THE first question which arises with all those who possess an average singing voice is, "Will it pay me to study voice culture?" The answer may be found in the following:

"If you possess a good voice, do not hesitate a moment to cultivate it, regarding it as the most beautiful gift granted you by Heaven."—Schumann.

"But," says the applicant, "I must make my own living. Have I enough material to cultivate and be able to realize returns?"

This depends entirely on yourself and what your ambitions are.

There is a great field in music, and if you have ear, voice, and talent, STUDY. And, if in addition to these you have ambition, determination and application, you are sure of success. What your field of operation will be, whether church, concert or opera, time will decide.

The power to win is yours—determine to succeed and you cannot fail.

In order to make a success of anything, you must give it your undivided attention, and while doing so, your aim must be fixed constantly on the goal which you desire to attain. Rome was not built in one day, neither can the elementary training of a voice be accomplished in a year.

If you are in good health, you must never allow the warm days of summer to be an obstacle to your practice. Can you imagine the successful banker, rising young doctor, lawyer or actor stopping their work because of a warm day? There may be some who do, but they are not the ones who are successful. When you hear a great singer, think of the obstacles she must have overcome in reaching her position of excellence. Never doubt yourself or your ability, but say "that what determination and application have done for others can be done for me."

You must have confidence in yourself if you want others to have confidence in you.

Never lose your temper. Adeline Patti was asked how she preserved her charm long after the springtime of youth deserts the average woman. She replied, "I keep my temper." Don't expect to grasp, assimilate and put into practice in one lesson what it has taken years for your teacher to accomplish.

I remember one pupil who said her purse would not allow anything better than a hall room in New York for a whole winter's study, and that she really had no "chance" to practice, as her room was too small. This was a very poor excuse, as that was merely one obstacle to be overcome.

The artists who have reached the top are those who have had innumerable obstacles to overcome.

In Switzerland, over a little barber shop, in a room so small that there was not room for two chairs in addition to the piano, Madame Nordica, with Madame Cosima Wagner, and a coacher, practiced daily. The following winter she won one of the successes of her career, as "Isolde."

To reach the top in the profession, you must have more than voice and application, for a singer may have the greatest of technique, yet lack "soul" and "intelligence." The latter two you must possess, as these the teacher is unable to give you.

The beginner, in singing, needs a model to imitate, just as much as the painter or sculptor. Everything is "imitation" until you develop in your work; your individuality will assert itself as you become proficient. Do not allow anyone to frighten you by telling you "never imitate or you will simply be a parrot." Only the very poor teacher who knows her own weakness as a model would make such an assertion. If the beginner is fortunate enough to secure a teacher who can demonstrate a perfect tone, do not be afraid to imitate.

In order to fully interpret the emotions it is necessary to have knowledge outside of the singing lesson. It is for this reason that singers seldom reach the stage of "artist" until they are pretty well advanced in years. It is not how many lessons you take, but the gradual development, which you attain through experience. You must feel the heartbeats of others, must know intimately "joy," "pain" and "sorrow" in order to fully express these emotions. There is no rule of "right" and "wrong" in the interpretation of a song, it being simply a matter of opinion. That is where the individuality asserts itself. I remember taking the old warhorse, "Una Voce Poco Fa," from Il Barbiere (Rossini) to three of the greatest living singing masters in Italy. Each one interpreted the aria a little differently, and I am positive each thought he was the nearest to the composer's idea. Which one was correct?

"When you sing you are delivering a message, and you must make your audience understand and feel it, as it is our 'feelings' above all that are immediately affected by music."—Von Weber.

Do not be too anxious to realize financially. Consider that Wagner's salary as choir-master in the city of Warsaw was less than $12.00 a month. The great drawback to many of the students in America is the desire to work on the surface only—they don't seem willing to start at the beginning and work their way up. The matter of studying voice culture for a year does not make it possible for the singer to step before an audience and attain immediate success without other preparation.

It takes more than the studio to make a "star." No artist ever began as a master. In addition to being a singer, you must possess talent, character and the ability to manage. If there is one of these qualities lacking, you must remain only an "artist." It takes all three in accord to produce a "STAR."

THE average teacher, in fact, most teachers, will say, "Yes, if you study," but this is not true, as you have only about one chance in a thousand. Have you any idea of the requirements necessary in order to become a "star" of the Metropolitan Opera Company?

You must have a fine voice, a "big" voice, a voice of great power and endurance, fine enunciation, clear and correct pronunciation, knowledge of the modern languages, have at least twenty-five operas committed to memory, fine dramatic ability, good physique, size, personality and "pull." And you must also be on the other side of the ocean to accept the engagement; and then, your acceptance by a director to "star" is about as difficult as an audience with a king.

There is no reason why a person with voice and talent who has to make his own living, could not do so after several years of study. I have over one hundred pupils who are making a good living by singing, and as many more holding church positions paying them enough to enable them to continue their studies.

Show me a pupil who has to make his own living, and who has studied with one teacher for eight or nine years and is not making his living by singing, and you are showing me one who never will.

There is, of course, no end to the study of voice culture. I have studied more or less for over twenty years and am still studying, but if you have to make your own living, secure whatever position may be open to you. The church or concert position is equally valuable as the opera.

In Europe, where you hear grand opera all the year around, it becomes a second nature, but here in our western cities, until recently, grand opera was almost unknown; two or three performances a year was about all we could hope for. This was not enough to thoroughly acquaint the people with the operas, and not enough to create a demand.

In a western city of 200,000 inhabitants where five years ago it was impossible to draw an audience of a hundred persons unless heralded by spectacular advertising, I had the pleasure of witnessing this year "Standing Room Only" during the performance of the dear old operas, Il Trovatore, Faust and Carmen. The operas that the people have become acquainted with through the phonographs, the orchestras and the grand opera study clubs, organized by the more up-to-date teachers. Mr. Albert Mildenberg is taking up a most commendable work, that of establishing the municipal grand opera in New York City; he will eventually succeed, and, with Herr Andreas Dippel organizing permanent grand opera in the larger cities west of New York, it will not be long before the grand opera positions will be plentiful. Within the next year, through the efforts of Victor Maurel, the grand opera sung in English will also gain ground, and divide honors with the French, German and Italian, giving those who have not studied the foreign languages, but who are otherwise prepared, a chance for positions on the grand opera stage.

Some cranks insist that the days of the old Italian opera, with its arias and glorious coloratura work, are passing in order to give place for the new music drama. This is not correct, and will not be possible as long as there are excellent singers who can sing these operas. We have room for both the grand opera and the music drama.

To be an "artist" is the aim the student has in view, and "study" is the means to that end.

MRS. L. and her 15-year-old daughter called at my studio. The mother explained that her little girl had been "leading the singing" in school ever since she was eleven years old, but that her voice was not as good as it used to be, and that she would like to have her study, but thought she was too young. I tried the girl's voice and found two registers used so differently that a person sitting in the next room would think they were listening to two persons singing. She had a terrible break between the chest and head tones, and for four years had been developing in this bad way of singing. Now, this child should either have taken up voice culture at eleven years of age or not "lead the singing" in school. Children, with very few exceptions, in going from chest to head tones, will sing with the throat, not understanding how to make the change, or rather how to place the tone; in this way producing a break, which later in life, when they take up voice culture, will cause endless, and in some cases, permanent trouble.

I know of many children who sing at entertainments, school, church, etc., and you will hear their parents say, "Scarcely a week passes that my daughter does not sing at some entertainment. If she were a little older, we would have her take up voice culture." Now, if your daughter is old enough to sing at entertainments, she is old enough to study. Either do not let her sing, or put her under the care of a good teacher.

"How shall I know if she is under proper instruction?"

A good teacher will, first of all, not allow her to sing at the top of her voice, which all children seem to delight in doing. A good teacher will not develop on the extreme high or extreme low tones. A good teacher will even up the medium register, teach her how to use the breath on the tone, how to place the tone, overcoming all seeming change from chest to head, will give her perfect pronunciation and enunciation. This can be done at any age from eleven years, depending on the individual. A girl who has good ear, and who does not lead the singing in school at eleven and sing at entertainments, can begin at sixteen or seventeen and develop into a very fine singer.

"Should my son take up voice culture before his voice has changed?"

This case is just the same as with the girl, if he sings. In fact, I have found in my twenty years' experience as singer and teacher that the boy who studies voice culture before his voice changes has an easy road to travel after his voice has changed. Many boys' voices have not finished changing until they are eighteen or nineteen years of age. The boy who studied before his voice began changing understands the breath control, the placing of the tone, and the pronunciation and enunciation. These four fundamentals are absolutely necessary in order to sing well; and whether his voice, after the change, develops into tenor or bass, these fundamentals remain the same, and enable him to continue, instead of merely begin. The boy, who has studied, or is under a good instructor, will know when to stop singing. I have known many boys with promising voices, who have ruined them entirely by singing or trying to sing during the change. But they were not boys who were under instruction, or they would have known better. I do not claim that it is necessary to begin the study of voice culture as a child, as this is entirely a matter of the individual, but I do claim that you can count on one hand the singers who have reached distinction and whose voices have lasted any length of time, who started their singing lessons after they were out of their teens.

I have pupils who are making a good living as church soloists and on the concert stage, who commenced their study after they were twenty years old, but they are the exception, and not the rule.

I think a woman has the greatest success in teaching children. This may be partly due to her maternal instincts. Her illustrations and demonstrations are more simple than a man's. Her patience with children also fits her wonderfully well to teach the child.

You can accomplish nothing with the voice through fear. If the young boy or girl loves the work, looks forward to the lessons, they cannot fail in whatever they undertake.

To satisfy those who disagree with me in regard to the value of early study, I would ask them to read the lives of the great singers, and they will find that with very few exceptions they took up the study of voice culture before and during their early teens. Space forbids me to give a complete list. However, for the benefit of those who have no access to the biographies of the singers, I will select the names that I am sure you are familiar with, beginning at 1740, and down to the present time:

Malibran, one of the world's most famous singers, at the age of seven was studying Solfeggio with Panseron at Naples, Italy, and made her debut in grand opera in her fifteenth year.

Pesaroni made her grand opera debut at sixteen, and twenty-five years later we find her still one of the leading grand opera singers.

Teresa Titjens made her debut in grand opera at the age of fifteen.

Pauline Lucca was singing at thirteen, and made her debut at the age of sixteen.

Kellog made her debut as Gilda in "Rigoletto" at the age of eighteen.

Minnie Hauk took up voice study at the age of twelve, and was singing in grand opera during her seventeenth year.

Christine Nilson, as a child, sang on the streets, was placed under an instructor, and six months later sang at Court.

Albini, during her twenty-second year, was engaged by the Royal Italian Grand Opera at Covent Garden, to sing the leading roles of the grand opera.

Scalchi studied while a mere child, and made her grand opera debut at the age of sixteen.

Melba made her debut in grand opera when she was twenty-two years of age.

Nevada sang in public at the age of six, and has been singing ever since.

Patti made a three-year concert tour under the direction of Strakosh, between the ages of eight and eleven, and made her grand opera debut at nineteen.

Nordica made her debut at fifteen, and is still one of the greatest and loveliest of our singers.

Sembrich sang solos in church when she could scarcely see over the railing, and was in grand opera at the age of twenty.

You may have doubts as to the art of singing of those whom you have read about, but I am sure you have heard at least Scalchi, Melba, Patti, Nordica and Sembrich, and you can have no doubt as to their being classed both as singers and artists.

It is needless to say that these people must have studied these operas in order to sing them, and when you take into consideration that they were not "music dramas" that require really more proficiency in acting than in singing, but the Italian operas, requiring most perfect coloratura work, and the Wagner operas, demanding heavy dramatic singing, I think you must be convinced that if early study were injurious to the voice, these great "songsters" would not be living examples of my assertion.

Someone will say, "This may be the case with women, but what of the men?"

We find the great German tenor, Albert Nieman, singing the grand opera roles at eighteen.

Heinrich Vogl, styled the "Interpreter of Wagner," sang these opera roles at the age of twenty.

Italo Campanini was singing in grand opera at twenty-one.

Guilliam Ibos, the grand French tenor, and Van Dyck, were both singing the grand opera roles at the age of twenty-two.

Jean de Reszke was soloist at the cathedral at Warsaw at the age of twelve, and was singing in grand opera at twenty-two. I am sure many of you have heard him sing after his forty-fifth year, and will not deny that he is both singer and artist.

Then I hear someone say, "Perhaps their voices did not change, as they were tenors." There is some change at maturity in all voices. Very well, what about Victor Maurel? He was singing the grand opera roles at twenty-one. Jean Baptiste Faure took up the study of the voice at thirteen, and at twenty-two created the part of Mephistopheles in Faust.

These men and women, whose names stand out as brilliant stars in the firmament of music, studied and sang before and in their early teens, and these are the voices that have been everlasting.

Within the past six or eight years some beautiful singers have appeared in the grand opera—one tenor who claims to have studied less than six months before he appeared in grand opera, and a soprano, making the same claim, and this study is supposed to have taken place after they were out of their teens. It will be of interest to wait and watch these voices to see if they will withstand the wear of twenty-five years' service, and still be beautiful, or like the fire-fly, radiate their beautiful light but for a moment and then disappear.

I SHOULD like to take up the study of voice culture, but am not very strong."

That is the very reason you should take up singing. I have seen anÆmic girls take up the study of voice culture, and at the end of one year's study develop perfect breathing, a fine full chest, rosy lips, warm hands, an elegant digestion, and a good disposition.

There is no tonic for the nerves equal to voice culture. At one of the large sanitariums where eight hundred and five patients were suffering from tuberculosis, there was but one who had been a singer. The nasal breathing prevents adenoids from developing. The deep respiration oxygenates the blood and gives us power to resist diseases. We stand and walk better. We derive unusual pleasure for ourselves, with the power to entertain others. As the study is unlimited, our interest cannot fail to increase with each year. It fills our lives as nothing else can do.

"Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing and carries us so far away from town, country and earth, and all earthly things that it is truly a blessed gift of God."—Mendelsohn.

It is a fact that more people become patients through "boredom" than through fever. It is the monotony of the daily routine and lack of interest which is the root of most of the "illness" and "nerves" of our present day young women.

Try the study of voice culture as an interesting and permanent remedy.

The cause of "musical indigestion" is the attending of concerts where one is compelled to listen to singing or playing, which is poorly executed or too far beyond one to be properly understood.

PARENTS should encourage their children who are taking up the study of voice culture, as home encouragement is necessary to children. I know that parents are inclined to think that when they pay for the music lessons, nothing further should be expected of them. But this is positively a wrong idea.

Do not make the great mistake of forcing your children too soon upon the public. Many excellent young voices have been ruined in this manner. A child eleven years of age was brought to my studio. She had ear, voice and talent, but was almost "sung out." She had a bad break in her voice, and performed the most unusual contortions in taking a tone, produced by pushing the throat. The mother assured me that everybody thought she sang "just grand." She was to sing at an entertainment in a month, and they thought a few lessons in voice culture would be of great value. It took an hour of my valuable time to convince them that she must not sing at present, as it was positively necessary to overcome the break in her voice, keep her from singing too much, and cure her audible breathing. They finally arranged for her instruction, but made semi-monthly trips during three months to ascertain if she was ready to sing in public, and left with the remark that "they knew of many teachers who would be glad to have her sing for them as an advertisement." Even the child was disappointed, as undoubtedly she heard nothing but this at home.

Parents should be sensible enough to remember that their little girl cannot finish school in three months, that their son cannot go through college in three months, and that they cannot learn to play the piano in three months.

"That she is young and people will not expect much" is not an excuse. The public judge by what they see and hear and not by what she may be able to accomplish if she is given time. How often we have heard father say, "Johnny, go and play a piece for the company." Poor Johnny would rather take a licking. He knows he is not ready to play for company, but father says, "Here I have been paying for Johnny's piano lessons and Mary's singing lessons for nearly three months, and I haven't heard a song or piece yet. If they are not learning anything, they had better quit taking lessons." And poor Johnny and Mary inflict on the company what might be expected after only three months of training.

Parents, select a reputable teacher—the highest priced is often the cheapest in the end. When you know that they are under perfect instruction, leave it to the teacher as to when they should play or sing in public, and you will find that just as soon as they are able, the teacher will be as anxious and pleased as yourself to have them appear.

THIS, of course, depends entirely upon your ambition. There are very few American singers who have reached positions on the grand opera stage without having previously studied abroad.

It is well in any case to get your preliminary training at home. For tone placing and singing you can do equally as well in this country as abroad, as we have excellent teachers here from all parts of the globe.

I would advise the boy or girl who has a good home and lives in a community where it is possible to get proper instruction to take their first two or three years of work in this country. Take up the study of languages and if your progress warrants your making a life work of music, then I would suggest that you go to Europe in order to get the broadening and the finishing touches that are necessary in order to become an artist.

For your German songs and operas you should go to Germany. For the Italian operas to Italy, where it is possible for you to live in the atmosphere of the opera and hear the language every day. The same also applies to the French, who, of all people insist emphatically on perfect diction.

You can, of course, take up and to some extent learn the languages here, but you are liable to meet with the same disappointment as a young lady from the west who studied French in school for several years and thought herself proficient in that language. She went to Paris to study music and it was fully six months before she was able to either understand or to be understood in common, every-day conversation.

I am in favor of the class lessons so popular in Europe, and hope some day we will be able to make them universal. Ten or twelve pupils assemble at one time and each takes his lesson in turn. In this way each gets the benefit of the other lessons. This also enables the pupils to become accustomed to singing before each other, which is invaluable in overcoming nervousness. Some pupils desire to take their lessons in private, as they do not care to sing before a class. This feeling will gradually disappear and it is much better to have it over with in the beginning, than later when you are expected to go before a critic or manager to sing.

The expense of studying abroad may be adjusted entirely according to your pocketbook. When anyone tells you it is cheaper to study on the other side, they display their ignorance of the subject. I have studied in this country, Germany, France and Italy, and I have found that, including everything, it costs about the same everywhere. You can secure board and room from five dollars a week up to any price you wish to pay. It is also possible to live cheaper than this if necessary, but for the student of singing it is of great importance to eat good, nourishing food, as it is impossible to sing well unless you are in excellent condition physically.

Several of the old Italian music masters do not hesitate to say that it is the American with the large purse who has forced them to raise their prices, when they were perfectly satisfied to charge much less.

Miss Moneybag arrives in Italy to take up voice culture. She calls on one of the old masters; he asks her seventeen lire (about $3.00) per lesson. This sounds cheap to her as she has been paying $5.00 a lesson at home, so she starts out again looking for a higher-priced teacher. She finds one who has had a little more experience with the Americans, he sizes her up and asks her thirty-five lira; this sounds more in accordance with her pocketbook, and she lists for the season. This sizing up of the American pocketbook has been going on for some time and the old "Maestro" who was perfectly satisfied with $3.00 is waking to the fact that if he wants these Americans he must raise his prices. And so we find at present, lessons costing about the same the world over. However, when Miss Small Pocketbook and real talent arrives, she can always arrange terms in accordance with her pocketbook, when she proves she is there to accomplish results. This is not merely hearsay, but facts gathered in my interviews with some of the most noted singing-masters.

If you intend to go into the grand opera it is advisable to go abroad, as it gives you the prestige which is necessary at present, in order to secure these positions of which we have a fair illustration in the case of a beautiful mezzo soprano who had been singing with the English Grand Opera Company, and though in every way qualified to sing with the Metropolitan Grand Opera Company, was unable to secure an engagement with them. She went abroad, changed her name, and returned the following season as one of the Metropolitan Grand Opera stars, and is still one of the favorites in that company.

This seems rather inconsistent, but is nevertheless true.

If you are fortunate enough to make your debut abroad you will have practically no trouble in securing a position with any manager on this side of the ocean.

IT is of great value to the singer to belong to a good chorus, provided you know enough not to attempt to be the whole chorus yourself, and are willing to give the others a chance.

To be a success in the chorus you must observe the following rules:

Be punctual.

Stand erect, and on both feet. Let your chest lead.

Make yourself a part of the chorus. This is not a solo.

Don't annoy those around you by "wiggling" or "fidgeting."

Rise and sit down in unison with the others.

Do not look all over the place, but keep your eyes on the conductor.

Do not cover your face with your music.

Remember it is the conductor's duty to beat time. Keep head, arms and feet still.

Do not try to sing louder than the others. You will not be heard any better and will strain your voice.

Remember to hold the long note for its full count.

Time and rhythm are the two great factors in chorus singing.

Remember that "rests" are of as great importance as "notes" in music.

Do not start before or hang on after the others have ceased to sing.

Do not fail to slightly accentuate the first beat of each measure except where accents are especially marked on other beats.

Don't look bored because you must stand up to sing. Determine whether you are going to be too tired to do your part before becoming a member of a chorus.

Keep your eyes on the conductor.

I HAVE never met a singer, amateur or professional, who does not or has not at some time suffered from this dreadful malady. There is no positive cure but constantly appearing before an audience, and then some of the singers never overcome this form of nervousness.

The only consolation is in knowing that a person entirely void of this feeling will never make an artist, as they are lacking in temperament. Emotion is the flesh and blood of music and the condition is one in which self-consciousness, nervous energy and emotion play a large part. However, as you gain confidence in yourself and your work, and feel that you are in "rapport" with your audience, this sensation will wear off to a great extent.

Very few children before their teens are troubled with stage fright. In fact, they seem to glory in appearing before an audience. This is the best time to continue the work that will be of inestimable value the balance of their lives. Let them appear before the classes in the studio until they are prepared to appear in public.

When one begins to discuss nervousness, suggestion takes it up and it spreads like wildfire. A young singer who had appeared several times in the same solo and done excellent work was stepping on the stage to sing when one of her friends thoughtlessly remarked: "Aren't you nervous about that high 'C?'" The suggestion immediately lodged in her brain and she could think of nothing but that high "C." Her fear increased and she sang it with an almost heroic physical effort, a tone that had never given her the least trouble before.

It is the confident friend who helps you to win your audience by the encouraging remark, "I know you will be a success," while the one who asks,

"Aren't you afraid you are going to break down?" in reality will assist you in doing so. Always try and have the confident friends around you, especially in the earlier stage of your career.

There is an erroneous idea about not eating before singing. If you are nervous there is nothing so dangerous as trying to sing on an empty stomach. I know of singers who eat nothing on the day they are going to sing, the result being increased nervousness caused from weakness.

I would not advise a big meal before singing, but I would advise taking something, depending entirely on the individual. A cup of black coffee, a glass of water, a glass of claret, an orange, a raw egg, or anything that agrees with you. Give the stomach some work to do and that "giddy feeling" will entirely disappear. I always take a raw egg before singing.

One of our noted tenors, before walking out on the stage, lights a cigarette, takes three puffs and throws it away. Three puffs could be of very little value, but he imagines he sings better. Judging from his age and voice, and its endurance, it has evidently not injured him, though I would not advise singers to use tobacco.

Those suffering from phlegm in the throat will find almost instant relief in eating a dry prune. I acquired this habit in Italy, where it is very popular with the singers. Dried prunes are beneficial for the general health as well as the throat. Find what agrees with you, for what might be agreeable to one may be disagreeable to another.

When you step out on the stage take time to fully relax, get your mind on the introduction your accompanist is playing. This prepares you for your song. Look beyond your audience, not at them.

By this time you will have fairly good control of yourself. Think of what you are going to sing, and not of how you are feeling. Sing to your audience as if you were telling them a story. Speak distinctly and make them understand and feel what you are saying. Don't wear anything that binds you, such as tight shoes, tight corsets or tight collars, as they all tend to contract instead of relax. It is through nervousness that singers have "wobbled" off the stage after their solo, before the accompanist has finished. Remember in the interval between the end of your solo and the last note of the accompaniment you should stand perfectly still. Say to your audience (mentally), "Don't move until the accompaniment is finished." You will be surprised to see how well you can hold them. All these little thoughts will help make you forget yourself.

I once read an article on stage fright. The author advised the singer to look at his audience as though they were so many cabbage heads. I cannot agree with him. You, no doubt, have heard people sing as though they were inspired. I have felt that way many times when singing, and I am sure my audience inspired me. It would have been impossible to sing like that to empty chairs or a field of cabbage heads.

Analyze yourself and your work as much as you please at home, but when you go before an audience, forget yourself and let your aim be to win them.

I FIND that only about one in every hundred, who study voice culture, are able to accompany themselves on the piano. Nearly all know the keyboard and can get along after a fashion, therefore it is necessary that the student of voice culture should secure a first-class accompanist.

Your voice teacher here, or abroad, is always in a position to furnish you with one. You must arrange for his services at least twice a week. You can have no idea of the progress this will mean in your work. If you are asked to sing at an entertainment, do not take anyone's word that "there will be a good accompanist on hand," but see to it yourself. If it is not possible for you to have your own accompanist, be sure that you have ample time for rehearsal, and if the accompanist present is not a good one, do not sing.

A poor accompanist has been the cause of the failure of many young singers who are anxious to get before the public.

The young and inexperienced singer cannot be too particular on this point, and I would suggest that amateurs during their first few appearances before the public sing only with an accompanist with whom they have become accustomed to sing. All young singers are more or less nervous; in fact, I know very few old ones who are not, and this is where your own accompanist proves of the greatest value.

One of my pupils who made her debut said, "I had a sensation as of a lump in my throat, and felt that at the end of the pause I must swallow or choke. My accompanist had played for me before and seemed to anticipate my predicament, so gave me a little more time on that 'pause' and I was saved. With a strange accompanist, I would have gone to pieces."

Because a singer is an amateur, their parents and friends seem to think that anyone can play their accompaniments. The truth of the matter is, the less experienced the singer, the better the accompanist must be. Good accompanists are born, not made.

To be sure, practice makes perfect, but I know of many fine pianists who read well, have time, rhythm, technique, execution, and yet who will never make good accompanists. It takes all of these and more.

Nothing makes failure more certain than the blundering of an inexperienced and unskilled accompanist.

IT IS not always that the best read man on voice culture makes the best teacher; in fact, we find that teachers, who have not been singers themselves, but who have devoted years to the study of the physical and technical side of the question have turned out very few good singers.

In order to make a good teacher, one must first have command of his own voice in order to make perfect demonstrations which are essential to the beginner. Further, a teacher in order to be successful must have practical experience with the world and singers. No two voices can be treated in the same manner. Therefore, the teacher with the practical experience is naturally far better equipped to teach than the one who has merely studied the mechanism of the throat.

It is positively harmful for a teacher to make any attempt to explain the technical side of the voice to a beginner. Better develop the ear and memory. A teacher must have patience and tact in order to be able to deal with the different natures, dispositions and moods that are encountered in the studio. One word of kindness and encouragement will invariably do more toward putting a pupil at his ease and secure the best results from his work than any number of severe sermons and sarcastic criticisms.

The pupils are paying for their lessons and are entitled to courteous treatment. Avoid the nervous, irritable teacher. The teacher who becomes impatient or ruffled because a pupil cannot instantly grasp his meaning, walking up and down the floor with clenched fists chastising the air, and in every way displaying his own nerves and lack of self-control, is not a teacher, but a fool. Such a person has either forgotten his own earlier struggles or had never studied.

Avoid the teacher with a hobby. There is nothing so barren in the world as one idea, spring from one idea, nourished by one idea and aiming at one idea. This includes the teacher who believes in keeping the pupil on one tone for six months. While your tone needs more than six months to become perfect, dwelling on that one tone alone for that length of time would be decidedly wrong.

We frequently accept students who have acquired numerous bad habits in breathing or singing. They often know their trouble and ask how long it will take to undo this work and get back into the right way. They seem to think it is a matter of a certain time working back to the beginning and then starting over again. This is not true. It is a matter of beginning now and beginning right. The thoughts of a pupil should be advance, not retreat. You must not think of what you have done, but what you must do.

Avoid the teacher who advances theories and mechanical contrivances. A laryngoscope in the hands of a physician might save many lives, but in the hands of a singing teacher may ruin many voices. The perfect teacher uses the simplest demonstrations, realizing that technical terms go entirely over the heads of the beginner. The following suggestions are entirely useless:

Sing the tone forward.

Sing the tone on the teeth.

Sing over your larynx.

Sing that tone with the epiglottis lowered, the palate raised, and on the end of the breath.

I have personally heard these instructions given to pupils, and I assure you the pupil did not gain anything by it.

It is positively absurd to insist on a beginner knowing the structures of the vocal chords, neither will the patting, pinching or massaging of the neck and facial muscles, that some teachers advocate, make you sing any better. It is undoubtedly of some benefit to "wrinkles," but not to the voice.

Garcia, admitted to be one of the greatest singing masters of his time, said, regarding the position of larynx being higher or lower or the more or less raising of the palate, that the singer need only follow natural effects, and larynx, palate and the rest will take care of themselves. Do not complicate it with theories.

A new pupil went into the studio of a well-known teacher for a hearing. She took with her a popular song—the only song which she knew. The teacher cried "Trash," and would not even talk the matter over. This was foolish, selfish and unreasonable.

Every voice which comes under our care includes the personality behind the voice, and is of distinct and special interest. This pupil's environment had undoubtedly been such that she was not further developed and could hardly be expected to love and understand the music, which the teacher was accustomed to perform or teach. However, many a singer, who first brought the popular song, has developed into a successful church and concert singer. This was not brought about by reprimands and unkind criticisms of their short-comings, but by patient consideration and gradual development. Give the pupil a chance to learn to perform good music before you demand that they should appreciate it. A good teacher will encourage questions. If there are any questions pertaining to the study of voice culture that he cannot answer it is time he should know.

Unless a teacher is a perfect accompanist, so that he can keep his eyes away from the keyboard, he should employ an accompanist, for the teacher should see as well as hear the pupil sing the finished numbers.

And last, but not least, select a teacher who tries to understand you, who makes you feel at ease, and who shows as much interest in your voice as in your pocketbook.

HOW MANY musicians live up to this much-abused term? In my travels here and abroad I have found just two whose lives were entirely devoted to "art for art's sake". They both reminded me of the last act of Beau Brummell, and certainly did not suggest happiness. To fully live up to "art for art's sake," one must necessarily have means, and you would be surprised to know how few of those who are in position to live up to it, do so. Singers, in whom you would expect to find a demonstration,—real musicians, to whom the whole world has bent its knee,—will stand up before an audience and sing a little popular waltz song, a la "After the Ball,"—a song we would consider too inferior to allow one of our pupils to sing. Is this "art for art's sake?" Where then should we look for a demonstration, if not in the finished singer or artist?

Do not these singers know better? Certainly, but they study their audience, give the few their best, and the masses what they want. In search for "art for art's sake," we turn to the "artist," and we find him trying to please the audience.

We are living in a very material age. If you can afford to do so, live art for art's sake in your home, but if you have to make your living, and cope with the world to make a success, you must study your audience; they paid their money and want to be entertained. You can strike a happy medium, where you will not lower your dignity, as a singer and an artist.

I notice that those who "rant" and "storm" on the subject of "art for art's sake" seldom live it, of which we were given a fair demonstration when one of our disciples of "art for art's sake" went on a "concert" tour and was so anxious to "please" his audience, that the program was a perfect vaudeville performance. It is needless to say that the "artist" was severely criticised. Don't bill yourself as a concert singer and then give a vaudeville performance. Use judgment. Watch the teacher who is constantly talking "art for art's sake." Note to how many struggling musicians he holds out a helping hand and how much of his time and life he devotes to "art for art's sake."

We teachers charge enough for our lessons to make it possible for us to devote an evening a week "to art for art's sake"; invite our pupils, talk, sing, take up the biographies of the old masters, do ensemble work; study the oratories and operas. I am sure this would help create a greater love and understanding of the better things in music, for the more we hear it, the more we love it. This would go further in helping to create a love and understanding of "art for art's sake," and would be a greater test of our sincerity.

Debussy, the well-known composer of Peleas and Melisande, says in an article on "Art for Art's Sake": "Don't talk to me about elevating public taste. That is the greatest 'bluff' one can din into your ears. Just think for a moment what the public is composed of. How many in the audience understand music? How many devote themselves to music during the day? An infinitesimal number. The rest, where do they come from? From offices, stores, business houses of some kind, or they come from teas and gossip, and then they go to hear the opera. Most of them are tired after a day's work or idleness, and such people you expect to take an interest in serious music. Impossible! No; the only thing you can do for the public is to lift it, for one moment, out of its daily thoughts, and with that we have to be content. Under such conditions, what difference does it make whether you have German, Italian or French opera? There is no immovable truth in art. You cannot say this is so or so, and what difference do the means make as long as the end is accomplished? If Italian opera is more effective than German opera, what does it matter? All art is untruth. You may have been told that art is eternal because it is true, but there you are mistaken."

Of the Metropolitan Grand Opera and General Manager of the Chicago Grand Opera, who through his tireless and skillful service is meeting with great success in the establishing of permanent Grand Opera in the larger cities west of New York, is an enthusiastic supporter of the Grand Opera in the vernacular, giving the many excellent American singers an opportunity to make their dÉbut in this country and in their own language. Mr. Dippel predicts the time is not far distant when New York will establish the home of the National Grand Opera.