phrase himself, then
calls for its repetition.

"Sing that passage again; there is a tone in it that is not
pleasant--not well-sounding; make it beautiful!" "Careful of your
consonants there, they are not distinct; let them be clearer, but don't
make them over distinct." "Don't scoop up the ends of the phrases; make
the tones this way"; and he illustrates repeatedly. "Sing this phrase in
one breath if you can, if not, breathe here--" indicating the place.

The student now takes up an Italian aria. Of course the master teacher
has no need of printed score; he knows the arias by heart. He merely
jots down a few remarks on a slip of paper, to be referred to later.

The aria goes quite well. At its close the singer goes to her seat and
another takes her place. A voice of rich, warm timbre. More English--and
it must be most exact, to suit Mr. Bispham's fastidious ear.

"Make the word _fire_ in _one_ syllable, not _two_. Do not open the
mouth quite so wide on the word _desire_, for, by doing so you lose the
balance and the tone is not so good."

VOCALIZES

Another student--with a fine tenor--was asked to vocalize for a number
of minutes. He sang ascending and descending tone-figures, sometimes
doing them in one breath, at others taking a fresh breath at top. Some
of the syllables used were: la, ma, may, and mi. He then sang single
tones, swelling and diminishing each. It was found that passing from
_forte_ to _piano_ was much more difficult than swelling from soft to
loud.

The aria "Be not afraid," was now taken up; it was pronounced one of the
most difficult solos ever written, and a very valuable composition for
vocal training.

"You sing that phrase too loud," cautioned the instructor. "This is not
a human being who is speaking, rather it is a heavenly voice. That high
note of the phrase should be made softer, more ethereal. Make it a
_young tone_--put the quality of Spring into it. The whole thing should
be more spiritual or spiritualized. Now go through it again from
beginning to end."

When this was finished a halt was called; there had been enough work
done for that day. Soon the class was dismissed. The young singers--some
if not all of them known upon the concert stage--filed out. One young
woman remained; she was to have a drama lesson. The master of singing
showed himself equally efficient as master of English diction for the
spoken drama.

And here, for a time, we must leave him at his work.