well fixed in my mind. Then I
play the music through several times until I am very familiar with it.
Then I learn the voice part, never studying it as a voice part by
itself, but always in relation to the orchestra and the other roles.
Finally, I learn the interpretation--the dramatic presentation. One gets
so little help from the orchestra in modern works that many rehearsals
are necessary. In some passages it is just like walking in a dark night.
Only a true ear and thorough training can serve to keep one on the key
or anywhere near the key. It is therefore highly necessary that vocal
students should have a good musical training in addition to the vocal
training. In most European conservatories the study of piano and harmony
are compulsory for all vocal students. Not to have had this musical
training that the study of the piano brings about, not to have had a
good course in theory or in training for sight-singing (ear training) is
to leave out important pillars in a thorough musical foundation.

MORE OPERA FOR AMERICA

It would be a great gratification for all who are interested in opera to
see more fine opera houses erected in America with more opportunities
for the people. The performances at the Metropolitan are exceedingly
fine, but only a comparatively few people can possibly hear them and
there is little opportunity for the performance of a wide variety of
operas. The opera singer naturally gets tired of singing a few roles
over and over again. The American people should develop a taste for more
and more different operas. There is such a wonderful field that it
should not be confined to the performance of a very few works that
happen to be in fashion. This is not at all the case in Europe--there
the repertoires are very much more extensive--more interesting for the
public and the artists alike.

STRONG EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF OPERA

Opera has always seemed to me a very necessary thing in the State. It
has a strong educational value in that it develops the musical taste of
the public as well as teaching lessons in history and the humanities in
a very forceful manner. Children should be taken to opera as a regular
part of their education. Opera makes a wonderful impression upon the
child's imagination--the romance, the color, the music, the action are
rarely forgotten. Many of the operas are beautiful big fairy stories and
the little folks glory in them. Parents who desire to develop the taste
of their child