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THE ART OF MUSIC

The Art of Music

A Comprehensive Library of Information
for Music Lovers and Musicians

Editor-in-Chief

DANIEL GREGORY MASON
Columbia University

Associate Editors

EDWARD B. HILL LELAND HALL
Harvard University Past Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin

Managing Editor

CÉSAR SAERCHINGER
Modern Music Society of New York

In Fourteen Volumes
Profusely Illustrated

NEW YORK
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC

Saint Cecilia

After the painting by Rubens (Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin)

THE ART OF MUSIC: VOLUME FIVE

The Voice and Vocal Music

Department Editors:

DAVID C. TAYLOR
Author of ‘The Psychology of Singing,’ etc.

AND

HIRAM KELLY MODERWELL
Musical Correspondent, Boston Evening Transcript, etc.
Author of ‘The Theatre of Today,’ etc.

Introduction by

DAVID BISPHAM, LL.D.

NEW YORK
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC

Copyright, 1915, by
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC, Inc.
[All Rights Reserved]

THE VOICE AND VOCAL MUSIC

INTRODUCTION

All the Arts, being emanations from the superman, are of the highest significance to the human race therapeutically—the word being used in its broadest possible significance. They are curative, they do us good. There is happily no longer a ban put upon any one of them in the modern world, except by an occasional religious sect, and even those survivors of a prohibitory past are rapidly disappearing.

Enough can scarcely be said of the value of the literature of song as it exists to-day. Whatever has been written or is yet to appear, is a natural growth, and should be recognized as welling up from the unsounded depths of the human mind, as something to be used for the benefit, here and now, of young and old, male and female, rich and poor, well and ill—as a fruit ‘for the healing of the nations.’ When performed under proper circumstances, music—and particularly song, because it is so individual—has a power for good that is amazing. But this is not generally recognized; only by poets and dreamers has it been stated. The words of such are accepted by the world at large as beautiful generalizations, having no immediate or personal significance, applicable to some realm of fancy, some Celtic fairyland, as impossible as an Oriental heaven, but not to the sombre facts of existence upon this earth—facts so discordant that none but a prophet could by any stretch of the imagination reconcile them with a life of harmony here. Personally I believe in the foresight of the prophets and poets, and hope that Science will ere long come forward to set the seal of authority upon their utterances. When this is done, song will be accorded the position that so justly belongs to it, and its place will not be an inferior one in the scheme of man’s development through savagery into civilization, and beyond. The seers spoke better than we know; they saw, and do see, through the veil of the present into the beyond, through the paradoxical Paradise of parable into the theoretical perfection in which the effort to attain practical results will be one of the chiefest of joys. Is it not wonderful to realize that music and song are so prominent in the utterances of these hitherto misunderstood soothsayers? Truth-sayers are they in sooth!

There is a noble work to be done in the endeavor to bring about sensibly, systematically and scientifically, the realization of their visions as they pertain to music, and a recognition of the value of song and singing and the application of this beautiful and all but universal gift to the betterment of conditions both personal and social.

To the musical enthusiast society seems to be divided into two classes: those who are musical and those who are not. The fact remains, however, that every normal person is musical to a certain degree, though some may believe it of themselves more readily than others believe it of them. To paraphrase Shakespeare, some are born musical, some achieve music, but all should have music thrust upon them. In one way or another, everyone should be educated in music, to the degree at least of knowing from childhood about it and its makers, being able to participate in musical performance, or at least to appreciate the performance of others, for the musical gift is a fundamental part of human nature; but unfortunately the vast majority of people seem to be unaware of the importance and value of this precious possession, which has indeed by too many come to be considered as a mere source of amusement, and not as a thing to be taken seriously.

We have now reached a period when all music, and particularly singing, should receive most careful consideration. The voice is so intimate a thing that no one can avoid it in himself or escape it in others, and so great is its power when properly used, whether in speech or song, that it is amazing that its qualities are not more fully realized by all educators and treated accordingly. But up to the present time it seems that those who have influence in educational matters have not had their eyes opened to the fact that every human being should be taught to speak properly and to sing as well as may be, and that these things are perfectly easy of accomplishment, if only correct models are put before children as they grow up. Languages, the most difficult to acquire by adults, are learned by children with perfect ease from those with whom they come into contact; they will speak them well or ill, according as they have heard others speak. In short, example is, where voice is concerned, better than precept; and the ear, so intimately associated with everything vocal, should be given more to do than has hitherto been considered necessary either in schools or by private teachers. While most young people do not begin to take singing lessons until their voices are reasonably settled and can bear the strain of study, it does not seem incompatible with the dictates of common sense to say that the training of voices, as of bodies and minds, may be undertaken much earlier than has generally been thought advisable. ‘The precious morning hours’ of youth are too often shamefully wasted; in them this natural and beautiful gift should be brought out. Vocal music should be learned by ear as well as by eye, pieces suited to varying vocal capacities and wisely selected by those competent to choose should be taught, while certain of the musical masterpieces should be made familiar to all.

This seems so obvious as to be hardly worth saying, but as a matter of fact, song is by too many looked upon merely as a luxury to be enjoyed by the few, whereas it is in reality a necessity that should be used by all, for all have not only a latent impulse toward vocal expression, but much more of a natural gift than is usually granted. Persons selected for the purity of their enunciation and beauty of their voices should every day, in all schools, speak and sing to the pupils, who in turn would unconsciously imitate what they heard; and so there would grow a regard for purity and beauty of tone, both in speech and in song, which later would find expression in the study of the various branches of vocal music—from folk-song to the art-song, from sacred music and oratorio to opera. Only those especially gifted should be permitted by their masters to take up the profession of singer or teacher of singing, and thus there would be selected from the great field of those who know much the few specialists in this or that phase of the art who know more, and who are by nature better fitted to exercise their talents in public.

So many people are able to sing after a fashion that sufficient care is not always taken to separate those who are entitled to enter with joy into the ranks of the interpreters of song from those who are fit only for the comparative outer darkness of the auditor. But if that be darkness, how great is the light of those who, by common consent, are adjudged competent to bear so glorious a lamp before the footsteps of the world!

The desire to sing is so universal that many enthusiasts overlook the fact that they have neglected to train their vocal apparatus until it is too late to make serious study worth while. Little can then be done beyond what will give pleasure to the individual himself. But this universal desire to sing should be universally recognized. When in future it shall be not only so recognized but sensibly and scientifically satisfied, then it will no doubt be found that very great benefit will result to musical art and, through it, to the daily lives of well-nigh everyone on earth.

When the science of education shall have advanced further, music, and especially singing, will hold a very important place in the scheme, and the difference will become clearly apparent between the average normal being with the average vocal equipment and the artist to the manner born. As with those whose trend toward mathematics or languages is unmistakable, so the truly musical are to be distinguished with ease from their fellows; but all such, and especially singers, should be educated with great care and in a broad and comprehensive manner.

Great geniuses have written music to the words of great poets because they were compelled by the inmost needs of their natures to supplement the message of poetry by that of music. What does the world at large care for these things? Only the educated in musical art know that they exist, but the time is now at hand when the storehouses of music will be opened, and their treasures disseminated among the general public through the schools. Instrumental music is so costly in comparison to vocal music that the obvious course to pursue is to train that wonderful instrument, the voice, which all carry about with them, but the value of which is realized by only a few.

The many-sided occupation of the singer should be as carefully studied as that of the pianist, the violinist, or the organist. The vocalist requires a technique comparable to that of any of these virtuosi, a memory trained to answer the demands not only of music but of words, a knowledge not merely of one’s own but of several other languages, a training in the manner of speaking and singing intelligibly in these tongues, a mastery of the actor’s art with all that it means in gesture, deportment and expression, and, finally, a comprehension of the whole of vocal literature. Would-be singers should be well educated men and women, subjected to rigorous examination in all branches of their art at every stage of progress; for only thus may vocal artists be prepared for their exacting and important career and be made worthy to tread in future our concert platforms and operatic stages. For this way singing will become a dignified profession instead of a spurious and uncertain career, at which the vast majority of those who follow it can expect to earn but a pittance.

The fact should be very clearly forced home upon students that voice alone does not make a public singer any more than the possession of a Stradivarius makes a violinist, but if either has a good instrument the possessor of so valuable a thing should train himself to play upon it with more than ordinary care, and intelligently study not only the classics of his branch of the profession, but, in the case of a singer especially, enlarge his knowledge of poetry, literature, the drama, and the fine arts in general. Thus equipped he may with safety and with reasonable expectations of success take the hazardous path that leads to the supreme honor of lasting public esteem. Every student should recognize this necessity and work with this end in view. The way is long and the task is hard, but it is not impossible.

Ignorance and daring have long gone hand in hand with an assurance which is at times amazing, but the rising generation should be obliged to learn not only how to sing, but what to sing—both equally important. And then, with intelligence awakened, and the dawn of a new day breaking in through the windows of the mind, we may look for the beginnings of an interest in the advancement of a vocal art that has too long been harnessed to the car of Fashion, and under the yoke of Commercialism.

As before the Renaissance of plastic art all had been said in painting and sculpture that could be said in the old formulæ, so in music the few notes of the scale had in the hands of the older masters been worked to their ultimate possibilities of expression, when lo! a new light was shed upon the situation, and presently the flood-gates of sound were opened, and undreamed-of works appeared in rapid succession to amaze and affright the senses. Song reflects this, and the limits of vocal capacity have seemingly been reached. It is not to be believed, however, that, to whatever lengths this new musical Renaissance may go, the appeal of simple melody will ever want for an audience. The past has enough and to spare of song that we have not even tasted, much less digested. Let us set ourselves to teach the multitudes of the uninitiated rising generation all the beauties of the classics of song. They are as full as ever of worth and loveliness, and must form a part of the heritage of the generations yet unborn. The peasant from afar has in him the blood of the peoples from which sprang the great artists and musicians of the past, and it is not for a moment to be supposed that under the freer circumstances of life in America works of originality and charm will soon be forthcoming. This is no place nor time for the sadness of a conquered race that by the waters of another land hung up its harps, and refused to sing the songs of home. Here, on the contrary, may all the accumulated wealth of the beauty of song be joyously revealed to the people by the people, and for the people’s good.

No words can describe music. Talk of it as we may, only music can tell us of itself. How profound its appeal to the very essence of human nature! In the works that have been left to us we have a marvellous heritage. Let it not be neglected, but preserved, honored, and taught to all, from the least even unto the greatest; for when sound has been wedded to words by one of the anointed hierarchy of the priests of music, what a mystic union is there. How potent the spell of a voice lifted in song informed by the spirit of poetry!

We have here at hand that which makes our Paradise—the gift of song. Let us no longer disregard this fundamental possession, but use it well, and with it enter into the peace that song can give to all who have ears to hear its wondrous message. It is the Evangel that has for so long been knocking at our doors. Let us open wide and welcome this friend and comrade whose voice goes throbbing through the aisles of the vast Temple of Music—that structure not made with hands; heard, not seen, present only to the spirit of mortals, place of worship and refreshment for all generations.

David Bispham.

August, 1914.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIVE

ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME FIVE

THE VOICE AND VOCAL MUSIC

CHAPTER I
THE VOCAL ORGANS, THEIR OPERATION AND HYGIENE

The vocal instrument; anatomy of the vocal organs; the healthy mechanism—The larynx; the laryngoscope; operations of the laryngeal muscles—Tone production; the resonating cavities; vowel formation; articulation—Vocal hygiene; incorrect tone production; throat stiffness and its cure.

An acquaintance with the anatomical structure of the vocal organs, together with an understanding of the acoustic laws bearing on their operations, is usually held necessary to a competent knowledge of the principles of voice culture. A rather tedious course of study is indeed demanded for this purpose. But it will be our aim to present this portion of our subject briefly, touching only on those points which are essential to a practical grasp of vocal methods. For a more extended treatment of the anatomy of the organs of voice and breathing any standard text-book of anatomy may be consulted. It is, however, hoped that our outline of the subject will suffice for the purposes of the general reader.

As the subject of acoustics is dealt with in Vol. XII, the present chapter does not cover this topic. A sufficient understanding of the laws of vibration and resonance is also assumed on the part of the reader.

No man-made musical instrument can compare with the human voice in complexity and delicacy of structure. Yet, so far as the general principles of its construction are concerned, it does not differ materially from the voices of air-breathing mammals and birds in general. In each case the vocal organs form a complex wind instrument, consisting of an air chamber (the lungs), a vibrating mechanism (the vocal cords), and a set of reinforcing resonance cavities. The human voice differs from the voices of other air-breathing animals only in its vastly higher development and complexity.

The vocal organs of all the various species of animal life we are now considering were developed as a part of the respiratory system. In the early stages of the evolution of air-breathing animal forms the lungs had only one function, that of supplying air for the oxidizing of the red corpuscles of the blood. No other use was made of the respiratory organs; the breath served no purpose beyond that of furnishing oxygen for the needs of the circulatory system. This was the condition of those forms which were the forerunners of present mammal and bird life. In the course of evolution a gradual change took place in a part of the respiratory tract. This modification was an example of what is called in evolutionary science ‘adaptive change.’ The organs of respiration were modified and developed in such a way that the pressure of the expired air could be utilized in the production of sound.

As evolution progressed the organs of voice which thus had their origin took on an ever-increasing complexity of structure. This process of evolution has reached its highest development in man. As a musical instrument the human vocal organs may fairly be said to have reached the point of perfection.

I

From the anatomist’s standpoint the vocal organs consist of four parts:

1. The lungs, together with the bones by which they are inclosed and the muscles which fill and empty them.

2. The larynx and its appendages.

3. The resonating cavities—trachea, pharynx, mouth, and the cavities of the nose and head.

4. The organs of articulation—the tongue, lips, teeth, etc.

Each of these organs performs a different function in the production of useful and beautiful sounds. It is the generally accepted view among vocal scientists that each portion of the vocal mechanism has one and only one correct mode of operation. Many forms of incorrect action are also possible; indeed, the untrained voice is believed to be liable in almost every case to faulty operation in some respect. Scientific investigation of the voice has for its purpose the determining of the correct muscular actions of the various parts of the vocal mechanism, and the formulation of exercises whereby the student is enabled to acquire command of these actions.

Modern methods of voice culture embody the results of scientific study of the vocal mechanism. It must be observed that not all investigators are agreed upon what constitutes the correct vocal action. Several conflicting theories have been urged concerning the proper movements of the breathing and laryngeal muscles and the operations of the resonating cavities. An exhaustive treatment of these various theories is, however, not called for here. Some of them have been discarded, others have but few followers. The majority of authorities are in fair agreement concerning the theoretical basis of voice culture. In the present chapter only the theoretical aspect of the subject will be considered; the third chapter will be devoted to the practical methods which embody the doctrines of vocal science.

Two opposed sets of muscles are concerned in the operations of breathing, those which, respectively, fill and empty the lungs. The action of inspiration consists of an expansion of the chest cavity, which by increasing its cubical capacity draws in air from the outside to fill what would otherwise be a vacuum. The chest cavity is conical in shape, its base being formed by the diaphragm, and its sides and apex by the ribs, the breast-bone, and the intercostal muscles.

Broadly speaking, there are two distinct forms of muscular action by which the chest cavity can be expanded in inspiration: one is the sinking of the base of the chest cavity, the other the broadening of the chest by raising the ribs. Either of these can with some little practice be performed independently of the other.

The sinking of the base of the cavity is accomplished by the contraction of the diaphragm. This muscle is roughly circular in outline. In its relaxed state it rises to a dome in the middle and might be compared in shape to an inverted bowl. As it contracts the diaphragm flattens out and increases the length of the vertical axis of the chest cavity. In its descent it pushes the viscera downward and forces the abdomen to protrude slightly. This manner of breathing is commonly called abdominal, although the muscles of the abdomen are not directly concerned in the filling of the lungs.

The expansion of the chest cavity may be accomplished by the raising of the ribs. Owing to their curved shape and sloping position, a slight elevation of the ribs causes them to rotate outward from the central axis of the chest cavity. This increases the horizontal diameter of the cavity in every direction—forward, backward, and sidewise.

In the judgment of the most competent investigators the best form of breathing combines the two muscular actions just described. At the start of the inspiration the diaphragm descends, but the protruding of the abdomen is checked almost instantly by a contraction of the abdominal muscles. The inspiration is then completed by the lateral expansion of the chest. In this manner the lungs are filled to their greatest capacity in the least possible time. Another great advantage of this type of breathing is that it imparts a peculiarly erect and graceful carriage, a matter of much importance to the singer and public speaker.

In the action of expiration following the taking of a full breath in the manner just described two sets of muscles are involved. These are: first, the abdominal muscles, which push the diaphragm back to its original position; second, the muscles which lower the ribs (the internal intercostals and some of the external abdominal muscles). The actions of both these sets of muscles can easily be observed. When correctly performed the two actions are simultaneous, the whole chest cavity being gradually and uniformly contracted.

A highly important feature of correct breathing, in the opinion of most authorities, is the control of the expiration. In the first place, all the expired air must be converted into tone and none of it allowed to escape unused. Further, the vocal cords must not be exposed to the full force of a powerful expiratory blast, as they are too small and weak to withstand this pressure without strain and injury. The air must be fed to the vocal cords in just sufficient quantity to serve the purposes of tone production.

It is generally held that this economy of breath can be secured, without strain on the vocal cords, only by opposing the action of the inspiratory muscles to the action of the muscles of expiration. Instead of allowing the inspiratory muscles to relax completely at the beginning of the expiration these muscles are to be held on tension throughout the expiration. By this means both the force and the speed of the expiration can be regulated at will; no undue pressure is exerted on the vocal cords, and the tone is prolonged steadily and evenly so long as the expiration lasts.

II

Figure I

The main passage from the lungs to the outer air is the trachea or windpipe, a tube formed of from sixteen to twenty rings of cartilage, united by tendons and muscular fibres, and lined with mucous membrane. At the top of the trachea is situated the larynx, the organ of phonation, strictly speaking. The larynx is built up of two cartilages, the thyroid and cricoid, which represent developments of what once were the uppermost two rings of the trachea. The cricoid cartilage, forming the base of the larynx, is shaped like a seal ring, with the bezel to the back. The thyroid cartilage, just above the cricoid, has the form of an open book, V-shaped in horizontal section. In the interior of the larynx are two tiny cartilages, the right and left arytenoids. These rest on top of the rear portion of the cricoid, on which they rotate freely.

Figure I shows two views, front and rear, of the cartilages of the trachea and larynx. Immediately above and connected with the thyroid cartilage is the hyoid bone, which serves as the attachment of the base of the tongue. It is shaped like a horseshoe, the ends pointing to the rear.

Figure II

Figure II presents a section of the interior of the larynx, all the muscular tissues having been removed. In this cut the position of the arytenoid cartilages is plainly shown.

By feeling the outside of the throat with the thumb on one side and the forefinger on the other, the hyoid bone and the thyroid and cricoid cartilages can easily be located. The space between the two cartilages in front is covered by the crico-thyroid membrane.

The muscles of the larynx are considered in two groups, the extrinsic, those which connect the larynx with the other parts of the body, and the intrinsic, those which belong to the larynx strictly speaking. By the extrinsic muscles the larynx is held in its place in the throat. These muscles are usually held to have no direct office in phonation.

Figure III

The intrinsic muscles of the larynx are nine in number, as follows:

2 Thyro-arytenoids, right and left.

2 Crico-thyroids, right and left.

2 Lateral crico-arytenoids, right and left.

2 Posterior crico-arytenoids, right and left.

1 Arytenoideus.

In Figure III these muscles are plainly shown. This cut presents a view of the interior of the left half of the larynx; the right half of the thyroid cartilage has been removed, together with the muscles which lie to the right of the middle line of the larynx. We see the muscles of the left side of the interior of the larynx and also the right posterior crico-arytenoideus and the right crico-thyroid.

Figure IV

The thyro-arytenoideus muscles are attached in front to the interior angle of the thyroid cartilage, and at the back to the arytenoid cartilages. To their outer edges the vocal cords are attached and the space between them is called the glottis. The crico-thyroids are attached to the outer surfaces of the cartilages. The lateral and posterior crico-arytenoids have very complex attachments, which can be seen in Figure III. The arytenoideus connects the rear surfaces of the two arytenoid cartilages. In Figure IV a drawing of the larynx is presented, looked at from above, the surrounding parts having been dissected away to allow a clear view of the muscles just considered.

It is impossible to state with absolute certainty just what office the various intrinsic laryngeal muscles have in the production of tones of different pitches and qualities. Most of our information regarding this subject has been obtained by means of the laryngoscope. People interested in singing are now very generally acquainted with this little instrument, although it was invented by Manuel García so recently as 1855. While it is generally used only by physicians, anyone who wishes to can easily procure one and by its means observe the actions of his own vocal cords. The laryngoscope consists of a little mirror fitted to a handle at an angle of about 100 degrees. When used by a physician, it is held in the back of the subject’s throat, the tongue being pulled forward and to one side. A ray of strong light is reflected into it from another mirror, which the observer straps to his forehead. This ray of light is again reflected by the laryngeal mirror so as to illuminate the vocal cords. At the same time the observer sees in the laryngeal mirror the image of the vocal cords and so studies their movements.

While laryngoscopic observation has thrown much valuable light on the operations of the laryngeal muscles, it has not by any means cleared up all the mysteries pertaining to this peculiarly intricate subject. All the muscles concerned are very small. Each one contains a vast and intricate number of tiny fibres, extending in widely varying directions. As each one of these sets of fibres can be contracted with a greater or less degree of strength than those most intimately connected with it, the possibility of variety in the combined actions of the laryngeal musculature is seen to be almost unlimited. Many conflicting theories have been offered to explain the details of the laryngeal action, but a comprehensive review of the subject is not called for here. Our purpose will be served by stating the most generally accepted theory, without committing ourselves as to its accuracy or sufficiency. This theory is as follows:

In quiet breathing all the laryngeal muscles are in a state of relaxation, with the possible exception of the posterior crico-arytenoids. These muscles draw the arytenoid cartilages apart, and so open the glottis. For the production of a tone the glottis is closed by the contraction of the arytenoideus, which pulls the arytenoid cartilages together. The tension of the vocal cords is regulated by two sets of muscles: first, the thyro-arytenoids, to which the cords are directly attached; second, the lateral crico-arytenoids, which rotate the arytenoid cartilages, bringing their forward spurs together.

The pitch of the tone is determined in two ways: first, by the tension of the vocal cords; second, by their effective length. In different parts of the vocal range the manner of adjustment for pitch varies. For the lowest notes of the voice, the chest register, the cords vibrate in their full length. As the pitch rises in singing an ascending scale passage in this part of the voice, the tension of the vocal cords is gradually increased by a corresponding increase in the strength of the contraction of the thyro-arytenoids. When the limit of the chest register has been reached, a further ascent in pitch is brought about by the gradual shortening of the vocal cords. This is effected by the contraction of the lateral crico-arytenoids, which rotate the arytenoid cartilages inward, as has just been described. The forward spurs of these cartilages are slightly curved in shape, so that, as they continue to rotate, their point of contact is gradually brought further and further forward. As the vocal cords are held tightly together behind this point, the portion of the cords left free to vibrate is shortened with each material increase in the tension of the lateral crico-arytenoids.

With each shortening of the vibrating parts of the cords the pitch is correspondingly raised. The portion of the vocal range thus produced is called the medium register. The highest note of the medium register is reached when the forward spurs of the arytenoid cartilages are in contact at their tips. Beyond this point there can be no further shortening of the vocal cords in this way. The remaining notes of the compass, known as the head register, are secured through a shortening of the effective length of the vocal cords at their forward ends, as well as by a further increase in their tension. Both these actions are accomplished by the contraction of the thyro-arytenoids.

Figure V

Figure V shows a laryngoscopic view of the larynx, as it appears in quiet breathing. It will be observed that the vocal cords are widely separated, and the glottis is opened to its full extent. A similar view of the larynx during the production of tone is given in Figure VI. The vocal cords are closely approximated and the glottis is narrowed to a tiny slit-like opening.

Figure VI

III

What was said about the uncertainty of our present knowledge concerning the laryngeal action applies with almost equal force to the other operations of tone production. Beyond the basic facts that the tones of the voice are produced by the vibration of the vocal cords and are reinforced and modified by the influence of the resonance cavities, little can be stated with absolute certainty. There is, of course, no question as to the definiteness of our knowledge of the anatomical structure of the parts involved. But, with regard to the muscular operations of the resonance cavities and the application of acoustic and mechanical principles in these operations, the same uncertainty is encountered as in the laryngeal actions. We shall continue therefore to outline the most widely accepted theories, without entering into a discussion as to their soundness.

Considered acoustically, the voice is a wind instrument of the reed class. It differs, however, from all other reed instruments in several particulars. It is capable of producing a wide range of pitches, covering more than three octaves in many cases, by the operation of a single pair of reeds. Further, it has command of an immense range of tone qualities, through the combined action of its reed mechanism and its resonating cavities.

For the production of tone the vocal cords are brought together and held on tension with sufficient strength momentarily to close the glottis and check the outflow of the expired breath. As a slight degree of condensation takes place in the air behind the cords, they are forced apart and a tiny puff of air is allowed to escape. Immediately the cords spring back, once more close the glottis, and again check the outflow of the breath. This is repeated a varying number of times per second, the rate of rapidity of the succession of puffs being regulated by the degree of tension of the vocal cords, and by their effective vibrating length. The pitch of the tone thus produced is determined by the rate of the air puffs; these range from 75 per second for the lowest usual bass note,

to 1,417 per second for the highest usual soprano note,

.

The tone produced by the vibration of the vocal cords is complex in its acoustic character, containing the fundamental note and a large number of its overtones. Yet as it leaves the cords the tone is weak in power and of rather characterless quality. In order to be of musical quality, volume, and carrying power, the primary or vocal cord tone requires to be modified and reinforced by the resonance cavities.

The resonating cavities of the voice, mastery of which is considered essential to the scientific management of the voice, are the chest, the mouth-pharynx, the nasal passages, and the sphenoid, ethnoid, and frontal sinuses. Each of these is adapted by its size and shape to reinforce either the fundamental note or certain of its overtones with especial prominence. In order to produce a satisfactory tone each resonance cavity must exercise its particular influence in the proper way, their combined effect being necessary to a correct use of the voice.

Much importance is attached by most vocal authorities to the subject of chest resonance. It is believed that the size of the chest cavity,[1] much greater than that of the other resonating spaces, adapts it especially to the reinforcement of the fundamental note and its lower overtones.[2] The mouth-pharynx cavity is capable of extreme variability in both size and shape. This mobility enables it to reinforce a wide variety of overtones, and so to exercise a most important influence in determining the quality of the tone. Another function of this cavity is to increase the power of the primary or vocal cord tone. To secure the effect of crescendo in a single tone, the force of the expiratory blast is gradually increased. In order that the tone may be of uniform musical quality as it swells from soft to loud, a corresponding increase must take place in the size of the mouth-pharynx cavity. This is effected by the gradual opening of the mouth by a lateral expansion of the pharynx and by a lowering of the base of the tongue. A slight elevation of the soft palate may also contribute to the expansion of the cavity.

A highly important feature of mouth-pharynx resonance is the forming of the various vowel sounds. Each vowel is simply a distinct quality of sound, caused by the special prominence of some one or two overtones. Helmholtz investigated this aspect of voice production exhaustively. At first thought, it seems strange that a tone on some one pitch gives the effect of a particular vowel. Yet we can readily hear this in the steam siren whistle commonly used for alarms of fire. This produces a screaming sound, caused by a gradual rise and fall of pitch through a range of several octaves. Its almost vocal effect of ‘Ooh-oh-ah-eh-ee’ gives us a clear idea of the manner in which these vowels are each the sound of a note somewhat higher than the one preceding.

Helmholtz gives as the determining notes for certain of the German vowels the following table:

For each vowel the mouth-pharynx must assume a shape and size adapted to reinforce with special prominence its particular note or notes. Anyone can readily observe for himself what the positions of the tongue and lips are for the various vowels. For ee the tongue is arched high in the mouth and the lips are only slightly parted. For ah the mouth is opened slightly wider, while the tongue lies flat, etc.

No variation can be made in the size or shape of the nasal and head cavities. As these hollow spaces are small and very various in form, they reinforce only the higher overtones. Special prominence given to the higher upper partials[3] has the effect of making the tone brilliant and somewhat metallic in quality, and it is here that the special function of nasal resonance is seen. A certain degree of nasal resonance is therefore essential to the correctly used voice, but this must be kept within well-defined bounds. Excessive prominence of this resonance is the cause of the unpleasantly nasal sound which is absolutely out of place in correct tone production.

There remains to be treated under this head the production of consonant sounds. Consonant sounds are of various acoustic characters and are formed in a variety of ways. They may best be considered as of two classes: those into which a tone produced by the vocal cords enters and those devoid of this element. The other determining factor in consonant formation is the point at which an interruption takes place in the outflow of the breath.

There are a number of allied pairs of consonants, one with and the other without an accompanying vocal sound. These are:

v and f
b and p
z and s
d and t
j and ch
th (as in that) and th (as in think)
z (as in azure) and sh
g and k

In each of these pairs the interruption takes place at the same point—v and f between the lower lip and the upper teeth, b and p at the lips, etc.

Another class of consonants are the so-called sonants or liquids, l, m, n, and ng. In these the vocal tone may have appreciable duration; we can hum a tune on any one of them; m, n, and ng are emitted solely through the nostrils, the orifice of the mouth being completely closed.

R may be pronounced in two ways, the trilled or rolled r being best for the purposes of singing. Another form of this consonant, made by the vibration of the uvula in contact with the back of the tongue, is essential to a correct (conversational) pronunciation of both French and German, although it has no place in English. The rolled r, however, is generally used in singing by both the French and the Germans.

IV

A highly beneficial form of physical exercise is found in the regular daily practice of singing. All the muscles of the abdomen and thorax are strengthened by this exercise; the lungs are developed to their greatest normal capacity, and the habit is formed of breathing at all times in the most healthful manner. Both the circulation and the digestion share in the benefits derived from regular vocal practice, and the general health inevitably reflects the advantages incident to a proper performance of these most important bodily functions. An erect and graceful bearing, with well poised head and shoulders and firm, elastic step, can be secured through the correct practice of singing more readily than in almost any other way.

Yet the professional use of the voice imposes considerable restrictions on the singer’s habits of daily life. As Sir Morell Mackenzie has said, the singer is an athlete who must always be in training. A perfect condition of the voice demands a perfect state of general health. The singer must plan his whole life in conformity with the demands imposed on him by his art. The slightest indisposition of any kind is almost invariably reflected in the voice. Under the conditions in which people in the usual walks of life are placed, slight colds and trifling upset states of the digestive organs are a matter of almost no concern. But with the professional singer conditions are entirely different. So delicate and finely adjusted are the laryngeal muscles of the cultivated voice that their ‘tone’ may be upset by apparently insignificant causes. The mucous membranes of the larynx and throat are also highly sensitive to severe and unfavorable conditions.

It is necessary, therefore, for the singer to study himself, to learn by experience what is good and what is bad for him. This is a matter in which individual peculiarities play so great a part that only very general rules can safely be laid down. Singing within less than two hours after the eating of a hearty meal is almost certain to have an injurious effect on the voice. Exposure and over-fatigue must be carefully avoided. Stimulants, especially alcohol and tobacco, have a markedly bad influence on the mucous membranes of the throat. But beyond general statements of this kind, so obvious indeed that their truth is fairly well known, little can with safety be said as to the regimen imposed on the singer. That one man’s meat is another man’s poison is most strikingly true in its application to the voice. Many famous singers have been excessive smokers without seeming to suffer any ill results from the habit. Yet with most vocalists tobacco has a very irritating effect on the mucous membranes. So, also, with regard to eating and drinking, the widest differences of individual constitution are seen. Hot drinks are beneficial to some voices, injurious to others; cold drinks and ices are equally contradictory in their influence on the voice. All these questions of daily habit must be decided by each singer for himself and experience is the only safe guide.

There is a class of dangers to which the voice is exposed, entirely distinct from the influence of unfavorable conditions of the general health. Most of the throat troubles to which singers and public speakers are liable are directly traceable to a wrong use of the vocal organs. One of the most striking facts regarding the voice is this: If the voice is correctly produced it is benefited by exercise and improves steadily, year after year, in power, beauty, and facility of execution. On the other hand, when the voice is wrongly or imperfectly used exercise has exactly the opposite effect. Badly produced voices constantly deteriorate; their use results in course of time in throat troubles, of which the number and variety seem almost inconceivably great.

One general trouble lies at the bottom of all the throat ailments which follow on a wrong use of the vocal organs. This is a state of muscular strain suffered by the delicate muscles of the larynx. Every incorrect manner of producing vocal tone imposes an excessive degree of effort on these muscles. On the practical side the difference between the correct production of tone and any wrong use of the voice may be stated thus: When the voice is correctly used each tiny muscle of the larynx exerts exactly the right degree of effort in its contraction. To just this amount of exertion the muscles are fitted by Nature and in it they find their normal and healthful exercise. Incorrect tone production, on the other hand, always involves an excessive expenditure of effort on the part of the laryngeal muscles. The throat is in a state of muscular stiffness, in which all the muscles are contracted with more than their normal and appropriate degree of effort.

Muscular stiffness is indeed possible in any part of the body. It can be well illustrated as follows: Take a pencil and a sheet of paper and copy a few lines of what you are reading; grasp the pencil with all the strength of your fingers and exert all the power of your hand and arm in forming the letters. You will find that your arm and hand tire after a few minutes of writing in this manner. This follows from the expenditure of vastly more effort than is required for the purpose of writing.

All the muscles of the body are arranged in opposed pairs and groups. As your hand rests on the table, the contraction of one set of muscles brings the thumb and the first two fingers together so as to grasp the pencil. An opposed set will, by their contraction, spread these fingers apart, and the pencil will be released. If, now, both these sets of muscles are contracted at the same time the pencil is held stiffly, and the hand moves to form the letters only by the exertion of considerable effort. The muscles themselves are stiffened by this simultaneous contraction of opposed pairs and groups.

Throat stiffness, the characteristic feature of all incorrect vocal actions, is exactly similar in its nature to the stiffness of the hand and arm just considered. The laryngeal muscles are also arranged in sets which oppose their action one to another. One set (the posterior crico-arytenoids) opens the glottis, another set (the arytenoideus and the lateral crico-arytenoids) closes the glottis and brings the vocal cords on tension. Now, if the glottis opening muscles are contracted during tone production, the opposed muscles must put forth enough strength to overcome the effects of this contraction in addition to that which they are normally called upon to exert. This applies also to all the other sets of laryngeal muscles. Through this excessive tension the delicate laryngeal muscles are strained and weakened, and in the course of time the voice is permanently injured. This condition of throat stiffness is by no means uncommon, a matter for which modern methods of voice culture are to a certain degree responsible. The attempt to manage the vocal organs directly is very apt to lead to excessive tension of the muscles.

Throat stiffness is very insidious in its workings. It tends always to become more pronounced and to impose a constantly greater strain on the voice. Yet in its beginnings the singer may be completely unaware of any trouble. The muscles of the larynx are very poorly supplied with sensory nerves, so poorly, indeed, that under ordinary circumstances we are utterly unconscious of their movements. Owing to this fact, a condition of strain may exist without making itself manifest by any painful sensation. It thus comes about that a singer may suffer from the constantly progressing effects of throat stiffness before its results are so pronounced as to be painful.

Yet there is one infallible way of determining whether a voice is correctly used, or whether, on the contrary, its production is characterized by excessive muscular tension. This is found in the sound of the tones. Any degree of throat stiffness is invariably reflected in the sound of the voice. A throaty quality of tone always results from an incorrect manner of production, and this quality can result in no other way. While a keen and highly experienced ear is needed to detect a slight degree of throatiness, any ordinary observer can hear this condition when it is very pronounced. True, it is very much easier to detect a throaty quality in the voice of some one else than in one’s own voice. The singer labors under this disadvantage, that he can never hear his own voice as clearly and with the same discrimination as can the people who listen to him. Yet by practice and careful attention this difficulty can in great measure be overcome.

For the cure of throat stiffness and its attendant ills the physician can do but little. Even the diagnosis of the condition can hardly be said to lie within his province. In very bad cases a swelling of the muscles inside the larynx can be detected, as well as a sympathetic congestion of the mucous membranes. The existence of nodes on the vocal cords, rather a rare condition resulting from long-continued vocal strain, can also be determined by laryngoscopic examination. But in the case of the great majority of singers suffering from the effects of throat stiffness the only competent diagnosis is made by the vocal teacher, whose ear is sufficiently trained and experienced to hear the exact nature of the trouble. Further, it is the vocal teacher alone who can relieve and permanently cure the condition. The physician can allay the inflammation of the mucous membranes and can temporarily stimulate the vocal muscles. But no lasting relief can be given in this way. Only one real cure is possible. That is the abandonment of the incorrect habits of tone production and the adoption of the correct manner of using the voice.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A certain allowance must be made for popular forms of speech in dealing with the subject of chest resonance. It is plain that the air in the chest cavity could not possibly be thrown into regular vibrations. In the acoustic sense the chest is not a hollow space, but a solid body. Filled as it is with the spongy tissue of the lungs, as well as the heart and the great blood vessels, there is no room for the formation of air waves or the oscillation of air particles. Another form of resonance is involved here, what is known in acoustics as sounding-board resonance. The reinforcing vibrations of the chest are those of its bony structure, which vibrates according to the same principle as the sounding-board of a piano.

[2] Overtones, or harmonics, are the tones produced by the vibrations of the individual parts of a resonating body, into which it automatically divides itself. See Vol. XII.

[3] Overtones. Cf. note above.

CHAPTER II
VOCAL CULTIVATION AND THE OLD ITALIAN METHOD

Historical aspect of vocal cultivation—The modern conception of voice culture; the mechanical and psychological methods—Ancient systems—Mediæval Europe—The revival of solo singing; the rise of coloratura—The old Italian method—The bel canto teachers: Caccini; Tosi and Mancini; the Conservatoire method; the Italian course of instruction; theoretical basis of the Italian method.

Musical historians generally agree that the training of voices for the purposes of artistic singing had its beginnings about the year 1600. Voice culture as a distinct department of musical education is held to date no further back than the time when solo singing first began to attract the attention of educated musicians. This view, however, is altogether misleading. From its very beginnings the art of music in Europe was built upon the foundation of singing; no other type of music was, indeed, recognized as a legitimate branch of the art until music had progressed through several centuries of development. Music was brought up to the beginning of its present stage of evolution through the working out of theories which were exemplified in practice only by the use of voices. Counterpoint, the basis of musical composition until well along in the seventeenth century, had its origin in vocal music; throughout its entire history, up to its highest expression in the music of Palestrina and his school, contrapuntal writing was applied only to works composed for voices. Even if no records were to be found of any means used for training the voice, the conclusion would be inevitable that, throughout all these centuries (roughly speaking, from the sixth to the seventeenth), some attention must have been paid to vocal development and technique. It is true that anyone endowed with a good voice can sing, with some degree of facility, any simple music which he has the ability to memorize. No technical training of the voice is needed to enable one to sing simple songs. Folk-music was the possession of the great mass of the people to whom any ideas of vocal management were utterly unknown. This was also true of the various classes of minstrels, troubadours, etc. Although theirs was purely a vocal art, the only training their voices ever received was that incidental to the actual singing of their music. But for the performance of the music incorporated in the Roman ritual throughout all its history this untutored style of singing would not have sufficed. A much better command of the voice was needed than can be acquired merely through the unguided singing of simple folk-songs and lays. Precision, power, and facility of voice were demanded in the music of the church and these could not have been hit upon by accident. The chances are all against a voice falling into the correct manner of production if called upon to sing music of any difficulty without some definite instruction. This will be made clearer by a consideration of the peculiar problem involved in any extended use of the voice.

I

Modern thought on the subject of vocal cultivation has crystallized along well-defined lines. For one thing, it has emphasized in a striking way the problem of the management of the vocal organs. The fact is now clearly recognized that the voice has one correct mode of operating, as well as an almost limitless possibility of wrong or incorrect forms of activity. When the voice is correctly produced it can be used daily in large halls and churches without strain or undue fatigue. By judicious exercise, when rightly produced, the voice is greatly increased in volume and power; it acquires facility in the singing of difficult and elaborate music; its compass is increased, giving it command of a wider range of notes than is possessed by the untrained voice.

Yet vocal cultivation demands the adoption of the correct management of the vocal organs. When the voice is correctly produced nothing more than judicious exercise is needed to bring it to the condition of technical mastery. But if the proper manner of producing tone is not acquired, then the exercise of the voice is fraught with peril to the vocal organs. Instead of the voice being benefited by practice the contrary result is almost inevitable. The use of a wrongly produced voice on an extended scale, involving, as it must, the daily attempt to produce tones powerful enough to fill a large space, strains and injures the vocal organs. This results in a weakening of the voice, in loss of control, in discomfort and pain to the singer, in a strained, harsh quality of tone, and finally, if persisted in long enough, in complete loss of voice.

The difference between the correct use of the voice and any incorrect manner of producing tone is inherent in the organ itself. No one who wishes to sing can elude the problem which Nature thus propounds. On the contrary, the problem of vocal management must be solved some time in the course of a singer’s vocal studies or the technical command of the voice can never be attained. Vocal cultivation is that form of exercise of the voice which leads, through the correct management of the organ, to a command of all the voice’s resources of beauty, range, power, and flexibility.

Even on the earliest singers of the church a solution of the vocal problem was imposed. These singers had to perform daily in large cathedrals and churches; they had to sing their music in time and in tune. Some measure of vocal cultivation was of necessity involved in their training. We are, fortunately, not left in ignorance of the methods applied in vocal training in the centuries which preceded the rise of solo singing. Many references to this subject found in the writings of early musical historians have been gathered together by H. F. Mannstein in his Geschichte, Geist, und Ausübung des Gesanges von Gregor dem Grossen bis auf unsere Zeit (Leipzig, 1845). Fétis also contains many passages which throw valuable light on the subject It is true that the subject has been considered rather obscure, owing to the fact that students have looked for something not to be found, that is, for rules bearing on the mechanical management of the vocal organs. In order to understand this subject fully the modern conception of voice culture must first be briefly considered.

Modern methods of voice culture are based upon the doctrine that the vocal organs must be consciously guided by the singer in the correct performance of their functions. The idea is that the voice must be led to adopt the correct manner of action by direct attention to its mechanical processes. According to the present conception, the singer must see to it that his vocal cords act in a certain way; that his breath is controlled at the proper point; that the tones have the correct origin and receive the influence of resonance in the correct manner. Even back of this conception lies a belief in the helplessness of the vocal organs to hit upon the proper mode of acting without the conscious direction of the singer. The singer must impose a certain manner of operating on the voice and carefully supervise all the processes of tone production. This is the scientific view of voice culture; until quite recently it was almost universally held.

It is almost incredible that this view is thoroughly modern and that its origin cannot be traced further back than the invention of the laryngoscope in 1855. Not until 1883 did the scientific view of vocal cultivation find definite expression in the writings of any authority on the voice; in that year Browne and Behnke, in their book entitled ‘Voice, Song, and Speech,’ stated the scientific doctrine in plain terms, and asserted that the voice cannot be controlled in any other way than by attention to the mechanical processes of the vocal organs. For many years thereafter this doctrine went unchallenged, and methods of voice culture treated as the most important materials of instruction the means they embodied for enabling students of singing to acquire direct conscious control over their vocal organs.

An entirely different conception of voice culture has recently been advanced and has indeed made great headway. From the fact that the new doctrine found its first complete statement in the writer’s ‘Psychology of Singing’ (New York, 1908), it has come to be known as the psychological theory, in contradistinction to the mechanical theory embodied in the scientific system.

Briefly stated, the psychological theory of voice production is as follows: To the vocal problem propounded by nature the solution has also been furnished by nature herself. Nature has endowed the voice with a sufficient guide and monitor—the sense of hearing. There is a direct connection between the cerebral centres of hearing and the centres governing the muscles of the vocal organs. The volitional impulse to produce a certain sound involves the hearing of the sound in imagination; through the nerve fibres connecting the centres of hearing and of voice, the nerve impulse is sent to the vocal organs which causes them to assume the positions and perform the muscular contractions necessary for the production of the desired tone. Thus the voice is controlled by the ear, and it needs no other form of control than that furnished by the ear. A correct management of the voice in singing results in the production of tones of a distinct characteristic sound, while any incorrect use of the voice produces tones which differ from the correct type, more or less, according to the degree of faultiness in the vocal management. The ear is the only reliable judge of the voice. Only by listening to the tones it produces can it be determined whether a voice is correctly used or not. The object of vocal cultivation is first of all to enable the voice to produce the correct type of tone. This is accomplished by practice, which consists of repeated efforts to sing tones of the type recognized by the ear as correct. If the ear has the right conception of pure tone, the vocal organs gradually fall into the way of producing correct tones, that is, of operating in the correct manner. In this the voice is guided by its own instincts, which offer a safer and more efficient guidance than that provided by the conscious management of the vocal organs. No attention whatever need be paid to the mechanical operations of tone production. The vocal organs are informed by the mental ear what is expected of them, and perform their functions instinctively without any help from the intellect.

One advantage of the psychological doctrine is that it at once dispels all the mystery which has seemed to surround the early history of the subject, and which has extended even to the method of the Italian teachers of bel canto. Little notice has indeed been taken of the systems of vocal cultivation which flourished before the rise of the Italian school of vocal teachers. But since the universal adoption of the scientific doctrine, repeated efforts have been made to penetrate the secret of the old method. These efforts have always resulted in failure, for the reason already mentioned. Investigators have sought to re-discover the form of instruction used for the purpose of imparting a direct conscious control of the vocal organs; their conviction that no other means of vocal command is possible has blinded students of the subject to the instinctive processes actually followed. As our main purpose in the present chapter is to describe the system now known as the old Italian method, a fuller treatment of its records, both literary and traditional, will be reserved for a later section. A review of the early history of voice culture will lead most readily to the consideration of the old Italian method.

II

Ancient systems of vocal culture call for only passing mention. In the early civilizations of Egypt, Chaldea and Assyria the art of singing was cultivated assiduously. In the services of the temples this ancient art found its most serious and dignified employment. Each of the countries named possessed, at the time of its highest civilization, a highly elaborate ritual of worship, in which singing played a most important part. Every temple had its corps of trained singers, who were especially educated for this office. The most important feature of the education of the temple singers was the memorizing of the musical settings to which the various poems and chronicles of the ritual were sung and chanted. The course of instruction consisted of the actual singing of the music, under the tuition of a master whose memory was stored with the entire devotional repertoire of the cult. A proper performance of the music was the object sought, and to this the most earnest attention was paid. But incident to this was the production of the quality and type of tones which experience had shown to be best adapted to the use of the voice in the massive temples and in the open-air services. The temple music schools were under the constant supervision of the priests and other officials in charge and the classes met regularly for instruction and practice.

Very much the same system was followed in the Temple at Jerusalem. Of the musical system developed there we have a highly complete and satisfactory record. Here the art of singing was carried to a very high pitch of development. At the time of Solomon there were 4,000 Levites attached to the Temple, whose office it was to sing and intone the various services. The elaborate ritual contained musical settings for the Psalms and certain of the historical and prophetic books, which demanded a high degree of vocal ability for their rendition. Both the priests and the Levites received a lengthy training in the singing of the music allotted to them. The music of the Temple is especially interesting to the student of the history of singing, for the reason that it included a remarkably developed system of vocal ornamentation. It would have been impossible to sing this music without a thorough command of the voice, and the education of the priests and Levites therefore included a comprehensive system of vocal cultivation.

The experience of the early masters of the old Italian school taught them that the best means for training the voice in facility and flexibility is the actual singing of ornamental florid music. This was also the plan followed in the school attached to the Temple. A system of notation was in use, somewhat similar to that of the neumes used in Europe from the ninth to the thirteenth century. Every standard ornament and melodic phrase was represented by a letter, according to a strictly arbitrary system. A most important part of the Temple method of musical instruction was the memorizing of the various phrases, groups, runs, etc., represented by the significant letters. This was purely a matter of convention, that is, the meaning of the letters was recorded only in the memories of the instructors and the graduate students. The instructor taught the phrase for which a letter stood by singing it for his students and having them sing it after him until they had committed it to memory and learned to associate it with the letter. As the musical phrases were all melodious and in most cases ornamental, the voice thus received an effective training. One of the puzzling aspects of the first solo singing in European music is the difficulty found in tracing the origin of the vocal embellishments of which it so largely consisted. A possible explanation of this mystery may be found in the music of the Temple. How the traditions so carefully treasured there could have found their way into Italy after the lapse of nearly 2,000 years will be considered in a later section of this chapter.

In classic Athens the voice was trained for the purposes of both oratory and singing. A specially recognized profession was that of the vocal trainer or phonascus, whose duties embraced the vocal cultivation of both singers and public speakers. A well-developed system of voice culture was followed by these teachers, who superintended classes in the daily practice of systematic exercises. For the training of the speaking voice a pupil began his daily practice by repeating detached sentences at short intervals. From this he passed to the declamation of long phrases, beginning on the lowest notes of the voice, raising the pitch gradually until the highest notes were reached, and then again descending to the lowest range. The exercises in singing were very similar, although greater attention was paid to the sustaining of high notes. Owing to the immense size of the Greek open-air theatres, and to the masks that were always worn by the actors, volume and power of voice were of the utmost importance. The actors might justly be described as singers, as all their speeches were delivered in a style of vocal declamation not unlike our modern recitative.

Very much the same methods of vocal cultivation were followed in ancient Rome, although much more attention was paid to oratory than to singing. There is no reason to believe that voice culture in Europe was influenced in any way by the classic systems of either Greece or Rome.

III

Vocal cultivation in Europe had an independent beginning. It may be that some of the musical traditions of the Hebrew Temple had been carried over into the earlier churches which were founded in Italy, as there is no doubt that the same traditions were adopted as the basis of the Eastern church ritual at Constantinople. Certain it is that prior to the reform of St. Ambrose much of the music of the early Roman church was highly ornamental in character. At any rate, with the founding of the choir school attached to the Pontifical chapel at Rome in the year 590 voice culture made a new start; it underwent a steady development, and continued to progress without interruption until it reached its fullest fruition in the Italian school of singing in the seventeenth century. The choir school at Rome was intended to serve as a model for the entire Western church; it supplied singers for the papal choir, which was established to illustrate the proper rendition of Gregorian music. At the beginning the course of instruction followed in the Roman choir school was extremely rudimentary, and so it continued for several centuries. The maestro di cappella had as part of his duties the training of the singers’ voices. This was accomplished according to the purely instinctive system followed in the similar schools of the ancient temples. The students committed to memory the music as it was sung by the choir master; in the course of their constant repetition of the various musical numbers their voices received the necessary training and development. Schools similar to that at Rome were established at all the great cathedrals and the Roman system of musical instruction was thus spread over the entire church.

Throughout the Middle Ages musical learning and culture—what little there was of them—were the exclusive property of the church, and the only centres of musical instruction were the choir schools. Every advance which music made during these centuries involved an extension of the art of singing, and this necessitated of course a corresponding progress of the art of vocal training. Progress was painfully slow; indeed little can be pointed out as marking any distinct advance until the invention of the sol-fa system of instruction by Guido d’Arezzo about the year 1100.[4] On the basis of this system an entirely new form of musical education was erected, which continued to flourish until well along in the 17th century. The new system of musical instruction consisted of what we should now call a training in sight singing.

The first method of vocal culture worthy the name was a natural outgrowth of the sol-fa system. Students were trained in a knowledge of the intervals by singing the ut, re, mi syllables in different combinations. Choir masters were not slow to observe that this form of study offered excellent means for acquiring a command of the voice. With the exception of the first one, ut, all the sol-fa syllables are sonorous and easily sung. The difficulty attached to the singing of ut was obviated by substituting for it the syllable do. Constant singing of the syllables was found to have an admirable effect on the voice, and they were soon adopted as the basis of vocal instruction. Sol-fa practice was made to serve a double purpose; both the ear and the voice received the due measure of attention. Vocal training was not at this time, nor indeed for several centuries later, thought to require any very close attention. It was simply an incident in the general musical education. The demands made on the voice were slight in comparison with the requirements of the music of a few centuries later. Music had long been strictly unisonic in character, but about the time of Guido the need of some addition to a single melody began to be noted.

A peculiarity of the single voice is the fact that while capable of singing melodies of an almost infinite variety it seems to the cultured ear to need support of some kind. While untutored people are content to listen to the singing of a voice without any accompaniment, a certain degree of culture brings with it a sense of bareness conveyed by a performance of this kind. Toward the close of the dark ages this feature of the voice attracted the attention of the church musicians. They hit upon the device of having a second voice accompany the first, singing another melody which should have a pleasing effect in conjunction with the original one. This marked the beginning of counterpoint, and it gave a direction to the art of music from which it did not depart for many centuries.

With the gradual extension of polyphonic writing the education of singers became constantly a more complex and exacting matter. Greater demands were made on both the voice and the musicianship of the choral singer. No great modification was, however, made in the system of instruction; this developed along the lines already marked out for it. Sight singing continued to be the basis of musical education. As time went on it became necessary for the singers to master the system of musical notation, and this was accomplished by a farther extension of the course in sight singing. An understanding of the rules of counterpoint was not obligatory on the part of the choristers, but many of them received sufficient instruction to fit them for both composition and teaching. Composers and teachers were without exception graduates of the choir schools; a musical education could not be obtained elsewhere. Music study had indeed no other purpose than to train students in the music of the church. Instruction in counterpoint and composition was not undertaken until the students had mastered the rudiments of music and had also received their vocal training in the sight singing classes. Every musician was a singer as a matter of course.

Musical culture gradually spread from the church and began to embrace a wider field. During the 15th and the 16th centuries there was a steady approximation of the two orders of music, scholarly and popular. Every little royal and princely court had its retinue of musicians. Polyphonic music had reached a degree of development where its beauty brought it within the reach of the enjoyment of the great mass of the people.

Composers had, indeed, begun to write secular ‘art’ music as early as the thirteenth century. As civilization and culture advanced, and secular music received a constantly greater measure of attention, the demands made on lay musicians became more exacting. The old fashion of singing and playing entirely by ear no longer sufficed for the requirements of cultured people. Musicians were obliged to fit themselves for their profession by obtaining a fair degree of technical knowledge. Many who had enjoyed the training of the choir schools forsook their employment in the church and devoted themselves to the practice of secular music.

The field of musical education also broadened. People who looked forward to embracing the musical profession began to seek instruction from graduates of the choir schools. But the idea of private instruction did not become popular for a long time. Music had always been taught in special schools, and the need of such schools of a secular character soon became manifest. The first institution of this type to attain any degree of prominence was that founded in Bologna in 1482 by a Spanish musician, Ramis di Pareja. It adopted the system of instruction followed in the choir schools. The century following the establishment of the Bologna school was one of great activity in secular musical instruction. Conservatories were founded in most of the great European cities, although Italy was the chief centre of education in music.

Polyphonic music had been steadily progressing and, at the period we have now reached (the sixteenth century), its proper performance called for singers of no mean ability. The traditional system of musical education had steadily expanded and had without difficulty kept abreast of the demands made on it. The strictly musical education of the singer required a longer and more exacting course of study, and so also did the technical training of the voice. Composers of this period showed a marked fondness for florid counterpoint and voices had to be cultivated to a high point of flexibility to sing their works satisfactorily.

Yet no sweeping alteration was made in the system of vocal cultivation. Flexibility of voice was acquired through practice in the singing of individual parts of contrapuntal works, those being chosen which presented technical difficulties in a convenient form. This advanced stage of vocal training was undertaken only after the rudimentary principles of singing had been mastered in the sight-singing classes. In spite of the greater technical demands made on the voice, the proper management of the vocal organs was not seen to involve a problem of any difficulty. Sight singing classes numbered sometimes as many as forty pupils. The instructor in this primary grade was expected to see that the students sang clearly and in tune, and that they avoided the faults of nasality and throatiness. To the matter of tone production the teacher could of course pay very little attention, as the rudiments of music were the main subject of study. Yet the few hints and corrections occasionally given by the sight-singing teacher were all the instruction that the students received in the management of the voice. On the completion of the course in sight singing the students were expected to produce their voices properly, as well as to sing difficult music at sight. No pupil could be admitted to the classes for advanced instruction in singing whose voice was not properly controlled.

IV

Up to the latter part of the sixteenth century there was nothing to give promise of a sudden development of solo singing. Popular music had as a matter of fact consisted from time immemorial largely of singing by a single voice. The musical instincts of the great mass of the people had found expression in the folk-song, while the semi-cultured classes had long cultivated the arts of the various orders of Troubadours and Minnesingers. But these popular forms of music were looked upon by the trained musicians with a certain contempt. Music had to be sung in parts by several voices in order to be worthy of recognition as serious art. Polyphonic music utterly ignores the capabilities of beauty and expressiveness inherent in the single voice. When several melodies are sung at once, each one of equal importance with all the others, it is impossible for one voice to receive more attention than another. Yet a time came when music was forced to break the bonds of polyphony and free itself from the restraints imposed upon it by multiple part-writing. Greater command of beauty and expressiveness was precisely the end sought by those composers, notably Palestrina, whose work marks the culmination of the polyphonic school. The spirit of the time was seeking for greater freedom in the expression of the musical instinct and singers and musicians alike were moved by this spirit. Solo singing was the inevitable result of a pressing demand.

Two entirely distinct sets of influences were instrumental in leading musicians to experiment with the solo voice. The first of these can be traced back to the practising of individual parts in choral works as a medium of vocal cultivation. A singer practising a part of this kind by himself could not fail to notice that he used his voice with greater freedom and satisfaction than when obliged to consider only the effect of his voice in conjunction with other singers. So also would the master who was instructing him in his part. Highly significant is the fact that this discovery was made in the singing of florid music. Rather elaborate passages of the florid type were selected for vocal practice and these would naturally be adapted for bringing out the purely sensuous beauty of the voice. Florid counterpoint thus contained within itself the germs of coloratura singing. As singers began to recognize the beauties of their own individual voices, the desire naturally arose to display these beauties to others. Opportunity for vocal display was, however, lacking, as no music had ever been written for the solo voice. This difficulty was finally overcome by a singer performing only one part of a contrapuntal work and having the other parts played as an accompaniment by instrumental performers. The first solos sung in the history of European musical art were of this type. As early as 1539 a four-part madrigal was produced in this manner, the highest soprano part being sung as a solo. The fashion spread rapidly and solo singing soon began to attract the serious attention of musicians.[5]

Singers were of course anxious to exhibit their voices. Polyphonic music offered them little scope in this regard, for florid writing was distributed among the various parts and it was impossible for the artists to find works which contained more than an occasional ornamental passage for any one voice. They hit naturally upon the device of adding ornaments according to their own taste and fancy to the part selected for solo performance. Kiesewetter reproduces a madrigal sung in this manner by a noted soprano singer, Vittoria Archilei, in 1589. Both the original soprano part and the same part as embellished by Archilei are reproduced here.

a. Simple melody of treble part

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Dalle più alte sfere
dalle più alte sfere
di celesti Sirene
di celesti Sirene

b. Melody as sung by Vittoria Archilei

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Dalle più alte sfere
dalle più alte sfere
di celesti Sirene
di celesti Sirene

Vocal ornamentation had by this time become a recognized fashion among the singers. Considerable mystery surrounds the origin of the various ornaments and fiorituri which were adopted by the singers at this early period in the history of solo singing. A possible source from which they may have been drawn was mentioned in our remarks on the music of the Temple at Jerusalem. Much of this music was preserved by tradition and was incorporated, with modifications of course, in the ritual of the Greek Catholic church at Constantinople. Highly ornamental in character, it was performed regularly in the Greek church for many centuries. At the dispersal of the cultured Greeks following the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1452, many musicians trained in the music of the Greek church found their way into Italy. This gradual exodus continued indeed for many years, and it is probable that the traditions of ornamental music thus came to the knowledge of the Italian singers. Certain it is that the early singers adopted the same type of ornamentation which had been perfected at Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years previously. Exactly the same variety of turns, trills, runs, gruppetti, etc., are contained in the following examples of Hebrew and Greek music as were employed by the solo singers at the close of the sixteenth century.

Hebrew

(transcribed by Fétis)

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Horuch attoh adonoï elohemi melech hoolom
jozer or uvore choscheh sch scholom uvore es haccol or olom
h’jotzer chajim oros meofel omar vajehi.

Byzantine

(transcribed by Fétis)

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Erra nan myra métadakry on Epitomné
masou ai gynaikes kai Eplétheé
charas tostoma autou.
Entolegein. Anéstéo kyrios.

It is not necessary, however, to speculate on the causes which led the first solo singers to adorn their songs with fiorituri. Ornamental singing has always been a natural and instinctive form of expression. The fondness of primitive peoples for vocal embellishments has been noted by many observers, prominent among whom is Frederick R. Burton (‘American Primitive Music,’ New York, 1909). In the Orient singing of the florid type has always had its home. Returning Crusaders brought back with them many songs and melodies from Palestine, all characterized by runs, turns, and other ornaments. The fashion was taken up by the Troubadours and Trouvères, who familiarized their hearers with the idea of melodic elaboration by means of florid passages. Even in the church the officiating priests for many centuries had a fondness for introducing ornaments in their singing of the masses. Ornamental singing seems to be prompted by some deep-seated instinct and its universal popular appeal must be attributed to the same instinct.

Coloratura singing was thus the foundation of the new art of vocal solo performance. Musical historians generally attach more importance in this connection to the invention of dramatic recitative. This is due in great measure to the fact that the records deal much more fully with the latter subject, and also to the adoption of declamatory recitative as the basis of the art form of opera.[6] Solo singing owed its sudden and unprecedented bound into popularity to the delight which people took in vocal ornamentation. Even the opera itself was indebted for its rapid advance to the public demand for coloratura singing. Indeed it seems hardly too much to say that coloratura singing was the first type of art music to find its way to the affections of the general public.

Up to about 1600, artistic music, despite its rapid development in the hundred years preceding, had been the possession only of the cultured and wealthy classes. But with the opening of the opera houses the new art form was brought within the reach of the great body of the people. That the public responded so enthusiastically to the new form of entertainment thus offered them was due in great measure to the delight people took in coloratura singing. Composers soon found that in order to please the public they must provide ornamental solos for the singers. This was of course opposed to the views of the little group of Florentine gentlemen who projected the first performances of opera; they considered musical declamation to be sufficient for all the purposes of a truly dramatic art. But the public thought otherwise and demanded to hear the singers in solos which displayed the full beauties of their voices. Monteverdi’s Orfeo, produced in 1607, contains a number of elaborate coloratura songs.

A striking fact regarding the system of vocal instruction in vogue during the later decades of the sixteenth century is that it sufficed for the training of the first solo singers. Artists whose education had not been designed to fit them for the performance of solo music were yet able to take up this music and to sing it satisfactorily after they had left their teachers. Even though it was intended only for the performance of choral works, the system of vocal training then in vogue enabled singers to master the new art of solo singing for themselves. The advance of solo singing did not lead to the abandonment of the traditional course of instruction. On the contrary, the same system continued to be applied, extended only to meet the new requirements imposed on it by the great elaboration of vocal technique. By 1650 coloratura singing was firmly established as the favorite branch of music, and for more than 200 years following it was one of the chief glories of the art.

An abundance of singers of a high degree of excellence were provided by the conservatories and by the many private teachers who practised their profession in the chief cities of Italy. The most famous musicians did not disdain to embrace the new profession of voice culture. A sincere devotion to the art of bel canto was displayed by the teachers of the early part of the seventeenth century; each one strove to advance the standards of singing, to discover new possibilities of beauty, range, and flexibility in the voice, to invent new and delightful ornaments. The composers vied with the vocal teachers in seeking always for greater beauty and expressiveness. How successful they were is proved by the rapid expansion of the opera.

A marked influence in the elevation of the standards of singing was exerted through the introduction of the male soprano voice. Whether the voices of the castrati possessed all the wonderful charm and beauty of quality attributed to them by musical writers of the time we cannot now determine. But there is no question that voices of this type are specially favored in their ability to master the most astounding technical difficulties. The castrati enjoyed an almost incredible popularity. More has been written about Farinelli and Caffarelli than about any other artists of the old bel canto period. Historically considered, the singers of this type are highly important because of the contribution they made to the elevation of the vocal art. Their achievements became the standard toward which all other artists were called upon to strive. While we need have no regret over the disappearance of the male soprano, his value in the development of bel canto cannot be ignored.

Apotheosis of Farinelli

From an engraving by Wagner after the contemporaneous painting by Amicorni.

A lineal succession of vocal teachers was well established by 1630. Several masters of the art had acquired excellent reputations even so early as 1600. Each famous teacher had many pupils who in their turn took up the profession of teaching and who almost invariably based their claims to recognition on the reputation of the master, as well as on their own excellence as singers. This maestral succession, or rather many of them, continued down to comparatively recent times. The changed conditions which came about in the twenty years following the invention of the laryngoscope (1855) finally broke down the influence of the teachers who had inherited the old masters’ system, and the authority of the old method was for a time almost destroyed. In recent years, however, there has been a great revival of interest in the methods of instruction followed by the old masters. There is a growing feeling that scientific methods have not fulfilled their promise, and vocalists look back upon the earlier centuries of voice culture as a golden age which has passed away.

V

The old Italian method is now considered to have possessed some merits which are not shared by modern scientific systems. Yet a certain degree of mystery still surrounds the old method. Welcome as its revival would be to many teachers and students, great difficulty is met with in determining of just what it consisted. Many analyses and explanations of the old method have indeed been suggested. But as these consist almost entirely of attempts to find in it some means for the direct conscious management of the vocal organs, they have necessarily brought forth little that is of value. All the mystery surrounding the old method is dispelled by the understanding that it did not treat the vocal problem as capable of solution by mechanical means.

The old Italian method was simply an amplification of the system of vocal education which had been in course of development for nearly a thousand years. It embodied no new conception of vocal management, but continued to treat the control of the voice as a purely instinctive matter. Its chief contribution to the technical training of the voice was the adoption of vocalises and exercises specially designed for this purpose. Even that was a matter of rather slow development. During the early decades of the seventeenth century vocal teachers continued to select passages from standard musical works which lent themselves readily to the technical exercise of the voice, just as the teachers of the preceding century had done. Gradually it came to be seen that greater satisfaction could be obtained from the use of compositions arranged to bring in the various technical points and vocal embellishments one or two at a time. Thus the voice could be led by an easy gradation to the mastery of every technical difficulty and its training was rendered easier and more expeditious.

But the general scheme of instruction continued to be patterned after the traditional model. A complete musical education, not only the special cultivation of the voice, was the goal. The plan of combining the preliminary training in vocal management with instruction in the rudiments of music continued to be followed as late as 1750. Many famous masters employed assistant teachers to perform the drudgery of the initial stages of instruction, considering that their own high degree of culture entitled them to deal only with advanced students. This custom continued for at least one hundred years, and Tosi (1723) speaks of it as a system so well established as to need no comment.

It is sometimes said that a course of instruction in singing according to the old Italian method required from five to seven years of study. This is in one sense true. Yet it is by no means the case that so long a time was devoted to the technical training of the voice. A thorough musical education was included in this course, of which the first two or three years were spent entirely on the rudiments of music. The course of instruction included also a complete training for the operatic stage, as well as a repertoire of parts sufficient to enable the graduating student to secure an engagement at one of the opera houses. In the latter part of the eighteenth century specialization in vocal education began to be the rule. Students whose parents foresaw for them the possibilities of a vocal career were prepared by a thorough musical education before being sent to a vocal teacher. Under these circumstances the technical training of the voice was frequently accomplished in less than two years.

VI

It is to be regretted that so little mention is made by musical historians of the methods of instruction followed by the old masters. Vocal teachers of the old school seem to have been so absorbed in their work that the idea of writing books seldom occurred to them. A vast quantity of vocalises composed by teachers for their students has been preserved and many of these are incorporated in books of exercises now available. A few masters were, however, thoughtful enough to provide posterity with some knowledge of their system of instruction. The first of these was Caccini, whose importance as a vocal teacher should not be overlooked on account of his especial eminence as the first composer to write music for the solo voice.

In 1601 Caccini published a large number of his compositions for the solo voice under the title of Le Nuove Musiche, a book which is now of almost inestimable value. It contains vocal pieces in both the styles then in vogue. It is surprising to see from some of these florid songs the high degree of vocal virtuosity possessed by the singers of that early time. In his preface Caccini gives an outline of his system of vocal training. This consists entirely of rules and directions for the execution of the various ornaments of singing. Here he shows himself to have possessed a pure and refined taste, as well as a most profound love for the beauties of the voice. Yet he does not touch on the subject of vocal management, proving that he had not had occasion to depart from the instinctive methods in which he himself had been trained.

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Muove si dolce e si soave
guerra lu singando i pensier bel tà mortale,
ch’a volo un cor non spiegheria mai l’ale
per sollevarsi peregrin da terra,
se non scendesse a risvegliarlo Amore,
per sollevarsi pellegrin da terra se non scendesse a risvegliarlo Amore.

Two other interesting works by teachers of the old school are ‘Observations on the Florid Song’ (1723), by Pietro Francesco Tosi, and Riflessioni Pratiche sul Canto Figurato (1776), by Giovanni Battista Mancini. Both these writers devote themselves mainly to a discussion of vocal embellishments and fiorituri, just as did Caccini so many years earlier. What little they say about the management of the voice shows that the old idea of reliance on instinctive vocal guidance had not weakened in their day.

Another highly valuable work, the latest which can be considered of original value in throwing light on the old Italian method, is the Méthode de Chant du Conservatoire de Musique (Paris, 1803). This method was drawn up by the most eminent musicians in Paris at that time, including even Cherubini and Méhul. They and several others of almost equal rank were commissioned by the revolutionary government to devise an official system of vocal education. Yet there is nothing revolutionary about the method, for it does not depart in any important particular from the system of instruction described by Tosi and Mancini.

Particular interest attaches to the Méthode because it was the first complete practical work on its subject ever published. Tosi and Mancini did not include a single exercise or musical illustration in their books, but contented themselves with verbal descriptions of the portamento, messa di voce, appoggiatura, etc. The Méthode on the other hand consists almost entirely of a collection of exercises, scales, vocalises, and arias, carefully graded according to difficulty. These were collected from many sources by the most celebrated vocal teacher in Paris at that time, Bernardo Mengozzi, the head of the vocal department at the Conservatoire. Everything necessary for the thorough cultivation of the voice according to Mengozzi’s conception of the subject was included in the Méthode. A student was expected to start with the first exercise and study each one consecutively, the voice steadily progressing until technical perfection was assured with the mastery of the last aria. No distinction was made between voices, high and low, male and female, for all were put through the same course of study. Cherubini thought so highly of the Méthode that he took a copy with him on his visit to Vienna in 1805 for the purpose of himself presenting it to Beethoven.

All that has come down to us of the oral traditions of the old school is summed up in a set of cogent phrases which are commonly known as the traditional precepts. These are, ‘open the throat,’ ‘sing on the breath,’ ‘sing the tone forward,’ and ‘support the tone.’ No literary authority can be given for the precepts, as they are not mentioned in any works published earlier than about 1830. It is possible that they do not date back much further than this. Perhaps they represent the first attempts made by vocal teachers to interpret their instruction according to the scientific ideas of vocal operation which were just beginning to become current about that time.

How this could have been the case is readily seen. A perfect vocal tone sounds as though it floats on the breath. The correct singer’s throat seems to the hearer to be loose and open and the tone seems to be lodged in the front of the mouth. When the attention of vocal teachers began to be turned to the mechanical operations of tone production they might naturally have been led to observe first those salient features of tone which seem to point to a definite vocal action.

Yet it is more likely that the old masters actually used the precepts in instruction merely to point out to their pupils these striking peculiarities in the sound of the perfect vocal tone. We know that they always held up before their students a high ideal of artistic singing. A use of the precepts in this way would be of great service in helping the students to hear how perfect singing should sound. To imitate successfully it is necessary in the first place to hear distinctly. Pointing out the marked characteristics of the perfect tone enables the ear to know what to listen for.

It must be borne in mind that the old Italian method was never standardized. No such thing as a school of recognized authority, to whose principles all teachers were obliged to adhere, was ever evolved. Each master taught according to his own ideas, and no central authority or governing body ever undertook to lay out a standard method. Yet the old masters all followed the same general plan of instruction. In some of its aspects this plan is thoroughly understood. Students were taught to sing correctly and artistically solely through the exercise of their voices in actual singing. The materials used for vocal training were scales, exercises, and vocalises without and with words. These were without exception melodious, and the musical and artistic aspects of singing received attention from the beginning of instruction to the end. Singing was considered always on its musical side and its mechanical features were never touched upon. The voice was led on by a gradual progression from the easy to the difficult.

During the seventeenth century it was the custom for the teachers to compose exercises and vocalises specially for each pupil, suiting the technical and musical requirements to the pupil’s stage of advancement. As this custom died out, teachers provided themselves with extensive and carefully graded lists of compositions in all the various styles suitable for instruction.

Coming finally to the question, what means the old masters utilized for imparting the correct management of the voice, we find that in the sense in which this problem is understood in modern vocal science they had no method whatever. It is difficult for one imbued with the idea of direct vocal management to believe that the voice can possibly be trained without the student knowing in the first place how to produce his tones correctly. Yet it would have been equally hard for a master of the old school to understand what we moderns mean by the conscious control of the vocal organs. It never entered into the minds of the old masters that there could be any difficulty about the management of the voice. ‘Listen and imitate’ summed up for them all that need be known, indeed all that could be known on the subject. They aimed directly at tonal perfection as a matter of sound and did not think of attempting to reach it by the roundabout course of vocal mechanics.

The early teachers of the old school were the direct inheritors of the traditions stored up as the result of the experiences of vocal instructors through a period of many centuries. During all this time the voice had been allowed to operate according to its own instincts. Although in the last century of this period the rapid advance of the musical arts had imposed demands of constantly increasing difficulty on the voice, it continued to fulfill these demands in its own instinctive way. The ability of the voice to produce the tones exacted of it by the ear was never doubted. There was no need for a vocal teacher of the old school to formulate or justify his belief in the voice’s ability to follow the guidance of the ear. No one at that time had ever thought of questioning this ability. Yet if one of these masters had been called upon to state in doctrinal form his theory of the vocal action, it would probably have been something like this:

The correct use of the voice, that manner of vocal emission which leads through practice to technical perfection, is naturally acquired by exercise in the actual singing of correct tones. Provided the student have a clear mental conception of the type of vocal tone which results from a correct manner of tone production, the voice will gradually adapt itself to the correct form of action, through repeated efforts at imitating the correct tone as a matter of sound. In order to practise singing effectively it is necessary only that the ear shall be acquainted with the sound of a properly produced tone and that it shall demand tones of this character from the voice. Faults of production, whether throaty, nasal, or breathy tones be the result, will gradually disappear as the student learns to hear his own voice with greater keenness and accuracy. The correct use of the voice is gradually acquired and there is no time in the course of this progress at which any change takes place in the manner of directing and guiding the voice.

A high standard of musical beauty and vocal excellence was always kept prominently before the minds of the pupils. The students were required to know how a correctly sung passage should sound, and all their practice was aimed at the imitation of this sound. The ear was expressly recognized as the sole judge of vocal correctness. When a pupil sang incorrectly the master would imitate the faulty tones, for the pupil to hear what was wrong in the sound. Then the master would sing the passage correctly, that the pupil might hear the perfect tones and adopt them as a model for imitation.

So far as our present knowledge of the old method goes, it embodied no definitely stated principles for the management of the voice. Although the problem of tone production is, in present estimation, the most important topic of voice culture, the older system seems to have ignored this problem completely. It simply took for granted that the voice will operate correctly if it is guided by a keen ear and directed by a fine musical and artistic sensibility. No doubt it had its failures, but we have a record only of its successes. These were so many and so brilliant that we must accord to the old Italian method the recognition due to a complete and satisfactory system of voice culture.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Cf. Vol. I, pp. 167-172.

[5] For a fuller treatment of this phase of musical history, the rise of ‘monody,’ see Vol. I, chapters IX and XI.

[6] Cf. Vol. I, chap. XI.

CHAPTER III
MODERN SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF VOICE CULTURE

The transition from the old to the modern system; historical review of scientific investigation; Manuel García; progress of the scientific idea; Helmholtz, Mandl, and Merkel—Diversity of practices in modern methods; the scientific system; breathing; laryngeal action; registers; resonance; emission of tone; the singer’s sensations; correction of faults; articulation—General view of modern voice culture.

I

Students of the history of voice culture usually consider that the invention of the laryngoscope (1855) marks the beginning of the modern scientific system of training the voice. It is of course convenient to have a precise date to which any important change in human beliefs can be referred. Yet in this matter it is hardly possible to fix upon any one event as the only influence which brought about the change. As a matter of fact, there was a gradual and for a time almost imperceptible transition from the so-called empirical methods of the old school to the modern methods.

Scientific investigation of the vocal mechanism began, so far as the record shows, with Hippocrates, 460 B. C. His work on anatomy contains references to the vocal organs, showing that he had some ideas, rather vague it is true, about their structure. Aristotle (384 B. C.) recognized the larynx as the point of production of the voice. Galen (130 A. D.) wrote a valuable treatise on the anatomy of the throat. He gave the name of glottis to the space between the vocal cords, and his work was the standard authority on the subject for more than fifteen hundred years. Fabricius of Aquapendente, 1537, published a work embodying the results of his own dissections of the throat. He added greatly to the materials of Galen, although his ideas of the operations of tone production were hardly so sound as those of his classic predecessor.

In 1741 a French physician, Ferrein, published a little treatise entitled De la Formation de la Voix de l’Homme. This marks the beginning of the modern interest in the subject of the vocal action, as it was the first work on vocal physiology to receive any attention from those interested in singing. Among other things Ferrein gave the name of vocal cords to the edges of the muscles inclosing the glottis.

Dutrochet in 1806 compared the action of the glottis to that of the lips in playing the horn. He asserted that the sonorous vibrations of vocal sounds are generated by the muscles whose edges are formed by the vocal cords, and not by the vocal cords alone. Liscovius, in 1814, and Savart, in 1825, also published treatises, but their work served rather to foster the growing interest in the subject than to add anything of value to the general fund of knowledge. Johannes Müller, in 1837, showed that a compass of two octaves can be obtained by forcing air through an exsected larynx and varying the tension of the vocal cords.

In the early years of the nineteenth century the results of scientific investigation of the voice began to attract the attention of the most enlightened vocal teachers. There was indeed no dissatisfaction with the methods of instruction then in vogue. Yet a general feeling can be noted by a student of the literature of the subject as setting in about that time, a feeling that systems of voice culture might be improved by applying to them the results of the most recent scientific discoveries. Two important works by vocal teachers may be cited in this connection, Die Kunst des Gesanges, by Adolph Bernhard Mark (1826), and Die grosse italienische Gesangschule, by Heinrich F. Mannstein (1834). In both of these books the point of view generally held at that time is clearly indicated. While the old Italian method was held to be thoroughly satisfactory in every respect, there is a desire to explain this method and to place it on an assured basis of demonstrated scientific principles. No thought of direct vocal management as a necessity, or even as a possibility, can be discovered in these two works.

Manuel García (1805-1906), the vocal teacher who contributed most to the promulgation of the scientific idea, had at the beginning of his career exactly the same plan as Mannstein and Mark. His father, Manuel del Popolo Viscenti, was one of the most eminent musicians of the time. Famous as singer, teacher, impresario, and composer, the older García was in possession of all the traditions of the Italian school. From his father García received the traditional method in its entirety. Retiring from the operatic stage in 1832, García took up actively the profession of voice culture. Even as early as this he had definitely formulated a plan for the improvement of vocal methods. Yet at that time he had in mind nothing of the nature of a sweeping change. In the preface to his first important work, École de García, 1847, he stated that his intention was ‘to reproduce my father’s method, attempting only to give it a more theoretical form, and to connect results with causes.’

With this seemingly modest program García could not rest content. His ambition to penetrate all the mysteries of the voice led him to master the anatomy of the throat, as well as what was then known of acoustics. He was impatient to know what actually takes place in the larynx during the production of tone. After several years of experimenting he finally succeeded in viewing his own vocal cords by means of a little mirror held in the back of the throat. His announcement of his invention was published in the proceedings of the Royal Society of London in May, 1855.

By this time the idea of the improvement of voice culture was very generally held. García’s invention was hailed as the beginning of a new era in vocal instruction. It was coming also to be generally felt that the only way in which the scientific knowledge of the voice could be utilized in instruction would be by having the student of singing cause his vocal organs to operate in the manner that science had shown to be correct. While no one at that time stated this principle in definite terms, it was generally assumed as a matter of course. Within the twenty years following García’s invention the doctrine of the scientific management of the voice had been almost universally adopted. Against this tacit conviction in favor of the necessity of direct vocal management the instinctive methods of the old masters could make no stand. The old method gradually disappeared and the doctrine implied in the empirical system—that the voice needs no guidance other than that furnished by the ear—found no defenders. Since 1875 the belief in the necessity of consciously governing the vocal organs has been the dominating idea of vocal students and teachers throughout the world.

Manuel García

From a sketch from life by Pauline Viardot.

Of importance only second to García’s study of the vocal cord action was Helmholtz’s analysis of the acoustic laws of resonance, especially as they apply to tone and vowel formation. Merkel’s Der Kehlkopf (1873) is the standard work on the operations of the larynx. Dr. Louis Mandl, in Die Gesundheitslehre der Stimme (1876), first announced the principle of breath control. A vast number of other investigators have contributed to the subject and it is safe to say that the vocal action has been studied from every conceivable point of view. It is, however, not necessary here to trace the development of vocal science and to record the work of each student who has made original contributions to the common fund of knowledge.

II

In our first chapter the generally accepted theories regarding the operations of the vocal mechanism were outlined, and the same plan will be followed in describing the scientific methods of instruction most widely adopted. Modern methods of voice culture have indeed never been standardized. While teachers generally have adopted very nearly the same course, there is a wide diversity of opinion and practice to be found concerning each one of the topics of vocal science. Almost every one of these topics has indeed been the subject of controversy. Yet within recent years the leading authorities have come into fair accord in their application of the various principles. We shall therefore describe the method which has in its favor a consensus of opinion on the part of the best recognized teachers, without offering any statement as to its soundness or adequacy.

First it will be necessary to point out the exact position which the scientific element occupies in the modern system of voice culture. Vocal science has never aimed at a complete revolution of the practices of instruction in singing. Its purpose is rather to divide this instruction into two stages and to take as its province only the first stage. Starting with the well known fact that the voice has only one correct mode of operating, it seeks to impart this correct manner of tone production to the student as a preliminary to the technical training of the voice, strictly speaking. This is the only important point in which the modern system differs from the old Italian method. The initial work of imparting the correct vocal action is commonly called the ‘placing of the voice.’ To accomplish this is the sole purpose of vocal science, and the scientific method of instruction is designed only to apply to this initial stage. When the correct management of the voice has been acquired through a course of instruction according to scientific principles, the student is held to be ready to undertake the technical and musical education of the singer. This second stage of instruction is conducted almost exactly according to the system of the old masters.

Four elements are included in the scientific system of vocal training. These follow naturally the four distinct operations of singing—breathing, laryngeal action, resonance, and articulation.

Exercises designed to impart the correct manner of breathing are usually given first as toneless gymnastic drills. The student is instructed to fill the lungs in a prescribed fashion (generally that described in Chapter I), and to make sure that the expansion of abdomen and chest takes place exactly according to rule. Practice in the muscular control of the expiration is combined with these preliminary breathing exercises, so soon as they can be performed with fair facility. When the muscular movements of breathing have been mastered as a toneless exercise, the practice is extended to exercises combined with tones, on single notes and scale passages. In these attention is paid to the proper attack and emission of the tone, as well as to the correct management of the breath. A great variety of breathing exercises have been formulated, but as their basic principle is always the same they call for no extended description. Any one of an athletic turn who has himself mastered the correct manner of breathing would have no difficulty in devising exercises suitable for imparting this system to others.

To secure the proper action of the vocal cords and laryngeal muscles the entire throat must be held in a state of supple relaxation before attacking a tone or phrase. In order to start a tone correctly a full inspiration is to be taken, then the vocal cords are to be brought to the degree of tension necessary for the desired pitch at the precise instant the expiration starts. The tone must be attacked squarely on the correct pitch and no breath allowed to escape before it starts. The breath pressure is to be held evenly and correctly managed throughout the entire expiration.

To secure this proper action of the vocal cords the so-called ‘stroke of the glottis’ was advocated by García. The glottic stroke is an explosive sound, formed when the vocal cords are forced apart suddenly by a rather powerful breath pressure. Its most frequent natural occurrence is in the action of coughing, of which it is the most striking auditory characteristic. Although command of the glottic stroke can be acquired without difficulty, it is utterly out of place in finished singing. What García had in mind in advocating the glottic stroke is declared by many of his graduate students to have been something entirely different from a violent explosion of the tone. All he sought was the starting of the tone without any previous escape of the breath. The stroke of the glottis, strictly so called, has been almost entirely abandoned by vocal teachers. Later authorities modified this instruction somewhat by teaching the ‘slide of the glottis,’ which brings about the same action without the explosive sound of the glottic stroke. Of recent years, owing to the better understanding of the principles of breath control, it has been found that neither the stroke nor the slide of the glottis is necessary. The same result can be reached by bringing the vocal cords to the desired degree of tension at the instant the expiration starts.

Much attention has been paid to the subject of registers, more probably than to any other feature of the vocal action. For a long time it was considered that each register of the voice must be trained separately and controlled in a special way. Various statements have been made by laryngoscopic observers as to the number of the registers and the actions of the vocal cords in each one.

At present the leading authorities recognize three registers, chest, medium, and head, corresponding to the lower, middle, and higher parts of the range of the voice. Individual voices vary in their possession of registers. Tenors usually have only the medium and head, the falsetto (confined generally to this voice) being in most cases of too effeminate a quality for use in artistic singing. Baritones usually have all three registers, basses only chest and medium. Sopranos may possess all three, although the chest register is seldom well developed in this voice. Mezzos have the chest and medium, and in the majority of cases the head register also. Contraltos possess the chest and medium, but very rarely the head register.

Teachers have in most cases discarded the plan of giving precise limits to the registers and training them separately. It is considered the best practice to bring about the correct action of the medium part of the voice, including command of the crescendo and diminuendo on the single tone, before beginning to develop the higher and lower portions of the range. The compass is then gradually extended upward and downward, care being taken to avoid the breaks which almost always resulted from the older system of training the registers separately.

Assistance is found in developing the low notes by the cultivation of chest resonance. High notes are helped by the use of nasal resonance and also by practice in attacking tones with the liquid or sonant consonants. Both these topics will be considered later.

Three resonance cavities have to be brought under control, each of which acts independently of the others. These are the chest, the mouth-pharynx, and the nasal cavities. As a rule the influence of chest resonance is most marked in the lower part of the voice. The mouth-pharynx (in addition to its almost exclusive province of vowel and consonant formation) reinforces the entire range, and the nasal cavities contribute most to the high notes.

It must not be understood, however, that in artistic singing chest resonance is to be used only on low notes and nasal resonance on high notes. The special function of nasal resonance is believed to be the imparting of brilliancy, point, and carrying power to the tones. While its effect is more marked on the high notes, it must always be present in some degree throughout the entire compass of the voice. Breadth and sonority of tone are supposed to be contributed by chest resonance, and these must also be present on all loud tones, whether high, medium, or low.

Yet as brilliancy and point are more native to the high notes, nasal resonance is always more marked in this part of the voice. In the same way the qualities of tone due to chest resonance belong more properly to the lower and middle tones. On the practical side this is of great importance. It is vastly more easy to secure command of each form of resonance first in that part of the voice to which it is native. When this has been done it is a comparatively simple matter to extend this command higher or lower as the case may be.

It is the usual practice to begin instruction in the management of resonance with the mouth-pharynx cavity. For this purpose exercises on the vowel ah are generally first used. The position assumed by the tongue for this vowel is peculiarly favorable for securing an expansion of the lower part of the mouth-pharynx cavity. An increase in the size of this cavity is sought for the purpose of bringing about a corresponding increase in the volume and power of the tone.

While not directly a feature of mouth-pharynx resonance strictly speaking, the emission of the tone is usually treated under this head. After being generated by the vibration of the vocal cords, the tone is to be directed to the front of the mouth, in such manner that it impinges on the hard palate, just above the upper front teeth. This has for its purpose the freeing of the tone from the vocal cords and the bringing of it forward in the mouth, so as to secure the effect of ‘forward tone’ advocated by the old masters.

For acquiring the effect of forward tone, studies are also used on tones begun with certain labial and lingual consonants. Exercises are given on single tones on such syllables as bah, bee, boo—ma, mee, mo—la, lee, lo, etc. These are practised on notes covering a range of about one octave. Similar exercises are used for obtaining command of nasal resonance. For this purpose the consonant n is especially favored and exercises are used on syllables such as na, nee, no, etc.

Another means of acquiring command of the several forms of resonance is found in certain characteristic sensations which the singer experiences in singing tones of the various types. A tone strongly marked by nasal resonance awakens a sensation of tingling in the forehead and upper nose. A pronounced feeling of vibration in the upper chest, particularly in the region of the breast bone, accompanies the right use of chest resonance. The ‘forward’ tone is characterized by similar sensations in the front of the mouth. When practising exercises for acquiring command of resonance the student is instructed to feel the appropriate sensations, thus bringing the tone into the proper position.

Each form of resonance is particularly favored by certain vowels. Oo and oh lend themselves most readily to the acquirement of chest resonance. Ee facilitates in bringing in nasal resonance, while ah is the easiest vowel for obtaining command of the open throat and the forward tone, the most important functions of mouth-pharynx resonance.

Two marked forms of faulty tone production often call for special means of correction. These are the throaty and the unpleasantly nasal tone. For the cure of throaty production relaxing exercises are generally used. Sighing and yawning on the vowel ah with a free expiration furnish the basis of these exercises. Single tones and descending scale passages are practised in this manner, the breath being allowed to rush out freely and without control. Other directions are frequently given for the correction of throatiness. These include instruction in the support of the tone, the throat being relieved of pressure by a steady and controlled expiration. Bringing the tone forward in the mouth in the manner already described assists in this operation.

An excessive or a faulty use of nasal resonance is looked upon as the cause of the unpleasantly nasal tone. Too great a degree of relaxation of the muscles of the soft palate may bring about this condition. The means most favored for the correction of this fault are, first, muscular exercise in raising and lowering the soft palate, which gives a better tonicity to these muscles; and, second, the imparting of the correct idea of nasal resonance in the manner already described.

Another frequent fault of production, the tremolo, may result from any one of several causes. A lack of breath control may cause the expiratory pressure on the vocal cords to be unregulated and intermittent. Faulty methods of breathing, particularly those in which the upper chest is allowed to collapse at the start of the expiration, may lead to a flabby or ‘wobbly’ condition of the muscles which hold the larynx in place. A lack of support for the tone may result from the column of vocalized breath being directed backward, instead of toward its proper point of impact on the roof of the mouth.

For the cure of the tremolo the teacher must analyze in each individual case and locate the seat of the trouble. When this has been pointed out the fault is eradicated by applying the appropriate instruction—controlling the breath properly, placing the tone in the correct position in the mouth, etc.

A clear enunciation of the text is indispensable in artistic singing. This is in one sense not a feature of tone production strictly speaking. It is possible to enunciate with perfect distinctness and yet to use the voice very badly, as is seen in the case of many vaudeville singers. On the other hand, a correct production of tone may be exhibited by a singer whose enunciation is too indistinct to be understood. Yet it is the duty of the vocal teacher to train his pupils in the clear delivery of words, as well as in the other elements of the art of singing.

Special exercises and drills in the articulation of the various consonants are not widely used. Experience has shown that the same end can be attained, with vastly less of drudgery for the student, by paying attention to clearness of pronunciation in the singing of songs and exercises with words. Students sometimes have difficulty with some one or two vowels or consonants. In cases of this kind the master instructs the pupil in the correct position of the tongue, lips, etc., for the particular sound, and if necessary arranges special exercises for the purpose.

III

How long a time should be allotted to a course in tone production along the lines just described it is not easy to state definitely. Practices in this regard vary greatly among vocal teachers. One reason for this is that tone production is seldom made the exclusive topic of study for any great length of time. Students of singing are generally eager to sing, and teachers are therefore obliged to intersperse their instruction in voice placing with songs and melodious vocalises. Another reason is found in the fact that the musical education of the student frequently devolves in great measure upon the vocal teacher. A knowledge of music, sufficient at least to enable the student to memorize songs and arias and to sing them in time and in tune, is absolutely necessary before the advanced education in the singer’s art can be undertaken. When teachers are called upon to impart instruction of this kind, part of each lesson time must of course be used for the purpose.

While a strict application of the principles of vocal science would demand that the complete course in tone production be covered before even the simplest songs are attempted, this system is almost never carried out logically. The first few lessons are usually devoted to breathing and attack; from then on about half of each lesson time is spent on voice placing and half on songs. In the instruction given on the songs attention is paid to the more strictly musical elements of singing—style, delivery, interpretation, etc., as well as to the formation of the tones. Technical exercises of progressive difficulty are taken up about as soon as the student has acquired sufficient vocal control to perform them. As a rule there is no precise stage at which voice placing work strictly speaking ceases and the technical training of the voice is begun.

It cannot be said that any one teacher or vocal expert has founded an authoritative school of vocal science. There is not even anything in the nature of a distinctively national school. Closely resembling methods are followed in all European countries, as well as in America. Every famous modern master has imparted his principles to many students who in their turn have become teachers. Yet it is rather rare for any one to take up the profession of voice culture without first receiving some instruction from several recognized masters. This custom has resulted in a general levelling of systems, each teacher selecting what he considers best from all the methods which he investigates. Meanwhile the old Italian method is still recognized as possessing elements of great value, even in the department of tone production, in which its principles are so imperfectly understood by the scientifically disposed teacher. The great majority of teachers seek to apply some of the principles of the old method, notably its oral traditions, which were discussed a few pages back, in conjunction with the practices of vocal science.

Modern voice culture cannot be believed to have reached its final development. Even the most conscientious advocates of the scientific doctrines feel that there is a certain lack of completeness in present methods. Investigations are still being carried on in the various topics of vocal science. It is possible that the near future will see important discoveries in the means for control of laryngeal action and resonance. Some authorities, on the other hand, look altogether in the opposite direction. An abandonment of the doctrines of vocal science and a return to the instinctive methods of the old masters is favored by these teachers.

So far as the course of future events can be foretold, it seems probable that a combination of the two methods, now seemingly opposed, will eventually be brought about. The scientific investigation of the voice has brought to light so much of valuable truth that it would be ridiculous to throw its results lightly aside. At the same time the success of the old method proves that it contained a satisfactory solution of all vocal problems. How the two methods will be fused into one it is not now possible to say. But the only marked tendency is in that direction. We are justified in the hope that its accomplishment will not be long postponed.

D. C. T.

CHAPTER IV
THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SONG

The origin of song—The practical value of primitive song—The cultural value of primitive song—Biography of primitive song—The lyric impulse—Folk-song and art-song—Characteristics of the art-song; style, the singer and the song.

I

‘In this or that Sicilian hamlet,’ says the Countess Martinengo-Cæsaresco in her ‘Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs,’ ‘there is a man known by the name of “the Poet,” or perhaps “the Goldfinch.” He is completely illiterate and belongs to the poorest class; he is a blacksmith, a fisherman, or a tiller of the soil. If he has the gift of improvisation, his fellow-villagers have the satisfaction of hearing him applauded by the Great Public—the dwellers in all the surrounding hamlets assembled at the fair on St. John’s Eve. Or it may be he is of a meditative turn of mind, and makes his poetry leisurely as he lies full length under the lemon-trees taking his noontide rest. Should you pass by, it is unlikely he will give himself the trouble of lifting his eyes. He could not say the alphabet to save his life; but the beautiful earth and skies and sea which he has looked on every day since he was born have taught him some things not learnt in school. The little poem he has made in his head is indeed a humble sort of poetry, but it is not unworthy of the praise it gets from the neighbors who come dropping into his cottage door, uninvited, but sure of a friendly welcome next Sunday after mass, their errand being to find out if the rumor is true that “the Goldfinch” has invented a fresh canzuna? Such is the peasant poet of to-day; such he was five hundred or a thousand years ago.’

Here is the original singer. He has existed all over the world in every age, probably, since civilization began to dawn. We are very wrong in thinking of songs as normally written by special composers and sung by special singers in concert halls. Such a situation is not the usual but the unusual one. For, generally speaking, it is not special people who are singers but ordinary people. Artists have been in the habit of thinking that the world is divided into ordinary men and artists. William Morris startled them by declaring that ordinary men are artists—that to be artistic is the normal condition of ordinary men. It is only our materialistic civilization, he said, that has made men inartistic. And historically, at least, he is quite right. It is only in recent times, and in certain nations, that it has come to be regarded as unusual that an ordinary man should be a singer. In all other ages, we may safely say, and in nearly all nations, it was regarded as unusual that an ordinary man should not be a singer. Singing has always been as natural to man as running, or whistling, or making love. It is only in these latter times that a man who sings for the joy of it is thought ‘queer.’

The songs that have been written down on paper are of course only the smallest fraction of those that have been invented. It is a very unusual adventure for a song to get written down on paper. Not one out of a thousand experiences it. Most songs are ‘made up’ by some ordinary person at work or at play, remembered and repeated, imitated by some one else and changed a little and passed on. They live from mouth to mouth and in the hearts of people. Every nation, until it became too lettered and too self-conscious, had its songs of this kind, many of them beautiful enough to be known by thousands of people, some the property of only a few. In Italy investigators have recently noted down thousands of songs that never touched paper before, but they were only a tiny part of the songs that were passing from mouth to mouth. So it has been in every country. Greenland and Iceland have their songs which originated no one knows where or when. We possess folk-songs of China, Japan, and India. The phonograph has noted down hundreds of songs of the North American Indians. And every country in Europe has yielded songs innumerable.

We should be on our guard, then, against assuming that what we know as ‘song literature’—the songs written by composers in their study and printed on paper before being sung—is any very considerable part of the song music of the world. It is merely the music chiefly at the disposal of highly educated people—principally because it is printed. And from a certain standpoint—that of the school-trained musician—it is perhaps the ‘greatest’ vocal music. But remember that the standpoint of the school-trained musician is only one standpoint. The conscious composer has chosen to look at his musical materials in a certain way and to judge the result accordingly. But by another test his work is inferior; in its power to move thousands of human hearts no song by Schubert or Schumann or Brahms can begin to equal ‘Auld Lang Syne’ or ‘The Marseillaise.’ Of necessity this book will be chiefly concerned with consciously composed ‘art’ music. But we should always remember that this is only because art music represents the great majority of all the music that has been noted down—and of course in a measure art songs at their best contain in a sublimated form the elements of folk-song.

The less civilized and conscious people are, the more readily they do their own singing. There is little spontaneous song among us to-day and yet we can occasionally hear a workman humming an aimless tune under his breath. This was probably the normal state of things when men were less educated. Everybody was a composer, partly because it was easier to make up your own song than to remember somebody else’s. Among the Indians songs were regarded in some tribes as the personal property of the person who invented them and were not to be sung by any one else unless that second person had acquired the rights in it by gift or inheritance. But generally, as people became somewhat more advanced, songs were freely appropriated from one singer to another. And each singer who borrowed generally added something of his own to the song—something to express his sense of beauty or artistic fitness: a more effective phrasing here, or a simpler group of notes there. Sometimes the song was so popular that it passed from tribe to tribe, or from nation to nation. In this case each people gave its individuality to the song, adding perhaps a little ornamentation if its nature was gay and volatile, or making the melody more regular and balanced if its soul was earnest and contemplative. Everywhere the races, the nations, and the tribes have shown their souls to us in their songs.

We must not suppose that these songs, which were so highly treasured, were elaborate. Sometimes they were made of no more than two or three tones of the scale. In thousands of songs there are no more than five tones and certain octave reduplications (as, for instance, in ‘Auld Lang Syne’). In most cases the more primitive popular songs are too simple to make any impression upon us at all. But often that is our fault and not theirs. Our taste has been somewhat spoiled by highly seasoned food. After a little sympathetic study of primitive songs we find them full of eloquence and pathos.

II

But whether or not the early songs would please us now, they were of incalculable importance in the lives of early peoples. We are inclined to regard singing as an amusement only. We forget that it once had a practical importance that is hardly to be equalled by any single institution in modern life. Men were shut up within valleys, or tied by their work to the fields. It was by singing and poetry that they became citizens of the world. For, before the days of newspapers and postal service, it was the wandering bards who took the news from city to city, from court to court, from nation to nation. They served as historians, recording in verse the great events of their own nation and others, and passing the record down to succeeding generations. They served as public libraries, conserving the legend and sentiment of nations for the reference of others. More, they conserved the teaching of religious seers, the great unwritten laws of the nation, from fathers to children. In short, all that passed between nation and nation, and between generation and generation, was transmitted in song.

We wonder, of course, why these things happened in song, rather than in plain prose. But the answer is simple: verse is easier to remember than prose. All the stories, all the laws, all the culture of the nation had to be remembered. People’s memories served instead of libraries. And with such a mass of matter to remember, people developed memories which are almost unbelievable to-day. To retain the equivalent of hundreds of pages of prose was of course impossible. But once throw the matter into verse and the remembering of it, to a primitive man, became comparatively simple. The whole of the Iliad and Odyssey were transmitted in this way through at least three centuries before they were committed to writing. For verse somehow remembers itself; the sound remains even after the sense is gone. Prof. G. L. Kittredge, of Harvard, tells of some literary investigators in the Orient, who came upon a blind beggar. They asked him to recite poetry, and he started on a long epic of which he knew thousands of lines. It was not in the language of the time, but an old and strange tongue. They asked him what the lines meant. He did not know. He had heard them from his father, and had remembered them by the sound.