The Psychology of Singing | Page 3

is, however, believed that the reader's acquaintance with the subject will bear out the author's statements.
This work is of necessity academic in conception and in substance. Its only purpose is to demonstrate the falsity of the idea of mechanical vocal management, and to prove the scientific soundness of instruction by imitation. There is no possibility of a practical manual of instruction in singing being accepted, based on the training of the ear and the musical education of the singer, until the vocal world has been convinced of the error of the mechanical idea. When that has been accomplished this work will have served its purpose. All of the controversial materials, together with much of the theoretical subject matter, will then be superfluous. A concise practical treatise can then be offered, containing all that the vocal teacher and the student of singing need to know about the training and management of the voice.
It is in great measure due to the co?peration of my dear friend, Charles Leonard-Stuart, that my theory of voice production is brought into literary form, and presented in this book. To his thorough musicianship, his skill and experience as a writer of English, and especially to his mastery of the bookman's art, I am deeply indebted. True as I know Leonard-Stuart's love to be for the art of pure singing, I yet prefer to ascribe his unselfish interest in this work to his friendship for the author.

CONTENTS

PART I
MODERN METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN SINGING

CHAPTER I
Tone-Production and Voice Culture
CHAPTER II
Breathing and Breath-Control
CHAPTER III
Registers and Laryngeal Action
CHAPTER IV
Resonance
CHAPTER V
Empirical Materials of Modern Methods
CHAPTER VI
A General View of Modern Voice Culture

PART II
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MODERN METHODS

CHAPTER I
Mechanical Vocal Management as the Basis of Voice Culture
CHAPTER II
The Fallacy of the Doctrine of Breath-Control
CHAPTER III
The Fallacies of Forward Emission, Chest Resonance, and Nasal Resonance
CHAPTER IV
The Futility of the Materials of Modern Methods
CHAPTER V
The Error of the Theory of Mechanical Vocal Management

PART III
THE BASIS OF A REAL SCIENCE OF VOICE

CHAPTER I
The Means of Empirical Observation of the Voice
CHAPTER II
Sympathetic Sensations of Vocal Tone
CHAPTER III
Empirical Knowledge of the Voice
CHAPTER IV
The Empirical Precepts of the Old Italian School
CHAPTER V
Empirical Knowledge in Modern Voice Culture
CHAPTER VI
Scientific Knowledge of the Voice

PART IV
VOCAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL VOICE CULTURE

CHAPTER I
The Correct Vocal Action
CHAPTER II
The Causes of Throat Stiffness and of Incorrect Vocal Action
CHAPTER III
Throat Stiffness and Incorrect Singing
CHAPTER IV
The True Meaning of Vocal Training
CHAPTER V
Imitation the Rational Basis of Voice Culture
CHAPTER VI
The Old Italian Method
CHAPTER VII
The Disappearance of the Old Italian Method and the Development of Mechanical Instruction
CHAPTER VIII
The Materials of Rational Instruction in Singing
CHAPTER IX
Outlines of a Practical Method of Voice Culture
Bibliography
CHAPTER I
TONE-PRODUCTION AND VOICE CULTURE
In no other form of expression do art and nature seem so closely identified as in the art of singing. A perfect voice speaks so directly to the soul of the hearer that all appearance of artfully prepared effect is absent. Every tone sung by a consummate vocal artist seems to be poured forth freely and spontaneously. There is no evidence of calculation, of carefully directed effort, of attention to the workings of the voice, in the tones of a perfect singer. Yet if the accepted idea of Voice Culture is correct, this semblance of spontaneity in the use of the voice can result only from careful and incessant attention to mechanical rules. That the voice must be managed or handled in some way neither spontaneous nor instinctive, is the settled conviction of almost every authority on the subject. All authorities believe also that this manner of handling the voice must be acquired by every student of singing, in the course of carefully directed study.
This training in the use of the voice is the most important feature of education in singing. Voice Culture embraces a peculiar and distinct problem, that of the correct management of the vocal organs. Vocal training has indeed come to be considered synonymous with training in the correct use of the voice. Every method of instruction in singing must contain as its most important element some means for dealing with the problem of tone-production.
No complete and satisfactory solution of this problem has ever been found. Of this fact every one acquainted with the practical side of Voice Culture must be well aware. As the present work is designed solely to suggest a new manner of dealing with this question, it is advisable to define precisely what is meant by the problem of tone-production.
In theory the question may be stated very simply. It is generally believed throughout the vocal profession that the voice has one correct mode of action, different from a wide variety of incorrect actions of which it is capable;--that this mode of action, though ordained by Nature, is not in the usual sense natural or instinctive;--that the correct vocal action must be acquired, through a definite understanding and