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TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE |
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The affirmative opinions are epitomized in the following summarizing
statements:
1. "Imitation is an important factor in teaching singing/' [Glenn
2. "Imitation is the life of the singing voice." [Waters 646; Kelly 312]
3. The student should learn to imitate the buoyancy, freedom and tonal beauty of the teacher's voice, rather than the exact tone quality. [Votaw 625]
4. "Try to reproduce in your own voice the good qualities" of every good voice you hear. "The imitative faculty will prove a first aid." [Stock 587]
5. In the beginning, the singer needs a model "just as much as the painter or sculptor." Everything is imitation until the individuality begins to assert itself. [Ryan 480]
6. There is no harm in imitating worthy models, providing it is not "mechanical or slavish" imitation. [Frieda Hempel 239]
7. The teacher must be able to illustrate what he wants the pupil to do. Illustration and imitation are the bases of all vocal teaching methods. [Frances AlcLa 6, p. 295; Feodor Chaliapin 95]
Those opposed to imitation are represented in the following:
i. Individuality, the basis of artistic interpretation is inhibited by imitative teaching. The great artist must leam always to express individual thought in tone. [Barbareux-Parry 34, p. 301]
2. The teaclier must do "more than set up a model" to be copied by imitation. He must set up "an inspiring ideal." [Mursell and Glenn
413, p. 292]
3. "Do not imitate someone else's voice. . . . Find out how your own voice should sound." [New York Singing Teachers Association 420; Key 314, p. 31]
4. Because two voices are never alike, imitation is ruinous, to the singer. He may copy technique or occasional interpretative effects but his vocal quality must always remain individual and distinctive. [With-
erspoon 677, p. 36]
5. We work against nature when we try to imitate, since no two voices are ever exactly alike. [Wodell 680; Brouillet 64, p. 44]
6. Imitation develops "parrot-like" performance which is inimical to
artistic expression. [Owsley 441, p. iv] |
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