The sun., 1908-11-22
TRICKS OF SINGING TEACHERS
OyE WOMAN ADVOCATED BRICKS
ON THE CHEST.


tic Exercises Aids 70 Vocal Train
Ing which Coed Teachers Don't Usc.
,welI known New York teacher of slng-
ing. an Italian. was having his first talk
with new woman pupil.
->,l are great friend of Carusol" she
He admitted that no was. -.
"1L.nrou must tell me something" she
won't on en- Enthusiastically "How many
rirI en- he stand2'
"Rricls?" repeated the professor.
Yes, brioks.' she repeated, How
many bricks can he stand on his chest?',
1t took some minutes to clear up the
mvslary. Then the young woman told OF
p CORNER teacher who to make her mistress
of the secrets Of bel canto had trained her
To do her exercises with a brick on her
chest. That was supposed to compel
her to breathe from the stomach. She had
been told by the teacher that excellence in
singing came from the ability to keep the
muscles of the chest absolu teIy still and
there must be the impression that a
weight rested on them The teacher con-
fded that Nine. Sembrich could support
Singing teachers who endeavor to i'm
press on their pupils the fact that they
alone possess the real secret of imparting
the art have many such tricks. One
woman In Carnegie Hall vowed that she
alone could teach perfect legato to her
pupils. The young women who came to
study with her were put under a pledge
not to reveal the means by which they
acquired this secret of the most difficult
kind of singing. None of them was ever
able to show that she had learned the art
but the strange method Of imparting 1t
finally became public.
The pupil, as she tried to give the sus-
talned drawn out notes that constitute
good legato singing. had to stand in front
Of plate into which there fell steady
flow Of molasses, never broken in to sep
arate drops. The sight of this stream was
supposed to suggest to the pupil visually
the necessary kind of sustained tone. OF
course 1t did nothing of the kind, as a
pupil who did not have sense enough to
learn what legato singing was without
the necessity Of seeing 1t visuaily suggested
as we'll could never achieve it.
Another deep secret was that possessed
by a woman who asserted that she was
able to overcome with few lessons
the difficulty that pupils often have with
their tongues. That deep secret was
also not to be revealed; but it turned out
after while that all she did was to stand
for several lessons in front of her pupil
and hold a spoon over the pupils
tongue to keep it in the place it should
stay. After few lessons the pupil was
falsely told that the spoon had been
inserted in, her mouth. r.'.
"i had to give up my teacher" said
Z young man who came to well known
instructor the othe. day. because /
couldn't L. eep on practising the way he
10 me | must IL ever wanted TO learn
,.nything. l was to put a siphon in my
mouth in order to have the lower jaw open
lower than / had been able to make it,
was to hang The siphon on my lower
,aw and let it stay while practised.
red it sew raj times. and then as my
erm was coming to an end I decided
to try somebody else.
If a man had not sense enough TO open
AIS jaw aaeit should be without the ne
cessity OF hanging a siphon on it there
was Of course nothing for him to learn.
lhere are many similar mechanical de-
vices % take the place Of what the singer
should be- able TO accomplish through
teacher used to sell for few dollars
was a small bit OF wood which was to be
placed between the teeth and cost about
five cents to make. 1t was a simple
cube OF wood, and held between the back
teeth it opened the mouth in what the
teacher described as the only possible
way to sing correctly
The most elaborate mechanical ap-
paratus ever saw said a teacher who
uses none of these things, was kind OF
suit Of armor into which singer was sup
posed to slip. 1t held the body rigidly
in place just as the teacher thought It
ought to be. Those parts of the body
which needed TO be supported were held
UP by the apparatus, while other parts
that were to be at ease were not so held.
on course such en- affair did not give the
pupil the least real assistance, although
It was contrfved on the principle Of the
spoon which is meant to have its effect
moved. The pupil was supposed to re-
main unoonsciously in these poses after |
the sheath had been removed.
1T was In order to accomplish some |
thing marvellous in training O singers |
breathing that q very laborious practice |
was followed by teacher. She used
TO put contrivance not unlike pair |
these was a chain. fhis was drawn SO
tight that II was all but impossible for |
the pupil TO breathe from the waist. al |
though this Is a practice which most |
teachers encourage. This particular |
pedagogue. however. did not believe in |
1t and when she felt the least inclination |
on the part Of her pupils to breathe in that |
way she pulled the chain 80 taut that |
they could not draw a breath except from |
the upper body. Only the women with |
strength enough to resist such heroic |
treatment survived her method. The !
pupils able to come through 1t with sue
cess decreased 30 in numbers that at the |
last hearing the teacher was on the point |
OF discontinuing this way Of imparting |
bel canto to her pupils"
I'm SO tired after / take my lessons
said young girl who had just come
rom her teacher the other day and
had stopped to take tea with a woman
who had experience as a singer. Every
hone in my body aches and after the
last lesson | was black and blue. l don't
mink III ever learn to sing il have to
don't this way. ] had no idea what had
!" do 10 cultivate my voice.
She was too tired TO explain just then
nut after the tea had refreshed her she
gave an account Of the lesson Of the day.
FIRST ! went through some scales,
she said, and then had to go to the
dr'Ssng room, take of most OF my clothes
ana put on a flannel wrapper. Then
mad 10 get down on the floor of the
sun" and roll from one end TO the other.
ineh without getting up / had to roll
,,hacH dgdln 10 the other end of the room. |
nat ms has TO do with learning to sing