In regard to registers Madame Lehmann has this to say:  “In the formation of the voice no registers should exist or be created.  As long as the word is kept in use, registers will not disappear.”

PHYSIOLOGY

In spite of the fact there are many drawings and plates illustrating the various organs of head and throat which are used in singing, Madame Lehmann says: 

“The singer is often worried about questions of physiology, whereas she need—­must—­know little about it.

THE NASAL QUALITY

“The singer must have some nasal quality, otherwise the voice sounds colorless and expressionless.  We must sing toward the nose:  (not necessarily through the nose).

“For many ills of the voice and tone production, I use long, slow scales.  They are an infallible cure.

USE OF THE LIPS

“The lips play a large part in producing variety of tone quality.  Each vowel, every word can be colored, as by magic, by well controlled play of the lips.  When lips are stiff and unresponsive, the singing is colorless.  Lips are final resonators, through which tones must pass, and lip movements can be varied in every conceivable manner.”

POWER AND VELOCITY

She humorously writes:  “Singers without power and velocity are like horses without tails.  For velocity, practice figures of five, six, seven and eight notes, first slowly, then faster and faster, up and down.”

V

=AMELITA GALLI-CURCI=

SELF-TEACHING THE GREAT ESSENTIAL

No singer can rise to any distinction without the severest kind of self-discipline and hard work.  This is the testimony of all the great vocalists of our time—­of any time.  This is the message they send back from the mountain top of victory to the younger ones who are striving to acquire the mastery they have achieved.  Work, work and again—­work!  And if you have gained even a slight foothold on the hill of fame, then work to keep your place.  Above all, be not satisfied with your present progress,—­strive for more perfection.  There are heights you have not gained—­higher up!  There are joys for you—­higher up, if you will but labor to reach them.

[Illustration:  Photo by De Strelecki, N.Y. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI]

Perhaps there is no singer who more thoroughly believes in the gospel of work, and surely not one who more consistently practices what she preaches, than Amelita Galli-Curci.  She knows the value of work, and she loves it for its own sake.  There is no long cessation for her, during summer months, “to rest her voice.”  There is no half-day seclusion after a performance, to recover from the fatigue of