The Psychology of Singing: A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and ModernTaylor, David C. (David Clark)
Science
The Psychology of Singing: A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and Modern
Taylor, David C. (David Clark)
Singing; Voice culture
All the elements of instruction,--musical education, ear training, and
the acquirement of facility in the use of the voice,--can be combined in
the singing of melodious compositions. While the teacher should know the
precise object of each study, this is not necessary for the student.
Have the pupil simply sing his daily studies, with good tone and true
musical feeling, and all the rest will take care of itself.
Every vocal teacher will formulate his method of instruction according
to his own taste and judgment. There will always be room for the
exercise of originality, and for the working out of individual ideas.
His own experience, and his judgment in each individual case, must guide
the teacher in answering many important questions. Whether to train a
voice up or down, whether to pay special attention to enunciation, when
to introduce the trill, what form of studies to use for technique and
ornament,--these are all matters for the teacher to decide in his own
way.
Above all else the teacher should seek to make the study of singing
interesting to his pupils. This cannot be done by making the idea of
method and of mechanical drudgery prominent. Singing is an art; both
teacher and student must love their art or they cannot succeed.
Everything the student is called on to do should be a distinct pleasure.
To master the piano or the violin many hours of tedious practice are
required. Students of singing are indeed fortunate to be spared the
necessity of this tiresome work. In place of two or three hours' daily
practice of scales and exercises, the vocal student need do nothing but
sing good music.
Much is required of a competent vocal teacher. First of all, he must be
a cultured musician and a capable judge both of composition and of
performance. Further, while not necessarily a great singer, he must have
a thorough command of all the resources of his own voice. His
understanding of the voice should embrace a fair knowledge of vocal
physiology and of vocal psychology. His ear should be so highly trained,
and his experience in hearing singers so wide, that he possess in full
the empirical knowledge of the voice. The vocal teacher must be familiar
with the highest standards of singing. He should hear the great artists
of his day and also be well versed in the traditions of his art.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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