What Every Singer Should Know Part 6

WHAT AND HOW TO PRACTICE.

It is not so much =what=, but =how= you practice. The average beginner takes up his practice in an aimless sort of way. Every action should have some result in view. After taking your lesson, if you find you are not positive as to the proper course to be pursued at home, you must ask your teacher the questions necessary to put you on the right path. You should have all your work laid out for you and go about it in a systematic manner. Only in this way can you hope to achieve any degree of success.

A beginner should not practice much more than five minutes at a time on each construction, neither would much less than that be sufficient to accustom that set of muscles to that one construction. Never practice your limit tones at either end of your range as much as you do your middle register. What I mean by middle register is low enough to produce chest and high enough to produce head tones. If you can produce a fine middle register, the high tones will naturally follow in time.

Melba says, "On days when my high tones do not come easily in practice, I do not sing them." Do not show or cover your teeth because you have seen some singers do so; individual construction differs.

p.r.o.nounce your words naturally and distinctly, never forgetting the consonants at the end of the words. Don't think because you are singing from a Marchesi book that you are studying her method. You are getting the method of the teacher with whom you are studying. There are but two ways of singing--"right" and "wrong"--and it makes little difference from what instruction book you are taking your lesson, they are all good and all constructed on the same principles. The main thing is knowing =what= you are trying to do.

Many pupils who are poor readers worry through several exercise books, and at the end of that time have only memorized the notes and made no progress whatever on the main point--tone.

The pupil should learn to use the ear, mind and memory, and a great deal of time would be gained in tone placing which should be taken up before using an exercise book. If you are not a sight reader, take up this study at once, preferably in cla.s.s work, as it is absolutely necessary that you should be able to read music at sight.

Antiquated and complicated systems of sight reading are responsible for many poor readers. We need more ear =training= and ability to =think=. Avoid the use of the do-re-me syllables unless you are already proficient in that system. Practice with the pitch names, A, B, C, D, and with the scale numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, in order to acquire a relationship of the tones of the scale, otherwise the syllable "la" or any other syllable will do.

If you have an "off day," when all the work seems to go wrong, don't practice. Mechanical work is of no value whatever in singing. Even the artists have their "off days," but don't allow these days to become too frequent.

The best position for practice is to stand naturally, clasp your hands in front or let them hang carelessly and naturally at your sides.

Clasping your hands behind your back or resting them on your hips, are both bad positions for singing.

When you practice do not simply kill fifteen minutes' time. Mere practice makes a mechanical gymnast, while study produces a musician.

In taking up your exercises use the instrument as little as possible.

For ill.u.s.tration we will take the arpeggio.

Play the arpeggio until you are perfectly familiar with the construction, then =sing= it once =with= the piano, then play only the chord or keynote and sing the arpeggio =without= the piano; continue in this way in all the keys within your range, getting your pitch from the chord or keynote; this manner of practice is of the greatest value, as you can stand in a natural singing position and as you do not have to give part of your thought to the music or instrument, you pay more attention to the pitch and tone, so that when you come to arias with recitatives =without= accompaniment, you will not have as much difficulty staying on pitch as those who invariably depend on the support of the instrument.

In songs you should pursue the same course, play the most difficult pa.s.sages, "memorize them" before you attempt to sing them; in this way you do not unnecessarily tire the voice. Memorize all your songs; it is only after you get away from the reading that you are capable of doing your best work. Always practice before a mirror and you will not be so liable to acquire facial contortions and would soon overcome the very bad habit of lifting the shoulders when you "see yourself as others see you."

Pupils frequently ask why it is so much easier to sing an exercise on "ah" than to sing a sentence. In the "ah" you only have one vowel, while in the sentence there are both vowels and consonants. By diligent practice you will soon find that the tone helps the word, and the words help the tone.

Another complaint frequently heard in the studio is this: "I sang this exercise perfectly at home, and can't see why I am unable to sing it now." How many times did you sing this exercise perfectly at home. Don't consider an exercise learned until you can sing it ten times in succession =without an error=.

Lillie Lehmann says: "I expended ten years in perfecting the trill which every voice must master," and yet some pupils become discouraged because they can not master the art of singing in a few months!

Many singers complain of a contraction (hardness under the chin). This is frequently found where they have been taught to place the tip of the tongue against the back of the lower teeth to keep the tongue down.

Leave the tongue limp and speak your vowels and consonants perfect and distinct, and the tongue will take care of itself.

Those who are working to produce low tones will find that in the morning, immediately after rising, the lower tones respond most readily and may help you to find a way of increasing the lower range.

Don't neglect the scales. Many years ago Madame Patti, while on a concert tour, was awakened from her early morning sleep by the sound of a piano in a room close to hers. It was slow scale practicing and was maddening to the singer. She rang the bell, and demanded that the practice be at once discontinued. What was her astonishment to learn that the player was not some beginner as she had supposed, but the great artist, Hans Von Bulow.

Why is the so-called Italian method supposed to be the correct method of singing? Partly because the Italian "a" (as you would p.r.o.nounce "a") is the most natural sound that can be sung, and as the "a" is the sound used in two-thirds of the words in the song you sing, it plays an important part in singing.

Very few beginners realize that it is not only the words "law," "raw,"

"saw," "tall," "hall," etc., that contain the Italian "a," but also the words "light," "bright," "might."

In the word "night," the beginner usually dwells on the "ee," making it "na-=ee=t," while it =should be= p.r.o.nounced "n=aw=-eet," dwelling on the "a."

The Italian vowels cover the sound, tone color and p.r.o.nunciation of the Latin, English, Italian and German, with the exception of the German "o"

and "u."

With the French it is quite different. The sound and production stands by itself. A French singer does not so readily sing the other languages, neither does an American in the same length of time master the French as well as the other languages. The French insist on =perfect diction=, and one of our grand opera singers who delights the New York opera goers by her singing of "Faust," "Carmen," etc., in the French, would not be tolerated at the opera in Paris on account of her diction.

As the French is the diplomatic language of the world, it would be well to take up this language first. Then study your Italian for your singing and you will find the Spanish, Latin and German can be easily mastered.

Study only those songs which have merit. "After the Ball" was composed within the past twenty years, and over 3,000,000 copies have been sold, yet this song is both dead and buried, while the "Earl King," by Schubert, composed in 1798, is today found upon practically all the programs of our noted singers.

When taking up a new song read the words over carefully and get an idea what you are going to sing about before you try to sing it. Never breathe in the middle of a word, or break a sentence by taking a breath.

THE BREATH.

The foundation upon which you have to build your voice is the =breath=, and like all other foundations, it must be properly laid, or the structure will be a failure. It is imperative that you have absolute and perfect =control= of the breath. An athlete once said to me, "If breath is the foundation of good singing, I certainly should make a fine singer, as I have the largest chest expansion and can hold my breath the longest time of anyone in the college." The truth is, a small girl, weighing ninety-six pounds, who had less than one-fifth of his chest expansion, had twice the volume of sound-carrying power in tone, and could sustain a tone three times as long as he.

To practice breathing is not practicing singing, and the teacher who keeps a pupil indefinitely on "breathing lessons" is either "killing time" or is not a proficient instructor of voice culture.

It should be taken for granted that all healthy persons breathe properly.

It is not the breathing, but the power of control, which is of vital importance. It may be that after taking "breathing lessons" for a period of six months that you will still be far from able to control the breath =on the tone=. It is the way you practice, rather than the length of time which brings proficient results.

You will find by referring to the chapter on "Practical Exercises" that I demonstrate the matter thoroughly.

A good tone should have =resonance=, or what we call "vibration," but not "tremolo." Many young singers confuse these two. Undoubtedly it is just as bad to sing with a straight, cold, unmusical tone as it is to produce an exaggerated "vibrato" or "tremolo."

If you are unable to make the distinction between these two, do not fail to consult someone who can do so, that you may not enter the pitfalls, which it takes months to overcome.

You cannot realize =how little breath= is necessary =on the tone=; we sing with a great amount of =pressure=, but with =very little breath=. Have you ever taken a covered head tone without scarcely taking any breath, and found that you could sustain it for a practically unlimited period?

I found one of my pupils who had elsewhere taken a course in =breathing=, in taking a tone, would push her breath out so hard that you heard more =breath= than =tone=. In singing a tone or short sentence, her chest would collapse and she would become, as she termed it, "All out of breath."

She would give me all kinds of wonderful breath demonstrations, but could not connect the =breath= and =tone=.

I requested her to speak in a natural way the sentence, "This is a very beautiful day." I asked her if she could hear a lot of escaping breath?

She answered, "No." I then asked her to place one hand across the ribs and one across the chest and center her thoughts directly at these two points to see if she could ascertain what was taking place there, while once again in a natural speaking voice she repeated the sentence. She did so, and found she was =not= "out of breath," and that her chest did =not= collapse and she did not feel any discomfort. I then asked her to repeat the sentence on the medium tone "E" above middle "C," then on "F," then on "G," directing her each time to think she was merely =speaking= the sentence, and then for the first time in her life she was able to understand =control of breath=. During the next lesson we were able to begin "tone placing" without the least trouble in connecting the breath and tone. =Try it yourself.=

All kinds of athletics, breathing lessons or exercises in moderation are beneficial, but they are not voice culture. As your breath plays a most important part in =tone placing=, the breath and tone should start together, hand in hand, from the very beginning. In the following chapter I shall give some practical exercises that will give the BREATH and =tone= a chance to become acquainted with each other.

A FEW PRACTICAL EXERCISES AND ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.

Stand erect, but not in a strained position. Place the palm of your hands over your ribs, pointing the fingers forward. (See Figure 1.)