ll not express these emotions. When a man is
jealous or in a rage, he will not stand quietly in the middle of the
stage and sing beautiful tones. He does not think of beautiful tones at
all. Hatred and jealousy should be expressed in the voice as well as in
action and gesture; they are far from lovely in themselves, and to be
natural and true to life, they will not make lovely tones in the voice.
We want singing actors to-day, men and women who can adequately portray
the characters they impersonate through both voice and action.

LEARNING A ROLE

"In taking up a new part I vocalize the theme first, to get an idea of
the music; then I learn the words. After this I work with the
accompanist who comes to me every morning. Of course, besides this, I do
daily vocalizes and vocal exercises; one must always keep up one's
vocal technic.

"But learning words and music is only a part of the work to be done on a
role. It must then be interpreted; more than this it must be visualized.
This part of the work rests largely with the singer, and gives
opportunity for his individuality to assert itself. Of course the
general idea of the characterization is given us, the make-up, posturing
and so on. To work out these ideas, to make the part our own, to feel at
home in it, so that it shall not seem like acting, but appear perfectly
natural--all this takes a great deal of thought, time and study. It is
all a mental process, as every one knows; we must project our thought
out to the audience, we must 'get it over,' or it will never strike
fire!"

INTERPRETATION

On the subject of individuality in interpretation, Mr. Johnson was
convincing. "I feel that if I have worked out a characterization, I must
stick to my idea, in spite of what others say. It is my own conception,
and I must either stand or fall by it. At times I have tried to follow
the suggestions of this or that critic and have changed my
interpretation to suit their taste. But it always rendered me self
conscious, made my work unnatural and caused me speedily to return to my
own conception.

LEARNING BY DOING

"The singer finds the stage a great teacher. Before the footlights he
has constant opportunity to try out this or that effect, to note which
placement of the voice best fits the tones he wishes to produce. Then,
too, he soon learns to feel whether he has made the impression he had
hoped, whether he has the audience with him. If he cannot win the
audience, he