and capability. The voice is often seriously impaired in using
the high notes in both chest and head registers, by forcing of the
high notes, and exaggerating the timbres and, if often renewed, will
eventually destroy the best voice and the tremolo follows in
consequence and the once promising voice is lost and forever
inevitably destroyed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

MORE ABOUT THE VOICE

"There is little difference in the place we fill in life:
The important thing is how to fill it."

This maxim applies also to the art of singing. There are singers and
singers, but few become artists. Thousands upon thousands of dollars
are spent upon them in America yearly. How many of these thousands of
dollars come back to these students? It is a rare occurrence if we get
one in ten thousand that really reaches this distinction in art, a
just reward for long years of patient study. When such an artist does
appear it is like a new star in the firmament, the wonder of the age.
The beauty and glory of this wonderful singer is not hidden under a
bushel, but the people of the earth flock to hear and see this rara
avis. The regret is that such a singer can not sing on forever. It is
strange that the human mind can retain the memory of song with such
distinctness and acuteness in the different singers and remember the
very songs they sang and how and where. When this can be done the
singer can well feel that his work has made a lasting impression.
Nothing less than the best will satisfy a lover of good music after
having enjoyed the best at the beginning.

We are often annoyed when we hear foreigners say, "Oh, we have it
better in Europe." There must be a reason for it, and it is not the
lack of voices in America, for we have given many fine voices,
including the only prima donnas who have risen to the height of
distinction in our day. We are foremost in producing fine singers
today as well as in the past years, both men and women, who are
acknowledged by all to be the brightest stars in the musical
firmament. Really fine artists have a charm that is recognized by all.
They are in a class by themselves and admirers feel honored to know
them or speak with them for a short while. It is a remembrance we go
back to with pleasure every time we hear the name spoken. Not one of
our generation ever saw one of the great composers like Liszt, Verdi,
Gounod, Wagner, etc. Yet there is not a musical person on this earth
but claims a