Fundamentals of voice training

Front matter

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THE POCKET MUSIC STUDENT

- fae POCKET MUSIC STUDENT

Preface

“The lost art, the subtle art of listening.”’—Wi1tt1Am BuTLer YEATs. cei

The terms “easy” and “difficult” are relative. What is easy for one may be difficult for another. What is simple to one may seem hopelessly involved to another. The fact remains the same but mentalities differ. In the absolute sense there is no such thing as “difhcult”

However, some ways of stating a proposition are better than others. Words, like melodies, should run on the line of the least resistance, that the least mental effort may be required to grasp their meaning.

Voice training is a subject which, if one is not clear on fundamental principles, easily lends itself to an intricate, involved, and oftentimes mysterious style of utterance. But such a style indicates that one is still skirmishing and is not clear on his point of attack.

After a long period of years of constant study of the voice, and experience in working out difficult vocal problems, the principles underlying the correct use of the voice seem perfectly clear and I have so tried to present them in the following pages. In doing this I have had in mind vocal students, those who are earnestly trying to get at the truth which shall make them free. The fundamentals emphasized in this little book are learning how to think, and how to listen; in other words, getting the right idea, and the right conditions of the vocal instrument. These simple statements contain all the law and the prophets on this subject. Right thinking always produces satisfactory results and a happy and peaceful state of mind. This in itself should satisfy the most exacting.

Contents

“A perfect voice speaks so directly to the soul of the hearer that all appearance of artfully prepared effect is absent.”"—Davw C. Taytor, Psychology of Singing.