SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR A RADICAL REFORM IN VOICE CULTURE
To reinforce the foregoing principles, the author advances the
following suggestions which can bring about a radical reform in
the culture of the voice, directing the art of singing toward
more definite rules, scientific, and better suited to the modern
conditions:
1. Voice culture must be _natural_ in its basis, and
_scientific_ in its principles—not _empiric_ and _arbitrary_.
There must be only _one method_ of singing, founded on
_physiological laws_, presented in practical form.
2. The _education of the voice_ must begin in the _elementary
schools_, and must first be taught to children in the form of
correct use of the _speaking voice_.
We believe this to be the _most important_ feature in the reform
of voice culture, being directed to the very origin of what is
responsible for the initial defects and deterioration in the
natural voices of children. A _school_ should be founded for
this purpose, where school _teachers_ could get adequate
instruction in the natural and _correct phonetic rules, molded
on classic languages_, for teaching this form of voice
education.
3. Singing teachers must be _new professionals_, combining
_scientific_ with _artistic_ knowledge; a class of _voice
specialists_, differentiated from coaches, accompanists, vocal
musicians, etc.
4. Voice specialists must undergo a regular course of training
in scientific and musical matters related to voice, and _must be
subject_ to _examination by_ a _special Board of Scientific_ and
_Musical Experts_, _elected_ or _recognized_ by the
_Government_. They must get their _practicing licenses_ from
this Board, as in the case of other professions. That alone can
protect the singing field from all kinds of intruders,
charlatans and impostors.
A survey of these principles and suggestions discloses the
_extent of the author’s task_. In his endeavor to demonstrate
how certain ideas about the mechanism of voice production have
been entirely neglected or misinterpreted, and for strict
adherence to the principles laid down, which differ considerably
from the methods now taught, he _must advocate_ and _suggest_ an
_almost opposite form of vocal education from that which is now
in vogue_.
That has no relation of any sort with the completion of the
culture of the voice, as far as musicianship, technic and style
of singing are concerned. This is a task which belongs to a
class of professional people, who represent the musicians of the
voice. These professionals—coaches, accompanists, interpreters,
etc., have the function of finishing the artistic education of
the pupil for the stage or any other career. _But the
preliminary voice education of the singing students is quite
another matter, to which more serious and solid care should be
devoted_, and in which the _untaught should take no part_
whatsoever.
For this purpose the author proposes a new form of voice
education which he calls the “_Scientific Culture of Voice_,”
based, as above stated, upon the fundamental laws of acoustics
and physiology of the voice, and molded on the method of singing
of Enrico Caruso, who has been the living model of the natural
mechanism of voice production. This culture must be intrusted to
the specialists of the voice who, being well equipped with the
necessary scientific and musical knowledge, fill the
requirements for competent and correct teaching.
The contents of this book, therefore, will treat first of the
voice purely as a physiological phenomenon, from the standpoint
of its natural production, in accordance with the principles
already announced, and then of the most effective means for
accomplishing a radical reform in voice culture. This will be
carried out by an entirely original method, based on phonetic
rules molded on the Italian language, which places and develops
the singing voice through the speaking voice.