her words, in
forming the taste of the nation in the children--a valuable work would
be done; but school class singing, as commonly carried out, tends
rather to injure than develop voices and good musical taste.

We cannot honestly pass by the subject of Wagner's music and some of
its tendencies. Wagner was an intellectual giant among men, and his
works are amazingly grand, yet they unfortunately are, in a certain
sense, responsible for much bad singing and not a little injury to
fine voices.

First of all, Wagner's operas are, in their present form, too long. To
sing these compositions night after night is beyond human powers, even
in the case of those of the most perfect musical and technical
training. If they were divided into two, and one half sung on one
evening and the other on the next, it would be a gain for the public
and the artists. It is impossible for even the musically cultivated to
absorb and assimilate the whole of such an opera as "Siegfried" or
"Tristan and Isolde" in one evening, and it is too much to expect any
artist to sing them through without a rest.

Again, they call for such strong accents, such deep and strenuous
breathing, that the artist impersonating a hero or a god or goddess
is put to a degree of exertion that is too great for human powers when
continued for more than a very moderate period; besides, there is a
temptation to a wrong use of the larynx--a forcible _coup de glotte_,
or attack--that is exceedingly dangerous, and has injured many voices
and ruined others. The man or woman who would sing Wagner's greater
music dramas should, in addition to a strong physique, be master of a
wonderfully perfect technique. These operas should never be attempted
by very young singers of either sex, and especially not by very young
women. They are for the powerful, the mature, the perfectly trained,
the experienced.

Turning to some special faults, we would warn against the "scoop," the
excessive use of the _portamento_, or glide, so common a fault at the
present time, and the _vibrato_ and _tremolo_.

The two former are musical faults, so we pass them by without further
consideration. Otherwise is it with the last two faults; they both
result from a wrong use of the vocal organs. They are both due to some
unsteadiness and lack of control, and, unfortunately, when once
acquired, are very difficult to remedy. The unsteadiness may be almost
anywhere in the vocal organs, but is usually referable