The record-union., 1891-08-29
TAKE OFF TIGHT CORSETS.
Many American Girls Can Becom
G.,.nnt Sirac-n,.s INnir,rr

Great Singers by Doing So.
Surely there is no reason why Ameri-
can girls should not become as fine
singers as any on the globe, says writer
in the New York IeLegrGm. They have
all the requisites Of perseverance,
ton. The American singers who have
become famous have been trained
abroad, but hold that they can be edu-
Gated at home ii they are properly taught.
Health IS the road to success in singing
as well as in other professions. The new
gospel Of music | would teach to the
young women of America is technique,
physique and grace. 1t is no DeIsartian
fad, or anything of the kind, but common
sense.
There are hundreds of so-called rene
dies and little secrets intended to make
the voice clear and smooth, such as eat
ing dried plums, swallowing glycerine
IN homeopathic phOsphates. My secret
is health. Body and soul and voice are
so nearly connected that the disease OF
one means the blight Of the others.
Take a healthy woman and you will
never find in her those capricious freaks
and nervous depressiOns which make
life a burden to her and her friends.
Unfortunately, the weaker sex is granted
privileges which tend to make her enjoy
the sensation of enacting the role of a
times out Of ten If she would remove her
vise-like cOrsets she would soon become
healthy rose.
Health and voice are as nearly connected
as physical and mental health, and the
voice Is the thermometer of health. 4
change in the physical state is first no.
ticed in the voice. and the beginning OF
enemia has the effect of making the
voice feeble and untrue (below the Pitch.
Where is the young girl who does not
suffer occasionally in more or less de-
gree from this sickness of to-day?
What is the remedy, or rather, the pre-
ventative? The most dangerous enemy
OF health is tight lacing. 1t is not ex-
pected that a young girl should at once
recognize the far-reaching and destructive
effects Of this most pernicious abuse, but
their mothers should use all their influ-
enCe 10 check a danger so serious to fll-
ture generations. The sole motive for
tight lacing is to display a wasp-like waist,
vanity that helps to enrich doctors and
destroys beauty.
Young girls do not reflect on the fact
that tight lacing Is very often the reason
for bad compilations, red noses, pale
cheeks and dull, expressionless eyes.
The man who admires wasp-like waist
in preference to rosy cheeks, bright eyes,
and a well-prOportioned figure is not
worthy Of consideration. He is Abnormal
ana mas no sense OF beauty.
Lacing congresses that part of the
lungs so necessary to easy breathing and
singing. If the lungs are so tightly COM
pressed that they cannot expand at the
side they must find relief by going to the
upper or lower part.
Everyone knows, or should know.
| that the upper part Of the lungs is the
weakest, and most of the irritations OF
the lungs begin there. 1t is by no means
nIltVInD SiOhf "a laIr Cin
with her shoulders" as l heard it
called. The opposite, the abnormal
breathing. is well enough for man, but
1t can become very dangerous for a
woman.
In spite of this well known fact many
renowned singing teachers make this
kind of breathing the Alpha and Omega
OF their method for men and women
alike.
There are some voices which have re-
sisted every training, and could not be
killed in spite of their masters. These
voices, although they exist in a small
minority, Will mako the reputation of a
teacher, whether deserved or not, But if
teacher is enabled to choose his material
and to discard voices he does not think
worth cuItivating, he ought to have sue
cess with every single pupil. The voice
is like delicate plant; the gardener can
not produce it, but he can nurse and cul-
uVate 1t with most careful love. If the
voice meets all the requirements in the
early days of training there is no need to
worry about progress later, for success is
assured.
The most difficult part of voice-culture
should be taught first, viz, the free and
easy development of the tone and equal
izing OF the register. If singer acquires
these they will enable him or her to
reach the highest point in art. The old
singing master, Porpora, used to say that
one might be able 10 write on one piece OF
music paper all that singer needed for
instruction.
In spite of renowned Conservatives
the mere tone development is still the
wonderful secret" Generally the great
est attention is paid, not to tone develop
ment, but 10 musical education in all
directions and branches. How shall a
singer succeed who has not been taught
right in the first place? We know a
good many succeed who are taught
wrongly, but that is because thew have
voices that defy any attempt to Kill
| them. He or she Will have to learn for
/ himself or herself what to do and do it.