Punch (92.1887)

Apeil 23, 1887.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

195

OUT OF IT; OR, UP IN SKYE !

" HARK! HARK I THE LARK I"

Such expressions as "interpretation" and "creation" tend neces-
sarily to foster complacency, and even to delude you into the notion
that you may perhaps embellish or even improve upon the notes
y°u have to sing. Nothing could he more unlikely. Only occa-
sionally do you not spoil your sones by sineing .out of time, by
singing out of tune, or by loading with affectation what should have
°een simplicity itself. The last you love to do.

One of the first things you should aspire to is to sing in time.
it you are engaged in the chorus, either for a concert or operatic work,
you will be made to sing in time. If, on the other hand, you come
th onCe as a so'°ist. the chances are that the conductor will keep
we band and the audience waiting while you dwell upon unimportant
notes and drag the time agreeably to your teacher's instructions or
7°Ur individual measure of original sin. Therefore, as you are strong
°e merciful.

'I1 It is of course very desirable that you should also sing in tune,
remain throughout a song, however long, in about the same key
trie accompaniment. I am aware that moBt singers find this

difficult, and perhaps it is waste of time to insist upon such a detail.
But a paper that touched ever so lightly upon singing might perhaps
be considered incomplete by the fastidious, were not some passing
allusion made to the desirability of an entente more or less cordiale
between vocalist and orchestra.

6. Desire for selfish display is the bane of voealism. In solos from
a ballad to a scena, your want of taste is remarkable, and you must
not think, because a composer thanks you at the end of a perform-
ance and pays you compliments, that he is really pleased with you.
He is merely thankful that you have got through at all, and his
compliments are given in fear lest you should turn and rend him.

7. It has been hinted above that you are not always ideal expo-
nents of musical composition. It would seem, therefore, scaroely
unreasonable to suggest that, when possible, you might, with advan-
tage to yourselves and your audience, aocept any hints that the com-
poser might be in a position to give. Provided always that you aTe
not—as, of oourse, you generally are—better musicians than the
person whose work you are good enough to render.