CHAPTER VI

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR A RADICAL REFORM IN VOICE CULTURE

To reinforce the foregoing principles, the author advances the following suggestions which can bring about a radical reform in the culture of the voice, directing the art of singing toward more definite rules, scientific, and better suited to the modern conditions:

1. Voice culture must be _natural_ in its basis, and _scientific_ in its principles—not _empiric_ and _arbitrary_. There must be only _one method_ of singing, founded on _physiological laws_, presented in practical form.

2. The _education of the voice_ must begin in the _elementary schools_, and must first be taught to children in the form of correct use of the _speaking voice_.

We believe this to be the _most important_ feature in the reform of voice culture, being directed to the very origin of what is responsible for the initial defects and deterioration in the natural voices of children. A _school_ should be founded for this purpose, where school _teachers_ could get adequate instruction in the natural and _correct phonetic rules, molded on classic languages_, for teaching this form of voice education.

3. Singing teachers must be _new professionals_, combining _scientific_ with _artistic_ knowledge; a class of _voice specialists_, differentiated from coaches, accompanists, vocal musicians, etc.

4. Voice specialists must undergo a regular course of training in scientific and musical matters related to voice, and _must be subject_ to _examination by_ a _special Board of Scientific_ and _Musical Experts_, _elected_ or _recognized_ by the _Government_. They must get their _practicing licenses_ from this Board, as in the case of other professions. That alone can protect the singing field from all kinds of intruders, charlatans and impostors.

A survey of these principles and suggestions discloses the _extent of the author’s task_. In his endeavor to demonstrate how certain ideas about the mechanism of voice production have been entirely neglected or misinterpreted, and for strict adherence to the principles laid down, which differ considerably from the methods now taught, he _must advocate_ and _suggest_ an _almost opposite form of vocal education from that which is now in vogue_.

That has no relation of any sort with the completion of the culture of the voice, as far as musicianship, technic and style of singing are concerned. This is a task which belongs to a class of professional people, who represent the musicians of the voice. These professionals—coaches, accompanists, interpreters, etc., have the function of finishing the artistic education of the pupil for the stage or any other career. _But the preliminary voice education of the singing students is quite another matter, to which more serious and solid care should be devoted_, and in which the _untaught should take no part_ whatsoever.

For this purpose the author proposes a new form of voice education which he calls the “_Scientific Culture of Voice_,” based, as above stated, upon the fundamental laws of acoustics and physiology of the voice, and molded on the method of singing of Enrico Caruso, who has been the living model of the natural mechanism of voice production. This culture must be intrusted to the specialists of the voice who, being well equipped with the necessary scientific and musical knowledge, fill the requirements for competent and correct teaching.

The contents of this book, therefore, will treat first of the voice purely as a physiological phenomenon, from the standpoint of its natural production, in accordance with the principles already announced, and then of the most effective means for accomplishing a radical reform in voice culture. This will be carried out by an entirely original method, based on phonetic rules molded on the Italian language, which places and develops the singing voice through the speaking voice.