ughts which once rang from its vibrating
wires to all parts of the civilized world. We really sing with that
which leaves the body after death. It is in the cultivation of this
mystery of mysteries, the soul, that most singers fail. The mental ideal
is, after all, that which makes the singer. Patti possessed this ideal
as a child, and with it the wonderful bodily qualifications which made
her immortal. But it requires work to overcome vocal deficiencies, and
Patti as a child was known to have been a ceaseless worker and thinker,
always trying to bring her little body up to the high aesthetic
appreciation of the best artistic interpretation of a given passage.

MAURICE STRAKOSCH'S TEN VOCAL COMMANDMENTS

It was from Maurice Strakosch that I learned of the methods pursued by
Patti in her daily work, and although Strakosch was not a teacher in the
commercial sense of the word, as he had comparatively few pupils, he was
nevertheless a very fine musician, and there is no doubt that Patti owed
a great deal to his careful and insistent regime and instruction.
Although our relation was that of impresario and artist, I cannot be
grateful enough to him for the advice and instruction I received from
him. The technical exercises he employed were exceedingly simple and he
gave more attention to how they were sung than to the exercises
themselves. I know of no more effective set of exercises than
Strakosch's ten daily exercises. They were sung to the different vowels,
principally to the vowel "ah," as in "father." Notwithstanding their
great simplicity Strakosch gave the greatest possible attention and time
to them. Patti used these exercises, which he called his "Ten
Commandments for the Singer," daily, and there can be little doubt that
the extraordinary preservation of her voice is the result of these
simple means. I have used them for years with exceptional results in
all cases. However, if the singer has any idea that the mere practice of
these exercises to the different vowel sounds will inevitably bring
success she is greatly mistaken. These exercises are only valuable when
used with vowels correctly and naturally "placed," and that means, in
some cases, years of the most careful and painstaking work.

Following are the famous "Ten Vocal Commandments," as used by
Adelina Patti and several great singers in their daily work. Note
their simplicity and gradual increase in difficulty. They are to be
transpos