,,problems999999 which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #aidic-;h4htm or #aidic-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/dirs_/#a_/ i_/d_/i_/aidic_/aidic-;h_/#aidic-;h4htm7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/dirs_/#a_/ i_/d_/i_/aidic_/aidic-;h4zip7 ,the musical illustrations also have been transcribed and collected in two pdf files1 links to which can be found at the beginning and the end of the html version4 ,the ,exercises follow the ,exercises as numbered in the book in chapter ,,ii 7,the ,head ,voice74 ,the remainder of the musical fragments1 which are unlabeled in the book1 are noted as ,figures ,a through ,q 7in the order in which they appear71 and can be found in the ,figures pdf4 ,,the ,,head ,,voice ,,and ,,other ,,problems ,practical ,talks on ,singing by ,d4 ,a4 ,,clippinger ,author of ,systematic ,voice ,training ,the ,elements of ,voice ,culture #a4jj ,illustration ,boston ,oliver ,ditson ,company ,new ,york ,chicago ,chas4 ,h4 ,ditson ,co4 ,lyon ,healy ,copyright ,,mcmxvii ,by ,oliver ,ditson ,company ,international ,copyright ,secured ,to ,,my ,,students ,past1 ,present and ,future ,,introduction ,the following chapters are the outgrowth of an enthusiasm for the work of voice training1 together with a deep personal interest in a large number of conscientious young men and women who have gone out of my studio into the world to engage in the responsible work of voice teaching4 ,the desire to be of service to them has prompted me to put in permanent form the principles on which ,i labored1 more or less patiently1 to ground them during a course of three1 four1 or five years4 ,the fact that after having stood the grind for that length of time they are still asking1 not to say clamoring1 for more1 may1 in a measure1 justify the decision to issue this book4 ,it is not an arraignment of vocal teachers1 although there are occasional hints1 public and private1 which lead me to believe that we are not altogether without sin4 ,but if this be true we take refuge in the belief that our iniquity is not inborn1 but rather is it the result of the educational methods of those immediately preceding us4 ,this at least shifts the responsibility4 ,words are dangerous things1 and are liable at any moment to start a verbal conflagration difficult to control4 ,nowhere is this more likely to occur than in a discussion of voice training4 ,from a rather wide acquaintance with what has been said on this subject in the past hundred years1 ,i feel perfectly safe in submitting the proposition that the human mind can believe anything and be conscientious in it4 ,things which have the approval of ages emit the odor of sanctity1 and whoever scoffs does so at his peril4 ,charles ,lamb was once criticised for speaking disrespectfully of the equator1 and a noted divine was severely taken to task for making unkind remarks about hell4 ,humanity insists that these time honored institutions be treated with due respect4 ,i have an equal respect for those who believe as ,i do and those who do not2 therefore if anything in this book is not in accord with popular opinion it is a crack at the head of the idol rather than that of the worshipper4 ,there is no legislative enactment in this great and free country to prevent us from believing anything we like1 but there should be some crumbs of comfort in the reflection that we cannot know anything but the truth4 ,one may believe that eight and three are thirteen if it please him1 but he cannot know it because it is not true4 ,everything that is true has for its basis certain facts1 principles1 laws1 and these are eternal and unchangeable4 ,the instant the law governing any particular thing becomes definitely known1 that moment it becomes undebatable4 ,all argument is eliminated2 but while we are searching for these laws we are dealing largely in opinions1 and here the offense enters1 for as ,mr4 ,epictetus once said1 ,men become offended at their opinion of things1 not at the things themselves4 ,we can scarcely imagine any one taking offense at the multiplication table1 neither is this interesting page from the arithmetic any longer considered a fit subject for debate in polite society1 but so far as we know this is the only thing that is immune4 ,our musical judgments1 which are our opinions1 are governed by our experience2 and with the growth of experience they ripen into solid convictions4 ,for many years ,i have had a conviction that voice training is much simpler and less involved than it is generally considered4 ,i am convinced that far too much is made of the vocal mechanism1 which under normal conditions always responds automatically4 ,beautiful tone should be the primary aim of all voice teaching1 and more care should be given to forming the student's tone concept than to that of teaching him how to control his throat by direct effort4 ,the controlling power of a right idea is still much underestimated4 ,the scientific plan of controlling the voice by means of mechanical directions leaves untouched the one thing which prevents its normal1 automatic action1 namely tension4 ,but1 someone inquires1 ,if the student is singing with rigid throat and tongue would you say nothing about it8 ,i would correct it1 but not by telling him to hold his tongue down4 ,a relaxed tongue is always in the right place1 therefore all he needs to learn about the tongue is how to relax it4 ,it has been hinted that he who subscribes to ,dr4 ,fillebrown's declaration that ,a,the process of singing is psychologic rather than physiologic has nothing tangible to work with4 ,now tone concept and musical feeling are absolutely essential to singing1 and they are definite entities to one who has them4 ,all musical temperaments must be vitalized4 ,imaginations must be trained until they will burst into flame at the slightest poetic suggestion4 ,musical natures are not fixed quantities4 ,they are all subject to the law of growth4 ,every vocal student is an example of the law of evolution4 ,few people find it easy in the beginning to assume instantly a state of intense emotion4 ,these things are habits of mind which must be developed1 and they furnish the teacher with definite problems4 ,a ,resonance in ,singing and ,speaking1 by ,thomas ,fillebrown4 ,to repeat1 the tone is the thing1 and how it sounds is what determines whether it is right or wrong4 ,and so we come back again to the ear1 which is the taste4 ,does it please the ear8 ,if so1 is the ear reliable8 ,not always4 ,if all teachers were trying for the same tone quality there would be no need of further writing on the subject1 but they are not4 ,on the contrary no two of them are trying for exactly the same quality4 ,each one is trying to make the voice produce his idea of tone quality1 and the astounding thing about the human voice is that for a time at least1 it can approximate almost anything that is demanded of it4 ,if a voice is ruined1 the ear of the teacher is directly responsible4 ,it is useless to try to place the blame elsewhere4 ,truth is always simple4 ,if it seems difficult it is due to our clumsy way of stating it4 ,thought1 like melodies1 should run on the line of the least resistance4 ,in the following pages ,i have eschewed all mystifying polysyllabic verbiage1 and as ,mark ,twain once said1 have confined myself to a categorical statement of facts unincumbered by an obscuring accumulation of metaphor and allegory4 ,it is hoped that this book will be useful4 ,it is offered as a guide rather than as a reformer4 ,it aims to point in the right direction1 and do its bit in emphasizing those things which are fundamental in voice training4 ,whatever is true in it will reach and help those who need it4 ,nothing more could be asked or desired4 ,illustration3 7signed7 ,d4 ,a4 ,clippinger ,kimball ,hall1 ,chicago4 ,may1 #aiag4 ,,contents ,,introduction ,i4 ,,voice ,,placing ,,ii4 ,,the ,,head ,,voice ,,iii4 ,a ,,general ,,survey ,,of ,,the ,,situation ,,iv4 ,,hints ,,on ,,teaching ,v4 ,,the ,,nature ,,and ,,meaning ,,of ,,art ,,vi4 ,,singing ,,as ,,an ,,art ,,vii4 ,,the ,,construction ,,of ,a ,,song ,,viii4 ,,how ,,to ,,study ,a ,,song ,,ix4 ,,scientific ,,voice ,,production ,,bibliography ,,the ,,head ,,voice ,,and ,,other ,,problems4 ,i ,,voice ,,placing ,the path of the sound1 being formed of elastic and movable parts1 varies its dimensions and forms in endless ways1 and every modification--even the slightest--has a corresponding and definite influence on the voice4 ,garcia4 ,hints on ,singing4 ,vocal teachers are rated primarily on their ability as voice builders4 ,when students look for a teacher the first thing they want to know is3 ,can he build a voice8 ,his ability as an interpreter in most instances is taken for granted4 ,why this is so is easily understood4 ,there is a moving appeal in the pure singing tone of the human voice that cannot even be approximated by any other instrument4 ,we have all heard voices that were so beautiful that to hear one of them vocalize for half an hour would be a musical feast4 ,such a voice is so full of feeling1 so vibrant with life and emotion that it moves one to the depths even if no words are used4 ,it is only natural that all singers should be eager to possess such a voice1 for it covers up a multitude of other musical misdemeanors4 ,while it does not take the place altogether of the interpretative instinct1 it does make the work of the singer much easier by putting his audience in sympathy with him from the beginning1 thus to a considerable extent disarming criticism4 ,the old ,italians attached so much importance to beautiful tone that they were willing to work conscientiously for half a dozen years to obtain it4 ,to the beautiful tone they added a faultless technic4 ,altogether it required from five to eight years to prepare and equip a singer for a career1 but when he was thus prepared he could do astounding things in the way of trills1 roulades1 and cadenzas4 ,the stories of many of these singers have come down to us through the musical histories1 and the singing world has come to believe that the teachers alone were responsible4 ,owing to her geographic location1 her climate1 language1 and racial characteristics ,italy at one time furnished most of the great singers of the world1 and the world with its usual lack of judgment and discrimination gave ,italian teachers all of the credit4 ,that the best of the ,italian teachers were as near right as it is humanly possible to be1 ,i have no doubt whatever1 but along with the few singers who became famous there were hundreds who worked equally hard but were never heard of4 ,a great voice is a gift of the creator1 and the greater the gift the less there is to be done by the teacher4 ,but in addition to what nature has done there is always much to be done by the teacher1 and the nature of the vocal instrument is such that its training is a problem unique and peculiar4 ,the voice can do so many different things1 produce so many different kinds of tone1 in such a variety of ways that the ability to determine which is right and which is wrong becomes a matter of aesthetic judgment rather than scientific or mechanical4 ,if the scale1 power1 quality1 and compass of the human voice were established as are those of the piano1 the great problem in the training of a singer would be much simplified1 possibly eliminated2 but the singer must form the pitch1 power1 and quality of each tone as he uses it2 therefore in the training of a singer we are constantly facing what has crystallized into the term ,voice ,placing4 ,this term has been used as a peg upon which to hang every whim1 fancy1 formula1 and vocal vagary that has floated through the human mind in the last two centuries4 ,it has furnished an excuse for inflicting upon vocal students every possible product of the imagination1 normal and abnormal1 disguised in the word ,method1 and the willingness with which students submit themselves as subjects for experiment is beyond belief4 ,the more mysterious and abnormal the process the more faith they have in its efficacy4 ,the nature of the vocal instrument1 its wide range of possibilities1 and its intimate relation to the imagination make it a peculiarly fit subject for experiment4 ,the scientist has tried to analyze it1 the mechanic has tried to make it do a thousand things nature never intended it to do1 the reformer has tried to reform both1 and the psychologist1 nearest right of all1 has attempted to remove it from the realm of the material altogether4 ,there seems to be no way to stop this theorizing1 and it doubtless will continue until the general musical intelligence reaches such a point that it automatically becomes impossible4 ,we are constantly hearing such remarks as ,mr4 ,s knows how to place the voice4 ,mr4 ,g does not4 ,mr4 ,b places the voice high4 ,mr4 ,r does not place the voice high enough4 ,mr4 ,x is great at bringing the tone forward1 etc41 etc4 ,this goes on through a long list of fragments of ,english difficult to explain even by those who use them4 ,now voice placing means just one thing1 not half a dozen4 ,it means learning to produce beautiful tone4 ,when one can produce beautiful tone throughout his vocal compass his voice is placed1 and it is not placed until he can4 ,the injunction to place the voice invariably leaves in the mind of the student the idea that he must direct the tone to some particular point1 in fact he is often urged to do so1 whereas the truth is that when the tone is properly produced there is no thought of trying to put it anywhere4 ,it seems to sing itself4 ,there is a well established belief among students that the tone must be consciously directed to the point where it is supposed to focus4 ,this belief is intimately associated with another equally erroneous1 that the only way to tell whether a tone is good or bad1 right or wrong1 is by the way it feels4 ,a tone is something to hear4 ,it makes its appeal to the ear1 and why one should rely on the sense of feeling to tell whether it sounds right or wrong is something difficult to understand4 ,further1 explicit directions are given for the action and control of everything involved in making tone except the mind of the student4 ,the larynx seems to be particularly vulnerable and is subject to continuous attack4 ,one says it should be held low throughout the compass4 ,another says it should rise as the pitch rises1 and still another1 that it should drop as the pitch rises4 ,instructions of this kind do not enlighten1 they mystify4 ,if there be any one thing upon which voice teachers theoretically agree it is free throat4 ,even those who argue for a fixed larynx agree to this1 notwithstanding it is a physical impossibility to hold the larynx in a fixed position throughout the compass without a considerable amount of rigidity4 ,it is like believing in ,infinite ,love and eternal punishment at the same time4 ,when the larynx is free it will not and should not be in the same position at all times4 ,it will be a little lower for somber tones than for bright tones4 ,it will be a little higher for the vowel e than for oo or o1 but the adjustments will be automatic1 never conscious4 ,it cannot be too often reiterated that every part of the vocal mechanism must act automatically1 and it is not properly controlled until it does4 ,the soft palate also comes in for its share of instruction4 ,i was once taught to raise it until the uvula disappeared4 ,later ,i was taught to relax it4 ,both of these movements of the soft palate were expected to result in a beautiful tone4 ,now if two things which are directly opposed to each other are equal to the same thing1 then there is no use in bothering our heads further with logic4 ,such directions ,i believe to be of doubtful value1 if not irrelevant4 ,we must learn that an idea has definite form1 and that when the mechanism is free1 that is1 plastic1 the idea molds it into a corresponding form and the expression becomes a perfect picture of the idea4 ,this is what is meant by indirect control1 involuntary1 automatic action4 ,one could write indefinitely on the peculiarities of voice training1 the unique suggestions made1 the mechanical instructions given1 the unbelievable things students are made to do with lips1 tongue and larynx as a necessary preparation to voice production4 ,in this as in everything else there are extremists4 ,some have such an exquisite sense of detail that they never get beyond it4 ,at the other extreme are those who trust everything to take care of itself4 ,both overlook the most important thing1 namely1 how the voice sounds4 ,it requires much time1 study and experience to learn that voice training is simple4 ,it is a fact that truth is naturally1 inherently simple4 ,its mastery lies in removing those things which seem to make it difficult and complex4 ,training the voice1 this so called voice placing1 is simple and easy when one has risen above that overwhelming amount of fiction1 falsity1 and fallacy that has accumulated around it1 obscuring the truth and causing many well intentioned teachers to follow theories and vagaries that have no foundation in fact1 and which lead both teacher and pupil astray4 ,if there is any truth applicable to voice training it has an underlying principle1 for truth is the operation of principle4 ,if we start wrong we shall end wrong4 ,if we start right and continue according to principle we shall reach the desired goal4 ,voice training has its starting point1 its basis1 its foundation1 in beautiful tone4 ,this should be the aim of both teacher and pupil from the beginning4 ,to produce something beautiful is the aim of all artistic activity4 ,beautiful tone1 as ,whistler said of all art1 has its origin in absolute truth4 ,that which is not beautiful cannot possibly be true1 for real nature1 which is the expression of ,infinite ,mind1 is always perfect1 and no perfect thing can be ugly1 discordant1 or inharmonious4 ,the imperfection we see is the result of our own imperfect understanding of the real universe4 ,a tone is something to hear1 and hearing is mental4 ,an old ,french anatomist once said3 ,the eye sees what it is looking for1 and it is looking only for what it has in mind4 ,the same is true of the ear4 ,we hear the tone mentally before we sing it1 and we should hear it as distinctly as if it were sung by another4 ,a tone first of all is a mental product1 and its pitch1 power1 and quality are definite mental entities4 ,when we wish to convey this tone to another we do it through the sound producing instrument which nature has provided for this purpose4 ,that everything exists first as idea has been the teaching of the philosophers for ages4 ,that the idea is the controlling1 governing force is equally well understood4 ,therefore1 inasmuch as the aim of all voice building is to produce beautiful tone we must start with the right idea of tone4 ,this is where the first and greatest difficulty appears4 ,to most people a tone is intangible and difficult to define4 ,one will rarely find a student that can formulate anything approaching a definition of a musical tone and ,i fancy many teachers would find it far from easy4 ,unless one has a grasp of the psychology of voice1 and a great many have not1 he will begin to work with what he can see4 ,here enters the long dreary mechanical grind that eventually ruins the temper of both teacher and student1 and results in nothing but mechanical singing1 instead of a joyous1 inspiring musical performance4 ,in studying the pure singing tone we find the following3 ,it is smooth1 steady1 firm1 rich1 resonant1 sympathetic4 ,we shall also find that all of its qualities and attributes are mental4 ,it must contain the element of freedom 7mental71 firmness 7mental71 security 7mental71 sympathy 7mental71 enthusiasm1 sentiment1 joy1 compassion1 pity1 love1 sorrow 7all mental74 ,these are all qualities of the singing tone4 ,they are not intangible4 ,on the contrary1 to the one who has them they are definite and are the things he works for from the beginning4 ,they are basic and fundamental4 ,all are combined in what ,i call tone concept1 which is another word for musical ear1 or musical taste4 ,this tone concept is by far the most important thing in voice training4 ,the student will not sing a tone better than the one he conceives mentally1 therefore the mental concept of tone1 or tone concept must be the basis of voice placing4 ,this tone concept1 or mental picture of tone qualities controls the vocal instrument by indirection4 ,true tone color does not come as the result of trying by some physical process to make the tone light or dark1 but from the automatic response to musical concept or feeling4 ,in leaving this subject ,i wish to pay my respects to that company of cheerful sinners--the open throat propagandists4 ,i was taught in my youth that the punishment for a sin committed ignorantly was none the less pungent and penetrating1 and ,i trust that in administering justice to these offenders the powers will be prompt1 punctilious and persevering4 ,it is a worthy activity4 ,no mistake of greater magnitude was ever made since voice training began than that of holding the throat open by direct effort4 ,it never resulted in a tone a real musician's ear could endure1 nevertheless during the latter part of the nineteenth century and even the early part of the twentieth it was made such an integral part of voice culture that it seemed to be incorporated in the law of heredity1 and vocal students1 even before they were commanded1 would try to make a large cavity in the back of the throat4 ,i believe however1 that there is much less of this than formerly4 ,vocal teachers are beginning to see that the one important thing is a free throat and that when this is gained the response of the mechanism to the mental demand is automatic and unerring4 ,,ii ,,the ,,head ,,voice ,let him take care1 however1 that the higher the notes1 the more it is necessary to touch them with softness1 to avoid screaming4 ,tosi4 7#afdg-agbg7 ,observations on ,florid ,song4 ,that the development of the upper1 or head voice1 is the most difficult as well as the most important part of the training of the singing voice1 will be readily admitted by every experienced singing teacher4 ,that the upper voice should be produced with as much comfort as the middle or lower1 is scarcely debatable4 ,that a majority of singers produce their upper voice with more or less difficulty1 need not be argued4 ,why is it that after two1 three or more years of study so many upper voices are still thick1 harsh and unsteady8 ,there is nothing in the tone world so beautiful as the male or female head voice when properly produced1 and there is nothing so excruciatingly distressing as the same voice when badly produced4 ,the pure head voice is unique in its beauty4 ,it is full of freedom1 elasticity1 spiritual exaltation4 ,it seems to float1 as it were1 in the upper air without connection with a human throat4 ,its charm is irresistible4 ,it is a joy alike to the singer and the listener4 ,it is the most important part of any singer's equipment4 ,why is it so difficult and why do so few have it8 ,various reasons are at hand4 ,the spirit of ,american enterprise has found its way into voice teaching4 ,it is in the blood of both teacher and pupil4 ,the slogan is ,put it over4 ,this calls for big tone and they do not see why they should not have it at once4 ,the ability to use the full power of the upper voice when occasion demands is necessary and right1 but merely to be able to sing high and loud means nothing4 ,all that is required for that is a strong physique and determination4 ,such voice building requires but little time and no musical sense whatever2 but to be able to sing the upper register with full power1 emotional intensity1 musical quality and ease1 is the result of long and careful work under the ear of a teacher whose sense of tone quality is so refined that it will detect instantly the slightest degree of resistance and not allow it to continue4 ,the ambitious young singer who has been told by the village oracle that she has a great voice and all she needs is a little finishing1 balks at the idea of devoting three or four years to the process1 and so she looks for some one who will do it quickly and she always succeeds in finding him4 ,to do this work correctly the old ,italians insisted on from five to eight years with an hour lesson each day4 ,to take such a course following the modern plan of one or two half hours a week1 would have the student treading on the heels of ,methuselah before it was completed4 ,it is not always easy to make students understand that the training of the voice means the development of the musical mentality and at best is never a short process4 ,to most of them voice culture is a physical process and as they are physically fit1 why wait8 ,now the fact is that there is nothing physical in voice production save the instrument1 and a strong physique has no more to do with good singing than it has with good piano playing4 ,voice production is a mental phenomenon4 ,it is mentality of the singer impressing itself on the vocal instrument and expressing itself through it4 ,the idea that the vocal instrument alone without mental guidance will produce beautiful tone is as fallacious as that a grand piano will produce good music whether the one at the keyboard knows how to play it or not4 ,let it be understood once for all that it is the mentality of the individual1 not his body1 that is musical or unmusical4 ,both teacher and student must learn that there is much more to do mentally and much less to do physically than most people suspect4 ,they must learn that a musical mentality is no less definite than a physical body1 and is at least equally important2 also that right thinking is as necessary to good voice production as it is to mathematics4 ,at this point there will doubtless be a strenuous objection from those who assert that tone cannot be produced without effort1 and that a considerable amount of it is necessary1 especially in the upper voice4 ,it will be readily admitted that the application of force is required to produce tone1 but how much force8 ,certainly not that extreme physical effort that makes the singer red in the face and causes his upper tones to shriek rather than sing4 ,such a display of force discloses an erroneous idea of how to produce the upper voice4 ,when there is the right relation existing between the breath and the vocal instrument1 when there is the proper poise and balance of parts1 no such effort is necessary4 ,on the contrary the tone seems to flow and the effort required is only that of a light and pleasant physical exercise4 ,the pianist does not have to strike the upper tones any harder than the lower ones in order to bring out their full power4 ,why should the upper part of the voice require such prodigious effort8 ,now all voices should have a head register4 ,it is a part of nature's equipment1 and this calls for a word on the classification of voices4 ,it ought not to be difficult to determine whether a voice is soprano1 alto1 tenor1 baritone or bass1 but ,i find each year a considerable number that have been misled4 ,why8 ,a number of things are responsible4 ,one of the most common is that of mistaking a soprano who has a chest register for an alto4 ,this singer finds the low register easier to sing than the upper1 consequently she and her friends decide she is an alto4 ,thereafter she sings low songs and takes the alto part in the choir4 ,the longer she follows this plan the less upper voice she will have1 and when she goes to a teacher1 unless he has a discriminating and analytical ear1 he will allow her to remain in the alto class4 ,there is always something in the fiber of a tone1 even though it be badly produced1 that will disclose to the trained ear what it will be when rightly produced4 ,again1 the human voice can produce such a variety of tone qualities that sometimes a soprano will cultivate a somber style of singing and a majority of people will call her alto4 ,it requires a trained ear to detect what she is doing4 ,the baritone also1 because he often sings the bass part in a quartet1 tries to make himself sound like a bass2 this he does by singing with a somber1 hollow quality which has little or no carrying power4 ,another mistake is that of classifying a voice according to its compass4 ,this is the least reliable method of all4 ,the mere fact of having high tones does not necessarily make one a soprano1 neither is a voice always to be classified as alto by reason of not being able to sing high4 ,it is quality that decides what a voice is4 ,soprano is a quality4 ,alto is a quality4 ,the terms tenor1 baritone1 bass1 refer to a quality rather than a compass4 ,these qualities are determined primarily by the construction of the organ4 ,but when voices are properly trained there is not so much difference in the compass as most people suppose4 ,for example3 the female head voice lies approximately within this compass ,illustration3 ,figure ,a and altos who learn to use the real head voice will have no difficulty in vocalizing that high4 ,at the lower end of the voice sopranos who have a chest register will often sing as low as most altos4 ,but whether they sing high or low it is always the quality that determines the classification of the voice4 ,many lyric sopranos have no chest register1 and it would be a mistake to attempt to develop one4 ,in such voices1 which rarely have anything below middle ,c1 the middle register must be strengthened and carried down and made to take the place of the chest voice4 ,it must not be understood that there is but one soprano quality1 one alto quality1 etc4 ,the voice is so individual that it cannot be thus limited4 ,there are many soprano qualities between the coloratura and the dramatic1 and the same is true of alto1 tenor1 baritone and bass4 ,when the voice is rightly produced1 its natural quality will invariably appear1 and there it must be allowed to remain4 ,an attempt to change it always means disaster4 ,it will be observed that the piano string diminishes in length and thickness as the pitch rises1 and the voice must do something which corresponds to this4 ,otherwise it will be doing that which approximates stretching the middle ,c string1 for example1 until it will produce its octave4 ,in discussing the head voice it is the purpose to avoid as much as possible the mechanical construction of the instrument4 ,this may be learned from the numerous books on the anatomy and physiology of the voice4 ,it is an interesting subject1 but beyond an elementary knowledge it is of little value to the teacher4 ,a correct knowledge of how to train the voice must be gained in the studio1 not in the laboratory4 ,its basis is the musical sense rather than the mechanical or scientific4 ,all of the scientific or mechanical knowledge that the world has to offer is no preparation for voice training4 ,a knowledge of the art of teaching begins when the teacher takes his first pupil1 not before4 ,therefore the aim shall be to present the subject as it appears to the teacher4 ,we hear much of the value of vocal physiology as a guide to good voice production4 ,it is also claimed that a knowledge of it will prevent the singer from misusing his voice and at the same time act as a panacea for vocal ills4 ,these statements do not possess a single element of truth4 ,the only way the singer can injure the vocal instrument is by forcing it4 ,that is1 by setting up a resistance in the vocal cords that prevents their normal action4 ,if this is persevered in it soon becomes a habit which results in chronic congestion4 ,singing becomes increasingly difficult1 especially in the upper voice1 and in course of time the singer discovers that he has laryngitis4 ,will a knowledge of vocal physiology cure laryngitis8 ,never4 ,will it prevent any one from singing throaty8 ,there is no instance of the kind on record4 ,in a majority of cases laryngitis and other vocal ills are the direct results of bad voice production and disappear as the singer learns to produce his upper tones without resistance4 ,these things are effects1 not causes1 and to destroy the effect we must remove the cause4 ,this will be found to be a wrong habit and habits are mental1 not physical4 ,when a mental impulse and its consequent response become simultaneous and automatic the result is a habit1 but it is the mental impulse that has become automatic4 ,the terms1 tension1 rigidity1 interference1 resistance1 all mean essentially the same thing4 ,they mean the various forms of contraction in the vocal instrument which prevents its involuntary action4 ,if we follow these things back far enough we shall find that they all have their origin in some degree of fear4 ,this fear1 of which anxiety is a mild form1 begins to show itself whenever the singer attempts tones above the compass of his speaking voice4 ,here is undeveloped territory4 ,the tone lacks power1 quality and freedom1 and as power is what the untrained singer always seeks first1 he begins to force it4 ,in a short time he has a rigid throat1 and the longer he sings the more rigid it becomes4 ,by the time he decides to go to a teacher his voice is in such a condition that he must take his upper tones with a thick1 throaty quality or with a light falsetto4 ,among female voices ,i have seen many that could sing nothing but a full tone in the upper register1 and that only with an unsteady1 unsympathetic quality4 ,now a point upon which all voice teachers can agree is that the upper voice is not properly trained until it has a perfect messa di voce that is1 until the singer can swell the tone from the lightest pianissimo to full voice and return1 on any tone in his compass1 without a break and without sacrificing the pure singing quality4 ,how shall this be accomplished8 ,if the singer is forcing the upper voice it is safe to say in the beginning that it never can be done by practicing with full voice4 ,such practice will only fasten the habit of resistance more firmly upon the singer4 ,to argue in the affirmative is equivalent to saying that the continued practice of a bad tone will eventually produce a good tone4 ,there is but one way to the solution of the problem2 the singer must get rid of resistance4 ,when he has succeeded in doing that the problem of the head voice is solved4 ,the bugaboo of voice placing permanently disappears4 ,the difficulty so many have in placing the upper voice lies in this1 that they try to do it without removing the one thing which prevents them from doing it4 ,when the voice is free from resistance it places itself1 that is1 it produces without effort whatever quality the singer desires4 ,the term head voice1 doubtless grew out of the sensation in the head which accompanies the upper tones1 and this sensation is the result of the vibration of the air in the air head cavities4 ,many have taken this sensation as a guide to the production of the head voice1 and in order to make sure of it they instruct the student to direct the tone into the head4 ,this is not only an uncertain and unnecessary procedure1 but is almost sure to develop a resistance which effectually prevents the tone from reaching the head cavities4 ,when there is no interference the tone runs naturally into the proper channel4 ,it is not necessary to use force to put it there4 ,,head ,,resonance ,whether or not the head cavities act as resonators is one of the many mooted points in voice training4 ,those who believe they do are much in the majority1 but those in the minority are equally confident they do not4 ,what are the arguments8 ,that there is a sensation in the head cavities when singing in the upper part of the compass no one can deny4 ,does it affect tone quality8 ,the minority offers the argument that it cannot do so because the soft palate automatically rises in singing a high tone1 thus closing the passage through the nose4 ,on the other side it is argued1 and rightly1 that the soft palate can be trained to remain low in singing high tones4 ,but whether the soft palate is high or low does not settle the matter4 ,it is not at all necessary that breath should pass through the nasal cavities in order to make them act as resonators4 ,in fact it is necessary that it should not4 ,it is the air that is already in the cavities that vibrates4 ,all who are acquainted with resonating tubes understand this4 ,neither is it necessary that the vibrations should be transmitted to the head cavities by way of the pharynx and over the soft palate4 ,they may be transmitted through the bones of the head4 ,john ,howard proved this1 to his satisfaction at least1 many years ago4 ,i recall that in working with ,emil ,behnke he used an exercise to raise the soft palate and completely close the channel1 yet no one can deny that his pupils had head resonance4 ,there are certain facts in connection with this that are hard to side-step4 ,plunket ,greene once told me that at one time he lost the resonance in the upper part of his voice1 and on consulting a specialist he found a considerable growth on the septum4 ,he had it removed and at once the resonance returned4 ,other equally strong arguments could be offered in support of the claim that the head cavities do act as resonators4 ,at any rate the high or low palate is not the deciding factor4 ,too much cannot be said on the subject of interference1 or resistance4 ,so long as there is any of it in evidence it has its effect on tone quality4 ,it is the result of tension1 and tension is a mental impulse of a certain kind4 ,its antidote is relaxation1 which is a mental impulse of an opposite nature4 ,it is necessary for most singers to work at this until long after they think they have it4 ,in preparing the head voice the student must begin with a tone that is entirely free from resistance and build from that4 ,in a large majority of voices it means practicing with a light1 soft tone4 ,a voice that cannot sing softly is not rightly produced4 ,while the student is working for the freedom which will give him a good half voice he is preparing the conditions for a good full voice4 ,the conditions are not right for the practice of full voice until the last vestige of resistance has disappeared4 ,the light voice is as necessary to artistic success as the full voice4 ,the singer must have both1 but he must never sacrifice quality for power4 ,in the female voice the readjustments of the mechanism known as changes of register usually occur at about ,illustration3 ,figure ,b4 ,in many lyric soprano voices ,i have found the same readjustment at the ,b and ,c above the staff ,illustration3 ,figure ,c4 ,i have also noted in many bass voices a similar change of adjustment at the ,e and ,f below the bass clef ,illustration3 ,figure ,d4 ,it would seem therefore1 that in a majority of voices until an even scale has been developed1 that these readjustments appear at about the ,e and ,f and ,b and ,c throughout the vocal compass4 ,the exceptions to this rule are so numerous however1 that it can scarcely be called a rule4 ,some voices will have but one noticeable readjustment1 and it may be any one of the three4 ,in some voices the changes are all imperceptible4 ,in others1 due to wrong usage1 they are abrupt breaks4 ,in every instance the teacher must give the voice what it needs to perfect an even scale4 ,there should be no more evidence of register changes in the vocal scale than in the piano scale4 ,leaving the lower two changes for the moment1 let us consider the one at the upper ,e and ,f4 ,this one is so common among sopranos that there are few who have not one1 two1 or three weak tones at this point4 ,to avoid these weak tones many are taught to carry the thicker tones of the middle register up as far as they can force them in order to get the big tone which seems to be the sole aim of much modern voice teaching4 ,the victims of this manner of teaching never use the real head voice1 and one thing happens to them all4 ,as time goes on the upper voice grows more and more difficult1 the high tones disappear one by one1 and at the time when they should be doing their best singing they find themselves vocal wrecks4 ,some of them change from soprano to alto and end by that route4 ,now these are not instances that appear at long intervals4 ,they are in constant evidence and the number is surprisingly large4 ,the cause is ignorance of how to treat the upper voice1 together with an insane desire for a big tone and a lack of patience to await until it grows4 ,the incredible thing is that there is a teacher living whose ear will tolerate such a thing4 ,now there is a way to develop the head voice that gives the singer not only the full power of his upper voice1 but makes it free1 flexible and vibrant1 a sympathetic quality1 a perfect messa di voce1 and enables him to sing indefinitely without tiring his voice4 ,he must learn that it is possible to produce a full tone with a light mechanism4 ,this is the natural way of producing the head voice4 ,further1 the light mechanism must be carried far below the point where the so called change of register occurs4 ,every voice should have a head register1 and it may be developed in the following way4 ,with altos and sopranos ,i start with this exercise ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #a ,altos should begin at ,a4 ,the student should neither feel nor hear the tone in the throat4 ,therefore he should begin with a soft oo4 ,the throat should be free1 lips relaxed but slightly forward4 ,there should be no puckering of the lips for oo4 ,the tone should seem to form itself around the lips1 not in the throat4 ,in the beginning the exercise must be practiced softly4 ,no attempt must be made to increase the power1 until the tone is well established in the light mechanism4 ,when the oo can be sung softly and without resistance as high as ,e flat use the same exercise with o4 ,the next step is to blend this light mechanism with the heavier mechanism4 ,it may be done in this way1 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #b ,sing this descending scale with a crescendo1 always beginning it pp4 ,it should be practiced very slowly at first1 and with portamento4 ,carrying the head voice down over the middle and the middle down over the lower will in a short time blend all parts of the voice1 and lay the foundation of an even scale4 ,the exercise should be transposed upward by half steps as the voice becomes more free until it reaches ,f or ,f sharp4 ,the next step is the building process4 ,use the following3 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #c ,altos should begin at ,a4 ,in practicing these swells great care must be taken4 ,tone quality is the first consideration1 and the tone must be pressed no further than is possible while retaining the pure singing quality4 ,where voices have been forced and are accustomed to sing nothing but thick tones this building process is sometimes slow4 ,the student finds an almost irresistible tendency to increase the resistance as he increases the power of the tone4 ,therefore the louder he sings the worse it sounds4 ,this kind of practice will never solve the problem4 ,when the student is able to swell the tone to full power without increasing the resistance the problem is solved4 ,the progress of the student in this1 as in everything in voice training1 depends upon the ear of the teacher4 ,the untrained ear of the student is an unreliable guide4 ,the sensitive ear of the teacher must at all times be his guide4 ,the belief that every one knows a good tone when he hears it has no foundation in fact4 ,if the student's concept of tone were perfect he would not need a teacher4 ,he would have the teacher within himself4 ,every one knows what he likes1 and what he likes is of necessity his standard at that particular time1 but it is only the measure of his taste and may be different the next day4 ,all things in voice training find their court of last resort in the ear of the teacher4 ,all other knowledge is secondary to this4 ,he may believe any number of things that are untrue about the voice1 but if he have a thoroughly refined ear it will prevent him from doing anything wrong4 ,his ear is his taste1 his musical sense1 and it is his musical sense1 his musical judgment1 that does the teaching4 ,so in building the head voice the teacher must see to it that musical quality is never sacrificed for power4 ,a full tone is worse than useless1 unless the quality is musical and this can never be accomplished until the vocal instrument is free from resistance4 ,exercise ,no4 #c should be transposed upward by half steps1 but never beyond the point at which it can be practiced comfortably4 ,as tension shows most in the upper part of the voice the student should have1 as a part of his daily practice1 exercises which release the voice as it rises4 ,use the following3 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #d ,begin with medium power and diminish to pp as indicated4 ,the upper tone must not only be sung softly1 but the throat must be entirely free4 ,there must be no sense of holding the tone4 ,transpose to the top of the voice4 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #e ,no4 #e is for the same purpose as ,no4 #d but in an extended form4 ,begin with rather full voice and diminish to pp ascending4 ,increase to full voice descending4 ,continue the building of the upper voice using the complete scale4 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #f ,thus far in preparing the head voice we have used the vowels oo and o4 ,we may proceed to the vowel ah in the following way4 ,using ,ex4 ,no4 #f first sing o with loose but somewhat rounded lips4 ,when this tone is well established sing o with the same quality1 the same focus1 or placing without rounding the lips4 ,it amounts to singing o with the ah position4 ,when this can be done then use short u as in the word hum4 ,this gives approximately the placing for ah in the upper voice4 ,when these vowels can all be sung with perfect freedom transpose upward by half steps4 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #g ,in ,no4 #g when the crescendo has been made on the upper tone carry the full voice to the bottom of the scale4 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #h ,this is another way of blending the different parts of the voice4 ,it should be sung portamento in both directions4 ,when sung by a female voice it will be ,middle1 ,head1 ,middle as indicated by the letters ,m1 ,h1 ,m4 ,when sung by the male voice it will be ,chest1 ,head1 ,chest as indicated by the letters ,c1 ,h1 ,c4 ,transpose upward by half steps4 ,when the foregoing exercises are well in hand the head voice may be approached from the middle and lower registers in scale form as in the following3 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #i ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #aj ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #aa4 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #ab4 ,illustration3 ,exercise ,no4 #ac4 ,the fact that male voices are more often throaty in the upper register then female voices calls for special comment4 ,the following diagram showing the relationship of the two voices will help to elucidate the matter4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,e ,i have here used three octaves of the vocal compass as sufficient for the illustration4 ,remembering that the male voice is an octave lower than the female voice we shall see that the female voice is a continuation1 as it were1 of the male voice2 the lower part of the female compass overlapping the upper part of the male compass1 the two having approximately an octave ,g to ,g in common4 ,further it will be seen that both male and female voices do about the same thing at the same absolute pitches4 ,at about ,e flat or ,e above middle ,c the alto or soprano passes from the chest to the middle register4 ,it is at the same absolute pitches that the tenor passes from what is usually called open to covered tone1 but which might better be called from chest to head voice4 ,there is every reason to believe that the change in the mechanism is the same as that which occurs in the female voice at the same pitches4 ,that there is oftentimes a noticeable readjustment of the mechanism in uncultivated voices at these pitches no observing teacher will deny1 and these are the voices which are of special interest to the teacher1 and the ones for which books are made4 ,it will be observed that this change in the male voice takes place in the upper part of his compass instead of in the lower1 as in the female voice4 ,this change which is above the compass of the speaking voice of the tenor or baritone1 adds greatly to its difficulty4 ,for this reason the training of the male head voice requires more care and clearer judgment than anything else in voice training4 ,in treating this part of the female voice we have learned that if the heavy1 or chest voice1 is carried up to ,g or ,a above middle ,c it weakens the tones of the middle register until they finally become useless4 ,then the chest tones become more difficult and disappear one by one and the voice has no further value4 ,identically the same thing happens to the tenor who1 by reason of sufficient physical strength forces his chest voice up to ,g1 ,a1 or ,b flat4 ,he may be able to continue this for awhile1 sometimes for a few years1 but gradually his upper tones become more difficult and finally impossible and another vocal wreck is added to the list4 ,in restoring the female voice that has carried the chest voice too high it is necessary to carry the middle register down1 sometimes as low as middle ,c until it has regained its power4 ,the tenor or baritone must do essentially the same thing4 ,he must carry the head voice1 which is a lighter mechanism than the chest voice1 down as low as this c ,illustration3 ,figure ,f using what is often called mixed voice4 ,when the pitches ,illustration3 ,figure ,g are practiced with a sufficiently relaxed throat the tone runs naturally into the head resonator with a feeling almost the equivalent of that of a nasal tone1 but this tone will be in no sense nasal4 ,it will be head voice4 ,,the ,,falsetto ,does the falsetto have any part in the development of the head voice8 ,this inoffensive thing is still the subject of a considerable amount of more of less inflammatory debate both as to what it is and what it does4 ,without delay let me assure every one that it is perfectly harmless4 ,there is no other one thing involved in singing1 immediate or remote1 from which the element of harm is so completely eliminated4 ,it is held by some that it is produced by the false vocal chords4 ,this position is untenable for the reason that ,i have known many singers who could go from the falsetto to a full ringing tone and return with no perceptible break4 ,now since it will hardly be argued that a ringing1 resonant tone could be produced by the false vocal cords1 it is evident that the singer must change from the false to the true vocal cords somewhere in the process--a thing which is unthinkable4 ,it is held by others that the falsetto is a relic of the boy's voice1 which has deteriorated from lack of use4 ,this seems not unreasonable1 and a considerable amount of evidence is offered in support of it4 ,we may safely assume however that it is produced by the true vocal cords and the lightest register in the male voice4 ,what is its use8 ,unless its quality can be changed it has little or no musical value4 ,there are some teachers who claim that the falsetto mechanism is the correct one for the tenor voice and should be used throughout the entire compass4 ,i am not prepared to subscribe to this4 ,there are others who believe that the falsetto should be developed1 resonated1 so that it loses its flute quality1 and blended with the head voice4 ,this seems in the light of my experience to be reasonable4 ,when this can be done it gives the singer the most perfect mechanism known4 ,but it cannot always be done4 ,the voice is individual1 and the entire sum of individual experience leaves its impression on it4 ,i have found many voices where the falsetto was so completely detached from the head voice that it would be a waste of time to attempt to blend them4 ,but there is one place in voice training where the practice of the falsetto has a distinct value4 ,i have seen many tenors and baritones who forced the heavy chest voice up until they developed an automatic clutch1 and could sing the upper tones only with extreme effort4 ,to allow them to continue in that way would never solve their problem4 ,in such a condition half voice is impossible4 ,it must be one thing or the other1 either the thick chest voice or falsetto4 ,the falsetto they can produce without effort1 and herein lies its value4 ,they become accustomed to hearing their high tones without the association of effort1 and after a time the real head voice appears4 ,the thing which prevented the head voice from appearing in the beginning was extreme resistance1 and as soon as the resistance disappeared the head voice made its appearance4 ,this was accomplished by the practice of the very light register known as falsetto4 ,when the head voice appears the use of the falsetto may be discontinued4 ,the thing expected of the teacher is results and he should not be afraid to use anything that will contribute to that end4 ,it is in the upper part of the voice that mistakes are most likely to be made and ninety nine per cent of the mistakes is forcing the voice1 that is1 singing with too much resistance4 ,so long as the resistance continues a good full tone is impossible4 ,the plan outlined above for eliminating resistance has been tested with many hundreds of voices and has never failed4 ,the idea held by some that such practice can never produce a large tone shows a complete misunderstanding of the whole matter4 ,that it produces the full power of the voice without sacrificing its musical quality is being proved constantly4 ,every day we hear the story of voices ruined by forcing high tones4 ,who is responsible8 ,each one must answer for himself4 ,with the hope of diminishing it in some degree1 this outline is offered4 ,,iii ,a ,,general ,,survey ,,of ,,the ,,situation ,i will roar you as gently as any sucking dove3 ,i will roar you an't were any nightingale4 ,shakespeare4 ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream4 ,the singing world is confronted with a situation unique in its humor4 ,on every side we hear the lachrymose lament that voice training is in a chaotic condition1 that bel canto is a lost art1 and that the golden age of song has vanished from the earth4 ,the unanimity of this dolorous admission would seem to be a sad commentary on the fraternity of voice teachers2 but here enters the element of humor4 ,there is not recorded a single instance of a voice teacher admitting that his own knowledge of the voice is chaotic4 ,he will admit cheerfully and oftentimes with ill concealed enthusiasm that every other teacher's knowledge is in a chaotic condition1 but his own is a model of order and intelligence4 ,if we accept what voice teachers think of themselves the future looks rosy4 ,if we accept what they think of each other the future is ominous and the need for reform is dire and urgent4 ,but if a reform be ordered where shall it begin8 ,obviously among the teachers themselves4 ,but judging from the estimate each one puts upon himself how shall we reform a thing which is already perfect8 ,on the other hand1 if we take the pessimistic attitude that all teachers are wrong will it not be a case of the blind leading the blind1 in which instance their destination is definitely determined somewhere in the ,new ,testament4 ,verily the situation is difficult4 ,nevertheless it is not altogether hopeless4 ,the impulse to sing still remains4 ,more people are studying singing1 and more people sing well today than at any other time in the history of the world4 ,the impulse to sing is as old as the human race4 ,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 began1 and if we may venture a prophecy it will never end in this world or the next4 ,it cannot be destroyed even by the teachers themselves4 ,it is this natural1 inborn desire to sing that is directly responsible for the amazing perseverance of many vocal students4 ,if after a year or two of study they find they are wrong they are not greatly disturbed1 but select another teacher1 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 artist4 ,it is this that has kept the art alive through the centuries and will perpetuate it4 ,this impulse to sing is something no amount of bad teaching can destroy4 ,,the ,,reform ,everything in the universe that has come under the scrutiny of mortal man has been subjected to a perpetual reformation4 ,nothing is too great or too small to engage the attention of the reformer4 ,religion1 politics1 medicine and race suicide are objects of his special solicitude1 but nothing else has been forgotten4 ,no phase of human activity has been allowed to remain at rest4 ,so far as we know nothing but the multiplication table has escaped the reformer4 ,there is a general feeling that nothing is exactly right4 ,this may be the operation of the law of progress1 doubtless it is1 but it occasions a mighty unrest1 and keeps the world wondering what will happen next4 ,this law of progress is but another name for idealism to which the world owes everything4 ,idealism is that which sees a better condition than the one which now obtains4 ,the process of realizing this better condition is in itself reformation4 ,as far back as we have any knowledge of the art of singing the reformers have been at work1 and down through the centuries their energies have been unflagging4 ,we owe to them whatever advance has been made toward a perfect system of voice training1 but they are also responsible for many things pernicious in their nature which have been incorporated in present day methods of teaching1 for it must be admitted that there are false prophets among singing teachers no less than among the members of other professions4 ,there is one interesting thing connected with the work of these vocal reformers4 ,from the beginning they have insisted that the art of bel canto is lost4 ,tosi 7#afdg-agbg71 ,porpora 7#afhf-agff71 ,mancini 7#agaf-ahjj71 three of the greatest teachers of the old ,italian school1 all lamented the decadence of the art of singing4 ,others before and since have done the same thing4 ,it seems that in all times any one who could get the public ear has filled it with this sort of pessimistic wail4 ,from this we draw some interesting conclusions3 ,first1 that the real art of singing was lost immediately after it was found4 ,second1 that the only time it was perfect was when it began4 ,third1 that ever since it began we have been searching for it without success4 ,if any of this is true it means that all of the great singers of the past two hundred years have been fakers1 because they never really learned how to sing4 ,it is surprising that we did not see through these musical ,jeremiahs long ago4 ,in all ages there have been good teachers and bad ones1 and it would not be surprising if the bad ones outnumbered the good ones2 but the weak link in the chain of argument is in estimating the profession by its failures4 ,this is a cheap and much overworked device and discloses the egotism of the one using it4 ,there are teachers today who thoroughly understand the art of bel canto4 ,they have not lost it1 and the others never had it4 ,this condition has obtained for centuries and will continue indefinitely4 ,an art should be measured by its best exponents1 not by its worst4 ,to measure it by its failures is illogical and dishonest4 ,in recent years the process of reformation has been applied to all branches of music teaching with the hope of reducing these failures to a minimum4 ,the profession has suddenly awakened to the fact that it must give a better reason for its existence than any heretofore offered4 ,it has become clear to the professional mind that in order to retain and enlarge its self-respect music must be recognized as a part of the great human uplift4 ,to this end it has been knocking at the doors of the institutions of learning asking to be admitted and recognized as a part of public education4 ,the reply has been that music teaching must first develop coherence1 system and standards4 ,this has caused music teachers to look about and realize as never before that the profession as a whole has no organization and no fixed educational standards4 ,every teacher fixes his own standard and is a law unto himself4 ,the standard is individual1 and if the individual conscience is sufficiently elastic the standard gives him no serious concern4 ,but as a result of this awakening there is a concerted action throughout the country to standardize1 to define the general scope of learning necessary to become a music teacher4 ,the trend of this is in the right direction1 and good may be expected from it1 although at best it can be but a very imperfect method of determining one's fitness to teach4 ,the determining factors in teaching are things which cannot be discovered in any ten questions4 ,in fact an examination must necessarily confine itself to general information1 but in teaching1 the real man reveals himself4 ,his high sense of order1 logic1 patience1 his love and appreciation of the beautiful1 his personality1 his moral sense1 the mental atmosphere of his studio1 these all enter into his teaching and they are things difficult to discover in an examination4 ,unconsciously the teacher gives out himself along with the music lesson1 and it is equally important with his knowledge of music4 ,therefore it is as difficult to establish definite standards of teaching as it is of piano or violin making4 ,in attempting to establish standards of voice teaching the problem becomes positively bewildering4 ,the voice is so completely and persistently individual1 and in the very nature of things must always remain so1 that an attempt to standardize it or those who train it is dangerous4 ,yet notwithstanding this1 voice teachers are the most industrious of all in their efforts to organize and standardize4 ,the insistence with which this aim is prosecuted is worthy of something better than is likely to be achieved4 ,that there is no standard among voice teachers save that of the individual will be admitted without argument2 and until there is such a thing as a fixed standard of musical taste this condition will remain1 for the musical taste of the teacher is by far the most potent factor in the teaching of tone production4 ,of late there have been vigorous efforts to establish a standard tone for singers4 ,this1 according to the apostles of ,harmony in the ranks1 is the one way of unifying the profession4 ,as an argument this is nothing short of picturesque1 and can be traced to those unique and professedly scientific mentalities that solve all vocal problems by a mathematical formula4 ,as an example of the chimerical1 impossible and altogether undesirable1 it commands admiration4 ,if it is impossible to establish a standard tone for pianos where the problem is mechanical1 what may we expect to do with voice where the problem is psychological8 ,when we have succeeded in making all people look alike1 act alike1 think alike2 when we have eliminated all racial characteristics and those resulting from environment2 when people are all of the same size1 weight1 proportion1 structure2 when skulls are all of the same size1 thickness and density2 when all vocal organs and vocal cavities are of the same form and size2 when we have succeeded in equalizing all temperaments2 when there is but one climate1 one language1 one government1 one religion2 when there is no longer such a thing as individuality--then perhaps a standard tone may be considered4 ,until that time nothing could be more certain of failure4 ,the great charm of voices is their individuality1 which is the result not alone of training1 but of ages of varied experience1 for man is the sum of all that has preceded him4 ,it is1 to say the least1 an extraordinary mentality that would destroy this most vital element in singing for the sake of working out a scientific theory4 ,but there is no immediate danger4 ,nature1 whose chief joy is in variety and contrast1 is not likely to sacrifice it suddenly to a mere whim4 ,when we speak of a standard tone we enter the domain of acoustics and must proceed according to the laws of physics4 ,in this standard tone there must be a fundamental combined with certain overtones4 ,but who shall say which overtones1 and why the particular combination8 ,the answer must be because it sounds best4 ,a tone being something to hear1 this is a logical and legitimate answer4 ,but if the listener knows when it sounds right he knows it entirely separate and apart from any knowledge he may have of its scientific construction2 hence such knowledge is of no value whatever in determining what is good and what is bad in tone quality4 ,a tone is not a thing to see and the teacher cannot use a camera and a manometric flame in teaching tone production4 ,any knowledge he may have gained from the use of such instruments in the laboratory is valueless in teaching4 ,if it were possible to adopt as a standard tone a certain combination of fundamental and overtones 7which it is not71 and if it were possible to make all singers use this particular tone 7which1 thank heaven it is not71 then all voices would sound alike and individuality would at once disappear4 ,the advocates of this kind of standard tone cannot disengage themselves from the belief that all vocal organs are alike4 ,the exact opposite is the truth4 ,vocal organs are no more alike than are eyes1 noses1 hands and dispositions4 ,each of these conforms only to a general type4 ,the variation is infinite4 ,,mentality ,the mentality of the individual forms the organ through which it can express itself1 and this mentality is the accumulation of all of the experience which has preceded it4 ,further1 muscles and cartilages are not all of the same texture4 ,thyroid cartilages vary in size and shape4 ,the vocal cavities1 pharynx1 mouth and nasal cavities are never exactly the same in any two people4 ,the contours of the upper and lower jaw and teeth1 and of the palatal arch are never found to be exactly alike4 ,all of these variations are a part of the vocal instrument and determine its quality4 ,every vocal organ when properly directed will produce the best quality of which that particular instrument is capable4 ,an attempt to make it produce something else must necessarily be a failure4 ,the structure of the instrument determines whether the voice is bass1 tenor1 alto or soprano with all of the variations of these four classes4 ,the individuality of the voice is fixed by nature no less definitely4 ,the effort to standardize tone quality discloses a misapprehension of what it means to train a voice4 ,its advocates look upon man as so much matter1 and the voice as something which must be made to operate according to fixed mathematical rules and ignore completely its psychology4 ,but the rich humor of it all appears when the propagandists of standard tone meet to establish the standard4 ,it is soon observed that there are as many standards as there are members present and the only result is a mental fermentation4 ,,getting ,,together ,in recent years many attempts have been made by vocal teachers to get together4 ,as nearly as can be ascertained this getting together means that all shall teach in the same way1 that all shall agree on the disputed points in voice training1 or that certain articles of faith to which all can subscribe1 shall be formulated2 but when it comes to deciding whose way it shall be or whose faith shall be thus exalted1 each one is a ,gibraltar and the only perceptible result is an enlargement of the individual ego4 ,and so it endeth4 ,,why ,,teachers ,,disagree ,voice teachers are divided into two general classes--those who make a knowledge of vocal physiology the basis of teaching and those who do not4 ,the members of the first class follow the teachings of some one of the scientific investigators4 ,each one will follow the scientist or physiologist whose ideas most nearly coincide with his own1 or which seem most reasonable to him4 ,in as much as the scientists have not yet approached anything resembling an agreement1 it follows that their disciples are far from being of one mind4 ,the members of the second class hold that a knowledge of vocal anatomy and physiology beyond the elements has no value in teaching1 and that the less the student thinks about mechanism the better4 ,the scientific voice teachers usually believe in direct control of the vocal organs4 ,the members of the opposite class believe in indirect control4 ,this establishes a permanent disagreement between the two general classes1 but the disagreement between those who believe in indirect control is scarcely less marked4 ,here it is not so much a matter of how the tone is produced1 but rather the tone itself4 ,this is due entirely to the difference in taste among teachers4 ,the diversity of taste regarding tone quality is even greater than that regarding meat and drink4 ,this fact seems to be very generally overlooked4 ,it is this that so mystifies students4 ,after studying with a teacher for one or more years they go to another to find that he at once tries to get a different tone quality from that of the first4 ,when they go to the third teacher he tries for still another quality4 ,if they go to a half dozen teachers each one will try to make them produce a tone differing in some degree from all of the others4 ,the student doubtless thinks this is due to the difference in understanding of the voice among teachers1 but this is not so4 ,it is due entirely to their differing tastes in tone quality4 ,the marvelous thing is that the voice will respond in a degree to all of these different demands made upon it2 but it forces the student to the conclusion that voice training is an indefinite something without order1 system1 or principle4 ,so1 in studying the conditions which obtain in voice teaching at the present time it must be admitted that the evidence of unity is slight2 and the probability of increasing it by organization or legislative enactment is not such as to make one enthusiastic4 ,what one believes is very real to himself4 ,in fact it is the only thing that seems right to him1 therefore he sees no valid reason why he should change his belief or why others should not believe as he does4 ,this positive element in the human ego is advantageous at times1 but it is also responsible for all conflicts from mild disagreements to war among nations4 ,but arguments and battles rarely ever result in anything more than an armed truce4 ,difference of opinion will continue indefinitely1 but of this we may be sure1 that the solution of the vocal problem will never come through a study of vocal mechanism however conscientious and thorough it may be1 but through a purer musical thought1 a deeper musical feeling1 a clearer vision of what is cause and what is effect1 a firmer conviction of the sanctity of music1 an unerring knowledge of the relationship existing between the singer and his instrument4 ,,iv ,,hints ,,on ,,teaching ,we live in a world of unseen realities1 the world of thoughts and feelings4 ,but 'thoughts are things1' and frequently they weigh more and obtain far more in the making of a man than do all the tangible realities which surround him4 ,thoughts and feelings are the stuff of which life is made4 ,they are the language of the soul4 ,by means of them we follow the development of character1 the shaping of the soul which is the one great purpose of life4 ,appreciation of ,art4 ,loveridge4 ,every year a large number of young men and women go in quest of a singing teacher4 ,the impulse to sing1 which is inborn1 has become so insistent and irrepressible that it must be heeded2 and the desire to do things well1 which is a part of the mental equipment of every normal human being1 makes outside assistance imperative4 ,wherever there is a real need the supply is forthcoming1 so there is little difficulty in finding some one who is ready1 willing1 in fact rather anxious1 to undertake the pleasant task of transforming these enthusiastic amateurs into full-fledged professionals4 ,the meeting of the teacher and student always takes place in the studio1 and it is there that all vocal problems are solved4 ,let no one imagine that any vocal problem can be solved in a physics laboratory4 ,why8 ,because not one of the problems confronting the vocal student is physical4 ,they are all mental4 ,the writer has reached this conclusion not from ignoring the physical1 but from making a comprehensive study of the vocal mechanism and its relation to the singer4 ,the anatomy and physiology of the vocal mechanism are absorbing to one who is interested in knowing how man1 through untold centuries of growth has perfected an instrument through which he can express himself2 but no matter how far we go in the study of anatomy and physiology all we really learn is what mind has done4 ,if man has a more perfect and highly organized vocal instrument than the lower animals it is because his higher manifestation of mind has formed an instrument necessary to its needs4 ,when man's ideas and needs were few and simple his vocabulary was small1 for language is the means by which members of the species communicate with each other4 ,whenever man evolved a new idea he necessarily invented some way of communicating it1 and so language grew4 ,a word is the symbol of an idea1 but invariably the idea originates the word4 ,the word does not originate the idea4 ,the idea always arrives first4 ,all we can ever learn from the study of matter is phenomena1 the result of the activity of mind4 ,thus we see that so called scientific study of the vocal mechanism is at best1 but a study of phenomena4 ,it creates nothing4 ,it only discovers what is already taking place1 and what has been going on indefinitely without conscious direction will1 in all probability1 continue4 ,the value attached by some to the study of vocal physiology is greatly overestimated4 ,in fact its value is so little as to be practically negligible4 ,it furnishes the teacher nothing he can use in giving a singing lesson1 unless1 perchance he should be so unwise as to begin the lesson with a talk on vocal mechanism1 which1 by the way1 would much better come at the last lesson than the first4 ,all we can learn from the study of vocal physiology is the construction of the vocal instrument1 and this bears the same relation to singing that piano making bears to piano playing4 ,the singer and his instrument are two different things1 and a knowledge of the latter exerts very little beneficial influence on the former4 ,to reach a solution of the vocal problem we must understand the relation existing between the singer and his instrument4 ,the singer is a mentality1 consequently everything he does is an activity of his mentality4 ,seeing1 hearing1 knowing1 is this mentality in action4 ,the two senses most intimately associated with artistic activity are seeing and hearing1 and these are mental4 ,in painting1 sculpture1 and architecture we perceive beauty through the eye4 ,in music it reaches us through the ear2 but the only thing that is cognizant is the mind4 ,to man the universe consists of mental impressions1 and that these impressions differ with each individual is so well understood that it need not be argued4 ,two people looking at the same picture will not see exactly the same things4 ,two people listening to a musical composition may hear quite different things and are affected in different ways1 because it is the mind that hears1 and as no two mentalities are precisely the same1 it must be apparent that the impressions they receive will be different4 ,the things these mentalities have in common they will see and hear in common1 but wherein they differ they will see and hear differently4 ,each will see and hear to the limit of his experience1 but no further4 ,to be a musician one must become conscious of that particular thing called music4 ,he must learn to think music4 ,the elements of music are rhythm1 melody1 harmony1 and form1 and their mastery is no less a mental process than is the study of pure mathematics4 ,the human mind is a composite4 ,it is made up of a large number of faculties combined in different proportions4 ,the germs of all knowledge exist in some form and degree in every mind4 ,when one faculty predominates we say the individual has talent for that particular thing4 ,if the faculty is abnormally developed we say he is a genius1 but all things exist as possibilities in every mind4 ,nature puts no limitations on man4 ,whatever his limitations1 they are self imposed1 nature is not a party to the act4 ,now this is what confronts the teacher whenever a student comes for a lesson4 ,he has before him a mentality that has been influenced not only by its present environment1 but by everything that has preceded it4 ,man is1 as an old philosopher said1 a bundle of habits1 and habits are mental trends4 ,his point of view is the product of his experience1 and it will be different from that of every one else4 ,the work of the teacher is training this mentality4 ,understanding this it will be seen how futile would be a fixed formula for all students1 and how necessarily doomed to failure is any method of voice training which makes anatomy and physiology its basis4 ,further1 there is much to be done in the studio beside giving the voice lesson4 ,whistler said that natural conditions are never right for a perfect picture4 ,from the picture which nature presents the artist selects what suits his purpose and rejects the rest4 ,it is much the same in the training of a singer4 ,in order that the lesson be effective the conditions must be right4 ,this only rarely obtains in the beginning4 ,the student's attitude toward the subject must be right or the lesson will mean little to him4 ,the lesson to be effective must be protected by honesty1 industry and perseverance4 ,if these are lacking in various degrees1 as they often are1 little progress will be made4 ,if the student is studying merely for society purposes1 not much can be expected until that mental attitude is changed4 ,students always want to sing well1 but they are not always willing to make the sacrifice of time and effort2 consequently they lack concentration and slight their practice4 ,sometimes the thought uppermost in the student's mind is the exaltation of the ego1 in other words1 fame4 ,sometimes he measures his efforts by the amount of money he thinks he may ultimately earn1 be it great or small4 ,sometimes he overestimates himself1 or what is equally bad1 underestimates himself4 ,it is a very common thing to find him putting limitations on himself and telling of the few things he will be able to do and the large number he never will be able to do1 thus effectually barring his progress4 ,then there is always the one who is habitually late4 ,she feels sure that all of the forces of nature are leagued in a conspiracy to prevent her from ever being on time anywhere4 ,she1 therefore1 is guiltless4 ,there is another one who is a riot of excuses1 apologies and reasons why she has not been able to practice4 ,her home and neighborhood seem to be the special object of providential displeasure1 which is manifested in an unbroken series of calamitous visitations ranging from croup to bubonic plague1 each one making vocal practice a physical and moral impossibility4 ,all of these things are habits of mind which must be corrected by the teacher before satisfactory growth may be expected4 ,in fact he must devote no inconsiderable part of his time to setting students right on things which in themselves are no part of music1 but which are elements of character without which permanent success is impossible4 ,a great musical gift is of no value unless it is protected by those elements of character which are in themselves fundamentally right4 ,innumerable instances could be cited of gifted men and women who have failed utterly because their gifts were not protected by honesty1 industry and perseverance4 ,i have spoken at some length of the importance of the right mental attitude toward study and the necessity of correcting false conceptions4 ,continuing1 it must be understood that the work of the teacher is all that of training the mind of his student4 ,it is developing concepts and habits of mind which when exercised result in beautiful tone and artistic singing4 ,it must also be understood that the teacher does not look at the voice1 he listens to it4 ,here voice teachers automatically separate themselves from each other4 ,no two things so diametrically opposite as physics and metaphysics can abide peaceably in the same tent4 ,let me emphasize the statement that the teacher does not look at the voice1 he listens to it4 ,the teacher who bases his teaching on what he can see1 that is1 on watching the singer and detecting his mistakes through the eye1 is engaged in an activity that is mechanical1 not musical4 ,no one can tell from observation alone whether a tone is properly produced4 ,a tone is something to hear1 not something to see1 and no amount of seeing will exert any beneficial influence on one's hearing4 ,the process of learning to read vocal music at sight is that of learning to think tones1 to think in the key1 and to think all manner of intervals and rhythmic forms4 ,it is altogether mental1 and it is no less absurd to hold that a knowledge of anatomy is necessary to this than it is essential to the solution of a mathematical problem4 ,the formation of tone quality is no less a mental process than is thinking the pitch4 ,if the student sings a wrong pitch it is because he has thought a wrong pitch1 and this is true to a large extent at least1 if his tone quality in not good4 ,he may at least be sure of this1 that he never will sing a better tone than the one he thinks4 ,a large part of the vocal teacher's training should be learning how to listen and what to listen for4 ,this means training the ear1 which is the mind1 until it is in the highest degree sensitive to tone quality as well as to pitch4 ,when there is a failure in voice training it may be counted upon that the teacher's listening faculty is defective4 ,the gist of the whole thing is what the teacher's ear will stand for4 ,if a tone does not offend his ear he will allow it to continue4 ,if it does offend his ear he will take measures to stop it4 ,more is known of vocal mechanism today than at any other time in the world's history1 and yet who dares to say that voice teaching has been improved by it8 ,is voice teaching any more accurate now than it was a hundred years ago8 ,did the invention of the laryngoscope add anything of value to the voice teacher's equipment8 ,no4 ,even the inventor of it said that all it did was to confirm what he had always believed4 ,an enlarged mechanical knowledge has availed nothing in the studio4 ,the character of the teacher's work has improved to the degree in which he has recognized two facts--first1 the necessity of developing his own artistic sense as well as that of his pupil1 second1 that the process of learning to sing is psychologic rather than physiologic4 ,when the student takes his first singing lesson what does the teacher hear8 ,he hears the tone the student sings1 but what is far more important1 he hears in his own mind the tone the student ought to sing4 ,he hears his own tone concept and this is the standard he sets for the student4 ,he cannot demand of him anything beyond his own concept either in tone quality or interpretation4 ,young teachers and some old ones watch the voice rather than listen to it4 ,at the slightest deviation from their standard of what the tongue1 larynx1 and soft palate ought to do they pounce upon the student and insist that he make the offending organ assume the position and form which they think is necessary to produce a good tone4 ,this results in trying to control the mechanism by direct effort which always induces tension and produces a hard1 unsympathetic tone4 ,the blunder here is in mistaking effect for cause4 ,the tongue which habitually rises and fills the cavity of the mouth does so in response to a wrong mental concept of cause4 ,the only way to correct this condition is to change the cause4 ,the rigid tongue we see is effect1 and to tinker with the effect while the cause remains is unnecessarily stupid4 ,an impulse of tension has been directed to the tongue so often that the impulse and response have become simultaneous and automatic4 ,the correction lies in directing an impulse of relaxation to it4 ,when it responds to this impulse it will be found to be lying in the bottom of the mouth1 relaxed1 and ready to respond to any demand that may be made upon it4 ,to try to make the tongue lie in the bottom of the mouth by direct effort while it is filled with tension is like trying to sweep back the tide with a broom4 ,the only way to keep the tide from flowing is to find out what causes it to flow and remove the cause4 ,the only way to correct faulty action of any part of the vocal mechanism is to go back into mentality and remove the cause4 ,it will always be found there4 ,,direct ,,and ,,indirect ,,control ,in view of the generally understood nature of involuntary action and the extent to which it obtains in all good singing it is difficult to understand why any teacher should work from the basis of direct control4 ,it is a fact1 however1 that teachers who have not the psychological vision find it difficult to work with a thing they cannot see4 ,to such1 direct control seems to be the normal and scientific method of procedure4 ,let me illustrate3 ,a student comes for his first lesson4 ,i try his voice4 ,his tone is harsh1 white1 throaty and unsympathetic4 ,it is not the singing tone and ,i tell him it is all wrong4 ,he does not contradict me but places himself on the defensive and awaits developments4 ,i question him to find out what he thinks of his own voice1 how it impresses him1 etc4 ,i find it makes no impression on him because he has no standard4 ,he says he doesn't know whether he ought to like his voice or not1 but rather supposes he should not4 ,as ,i watch him ,i discover many things that are wrong and ,i make a mental note of them4 ,suppose ,i say to him as a very celebrated ,european teacher once said to me3 ,take a breath1 and concentrate your mind on the nine little muscles in the throat that control the tone4 ,this is asking a good deal when he does not know the name or the exact location of a single one of them1 but he seems impressed1 although a little perplexed1 and to make it easier for him ,i say as another famous teacher once said to me3 ,open your mouth1 put two fingers and a thumb between your teeth1 yawn1 now sing ah4 ,he makes a convulsive effort and the tone is a trifle worse than it was before4 ,i say to him1 ,your larynx is too high1 and it jumps up at the beginning of each tone4 ,you must keep it down4 ,it is impossible to produce good tone with a high larynx4 ,when the larynx rises1 the throat closes and you must always have your throat open4 ,don't forget1 your throat must be open and you can get it open only by keeping the larynx low4 ,he tries again with the same result and awaits further instructions4 ,i take another tack and say to him1 ,your tongue rises every time you sing and impairs the form of the vocal cavity4 ,keep it down below the level of the teeth1 otherwise your vowels will be imperfect4 ,you should practice a half hour each day grooving your tongue4 ,i say these things impressively and take the opportunity to tell him some interesting scientific facts about fundamental and upper partials1 and how different combinations produce different vowels1 also how these combinations are affected by different forms of the vocal cavities1 leading up to the great scientific truth that he must hold the tongue down and the throat open in order that these great laws of acoustics may become operative4 ,he seems very humble in the presence of such profound erudition and makes several unsuccessful attempts to do what ,i tell him1 but his tone is no better4 ,i tell him so1 for ,i do not wish to mislead him4 ,he is beginning to look helpless and discouraged but waits to see what ,i will do next4 ,he vexes me not a little1 because ,i feel that anything so simple and yet so scientific as the exercises ,i am giving him ought to be grasped and put into practice at once2 but ,i still have resources1 and ,i say to him1 ,bring the tone forward1 direct it against the hard palate just above the upper teeth1 send it up through the head with a vigorous impulse of the diaphragm4 ,you must always feels the tone in the nasal cavities4 ,that is the way you can tell whether your tone is right or not4 ,he tries to do these things1 but of necessity fails4 ,this sort of thing goes on with mechanical instructions for raising the soft palate1 making the diaphragm rigid1 grooving the tongue1 etc41 etc41 and at the end of the lesson ,i tell him to go home and practice an hour a day on what ,i have given him4 ,if he obeys my instructions he will return in worse condition1 for he will be strengthening the bad habits he already has and forming others equally pernicious4 ,this is a sample of teaching by direct control4 ,it is not overdrawn4 ,it is a chapter from real life1 and ,i was the victim4 ,you will have observed that this lesson was devoted to teaching the student how to do certain things with the vocal mechanism4 ,the real thing1 the tone1 the result at which all teaching should aim was placed in the background4 ,it was equivalent to trying to teach him to do something but not letting him know what4 ,it was training the body1 not the mind1 and the result was what invariably happens when this plan is followed4 ,in the lesson given above no attempt was made to give the student a correct mental picture of a tone1 and yet this is the most important thing for him to learn1 for he never will sing a pure tone until he has a definite mental picture of it4 ,a tone is something to hear and the singer himself must hear it before he can sing it4 ,not one of the suggestions made to this student could be of any possible benefit to him at the time4 ,not even the sensation of feeling the tone in the head can be relied upon1 for physical sensations are altogether uncertain and unreliable4 ,as ,i have observed in numberless instances1 there may be a sensation in the head when there are disagreeable elements in the tone4 ,if the ear of the teacher does not tell him when the tone is good and when it is bad he is hopeless4 ,if his ear is reliable1 why resort to a physical sensation as a means of deciding8 ,in the properly produced voice there is a feeling of vibration in the head cavities1 especially in the upper part of the voice1 but that alone is not a guaranty of good tone4 ,this teaching from the standpoint of sensation and direct control will never produce a great singer so long as man inhabits a body4 ,it is working from the wrong end of the proposition4 ,control of the mechanism is a very simple matter when the mental concept is formed4 ,it is then only a question of learning how to relax1 how to free the mechanism of tension1 and the response becomes automatic4 ,is there no way out of this maze of mechanical uncertainties8 ,there is4 ,is voice culture a sort of catch-as-catch-can with the probabilities a hundred to one against success8 ,it is not4 ,is singing a lost art8 ,it is not4 ,let us get away from fad1 fancy and formula and see the thing as it is4 ,the problem is psychologic rather than physiologic4 ,the fact that one may learn all that can be known about physiology and still know nothing whatever about voice training should awaken us to its uselessness4 ,man is a mental entity4 ,when ,i speak to a student it is his mind that hears1 not his body4 ,it is his mind that acts4 ,it is his mind that originates and controls action4 ,therefore it is his mind that must be trained4 ,action is not in the body4 ,in fact1 the body as matter has no sensation4 ,remove mind from the body and it does not feel4 ,it is the mind that feels4 ,if you believe that the body feels you must be prepared to explain where in the process of digestion and assimilation the beefsteak and potato you ate for dinner become conscious1 because to feel they must be conscious4 ,we know that the fluids and solids composing the body have no sensation when they are taken into the body1 nor do they ever become sentient4 ,therefore the body of itself has no initiative1 no action1 no control4 ,all of these are the functions of mind1 hence the incongruity of attempting to solve a problem which is altogether psychological1 which demands qualities of mind1 habits of mind1 mental concepts of a particular kind and quality1 by a process of manipulation of the organ through which mind expresses itself1 making the training of the mind a secondary matter2 and then absurdly calling it scientific4 ,in every form of activity two things are involved3 first1 the idea3 second1 its expression4 ,it must be apparent then1 that the quality of the thing expressed will be governed by the quality of the idea4 ,or1 to put it in another way3 ,in the activity of art two things are involved--subject-matter and technic4 ,the subject-matter1 the substance of art1 is mental4 ,technic is gaining such control of the medium that the subject-matter1 or idea1 may be fully and perfectly expressed4 ,ideas are the only substantial things in the universe1 and that there is a difference in the quality of ideas need not be argued4 ,two men of the same avoirdupois may be walking side by side on the street1 but one of them may be a genius and the other a hod carrier4 ,i have dwelt at some length on this because ,i wish to show where the training of a singer must begin1 and that when we understand the real nature of the problem its solution becomes simple4 ,,indirect ,,control ,what is meant by indirect control8 ,it means1 in short1 the automatic response of the mechanism to the idea4 ,by way of illustration4 ,if ,i should ask my pupil to make her vocal cords vibrate at the rate of #dce times per second she could not do it because she would have no mental concept of how it should sound3 but if ,i strike the ,a above middle ,c and ask her to sing it her vocal cords respond automatically at that rate of vibration4 ,it is the concept of pitch which forms the vocal instrument1 gives it the exact amount of tension necessary to vibrate at the rate of the pitch desired1 but the action is automatic1 not the result of direct effort4 ,it may be said that in artistic singing everything is working automatically4 ,there can be no such thing as artistic singing until everything involved is responding automatically to the mental demands of the singer4 ,mention has been made of the automatic response of the vocal cords to the thought of pitch4 ,that part of the mechanism which is so largely responsible for tone quality1 the pharynx and mouth1 must respond in the same way4 ,this it will do unerringly if it is free from tension4 ,but if the throat is full of rigidity1 as is so often the condition1 it cannot respond2 consequently the quality is imperfect and the tone is throaty4 ,the vocal cavity must vibrate in sympathy with the pitch in order to create pure resonance4 ,it can do this only when it is free and is responding automatically to the concept of tone quality4 ,to form the mouth and throat by direct effort and expect a good tone to result thereby1 is an action not only certain of failure but exceedingly stupid4 ,,voice ,,training ,,is ,,simple ,there is a belief amounting to a solid conviction in the public mind that the training of the voice is so difficult that the probabilities of success are about one in ten4 ,what is responsible for this8 ,doubtless the large number of failures4 ,but this calls for another interrogation4 ,what is the cause of these failures8 ,here is one4 ,all students have done more or less singing before they go to a teacher4 ,during that time they have1 with scarcely an exception1 formed bad habits4 ,now bad habits of voice production are almost invariably some form of throat interference1 referred to as tension1 rigidity1 resistance1 etc4 ,instances without number could be cited where students have been told to keep right on singing and eventually they would outgrow these habits4 ,such a thing never happened since time began4 ,one may as well tell a drunkard to keep on drinking and eventually he will outgrow the habit4 ,no4 ,something definite and specific must be done4 ,the antidote for tension is relaxation4 ,a muscle cannot respond while it is rigid1 therefore the student must be taught how to get rid of tension4 ,,two ,,things ,,involved ,there is nothing in voice training that is necessarily mysterious and inscrutable4 ,on the contrary1 if one will acquaint himself with its fundamental principles he will find that the truth about voice training1 like all truth1 is simple and easily understood1 and when understood the element of uncertainty is eliminated4 ,these principles are few in number1 in fact they may all be brought under two general heads4 ,the first is ,,know ,,what ,,you ,,want4 ,the second is ,,have ,,the ,,conditions ,,right4 ,the meaning of these statements can never be learned from a study of vocal physiology2 nevertheless they contain all of the law and the prophets on this subject4 ,any musician may be a successful teacher of singing if he will master them4 ,i use the word musician advisedly1 because musical sense is of such vital importance that no amount of mechanical knowledge can take its place4 ,to undertake the training of voices with only a mechanical knowledge of the subject is a handicap which no one can overcome4 ,it is universally true that the less one knows of the art of singing the more he concerns himself with the mechanism2 and it is also true that the more one is filled with the spirit of song the less he concerns himself with the construction of the vocal instrument4 ,people with little or no musicianship have been known to wrangle ceaselessly on whether or not the thyroid cartilage should tip forward on high tones4 ,it is such crude mechanics masquerading under the name of science that has brought voice training into general disrepute4 ,the voice teacher is primarily concerned with learning to play upon the vocal instrument rather than upon its mechanical construction1 two things which some find difficulty in separating4 ,,know ,,what ,,you ,,want ,this means much4 ,in voice production it means the perfect tone concept4 ,it means far more than knowing what one likes4 ,what one likes and what he ought to like are usually quite different things4 ,what one likes is the measure of his taste at that particular time and may or may not be an argument in its favor4 ,i have never seen a beginner whose taste was perfectly formed1 but the great majority of them know what they like1 and because they like a certain kind of tone1 or a certain way of singing1 they take it for granted that it is right until they are shown something better4 ,this error is by no means confined to beginners4 ,if your pupil does not produce good tone one of two things is responsible for it4 ,either he does not know a good tone or else the conditions are not right4 ,in the beginning it is usually both4 ,your pupil must create his tone mentally before he sings it4 ,he must create its quality no less than its pitch4 ,in other words he must hear his tone before he sings it and then sing what he hears4 ,until he can do this his voice will have no character4 ,his voice will be as indefinite as his tone concept1 and it will not improve until his concept1 which is his taste1 improves4 ,inasmuch as everything exists first as idea1 it follows that everything which is included in the rightly produced voice and in interpretation are first matters of concept4 ,the singer uses a certain tone quality because he mentally conceives that quality to be right4 ,he delivers a word or phrase in a certain way because that is his concept of it4 ,a word at this point on imitation4 ,one faculty of a musical mind is that of recording mentally what it hears and of producing it mentally whenever desired4 ,most people possess this in some degree1 and some people in a marked degree4 ,almost any one can hear mentally the tone of a cornet1 violin1 or any instrument with which he is acquainted4 ,in the same way the vocal student must hear mentally the pure singing tone before he can sing it4 ,it is the business of the teacher to assist him in forming a perfect tone concept1 and if he can do this by example1 as well as by precept1 he has a distinct advantage over the one who cannot4 ,arguments against imitation are not uncommon1 and yet the teachers who offer them will advise their students to hear the great singers as often as possible4 ,such incongruities do not inspire confidence4 ,on this human plane most things are learned by imitation4 ,what language would the child speak if it were never allowed to hear spoken language8 ,it would never be anything but ,an infant crying in the night4 ,and with no language but a cry4 ,there are but few original thinkers on earth at any one time4 ,the rest are imitators and none too perfect at that4 ,we are imitators in everything from religion to breakfast foods4 ,few of us ever have an original idea4 ,we trail along from fifty to a hundred years behind those we are trying to imitate4 ,when there is little else but imitation going on in the world why deny it to vocal students8 ,the argument against imitation can come from but two classes of people--those who cannot produce a good tone and those who are more interested in how the tone is made than in the tone itself4 ,the following are the qualities the teacher undertakes to develop in the student in preparing him for artistic singing4 ,they are fundamental and must be a part of the singer's equipment no matter what method is employed4 ,they are what all musicians expect to hear in the trained singer4 ,they all exist first as concepts4 ,an even scale from top to bottom of the voice4 ,every tone full of strength and character4 ,a sympathetic quality4 ,ample power4 ,a clear1 telling resonance in every tone4 ,a pure legato and sostenuto4 ,perfect freedom in production throughout the compass4 ,a perfect swell1 that is1 the ability to go from pianissimo to full voice and return1 on any tone in the compass1 without a break1 and without sacrificing the tone quality4 ,the ability to pronounce distinctly and with ease to the top of the compass4 ,equal freedom in the delivery of vowels and consonants4 ,sufficient flexibility to meet all technical demands4 ,an ear sensitive to the finest shades of intonation4 ,an artistic concept or interpretive sense of the highest possible order4 ,the process of acquiring these things is not accretion but unfoldment4 ,it is the unfoldment of ideas or concepts4 ,the growth of ideas is similar to that of plants and flowers4 ,the growth of expression follows the growth of the idea1 it never precedes it4 ,from the formation of the first vowel to the perfect interpretation of a song the teacher is dealing with mental concepts4 ,at the ,gobelin ,tapestry works near ,paris ,i was told that the weavers of those wonderful tapestries use twenty-four shades of each color1 and that their color sense becomes so acute that they readily recognize all of the different shades4 ,now there are about as many shades of each vowel1 and the mental picture of the vowel must be so definite1 the mental ear so sensitive1 that it will detect the slightest variation from the perfect form4 ,direct control could never accomplish this4 ,only the automatic response of the mechanism to the perfect vowel concept can result in a perfect vowel4 ,all of those qualities and elements mentioned above as constituting the artist come under the heading ,,know ,,what ,,you ,,want4 ,the second step ,,have ,,the ,,conditions ,,right means1 in short1 to free the mechanism of all interference and properly manage the breath4 ,this getting rid of interference could be talked about indefinitely without wasting time4 ,it is far more important than most people suspect4 ,few voices are entirely free from it1 and when it is present in a marked degree it is an effectual bar to progress4 ,so long as it is present in the slightest degree it affects the tone quality4 ,most students think they are through with it long before they are4 ,this interference1 which is referred to as tension1 rigidity1 throatiness1 etc41 is in the nature of resistance to the free emission of tone4 ,it is not always confined to the vocal cords1 but usually extends to the walls of the pharynx and the body of the tongue4 ,the vocal cavities1 the pharynx and mouth1 exert such a marked influence on tone quality that the least degree of rigidity produces an effect that is instantly noticeable to the trained ear4 ,these parts of the vocal mechanism which are so largely responsible not only for perfect vowels1 but for perfect tone quality as well1 must at all times be so free from tension that they can respond instantly to the tone concept4 ,if they fail to respond the tone will be imperfect1 and these imperfections are all classed under the general head throaty4 ,throaty tone means that there is resistance somewhere1 and the conditions will never be right until the last vestige of it is destroyed4 ,the difficulty in voice placing which so many have1 lies in trying to produce the upper tones without first getting rid of resistance4 ,this condition is responsible for a number of shop-worn statements1 such as bring the tone forward1 place the tone in the head1 direct the tone into the head1 etc4 ,i recall a writer who says that the column of breath must be directed against the hard palate toward the front of the mouth in order to get a resonant tone4 ,consider this a moment4 ,when the breath is properly vocalized its power is completely destroyed4 ,any one may test this by vocalizing in an atmosphere cold enough to condense the moisture in his breath4 ,if he is vocalizing perfectly1 he will observe that the breath moves lazily out of the mouth and curls upward not more than an inch from the face4 ,the idea that this breath1 which has not a particle of force after leaving the vocal cords1 can be directed against the hard palate with an impact sufficient to affect tone quality is the limit of absurdity4 ,if the writer had spoken of directing the sound waves to the front of the mouth there would have been an element of reasonableness in it1 for sound waves can be reflected as well as light waves2 but breath and sound are quite different things4 ,what does the teacher mean when he tells the pupil to place the tone in the head8 ,he doubtless means that the student shall call into use the upper resonator4 ,if one holds a vibrating tuning-fork before a resonating tube1 does he direct the vibrations into that resonating cavity8 ,no4 ,neither is it necessary to try to drive the voice into the cavities of the head4 ,such instructions are of doubtful value4 ,they are almost sure to result in a hard unsympathetic tone4 ,they increase rather than diminish the resistance4 ,the only possible way to place the tone in the head is to let it go there4 ,this will always occur when the resistance is destroyed and the channel is free4 ,in numerous instances the resistance in the vocal cords is so great that it is impossible to sing softly1 or with half voice4 ,it requires so much breath pressure to start the vibration1 that is1 to overcome the resistance1 that when it does start it is with full voice4 ,in a majority of male voices the upper tone must be taken either with full chest voice or with falsetto4 ,there is no mezza voce4 ,this condition is abnormal and is responsible for the red in the face brand of voice production so often heard4 ,of this we may be sure1 that no one can sing a good full tone unless he can sing a good mezza voce4 ,when the mechanism is sufficiently free from resistance that a good pianissimo can be sung then the conditions are right to begin to build toward a forte4 ,further1 when the mechanism is entirely free from resistance there is no conscious effort required to produce tone4 ,the singer has the feeling of letting himself sing rather than of making himself sing4 ,the engineer of a great pumping station once told me that his mammoth ,corliss engine was so perfectly balanced that he could run it with ten pounds of steam4 ,when the voice is free1 and resting on the breath as it were1 it seems to sing itself4 ,an illustration of the opposite condition1 of extreme resistance was once told me by the president of a great street railway system that was operated by a cable4 ,he said it required eighty-five per cent of the power generated to start the machinery1 that is1 to overcome the resistance1 leaving but fifteen per cent for operating cars4 ,it is not at all uncommon to hear singers who are so filled with resistance that it requires all of their available energy to make the vocal instrument produce tone4 ,such singers soon find themselves exhausted and the voice tired and husky4 ,it is this type of voice production rather than climatic conditions1 that causes so much chronic laryngitis among singers4 ,i have seen the truth of this statement verified in the complete and permanent disappearance of many cases of laryngitis through learning to produce the voice correctly4 ,the second step in securing right conditions is the proper management of the breath4 ,,breath ,,control ,an extremist always lacks the sense of proportion4 ,he allows a single idea to fill his mental horizon4 ,he is fanciful1 and when an idea comes to him he turns his high power imagination upon it1 and it immediately becomes overwhelming in magnitude and importance4 ,thereafter all things in his universe revolve around it4 ,the field of voice teaching is well stocked with extremists4 ,everything involved in voice production and many things that are not1 have been taken up one at a time and made the basis of a method4 ,one builds his reputation on a peculiar way of getting the tone into the frontal sinuses by way of the infundibulum canal1 and makes all other things secondary4 ,another has discovered a startling effect which a certain action of the arytenoid cartilages has on registers1 and sees a perfect voice as the result4 ,another has discovered that a particular movement of the thyroid cartilage is the only proper way to tense the vocal cords and when every one learns to do this all bad voices will disappear4 ,another has discovered something in breath control so revolutionary in its nature that it alone will solve all vocal problems4 ,perhaps if all of these discoveries could be combined they might produce something of value2 but who will undertake it8 ,not the extremists themselves1 for they are barren of the synthetic idea1 and their sense of proportion is rudimentary4 ,they would be scientists were it not for their abnormal imaginations4 ,the scientist takes the voice apart and examines it in detail1 but the voice teacher must put all parts of it together and mold it into a perfect whole4 ,the process is synthetic rather than analytic1 and undue emphasis on any one element destroys the necessary balance4 ,the immediate danger of laying undue emphasis on any one idea in voice training lies in its tendency toward the mechanical and away from the spontaneous1 automatic response so vitally necessary4 ,here the extremists commit a fatal error4 ,to make breath management the all-in-all of singing invariably leads to direct control1 and soon the student has become so conscious of the mechanism of breathing that his mind is never off of it while singing2 he finds himself becoming rigid trying to prevent his breath from escaping1 and the more rigid he becomes the less control he has4 ,a large number of examples of this kind of breath management have come under my observation4 ,they all show the evil results of over working an idea4 ,but the followers of the-breath-is-the-whole-thing idea say ,you can't sing without breath control4 ,solomon never said a truer thing1 but the plan just mentioned is the worst possible way to secure it4 ,every one should know that not a single one of the processes of voice production is right until it is working automatically1 and automatic action is the result of indirect1 never of direct control4 ,the profession has become pretty thoroughly imbued with the idea that deep breathing1 known as abdominal1 or diaphragmatic is the best for purposes of singing4 ,but how deep8 ,the answer is1 the deeper the better4 ,here again it is easy to overstep the bounds4 ,i have in mind numerous instances where the singer1 under the impression that he was practicing deep breathing tried to control the breath with the lower abdominal muscles1 but no matter how great the effort made there was little tonal response1 for the reason that the pressure exerted was not against the lungs but against the contents of the abdomen4 ,the diaphragm is the point of control4 ,the lungs lie above it1 not below it4 ,to concentrate the thought on the lower abdominal muscles means to lose control of the diaphragm1 the most important thing involved in breath management4 ,the process of breathing is simple4 ,the lungs are enclosed in an air tight box of which the diaphragm is the bottom4 ,it rests under the lungs like an inverted saucer4 ,in the act of contracting it flattens toward a plane and in so doing it moves downward and forward1 away from the lungs4 ,the ribs move outward1 forward and upward4 ,the lungs which occupy this box like a half compressed sponge follow the receding walls1 and a vacuum is created which air rushes in to fill4 ,in exhalation the action is reversed4 ,the ribs press against the lungs and the diaphragm slowly returns to its original position and the breath is forced out like squeezing water out of a sponge4 ,the one important thing in breath management is the diaphragm4 ,if the student has the right action of the diaphragm he will have no further trouble with breath control4 ,in my ,systematic ,voice ,training will be found a list of exercises which thoroughly cover the subject of breath control and if properly used will correct all errors4 ,let this be understood1 that there is nothing in correct breathing that should make one tired4 ,on the contrary the practice of breathing should leave one refreshed4 ,above all1 the student should never make himself rigid when trying to control the flow of breath4 ,this is not only of no advantage1 but will effectually defeat the end for which he is striving4 ,,registers ,in securing right conditions the teacher is often confronted with the problem of registers4 ,the literature on this subject is voluminous and varied4 ,opinions are offered without stint and the number of registers which have been discovered in the human voice ranges from none to an indefinite number4 ,how one scientist can see two1 and another one five registers in the same voice might be difficult to explain were it not a well known fact that some people are better at seeing things than others4 ,but here again the teacher soon learns that laboratory work is of little value4 ,his view point is so different from that of the physicist that they can hardly be said to be working at the same problem4 ,the physicist tries to discover the action of the mechanism1 in other words1 how the tone is made4 ,the voice teacher is concerned primarily with how it sounds4 ,one is looking at the voice1 the other is listening to it1 which things1 be it known1 are essentially and fundamentally different2 so different that their relationship is scarcely traceable4 ,the ability to train the voice comes through working with voices where the musical sense1 rather than the scientific sense1 is the guide4 ,it is a specific knowledge which can be gained in no other way4 ,it begins when one takes an untrained voice and attempts to make it produce a musical tone4 ,the problem of registers is1 in short1 how to make an even scale out of an uneven one4 ,it must be solved in the studio4 ,anatomical knowledge is of no avail4 ,the teacher who has learned how to produce an even scale possesses knowledge which is of more value to the student than all of the books ever written on vocal mechanism4 ,the depressions in the voice known as changes of register result from tension4 ,with one adjustment of the vocal cords the singer can1 by adding tension1 make a series of four or five tones1 then by a change of adjustment he can produce another similar series1 and so on to the top of his compass4 ,these changes occur when there is such an accumulation of tension that no more can be added to that adjustment without discomfort4 ,the solution of this problem lies in gaining such freedom from tension in the vocal instrument that it automatically readjusts itself for each tone4 ,the tension is then evenly distributed throughout the scale and the sudden changes disappear4 ,this is precisely what happens when the singer has learned to produce an even scale throughout his compass2 his voice production is not right until he can do this4 ,the statement is frequently made in public print that there are no registers in the trained voice4 ,this order of wisdom is equally scintillating with that profound intellectual effort which avers that a bald headed man has no hair on the top of his head1 or that hot weather is due to a rise in the temperature4 ,these statements may be heavy-laden with truth1 but to the voice teacher they are irrelevant4 ,his work is at least seven-eighths with untrained voices4 ,by the time he has worked out an even scale with all of the other problems that go hand in hand with it1 for a great deal of the art of singing will naturally accompany it1 a large majority of his pupils are ready to move on4 ,only a small per cent prepare for a musical career4 ,most of his work is with voices that still need to be perfected4 ,it is for voices of this kind that the teacher lives4 ,it is for such voices that vocal methods are evolved and books written4 ,a lighthearted1 easy going assurance is not sufficient alone to compass the problems that present themselves in the studio4 ,if the teacher is conscientious there will be times when he will feel deeply the need of something more than human wisdom4 ,the work in the studio has more to do with the future than with the immediate present4 ,the singing lesson is a small part of what the student carries with him4 ,the atmosphere of the studio1 which is the real personality of the teacher1 his ideals1 aims1 the depth of his sincerity1 in short1 his concept of the meaning of life1 goes with the student and will be remembered when the lesson is forgotten4 ,v ,,the ,,nature ,,and ,,meaning ,,of ,,art ,one function1 then1 of art is to feed and mature the imagination and the spirit1 and thereby enhance and invigorate the whole of human life4 ,ancient ,art and ,ritual4 ,jane ,ellen ,harrison4 ,a large percentage of the population of the civilized world has more or less to do with what is called art4 ,in its various forms art touches in some degree practically the entire human race4 ,its various activities have developed great industries1 and for the entertainment it affords fabulous sums of money are spent4 ,what is this thing called art which takes such a hold upon the human race8 ,if it has no social or economic value then a vast amount of time and money are wasted each year in its study and practice4 ,a brief inquiry into the nature and meaning of art may well be associated with a discussion of the art of singing4 ,art as a whole comes under the head of ,aesthetics1 which may be defined as the philosophy of taste1 the science of the beautiful4 ,it will doubtless be admitted without argument that ever since the dawn of consciousness the visible world has produced sense impressions differing from each other--some pleasant1 some unpleasant4 ,from these different sense impressions there gradually evolved what is known as beauty and ugliness4 ,an attempt to discover the principles underlying beauty and ugliness resulted in ,aesthetics1 the founder of which was ,baumgarten 7#agad-agfb74 ,it will be interesting to hear what he and the later aestheticians have to say about art4 ,most of them connect it in some way with that which is beautiful1 that is1 pleasing1 but they do not all agree in their definition of beauty4 ,baumgarten defined beauty as the perfect1 the absolute1 recognized through the senses4 ,he held that the highest embodiment of beauty is seen by us in nature1 therefore the highest aim of art is to copy nature4 ,winkelmann 7#agag-agfh7 held the law and aim of art to be beauty independent of goodness4 ,hutcheson 7#afid-agdg7 was of essentially the same opinion4 ,according to ,kant 7#agbd-ahjd7 beauty is that which pleases without the reasoning process4 ,schiller 7#ageh-ahje7 held that the aim of art is beauty1 the source of which is pleasure without practical advantage4 ,these definitions do not wholly satisfy4 ,they do not accord to art the dignified position it should hold in social development4 ,but there are others who have a clearer vision4 ,fichte 7#agfb-ahad7 said that beauty exists not in the visible world but in the beautiful soul1 and that art is the manifestation of this beautiful soul1 and that its aim is the education of the whole man4 ,in this we begin to see the real nature and activity of art4 ,there are other aestheticians who define art in much the same way4 ,shaftesbury 7#afgj-agac7 said that beauty is recognized by the mind only4 ,god is fundamental beauty4 ,hegel 7#aggj-ahca7 said3 ,art is ,god manifesting himself in the form of beauty4 ,beauty is the idea shining through matter4 ,art is a means of bringing to consciousness and expressing the deepest problems of humanity and the highest truths4 ,according to ,hegel beauty and truth are one and the same thing4 ,thus we see that the great thinkers of the world make art of supreme importance in the perfecting of the human race4 ,they all agree that art is not in material objects1 but is a condition and activity of spirit4 ,they agree in the main that beauty and truth emanate from the same source4 ,said ,keats3 ,beauty is truth and truth beauty1 ,that is all ye know on earth and all ye need know4 ,said ,schelling3 ,beauty is the perception of the ,infinite in the finite4 ,but perhaps the highest concept of art is from the great artist ,whistler4 ,he said3 ,art is an expression of eternal absolute truth1 and starting from the ,infinite it cannot progress1 ,,it ,,is4 ,art in some form and in some degree finds a response in every one4 ,why8 ,because every one consciously or unconsciously is looking toward and striving for perfection4 ,this is the law of being4 ,every one is seeking to improve his condition1 and this means that in some degree every one is an idealist4 ,ever since time began idealism has been at work1 and to it we owe every improved condition--social1 political and religious4 ,hegel believed that the aim of art is to portray nature in perfect form1 not with the imperfections seen around us2 and ,herbert ,spencer defined art as the attempt to realize the ideal in the present4 ,the artist tries to make his picture more perfect than what he sees around him4 ,the poet1 the sculptor1 the musician1 the craftsman1 the mechanic1 are all striving for a more perfect expression1 because perfection is the fundamental1 eternal law of being4 ,wagner said3 ,the world will be redeemed through art1 and if ,whistler's definition be accepted he is not far from the truth4 ,the important thing to remember is that art is not a mere pastime1 but a great world force operating to lift mortals out of mortality4 ,it is the striving of the finite to reach the ,infinite4 ,in human history art1 no less than languages1 has conformed to the theory of evolution4 ,language in the beginning was monosyllabic4 ,far back in the early dawn of the race1 before the development of the community spirit1 when feelings1 emotions1 ideas1 were simple and few the medium of expression was simple1 and it grew with the demand for a larger expression4 ,this same process of evolution is seen in the growth of each individual4 ,the child1 seeing grimalkin stalk stealthily into the room1 points the finger and says cat4 ,this is the complete expression of itself on that subject4 ,it is the sum total of its knowledge of zoology at that particular moment2 and a long process of development must follow before it will refer to the same animal as a ,felis ,domestica4 ,in a similar way musical expression keeps step with musical ideas4 ,in the beginning musical ideas were short1 simple1 fragmentary1 monosyllabic1 mere germs of melody 7adherents of the germ theory will make a note of this74 ,the ,arab with his rudimentary fiddle will repeat this fragment of melody ,illustration3 ,figure ,h by the hour1 while a company of his unlaundered brethren dance1 until exhausted1 in dust to their ankles1 with the temperature near the boiling point4 ,this musical monosyllable is ample to satisfy his artistic craving4 ,in other words it is the complete musical expression of himself4 ,the following is a complete program of dance music for the aborigines of ,australia4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,i ,the repetition of this figure may continue for hours4 ,if it were inflicted on a metropolitan audience it would result in justifiable homicide1 but to the ,australian it furnishes just the emotional stimulus he desires4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,j ,this one from ,tongtoboo1 played ,allegro1 would set the heels of any company1 ancient or modern1 in motion4 ,these people may be said to be in the rhythmic stage of music1 that is1 a stage of development in which a rhythmic movement which serves to incite the dance furnishes complete artistic satisfaction4 ,as it is a long distance from the monosyllabic expression of the child to the point where he can think consecutively in polysyllabic dissertation1 so it is an equally long distance from the inarticulate musical utterances of the barbarous tribes to the endless melodies of ,wagner1 which begin at #h ,p4 ,m4 and continue until #ab4ae ,a4 ,m4 without repetition4 ,following the course of music from the beginning we shall see that it has kept pace with civilization4 ,as the race has grown mentally it has expressed itself in a larger and more perfect way in its literature1 its painting and music4 ,physically the race has not grown perceptibly in the last five thousand years1 but mentally its growth can scarcely be measured4 ,if we follow each nation through the past thousand years we shall see that its art product has not only kept pace with its development1 but that in its art we may see all of its racial characteristics1 those habits of mind which are peculiarly its own4 ,a nation left to itself will develop a certain trend of thought which will differentiate it from all other nations4 ,a trend of thought which will affect its art1 literature1 politics1 religion1 and in course of time will produce marked physical characteristics4 ,this is noticeable in all nations which have lived long unto themselves4 ,but modern methods of communication are destroying this4 ,as nations are brought into closer contact with each other they begin to lose their peculiarities4 ,the truth of this statement may be seen in the fact that in the past fifty years composers all over the world have been affected by the modern ,german school of composition4 ,not one has escaped4 ,while a nation lived unto itself it could preserve its national life in its art1 but more and more the life of each nation is becoming a composite of the life of all nations4 ,the musical output of the world shows this unmistakably4 ,what will be the music of the future8 ,we know the music of yesterday and today1 but the music of the future can be foretold only by the prophet whose vision is clear enough to see unmistakably what the trend of civilization will be during the coming years4 ,there are mighty forces operating in the world today4 ,if they succeed in bringing humanity to a saner1 more normal state of mind1 to a clearer realization of what is worth while and what is worthless1 then all art will become purer and more wholesome1 more helpful and necessary1 and music speaking a language common to all will be supreme among the arts4 ,,vi ,,singing ,,as ,,an ,,art ,no artist can be graceful1 imaginative1 or original1 unless he be truthful4 ,ruskin4 ,modern ,painters4 ,art is a transfer of feeling said ,tolstoy4 ,while this applies to art in general it has a particular application to the art of singing4 ,the material of the singer's art is feeling4 ,by means of the imagination he evokes within himself feelings he has experienced and through the medium of his voice he transfers these feelings to others4 ,by his ability to reconstruct moods1 feelings and emotions within himself and express them through his voice1 the singer sways multitudes1 plays upon them1 carries them whithersoever he will from the depths of sorrow to the heights of exaltation4 ,his direct and constant aim is to make his hearers feel1 and feel deeply4 ,as a medium for the transfer of feeling the human voice far transcends all others4 ,since the beginning of the human race the voice has been the means by which it has most completely revealed itself1 but the art is not in the voice1 but in the feeling transferred4 ,it is the same whether the medium be the voice1 painting1 sculpture1 poetry or a musical instrument4 ,we speak of a painting as being a great work of art1 but the art is not in the painting1 the art is the feeling of beauty which the painting awakes in the observer4 ,when we listen to an orchestra the music is what we feel4 ,said ,walt ,whitman3 ,music is what awakes within us when we are reminded by the instruments4 ,nothing exists separate from cognition4 ,real art therefore consists of pure feeling rather than of material objects4 ,if the singer succeeds in transferring his feelings to others he is an artist1 this regardless of whether his voice is great or small4 ,voice alone does not constitute an artist4 ,one must have something to give4 ,schumann said3 ,the reason the nightingale sings love songs and the lap dog barks is because the soul of the nightingale is filled with love and that of the lap dog with bark4 ,it will be apparent therefore1 that the study of the art of singing should devote itself to developing in the singer the best elements of his nature--all that is good1 pure and elevating4 ,we have no right to transfer to others any feeling that is impure or unwholesome4 ,the technic of an art is of small moment compared with its subject matter4 ,an unworthy poem cannot be purified by setting it to music no matter how beautiful the music may be4 ,,the ,,principles ,,of ,,interpretation ,i fancy there is nothing more intangible to most people than the term phrasing4 ,i have asked a great many students to give me the principles of phrasing1 but as yet ,i have seen none who could do it1 and yet all singers1 from the youngest to the oldest must make some use of these principles every time they sing4 ,now a thing in such general use should be1 and is1 subject to analysis4 ,all of the rules of phrasing1 like the rules of composition1 grow out of what sounds well4 ,beauty and ugliness are matters of mental correspondence4 ,in music a thing to be beautiful must satisfy a mental demand1 and this demand is one's taste4 ,the sense of fitness must obtain4 ,when the singer interprets a song the demand of the listener is that he shall do well what he undertakes to do3 that he shall portray whatever phase of life the song contains1 accurately1 definitely1 that he shall have a definite intent and purpose1 that he shall be in the mood of the song4 ,the singer must not portray one mood with his face1 another with his voice1 while the poem suggests still a third4 ,he must avoid incongruity4 ,all things must work together4 ,there must be therefore1 the evidence of intelligent design in every word and phrase4 ,the song is a unit and each phrase contains a definite idea1 therefore it must not be detached or fragmentary1 but must have the element of continuity and each and every part must be made to contribute to the central idea4 ,the element of insecurity must not be allowed to enter4 ,if it does1 the listener feels that the singer is not sure of himself1 that he cannot do what he set out to do3 therefore he is a failure4 ,another demand is that the singer shall be intelligent4 ,a poem does not lose its meaning or its strength by being associated with music1 and to this end the singer must deliver the text with the same understanding and appreciation of its meaning as would a public reader4 ,now from the above we infer certain principles4 ,the demand for continuity means that the singer must have a pure legato4 ,that is1 he must be able to connect words smoothly1 to pass from one word to another without interrupting the tone1 that the tone may be continuous throughout each phrase4 ,the feeling of security lies in what is known as sostenuto1 the ability to sustain the tone throughout the phrase with no sense of diminishing power4 ,it means in short the organ time4 ,from the demand for design in each word and phrase comes contrast4 ,this may be made in the power of the tone by means of cres4 dim4 sfz4 ,it may be made in the tempo by means of the retard1 accelerando1 the hold1 etc4 ,it may also be made in the quality of the tone by using the various shades from bright to somber4 ,the basis of phrasing then1 may be found in legato1 sostenuto and contrast4 ,all of the other things involved in interpretation cannot make a good performance if these fundamental principles be lacking4 ,a more complete outline of interpretation follows3 ,,an ,,outline ,,of ,,interpretation ,pitches ,,reading ,note ,lengths ,rhythm ,vowels ,enunciation ,consonants ,,diction ,pronunciation ,accent ,emphasis ,even ,scale ,,voice ,quality ,freedom ,breath ,control ,attack ,,technic ,flexibility ,execution ,legato ,,phrasing ,sostenuto ,power ,contrast ,tempo ,color ,proportion ,emotional ,concept ,,mood ,facial ,expression ,stage ,presence ,most of the things mentioned in this outline of interpretation have been discussed elsewhere1 but the subject of diction requires further explanation4 ,,diction ,the mechanism of speech might be discussed at any length1 but to reduce it to its simplest form it consists of the sound producing instrument1--the vocal cords1 the organs of enunciation--lips1 tongue1 teeth and soft palate1 and the channel leading to the outer air4 ,when the vocal cords are producing pitch and the channel is free the result is a vowel4 ,if an obstruction is thrown into the channel the result is a consonant4 ,vowels and consonants1 then1 constitute the elements of speech4 ,the vowels are the emotional elements and the consonants are the intellectual elements4 ,by means of vowel sounds alone emotions may be awakened1 but when definite ideas are expressed1 words which are a combination of vowels and consonants must be used4 ,it is nothing short of amazing that with this simple mechanism1 by using the various combinations of open and obstructed channel in connection with pitch1 the entire ,english language or any other language for that matter can be produced4 ,vowels are produced with an open channel from the vocal cords to the outer air4 ,consonants are produced by partial or complete closing of the channel by interference of the lips1 tongue1 teeth and soft palate4 ,if language consisted entirely of vowels learning to sing would be much simpler than it is4 ,it is the consonants that cause trouble4 ,it is not uncommon to find students who can vocalize with comparative ease1 but the moment they attempt to sing words the mechanism becomes rigid4 ,the tendency toward rigidity is much greater in enunciating consonants than it is in enunciating vowels1 and yet they should be equally easy4 ,here is where the student finds his greatest difficulty in mastering ,english diction4 ,the most frequent criticism of ,american singers is their deficiency in diction4 ,whether it please us or no1 it must be admitted that on the whole the criticism is not without foundation4 ,the importance of effective speech is much underestimated by students of singing1 and yet it requires but a moment's consideration to see that the impression created by speech is the result of forceful diction no less than of subject matter4 ,words mean the same thing whether spoken or sung1 and the singer no less than the speaker should deliver them with a full understanding of their meaning4 ,the proposition confronting the singer is a difficult one4 ,when he attempts the dramatic he finds that it destroys his legato4 ,he loses the sustained quality of the organ tone1 which is the true singing tone1 and bel canto is out of the question4 ,this is what is urged against the operas of ,wagner and practically everything of the ,german school since his day4 ,the dramatic element is so intense and the demand so strenuous that singers find it almost1 if not quite impossible1 to keep the singing tone and reach the dramatic heights required4 ,they soon find themselves shouting in a way that not only destroys the singing tone but also the organ that produces it4 ,the truth of this cannot be gainsaid4 ,there is a considerable amount of vocal wreckage strewn along the way1 the result of wrestling with ,wagnerian recitative4 ,wagnerian singers are1 as a rule1 vocally shorter lived than those that confine themselves to ,french and ,italian opera4 ,but it will be argued by some that these people have not learned how to sing1 that if they had a perfect vocal method they could sing ,wagner as easily as ,massenet4 ,that they have not learned to sing ,wagner is evident1 and this brings us to the question--,shall the singer adjust himself to the composer or the composer to the singer8 ,a discussion of this would probably lead nowhere1 but ,i submit the observation1 that many modern composers show a disregard for the possibilities and limitations of the human voice that amounts to stupidity4 ,because a composer can write great symphonies the public is inclined to think that everything he writes is great4 ,let it be understood once for all that bad voice writing is bad whether it is done by a symphonic writer or a popular songwriter4 ,in the present stage of human development there are certain things the voice can do and other things it cannot do1 and these things can be known only by those who understand the voice1 and are accustomed to working with it4 ,to ignore them completely when writing for voices is no evidence of genius4 ,composers seem to forget that the singer must create the pitch of his instrument as well as its quality at the moment he uses it4 ,they also forget that his most important aid in this is the feeling of tonality4 ,when this is destroyed and the singer is forced to measure intervals abstractedly he is called upon to do something immeasurably more difficult than anything that is asked of the instrumentalist4 ,many modern composers have lost their heads and run amuck on the modern idiom1 and their writing for voices is so complex that it would require a greater musician to sing their music than it did to write it4 ,but to return1 ,i do not say that it is impossible to apply the principles of bel canto to ,wagner's dramatic style of utterance4 ,on the contrary ,i believe it is possible to gain such a mastery of voice production and enunciation that the ,wagnerian roles may be sung1 not shouted1 and still not be lacking in dramatic intensity1 but it requires a more careful study of diction and its relation to voice production than most singers are willing to make4 ,a majority of singers never succeed in establishing the right relation between the vocal organ and the organs of enunciation4 ,years of experience have verified this beyond peradventure4 ,it is a very common thing for singers to vocalize for an indefinite period with no ill effect1 but become hoarse with ten minutes of singing4 ,the reason is apparent4 ,they have learned how to produce vowels with a free throat but not consonants4 ,the moment they attempt to form a consonant1 tension appears1 not only in those parts of the mechanism which form the consonant1 but in the vocal organ as well4 ,under such treatment the voice soon begins to show wear1 and this is exactly what happens to those singers who find it difficult to sing the ,wagner operas4 ,the solution of this problem lies in the proper study of diction4 ,the intellectual elements of speech consonants are formed almost entirely in the front of the mouth with various combinations of lips1 tongue and teeth4 ,three things are necessary to their complete mastery4 ,first1--consonants must be produced without tension4 ,it will be well to remember in this connection that consonants are not to be sung4 ,they are points of interference and must be distinct but short4 ,the principle of freedom applies to consonants no less than to vowels4 ,second1--consonants must not be allowed to interrupt the continuity of the pitch produced by the vocal cords4 ,this is necessary to preserve legato4 ,some consonants close the channel completely1 others only partially4 ,it is a great achievement to be able to sing all consonant combinations and still preserve a legato4 ,third1--consonants must in no way interfere with the freedom of the vocal organ4 ,if the student attempts to sing the consonants1 that is1 to prolong them he is sure to make his throat rigid and the pure singing tone at once disappears4 ,he must therefore learn dramatic utterance without throwing the weight of it on the throat4 ,to do this he must begin with a consonant which offers the least resistance and practice it until the three points mentioned have been mastered4 ,the one which will give the least trouble is l4 ,at the pitch ,g sing ah-lah-lah-lah-lah1 until it can be done with relaxed tongue1 with perfect continuity of tone1 and with perfect freedom in the vocal instrument4 ,in the same way practice n1 d1 v1 th1 m1 and the sub vocals1 b1 d1 g4 ,always begin with a vowel4 ,if the singer has the patience to work the problem out in this way he can apply the principles of bel canto to dramatic singing4 ,the road to this achievement is long1 longer than most people suspect1 but if one is industrious and persevering it may be accomplished4 ,but there remains yet to be mentioned the most important element of artistic singing4 ,to the pure tone and perfect diction must be added the imagination4 ,the imagination is the image making power of the mind1 the power to create or reproduce ideally that which has been previously perceived3 the power to call up mental images4 ,by means of the imagination we take the materials of experience and mold them into idealized forms4 ,the aim of creative art is to idealize1 that is1 to portray nature and experience in perfect forms not with the imperfections of visible nature4 ,in this says ,hegel1 art is superior to nature4 ,the activity of the imagination is directly responsible for that most essential thing--emotional tone4 ,taking intelligence for granted1 the imagination is the most important factor involved in interpretation4 ,if the imagination be quick and responsive it will carry the singer away from himself and temporarily he will live the song4 ,every song has an atmosphere1 a metaphysical something which differentiates it from every other song4 ,the singer must discover it and find the mood which will perfectly express it4 ,if his imagination constructs the image1 creates the picture1 recalls the feeling1 the emotion1 the result will be artistic singing4 ,the song is that which comes from the soul of the singer4 ,it is not on the printed page4 ,if ,i study a ,schubert song until ,i have mastered it1 ,i have done nothing to ,schubert4 ,it is ,i who have grown4 ,through the activity of the imagination1 guided by the intelligence1 ,i have built up in my consciousness as nearly as possible what ,i conceive to have been ,schubert's feeling when he wrote the song1 but the work has all been done on myself4 ,a chapter might be written on the artistic personality4 ,it reveals itself in light1 shade1 nuance1 inflection1 accent1 color1 always with a perfect sense of proportion1 harmony and unity1 and free from all that is earthy4 ,it is the expression of individuality4 ,it cannot be imitated4 ,if you ask me for its source ,i repeat again ,whistler's immortal saying3 ,art is an expression of eternal1 absolute truth1 and starting from the ,infinite it cannot progress1 ,,it ,,is4 ,,vii ,,the ,,construction ,,of ,a ,,song4 ,has he put the emphasis on his work in the place where it is most important8 ,has he so completely expressed himself that the onlooker cannot fail to find his meaning8 ,appreciation of ,art4 ,loveridge4 ,when you listen to a song and at its close say1 ,that is beautiful1 do you ever stop and try to discover why it is beautiful8 ,the quest may lead you far into the field of ,aesthetics1 and unless you are accustomed to psychological processes you may find yourself in a maze from which escape is difficult4 ,let us remember that in studying the construction of a song we are dealing with states of mind4 ,a song is the product of a certain mood and its direct aim is to awaken a similar mood in others4 ,it is a well established fact that sound is the most common and the most effective way of expressing and communicating the emotions1 not only for man but for the lower animals as well4 ,this method of communication doubtless began far back in the history of the race and was used to express bodily pain or pleasure4 ,the lower animals convey their feelings to each other by sounds1 not by words1 and these sounds awaken in others the same feeling as that which produced them4 ,we see1 then1 that emotion may be expressed by sound and be awakened by sound1 and this obtains among human beings no less than among the lower animals4 ,in the long process of ages sound qualities have become indissolubly associated with emotional states1 and have become the most exciting1 the most powerful sense stimulus in producing emotional reactions4 ,the cry of one human being in pain will excite painful emotions in another4 ,an exclamation of joy will excite a similar emotion in others1 and so on through the whole range of human emotions4 ,herbert ,spencer holds that the beginning of music may be traced back to the cry of animals1 which evidently has an emotional origin and purpose4 ,it is a far cry from the beginning of music as described by ,spencer to the modern art song1 but from that time to this the principle has remained the same4 ,the emotional range of the lower animals is small1 doubtless limited to the expression of bodily conditions1 but the human race through long ages of growth has developed an almost unlimited emotional range1 hence the vehicle for its expression has of necessity increased in complexity4 ,to meet this demand music as a science has evolved a tone system4 ,that is1 from the infinite number of tones it has selected something over a hundred having definite mathematical relationships1 fixed vibrational ratios4 ,the art of music takes this system of tones and by means of combinations1 progressions and movements which constitute what is called musical composition1 it undertakes to excite a wide variety of emotions4 ,the aim and office of music is to create moods4 ,it does not arrive at definite expression4 ,there is no musical progression which is universally understood as an invitation to one's neighbor to pass the bread4 ,the pianist cannot by any particular tone combination make his audience understand that his left shoe pinches1 but he can make them smile or look serious4 ,he can fill them with courage or bring them to tears without saying a word4 ,in listening to the ,bach ,b ,minor ,mass one can tell the ,sanctus from the ,gloria in ,excelsis without knowing a word of ,latin4 ,the music conveys the mood unmistakably4 ,a song is a union of music and poetry1 a wedding if you please and as in all matrimonial alliances the two contracting parties should be in harmony4 ,the poem creates a mood not alone by what it expresses directly but by what it implies1 what it suggests4 ,its office is to stimulate the imagination rather than to inform by direct statement of facts4 ,the office of music is to strengthen1 accentuate1 and supplement the mood of the poem1 to translate the poem into music4 ,the best song then1 will be one in which both words and music most perfectly create the same mood4 ,arnold ,bennett's definition of literature applies equally well to the song4 ,he says3 ,that evening when you went for a walk with your faithful friend1 the friend from whom you hid nothing--or almost nothing--you were1 in truth1 somewhat inclined to hide from him the particular matter which monopolized your mind that evening1 but somehow you contrived to get on to it1 drawn by an overpowering fascination4 ,and as your faithful friend was sympathetic and discreet1 and flattered you by a respectful curiosity1 you proceeded further and further into the said matter1 growing more and more confidential1 until at last you cried out in a terrific whisper3 ',my boy she is simply miraculous3' ,at that moment you were in the domain of literature4 ,now when such impassioned1 spontaneous utterance is brought under the operation of musical law we have a perfect song4 ,the composer furnished the words and music1 but the thing which makes it a song comes from the singer1 from the earnestness and conviction with which he delivers the message4 ,songs are divided into two general classes3 those expressing the relationships of human beings1 such as love1 joy1 sorrow1 chivalry1 patriotism1 etc41 and those expressing the relationship of man to his creator2 veneration1 devotion1 praise1 etc4 ,the two great sources of inspiration to song writers have always been love and religion4 ,what are the principles of song construction8 ,they are all comprised in the law of fitness4 ,the composer must do what he sets out to do4 ,the materials with which he has to work are rhythm1 melody and harmony4 ,the most important thing in a song is the melody4 ,this determines to a very great extent the health and longevity of the song4 ,most of the songs that have passed the century mark and still live do so by reason of their melody4 ,there must be a sense of fitness between the poem and the melody4 ,a poem which expresses a simple sentiment requires a simple melody4 ,a simple story should be told simply4 ,if the poem is sad1 joyous1 or tragic the melody must correspond4 ,otherwise the family discords begin at once4 ,poetry cannot adapt itself to music1 because its mood is already established4 ,it is the business of the composer to create music which will supplement the poem4 ,a lullaby should not have a martial melody1 neither should an exhortation to lofty patriotism be given a melody which induces somnolence4 ,the same sense of fitness must obtain in the accompaniment4 ,the office of the accompaniment is not merely to keep the singer on the pitch4 ,it must help to tell the story by strengthening the mood of the poem4 ,it must not be trivial or insincere1 neither must it overwhelm and thus draw the attention of the listeners to itself and away from the singer4 ,the accompaniment is the clothing1 or dress1 of the melody4 ,melodies1 like people1 should be well dressed but not over dressed4 ,some melodies1 like some people1 look better in plain clothes than in a fancy costume4 ,other melodies appear to advantage in a rich costume4 ,modern songwriters are much inclined to overdress their melodies to the extent that the accompaniment forces itself upon the attention to the exclusion of the melody4 ,such writing is as incongruous as putting on a dress suit to go to a fire4 ,the significance of the theme should indicate the nature of the accompaniment4 ,to take a simple sentiment and overload it with a modern complex harmonic accompaniment is like going after sparrows with a sixteen inch siege gun4 ,comedy in the song should not be associated with tragedy in the accompaniment4 ,a lively poem should not have a lazy accompaniment4 ,the great songwriters were models in this respect4 ,this accounts for their greatness4 ,take for example ,schubert's ,wohin and ,der ,wanderer1 ,schumann's ,der ,nussbaum1 ,brahms' ,feldeinsamkeit4 ,these accompaniments are as full of mood as either poem or melody4 ,the element of proportion enters into songwriting no less than into architecture4 ,a house fifteen by twenty feet with a tower sixty feet high and a veranda thirty feet wide would be out of proportion4 ,a song with sixty-four measures of introduction and sixteen measures for the voice would be out of proportion4 ,making a song is similar to painting a landscape4 ,in the painting the grass1 flowers1 shrubbery etc41 are in the foreground1 then come the hills and if there be a mountain range it is in the background4 ,if the mountain range were in the foreground it would obscure everything else4 ,so in making a song4 ,if it tells a story and reaches a climax the climax should come near the end of the song4 ,when the singer has carried his audience with him up to a great emotional height then all it needs is to be brought back safely and quickly to earth and left there4 ,,association ,i have mentioned the principles of song construction1 but there are other things which have to do with making a song effective4 ,one of the most important of these is association4 ,let us remember that the effect and consequent value of music depends upon the class of emotions it awakens rather than upon the technical skill of the composer1 and that these emotions are dependent to a considerable extent upon association4 ,we all remember the time honored expedient of tying a string around a finger when a certain thing is to be remembered4 ,the perception of the digital decoration recalls the reason for it and thus the incident is carried to a successful conclusion4 ,in like manner feelings become associated with ideas4 ,church bells arouse feelings of reverence and devotion4 ,to many of us a brass band awakens pleasant memories of circus day4 ,scots ,wha ,hae fills the ,scotchman with love for his native heather4 ,the odor of certain flowers is offensive because we associate it with a sad occasion4 ,the beauty of a waltz is due not only to its composition but also to our having danced to it under particularly pleasant circumstances4 ,at the opera there are many things that combine to make it a pleasant occasion--the distant tuning of the orchestra1 the low hum of voices1 the faint odor of violets1 and the recollection of having been there before with that miracle of a girl1--all combine to fill us with pleasurable anticipation4 ,in this way we give as much to the performance as it gives to us4 ,according to some ,aestheticians the indefinable emotions we sometimes feel when listening to music are the reverberations of feelings experienced countless ages ago4 ,this may have some foundation in fact1 but it is somewhat like seeing in a museum a mummy of ourselves in a previous incarnation4 ,songs which have the strongest hold upon us are those which have been in some way associated with our experience4 ,the intensity with which such songs as ,annie ,laurie1 ,dixie1 ,the ,vacant ,chair1 ,tramp1 ,tramp1 ,tramp grip us is due almost entirely to association4 ,therefore the value of a song consists not alone in what it awakens in the present1 but in what it recalls from the past4 ,man is the sum of his experience2 and to make past experience contribute to the joy of the present is to add abundance to riches4 ,,viii ,,how ,,to ,,study ,a ,,song ,the accent of truth apparent in the voice when speaking naturally is the basis of expression in singing4 ,garcia4 ,hints on ,singing4 ,first determine the general character of the song4 ,a careful study of the words will enable the student to find its general classification4 ,it may be dramatic1 narrative1 reminiscent1 introspective1 contemplative1 florid1 sentimental4 ,the following are examples3 ,dramatic1 ,the ,erl ,king1 ,schubert4 ,narrative1 ,the ,two ,grenadiers1 ,schumann4 ,reminiscent1 ,der ,doppelgaenger1 ,schubert4 ,florid1 ,indian ,bell ,song1 from ,lakme1 ,delibes4 ,introspective1 ,in der ,fruehe1 ,hugo ,wolf4 ,contemplative1 ,feldeinsamkeit1 ,brahms4 ,songs of sentiment4 ,this includes all songs involving the affections and the homely virtues4 ,to these might be added songs of exaltation1 such as ,beethoven's ,nature's ,adoration4 ,character songs1 in which the singer assumes a character and expresses its sentiments4 ,a good example of this is ,the ,poet's ,love cycle by ,schumann4 ,classifying the song in this way is the first step toward discovering its atmosphere4 ,there is always one tempo at which a song sounds best and this tempo must grow out of a thorough understanding of its character4 ,metronome marks should be unnecessary4 ,intelligent study of a song will unerringly suggest the proper tempo4 ,next1 study the poem until it creates the mood4 ,read it1 not once1 but many times4 ,imbibe not only its intellectual but its emotional content4 ,it is the office of poetry to stimulate the imagination4 ,it is under the influence of this stimulus that songs are written1 and under its influence they must be sung4 ,hugo ,wolf said that he always studied the poem until it composed the music4 ,this means that he studied the poem until he was so filled with its mood that the proper music came of itself4 ,fix in mind the principal points in the poem and the order in which they occur4 ,there usually is development of some kind in a poem4 ,learn what it is4 ,notice which part of the poem contains the great or central idea4 ,read it aloud4 ,determine its natural accent4 ,the singing phrase grows out of the spoken phrase4 ,singing is elongated1 or sustained1 speech1 but it should be none the less intelligent by reason of this4 ,now adapt the words to the music4 ,if the music has grown out of the words as it should1 it will follow the development of the poem and give it additional strength4 ,by this time one should be in the mood of the song1 and he should not emerge from it until the song is finished4 ,if one is filled with the spirit of the song1 is sincere and earnest1 and is filled with a desire to express what is beautiful and good he will not sing badly even if his voice be ordinary4 ,the composer may do much toward creating the mood for both singer and listener by means of his introduction4 ,the introduction to a song is not merely to give the singer the pitch4 ,it is for the purpose of creating the mood4 ,it may be reminiscent of the principal theme of the song1 it may consist of some fragment of the accompaniment1 or any other materials which will tend to create the desired mood4 ,in the introduction to ,rhein-gold where ,wagner wishes to portray a certain elemental condition he uses #acf measures of the chord of ,e flat major4 ,in ,feldeinsamkeit 7,the ,quiet of the ,fields7 where the mood is such as would come to one lying in the deep grass in the field watching the fair white clouds ride slowly overhead1 in a state of complete inaction1 ,brahms establishes the mood by this treatment of the major chord4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,k ,in ,der ,wanderer 7,the ,wanderer7 ,schubert uses this musical figure to indicate the ceaseless motion of one condemned to endless wandering4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,l ,in ,the ,maid of the ,mill cycle where the young miller discovers the brook ,schubert uses this figure1 which gives a clear picture of a chattering brooklet4 ,this figure continues throughout the song4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,m ,in the song ,on the ,journey ,home1 which describes the feelings of one who1 after a long absence returns to view the vales and mountains of his youth1 ,grieg1 with two measures of introduction grips us with a mood from which we cannot escape4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,n ,but one of the most striking examples of the operation of genius is ,schubert's introduction to ,am ,meer 7,by the ,sea74 ,here with two chords he tells us the story of the lonely seashore1 the deserted hut1 the tears1 the dull sound of breakers dying on a distant shore1 and all around the unfathomable mystery of the mighty deep4 ,illustration3 ,figure ,o ,classic song literature is full of interesting examples of this kind4 ,if we learn how to study the works of these great ones of the earth we shall see how unerring is the touch of genius1 and some day we shall awaken to see that these kings and prophets are our friends1 and that they possess the supreme virtue of constancy4 ,,ix ,,scientific ,,voice ,,production ,the immediate effect of the laryngoscope was to throw the whole subject into almost hopeless confusion by the introduction of all sorts of errors of observation1 each claiming to be founded on ocular proof1 and believed in with corresponding obstinacy4 ,sir ,morell ,mackenzie4 ,hygiene of the ,vocal ,organs4 ,he who studies the voice in a physics laboratory naturally considers himself a scientific man1 and those teachers who make his discoveries the basis of their teaching believe they are teaching the science of voice production4 ,the scientist says3 ,have ,i not studied the voice in action8 ,i have seen1 therefore ,i know4 ,but the element of uncertainty in what he has seen makes his knowledge little more than speculative4 ,but suppose he is sure of what he has seen4 ,of what importance is it8 ,he has seen a vocal organ in the act of producing tone under trying conditions1 for one under the conditions necessary to the use of the laryngoscope is not at all likely to reach his own standard of tone production4 ,scientists would have us believe that the action of the vocal mechanism is the same in all voices4 ,this claim must necessarily be made or there would be no such thing as scientific production4 ,but of all the vocal vagaries advanced this has the least foundation in fact4 ,scientifically and artistically speaking there is no such thing at present as perfect voice1 and there will be no such thing until man manifests a perfect mind4 ,the best examples of voice production are not altogether perfect1 and most of them are still a considerable distance from perfection4 ,it is with these imperfect models that the scientific man in dealing and on which he bases his deductions4 ,be it right or wrong singers do not all use the vocal mechanism in the same way4 ,i have in mind two well known contraltos one of whom carried her chest register up to ,a1 and even to ,b flat occasionally4 ,the other carried her middle register down to the bottom of the voice4 ,can the tenor who carries his chest voice up to ,illustration3 ,figure ,p be said to use his voice in the same way as one who begins his head voice at ,illustration3 ,figure ,q8 ,in the examination of a hundred voices selected at random all manner of different things would be observed4 ,perhaps this is responsible for the great diversity of opinion among scientists1 for it must be said that so far there is little upon which they agree4 ,before absolute laws governing any organ or instrument can be formulated the nature of the instrument must be known4 ,the scientists have never come anywhere near an agreement as to what kind of an instrument man has in his throat4 ,they have not decided whether it is a stringed instrument1 a brass1 a single or double reed1 and these things are vital in establishing a scientific basis of procedure4 ,not knowing what the instrument is1 it is not strange that we are not of one mind as to how it should be played upon4 ,if we are to know the science of voice production we must first know the mechanism and action of the vocal organ4 ,this instrument1 perhaps an inch and a half in length1 produces tones covering a compass1 in rare instances1 of three octaves4 ,how does it do it8 ,according to the books1 in a variety of ways4 ,a majority of those voice teachers who believe in registers recognize three adjustments1 chest middle1 and upper1 or chest medium1 and head1 but ,dr4 ,mac,kenzie claims that in four hundred female voices which he examined he found in most cases the chest mechanism was used throughout4 ,mancini 7#aggd7 says there are instances in which there is but one register used throughout4 ,garcia says there are three mechanisms--chest1 falsetto1 and head1 and makes them common to both sexes4 ,behnke divides the voice into five registers--lower and upper thick1 lower and upper thin1 and small4 ,dr4 ,guilmette says that to hold that all of the tones of the voice depend on one mechanism or register is an acknowledgment of ignorance of vocal anatomy4 ,he further declares that the vocal cords have nothing to do with tone--that it is produced by vibration of the mucous membrane of the trachea1 larynx1 pharynx1 mouth2 in fact1 all of the mucous membrane of the upper half of the body4 ,when it comes to the falsetto voice1 that scarehead to so many people who have no idea what it is1 but are morally sure it is wicked and ungodly1 the scientists give their imaginations carte blanche4 ,dr4 ,mackenzie1 who says there are but two mechanisms1 the long and short reed1 says the falsetto is produced by the short reed4 ,lehfeldt and ,muller hold that falsetto is produced by the vibrations of the inner edges or mucous covering of the vocal cords1 the body of the cords being relaxed4 ,mr4 ,lunn feels sure that the true vocal cords are not involved in falsetto1 that voice being produced by the false vocal cords4 ,mantels says that in the falsetto voice the vocal cords do not produce pitch1 that the quality and mechanism are both that of the flute1 that the cords set the air in vibration and the different tones are made by alterations in the length of the tube4 ,davidson ,palmer says that the falsetto is the remnant of the boy's voice which has deteriorated through lack of use1 but which is the correct mechanism to be used throughout the tenor voice4 ,mr4 ,chater argues along the same lines as ,mr4 ,mantels except that he makes the instrument belong to the clarinet or oboe class4 ,others believe the vocal cords act as the lips do in playing a brass instrument4 ,but the action of the vocal cords is but the first part of the unscientific controversy4 ,what takes place above the vocal cords is equally mystifying4 ,the offices of the pharynx1 the mouth1 the nasal cavities1 the entire structure of the head in fact1 are rich in uncertainties4 ,some think the cavities of the pharynx and head are involved acoustically and in some way enlarge1 refine and purify the tone1 but one famous man says the head has nothing whatever to do with it4 ,another gentleman of international reputation says the nose is the most important factor in singing4 ,if your nasal cavities are right you can sing1 otherwise you cannot4 ,and so this verbal rambling continues2 so the search for mind in matter goes on1 with a seriousness scarcely equalled in any other line of strife4 ,there is nothing more certain to permanently bewilder a vocal student than to deluge him with pseudo-scientific twaddle about the voice4 ,and this for the simple reason that he comes to learn to sing1 not for a course in anatomy4 ,what is scientific voice production8 ,books without number have been written with the openly expressed intention to give a clear exposition of the subject1 but the seeker for a scientific method soon finds himself in a maze of conflicting human opinions from which he cannot extricate himself4 ,we are told with much unction and warmth that science means to know4 ,that it is a knowledge of principles or causes1 ascertained truths or facts4 ,a scientific voice teacher then must know something4 ,what must he know8 ,books on scientific voice production usually begin with a picture of the larynx1 each part of which is labeled with a ,greek word sometimes longer than the thing itself4 ,it then proceeds to tell the unction of each muscle and cartilage and the part it plays in tone production4 ,now if this is scientific1 and if science is exact knowledge1 and this exact knowledge is the basis of scientific voice teaching1 then every one who has a perfect knowledge of these facts about the voice1 must in the eternal and invariable nature of facts be a perfect voice teacher1 and every one of these perfect voice teachers must teach in exactly the same way and produce exactly the same results4 ,does history support this argument8 ,quite the reverse4 ,there is a science of acoustics1 and in this science one may learn all about tones1 vibrating bodies1 vibrating strings1 vibrating cavities1 simple1 compound and complex vibrations4 ,will this knowledge make him a scientific voice teacher8 ,when he has learned all of this he has not yet begun to prepare for voice teaching4 ,there is no record of a great voice teacher having been trained in a physics laboratory4 ,it is possible to analyze a tone and learn how fundamental and upper partials are combined and how these combinations affect quality4 ,does this constitute scientific voice production8 ,this knowledge may all be gained from the various hand books on acoustics4 ,has any one the hardihood to assert that such knowledge prepares one for the responsible work of training voices8 ,one may know all of this and still be as ignorant of voice training as a ,hottentot is of ,calvinism4 ,further1 who shall decide which particular combination of fundamental and upper partials constitutes the perfect singing tone8 ,if a tone is produced and we say1 there is the perfect tone1 all it proves is that it corresponds to our mental concept of tone4 ,it satisfies our ear1 which is another term for our taste4 ,can a tone be disagreeable and still be scientifically produced8 ,one combination of fundamental and overtones is1 strictly speaking1 just as scientific as another combination4 ,the flute tone with its two overtones is just as scientific as the string tone with its six or eight4 ,a tone is pleasant or disagreeable according as it corresponds to a mental demand4 ,even the most hardened scientist would not call a tone which offends his ear scientific4 ,therefore he must first produce1 or have produced the tone that satisfies his ear4 ,the question then naturally arises--when he has secured the tone that satisfies his ear of what value beyond satisfying his curiosity is a physical analysis8 ,a tone is something to hear1 and when it satisfies the ear that knows1 that in itself is unmistakable evidence that it is rightly produced4 ,if this scientific knowledge of tone is necessary then every great artist in the world is unscientific1 because not one of them makes any use whatsoever of such knowledge in his singing4 ,no4 ,all of the scientific knowledge one may acquire is no guaranty of success as a teacher1 but is rather in the nature of a hindrance1 because it is likely to lead him into mechanical ways of doing things4 ,further1 the possession of such knowledge is no indication that one will use it in his teaching4 ,how much of such knowledge can one use in teaching8 ,how can he tell1 save from the tone itself whether the pupil is producing it scientifically8 ,it is a well established fact that the more the teacher tries to use his scientific information in teaching the less of an artist he becomes4 ,could it be possible that a beautiful tone could be produced contrary to the laws of science8 ,it would be an extraordinary mind that would argue in the affirmative4 ,the most beautiful tone is the most perfectly produced1 whether the singer knows anything of vocal mechanism or not4 ,in such a tone there is no consciousness of mechanics or scientific laws4 ,the vocal mechanism is responding automatically to the highest law in the universe--the law of beauty4 ,the most scientific thing possible is a beautiful idea perfectly expressed1 because a thing inherently beautiful is eternally true1 hence it is pure science4 ,every tone of the human voice is the expression of life1 of an idea1 a feeling1 an emotion1 and unless interfered with the vocal mechanism responds automatically4 ,he who by experiment or reading has learned the action of the vocal mechanism1 and attempts to make his pupil control every part of it by direct effort may imagine that he is teaching scientific voice production1 but he is not1 he is only doing a mechanical thing in a clumsy way4 ,is it a scientific act to tell a pupil to hold his tongue down1 as one writer argued recently8 ,is a teacher calling into action the eternal laws of science when he tells his pupil to drive the tone through the head1 hoist the soft palate1 groove the tongue1 and make the diaphragm rigid8 ,no4 ,he is simply doing a mechanical thing badly for want of a better way4 ,it is no more scientific than kicking the cat out of the way if she gets under your feet4 ,any one who has learned the elements of psychology or philosophy knows that everything exists first as idea4 ,the real universe is the one that exists in the mind of the creator4 ,the real man is the part of him that thinks4 ,to hold that the body thinks or acts is equivalent to saying that ,gray's ,elegy was in the pen with which the poet wrote4 ,to a natural scientist the only real thing is what he can see1 therefore he bases his faith on what he conceives to be matter2 but if we study the great ones--,oswald1 ,huxley1 ,grant1 ,allen1 and the like1 we find that they have long ago reached the conclusion that there is no such thing as matter4 ,according to ,schopenhauer the world is idea1 and this so called material environment is thought objectifying itself4 ,vocal teachers1 like the members of other professions1 are not altogether immune to an attack of intellect1 and at such times the thought that they are doing something scientific is particularly agreeable4 ,the only study of science that can benefit any one is the study of causation1 and causation cannot be cognized by the physical senses4 ,we never see1 hear1 feel1 taste1 or smell cause4 ,what we see or hear is effect4 ,causation is mental4 ,natural science is dealing with phenomena1 with effect not cause4 ,a regular recurrence of phenomena may establish a so called natural law1 but the law is that which caused the phenomena1 ,law is force says ,hegel1 and it is therefore mental4 ,we are told that the law of the earth is its path around the sun4 ,this is not true1 the law of the earth is the mind which makes it revolve around the sun4 ,if we would learn the nature1 activity1 and cause of anything we must look for it in mind not in matter4 ,for this reason the process of voice production is psychologic not physiologic4 ,when a pupil sings1 what we hear is effect not cause4 ,if he is doing all manner of unnecessary things with his lips1 tongue1 larynx1 etc4 what we see is effect and the cause is in wrong mental concepts4 ,the thing which caused the tone is mental1 the force which produced it is mental1 and the means by which we know whether it is good1 or bad is mental4 ,of this we may be sure1 that the tone the pupil sings will not be better than the one he has in mind4 ,a tone exists first as a mental concept1 and the quality of the mental concept determines the quality of the tone4 ,if there be such a thing as scientific voice production it will be found in the sense of what is inherently beautiful1 and the scientific tone is one which will perfectly express a right idea or emotion1 and in the nature of things there is an appropriate tone for everything that may be legitimately expressed1 for they are correlated ideas4 ,whence originated this so called scientific voice teaching8 ,that the old ,italian knew nothing of it is well understood4 ,they considered the process artistic rather than scientific4 ,how does it sound1 was their slogan4 ,the thing uppermost in their minds was beautiful tone1 and they were wise enough to know that when one has a definite concept of the pure singing tone he has a more valuable asset than all the mechanical knowledge he can acquire4 ,they had but one end in view1 namely1 a finished artist1 and everything they did was made to contribute to it4 ,the artist always has in mind the finished product4 ,the scientist tries to find out how it is done4 ,the artist begins with the idea and works forward to its complete expression4 ,the scientist begins with the physical mechanism and works backward toward the idea4 ,what is responsible for the change from the methods of the the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries8 ,it is safe to say that it did not come through the voice teachers4 ,in the early part of the nineteenth century an interesting thing happened4 ,how it happened or why it happened at that particular time is not known nor does it matter4 ,the human mind became all at once aggressively inquisitive4 ,the desire to get at the ultimate of everything took possession of humanity and still holds it4 ,the result was an era of scientific analysis and invention1 the aim of which was to control the forces of nature4 ,previous to that time methods of living1 production1 transportation1 agriculture1 etc4 were little different from that of biblical times4 ,people and nations lived much to themselves4 ,they looked within for their inspiration and developed their own national characteristics4 ,but with the invention of the steamship1 railway1 and telegraph a change came4 ,these improved methods of transportation and communication brought all of the mentalities of the world together1 and soon all habitable parts of the globe were in daily and hourly contact4 ,the result was a mental fermentation which increased the complexity of civilization immeasurably and the present exaggerated and unnatural condition of society is the outgrowth4 ,between #ahji and #ahac were born ,mendelssohn1 ,chopin1 ,schumann1 ,liszt1 and ,wagner4 ,these men are known as the founders of the modern romantic school of music4 ,they grew up with the new civilization and could not do otherwise than reflect its complexity in their music4 ,that the new civilization was responsible for the new art there is no doubt whatever4 ,all old types have passed away4 ,all branches of art have suffered radical changes in conforming to new ideals4 ,since the wave of scientific investigation started around the world nothing has been able to escape it4 ,the hand of the scientist has been upon everything1 and to him rather than to the voice teachers must be given the credit for originating scientific voice teaching4 ,when the scientists began publishing the results of their investigations voice teachers at once became interested4 ,the plan looked promising4 ,it offered them a method shorn of uncertainties4 ,a method that brought everything under the operation of physical laws2 a method that dealt only with finalities1 and would operate in spite of a lack of musical intelligence on the part of the student1 and at the same time enable them to lay to their souls the flattering unction of science4 ,true it ignored altogether the psychology of the matter4 ,it said do it this way and a beautiful tone will come whether you are thinking it or not1 because scientific laws eternally operating in the same way eternally produce the same results4 ,the scientific method gave voice teachers an opportunity to work with something tangible1 something they could see2 whereas the development of tone concept1 the artistic instinct1 musical feeling1 and musicianship had to do with things which to most of them were intangible and elusive4 ,no one doubts the honesty of the teachers who became obsessed with the scientific idea4 ,to them it meant increased efficiency and accuracy1 quicker results with less effort1 and so they broke with the old ,italians1 the basis of whose teaching was beautiful tone and beautiful singing4 ,in spite of the honesty of purpose of all those who followed the new way1 the results were calamitous4 ,the art of singing received a serious setback4 ,voices without number were ruined4 ,from the middle to the end of the nineteenth century the scientific idea was rampant1 and during that period it is probable that the worst voice teaching in the history of the world was done4 ,large numbers of people with neither musicianship nor musical instincts acquired a smattering of anatomy and a few mechanical rules and advertised themselves as teachers of scientific voice production4 ,the great body of vocal students1 anxious to learn to sing in the shortest possible time1 having no way of telling the genuine from the spurious except by trying it1 fell an easy prey1 and the amount of vocal damage and disaster visited upon singers in the name of science is beyond calculation4 ,fortunately the reaction has begun4 ,slowly but surely we are returning to a saner condition of mind4 ,every year adds to the number of those who recognize singing as an art1 whose vision is clear enough to see that the work of the scientific investigator should be confined to the laboratory and that it has no place in the studio4 ,we are beginning to see that the basic principle of singing is freedom in the expression of the beautiful1 and that the less there is of the mechanical in the process the better4 ,,bibliography ,the ,italian ,school of ,florid ,song4 ,pier ,franceso ,tosi4 ,london1 #agdc4 ,practical ,reflections on the ,figurative ,art of ,singing4 ,mancini 7#agaf-ahjj7 ,english ,edition4 ,boston1 #aiab4 ,the ,psychology of ,singing4 ,david ,taylor4 ,new ,york1 #aijh4 ,the ,philosophy of ,singing4 ,clara ,kathleen ,rogers4 ,new ,york1 #ahih4 ,my ,voice and ,i4 ,clara ,kathleen ,rogers4 ,chicago1 #aiaj4 ,the ,rightly ,produced ,voice4 ,davidson ,palmer4 ,london1 #ahig4 ,expression in ,singing4 ,h4 ,s4 ,kirkland4 ,boston1 #aiaf4 ,the ,art of the ,singer4 ,w4 ,j4 ,henderson4 ,new ,york1 #aijf4 ,english ,diction for ,singers and ,speakers4 ,louis ,arthur ,russell4 ,boston1 #aije4 ,resonance in ,speaking and ,singing4 ,thomas ,fillebrown4 ,boston1 #aiaa4 ,hints of ,singing4 ,garcia4 ,london1 #ahid4 ,the ,singing of the ,future4 ,d4 ,ffrangcon-,davies4 ,london1 #aijh4 ,voice1 ,song1 and ,speech4 ,brown and ,behnke4 ,london1 #ahhd4 ,voice ,building and ,tone ,placing4 ,h4 ,holbrook ,curtis1 ,m4 ,d4 ,new ,york1 #ahif4 ,vocal ,physiology4 ,alex4 ,guilmette1 ,m4 ,d4 ,boston1 #ahgh4 ,the ,philosophy of ,art4 ,edward ,howard ,griggs4 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,ancient ,art and ,ritual4 ,jane ,ellen ,harrison4 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,the ,musical ,amateur4 ,robert ,schauffler4 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,art for ,art's ,sake4 ,john ,c4 ,van ,dyke4 ,new ,york1 #aiad4 ,what is ,art4 ,count ,leo ,tolstoi4 ,new ,york4 ,the ,life of ,reason4 ,george ,santayana4 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,the ,creative ,imagination4 ,ribot4 ,chicago1 #aijf4 ,esthetics4 ,kate ,gordon4 ,new ,york1 #aiac4 ,the ,new ,laocoon4 ,irving ,babbit4 ,boston1 #aiaj4 ,a ,new ,esthetic4 ,ferrucio ,busoni4 ,new ,york1 #aiaa4 ,the ,scientific ,use of the ,imagination4 ,fragments of ,science4 ,john ,tyndall4 ,london4 ,the ,philosophy of ,style4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,the ,evolution of the ,art of ,music4 ,hubert ,parry4 ,new ,york1 #aijh4 ,studies in ,modern ,music4 ,w4 ,h4 ,hadow4 ,london1 #aijd4 ,appreciation of ,art4 ,blanche ,loveridge4 ,granville1 ,o41 #aiab4 ,music and ,nationalism4 ,cecil ,forsyth4 ,london1 #aiaa4 ,the ,sensations of ,tone4 ,h4 ,l4 ,f4 ,helmholtz4 ,london1 #ahhe4