Lanterna Rally

Author: Charles Lunn

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-06-26

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 9781514722909

The growing interest in the training of the speaking and singing voice which the general public has of late shown, would ensure any good text-book on the subject a hearty welcome. It is, therefore, with pleasure we call the attention of our readers to the this edition of Mr. Lunn's treatise on the voice. So much new matter has been added to the volume that in a sense it may be called a new book. To the profession, teacher and pupil, it should prove of great value, treating as it does subjects of importance and interest, and offering solutions to questions that have long been awaiting them. To all who are obliged to speak or sing much it will be of service. Voice production affects the pulpit, the platform, and the stage; the principles of restoration should be known to every National School teacher throughout the kingdom, and especially should they be known to every medical practitioner, for voice production embraces a far wider sphere than music, and penetrates where the latter never enters. br> This thought must frequently have occurred to many. Have the medical profession taken a full advantage of the preventive and curative qualities of voice culture with regard to diseases of the chest? Further, Is there not some need for legislation, when in the School Board Chronicle for March 3, 1900, we read, that there were in London alone 1,800 out of 3,000 teachers suffering from School Board laryngitis? Is this satisfactory either for the teacher or pupil? Moreover, some restraint is surely needed to check unqualified and incompetent people from practicing at the expense of their pupils, as serious damage to the throat is often the inevitable result. Though we are tempted to quote at length from the work, an enumeration of some of the subjects treated must suffice. There are chapters on The Infant Voice, Natural Physics of Voice, Roots of Vocal Art, Oratory, Aerial Foundation, Self-revealed Voice, Æsthetics of Voice, The Old School, Stammering and Stuttering, &c. Such subjects as breath control, the action of the ventricles, the registers, falsetto, difference between the male and female voice, are treated in an able manner, and will well repay careful reading. The author has evidently thought long and deeply over his subject, and in the theories he advances deserves a respectful hearing. At times he is somewhat severe with those who may hold different opinions, but this is no doubt due to his intense interest in his subject. We hope he will be able not only to give us the volume on the technical side of the art, which we understand is nearly ready, but also one treating the matter from the artistic side. The publishers deserve credit for their share in the work, which is well done. -The Month, Volume 97 [1901]