Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-06-17
EVERY ONE CAN SING
INGENIOUS THEORY ABOUT THE
TRAINING OF VOICES.

Singing Is just rs Natural as Talking, but
the Voice Must Be Cultivated According
gin at the Top of the Voice.
In fairy days when the fox wished to
make his voice sweet he Went to the
miller and asked for chalk. This he ate
with such satisfactory results that his
next call was made without any Of the
unlucky effects generally produced by
his naturally harsh voice. tits very evil
dent from all that one hears and reads
nowadays that this end Of the century is
expecting to be told of some royal road
to voice improvement. Why should not
such road be found? In these days of
Roentgen rays and consumption cures
why should not the art of music advance
tremendously?
The human voice is used for two pur-
poses-by every one to speak with, by
many to sing with. That many wish to
sing but find themselves unable to do so
is unhappily true. That all these could
learn to sing is also true, though this is
not without question in many minds.
Much has been written lately in criti-
cism of the disagreeable qualities Of the
speaking voice, especially the harshness
of the voices of American women Lit
tie has been suggested, however, to rem
edy the defects. AS for the singing voice,
it has lately been stated that "of all
branches of musical study the NEST dis
couraging perhaps is the cultivation OF
the voice. F"
Here is something 1<s.ich interests
thousands of persons, and when we in
clude in our subject the improvement
Of the speaking voice it is one which
should interest millions. People are
scarce who really care nothing about
music. They are scarcer still who do
not carry a musical instrument about
with them wherever they 60 The sing
er is at no trouble or expense to procure
an instrument upon which to perform.
All he needs to do is to open his mouth
and it is ready. Moreover, this instru-
ment, rightly treated, needs far less
practice than any piano or violin, and
there is method of right treatment
which can be described to tout of the
way students - This method consists of
just two things-relax the throat, begin
all practice at the top of the voice.
In order to gain relaxed throat
simply try to stretch the throat open,
as in yawning, and to sing as low down
in the throat as possible. Never imagine
that any tones proceed from or go to
the top of the head, but think that they
all start from a point low in the throat,
and must come directly out Of the
mouth, toward the front teeth. A con-
tracted throat produces rough, rasping
or nasal voice. An open, relaxed throat
produces round, smooth, clear voice.
The second injunction begin all prac
tice at the top Of the voice-is most i'm
portant. More harm has been done by
the training Of voices upward than the
world has yet any idea, and it is mar
velous that we have not learned this
fact before the end of the nineteenth
century. Scales should never be sung
upward by beginners, because this tends
to emphasize instead of to bridge over
any breaks that the voice may have. By
always training the voice downward
the difficulties with regard to breaks
and registers are overcome without any
theorizing and experimenting on the
part of the student. An exercise which
can be practiced with immense benefit
by every student is to begin at the high
est tone that the singer can take easily
and sing each successive tone downward
to the syllable cha" low down in the
throat as possible, using great deal Of
breath for each syllable and taking
fresh breath for each one.
Besides the question how best to i'm
prove the singing voice, persons are
seeking answers to two other questions
how can we improve our speaking
voices and can we all learn to sing?
The speaking voice can be made pleas
ant and agreeable in the same way that
the singing voice is improved. It is most
emphatically true that many persons
speak habitually in tones that are un-
necessarily shrill and rasping. This is
caused by throat contraction, which
squeezes the tone and renders it rough
To relax the throat by stretching it open
as in yawning and to speak low in the
throat allows the tone to be smooth,
round and clear. A very unwise injunc-
ton is often given in this connection
viz, DO not speak in such high key.
The very opposite Of this should be in
culcated. Voices are never shrill because
they are high; they only sound shrilly
because the throat is apt to be contract
ed more on high tones This weakens
the high tones and the effort to speak
loudly causes forcing Of the voice. If
people would relax the throat and then
strengthen the high tones by their free
and proper use, they would soon notice
a vast improvement in tone quality.
"Can every one learn to sing?" I'm
questionably, yes. Every one who can
speak can also learn to sing, if he will
take a little trouble, for the very same
instrument, the laTynx, furnishes the
voice for both speech and song. The
only difference between the speaking
voice and the singing voice is that the
former uses the lower and medium tones
and the latter uses chiefly the higher
and medium tones. If person thinks
he cannot sing, let him, in the first
place, be satisfied to begin at the begin
ming, instead Of at the end Let him not
be discouraged because he caunot at
once sing whole tune correctly, but let
him believe that, if, as must be the
case, he can form any single tone or two
tones correctly, he can improve upon
this ability, just as any one who can
add two and two can also add three and
three, and then four and four. The main
thing to understand is that inability to
sing is not generally caused, as is SO
often supposed, by want of voice or want
Of ear, but simply by lack of fexibility
of voice-that is, weakness of the mus
cles which tighten and relax the vocal
cords New York Herald.
Tho Pulley Line Man.