an a free deep breath be drawn, and mind and body
be properly prepared for the exercise or the song to follow.

It is also well for pupils to form sentences with the proper number of
syllables upon which to sing their exercises, so that even such
exercises shall gradually gain a certain amount of expressiveness.
Thus the exercises will form pictures which must be connected with the
play of the features, as well as with an inner feeling, and thus will
not become desultory and soulless and given over to indifference. Of
course not till the mere tone itself is brought under complete
control, and uncertainty is no longer possible, can the horizon of the
pupil be thus widened without danger.

Only when a scene requires that a vocal passage be sung kneeling or
sitting must the singer practise it in his room long before the
performance and at all rehearsals, in accordance with dramatic
requirements of the situation. _Otherwise the singer should always_
STAND. We must also look out for unaccustomed garments that may be
required on the stage, and rehearse in them; for instance, hat,
helmet, hood, cloak, etc. Without becoming accustomed to them by
practice, the singer may easily make himself ridiculous on the stage.
Hence comes the absurdity of a Lohengrin who cannot sing with a
helmet, another who cannot with a shield, a third who cannot with
gauntlets; a Wanderer who cannot with the big hat, another who cannot
with the spear, a Jose who cannot with the helmet, etc. All these
things must be practised before a mirror until the requirements of a
part or its costume become a habit. To attain this, the singer must be
completely master of his body and all his movements.

It must be precisely the same with the voice. The singer must be quite
independent of bad habits in order consciously to exact from it what
the proper interpretation of the work to be performed requires.

He should practise only so long as can be done without weariness.
After every exercise he should take a rest, to be fresh for the next
one. After the great scale he should rest _at least_ ten minutes; and
these resting times must be observed as long as one sings.

Long-continued exertion should not be exacted of the voice at first;
even if the effects of it are not immediately felt, a damage is done
in some way. In this matter pupils themselves are chiefly at fault,
because they cannot get enough, as long as they take pleasure in it.

For this reason it is ins