Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/263

Rh period. With, regard to the first of these questions I am strongly of opinion that training can hardly be begun too early. Of course, the kind and amount of practice that are necessary in the adult would be monstrous in a young child, but there is no reason why, even at the age of sis or seven, the right method of voice-production should not be taught. Singing, like every other art, is chiefly learned by imitation, and it seems a pity to lose the advantage of those precious early years when that faculty is most highly developed. There is no fear of injuring the larynx or straining the voice by elementary instruction of this kind; on the contrary, it is habitual faulty vocalization which is pernicious. The sooner the right way of using the voice is taught the more easy will it be to guard against the contraction of bad habits, which can only be corrected at a later period with infinite trouble. Many of the finest voices have been trained almost from the cradle, so to speak. I need only mention Adelina Patti, Christine Nilsson, Jenny Lind, and Madame Albani; but there are numbers of other queens of song who owe great part of their success to the same cause.

As for the other point, I am still an obstinate dissenter from the "orthodox" teaching of singing-masters on the subject. I have already more than once expressed my belief that there is no reason why training, within certain limits and under strict supervision by a competent person, should not be carried on when the voice is in the transition stage of its development from childhood to adolescence. The stock argument, invariably advanced to prove the necessity of suspending the education of the voice till it has passed through the "breaking" period, is that, as the parts are undergoing active changes, they therefore require complete rest. This would equally apply to the limbs, and, in some degree, also to the brain. Yet I am not aware that it has ever been proposed to forbid growing lads from exercising their bodies, even in games involving considerable muscular violence, or to interrupt the education of the mental powers till the brain has become fully formed. Overpressure there may be, no doubt, in voice-training as in other kinds of instruction. All voices are not capable of bearing the same amount of training. Each case must be dealt with according to what doctors call the particular "indications" that may arise. My thesis holds good only as a general rule, to which there may be many individual exceptions. A judicious teacher will, however, have no difficulty in deciding as to the best course to adopt in any given instance.

After the voice has been developed to its utmost capacity, the next thing is to keep it in perfect condition. How is this to be done? As Danton said that the three things needed to insure success were De l’audace, de l’audace, et encore de l’audace, I say