How to Sing [Meine Gesangskunst]
MY PURPOSE My purpose is to discuss simply, intelligibly, yet from a scientific point of view, the sensations known to us in singing, and exactly ascertained in my experience, by the expressions "singing open," "covered," "dark," "nasal," "in the head," or "in the neck," "forward," or "back." These expressions correspond to our sensations in singing; but they are unintelligible as long as the causes of those sensations are unknown, and everybody has a different idea of them. Many singers try their whole lives long to produce them and never succeed. This happens because science understands too little of singing, the singer too little of science. I mean that the physiological explanations of the highly complicated processes of singing are not plainly enough put for the singer, who has to concern himself chiefly with his sensations in singing and guide himself by them. Scientific men are not at all agreed as to the exact functions of the several organs; the humblest singer knows something about them. Every serious artist has a sincere desire to help others reach the goal--the goal toward which all singers are striving: to sing well and beautifully.
bane, and the bane of all to whom it may come, whether by fair means or
by foul! And the ring which you have torn from my hand, may it entail
upon the one who wears it sorrow and untold ills, the loss of friends,
and a violent death!"
Loki was pleased with these words, and with the dark curses which the
dwarf pronounced upon the gold; for he loved wrong-doing for
wrong-doing's sake, and he knew that no curses could ever make his own
life more cheerless than it always had been. So he thanked Andvari for
his curses and his treasures; then, throwing the magic net upon his
shoulder, he sprang again into the air, and was carried swiftly back to
Hunaland; and, just before the dawn appeared in the east, he alighted
at the door of the farmhouse where Odin and Hoenir still lay bound with
thongs, and guarded by the watchful Fafnir and Regin.
Then the farmer, Hreidmar, brought the otter's skin, and spread it upon
the ground; and, lo! it grew, and spread out on all sides, until it
covered an acre of ground. And he cried out, "Fulfil now your promise!
Cover every hair of this hide with gold or with precious stones. If
you fail to do this, then your lives, by your own agreement, are
forfeited, and we shall do with you as we list."
Odin took the magic net from Loki's shoulder; and, opening it, he
poured the treasures of the mountain elves upon the otter skin. And
Loki and Hoenir spread the yellow pieces carefully and evenly over
every part of the furry hide. But, after every piece had been laid in
MY PURPOSE My purpose is to discuss simply, intelligibly, yet from a scientific point of view, the sensations known to us in singing, and exactly ascertained in my experience, by the expressions "singing open," "covered," "dark," "nasal," "in the head," or "in the neck," "forward," or "back." These expressions correspond to our sensations in singing; but they are unintelligible as long as the causes of those sensations are unknown, and everybody has a different idea of them. Many singers try their whole lives long to produce them and never succeed. This happens because science understands too little of singing, the singer too little of science. I mean that the physiological explanations of the highly complicated processes of singing are not plainly enough put for the singer, who has to concern himself chiefly with his sensations in singing and guide himself by them. Scientific men are not at all agreed as to the exact functions of the several organs; the humblest singer knows something about them. Every serious artist has a sincere desire to help others reach the goal--the goal toward which all singers are striving: to sing well and beautifully.