old it as he should. There is
nothing left to be done by me in a technical way. He is now a singer
and not a bad one.

[Illustration: LEE TUNG FOO

Pupil in the 90's]

CHAPTER TWENTY

WHAT I KNOW OF THE VOICE AND OF TEACHING

In taking up this subject, it is not my purpose to give lessons in
voice culture on paper. There is, of course, but one way to sing and
that is the right way. Every teacher thinks his is the right one. This
can be proven only by the result upon the pupil. Does every teacher
understand the training of the voice and can he impart his knowledge
to the pupil and enable him to acquire a perfect mastery over the tone
production and management of sound in singing with this invisible
instrument? Can he surmount the technical difficulties and the
mechanism of the vocal organs? The inner consciousness is the only
safe guide for teacher and student.

The strictest attention should be directed in the beginning by all
students to the exercise of forethought, deliberation and mental
energy, attributes which are of the greatest importance, more so
perhaps than physical strength. A conscientious singer is rewarded
after arduous work by gaining the power of emotional expression which
the human voice possesses beyond any other musical medium. There are
two distinct branches used in the study of the voice--the technical
and esthetic. The mechanism and healthy production of the voice and
its development belong to the first work. Taste and feeling and a
sympathetic and sensitive nature, combined with a cultivated musical
organization, a poetic temperament and a pleasing personality, with
magnetic fire capable of holding listeners enthralled, are of the
other work.

In my long career in song I have especially noted the appearance of a
singer. My first impressions have usually remained. In justice to the
fine contralto, Schumann-Heink, I will relate my first impressions of
her in song. Mr. L. Sherman of Sherman & Clay sent me, to my great
delight, two tickets for the opera of "Lohengrin." I had never heard
the opera nor the singer. When I heard her sing her role, her first
notes so astonished me I just held my breath, I could not realize the
voice of a woman, she sang like a baritone. The opera was given in
German, and I thought I never heard such a masculine voice in my life,
and the whole opera was spoiled by her number for me, and the
impression was so lasting that nothing could induce me to hear her