ssion obtained, a sufficiency of Technique acquired, the next
step in the singer's education is the practical study of the problem
of Style.

CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS OF STYLE

What is Style?

In reality the question is two-fold. One may have Style; and one may
have _a_ style. The former is general; the latter individual. The
former can be taught and learned, for it is based on certain
well-defined rules; the latter is personal--in other words, is not
universally applicable. Not infrequently it is a particular
application of those rules which gives the impress of originality. But
correct taste must first be formed by the study of the noblest
creations in the particular art that claims attention. In singing, as
in the sister arts, the laws which govern Style must be apprehended
and understood before Individuality can be given full scope.
Otherwise, what to the executant would appear as original might, to
correct taste and judgment, appear ridiculous and extravagant. A
genius is sometimes eccentric, but eccentricity is not genius. Vocal
students should hear as many good singers as possible, but actually
imitate none. A skilled teacher will always discern and strive to
develop the personality of the pupil, will be on the alert to discover
latent features of originality and character. He will respect and
encourage individuality, rather than insist upon the servile imitation
of some model--even though that model be himself. As the distinguished
artist Victor Maurel has justly observed: "Of all the bad forms of
teaching singing, that by imitation is the worst" (_Un Probleme
d'Art_).

In singing, as in painting, a copy has never the value of the
original. Moreover, slavish imitation in any art has a deleterious
influence. But to respect irreproachable examples and fitly observe
sound rules, whose very survival often justifies their existence and
testifies to their value, is always of benefit to the artist. To
imitate is to renounce one's individual expression of an ideal and
present that of another. But to observe established and accepted laws,
laws founded on Truth and consecrated by Time, is not to imitate, when
those laws are applied in an original and individual manner that is in
harmony with the personality of the interpreter. "_L'art est un coin
de Nature vu a travers un temperament._" In literature, each writer
has his own special style which may easily be recognized; but all
follow the same grammatical rul