The St. Johns herald., 1896-06-27
EVERY ONE CAN SING
INGENIOUS THEORY ABOUT THE
 TRAINING OF VOICES.

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. It is very evi- 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 ill 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 most dis couraging perhaps is the cultivation of the voice. "
 Here is something which 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 musical instrument about with them wherever they go. The sing CT 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, ar1 there is a method of right treatment which can be described to 'out 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 a 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 point low i'll the throat, and must come directly out of the mouth, toward the front teeth. A con- tracted throat produces a 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 inn portant. More harm has been done by the training of voices upward than the world has yet any idea, and 1t is mar vicious 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 OH 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 "ha" low down ill the Al, n Df 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 ether 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 ill the same way that the singing voice is improved. It is most emphatically true that many persons speak habitually ill tones that are un necessarily shrill and rasping. This is caused by throat contraction, which squeezes the tone and renders 1t rough. To relax the throat by stretching it open as in yawning and to speak low ill the throat allows the tone to Do smooth, round and clear A very unwise injunc- tion is often given ill this connection viz, "Do not speak ill 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. Ii people would relax the throat and then strengthen the high tones by their free and proper use, they would soon notice vast improvement in tone quality.
 "Can every one learn to sing?' Un- occasionally, yes. Every one who can speak can also learn to sing, if he will take a little trouble, for the very same instrument, the larynx, 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 a person thinks he cannot sing, let him, i'll the first place, be satisfied to begin at the begin ming, instead of at the end. Let him not be discouraged because he cannot 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