How to Sing Part 12

By it ability as well as inability is brought to light--something that is extremely unpleasant to those without ability. In my opinion it is the ideal exercise, but the most difficult one I know. By devoting forty minutes to it every day, a consciousness of certainty and strength will be gained that ten hours a day of any other exercise cannot give.

This should be the chief test in all conservatories. If I were at the head of one, the pupils should be allowed for the first three years to sing at the examinations only _difficult_ exercises, like this great scale, before they should be allowed to think of singing a song or an aria, which I regard only as cloaks for incompetency.

For teaching me this scale--this guardian angel of the voice--I cannot be thankful enough to my mother. In earlier years I used to like to express myself freely about it. There was a time when I imagined that it strained me. My mother often ended her warnings at my neglect of it with the words, "You will be very sorry for it!" And I was very sorry for it. At one time, when I was about to be subjected to great exertions, and did not practise it every day, but thought it was enough to sing coloratura fireworks, I soon became aware that my transition tones would no longer endure the strain, began easily to waver, or threatened even to become too flat. The realization of it was terrible! It cost me many, many years of the hardest and most careful study; and it finally brought me to realize the necessity of exercising the vocal organs continually, and in the proper way, if I wished always to be able to rely on them.

Practice, and especially the practice of the great, slow scale, is the only cure for all injuries, and at the same time the most excellent means of fortification against all over-exertion. I sing it every day, often twice, even if I have to sing one of the greatest roles in the evening. I can rely absolutely on its a.s.sistance.

If I had imparted nothing else to my pupils but the ability to sing this one great exercise well, they would possess a capital fund of knowledge which must infallibly bring them a rich return on their voices. I often take fifty minutes to go through it only once, for I let no tone pa.s.s that is lacking in any degree in pitch, power, and duration, or in a single vibration of the propagation form.

SECTION x.x.xIII

VELOCITY

Singers, male and female, who are lacking velocity and the power of trilling, seem to me like horses without tails. Both of these things belong to the art of song, and are inseparable from it. It is a matter of indifference whether the singer has to use them or not; he must be able to. The teacher who neither teaches nor can teach them to his pupils is a _bad teacher_; the pupil who, notwithstanding the urgent warnings of his teacher, neglects the exercises that can help him to acquire them, and fails to perfect himself in them, is a _bungler_.

There is no excuse for it but lack of talent, or laziness; and neither has any place in the higher walks of art.

To give the voice velocity, practise first slowly, then faster and faster, figures of five, six, seven, and eight notes, etc., upward and downward.

If one has well mastered the great, slow scale, with the nasal connection, skill in singing rapid pa.s.sages will be developed quite of itself, because they both rest on the same foundation, and without the preliminary practice can never be understood.

Put the palate into the nasal position, the larynx upon _oe_; attack the lowest tone of the figure with the thought of the highest; force the breath, as it streams very vigorously forth from the larynx, toward the nose, but allow the head current entire freedom, without entirely doing away with the nasal quality; and then run up the scale with great firmness.

In descending, keep the form of the highest tone, even if there should be eight to twelve tones in the pa.s.sage, so that the scale slides down, not a pair of stairs, but a smooth track, the highest tone affording, as it were, a guarantee that on the way there shall be no impediment or sudden drop. The resonance form, kept firm and tense, must adapt itself with the utmost freedom to the thought of every tone, and with it, to the breath. The pressure of the breath against the chest must not be diminished, but must be unceasing.

To me it is always as if the pitch of the highest tone were already contained in the lowest, so strongly concentrated upon the whole figure are my thoughts at the attack of a single tone. By means of _ah-e-[=a]_, larynx, tongue, and palatal position on the lowest tone are in such a position that the vibrations of breath for the highest tones are already finding admission into the head cavities, and as far as possible are in sympathetic vibration there.

The higher the vocal figures go the more breath they need, the less can the breath and the organs be pressed. The higher they are, the more breath must stream forth from the epiglottis; therefore the _[=a]_ and the thought of _e_, which keep the pa.s.sages to the head open. But because there is a limit to the scope of the movement of larynx and tongue, and they cannot rise higher and higher with a figure that often reaches to an immense height, the singer must resort to the aid of the auxiliary vowel _oo_, in order to lower the larynx and so make room for the breath:

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

A run or any other figure must never sound thus:

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

but must be nasally modified above, and tied; and because the breath must flow out unceasingly in a powerful stream from the vocal cords, an _h_ can only be put in beneath, which makes us sure of this powerful streaming out of the breath, and helps only the branch stream of breath into the cavities of the head. Often singers hold the breath, concentrated on the nasal form, firmly on the lowest tone of a figure, and, without interrupting this nasal form, or the head tones, that is, the breath vibrating in the head cavities, finish the figure alone. When this happens the muscular contractions of the throat, tongue, and palate are very strong.

[Music ill.u.s.tration: L'oiselet. Chopin-Viardat]

The turn, too, based on the consistent connection of the tonal figure with the nasal quality,--which is obtained by p.r.o.nouncing the _oo_ toward the nose,--and firmly held there, permits no interruption for an instant to the vowel sound.

How often have I heard the _ha-ha-ha-haa_, etc.,--a wretched tumbling down of different tones, instead of a smooth decoration of the cantilena. Singers generally disregard it, because no one can do it any more, and yet even to-day it is of the greatest importance. (See _Tristan und Isolde_.)

The situation is quite the same in regard to the appoggiatura. In this the resonance is made nasal and the flexibility of the larynx,--which, without changing the resonance, moves quickly up and down--accomplishes the task alone. Here, too, it can almost be imagined that the _thought_ alone is enough, for the connection of the two tones cannot be too close. But this must be practised, and done _consciously_.

[Music ill.u.s.tration: Adelaide, by Beethoven

A-bend-luft-chen im zar-ten Lau-be flu-stern]

[Transcriber's Note: Corrected "L'au-be" in original to "Lau-be"]

SECTION x.x.xIV

TRILL

There still remains the trill, which is best practised in the beginning as follows:--

[Music ill.u.s.tration]

The breath is led very far back against the head cavities by the _[=a]_, the larynx kept as stiff as possible and placed high. Both tones are connected as closely, as heavily as possible, upward nasally, downward _on_ the larynx, for which the _y_, again, is admirably suited. They must be attacked as high as possible, and very strongly. The trill exercise must be practised almost as a scream.

The upper note must always be strongly _accented_. The exercise is practised with an even strength, without decrescendo to the end; the breath streams out more and more strongly, uninterruptedly to the finish.

Trill exercises must be performed with great energy, on the whole compa.s.s of the voice. They form an exception to the rule in so far that in them more is given to the throat to do--always, however, under the control of the chest--than in other exercises. That relates, however, to the muscles.

The breath vibrates _above_ the larynx, but does not stick in it, consequently this is not dangerous.

The exercise is practised first on two half, then on two whole, tones of the same key (as given above), advancing by semitones, twice a day on the entire compa.s.s of the voice. It is exhausting because it requires great energy; but for the same reason it gives strength.

Practise it first as slowly and vigorously as the strength of the throat allows, then faster and faster, till one day the trill unexpectedly appears. With some energy and industry good results should be reached in from six to eight weeks, and the larynx should take on the habit of performing its function by itself. This function gradually becomes a habit, so that it seems as if only _one_ tone were attacked and held, and as if the second tone simply vibrated with it.

As a matter of fact, the larynx will have been so practised in the minute upward and downward motion, that the singer is aware only of the vibrations of the breath that lie _above_ it, while he remains mindful all the time only of the pitch of the upper note.

One has the feeling then as of singing or holding only the _lower_ tone (which must be placed very high), while the upper one vibrates with it simply through the habitude of the accentuation. The union of the two then comes to the singer's consciousness as if he were singing the lower note somewhat too high, halfway toward the upper one. This is only an aural delusion, produced by the high vibrations.

But the trill, when fully mastered, should always be begun, as in the exercise, on the _upper_ note.

Every voice must master the trill, after a period, longer or shorter, of proper practice. Stiff, strong voices master it sooner than small, weak ones. I expended certainly ten years upon improving it, because as a young girl I had so very little strength, although my voice was very flexible in executing all sorts of rapid pa.s.sages.

To be able to use it anywhere, of course, requires a long time and much practice. For this reason it is a good plan to practise it on syllables with different vowels, such as can all be supported on _[=a]_, and on words, as soon as the understanding needed for this is in some degree a.s.sured.

If the larynx has acquired the habit properly, the trill can be carried on into a _piano_ and _pianissimo_ and prolonged almost without end with _crescendi_ and _decrescendi_, as the old Italians used to do, and as _all Germans_ do who have learned anything.

SECTION x.x.xV

HOW TO HOLD ONE'S SELF WHEN PRACTISING

In practising the singer should always stand, if possible, before a large mirror, in order to be able to watch himself closely. He should stand upright, quietly but not stiffly, and avoid everything that looks like restlessness. The hands should hang quietly, or rest lightly on something, without taking part in the interpretation of the expression. The first thing needed is to bring the body under control, that is, to remain quiet, so that later, in singing, the singer can do everything intentionally.

The pupil must always stand in such a way that the teacher can watch his face, as well as his whole body. Continual movements of the fingers, hands, or feet are not permissible.

The body must serve the singer's purposes freely and must acquire no bad habits. The singer's self-possession is reflected in a feeling of satisfaction on the part of the listener. The quieter the singer or artist, the more significant is every expression he gives; the fewer motions he makes, the more importance they have. So he can scarcely be quiet enough. Only there must be a certain accent of expression in this quietude, which cannot be represented by indifference. The quietude of the artist is a rea.s.surance for the public, for it can come only from the certainty of power and the full command of his task through study and preparation and perfect knowledge of the work to be presented. An artist whose art is based on power cannot appear other than self-possessed and certain of himself. An evident uneasiness is always inartistic, and hence does not belong where art is to be embodied. All dependence upon tricks of habit creates nervousness and lack of flexibility.