to consider, but also that
of the composer whose music he interprets, and for this reason alone,
therefore, he can never take his art too seriously.
As to those contemplating a professional career, no words of mine will
be necessary, I hope, to impress upon them the necessity of the sternest
self-discipline and the most unremitting application if they are ever to
succeed in accomplishing anything worth doing.