The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-10-14
The Art of Si17gir1G.
HOW TO SING AN ENGLISH BALLAD.
JUSTIN LEROY HARRIS

Unlike the poet, a singer is to a
certain extent at least made" not
born" 1t is not enough that the as
pirant should have a good voice, a
good ear, and a fair knowledge of the
piano; that she be able to pronounce
her own language with delicacy, pu-
a correct accent. But she must be
| taught many things which it is i'm
possible that she should discover for
herself A singer is not .self-made."
| She must be taught" how to phrase
| intelligently, how to unite song arts
| tically with speech, how to avoid the
harshness of certain consonants, how
| to sing the consonants as well as the
yowels, how and when to sacrifice the
the note to the word, how to make the
story ineligible, how to convey the
impression of certain emotions
through tore-coIor, etc. These things
must for the most part be impaired
They are the result of method and of
experience, and cannot be expected to
come by nature. The best singer in
any society is, as rule, the one who
has been taught. She who attempts
to MARBLE her native woodnotes
Wild in the drawing-room may be as
sured that, however sweet her voice,
she can only hope to give an artistic
prese ntation to those who know as
little about singing as herself She
will be fettered by no consideration
of fitness as to tempo and expression.
She will sing the difficult passages
slowly and the easy ones rapidly, as
she pleases. The poem may be joy
Gus; but if it uits her to drawl the
melody in a touching and sentimental
style, she will do so. Or he may
render the saddest of lyrics in the
most cheerful manner, and at a, giddy
pace.
The trained singer. will sing song
Or ballad so articulately that every
word of the poem is distinctly under
stood by the hearers; S he will give
due effect and expression to the po
EN-, as poem; she will have over
come the primary difficulty of sing
ing and speaking simultaneously, so
that the word sung will be an arti-
culate word; she will never take
breath in such way as to break the
flow of a sentence, or to interrupt the
sense of the words: the unframed
singer often breathing in the middle
of a word. The first step towards
singing an English ballad should be
careful study of the words. These
should be considered from every point
of view, and read aloud with every
effort to give them full expression,
either by hurrying or retarding, rails
ing or lowering the voice in accord
ance W it'll the sentiment of the story.
When the best interpre tation of the
story Of it is a BALLAD or, as it is
technically called, the best reading
has been decided upon, the singer has
then to study the resources and capa
bility of the melody, and to p ractice |
till she succeeds in singing the words |
with precisely the same dramatic and |
sensational effects of utterance as
those which she employed when read |
ing. 1t is often difficult to pronounce /
a Understanding word on high note. |
1t often happens that the very word /
most power falls upon the weakest T
A4oAC
consonants must be softened down +
yowels must sometimes be made the +
most of. Sibilants above all, require i
the most dextrous treatment. To sing +
Is but to recite unsteady, and a good .
singer punctuates by taking breath
judfciously. There are passages IN
some ballads where. in order to give
he effect of strong passion, such as
hope, terror. joy, despair, the breath
should come and go in that futtering.
way which in the case of
The real emotion is caused by an ac-
CELEBRATED action of the heart. Or
here may be occasions W hen the
voice seems to fail from emotion, and
where the words are interrupted by
1auses, or broken by repressed sobs.
Effects of this kind give immense
charm to the rendering of pathetic
ballad when. rather than being broad
y expressed, they are skiIlfu1ly indi
lated. In songs very freQuently,-inI
ballads rarely-it happens that a
Terse is repeated unchanged. some
ines in both words or music. Att