The greatest fault, however, is to be found in the present mode of teaching singing, which is so superficial that people have become accustomed to overlook the possibility of changing a voice and rendering it beautiful. For the most part instruction begins where and with what it should end; the aim is, paying only passing attention to the timbre and the formation of tone (_Tonbildung_), to teach the pupil to sing certain favorite pieces with the due execution, and to see that the breath is taken at the right places and that the tone is not too impure. But the human voice is susceptible of much higher culture than any instrument. And it requires more gifts and far more study to become a true and distinguished artist in singing than are necessary to the mastery of other instruments. It would most assuredly contribute to the advancement and elevation of the vocal art, if gifted children, as it often happened in former times, were early instructed in singing with the requisite care and skill. Thus, educated for their art, and giving to it their best powers, they would be able to satisfy far higher demands and attain to quite another and higher artistic perfection than we are wont now-a-days to find anywhere among our vocal artists. Such children would then, at the age at which at present instruction in singing begins, have already mastered all technical difficulties and be able to apply themselves chiefly to the æsthetic cultivation of their art. With young girls especially, whose vocal organs do not change so much as those of boys, the earliest possible beginning of instruction would be in the highest degree advantageous. It is owing only to the unnatural, overstrained method of studying the art of singing now prevalent that a principle recognized and applied in the learning of all other arts, and even in all the other branches of music, has universal prejudice against it. CONCLUSION An artist can be formed only by his own intelligence and practice, under the direct guidance of a master. But here, more than in any other art, the constant watchfulness of a teacher is a necessity. For, as one gets only an imperfect idea of his own personal appearance from a mirror, so the singer and dramatic artist can form but a partial judgment of his own performances. They are too subjective, and cannot be viewed as an external whole, like the works of the painter and sculptor. It is, moreover, as has already been remarked, simply impossible to obtain even a partial knowledge of any art from books alone, even if we were able to describe with precision the fine, delicate differences of tones, colors and forms.