The age-herald., 1900-06-24

The gift which belongs to the teacher is frequently quite apart from the qualities that go to make up a fine concert singer or operatic artiste.
 There is person so important in the world of music as the teacher.
 Voices that have natural promise are frequently made or ruined by the meth- ods adopted by teachers.
 The voice is a natural element as mys- terious in it's possibilities almost as the element of electricity in the air. Unless it is harnessed by expert teaching, it be- comes noise without meaning or is lost altogether
 If you have the slightest musical gift, go at once to a good teacher
 You will very quickly discover what your prospects are. It is no to eVade this point.
 It is no use to buy a book of vocal ex- erc1ses, to sit down at the piano and sing scales without the skilled advice of a singing teacher.
 If you are in difficulties, you go to a lawyer if you are ill you send for a doc tor; so, if you think you have a voice. go to teacher and find out if you have one or not.
 You can ascertain from friends or mu- sicians what teacher to go to, and it as well to be liberal in your original outlay
 
 At first, your voice will be an unknown quantity to yourself and your teacher Not until you have studied for three months will your voice begin to show signs of any improvement in quality.
 It may have only almost impercep- tible promise of anything when you be- gin. Only the teachers ear and knowledge or Voice-Work can appreciate or even sur mise the possibilities
 It will take three months, at least, for a beginner with an average voice to re- ceiye in some degree a musical compre- hension of what singing means
 At the end of that time the student will be justified, with the advice of d teacher to decide if he or she shall con- tinue to develop the gift fully
 Above all things, trust your teacher, and get good one.
 WHERE TO STUDY.
 There is great deal said and written about the various advantages to be gained by studying music in different places.
 The location is immaterial, the first es- sential is to have a competent teacher preferably of the old Italian school.
 All voices are not capable of operatic work. There is as much dll1erence between the demands of the concert platform and the operatic stage as there is between the languages.
 There are fewer voices capable of op- cratic singing.
 The first and foremost condition to be considered for students who expect to be- come operatic singers is a good voice. All success in grand opera is founded on the quality and stability of the voice.
 Having this foundation 8 fine presence is another requisite for operatic work
 Grand opera is usually given very large stages, and there is probably more necessity for the presence on the operatic stage than there is on the dramatic stage. Another essential for grand opera work is an unusually strong physique.
 The strain involved in sustaining a great operatic role is perhaps greater than that of any other dramatic performance Not only must the singer memorize the music and execute the technical difficult ties of vocalization, but he or she must re- tain characterization, impersonation and expression in acting, so that the duties of a grand opera singer are doubled.
 The operatic artist must have dramatic talent of unusual vitality and facility.
 An artistic temperament, which is gift frequently quite apart from the musical temperament, is another essential quality for grand opera.
 GRAND OPERA WORK.
 Then, in addition to these gifts, the op- era singer must have indomitable perse- verance, great vital energy, and, above all, untiring industry.
 All these things must you consider be- fore you undertake to study for the op- cratic stage-a good voice, fine presence, strong physique, musical and dramatic talent, an artistic temperament, indomi- table perseverance, great energy, and, above all, untiring industry.
 To my mind a successful singer in con- cert work requires the same qualities those that are necessary for the stage. I believe it Is not generally considered necessary for concert singers to learn el- ocution, but in my opinion, it is as im- portant for them as for operatic singers. The story of a song is told in the words, and the study of elocution, as I under stand it, is a study of words.
 While the concert singer adopts more classic rendering, because she has no cos tune to suggest characterization, still she can convey impersonation in the telling of her story and the dramatic feeling there may be in the selection.
 As everything in the art of music is ex- tremely difficult, should say that neither the concert platform nor the operatic