STUDY AN INSTRUMENT
I may add, too, that there is no excuse for singers to neglect the
cultivation of their minds, inasmuch as they have so much more time for
this purpose than many of their fellow-students in other branches of the
profession.
Thus, while a pianist or a violinist can, and indeed must, practise many
hours a day, a singer cannot and should not do this, and therefore they
have so much the more time available for the purpose of other study,
including, I need hardly say, not only art and literature, but also the
other branches of musical culture.
I know that singers have often been reproached in this matter and, I am
afraid, not without good reason in earlier days, but I trust and believe
that that time is passing away, and that vocalists nowadays are no
longer looked upon as being necessarily lacking in general musical
knowledge.
To which I need hardly add that many instances could be quoted of famous
singers who are or have been admirably equipped also in other respects.
The late Madame Sembrich was, for instance, a brilliant all-round
musician who played both the piano and the violin with the ability of a
professional. Madame Lilli Lehmann, still happily with us, although now
advanced in years, is another whose accomplished art was based on fine
general musicianship.
In point of fact the vocal student can hardly be too well equipped in
the musical sense. He cannot hear too much good instrumental music; he
cannot be too well acquainted with the works of the great masters; and,
in short, cannot have too wide a basis of general musical knowledge as a
foundation for his own specialised branch of the art.
To this end the study of an instrument is, of course, invaluable. The
violin is an excellent instrument, though not so helpful from a vocal
point of view as the piano. The piano naturally suggests itself as the
most useful one for the purpose, since it helps directly in the pupil’s
vocal studies and makes him independent to some extent of an
accompanist. It also gives every facility for obtaining a thorough
knowledge of harmony.
It should be employed to further the service of general musical study on
the lines above suggested.
Nor should the musical training of the vocalist stop at playing the
piano, for he should know something of composition and general theory. A
musical education is, indeed, almost indispensable to the singer of the
present day if he is to deal successfully with difficult modern music.
In short, the days have gone by when a singer’s accomplishments were
summed up in the familiar formula of “_Vox et praeterea nihil_,” and he,
or she, who expects to achieve a place in the front ranks at the present
time must be prepared to use brains as well as vocal cords.