A Singers Success

It has always seemed interesting to me that although a student mentally may grasp the method theory as presented by the teacher, true vocal improvement does not come until the student’s subconscious mind has fully accepted the new order of things.

A student may say, "Yes, I understand—No, I have no questions," day after day, and the voice may improve slowly on the right track, but without spectacular success. Then all of a sudden, during a routine lesson, a strange expression comes into the student’s eyes and he says, "Oh, Mat’s what you meant." And the sudden facility that he attains seems nothing short of miraculous. I have found usually that improvement will be first gradual, then startling, then gradual again, as every few months certain fundamentals sink in and another step in the art of singing has become subconscious, thoroughly learned, and thus put into practice.

It is for this reason that, although a method of singing may be elucidated in a very few pages of writing, or a few minutes of conversation, proficiency is the result of many years of practice. A singer’s success thus depends upon the wise guidance and surveillance of his teacher, who must lead him beyond fundamentals, the while assuring unchanging excellence through regard for basic principles.