Advice to Singers Part 7

=Ballads.=--There is no greater mistake than to suppose that "any one can sing a simple ballad." Good ballad singing is one of the rarest accomplishments, and demands qualities in the singer which _may_ be wanting even in a person who can sing well both in opera and oratorio.

To suppose that an untaught singer can do justice to any ballad that is worth the trouble of singing at all, is simply a mark of ignorance on the whole subject of singing.

Ballads do not always require power or compa.s.s of voice, it is true, nor do they tax the singer on the score of flexibility or physical strength; but they are the severest test of enunciation, _mezzo-voce_ singing, neatness and readiness in producing tones of any gradation, and perfect control over the voice.

To sing a ballad well demands a really cultivated taste, a certain dramatic power, suppressed it is true, but influencing the whole delivery; a sympathetic voice, and a manner which will enlist the interest and sympathy of the audience. Ballad singing is neither declamation nor recitative: there is no chance of surprising or astonis.h.i.+ng your audience; but you _must_ contrive to please them, you must _touch_ them somehow; and, for an ordinary person in the costume of the nineteenth century, to "touch" others of the same species is not easy. Sometimes, no doubt, the words of a good song are in themselves so touching and charming that, so long as the music be not positively hideous or destructive of the sense of the words, the singer has only to let them be clearly heard, and the battle is won; but more frequently he has to trick his audience into interest in a song where the words in themselves are either hopelessly silly, or too obscure in sense for their full meaning to appear at a first hearing or reading. All that he can then do is to deliver it in such a way that they shall feel that there _is_ a meaning to it all, though they have not fully caught it yet, and so they may wish to hear it again. I do not, of course, mean any allusion to the ridiculous fas.h.i.+on of _encores_, but simply that the feeling at the end of such a song should be one of liking it sufficiently to wish to understand it entirely.

Many songs would tell their own tale and produce their own effect well enough, if the singer would let them, and therefore the ballad singer must only be sufficiently self-conscious to keep himself out of the way.

However good his singing, however original his reading of the song, _while he is singing_ it should all go to the credit of the song, and the hearers be charmed into forgetting _him_ till he is silent.

=Recitative.=--Good recitative singing is of great importance, and requires careful attention and study. Recitative is midway between speaking and singing; it is a sort of modulated intoning, that is, that in delivering it the note and the word that belongs to it should be given with equal intention, and appear to belong to each other so completely that the musical sound should seem to be the natural intonation which the reciter would give to the word. Recitative is (_or was_) practically an attempt to express, in musical notation, the inflexions of the human voice in speaking; and how accurately, in some cases, musical notation can do this, will be seen at a glance by the following ill.u.s.tration:

[Music:

Who are you?]

[Music:

Who are you?]

[Music:

Who are you?]

--where the question is asked in the same words, but the musical notes express clearly three different sentiments, or degrees of sentiment.

This should be taken into consideration by the student; and he should strive to give his recitative with as natural a delivery as he can, placing himself mentally in the position of a dramatic reciter.

Steadiness of tone, clearness of enunciating consonants, and full round delivery of vowel-sounds are indispensable to good recitative singing.

Every note must be distinct, and not the faintest suspicion of a "slur"

or _portamento_ can be allowed.

Recitative singing is not a thing which a student should try to teach himself, as he may not only waste his time, but gain notions which are erroneous and difficult to cure. For instance, take the recitatives in "_The Messiah_," as these are printed for the British public. Nothing could be more ludicrous than for a singer to appear in public and sing the recitatives faithfully as printed in the editions of this oratorio which are continually being disseminated throughout the land. Handel, let it be borne in mind, was _not_ well acquainted with the English language; and though he may have written good music, he was often very far from reaching good literary sense. Thus, as regards this latter, this specimen pa.s.sage occurs in Handel's "_Acis and Galatea_,"

[Music:

Where shall I seek the charm-ing fair?]

Yet no one in his senses would think of rendering it other than

[Music:

Where shall I seek the charm-ing fair?]

inasmuch as there is some doubt of the chord 6/4 which forms the grace note being Handel's music, and because the sense of the words demands that no break shall be made between the words _seek_ and _the_. As Handel failed in his English, it is surely allowable to make good his deficiencies in this respect.

The following paragraphs relate to certain minor details of style in singing, and apply to singing of every kind. They must be taken in conjunction with much that has already been said under the head of "Practice."

=Slurring.=--Slurring up to a note is a very disagreeable and common evil to be guarded against. It matters not how far distant the note to be sung may be from the preceding tone; it should be attacked fearlessly and cheerfully, but _with an open throat_. The note to be attacked must not be prepared in the throat. The course should be this. The tone of the preceding note must not be moved, but the one required--say a very high one--must be obtained by the joint process of lowering the larynx, of sounding the note from exactly the same spot as the lower note, in a soft but fine tone, and thirdly, by getting such a ring in the note as it can only have in conjunction with the feeling that while the root or foundation of the note is in the chest, yet it owes much of its penetrating character and power to a sort of reflecting power which is given it from the extreme end of the spine bone, where it joins the head. Certainly no high note is properly _produced_, nor to be relied upon for a _crescendo_, unless the student has this feeling that it springs from the back of the neck; and, in rising to an upper note, the aim should be not at length to approach the upper note from beneath, as it were, but to "come down" upon it--to strike it from _above_ instead of from below.

=Sentiment.=--Always try to convey the sentiment of what you may be singing through the tone of the voice. Love and anger cannot both be expressed with the same quality of voice. For the former, a delicate light tone well on the lips is desirable, while for the latter the voice should be produced lower in the stomach; yet the tone should still be kept on the lips; its character should be "darker," more round, and sonorous. "'_Tis this that racks my brain_": such words as these should never be sung in the same character of voice as "_Waft her, angels, to the skies_." It is good practice to take any piece and sing the melody on an open vowel throughout, with the object of showing the meaning of the song without the aid of words. Then, when this can be done, the words may be employed, and the result will be doubly happy.

=Decision.=--Indecision is a very serious fault in singing. Do well and thoroughly whatever you decide upon attempting. If you have a _staccato_ pa.s.sage to sing, render it firmly in that style; if you have one that is _legato_, take care that this character is _strongly_ seen from your rendering. When you "slur," make it strong enough to be felt. If you bend as it were from one note to another, let your intention to do so be clearly apparent. Let a _forte_ pa.s.sage be loud, and let a _piano_ one be really soft. Any half measures in singing are fatal. Precision and certainty are qualities which the student must always aim at attaining.

Without them, singing becomes tame and unattractive, not to say tiresome.

=Imitation.=--Imitation, which in many other arts becomes plagiary, in singing is most desirable; for singing, more than any other art, rests on tradition; there is even very little doubt that the peculiar charm and quality of a true tenor voice (for instance) is more due to imitation in a singer than to nature; that is to say, that it is the result of a transmitted culture--such imitation being the only means in which singers can reap the harvest of the experience of the great singers now to be heard no more, who have left their imitators to pa.s.s on to others what they themselves obtained by imitating and improving on _their_ predecessors. Therefore do not be afraid of being set down as a mere copyist, if you study and attempt to imitate the style of the best living singers. You will always have enough of your own merit or defect to distinguish your performance, if you are really a conscientious student, and you may learn a great deal by listening to the best public singers which can be taught you in no other way. Watch their stage deportment; their treatment of the weaker parts of their voices; their method of breathing; their manner towards the public;--in fact, every point which occurs to you,--and make some use of what you see and hear in your own studies.

=Public Singing.=--If you have to sing in public, remember always to take a rapid but searching glance round your stage. This is a great point gained. As you step on to "the boards," notice (un.o.bserved) the dimensions of the stage (if it happens to be new to you). Note the height of its ceiling, its surroundings, its draperies, its distance from your farthest auditor; then take up your position accordingly--bearing in mind that all your tone is wanted by your listeners, which requirement can never be met unless you yourself take the precaution to prevent the sound being held or carried back by the stage decorations. In a concert _salon_ or theatre, then, do not forget to get well to the front of the platform. At the same time you must not be _too_ close upon your stall occupants, or you may give them the very undesirable impression that at any moment you may fall over.

="Holding" an Audience.=--The singer should carefully watch an audience so as to gauge its attention and sympathies. If it seems impatient, restless, and indifferent, the singer may be quite sure that he or she is exciting no interest. The best course then for one to do is to immediately change the style, alter the tone, give forth his or her best energies, and use every effort to become ingratiated into the good favour of the listeners. If such effects as these fail constantly in their turn, then the aspirant for vocal fame should give up, and devote both time and attention to further study, or to some other means of a livelihood; for a future great singer will not be failing constantly, and to be only a second-rate singer while there are so many is a thing _not_ to be devoutly desired.

=Mistakes in Public.=--If you make a mistake in singing, do not add to the mischief by allowing it to alarm or disconcert you. Proceed onward as if nothing had happened. You may be quite sure that each one of your audience will not have detected the slip, for they cannot _all_ be critics. But bear in mind that such confidence as your adviser here suggests is not to be too often called into requisition. No great artist will ever make a serious mistake in public. How much more careful then should the young student be!

ON TIME IN SINGING.

I need perhaps scarcely remind my readers who are or who wish to be singers that _time_ concerns them quite as much as the conductor, the pianist, the violinist--in short, the whole orchestra. It behoves the student in singing to give early and careful attention to this important feature in his artistic training. You may have the voice of a Rubini, you may be a second Tamburini in quality and extent of voice, but unless you can sing in time yourself, and are able to do so with others, and with the counter-acting influences of an orchestra, you can never hope to rise in your profession. It may be argued that you have no desire to lay yourself out for a career on the lyric stage. Then, however, you shut yourself out from some of the largest prizes in the profession; beyond which there comes the question of oratorio business, and the growing taste for band accompaniments to songs. And if you restrict your ambition to a pianoforte accompaniment, time is needed even with that in order to produce anything like a satisfactory rendering of the piece you may be singing. The accompanyist may be a Sir Julius Benedict, or a Signor Randegger (than whom there is no better in this country, so neglected has this species of musical art-work become); but a perfect rendering depends not so much upon the pianist as the vocalist. If the singer flounders about with neither "rhyme nor reason," it is scarcely reasonable to expect the accompanyist, clever as he may be, to be always at his heels, like a cat after a mouse. I would therefore advise the student to invest his money in a Metronome--the most useful thing with which he could provide himself. They are not dear, bearing in mind their utility, and one will, I am sure, save the student much time and many a _fiasco_. Learn the working of this useful machine, and practise all your exercises with it. If you go to a good singing master, you should ask him to time your exercises to the pace at which you should sing them, and in this way you will not only be growing in a good habit, but your singing will be characterized by a crispness and a certainty of attack, which will be apparent to all musicians and amateurs with good taste. Your singing master will, no doubt, impress upon you the necessity of singing your songs in time, and especially of slightly accenting the first and third beats in the bar if it is common time, the first and fourth beats when it is compound common or 6/8 time, and the first beat when it is triple or 3/4 time. In this way there will be meaning given to your singing, and those who may be accompanying you will be able to feel where you are, and to keep time with you. In singing a pa.s.sage like this from Cowen's charming song "Aubade,"--the master, if he knew his business, would instruct his pupil to slightly accent the words as I have indicated with the mark =V=, and to preserve _strict_ time throughout the pa.s.sage, and especially in the taking up of the words after the long note on the word _sleep_. The accompanyist would, we may a.s.sume, do likewise with his pianoforte part, and in this way a perfect _ensemble_ would be secured.

[Music:

Sleep, love, sleep, the morn is wak - - ing,]

With this brief introduction to the subject, I will proceed to give the student a few exercises in keeping and beating time, the a.s.siduous practice of which will, I hope, soon place him in the desirable position of being able to sing in time.

[Music: Ex. 1.

Four beats in a bar.

Do Re Mi Fa Sol

La Si Do Do Si

La Sol Fa Mi Re Do]

[Music: Ex. 2.

Do Do Re Re Mi Mi &c.]

[Music: Ex. 3.