AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 80, 30 April 1909, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS.

HOW: TO SING. To the many young ladies who aspire to become singers, whether in view of a concert career or merely to charm th ( . home circle, the writer (says ''Treble Clef" in the ''Dominion") would offer advice, which may be taken for a limited period only —go and hear Florence Young! Miss Young, who is the Sonia of "The Merry Widow," is giited with a crystalline but robust soprano, which she uses in the freest manner, without the slightest indication that strain is necessary to produce any ell'ect wanted —whether it be a high note which can be heard clear and bright above combined chorus and orchestra, a full tone in the middle register, or a note of pathos below the lower C. All are alike to this delightful songstress. Her untrammelled breathing, deep and full, ; s something to admire; it helps rather than hinders her phrasing, and is tho best example that a young vocalist could have. Too many students -oof singing bottle up their voices at great inconvenience .to themselves, under the impression that in the subduing of.the voice they are producing effects that would be lost iu "letting the voice go"; they labor under the misapprehension that "treatment" must be subservient to the voice. Nothing could be wider of the truth. The two must go together. A bottled-up voic e docs not give a true .piano or pp. ell'ect; it is a spurious imitation in which enunciation and articulation Miller. And it is here that Miss Young takes the right line. Her softest notes arc as clear as her ringing top C, and each word is clearly articulated, no matter how reduced the body of the tone is. Many young lady singers would have ail aching throat long before they could get through the music of "The Merry Widow," but Miss Young can sing the part twice a day without experiencing vocal fatigue. Though she had a year with Marches! (in Paris) I am inclined to think that Miss Young's vocalisin ic part of her natural self, but in any case her methods are sound, and she is a splendid model for our future local singers, and, in some cases, our present ones.