a Gadski_ 154

TEACHING YOURSELF TO SING _Amelita Galli-Curci_ 166

THE KNOW HOW IN THE ART OF SINGING
_Mary Garden_ 176

BUILDING A VOCAL REPERTOIRE _Alma Gluck_ 185

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG CONCERT
SINGERS _Emilio de Gogorza_ 191

THOROUGHNESS IN VOCAL PREPARATION
_Frieda Hempel_ 200

COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND
PRESERVING THE VOICE _Dame Nellie Melba_ 207

SECRETS OF BEL CANTO _Bernice de Pasquali_ 217

HOW FORTUNES ARE WASTED IN VOCAL
EDUCATION _Marcella Sembrich_ 227

KEEPING THE VOICE IN PRIME CONDITION _Ernestine Schumann-Heink_ 235

ITALIAN OPERA IN AMERICA _Antonio Scotti_ 251

THE SINGER'S LARGER MUSICAL PUBLIC _Henri Scott_ 260

SINGING IN CONCERT AND WHAT IT MEANS _Emma Thursby_ 269

NEW ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SINGING
IN AMERICA _Reinald Werrenrath_ 283

HOW I REGAINED A LOST VOICE _Evan Williams_ 292

INTRODUCTION

VOCAL GOLD MINES AND HOW THEY ARE DEVELOPED

Plutarch tells how a Laconian youth picked all the feathers from the
scrawny body of a nightingale and when he saw what a tiny thing was left
exclaimed,

"_Surely thou art all voice
and nothing else!_"

Among the tens of thousands of young men and women who, having heard a
few famous singers, suddenly determine to follow the trail of the
footlights, there must be a very great number who think that the success
of the singer is "voice and nothing else." If this collection of
conferences serves to indicate how much more goes into the development
of the modern singer than mere voice, the effort will be fruitful.

Nothing is more fascinating in human relations than the medium of
communication we call speech. When this is combined with beautiful music
in song, its charm is supreme. The conferences collected in this book
were secured during a period of from ten to fifteen years; and in every
case the notes have been carefully, often microscopically, reviewed and
approved by the artist. They are the record of actual accomplishment and
not mere metempirical opinions. The general design was directed by the
hundreds of questions that had been presented to