ssons. If I have taught a number of consecutive hours,
it is a relief to turn to the artist's record and save my own voice.

SIMPLICITY

"As I have said, the design has been to make everything plain and
simple. I wrote the book and sent it to the Victor people. They returned
it, saying I had written an excellent book, but it was not simple
enough. They proposed sending a man to me who was neither a musician nor
a singer. If I could make my meaning clear enough for him to understand,
it was likely the girl from a little Western town could grasp it.

"So this man came and we worked together. If I talked about head tones,
he wanted to know what I meant; if about throaty tones, I had to make
these clear to him. When he understood, I was sure any one could
understand.

"Thus the books as they stand came into being. The records themselves
represent an immense amount of care and effort. Will you believe we had
to make over two thousand in order to secure the one hundred needed for
the present series? The slightest imperfection is enough to render an
otherwise perfect record useless. Even the artists themselves would
sometimes become discouraged at the enormous difficulties. It is
nerve-racking work, for one must be on tension all the time.

IMITATION A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE

"If you are interested, I will go a little more into detail. The main
idea of this unique method of study, is imitation. Every human being
likes to imitate--from the tiny child to the adult. Acting upon this
idea, we take the artist as model. Everything the model does, the
student strives to imitate. By means of the record, it is possible for
the student to do this over and over again, until he has learned to copy
it as accurately as it is possible. And here is where the knowledge and
experience of the teacher come in. During the lesson he tests each tone,
each phrase, advising the pupil how nearly he approaches the perfect
model, or showing him his faults and why he does not succeed in
imitating the model more correctly."

FOR BEGINNERS

"Do you mean to say, Mr. Saenger, that this method of vocal study can be
taken up by one who knows really nothing of the voice, or singing, and
can be used with success; that such a person can become a singer through
self-study?"

"It is indeed possible," was the answer; "and it is being done every
day. If the student has much intelligence, determination and
concentration, she can learn to sing from these