The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-15

and without effort. II the singer. had on,x,
been properly trained. They draw the bow
OF their breath over their vocal cord.
with jerks and twists and bumn, th,,
would ruin rods Of steel: they do all sort,
Oh FOOLISH and dangerous th,nxs-s,nnlv
because they did not take the time 20 Lear
better. And they suffer for IT. 4, a ,ev
years their voices are gone; they ara mn
longer able to mako a living by singing /.
The care Of the voice IA the ,n,.t
portant thing after the study of n. Th.-s
was never any a!lment or weakness. .ho,,.
the body Of man that did not max. ,,..,,
apparent to some extent In the voice. Let a
man b out late at night. new, ,,.-n,.
MS voice tells Of IT. Let q man get drunk.
his voice Is the first thing to show ~ r.,
man exhaust himself in any form of vors
or dissipation, his voice show, IN. s,-.,n
before anything else does And vet mon
and women who want to MAXI ths,r No..
WIKI thear voices go about dissipatinr in
various forms. 1t win not do; they viii
soon md that their voices are zone Mos,
OK tnem VIII wonder why. There is scarce
~ any form Of amusement that a singer
many not indulge In. provided he does nos
30 10 an excess There Is scarcely anything
oisestiple tnat he may not eat, provided he
does not gorge himself. There il nothing
worm drinking that he may not drink. pro-
vidsd ne does not drink too much The only
necessary thing is moderation Perhaps
should have to make one exception to this
RUE. although others may disagree with me.
DO not think singer should smoke. My
experience has been that tho person who
smokes dries up his voice. OF course,
have seen and know many good singers
who smoke: but believe they would BE-
better singers II they fabooed the enticsng
cigar. the seductive cigarette, and the ,
reminiscent pipe No singer should try IL
do too much with his voice. He should =
member that exercise beyond a certain
point will injure any muscle: and this Is
true Of the vocal organs. no less than Of
the arm or the leg. Exercise is necessary !
for the voice. Just as It Is for the rest OF
the body; but It should be stopped short Of
exhaustion.
I deem IL very necessary for one who in
tends to sing to learn how to properly
place his breath. and how to maintain tho
muscles Of his throat and mouth The sing
Ing muscles should not be strained: their
positions should be the perfectly natural
ones that they occupy In ordinary CONVEX
saticn. For singing 10 no more a muscular
exercise than conversation Is. Tones that
are produced by Titanic struggles with tho
muscles OF the throat and neck are not true
tones: they are forced and unnatural The
singer who twists and turns his tonsus.
stretches his throat. pushes his palate up
or down. and In other ways interferes with
the free circulation OF the sound waves -
taking certain course for the destruction
Of his singing voice. Excellent advice for n
finger Is: Don't strain. II you can't make
! note without straining, skip the note. IL
! voice has been properly trained. any note
within its legitimate range can be made
Without struggle. and II II CAM. be SO
made II should be let alone. A beginner.
II course. might find both low and high
totes. well within the range Of his natural
'otce, which he could not make without
.nort: but training will overcome such dit-a
lcrlties.
The life Of voice? That is a dif,cult
question. In the absence Of disease or acct.
ent. man death Is due to ossification The
'focess OF ossincation begins with birth.
sradualy the nesh and bones dry out and
ecome naro- Certain foods accelerate os-
incatioh' ana II man would not eat these
ooos ne should. barring accidents ana dis
Sc I'VE forever; Tor we are built of our
pod. This ossifying process, afrsct. IN.
muscles Of the throat, Of course. the vocal
ords dry out: the tongue and nala,e 80
ard: the lungs lose their stren~tb snd
radually the voice dries up' II .eers -
ne that the life Of the voice nronsrsS
rained and used. Is but little short ~ ~
re Of the man. Just A Ionv =. h.
rard on the encroachments OF o.s,ac.t,oS
pom his vocal cords, tust "a Io.,s - sns.',S
70 ana TO sinss and sing wSur -