the words "law," "raw,"
"saw," "tall," "hall," etc., that contain the Italian "ae," but also the
words "light," "bright," "might."

In the word "night," the beginner usually dwells on the "ee," making it
"na-=ee=t," while it =should be= pronounced "n=aw=-eet," dwelling on the "ae."

The Italian vowels cover the sound, tone color and pronunciation of the
Latin, English, Italian and German, with the exception of the German "o"
and "ue."

With the French it is quite different. The sound and production stands
by itself. A French singer does not so readily sing the other languages,
neither does an American in the same length of time master the French as
well as the other languages. The French insist on =perfect diction=, and
one of our grand opera singers who delights the New York opera goers by
her singing of "Faust," "Carmen," etc., in the French, would not be
tolerated at the opera in Paris on account of her diction.

As the French is the diplomatic language of the world, it would be well
to take up this language first. Then study your Italian for your singing
and you will find the Spanish, Latin and German can be easily mastered.

Study only those songs which have merit. "After the Ball" was composed
within the past twenty years, and over 3,000,000 copies have been sold,
yet this song is both dead and buried, while the "Earl King," by
Schubert, composed in 1798, is today found upon practically all the
programs of our noted singers.

When taking up a new song read the words over carefully and get an idea
what you are going to sing about before you try to sing it. Never
breathe in the middle of a word, or break a sentence by taking a
breath.

THE BREATH.

The foundation upon which you have to build your voice is the =breath=,
and like all other foundations, it must be properly laid, or the
structure will be a failure. It is imperative that you have absolute and
perfect =control= of the breath. An athlete once said to me, "If breath is
the foundation of good singing, I certainly should make a fine singer,
as I have the largest chest expansion and can hold my breath the longest
time of anyone in the college." The truth is, a small girl, weighing
ninety-six pounds, who had less than one-fifth of his chest expansion,
had twice the volume of sound-carrying power in tone, and could sustain
a tone three times as long as he.

To practice breathing is not practicing singing, and the teacher who
keeps a pupil inde