s and their sorrows, their successes and
their failures, their strength and their weaknesses, their loves and
their hates. In all art human life is reflected, and this is
particularly true in the case of vocal art. For years, in my youth, I
never failed to attend all of the musical events of consequence in my
native city. This was of immense value to me, since it gave me the means
of cultivating my own judgment of what was good or bad in singing. Do
not fear that you will become _blase_. If you have the right spirit
every musical event you attend will spur you on.

You may say that it is expensive to hear great singers, and that you can
only attend recitals and the opera occasionally. If this is really the
case you still have a means of hearing singers which you should not
neglect. I refer to the reproducing machines which have grown to be of
such importance in vocal education. Phonograph records are nothing short
of marvelous, and my earnestness in this cause is shown by the fact that
I have long advocated their employment in the public schools, and have
placed the matter before the educational authorities of New York. I
earnestly urge the music teachers of this country, who are working for
the real musical development of our children, to take this matter up in
all seriousness. I can assure them that their efforts will bring them
rich dividends in increased interest in musical work of their pupils,
and the forming of a musical public. But nothing but the classics of
song must be used. The time for the scorning of "high-brow" songs is
past, and music must help this country to rid itself of the vogue of the
"low-brow" and the "tough." Let singers strive to become educated
ornaments of their lofty profession.

9. _Personal Magnetism._--One of the most essential. The subject of
"personal magnetism" is ridiculed by some, of course, but rarely laughed
at by the artist who has experienced the astonishing phenomena in the
opera house or the concert room. Like electricity it is intangible,
indefinable, indescribable, but makes its existence known by
manifestations that are almost uncanny. If personal magnetism does not
exist, how then can we account for the fact that one pianist can sit
down to the instrument and play a certain piece, and that another
pianist could play the same piece with the same technical effect but
losing entirely the charm and attractiveness with which the first
pianist imbued the composition? Personal ma