The San Francisco call., 1913-07-27

, than one with perfect voice and yet
poor appearance and an inability to
act. But the phonograph eliminates
all the externals and the singer must
be judged by his voice alone. You
| cannot see him; there is no scenery,
no atmosphere, none of the hypnotism
of the crowd. 1t is the acid test OF q
singer. Many great singer hearing
| for the first time has discovered de-
| fects that he had never before sus-
| pected One hears ones own voice
| differently from the way other people
hear it, and 1t is essential for any
singer to know how his voice sounds
| to his audience"
! When voice or passage of music
is sung before phonograph its modu-
lations received upon the diaphragm
are written by the needle point upon
the surface of the disc in series OF
fine waving or zigzagging lines OF in
finitely varying depth and breadth.
| Close familiarity with such records
for about forty years has taught Mr..
Edison the precise meaning of each
slightest variation in the lines. BY
examining them under the microscope
he can analyze each tone with mathe-
matical accuracy and can almost hear
/ it. just as musieiaE reading the
score of a song can most hear the
notes.
by examining the records 81 singers
here In the laboratory. looking them
over under microscope" continued
Mr.. Edison, 81 can count the oyertones
| in voice. 1t is on the over;ones that
| the richness of voice depends. Ous
| greatest singers have Wonderful over
! tones. have counted as many as nine
| in famous tenor's yoi~e As a voice
] spoils, either through abuse or bad
teaching. these overtones wear off and
the voice loses its beauty II I had a
right to mention names could show
! you the records of some of the most
celebrated singers In the world, records
taken at intervals of year or two,
and demonstrate mathematicaly the
deterioration of their voices through
singing too often in vast opera houses.
But obviously have no right to men
tion names"
| In the course of the conversation Mr..
Edison forgot himself more than once
and illustrated a point by citing the
names OF famous singers. but it was
unintentional and | have no right to
betray him, though this article would
be far more interesting If | did!
Many singing teachers take their
| pupils to Mr.. Edison at the West
Orange laboratory and have him pass
| In judgment on their voices Many
persons whose friends think they can
/ sing go to him for advice. In conse-
quence he has some weird experiences.
Let me show you what | call th4
zero of singing" he said. absolutely
! the worst attempt I ever heard 1t is
that of young man who lives In a
large town and whose friec,s thought
him second Caruso because he sang
with such expression
The record was 2laceI in the ma
chine and Mr.. Edison stood With a
twinkle in his kindly gray eyes while
/ that fine old song, Drink to Me Oaly
With Thine Eyes" ISSUED forth in q
series of spasms and gasps and bell
| lowings.
THAT young man sings with express
sion," laughed Mr. Edison. "On.y the
expression is fierce."
/; Record followed record, famous
voices being interspersed with those of
unknowns, each illustrating some
beauty or some defect about which the
great inventor was speaking. He
would have stayed all day, probably al,
night, showing off the machine that Is
now his pet, but heads of departments
| began coming in for instructions or
| with documents to be signed, and as
| did not want to bring the whole Edi-
son laboratory to a standstill tore
myself away. AS he said goodby. he
added, shaking his finger at me:
mo names. now: no names!"