The Head Voice and Other Problems

The Head Voice and Other
Problems, by D. A.

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D. A. Clippinger
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Title: The Head Voice and Other Problems Practical Talks on Singing
Author: D. A. Clippinger

Release Date: October 7, 2006 [eBook #19493]
Language: English
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The musical illustrations also have been transcribed and collected in
two pdf files, links to which can be found at the beginning and the end
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fragments, which are unlabeled in the book, are noted as Figures A
through Q (in the order in which they appear), and can be found in the
Figures pdf.

THE HEAD VOICE AND OTHER PROBLEMS
Practical Talks on Singing
by
D. A. CLIPPINGER
Author of Systematic Voice Training The Elements of Voice Culture

1.00
[Illustration]
Boston Oliver Ditson Company New York Chicago Chas. H. Ditson &
Co. Lyon & Healy
Copyright MCMXVII By Oliver Ditson Company International
Copyright Secured

To MY STUDENTS Past, Present and Future

INTRODUCTION
The following chapters are the outgrowth of an enthusiasm for the work
of voice training, together with a deep personal interest in a large
number of conscientious young men and women who have gone out of
my studio into the world to engage in the responsible work of voice
teaching.
The desire to be of service to them has prompted me to put in
permanent form the principles on which I labored, more or less
patiently, to ground them during a course of three, four, or five years.
The fact that after having stood the "grind" for that length of time they
are still asking, not to say clamoring, for more, may, in a measure,
justify the decision to issue this book. It is not an arraignment of vocal
teachers, although there are occasional hints, public and private, which
lead me to believe that we are not altogether without sin. But if this be
true we take refuge in the belief that our iniquity is not inborn, but
rather is it the result of the educational methods of those immediately
preceding us. This at least shifts the responsibility.
Words are dangerous things, and are liable at any moment to start a
verbal conflagration difficult to control. Nowhere is this more likely to
occur than in a discussion of voice training.
From a rather wide acquaintance with what has been said on this
subject in the past hundred years, I feel perfectly safe in submitting the
proposition that the human mind can believe anything and be
conscientious in it.
Things which have the approval of ages emit the odor of sanctity, and
whoever scoffs does so at his peril. Charles Lamb was once criticised
for speaking disrespectfully of the equator, and a noted divine was
severely taken to task for making unkind remarks about hell. Humanity
insists that these time honored institutions be treated with due respect. I
have an equal respect for those who believe as I do and those who do
not; therefore if anything in this book is not in accord with popular

opinion it is a crack at the head of the idol rather than that of the
worshipper.
There is no legislative enactment in this great and free country to
prevent us from believing anything we like, but there should be some
crumbs of comfort in the reflection that we cannot know anything but
the truth. One may believe that eight and three are thirteen if it please
him, but he cannot know it because it is not true. Everything that is true
has for its basis certain facts, principles, laws, and these are eternal and
unchangeable. The instant the law governing any particular thing
becomes definitely known, that moment it becomes undebatable. All
argument is eliminated; but while we are searching for these laws we
are dealing largely in opinions, and here the offense enters, for as Mr.
Epictetus once said, "Men become offended at their opinion of things,
not at the things themselves." We can scarcely imagine any one taking
offense at the multiplication table, neither