ll your songs; it is
only after you get away from the reading that you are capable of doing
your best work. Always practice before a mirror and you will not be so
liable to acquire facial contortions and would soon overcome the very
bad habit of lifting the shoulders when you "see yourself as others see
you."

Pupils frequently ask why it is so much easier to sing an exercise on
"ah" than to sing a sentence. In the "ah" you only have one vowel, while
in the sentence there are both vowels and consonants. By diligent
practice you will soon find that the tone helps the word, and the words
help the tone.

Another complaint frequently heard in the studio is this: "I sang this
exercise perfectly at home, and can't see why I am unable to sing it
now." How many times did you sing this exercise perfectly at home. Don't
consider an exercise learned until you can sing it ten times in
succession =without an error=.

Lillie Lehmann says: "I expended ten years in perfecting the trill which
every voice must master," and yet some pupils become discouraged
because they can not master the art of singing in a few months!

Many singers complain of a contraction (hardness under the chin). This
is frequently found where they have been taught to place the tip of the
tongue against the back of the lower teeth to keep the tongue down.
Leave the tongue limp and speak your vowels and consonants perfect and
distinct, and the tongue will take care of itself.

Those who are working to produce low tones will find that in the
morning, immediately after rising, the lower tones respond most readily
and may help you to find a way of increasing the lower range.

Don't neglect the scales. Many years ago Madame Patti, while on a
concert tour, was awakened from her early morning sleep by the sound of
a piano in a room close to hers. It was slow scale practicing and was
maddening to the singer. She rang the bell, and demanded that the
practice be at once discontinued. What was her astonishment to learn
that the player was not some beginner as she had supposed, but the great
artist, Hans Von Bulow.

Why is the so-called Italian method supposed to be the correct method of
singing? Partly because the Italian "a" (as you would pronounce "ae") is
the most natural sound that can be sung, and as the "ae" is the sound
used in two-thirds of the words in the song you sing, it plays an
important part in singing.

Very few beginners realize that it is not only