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MUSIC 



was compelled to press more than he could do without upsetting the 

 breath control. This caused a puff, which was considered a disaster. 

 Under this system it was found that that was the right note which 

 produced the most sound with the least breath. Scientifically they 

 were right, for they produced a greater result with less means. 



The student, in trying to sing a note, frequently forgets his breath 

 control, and this will bring home to him the truth of the old saying, 

 " The art of singing is the school of respiration." 



The looseness of the neck and unconscious feeling about the throat 

 during singing caused the old singers to boast that the Italian singer 

 has no throat. They might have added no jaw and no tongue. 



Then a note may be described as placed if it speaks to the breath 

 we are able to control, if it can be produced in the very centre of 

 the sound intended, if it leaves in freedom the pronunciation and the 

 expression. 



The essence of the teaching of the old Masters is contained in the 

 axiom : " Every note of .the voice should be produced by a column of 

 air over which the singer should have perfect control." 



The attack of the note (that is to say, the art of starting a sound 

 with frankness in the very centre of the pitch intended) has always 

 been regarded as a great test of good singing. The many scoopings up 

 to, or " seeking or feeling for the note," are, of course, a sign of bad 

 production. 



The accomplishment of what is known as " legato singing," namely, 

 that joining of the notes which yet must at the same time all be 

 " clean cut out," was looked upon by the old Masters as another of 

 the great signs of good singing. They said, " He who cannot join 

 cannot sing." All the notes of a passage on the same vowel should be 

 " like pearls on a string," and the string supporting them is the right 

 control of the breath. 



Those who have mastered breath control and freedom of the throat 

 and tongue are now in a position to add tone to the voice through 

 the loose, unrestrained condition of the space behind the tongue and 

 the nasal cavities. The throat in its normal state and when we are 

 asleep is wide open, and only bad singing interferes with this. For 

 some vowels the throat space undoubtedly has temporarily to be some- 

 what contracted, and possibly as we sing higher there may be a cor- 

 responding modification of the throat space. But all these changes are 

 unconscious, and the contortions of the bad singer render these nat- 

 ural conditions impossible, just as the unconstrained throat of the 

 good singer leaves nature free to utter her loveliest tones. 



With the throat wide open, the vowel sound which is emitted is 

 ah. This pure ah was the goal towards which the Italian singers 

 never ceased to advance, as affording the greatest test of tone and 

 facility of pronunciation. 



