Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-28

| school of respiration" If sing a bad
note what happens? The throat is
| closed by the tongue being drawn back
and hunched up; the jaw is fixed; you
cannot sing a right "Ah" at all; the
high notes are felt hooting, as it were
/ on the forehead, and the breath is felt
! pressing outward, unlike the warming
| sensation, as Of breathing on the fin
| ger, before referred to.
How does the rightly produced note
feel? The sound is emitted in fullness
exactly on the pitch intended; there is
no 'scoOping," no 'fogginess,'' no 'cob-
webs" no sensation of the existence OF
a throat, or of a tongue, or lips, or face
If a good note leaves the face undis-
turbed, would it not be we'll to sing be-
fore a lOOking-glass and watch if the
eye becomes fixed or the natural ex-
preston distorted?
Certainly, it is a good way to prac-
tice, but we must always endeavor to
start the note in the very center.
Why is this proof of excellence
One never perceives that the student
makes the mistake Of starting the note
higher than was intended, so that he
scoops down to it. The fact suggests
that he does not err by commencing
the note too small, but that the SCOOP
Ing up is the sign that he commenced a
bigger note than he should have done.
The error revealed by its being started
on lower tune, and by it's being then
Scooped up to the note intended.
With a correct emission in the CEN
ter of the note, would it not some
times happen that Notwithstanding my
best endeavor to sing "Ah' I find my
self producing some distortion of the
vowel sound? How could the "Ah''
ever be distorted if the note is rightly
produced, for under this condition the
tongue acts independently and springs
Immediately into the right position,
whether for "Ah" or for any other
vowel.
Would the practice of starting in
the center Of the note produce chest
voice? Certainly, if the chest register
is that natural to the note. If it were
not natural to the voice the medium
register or the head register would
spring into action, according to the
kind of voice possessed by the student.
The result, then, Of singing a note
rightly is that we are compelled to
control the breath or to become breath
less; the note is clear, full, exactly the
tune intended; there is no hesitation in
the pronunciation Of the vowels and
sonants; the facial expression, which
is natural or assumed by the singer, is
conveyed by the sound of the voice. A
badly produced note is either throaty,
nasal, hooting in quality, or silly in ex-
preston.
What is this exercise Of starts? How
shall I practice it? And what range
of voice should use?
If with the same breath staccato
notes are sung with the throat really
as open as is necessary for a pure
"Ah," the act of starting the notes in
the very center of the sound intended
compels right production of the voice
and also compels the student to at
tempt a right control over the breath.
Let each note be accompanied by a
mental endeavor to exceed the previous
one in the sensation Of looseness of
the jaw, tongue and throat.
The above exercise may be succeed =
ed by others, developing gradually an
extension of compass and duration.
according to the taste and discretion
of the student.
Let the student reminder that the
quality of every note must be clear.
full, round and steady; and on this
basis, by preparing the breath noise
lessly and imperceptibly and by com
menclng every note in the very center
of the sound intended he may now
proceed seG to practice a million starts
Rudolph Friml the gifted young Bo-
hemian composer and piano virtuoso
who has been spending the past season