El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-06-30
VOCAL CULTUREIN PARIS.
A Pertinent Account of Her EXperien-
ceS Ey an American Girl.


Since my coming to Paris 1 have
heard the pupils of many masters of
voice culture. Some of the masters
are excellent; many others do not I'M
derstand the first principles in the
treatment of the voice.
As everyone knows, Paris is filed
with aspiring prime dome, who come
from all parts of the globe, and the
| teachers that have necessarily adver-
| tised have naturally the choice of
voices, the unwary female element
| docking to them. Voice after voice is
heard, trained, saved or broken. In
| fP It, broken or cracked voices seem in
the majority.
A puzzling question was asked me
the other day: "Why are some of the
| famous teachers so noted for the de-
StructiOn of voices"
answered to the best of my ability
"Some masters enjoy what we Ameri-
cans call "a streak of good luck They
attract the most beautiful voices
voices that are posed, trained: that
know exactly the road travel.
Nothing is to be studied over here but
a repertory, and the pupil, if gifted
with dramatic instinct, armth, must
cal intelligence and a correct ear, can
continue to develop with very little in
structiOn from teacher For this,
| of course, the teacher cOngTatulates
himself.
But what is to be done with the
voices that are young, untrained-say
| that need to be posed, watched, tended
| learning to walk? There the skill of
| the teacher is apparent. In little
| while the method manlfests itself.
Paris is filled with students that
| have been under the tuition of incOm
petent and INSCRIPTIONS teachers
students that have come to them with
fresh young voices, that, however,
soon begin to show feeblenesS, trem-
bling, forcing, OvertaXed lung power,
| and finally voice forever lost, nealth
impaired and time and money wasted.
L can head the list with my own
Experience, and as a warning to many
of my countrywOmen who come here
| with all the rosy illusions that l had,
the sum of money carefully saved and
stored away, and time spent far from
| ones own people and country. We are
shrewd, we Americans, so the foreign
erS declare, but we are also trusting
and childlike to degree, and are will
lug to place unlimited faith in artists
or teachers that have been talked
about or have Systematically advertiS-
ed.
L confidently therefore placed myself
with Madame Marchesi, the famous
teacher OF Paris,' as the world, or
ather our American world, calls her.
and, fresh from visit 10 London,
where | had won a hearing in many of
the sgreat lat homes" in concerts,
where critics and musicians applauded
with apparent sincerity and warmth, l
felt that | was on the fair road TO pro-
gress. My voice was high, pure,
clear soprano-said by the famous
teacher to be ''ravissante. -
;,,i@ ~
thod," which consists of three regist-
ers-namely, chest, medium and head.
My chest tones were pronounced feeble,
and l was told to take them strongly,
as far as F on the first space.
| did so, trusting to my teachers
| knowledge, yet day by day feeling
overtaXed and faint from the eXertion.
Medium notes were to be sung ''pleine
voix," head tones lighter and thin in
quality. The heavy chest tones weak
ened the medium; Inc unnatural effort
blurred every note that had been pure,
clear and resonant. Ten minutes OF
singing would weaken me until |
could scarcely stand. Exercises were
given suitable for mozzO soprano,
| and my voice ran to high G. Three
| weeks after l had taken the method l
| complained OF the fatigue, the pain in
the chest, throat and back.
| IT'S nothing" she ssaid; you Amer
icans are such towards: you're always
fearful of losing your dollars" L an
swered: I'VE Americans are ambiti-
Gus and honest. and we are not the
people to lose time" 1 continued my
| lessons, but faith was wavering; my
| entire system rebelled against this
overtaXatlOn.
AT last, after showing all the symp-
toms of ''poitrinaire, and coughing
necessarily until daylight, a piece CT
ugly flesh, about the size of a small p
geon egg was detached from the base
| OF the larynx or from the wind pipe
[ don't know which aud tinallyI be-
came frightened. 1 spoke of 1T. My
teacher gave me neither advice nor
hope: but after the mischief was done
she tried to send me to her
daughter adding that [ seemed too
nervous to sing before the class.
Now, L had held church position
for three years in New York, and had
done much singing in small concerts,
and surely ten girls singing the same
scales and tones as | could not brighten
me. l was then eXhorted not to study
in the book she had given me-the
book filled with exercises for mezZO
voice. 1t was pronounced too low for
me. And that after seventeen lessons,
amounting to $50 francs. L then had
three notes left in my voice., third
space, d and E. The others were to-
tally wrecked. OF course l was in de-
spair. Time, money, health-all gone.
L consulted the most famous specialist
of Paris. He said that my whole lung
power was overlaxed, that the lungs
themselves were intlamed, and he ad-
vised Inc to stop lessons at once, 1 did
so, writing to Madame Marchesi, who
never replied.
One month of absolute rest and not
note sung relieved me. l then placed
myself with an excellent master. who
set himself to work with my voice in
the most careful, intelligent and con-
scientiOus manner. No chest tones
were permitted. The lower tones were
lifted, as one elevates from waiss to
head. No force was expended. and the
Farinelli method of breathing was
commanded, leaving the mouth open at
the end of scale or line. The voice
began to flow naturally, purely and
smoothly. [ felt no pain or effort