Chapter VI: Cuneus Cuneum Trudit

"_Art! who can say that he fathoms it! Who is there capable of
discussing the nature of this great goddess?_" =Beethoven=.

"_Whatever the relations of music, it will never cease to be the
noblest and purest of arts_." =Wagner=.

VI.

"CUNEUS CUNEUM TRUDIT."

VOCAL TONE.

All vocal tone used in singing when produced at the vocal bands is small and probably always about alike. The tone which we hear is "colored", "re-inforced" etc., on the way from the vocal bands to the outer air. In order that the tone shall carry well and be heard in purity throughout a hall, the initial tone must be added to. This is done by its reverberation in cavities where there is confined air. By confined, is meant, air which is not being greatly disturbed. There are four such cavities, or chambers, in connection with the production of voice. The chest, the ventricles, the inner mouth and the nose. To have the tone resonant the air in these chambers must be held in confinement. The way they can be utilized is best illustrated by the drum. A blow on the drum-head sets the air in the drum into vibration and that air re-inforces the tone caused by the original blow. Tone made by the vocal bands is re-inforced by vibration in the chambers of the body, and the connection of these chambers with the outer air sets into vibration the air of the room.

Something might be said about the thickness of clothing to be worn over the chest while singing. It is certain that thick woolens worn during singing, absorb much of the vibration of the tone and lessen the amount of voice. Tone comes from the whole body and chiefly from the chambers in which air is confined. Our singing tone does not come out of the mouth alone. It comes from shoulders, back and chest without going near the mouth.

The stillness with which the air is held in the chambers of vibration has much influence upon the volume of tone, and upon the quality. Just now we will consider the chamber within the mouth. The space between the back of the throat (as seen in a mirror) and the teeth is this chamber. The air in this must be held as still as it can be. The practical way of doing it, and the way of telling pupils how to use themselves so that they can do it, tax the ingenuity of the teacher. A picture, or an image, is the best way perhaps. The air in the mouth should be like the water of a still lake. Into it, at one end, a gentle stream may flow. It does not disturb the lake. It causes a ripple where it enters. It may raise the elevation of the water in the lake, and the superfluous water may flow off at the other end of the lake. Now, suppose a mountain stream comes rushing into the lake. It stirs everything up, and rushes out at the outlet in the same rough way. In the still chamber of air in the mouth there must be no "mountain streams." The quiet lake must be imitated. A little air, which has been vibrated at the vocal bands may enter it, and not disturb it. That initial tone, always a quiet one, will be re-inforced by vibration in the mouth and will issue forth large and round. The amplitude of vibration will determine its volume. The shape and size of the cavity of reverberation can constantly and instantly change and by such change the tone can be regulated.

The chamber of still air cannot be utilized unless the organs of respiration are working correctly and strongly. A forceful blast of air sent through the mouth will dissipate all vibrating waves. It is useless to try to the initial tone until after the diaphragm is in good working order. When that is all right then employ the re-inforcing chamber in the way given above and resonance of tone will be obtained. It is by so using the respiratory column and re-inforcing the tone made by the vocal bands that a person can be made a good vocalist in a few weeks. It is not necessary to take years to cultivate the voice. (It _is_ to make a good singer.) From five to eight weeks, if the student does right, will perfectly cultivate a voice.

TRUE ART IS DELICATE.

All true art is delicate. Music is the most delicate of all arts. Music is expressed through thought and emotion. In this, music has much the advantage over sister arts. The sculptor can chisel his thoughts into marble, and there they can imperishably remain. To what small extent can he express human emotion! The painter also places his thought on canvas. As his art is more easily within his grasp, to change at will, he is enabled more fully to express emotion than is the sculptor. His finished work remains. While at work upon it he may change here and there to suit himself. That line and that shade of color, if not satisfactory, can be changed. Not so in music. At one stroke--in one tone even--the musician must express his emotion--and that expression, once uttered, is all that he can use of his art. It is a delicate thing and requires sure thought, complete mastery of emotion, and perfect ability in execution. Each and every stroke must be perfect.

Voice culture is the preparation of the body and its expression--voice--for use in this delicate art. Voice culture is that through which we approach art. It cannot be roughly handled. If art is to be delicately used, it must be delicately approached. He whose vocal practice is forceful and rough will never know the delicacy of true art. He may become a vocalist after whom the ignorant public will clamor, but he can never be an artist. Seek the delicacy of true art, or decide to be forever a rough mechanic. One may hew wood or quarry rocks, or he may be a worker among jewels and precious stones. It is a time to say "Decide this day which you will serve." The two masters do not belong to the same firm and both cannot be served at the same time.

WORDS AND TONE SHOULD AGREE.

While singing, words and tone should agree. What does that mean, asks one. It can be well stated when we consider how they do not agree. If one sings "Sing ye aloud, with gladness," with a sombre tone the words and tone belie each other. This result invariably follows the attempt to cultivate the voice on vowels only, or on one single vowel. He who watches tone while cultivating his voice reaches this result. We express our thought while singing in words. Words are made by the organs of speech, the chief of which are the tongue and lips. The tone receives its expression from the pharyngeal cavity. If tone and words agree, the tongue, lips and pharynx will work harmoniously in accord. It is when one or the other does not work correctly that one belies the other.

Training of the organs of speech has been written upon so extensively that for now more need not be said. Suffice it to say, that the organs of speech can be trained upon a few enunciatory syllables in a short time, so that every word can be distinctly understood. There is no excuse whatever for our singers remaining so indistinct in their singing. The way of getting the tone to agree with the words, is what may be considered now. As said above, tone is regulated, so far as quality goes, in the pharynx. That organ can be put into working order and kept so through the expression of the face. The same thought is expressed on the throat which is expressed on the face. The same set of nerves operates the two organs. To show what is meant, recall that if you hear someone utter a cry, you know from its sound whether it is a cry of fright, of happiness, of fear, of greeting, of anger, or whatever it may be. The position and shape of the pharynx has made the cry what it is. One standing near the person would see on his face the look which corresponds with the cry uttered. In this case the word and the tone correspond. It is not easy to reach the pharynx for voice culture, except through the face. It can be reached in that way. The tone for general use in voice culture should be the bright one. Then the expression during vocal practice should be a bright one. All vocal exercises should be, on this account, practised with the face pleasant and expressing happiness. This fact led many teachers, years ago, to have their pupils smile while singing. It led to most ludicrous results. The teachers said, "Draw back the corners of the mouth, as if smiling." Very well. That may be good, but it has no particular beneficial influence on the pharynx, or upon the tone produced. The mouth is not the seat of expression in the face. Not that there is no expression to the mouth, but its changes are limited. The eyes are much more thoroughly the seat of expression, and through them the pharynx can be reached. Let the eyes smile. Let the whole face take position as if one saw something irresistibly funny, at which he must laugh. Practice with the eyes in this way will brighten the whole voice. It will relieve strain upon all the facial muscles and will render the organs of speech more pliable, too. Having obtained such control of the eyes that one expression can be placed in them, the student can attempt other desirable expressions. He will find that whatever is used in and about the eyes will affect the kind and quality of tone. He may arouse his interest in some particular thought and hold that in mind as he sings; the voice will then have warmth of tone and will readily receive meanings. He may express varying degrees of surprise in the face and he will find varying degrees, to correspond, of fulness and roundness go into the voice. The use of expression in the face as a means of giving character and quality to tone opens a field of experiment and experience which will lead any teacher to practical and beneficial result. It is not a new idea. Salvini, the great actor, has given some very useful thought on that subject. Little of such instruction, important as it is, has gone into print. Yet it is so important.

PREPARATION FOR TEACHING.

There are many who become teachers of singing without knowing what they are doing. No one who wishes to enter the profession should be kept out of it. There is room in it for many times the number engaged. It is to be earnestly recommended, however, that he who intends to become a teacher should decide beforehand what kind of work he intends to do, and after he has begun, he should bend his energy to make that branch successful. There are, at least, three distinct specialties of the singing teacher. First, rudimental music; second, voice culture; third, artistic singing. He who thinks he can excel in all has very great confidence in his own ability. Perhaps most of those who become teachers have no adequate knowledge of what the profession is, but enter into it for the purpose of making a living. After becoming a teacher he discovers that something is wrong, and the last person whom he thinks wrong is himself. Probably he has never decided on a specialty and properly prepared himself for that. Thus we see men who know something about music, teaching singing. They know nothing of practical voice culture, but attempt to teach singing. They ruin voices and wreck their own happiness. The first duty of a singing teacher is to study enough of anatomy and physiology to enable him to know exactly what parts of the body enter into voice culture, where they are and how they work. The dentist makes his specialty, filling teeth. But he would not be given his diploma if he did not know anatomy. His course in the medical college is the same as that of the physician. It differs in degree, but not in kind. Such should be the education, to a certain extent, of the vocal teacher. This education cannot be had from any books now published. Plain anatomy can be given in books, but the student should also see the parts described in the subject. He should then examine, so far as may be, the action of these parts in the living body. He must then make his own deductions. It may seem strange that that is necessary, but such is the subtlety of voice culture, that hardly two theorists agree in their deductions. Until some recognized body of men decides on definite things in voice culture, reducing one's theoretical study to practical uses must stand.

As important as such study, too, is the preparation of the artist mind. One can teach voice culture mechanically and obtain good result, but be very deficient in the art of music. It is often said that "Artists are born, not made." That is a mistake. No man was ever an artist by birth. Some men may be more appreciative of beauty than others but all men have enough within them to serve as the basis of artistic education. That education should be carried to a considerable distance before teaching is commenced. Almost as soon as the voice is capable of making any tone, music must be put into study. Appreciation of music itself as an art, must be a part of the good teacher's preparation. Knowledge of greater and better music comes from that appreciation with the years of experience in teaching. If the artist mind has not begun to assert itself before business is attempted, business will be likely to absorb the teacher, and he stands the chance of never being an artist. One who combines scientific knowledge of voice culture and an understanding of the art of music is well equipped for entering the profession of teaching vocal music. Only such should enter it. With that as foundation, the experience of each year will make him a better teacher. Without that as foundation he will probably remain, vocally and musically, about where he was when he began. Financial success may come, but musical success never can.

EXPERIENCE.

A very good reason, but one which individuals can attend to, why we have so few artists among singers, is that so few take time to gain experience. There must be many appearances before audiences before the _amateurishness_ is worn off. Singers often think, when they hear a noted singer, that they could do just as well as that and perhaps better, and yet they cannot get professional engagements. It may all be true, that they can do just as well as the artist, but in appearance and self-command they may be deficient. Experience cannot come in a day or a season. If it could what a crowd of singers would become noted. It takes much time--years of time. One cannot safely feel that he has had experience enough to place himself among the professional singers until he has appeared at least fifty times. How many of our readers have done that? Many visit the large cities and seek engagements who have great talent and have the probability of complete success in them, but who have had so little proper experience that their first appearance in the large city, would be a failure. Managers of experience perceive this state of affairs and refuse to give engagements on that account. Gain that appearance necessary to the artist by singing before public audiences everywhere, at church festivals, benefit concerts, parlor receptions, college recitals, anywhere where an audience can be entertained. Study your influence over your audience and learn how to so express your art in your voice and singing that your audiences are your subjects. Concert after concert must pass before you know your own power in song. Year after year will go bye, before it is safe to approach the critical audiences of large cities.

BEFORE AN AUDIENCE.

When singing before an audience in a hall, do not look on the music. A glance at it may be made from time to time but keep the eyes off. A singer appears very ridiculous if he looks on the page. A song is a story told by the singer in the singing voice. It is not a lesson read from a book. The story cannot be well told if the singer has only half learned it. If he is confined to his notes he attracts attention to himself and that spoils art and the artist. It is best to learn by rote the music to be sung, and when it can be done, to leave the music in some place out of the hands. If it must be carried, have it as much out of the way as possible. A singer of much fame, spoiled his evening's work recently by fixing his eyes on his music all the time while singing. This may have been an exceptional evening, but if he does that all the time, he is no artist, in spite of his repute, and ought not to receive engagements even if he has a fine bass voice.

COME UP HIGHER.

The man makes the musician as does the musician make the man. The rules of life which make men better make the musician better. There is a constant call in life to "Come up higher!" He who has lost the sound of that call is at a standstill, or rather, since there can be no stopping, he is sinking from the place once gained. Get within the sound of that call and heed it. There are no heights so great, but that they form the base to heights beyond. Music is so rich and full that no man can understand it all and no man has reached the highest place in it. The call ever sounds "Come up higher!" Music fills all which contains life, and uses all materials for its transmittance. The air, a subtle ether, is filled with a still finer ether, on which sound travels. That ether is filled with vibration. It is ever present. The connection with it can be made at any moment and the musical thought can be sent off into unlimited space, to influence all within that space. To be able to use this at its best the thought which is musical must be raised to divine thought. The possibilities in that are boundless.

Musicians cannot stop. The year may roll around and one may feel himself doing a great and good work, doing a work which seems to be well rounded; a work which leaves the musician, as the end of a season rolls around, exhausted from labor, and ready to say that the end of his work is reached, that he has gone to his greatest height. Not so, however. Next year is a height to be ascended, and that of the present moment is but the base of that greater height. Music calls "Come up higher."

CRUDE VOICES EXPRESS NO EMOTION.

An untrained voice can never have correct emotion expressed in it. The voice responds as truly to the thought which passes in the mind as does the leaf bend before the breeze. The singing voice is an extension of the speaking voice, and since nature planned only for speaking purposes, in order to have the organs which produce voice in proper condition for singing, there must be that degree of physical drill which makes the vocal apparatus able to convey in proper pitch and quality, the thought of the mind. The untrained voice will not do this. The throat becomes rigid, the pharynx strained and in-elastic. Emotion cannot be expressed when the vocal apparatus is thus held. One may have a beautiful natural voice and he may arouse the enthusiasm of certain of his hearers, but he cannot, without careful training do a tithe of what he is able to do. That is sufficient reason for teachers to urge all who sing at all to place themselves under the best of tuition. All who talk pleasantly have the power to sing. The exceptions to the rule are so few that they amount to but a very small percentage. But all who do sing, if they would rightly use their gift should train themselves to do whatever they do, well.