New-York tribune., 1902-06-20
~sPE4KTNG TO MUSICAL NOTES
Az ART OF REGULATED SPEECH


W. r. Yeats. in The Academy
Mr. Arthur Symons has said, in ms iriehoIE
account of my theories about the speaking OF
roefrv to musical notes. that the hXlng OF tiie
pitch by a notation makes any pc 7tha no
fernretaticn good bad Impossible Inc ~
tation of song is much more elaborate Hi Ild'
any notation for speech made pH MI. 80 go
roetsch or Miss Farr, and Yet the singer ll1o'
room enough for personal interpretatio IN
daad am persuaded that the fixing OF the
T1itch gives more delicacy and beauty to me
prsSn .ero,7a1 Instrumentation" for it leaves the
sneaker free to preoccupy hlrSeh WIN Illt
subtlest moduations- Before we recoroed - ii pitcn
Ne made many experiments in rhythmlcai
sneech and 1 found that Miss Farr Woul1
rneak poem with admirable expression anu
.ben sneak ii quite ineffectively time atter
time She found it impossible to recail @ htI ilio m
" r77ent Of inspiration but now th"ueh sht %
ries she does SO within far narroMet ,od ss
Her best inspirations are al least as soou a.
they were while her failures never SINK INTO
disorder .- .,,,o Of my ,eal
.sries and sneak one of his poems to a no
.a.ion of his own. he Will fnd-for ! think ms
ear Is good enough to speak TO the notes with
olt giving them much attenuon-that ne
will light on al kinds Of beautifui or dramatic
,,,odrlations which would never have occurred
10 him had not the cruder effects been flXed
bv he notation He will discover. too that
the right changes of pitch can seldom be got
at once and that once got theE VIII ste!iI -, -
Iy1rpogtant that the best recitation without
fixad notes will generally show itself Tor mere
disorder. Everyt hing in any art that can De
recorded and taught should be recorded ana
5a4rbt for by doing so We take a burden from
the imagination which climbs hlsher IN nsH'
ermor than in heavy. If Mr. Symons VIII then
make an extremely simple tune, like the very
Sir,nlesr folk music. and record II and speak
his poem TO this tune he VIII find. think, that
this new art is also extremely old one. and
that il is proba bic that should sometimes
sneak an old folk song instead OF singing IT,
IS we understand singing. ] have heard irish
countrywomen. whose singing is called tradl-
fional Irish singing" speak their little songs
precisely as Miss Farr does some of hers, only
with rather less drama The tune must be
very .sinple. for If there more than a few
notes the one tune VIII not adapt itself to the
emotions of different verses. Is II not possible
that we have been mistaken in considering this
Kind If little tunes merely undevelOped mu-
sjcP II might have been wiser TO have some
times thought of them the art Of regulated
sneech already perhaps near its decadence /
imagine men spoke their verses first TO a regu-
hated pitch without a tune. and then. eager for
variety spoke TO tunes which gradually became
themselves the chief preoccupation until speech
died out in music.
From time to time. indeed musicians have
tried 10 give speech some Importance. hut mu-
sic has always been their chief preoccupation
end their -.recitatiye'' has got its variety from
the accompa niment and not from the rhythm
of the verse. If the speaker TO musical notes
viii attend 10 the subtletes of rhythm as
carefully as singer attends TO the
musical inventions Of the composer his
speech viii not drift into "ntoning' 1t
was said that the song OF Rachel
Segenerated into sing song" with the
resi- of her company. but that did not prove
that her method Of speaking verse was wrong.
But after all. if ! right in claiming n
tiouity for this art Of speaking musical
notes discussion of its merits is idle. No art
car pass away forever till the human nature
ii once delighted has passed away. and that
can hardly be until Michaels trumpet