s commenced with the really musical child, the better. Before it
is of any real value to the singer her sight reading should become
second nature. She should have lost all idea of the technic of the art
and read with ease and naturalness. This is of immense assistance. Then
she should study the piano thoroughly. The piano is the door to the
music of the opera. The singer who is dependent upon some assistant to
play over the piano scores is unfortunate. It is not really necessary
for her to learn any of the other instruments; but she should be able to
play readily and correctly. It will help her in learning scores, more
than anything else. It will also open the door to much other beautiful
music which will elevate her taste and ennoble her ideals.

She should go to the opera as frequently as possible in order that she
may become acquainted with the great roles intuitively. If she cannot
attend the opera itself she can at least gain an idea of the great
operatic music through the talking machines. The "repertory" of records
is now very large, but of course does not include all of the music of
all of the scenes.

She should be taught the musical traditions of the different historical
musical epochs and the different so-called music schools. First she
should study musical history itself and then become acquainted with the
music of the different periods. The study of the violin is also an
advantage in training the ear to listen for correct intonation; but the
violin is by no means absolutely necessary.

LANGUAGES

All educators recognize the fact that languages are attained best in
childhood. The child's power of mimicry is so wonderful that it acquires
a foreign language quite without any suggestion of accent, in a time
which will always put their elders to shame. Foreign children, who come
to America before the age of ten, speak both then-native tongue and
English with equal fluency.

The first new language to be taken up should be Italian. Properly
spoken, there is no language so mellifluous as Italian. The beautiful
quantitative value given to the vowels--the natural quest for euphony
and the necessity for accurate pronunciation of the last syllable of a
word in order to make the grammatical sense understandable--is a
training for both the ear and the voice.

Italy is the land of song; and most of the conductors give their
directions in Italian. Not only the usual musical terms, but also the
other directions are