An instrument tuned for the production of the English language,
consequently, cannot produce German sounds, nor can it produce Romanic,
Slavonic, or the sounds of any other language. Sounds, _apparently_
the same, of either the singing or speaking voice of various languages
are, therefore, _not_ the same and are certainly not produced in the
same manner. For a German, consequently, or an Italian to attempt to
teach an English-speaking person the art of singing is an anomaly. A
foreigner might, with the same show of reason, attempt to teach persons
of another nationality the correct pronunciation of their own language.
It would be equally false, of course, for an English-speaking person to
attempt to teach a German, Italian, etc., the art of singing, unless he
had first mastered his pupil's idiomatic expression, or the pupil had
mastered that of his teacher.
Many persons are under the erroneous impression that song and speech
are performances separate and apart from each other, while they are in
reality of precisely the same, though inverse, order. They are of the
same order, for instance, as the back and palm of the hand: the former
representing speech, the latter song; the external and the internal, or
the anterior and the posterior. As the back of the hand, such must and
will be its palm; or, as its palm, such must and will be its back.
Conversing with a teacher some time since, she scorned such
propositions, saying a person's language had nothing to do with his or
her song; the mode of production of the latter being the _same_ with
ALL nationalities; besides, she had studied the larynx, and knew all
about it. This, of course, settled it, and I had not anything further
to say.
DIFFERENCE IN THEIR MODE OF BREATHING AS BETWEEN ANGLO-SAXONS AND
GERMANS
Anglo-Saxons inspire first into the thorax and then into the abdomen.
Germans inspire first into the abdomen and then into the thorax. The
former expire first from the abdomen and then from the thorax; the
latter expire first from the abdomen and then from the thorax. This,
however, gives but a partial account of the process of breathing, and I
must postpone a more explicit one to a later period.
To prove the correctness of the above assertion, press your hand
against the left side of your thorax anteriorly, and you will find
it difficult to inhale. If you press your hand against the right
side of your thorax, on the other hand, you will have no difficulty
in inhaling. Next, press your hand against the right side of your
abdomen, and you will not be able to exhale; but if you press your hand
against its left side, you will experience no trouble in exhaling. In
pressing your hands one against the left side of the breast and the
other against the right side of the abdomen, you will have trouble in
breathing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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