The herald., 1893-01-18
VOCAL MUSIC.
The Features of Mr.. Reeves Lecture
Last Evening.


The Features of Mr. Reeves Lecture
Last Evening.
Vocal Music. Its Advantages and Dis
advantages, was the subject of Harry Z
Reeves lecture last night at Simpson
NJ. L. church. Though the audience
was not large one. it was kindly dis
posed toward the popular baritone.
Immediately preceding his talk, Mr.
Reeves, who, by the way, eschews the
title OF professor, sang The Teal, and
in response to an encore rendered Dud.
ley Bucks Creole Love Song with pleas.
ing effect.
Mr.. Reeves voice is clearly pure
baritone. There is nothing Of the
"shadow" voice about it. Above all
else it is fresh and pure, and the care
full training it has undergone is evil
denced in his attacks upon high and
sustained notes. His phrasing ls per-
feet and his enunciation clear and dis
tinct.
Having taken up the study of vocal
music at time when most lads of his
age were yet in knickerbockers and
roundabouts. playing marbles, MI.
Reeves is thoroughly conversant with
all the laws governing the cultivation of
the voice.
The first thing to learn, the lecturer
said, was to breathe properly, if one
wishes to be a success as a vocalist. The
proper method was to be studied care
fully at the outset, so that In inhalation
and exhalation there would be no effort.
When one labors in breathing, phrasing
and enunciation suffer through it.
The person who teaches q dozen d;f-
ferent instruments and gives lessons in
voice culture at spare moments, was
shown up in his true light. He bears
the same relation to the musical world
that the quack doctor bears to the reputa-
BILE practitioners in medicine.
The scarcity of really good contraltos
was accounted for by the fact that in
in the beginning the pupil was not prop.
erly drilled on the middle register, but
allowed to invade the upper register,
and there attack the highest notes at
her own sweet will, and with utter dis
regard of consequences. There could be
but one result in such a case-an in
ferior soprano voice. Probably with
careful schooling on the middle register
fiist-class contralto would have re-
suited.
IL Whr quito IHo bhme Will t6uOrb.
Often faltering, wavering tenor voice
is produced by the pupils anxiety to
sing high notes long before he is really
capable of handling the lower notes !;
thus good baritone is ruined.
The tremello was next discussed.
Properly acquired it can be employed
with great effect, but is too often used
in an attempt to conceal imperfections
of the voice.
MIR. Reeves remarked the success
Americans had attained in music and
gave the nationality of numerous lights
of the operatic stage; this to show that
Italy bad not produced all the great
singers, as was generally supposed.
After few remarks in which he paid
high tribute to the little choir boys
throughout the land, Mr.. Reeves fin
ished his discourse.
Before the audience dispersed he sang
two selections to illustrate that with
careful attention to the cultivation of
the voice and close Observance of the
laws Of hygene, one could talk great
length of time without any effect upon
the singing voice. His rendition of
Nessler's Abide with Me was without
a flaw; this after speaking fully two
bnt1ru