Evening star., 1896-12-12
After Breakfast.

"And after that you take this extraordi-
nary breakfast" I asked, wondering, FOR
Il is a tall and lusty youth, who would not
look out of place lassoing steers.
Yes It is the best kind Of morning
practice"
Then I suppose you go in for rest or
recreation, like some Of the young ladies OF
my acquaintance"'
mo. for / have an extra course OF study.
/ want to be able to sing French on the
French stage. and it Is only with the great
est difficulty that we foreigners can make
ourselves acceptable. 1t was her accent
that hurt Miss Van Zandt. Miss Sanderson
escaped the difficulty by living practically
most of her life in France Noting this
crying need on the part of foreigners es-
Pecially Americans. two French girls some
time ago began ID make themselves special
lists of what they call 'phonetics.' They are
the well-known Yersin Sisters, and have
been so successful that they can charge
absurdly high prices. l am going for a
lesson now. Would you like to come along
and see what 1t is like?"
In a Studio.
I walked with him to the studio Of the
phonetic sisters. The lesson commenced
Immediately. 1t appears that there are
fifteen or more French vowel sounds, all
of which difficult to catch In singing
as in conversation. The lady goes to her
piano. The pupil stands beside her She
strikes a note-the scales "Ba-a-a-a-a"'-
."Ba-a-a-a-a!' The great bass voice sobs-
"Ba-a-a-a-a!- They go through the con-
sonants, fitting each to a vowel, ascending
always one note at a time. This lesson,
which lasts but half an hour. though it
seems longer, is as monotonous as it is
important.
When the fee. fl. 70. FUN exercises are
over the teacher goes over the words of
such song as the pupil has been commit
ting to memory to assure the habitual
proper pronunciation of each word in sing
ing AS for example. "My-stere pro
fond1 would be worked on something like
this. "Mee-mee-mee stair-air-air! Mee-mee-
NEE stair-air-airv' until the temptation of
the mere unmusical layman to take to the
stair IN order to get & out into the air is
these half hours of store and stress cost
10 francs, or 81 each!
The Opera Class.
When next saw the future basso pro-
fundo he was eating his lunch like any
other. told him that should like to go
to the opera class.
THAT will be for tomorrow" he answer
ed. This afternoon at 1:3O my French
teacher arrives and works with me an
hour. After that 1 am free till o'clock,
when one Of two things happen. Either 1
go to Bouhy FOR my private lesson with
him, or else his master of the opera class
comes to me for an extra Goa ching lesson
on his own subjects. In the same way my
mornings are alternated. On Mondays and
Thursdays the opera class takes up the
time which on other days 1 give to the
Yersins."
Exactlyi' 1 hastened to remind him. II
have seen and heard one of those lessons,'
Il cannot take you to Bouhy" he went
on. because he is a peculiar man and will
Eot allow third persons to be present dur
ing his lessons
What are they like"
Il take three lessons week from Bouhy
himself, each one lasting half hour"
And costirg?"
Il don't mind telling you. He takes $
a lesson. like the most of them. This is
when you are going through a regular
three years course. with three lessons a
week. He asks as high s. apiece for
occasional lessons. During the first three
years the three lessons a week are obliga-
tory. After that two lessons a week are
deemed enough
A moments reflection gave me to see
very clearly that this opera-singing is in