The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 14, 1900, Page 11

that she . for she has de b> new ons a subur ! b3 - and told me tha t t T Think we should a1 the Eu- r conser es American art »ean masters of our convictions, technique of THE SUNDAY CALL. 11 merica ELR i\ W PHOTOS BY ne teach through e an atmosphere of coldness, of repression? s My voice had been placed here in San X el el oy et Francisco two years before T started fof K > In Pa So much an American instructor Ty g my vol for one. Miss Marie Withrow did k with whom I sho it for me+ Thus the preliminaries were to look about ey attended to, and I could give all my r h master. 1 nd attention to the development of I we teaohers whom L 2y that American artists are too cold. Tt fs not that—the fault lfes In our timidity. We fear being ridiculed, criticized by our audience. The expression of the body from heel to crown helps to tell the story of the Why do we check all this? o. IT1S SEEN song we sing. For fear we s=hall be called affected. RETVRNY When we are only natural, An American teacher sald to me: “I should like to show my puplls how to , express the words of that song, but I am afrald they will laugh at me.” i Do ybu know the story of the “Shadow Dance?’ When I sing the song, T think ‘of that story. Wouldn't you? ¢ No? What would you think of? The ‘ audience? What has the audlence to do Lwith you? Perhaps you are wondering if {your gown hiangs well, if your hands | trembJe enough to be secen. Of course they do If you are wondering about them. You can hypnotize them iInto doing so. Try another kind of hypnotism. Coax the shadow right out there on the stage before the eyes of every onlooker. Make others sce it by seeing It yourself. “Come, slng and dance with me,” you met. When 1 came upon Madame Co- lonne, I knew that she was the woman for me, She is magnetic In manner; she is si cere and frank in judgment. Are not these the qualities that bring out the best “playmate once more. are saying. There it is, the gay little shadow, at your side. Beckon it, coax it, what do you care who sees? You are Young, you are gay, You want the shadow to be so, too. Call it. The shadow disappears. You are startled, you are sorry. You put out vour hands to catch it, but it is gone. Are you not lonely now? Think of that, how lonely you are. Is there any need to wear a mask? Don’t think of masks; think only of how you fcel You must call it back. Call it,"the mer- ry little shadow, to come and be your Will it come? You wonder eagerly. Ah! you see it. And now that you have it back you must scold it for disappear- ing. Scold severely; it must remember its lesson and never disappear again. Sing to it now. It has had its scold- ing and you can afford to be generous. You are contented, happy, in the having 1t back. Show it. not the audience, that you are. The audience is not present, you know; you and ycur shadow are playing all alone. Now we can dance,” you say to it. And Teu do. the two of you, dance ani pla r Why should you be afraid of your own thoughts, vour own emotic Why should you stand abashed before them and tremblingly cling to a roll of mus! and fee! that our hands and feet are legion? You are s conscicus. Yon have preoccupation rather than concen- -ou recital abroad, every pupil, no matter how insignificant his voice, will sing with expression and -k R TR TR @ attend a pupfl BT A AR The Sunday Call is the first paper on the coast to advocate a national conservas= tory for the education of our artists, - R BN e A T T é b S e e e color that holds the attention of the audi- ence. A better velee might fail to ac- complish as much through lack of color Be intent you f upon your song. and your hearers will be so, too. It has been sald that the artist Duse wins her audi- ence by ignoring jt. The pupll in Europe Is drilled plctures while a song is being sung. Mind, I do not say that this can be taught to one ‘without imagfnation. But it can be developed in one whe has imagination and is stifling it. The pupil sees pictures from beginning to cnd of the song, even during pauses. The facial expression, the pose of the body, must show a thought. When he has achieved this he sings artistically Instead of mechanically. The lack of artistic ex- presslon is the great fault of our Ameri- cans, and I think they know it too, for they are charmed by European ways. But there is no one on this side to show us the right way, and so we all flock abroad and spend much money to pay for our steamship ticket. We spend more to live in some dreary little pension where a pitcher of cold water is brought when we to see heeds a National e order hot and which we leave in despalr ‘to seek a bath, where still more money 13 spent. Oh, the dreariness of those tiny rooms in boarding-houses where students —our own country men and women—are working day after day with a candle to light them to thelr journey toward art. Students need good food. Dreamers may din into our ears the garret and crust theory, but they cannct make our nature. Who can succeed in work with- »ut ~holesome Jood: Who can achleve artistic success without practicability? Toby Rosenthal, the painter, sald to me: “I have watched, and this s what I have Great talent and little brain at- tracts, gains confidcnce for a while, then Atsappears. Less talent and much brain— we do not notice these at first, but by and by we do. The brain guides the talent and brings it to Its ultimate success.” Year after year our students go abroac by the thousands; the many fail and the few succeed. Most of them are poor. They have scraped and pinched to get together enough money for, say three years abroad, and when the three years are up the teachers say, “You are mot yet com- plete,” and they keep them on—five, six, even seven years. If America had a national conservatory these tragedies would be done away with. At a comparatively small expense stu- dents could attend it and with European masters In charge of it, they could gain the same art that they now, seek abroad. ‘We are imitative; it would be only a mat- ter of time before we could manage our own conservatory. : wrate seen: After our better times Rave com fea will find itself 1 singers on its own stage. A FEW HINTS TO SMOKERS 7T may fair! | smoking 1= a st 4 1arge public, sir up every now and then whs emperors and other pptent ed to the pipe. We belleve it is more to the purpose, however, to invite from pipe smokers an Interchange of experiences, to the -best methods may be e inferred the end t known to all. One may buy books on “How to T this or that, but, so far as we know, none can be had on “How to 4 CTALLINS any degree whatever made of a The best pipe !s short and without reall necessa this habi the tob: smoke wil burning wi very hard slowly. W ers have t £ to check their smoking They pr v the make 2t hand, 3 two pipes Of the several ways in ‘whic: tobacco is used the original one of smoking it in a pipe is undoubtedly the least harmful. It it is not begun too early in life or car- ried to excess, it is, we think, difficult to prove that pipe smoking is injurious In many are inaiTerent ana most are dad. A smoker may make his own mixture and always know what he has and save money at the same time. A half of a small potato, cut side down, placed In the bottom of a good sized jar or tim, will keep it sufficiently moist.