most consideration is
given to those broad general qualities without which all the technical
and musical training of the world is practically worthless. The success
of the art worker in all lines depends first upon the nature of the man
or woman. Technical training of the highest and best kind is essential,
but that which moves great audiences is not alone the mechanics of an
art, but rather the broad education, experience, ideals, culture, the
human sympathy and magnetism of the artist.

2. _The Value of Education and Culture._--I cannot emphasize too
strongly the value of a good general education and wide culture for the
singer. The day has passed when a pretty face or a well-rounded ankle
could be mistaken for art on the operatic stage. The public now demands
something more than the heroic looking young fellow who comes down to
the footlights with the assurance of youth and offers, for real vocal
art, a voice fresh but crudely trained, and a bungling interpretation.

Good education has often been responsible for the phenomenal success of
American singers in European opera houses. Before the last war, in
nearly all of the great operatic centers of the Continent, one found
Americans ranking with the greatest artists in Europe. This was a most
propitious condition, for it meant that American audiences have been
compelled to give the long-delayed recognition to our own singers, and
methods of general and vocal education.

In most cases the young people of America who aspire to operatic
triumphs come from a somewhat better class than singers do in Europe.
They have had, in most cases, better educational, cultural and home
advantages than the average European student. Their minds are trained to
study intelligently; they are acquainted with the history of the great
nations of the world; their tastes are cultivated, and they are filled
with the American energy which is one of the marvels of the centuries.
More than this, they have had a kind of moral uplift in their homes
which is of immense value to them. They have higher ideals in life, they
are more businesslike and they keep their purposes very clearly in view.
This has created jealousy in some European centers; but it is simply a
case of the survival of the fittest, and Europe was compelled to bow in
recognition of this. Vocal art in our own land is no longer to be
ignored, for our standards are as high as the highest in the world, and
we are educating a race of singe