singing is most desirable; for singing, more than any other art, rests
on tradition; there is even very little doubt that the peculiar charm
and quality of a true tenor voice (for instance) is more due to
imitation in a singer than to nature; that is to say, that it is the
result of a transmitted culture--such imitation being the only means in
which singers can reap the harvest of the experience of the great
singers now to be heard no more, who have left their imitators to pass
on to others what they themselves obtained by imitating and improving on
_their_ predecessors. Therefore do not be afraid of being set down as a
mere copyist, if you study and attempt to imitate the style of the best
living singers. You will always have enough of your own merit or defect
to distinguish your performance, if you are really a conscientious
student, and you may learn a great deal by listening to the best public
singers which can be taught you in no other way. Watch their stage
deportment; their treatment of the weaker parts of their voices; their
method of breathing; their manner towards the public;--in fact, every
point which occurs to you,--and make some use of what you see and hear
in your own studies.
=Public Singing.=--If you have to sing in public, remember always to
take a rapid but searching glance round your stage. This is a great
point gained. As you step on to "the boards," notice (unobserved)
the dimensions of the stage (if it happens to be new to you). Note
the height of its ceiling, its surroundings, its draperies, its
distance from your farthest auditor; then take up your position
accordingly--bearing in mind that all your tone is wanted by your
listeners, which requirement can never be met unless you yourself take
the precaution to prevent the sound being held or carried back by the
stage decorations. In a concert _salon_ or theatre, then, do not forget
to get well to the front of the platform. At the same time you must not
be _too_ close upon your stall occupants, or you may give them the very
undesirable impression that at any moment you may fall over.
="Holding" an Audience.=--The singer should carefully watch an audience so
as to gauge its attention and sympathies. If it seems impatient,
restless, and indifferent, the singer may be quite sure that he or she
is exciting no interest. The best course then for one to do is to
immediately change the style, alter the tone, give forth his or her best
energies, and use every effort to become ingratiated into the good
favour of the listeners. If such effects as these fail constantly in
their turn, then the aspirant for vocal fame should give up, and devote
both time and attention to further study, or to some other means of a
livelihood; for a future great singer will not be failing constantly,
and to be only a second-rate singer while there are so many is a thing
_not_ to be devoutly desired.
=Mistakes in Public.=--If you make a mistake in singing, do not add to the
mischief by allowing it to alarm or disconcert you. Proceed onward as if
nothing had happened. You may be quite sure that each one of your
audience will not have detected the slip, for they cannot _all_ be
critics. But bear in mind that such confidence as your adviser here
suggests is not to be too often called into requisition. No great artist
will ever make a serious mistake in public. How much more careful then
should the young student be!
ON TIME IN SINGING.
I need perhaps scarcely remind my readers who are or who wish to be
singers that _time_ concerns them quite as much as the conductor, the
pianist, the violinist--in short, the whole orchestra. It behoves the
student in singing to give early and careful attention to this important
feature in his artistic training. You may have the voice of a Rubini,
you may be a second Tamburini in quality and extent of voice, but unless
you can sing in time yourself, and are able to do so with others, and
with the counter-acting influences of an orchestra, you can never hope
to rise in your profession. It may be argued that you have no desire to
lay yourself out for a career on the lyric stage. Then, however, you
shut yourself out from some of the largest prizes in the profession;
beyond which there comes the question of oratorio business, and the
growing taste for band accompaniments to songs. And if you restrict your
ambition to a pianoforte accompaniment, time is needed even with that in
order to produce anything like a satisfactory rendering of the piece you
may be singing. The accompanyist may be a Sir Julius Benedict, or a
Signor Randegger (than whom there is no better in this country, so
neglected has this species of musical art-work become); but a perfect
rendering depends not so much upon the pianist as the vocalist. If the
singer flounders about with neither "rhyme nor reason," it is scarcely
reasonable to expect the accompanyist, clever as he may be, to be always
at his heels, like a cat after a mouse. I would therefore advise the
student to invest his money in a Metronome--the most useful thing with
which he could provide himself. They are not dear, bearing in mind their
utility, and one will, I am sure, save the student much time and many a
_fiasco_. Learn the working of this useful machine, and practise all
your exercises with it. If you go to a good singing master, you should
ask him to time your exercises to the pace at which you should sing
them, and in this way you will not only be growing in a good habit, but
your singing will be characterized by a crispness and a certainty of
attack, which will be apparent to all musicians and amateurs with good
taste. Your singing master will, no doubt, impress upon you the
necessity of singing your songs in time, and especially of slightly
accenting the first and third beats in the bar if it is common time, the
first and fourth beats when it is compound common or 6/8 time, and the
first beat when it is triple or 3/4 time. In this way there will be
meaning given to your singing, and those who may be accompanying you
will be able to feel where you are, and to keep time with you. In
singing a passage like this from Cowen's charming song "Aubade,"--the
master, if he knew his business, would instruct his pupil to slightly
accent the words as I have indicated with the mark =V=, and to preserve
_strict_ time throughout the passage, and especially in the taking up of
the words after the long note on the word _sleep_. The accompanyist
would, we may assume, do likewise with his pianoforte part, and in this
way a perfect _ensemble_ would be secured.
[Music:
Sleep, love, sleep,
the morn is wak - - ing,]
With this brief introduction to the subject, I will proceed to give the
student a few exercises in keeping and beating time, the assiduous
practice of which will, I hope, soon place him in the desirable position
of being able to sing in time.
[Music: Ex. 1.
Four beats in a bar.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol
La Si Do Do Si
La Sol Fa Mi Re Do]
[Music: Ex. 2.
Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 3.
Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 4.
Do Do Do Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 5.
Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 6.
Do Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 7.
Do Do Do Re Re Re Mi Mi Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 8.
Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 9.
Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 10.
Do Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 11.
Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Mi &c.]
These exercises may be timed as slow as you like on your metronome--the
slower the better--but 76 is a good pace to begin with; when you have
thoroughly mastered them at 76, take them a little quicker until you can
sing them accurately up to a good brisk time.
No 1 has but one note in the bar, and this must be held on steadily for
four beats of the metronome--care being taken to leave each note in
sufficient time to take a fresh breath, and attack the second note and
syllable in precise time with the metronome beat. I need, perhaps,
scarcely point out that much good will be obtained if the student can
accustom himself to _feeling_ in his mind the rhythm and beating, so as
not to acquire the habit of trusting to mechanical appliances, which are
dispensed with at public performances. The sol-fa-ing must be strictly
adhered to, and in Exercises 2, 3, etc., it will be seen that the
syllable must be sounded twice and four times respectively. With
Exercise 5 the dotted note comes in; but I will not stay to explain
that, as I assume that my readers will have acquainted themselves with
the elements of musical theory before taking up singing. Especial care
should be given to Exercise 7, as that is the first step in the
difficult matter of syncopation, carried out elaborately in Exercises 8
and 9. With Exercise 11 the question of Rests comes in, but the same
remark that I made as to the dotted notes applies here. Everything that
it is necessary to know about them should be found in any elementary
musical grammar.
Having mastered the above exercises, the reader may take the following
with two beats in the bar--taking the precaution to set them at a slow
time on the metronome, say 76, not singing them quickly until he is
thoroughly acquainted with them.
[Music: Ex. 1. Two beats to a bar.
Do Do Re Re Mi Mi Fa Fa Sol Sol
La La Si Si Do Do Do Si Si
La La Sol Sol Fa Fa Mi Mi Re Re Do]
[Music: Ex. 2.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La
Si Do Do Do Si Si &c.]
[Music: Ex. 3.]
[Music: Ex. 4.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 5.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 6.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 7.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol &c.]
[Music: Ex. 8.]
After which he may take the following with three beats in the bar:--
[Music: Ex. 1.
Three beats in a bar.
1 2 3
Do Re Mi Fa Sol
La Si Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 2.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 3.]
[Music: Ex. 4.]
[Music: Ex. 5.]
[Music: Ex. 6.]
[Music: Ex. 7.]
[Music: Ex. 8.]
[Music: Ex. 9.]
ON THE CHOICE OF MUSIC.
There are, of course, no _rules_ to be given to guide the student
in the choice of music, except the general ones, to choose good
music, pleasing music, and music suited to his voice and powers.
But those general rules touch incidentally on a few points on which
it may be well to offer a few remarks.
=Music must suit the Voice.=--Your music must not only be appropriate for
your voice in compass, but it must be such as has been written for a
voice of your kind. This is a most important thing to remember. Nothing
is more provoking to a person of good taste and musical knowledge than
to hear songs composed for a voice of one class sung by a voice of a
totally different character; and yet this is a vice which even good
artists will sometimes weakly succumb to. The popular song of Gounod's,
"_Quand tu chantes berçée_," for instance, has been sung to death by
many soprani and contralti, in various keys. One would have thought that
the words alone would have shown them the utter absurdity of what they
were doing; but no, for the sake of producing an effect (upon an
audience who naturally supposed that public singers of high standing
knew what they were doing, and why they did it), these good ladies
committed what I do not scruple to call a vulgar and inartistic blunder.
The song is a man's song, and no woman should attempt it.
This fault is one which amateurs are very apt to fall into, and a long
list might be made of songs which have suffered this unfair treatment.
Soprani sing tenor songs--(I have often, in the early days of the
popularity of "_Il Trovatore_," heard a soprano sing "_Ah, che la
Morte!_"--tenors, those written for soprano--(_e.g._, I know an amateur
tenor whose "crack" song is Iphis' "Farewell" in "_Jephtha_"). Contralti
and mezzo-soprani steal bass and barytone songs, as "But who may abide,"
from the "_Messiah_," and basses and barytones return the compliment by
appropriating "What tho' I trace," or "O rest in the Lord.")
There is a reason, quite apart from the question of taste, which renders
this practice objectionable. A composer of any skill writes his
accompaniment as well as his melody with reference to the voice which he
wishes to sing it. Now, if that voice be--we will say--a soprano, the
accompaniment will be written for a voice of that _pitch_, as well as of
that character and compass; the progressions of harmony will be written
with due regard to the actual place of the vocal notes in the scale. But
directly the song is sung by a tenor--a voice which pitches every note
an octave lower than the soprano--the relation of the vocal notes to the
accompaniment is changed; notes that were intended to be fourths above
the accompaniment will become fifths below, and progressions which were
correct in the composer's intention become wrong in the effect produced
by the singer. That is an extreme case, I grant, but it is only a fair
instance of the sort of result which follows on such changes, and it is
sufficient to show that the rule rests on reason and not caprice.
"=Original Keys.="--Do not bind yourself, as some think it necessary to
do, always to sing your songs in the original keys. Remember that opera
and oratorio music, and a large number of modern "ballads," were
composed for performance in large buildings, theatres, and
concert-rooms. The keys, therefore, were chosen with due reference to
that fact, and to the (in many cases) exceptional voices of the singers.
The raising of the pitch in later years also affects the question.
Now, if you have to sing in a drawing-room, the pitch, volume of tone,
and style of delivery must be appropriate to chamber music, and not to
the stage of Covent Garden, and the keys which are necessary for due
brilliancy and effect in a concert-room are frequently unsuited to a
drawing-room, giving an appearance of strain and noisiness to the
singing. A good deal of opera music is as unfit for singing in a
drawing-room as would be a grand symphony for performance there; and an
artistic singer should bear in mind this principle of fitness in his
selection.
At the same time, if it is considered desirable to transpose a song, let
it be only for that reason, and let the aim be to produce the same
effect, _relatively_, in the drawing-room, as the song in its original
key is intended to produce in the concert-room. Do not transpose
recklessly, merely to "suit your voice:" if you are a barytone, for
instance, do not sing tenor songs a few notes lower; or, if you are a
soprano, do not transpose contralto songs to suit your register. For the
_character_ of the music (if the music is good) suits the voice for
which it was intended, and there is a risk of destroying that character
by giving it to a voice of another kind. This has been proved over and
over again on the stage in several notable instances.
=Execution.=--Do not be too ambitious in selecting florid songs for
performance either in public or private. "Fireworks" in a drawing-room
rarely please, while in a concert-room they must be very perfect and
first-rate in execution to do so. Of course, if you are a professional
artist you must include such work in your studies, and even for the
amateur the practice of florid music, under a master, is most desirable
as an exercise. But where the choice of a song for a concert rests with
yourself, sacrifice ambition to prudence, unless your voice is naturally
a very flexible one, and your training in that style of music very
complete. I give, on this subject, a quotation from an old and
experienced writer on music and singing:
"Execution is certainly one of the most difficult parts of musical
science. Young singers are desirous of attaining it without reflecting
whether, from the formation of the throat and various physical causes,
they may ever be able to accomplish their wishes. Few, indeed, possess
the power of execution in a pre-eminent degree. It is in part a gift of
nature: those who have ever delighted as well as astonished us by their
rapid manner of running through divisions must have been naturally
endowed with flexible organs.
"... Some voices may be compared to gems which in their original state
are dull, and, to those unacquainted with their worth, of no value....
It frequently happens that singers, from timidity or want of proper
knowledge in exercising their voices, remain ignorant of their own
qualifications. The hinges of a door which have continued for years
undisturbed, will, when the door is re-opened, grate harshly on the ear;
but every effort renders the harshness more tolerable, until, from
frequent use, they move easily. Thus it is with the voice: on the
flexibility of the _uvula_ and the muscles connected with it depend both
the perfectibility of the shake and execution. But still it must be
acknowledged that acquired execution should never be exercised by the
side of nature otherwise than sparingly, even where necessity requires
it, for the latter possesses an easy velocity which can playfully sport
with its subject at will; but, however gratifying the power of execution
may be considered by those who possess it, I recommend them not to be
indiscriminately lavish, lest they cloy by too great a profusion, and,
as Voltaire remarks, 'shine in trills and divisions, at the expense of
poetry and good sense.'"
=Fashion.=--The songs which are "the rage" at any time are always great
snares for amateurs. Aspiring young singers hear a ballad charmingly
rendered by some great singer, and straightway go home, send for it, and
on the first available opportunity treat their friends to their version
of it. This is really unfair to themselves, as it throws them into
unwise contrast with the public singer who has made the song popular,
and whose well-known rendering of it forbids ordinary hearers to judge
the rendering of an amateur on its own merits, or by any rule but that
of comparison. Moreover, "popular" songs--I mean songs whose popularity
is largely due to their having been sung by favourite public
singers--are by no means always good in themselves; or, if fairly good,
by no means easy; or if good and not difficult, by no means always
sufficiently so to make it worth while for an amateur to spend time and
study on them. In very many cases the public singer has to sing these
songs because he is paid for doing so, and gets a "royalty" on every
copy sold; it is simply one development of the hydra-headed art of
advertising, and such productions are known by the vulgar name of
"pot-boilers," _i.e._, compositions hastily thrown off to bring in a
little money "_to keep the pot boiling_." If composers who are capable
of better things are reduced to making money in this way, we may be
sincerely sorry for them; but speaking from an artistic point of view,
the practice is reprehensible, and "pot-boilers" are not the kind of
music which a young singer, anxious to improve, should waste time or
money upon. I am far from saying that there are no good songs to be
found among new music, but I think they seldom lie on the top of the
pile.
=Forming a Repertoire.=--In gradually forming your _repertoire_, or
collection of properly studied songs for drawing-room or concert
singing, do not be in haste to make it a large one. It is better to know
only a few songs and do them really well, than to sing a large number
indifferently. If you are studying for the profession, there is a
considerable number of songs which you will be expected to know as a
matter of course, but over and above such, every singer should have a
special repertoire of his or her own, and it is of this that I now
speak. Your selection of songs, like your singing, should have the stamp
of your own individuality upon it. You should have a little stock of
songs, with which your singing is in a way identified, and which you
must be able to sing in a manner that at once stamps those songs as your
property, so that another person might say, "I could not sing that song
before you, it is one of your own."
To form such a repertoire, you may have to go a little out of the beaten
track of what is best known at the time. If opera music suits you best,
look at the operas, never performed now, of Glück, or the less known of
Mozart's, or earlier works of Rossini, Auber, &c.; or else try and get
hold of works not yet known in England, such as Macfarren's, Wallace's,
Purcell's, and a few other such native dramatic composers. In a word, do
not limit your notions of operatic music to what you hear year after
year at Covent Garden or Her Majesty's.
So, too, in oratorio: search in the less familiar oratorios of Handel,
and such of his operas as you can get access to, and carry the same idea
out in examining the works of other composers, ancient and modern. Good
work has been done of late years by various publishers in publishing
many works of this class, and there are plenty of these which are still
unfamiliar and unhackneyed.
The same with your songs and ballads: before you rush into the modern
fashionable ballad, see if you cannot find a few that you can
appropriate among the stores of old English music, or the detached songs
of old Italian masters (many of which are magnificent as songs, and
utterly unknown at present, except to the few).
PHYSIOLOGICAL SURROUNDINGS.
It is highly expedient that singers themselves, and intending students
of the art, should make some acquaintance with the physiological
surroundings which are brought into play in the process of voice
production. A knowledge of the technical terms for the various organs
directly involved is very essential, and the intelligent student will
see the necessity not only for distinguishing such names as "larynx" and
"diaphragm," but also of possessing some idea of their whereabouts in
the human frame. No better course could be adopted for the acquirement
of such a knowledge than attendance at the classes and lectures at the
musical colleges and other institutions, which, from time to time,
secure the assistance of qualified specialists to speak upon this very
important branch of the singing art. No other mode of teaching is so
well calculated to enlighten the uninitiated in the wondrous mechanism
of the human voice, and to inspire him or her with an adequate sense of
the watchful care and delicate treatment which a voice worthy of
systematic training demands, as well as deserves, at the hands of
students of both sexes. As a preliminary to a fuller inquiry into the
subject, the following few notes may be fixed upon the mind:--
=The Larynx= (+larynx+) constitutes the upper part of the wind-pipe. It
is the seat of the voice, and essential parts of it are the "vocal
cords" (_chordæ vocales_), two membranes in a horizontal position across
the larynx. It is popularly called "Adam's apple" (_pomum Adami_), the
protuberance so often recognizable in the throats of bass singers, but a
more correct use of "_pomum Adami_" is when it is applied to a
projection in the thyroid cartilage--a part of the laryngeal structure.
=The Thyroid= (from +Thyreos+) is a shield-shaped cartilage, and that
part of the larynx which, in the case of both sexes, develops suddenly
at the period when they pass from youth to mature age. Other important
cartilages are the cricoid (from +krikos+), a ring-shaped membrane; the
arytenoids (from +harytaina+ a pitcher); the epiglottis (+epi-glôtta+),
situated at the back of the mouth; and the cartilages of Santorini, or
_cornicula laryngis_.