ONE

NE of the most successful vocal teachers in New York to-day is Marie Seymour Bissell, whose picture we place before our readers this month as an example of the success that may be attained by patient, conscientious work.

At the age of sixteen Miss Bissell filled the position of solo soprano of the Jewish Synagogue and Fourth Congregational Church in her native city of Hartford, Conn.; two years later she made her début in New York as solo soprano of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church.

Miss Bissell says of her voice at this time: "While my voice seemed to please othersand they were kind enough to say so I was greatly dissatisfied with it. I tried teacher after teacher without apparent improvement. Every teacher gave me immediately difficult arias, without one breathing or tone-placing exercise, and when I complained that my throat ached and that I did not think I could be using my voice right, I was told, You must not expect to become a Patti over night."

After two years of this, and finding no teacher to give her what she wanted, Miss Bissell ceased taking lessons, only trying to get points by watching the way the operastars used their breath, and trying to imitate

the full round tones that pleased her so much. One of the then opera-stars, Mme. - hearing Miss Bissell sing, said: "My dear, you have a lovely voice, but your tone is too white; it is not dark enough or deep enough, you must hold your breath so and make your tones so, "both of which she practically demonstrated. This Miss Bissell claims was the first real practical idea given her. From these suggestions she found, one day after weeks of experiment, that she could make the round, full floating tone she so much coveted on D. She decided, if she could make it on D, it was possible to make the same tone on all others. From this she worked out her method in her own way until to a light high soprano voice she has added the ability to sing a heavy mezzo-role or a contralto F without the least detriment to her high D. To this fact of having, as it were, "worked out her own salvation" in tone-production, Miss Bissell lays her marked success as a teacher. The points that Miss Bissell insists on in her teaching are "absolute control of the breath, open throat, forward tone, and absolute precision of attack without any glottis stroke." She justly claims that you can not have a pure tone with escaping breath or closed throat. The correctness of Miss Bissell's method was clearly demonstrated by one of her pupils, Sarah King Peck, whose picture, singing into Dr. Curtis's tonograph, appeared in the Scientific American, May 29. Miss Peck succeeded in making the most perfect plate on high C and D, showing the perfect placement of the tone.

Miss Bissell is a conductor as well as teacher and singer. The Musical Art Club of Bridgeport, Conn., composed of seventy ladies, has won for her golden opinions by its magnificent chorus work. At present Miss Bissell is solo soprano of the Broadway Tabernacle, which position she has held for more than ten years. The annual musicales given by Miss Bissell at Mendelssohn Glee Club Hall are eagerly looked for by all lovers of good music. Miss Bissell has pupils in church, concert and opera positions, and has demonstrated clearly her ability as an all-round, thorough teacher, conductor, and musician.

A

My Vocal Discoveries.

S several of my vocal discoveries have been claimed by others; or, at any rate, printed by others without acknowledgment, it will be well to enumerate them in the interests of my little son and namesake, John Howard, Jr. "The Physiology of Artistic Singing," issued in Boston, in 1886, contains nearly all of the following laws and is, undoubtedly, their first expression:

(1) Palatal Muscles.-The muscles extending from the soft-palate to the larynx, the palato pharyngei, constitute one of the principal agents for stretching the vocal cords, since they tilt the thyroid cartilage of the larynx (Adam's apple) forward upon the cricoid.

(2) Tongue Muscles.-The hyo-glossi muscles, from the rear tongue to the bone, the hyoid-bone, just above the larynx (Adam's apple) also constitute one of the principal cord-stretching agents when, as in all artistic tone, this bone is firmly united with the larynx.

(3) Sterno-Hyoid Muscles.-These muscles, from the hyoid-bone to the breast-bone, are the third more powerful cord-stretching agents, for they pull down on the front of both the hyoid-bone and the larynx and aid in tilting the thyroid cartilage downward and forward.

(4) Spinal Resonance.-The muscles extending from the larynx upward and downward (stylopharyngei and sterno-thyroid) unite their efforts to hold the larynx firmly back against the cervical spine, thus giving the tone its resonance.

(5) The Diaphragm.-This huge muscle should be wholly relaxed during inspiration for song and contracted powerfully during the tone; since it is an expiratory muscle in man when coupled with the abdominal muscles.

(6) Tensores Palati and Levatores Palati.-The former pull the soft-palate forward (not mentioned before), while the latter pull it backward and upward. When used together they pull upon the soft-palate in opposite directions, thus holding its naturally soft and yielding mass firm and tense, so that, in artistic tone, the aforesaid palatopharyngei muscles can have a firm support above and pull upward and forward with great cordstretching effect upon the rear of the larynx.

(7) A Principle of Gaining Muscular Strength.This is a means discovered of compelling any muscle or group of muscles to contract with three times the power they could by any other means command, this treble power gradually becoming voluntary. As certain muscles almost invariably act too weakly in the throat of the amateur, the extraordinary value of this principle will be appreciated.

ACOUSTIC DISCOVERIES.

(1) The Law of Consonating Vibrations.-By this law the volume of voice is wonderfully increased and its beauty enhanced by bringing nearly all

the muscles which line or border the mouth into such direct connection, or union with the vibrating, oscillating larynx, that they (the mouthlining muscles) will themselves vibrate, oscillate and originate vastly larger vocal waves with wonderful vocal gain.

(2) Vocal Compression.-By this law, if there be given a certain shape of the cavity of the mouth and of its orifice, the vocal waves during their passage through the mouth will be additionally compressed and virtually squeezed out of the mouth with wonderful improvement in power and beauty. This law was not known at the date of "The Physiology of Artistic Singing."

(3) Cause of Hollow Tones.-The cause is the continuous, unintermitting pressure of vocal vibrations upon the drum of the ear causing it to be insensible to the lighter pressure of overtones.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

The above are the principal physiologic and acoustic principles upon which the practical exercises of the Howard Voice-Method are founded. Not one of these laws has been announced save by myself and my pupils. The most prominent masters of this country or other countries are wholly unaware of their existence, save through my printed or written words, yet every single one of these laws needs to be known to make the teacher sure of success, the principle of strength, perhaps, excepted.

For instance, the teacher who did not know and could not teach that palatal action which stretches the vocal cords would naturally (as he usually does) give the fatal advice to expand the rear roof of the mouth instead of somewhat narrowing it; and expanding would wholly defeat the law. If he knew nothing of the essential law of Consonating Vibrations (see The Musical Courier for series of articles beginning in June, 1896) he would terribly fail in getting the pupil's best latent voice by insisting (as he commonly does) upon a relaxed state of the whole inner boundary of the mouth, upon spread lips and a tongue at the lower front teeth. Without a knowledge of the expiratory function of the diaphragm, a correct support for the voice would be impossible. Not knowing the palate supporting office of the levatores and tensores palati, he would prescribe pm-practices or insist on gaining the so-called forward tones by avoiding all movement or effort at the rear of the mouth.

I have devoted far more time to the finding of simple practices to put the pupil in command of these essential muscles than to the discovery of the laws; and I can now fairly affirm that even a half hour of study, whether at a personal lesson or upon a lesson by mail, will give the pupil some degree of valuable control over one or two of these muscular efforts with perceptible vocal gain.

That these are bold assertions can not be denied; but I feel that the opportunity presented by the coming visit of the Music Teachers' National Association is an unusual one and should be taken advantage of. I feel, too, that my own voice, developed from almost nothing to great power and, as they tell me, the true artistic quality, is a proof of the almost incredible power of the method of strict physiological voice-teaching.

Therefore the hour from two to three, daily, will be reserved for all who may call upon Mr. John Howard at his studio, 459 West 57th street, A few minutes' examination and advice often have changed a vocal life.

Those who are in doubt about Mr. Howard's claims can easily be convinced; for no especial anatomical knowledge is required to follow a demonstration, an illustration (by his own voice and throat) of the truth of anyone of the given laws. Advice, though usually severe, will be freely given. It may be added that professional singers, having already gained a certain approximation to the right delivery, are usually able to derive great benefit from even a short course of study, even from a few lessons.

A pamphlet entitled "A Civic Disgrace," a reprint from The Musical Courier, will be given, or sent on application.

JOHN HOWARD.

Miss Amy Fay, the child of gifted and accomplished parents, was born in Louisiana and educated a member of the most cultivated circle of New England society, her father being the scholarly Rev. Charles Fay, D.D., son of Judge S. P. P. Fay of Cambridge, Mass., and her mother the very musical Emily Hopkins Fay, daughter of Bishop John Henry Hopkins of Vermont, known in his day as the Musical Bishop" of the Episcopal Church. At four years of age the little girl began playing and composing on the piano, and during her school life her music was her joy and recreation rather than her task. After reaching womanhood Miss Fay went to Berlin, where the great Tausig was residing and teaching, in order to perfect herself on her chosen instrument.

For the next four years she devoted herself to the art of piano-playing under a succession of the most eminent masters of Europe-Tausig, Kullak, and Liszt-and on account of her unusual difficulty in mastering the technique, gave two years more to an analytical study of it under the profound and scientific musician, the late Herr Capellmeister Deppe, of Berlin, who afterward rose to the highest recognition in his profession-being at different times the conductor of the Royal Opera at Berlin, the piano teacher of the present Empress of Germany and other important court person

ages of the court circle, the conductor of the Royal Orchestra, corresponding to the New York Philharmonic Society, etc.

Miss Fay's experiences were photographed as they occurred in her letters to her family, and may be found arranged in book form by her sister, Mrs. Fay Peirce, in her charming "Music Study in Germany," which, though it has been sixteen years before the public, shows no sign of diminishing popularity. It was published through the influence of the poet Longfellow, who reviewed it in manuscript with the greatest care and interest, and it at once received the double honor of being translated into German at the request of Liszt. In Germany it is as widely known as in this country. In 1886 it was republished in London by Macmillan, and several large editions have been issued by that celebrated firin.

About the year 1881 Miss Fay made the discovery that if, when giving a piano-recital, she talked a little before each piece about its composer and of what the work was intended to convey, her audiences were far more interested and delighted than when she played her program through in the ordinary manner. Since that time she has given recitals in no other fashion. She calls them "Piano Conversations." Further. more, in any town where she is playing, Miss Fay, her other engagements permitting, is happy to give to any piano teachers who desire it, a talk and practical lesson on the Deppe Method for the Pianoforte as set forth in the last chapters of her "Music Study in Germany."

In 1885, in Weimar, Liszt himself expressed to Miss Fay great interest in the account in "Music Study" of Herr Deppe's analysis of the piano technique, and in fact the chief points in that technique will be found to underlie the "methods" of most of the leading pianoforte virtuosi of Europe and the United States.

Miss Amy Fay...

Is Open to
Engagements for

Piano Conversations

Book of Light Programs sent on application. Address, care CHICKERING & SONS, 5th Ave. and 18th St., N. Y.

"Music Study in Germany." Sixteenth edition. Macmillan & Co., New York. Price, $1.25.