ghly
understood and is one of the many shades of tone a singer can use at
times, just as the impressionist uses various unusual colors to produce
certain atmospheric effects.

For instance, in the mad scene in "Lucia" the use of the "white voice"
suggests the babbling of the mad woman, as the same voice in the last
act of "Traviata" or in the last act of "Boheme" suggests utter physical
exhaustion and the approach of death.

An entire voice production on these colorless lines, however, would
always lack the brilliancy and the vitality which inspire enthusiasm.

One of the compensations of the "white voice" singer is the fact that
she usually possesses a perfect diction. The voice itself is thrust into
the head cavities and not allowed to vibrate in the face and mouth and
gives ample room for the formation of vowels and consonants. And the
singer with this voice production usually concentrates her entire
attention on diction.

The cure for this tone emission is, first of all, the cultivation of the
breath prop, then attacking the vowel sound o o in the medium voice,
which requires a low position of the larynx, and exercises on the
ascending scale until the higher notes have been brought down, as it
were, and gain some of the body and support of the lower notes without
losing their quality.

The singer's expression must concern itself chiefly with the play of
emotion around the eyes, eyebrows and forehead. You have no idea how
much expression you can get out of your eyebrows, for instance, until
you study the question and learn by experiment that a complete emotional
scale can be symbolized outwardly in the movements of the eyelids and
eyebrows.

A very drooping eyebrow is expressive of fatigue, either physical or
mental. This lowered eyelid is the aspect we see about us most of the
time, particularly on people past their first youth. As it shows a lack
of interest, it is not a favorite expression of actors and is only
employed where the role makes it necessary.

Increasing anxiety is depicted by slanting the eyebrows obliquely in a
downward line toward the nose.

Concentrated attention draws the eyebrows together over the bridge of
the nose, while furtiveness widens the space again without elevating the
eyebrows.

In the eyebrows alone you can depict mockery, every stage of anxiety or
pain, astonishment, ecstasy, terror, suffering, fury and admiration,
besides all the subtle tones between.

In singing roles