Part 7
--where the question is asked in the same words, but the musical notes express clearly three different sentiments, or degrees of sentiment. This should be taken into consideration by the student; and he should strive to give his recitative with as natural a delivery as he can, placing himself mentally in the position of a dramatic reciter.
Steadiness of tone, clearness of enunciating consonants, and full round delivery of vowel-sounds are indispensable to good recitative singing. Every note must be distinct, and not the faintest suspicion of a "slur" or _portamento_ can be allowed.
Recitative singing is not a thing which a student should try to teach himself, as he may not only waste his time, but gain notions which are erroneous and difficult to cure. For instance, take the recitatives in "_The Messiah_," as these are printed for the British public. Nothing could be more ludicrous than for a singer to appear in public and sing the recitatives faithfully as printed in the editions of this oratorio which are continually being disseminated throughout the land. Handel, let it be borne in mind, was _not_ well acquainted with the English language; and though he may have written good music, he was often very far from reaching good literary sense. Thus, as regards this latter, this specimen passage occurs in Handel's "_Acis and Galatea_,"
[Music:
Where shall I seek the charm-ing fair?]
Yet no one in his senses would think of rendering it other than
[Music:
Where shall I seek the charm-ing fair?]
inasmuch as there is some doubt of the chord 6/4 which forms the grace note being Handel's music, and because the sense of the words demands that no break shall be made between the words _seek_ and _the_. As Handel failed in his English, it is surely allowable to make good his deficiencies in this respect.
The following paragraphs relate to certain minor details of style in singing, and apply to singing of every kind. They must be taken in conjunction with much that has already been said under the head of "Practice."
=Slurring.=--Slurring up to a note is a very disagreeable and common evil to be guarded against. It matters not how far distant the note to be sung may be from the preceding tone; it should be attacked fearlessly and cheerfully, but _with an open throat_. The note to be attacked must not be prepared in the throat. The course should be this. The tone of the preceding note must not be moved, but the one required--say a very high one--must be obtained by the joint process of lowering the larynx, of sounding the note from exactly the same spot as the lower note, in a soft but fine tone, and thirdly, by getting such a ring in the note as it can only have in conjunction with the feeling that while the root or foundation of the note is in the chest, yet it owes much of its penetrating character and power to a sort of reflecting power which is given it from the extreme end of the spine bone, where it joins the head. Certainly no high note is properly _produced_, nor to be relied upon for a _crescendo_, unless the student has this feeling that it springs from the back of the neck; and, in rising to an upper note, the aim should be not at length to approach the upper note from beneath, as it were, but to "come down" upon it--to strike it from _above_ instead of from below.
=Sentiment.=--Always try to convey the sentiment of what you may be singing through the tone of the voice. Love and anger cannot both be expressed with the same quality of voice. For the former, a delicate light tone well on the lips is desirable, while for the latter the voice should be produced lower in the stomach; yet the tone should still be kept on the lips; its character should be "darker," more round, and sonorous. "'_Tis this that racks my brain_": such words as these should never be sung in the same character of voice as "_Waft her, angels, to the skies_." It is good practice to take any piece and sing the melody on an open vowel throughout, with the object of showing the meaning of the song without the aid of words. Then, when this can be done, the words may be employed, and the result will be doubly happy.
=Decision.=--Indecision is a very serious fault in singing. Do well and thoroughly whatever you decide upon attempting. If you have a _staccato_ passage to sing, render it firmly in that style; if you have one that is _legato_, take care that this character is _strongly_ seen from your rendering. When you "slur," make it strong enough to be felt. If you bend as it were from one note to another, let your intention to do so be clearly apparent. Let a _forte_ passage be loud, and let a _piano_ one be really soft. Any half measures in singing are fatal. Precision and certainty are qualities which the student must always aim at attaining. Without them, singing becomes tame and unattractive, not to say tiresome.
=Imitation.=--Imitation, which in many other arts becomes plagiary, in singing is most desirable; for singing, more than any other art, rests on tradition; there is even very little doubt that the peculiar charm and quality of a true tenor voice (for instance) is more due to imitation in a singer than to nature; that is to say, that it is the result of a transmitted culture--such imitation being the only means in which singers can reap the harvest of the experience of the great singers now to be heard no more, who have left their imitators to pass on to others what they themselves obtained by imitating and improving on _their_ predecessors. Therefore do not be afraid of being set down as a mere copyist, if you study and attempt to imitate the style of the best living singers. You will always have enough of your own merit or defect to distinguish your performance, if you are really a conscientious student, and you may learn a great deal by listening to the best public singers which can be taught you in no other way. Watch their stage deportment; their treatment of the weaker parts of their voices; their method of breathing; their manner towards the public;--in fact, every point which occurs to you,--and make some use of what you see and hear in your own studies.
=Public Singing.=--If you have to sing in public, remember always to take a rapid but searching glance round your stage. This is a great point gained. As you step on to "the boards," notice (unobserved) the dimensions of the stage (if it happens to be new to you). Note the height of its ceiling, its surroundings, its draperies, its distance from your farthest auditor; then take up your position accordingly--bearing in mind that all your tone is wanted by your listeners, which requirement can never be met unless you yourself take the precaution to prevent the sound being held or carried back by the stage decorations. In a concert _salon_ or theatre, then, do not forget to get well to the front of the platform. At the same time you must not be _too_ close upon your stall occupants, or you may give them the very undesirable impression that at any moment you may fall over.
="Holding" an Audience.=--The singer should carefully watch an audience so as to gauge its attention and sympathies. If it seems impatient, restless, and indifferent, the singer may be quite sure that he or she is exciting no interest. The best course then for one to do is to immediately change the style, alter the tone, give forth his or her best energies, and use every effort to become ingratiated into the good favour of the listeners. If such effects as these fail constantly in their turn, then the aspirant for vocal fame should give up, and devote both time and attention to further study, or to some other means of a livelihood; for a future great singer will not be failing constantly, and to be only a second-rate singer while there are so many is a thing _not_ to be devoutly desired.
=Mistakes in Public.=--If you make a mistake in singing, do not add to the mischief by allowing it to alarm or disconcert you. Proceed onward as if nothing had happened. You may be quite sure that each one of your audience will not have detected the slip, for they cannot _all_ be critics. But bear in mind that such confidence as your adviser here suggests is not to be too often called into requisition. No great artist will ever make a serious mistake in public. How much more careful then should the young student be!
ON TIME IN SINGING.
I need perhaps scarcely remind my readers who are or who wish to be singers that _time_ concerns them quite as much as the conductor, the pianist, the violinist--in short, the whole orchestra. It behoves the student in singing to give early and careful attention to this important feature in his artistic training. You may have the voice of a Rubini, you may be a second Tamburini in quality and extent of voice, but unless you can sing in time yourself, and are able to do so with others, and with the counter-acting influences of an orchestra, you can never hope to rise in your profession. It may be argued that you have no desire to lay yourself out for a career on the lyric stage. Then, however, you shut yourself out from some of the largest prizes in the profession; beyond which there comes the question of oratorio business, and the growing taste for band accompaniments to songs. And if you restrict your ambition to a pianoforte accompaniment, time is needed even with that in order to produce anything like a satisfactory rendering of the piece you may be singing. The accompanyist may be a Sir Julius Benedict, or a Signor Randegger (than whom there is no better in this country, so neglected has this species of musical art-work become); but a perfect rendering depends not so much upon the pianist as the vocalist. If the singer flounders about with neither "rhyme nor reason," it is scarcely reasonable to expect the accompanyist, clever as he may be, to be always at his heels, like a cat after a mouse. I would therefore advise the student to invest his money in a Metronome--the most useful thing with which he could provide himself. They are not dear, bearing in mind their utility, and one will, I am sure, save the student much time and many a _fiasco_. Learn the working of this useful machine, and practise all your exercises with it. If you go to a good singing master, you should ask him to time your exercises to the pace at which you should sing them, and in this way you will not only be growing in a good habit, but your singing will be characterized by a crispness and a certainty of attack, which will be apparent to all musicians and amateurs with good taste. Your singing master will, no doubt, impress upon you the necessity of singing your songs in time, and especially of slightly accenting the first and third beats in the bar if it is common time, the first and fourth beats when it is compound common or 6/8 time, and the first beat when it is triple or 3/4 time. In this way there will be meaning given to your singing, and those who may be accompanying you will be able to feel where you are, and to keep time with you. In singing a passage like this from Cowen's charming song "Aubade,"--the master, if he knew his business, would instruct his pupil to slightly accent the words as I have indicated with the mark =V=, and to preserve _strict_ time throughout the passage, and especially in the taking up of the words after the long note on the word _sleep_. The accompanyist would, we may assume, do likewise with his pianoforte part, and in this way a perfect _ensemble_ would be secured.
[Music:
Sleep, love, sleep, the morn is wak - - ing,]
With this brief introduction to the subject, I will proceed to give the student a few exercises in keeping and beating time, the assiduous practice of which will, I hope, soon place him in the desirable position of being able to sing in time.
[Music: Ex. 1.
Four beats in a bar.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol
La Si Do Do Si
La Sol Fa Mi Re Do]
[Music: Ex. 2.
Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 3.
Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 4.
Do Do Do Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 5.
Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 6.
Do Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 7.
Do Do Do Re Re Re Mi Mi Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 8.
Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 9.
Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 10.
Do Do Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Re Re &c.]
[Music: Ex. 11.
Do Do Do Do Re Re Re Re Mi &c.]
These exercises may be timed as slow as you like on your metronome--the slower the better--but 76 is a good pace to begin with; when you have thoroughly mastered them at 76, take them a little quicker until you can sing them accurately up to a good brisk time.
No 1 has but one note in the bar, and this must be held on steadily for four beats of the metronome--care being taken to leave each note in sufficient time to take a fresh breath, and attack the second note and syllable in precise time with the metronome beat. I need, perhaps, scarcely point out that much good will be obtained if the student can accustom himself to _feeling_ in his mind the rhythm and beating, so as not to acquire the habit of trusting to mechanical appliances, which are dispensed with at public performances. The sol-fa-ing must be strictly adhered to, and in Exercises 2, 3, etc., it will be seen that the syllable must be sounded twice and four times respectively. With Exercise 5 the dotted note comes in; but I will not stay to explain that, as I assume that my readers will have acquainted themselves with the elements of musical theory before taking up singing. Especial care should be given to Exercise 7, as that is the first step in the difficult matter of syncopation, carried out elaborately in Exercises 8 and 9. With Exercise 11 the question of Rests comes in, but the same remark that I made as to the dotted notes applies here. Everything that it is necessary to know about them should be found in any elementary musical grammar.
Having mastered the above exercises, the reader may take the following with two beats in the bar--taking the precaution to set them at a slow time on the metronome, say 76, not singing them quickly until he is thoroughly acquainted with them.
[Music: Ex. 1. Two beats to a bar.
Do Do Re Re Mi Mi Fa Fa Sol Sol La La Si Si Do Do Do Si Si La La Sol Sol Fa Fa Mi Mi Re Re Do]
[Music: Ex. 2.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do Do Do Si Si &c.]
[Music: Ex. 3.]
[Music: Ex. 4.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 5.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 6.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 7.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol &c.]
[Music: Ex. 8.]
After which he may take the following with three beats in the bar:--
[Music: Ex. 1.
Three beats in a bar.
1 2 3 Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 2.
Do Do Do &c.]
[Music: Ex. 3.]
[Music: Ex. 4.]
[Music: Ex. 5.]
[Music: Ex. 6.]
[Music: Ex. 7.]
[Music: Ex. 8.]
[Music: Ex. 9.]
ON THE CHOICE OF MUSIC.
There are, of course, no _rules_ to be given to guide the student in the choice of music, except the general ones, to choose good music, pleasing music, and music suited to his voice and powers. But those general rules touch incidentally on a few points on which it may be well to offer a few remarks.
=Music must suit the Voice.=--Your music must not only be appropriate for your voice in compass, but it must be such as has been written for a voice of your kind. This is a most important thing to remember. Nothing is more provoking to a person of good taste and musical knowledge than to hear songs composed for a voice of one class sung by a voice of a totally different character; and yet this is a vice which even good artists will sometimes weakly succumb to. The popular song of Gounod's, "_Quand tu chantes berçée_," for instance, has been sung to death by many soprani and contralti, in various keys. One would have thought that the words alone would have shown them the utter absurdity of what they were doing; but no, for the sake of producing an effect (upon an audience who naturally supposed that public singers of high standing knew what they were doing, and why they did it), these good ladies committed what I do not scruple to call a vulgar and inartistic blunder. The song is a man's song, and no woman should attempt it.
This fault is one which amateurs are very apt to fall into, and a long list might be made of songs which have suffered this unfair treatment. Soprani sing tenor songs--(I have often, in the early days of the popularity of "_Il Trovatore_," heard a soprano sing "_Ah, che la Morte!_"--tenors, those written for soprano--(_e.g._, I know an amateur tenor whose "crack" song is Iphis' "Farewell" in "_Jephtha_"). Contralti and mezzo-soprani steal bass and barytone songs, as "But who may abide," from the "_Messiah_," and basses and barytones return the compliment by appropriating "What tho' I trace," or "O rest in the Lord.")
There is a reason, quite apart from the question of taste, which renders this practice objectionable. A composer of any skill writes his accompaniment as well as his melody with reference to the voice which he wishes to sing it. Now, if that voice be--we will say--a soprano, the accompaniment will be written for a voice of that _pitch_, as well as of that character and compass; the progressions of harmony will be written with due regard to the actual place of the vocal notes in the scale. But directly the song is sung by a tenor--a voice which pitches every note an octave lower than the soprano--the relation of the vocal notes to the accompaniment is changed; notes that were intended to be fourths above the accompaniment will become fifths below, and progressions which were correct in the composer's intention become wrong in the effect produced by the singer. That is an extreme case, I grant, but it is only a fair instance of the sort of result which follows on such changes, and it is sufficient to show that the rule rests on reason and not caprice.
"=Original Keys.="--Do not bind yourself, as some think it necessary to do, always to sing your songs in the original keys. Remember that opera and oratorio music, and a large number of modern "ballads," were composed for performance in large buildings, theatres, and concert-rooms. The keys, therefore, were chosen with due reference to that fact, and to the (in many cases) exceptional voices of the singers. The raising of the pitch in later years also affects the question.
Now, if you have to sing in a drawing-room, the pitch, volume of tone, and style of delivery must be appropriate to chamber music, and not to the stage of Covent Garden, and the keys which are necessary for due brilliancy and effect in a concert-room are frequently unsuited to a drawing-room, giving an appearance of strain and noisiness to the singing. A good deal of opera music is as unfit for singing in a drawing-room as would be a grand symphony for performance there; and an artistic singer should bear in mind this principle of fitness in his selection.
At the same time, if it is considered desirable to transpose a song, let it be only for that reason, and let the aim be to produce the same effect, _relatively_, in the drawing-room, as the song in its original key is intended to produce in the concert-room. Do not transpose recklessly, merely to "suit your voice:" if you are a barytone, for instance, do not sing tenor songs a few notes lower; or, if you are a soprano, do not transpose contralto songs to suit your register. For the _character_ of the music (if the music is good) suits the voice for which it was intended, and there is a risk of destroying that character by giving it to a voice of another kind. This has been proved over and over again on the stage in several notable instances.
=Execution.=--Do not be too ambitious in selecting florid songs for performance either in public or private. "Fireworks" in a drawing-room rarely please, while in a concert-room they must be very perfect and first-rate in execution to do so. Of course, if you are a professional artist you must include such work in your studies, and even for the amateur the practice of florid music, under a master, is most desirable as an exercise. But where the choice of a song for a concert rests with yourself, sacrifice ambition to prudence, unless your voice is naturally a very flexible one, and your training in that style of music very complete. I give, on this subject, a quotation from an old and experienced writer on music and singing:
"Execution is certainly one of the most difficult parts of musical science. Young singers are desirous of attaining it without reflecting whether, from the formation of the throat and various physical causes, they may ever be able to accomplish their wishes. Few, indeed, possess the power of execution in a pre-eminent degree. It is in part a gift of nature: those who have ever delighted as well as astonished us by their rapid manner of running through divisions must have been naturally endowed with flexible organs.
"... Some voices may be compared to gems which in their original state are dull, and, to those unacquainted with their worth, of no value.... It frequently happens that singers, from timidity or want of proper knowledge in exercising their voices, remain ignorant of their own qualifications. The hinges of a door which have continued for years undisturbed, will, when the door is re-opened, grate harshly on the ear; but every effort renders the harshness more tolerable, until, from frequent use, they move easily. Thus it is with the voice: on the flexibility of the _uvula_ and the muscles connected with it depend both the perfectibility of the shake and execution. But still it must be acknowledged that acquired execution should never be exercised by the side of nature otherwise than sparingly, even where necessity requires it, for the latter possesses an easy velocity which can playfully sport with its subject at will; but, however gratifying the power of execution may be considered by those who possess it, I recommend them not to be indiscriminately lavish, lest they cloy by too great a profusion, and, as Voltaire remarks, 'shine in trills and divisions, at the expense of poetry and good sense.'"
=Fashion.=--The songs which are "the rage" at any time are always great snares for amateurs. Aspiring young singers hear a ballad charmingly rendered by some great singer, and straightway go home, send for it, and on the first available opportunity treat their friends to their version of it. This is really unfair to themselves, as it throws them into unwise contrast with the public singer who has made the song popular, and whose well-known rendering of it forbids ordinary hearers to judge the rendering of an amateur on its own merits, or by any rule but that of comparison. Moreover, "popular" songs--I mean songs whose popularity is largely due to their having been sung by favourite public singers--are by no means always good in themselves; or, if fairly good, by no means easy; or if good and not difficult, by no means always sufficiently so to make it worth while for an amateur to spend time and study on them. In very many cases the public singer has to sing these songs because he is paid for doing so, and gets a "royalty" on every copy sold; it is simply one development of the hydra-headed art of advertising, and such productions are known by the vulgar name of "pot-boilers," _i.e._, compositions hastily thrown off to bring in a little money "_to keep the pot boiling_." If composers who are capable of better things are reduced to making money in this way, we may be sincerely sorry for them; but speaking from an artistic point of view, the practice is reprehensible, and "pot-boilers" are not the kind of music which a young singer, anxious to improve, should waste time or money upon. I am far from saying that there are no good songs to be found among new music, but I think they seldom lie on the top of the pile.