"I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove: I will roar you
an't were any nightingale."
Shakespeare. _A Midsummer Night's Dream_.
The singing world is confronted with a situation unique in its humor. On
every side we hear the lachrymose lament that voice training is in a
chaotic condition, that _bel canto_ is a lost art, and that the golden
age of song has vanished from the earth.
The unanimity of this dolorous admission would seem to be a sad
commentary on the fraternity of voice teachers; but here enters the
element of humor. There is not recorded a single instance of a voice
teacher admitting that his own knowledge of the voice is chaotic. He
will admit cheerfully and oftentimes with ill concealed enthusiasm that
every other teacher's knowledge is in a chaotic condition, but his own
is a model of order and intelligence.
If we accept what voice teachers think of themselves the future looks
rosy. If we accept what they think of each other the future is ominous
and the need for reform is dire and urgent.
But if a reform be ordered where shall it begin? Obviously among the
teachers themselves. But judging from the estimate each one puts upon
himself how shall we reform a thing which is already perfect? On the
other hand, if we take the pessimistic attitude that all teachers are
wrong will it not be a case of the blind leading the blind, in which
instance their destination is definitely determined somewhere in the New
Testament. Verily the situation is difficult. Nevertheless it is not
altogether hopeless. The impulse to sing still remains. More people are
studying singing, and more people sing well today than at any other time
in the history of the world. The impulse to sing is as old as the human
race. When the joy of life first welled up within man and demanded
utterance the vocal instrument furnished by nature was ready to respond
and the art of singing began, and if we may venture a prophecy it will
never end in this world or the next. It cannot be destroyed even by the
teachers themselves. It is this natural, inborn desire to sing that is
directly responsible for the amazing perseverance of many vocal
students. If after a year or two of study they find they are wrong they
are not greatly disturbed, but select another teacher, firm in the faith
that eventually they will find the right one and be safely led to the
realization of their one great ambition--to be an artist. It is this
that has kept the art alive through the centuries and will perpetuate
it. This impulse to sing is something no amount of bad teaching can
destroy.