Selected Content from the April 1920 Edition of The Etude
THE supposition of the general public is that composers sit down at the table or at the piano and write down at once some beautiful masterpiece snatched from the gorgeous wells of inspiration. As a matter of fact, most… Read More
Beauty of tone comes as the result of freedom of tone production. This was the foundation of the old Italian method. The older Italians learned this centuries ago and it was the understanding of this law that enabled them to produce so many great singers. It is as true to-day as it was a hundred years ago. Freedom of tone production means precisely what it says. The absence of strain or rigidity so that the vocal mechanism can function with freedom and elasticity. Read More
People seem to forget the restorative vigor of nature. It is astonishing with the normal healthy individual how rapidly nature can remedy the inevitable ills to which we are all subject. Of course, if you are weak and sickly it is hard luck and about your only chance for success in this life, whether as a singer or in any other department of activity, will depend on your building yourself up into health and strength. Read More
If the breath-controlling muscles should be completely relaxed the breath would leave the lungs in a feeble gasp and it would be impossible to produce a tone. Yet if these breath-controlling muscles be held too tight their action will be labored, there will be too heavy a pressure on the tone-producing muscles within the larynx and the tone will be forced and hard. Read More
Amy Elsie Horrocks, pianist and composer, died lately in Paris. She was born in Brazil, of English parentage. She composed numerous songs, as well as compositions in larger form. Undine, an orchestral tone-poem, had performance at Queen’s Hall, London, with success. Her most famous song was The Bird and the Rose. Read More
