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This Months Teach Yourself Singing Preview.

A Couple of Stories From the Teach Yourself Singing Universe.

    Little Mame Barbereux loved to sing, and on the farm in Galesburg, Illinois, there were a lot of sounds to sing along with. The happy child singer could sing along with the mooing of contented cows, the cackling of chickens, the endless chirping of insects, the marvelous melodies of the birds and the singing of her parents. The little girl could sit all day, rocking back and forth listening to the sounds.  She imagined seeing herself as a famous singer, traveling the world and uplifting all as she sang.

    As the years passed, Mame found her dreams becoming reality.  She got her chance to study music in the finest schools of the 1890"s. To her delight, she received instruction from Manuel Garcia in London, Vannini and Vanucini in Florence, and Viardot-Garcia and Marchesi in Paris.

    It was at the end of a trip to Europe that the young beauty of 23 met young Doctor Parry in Boston. They were married to the sound of music a few months later. Suddenly, disaster struck - M. Barbereux-Parry completely lost her singing and speaking voice.  Her husband, a throat and anatamy specialist, told her not to worry, that it was just due to tension and that rest would restore her wonderful vocal instrument.  

    As time passed with no improvement, specialists from all corners of the globe were consulted, and Mame went to see all her old teachers.  They all told her the same thing:  "We're sorry, you'll never sing or speak again." The grief-stricken young wife turned to the world of nature for solace.  

    She journeyed back to her parents' farm where she spent five years studying the sounds of nature and expressing her inner music at the piano.  One spring day while playing the piano, she heard baby robins chirping outside.  The sound caused her to break into uncontrollable tears.  Her crying continued for a few minutes and then came to an abrupt stop.

    There was an amazing high-pitched note resonating all around her.  It came out of the air like the sound of a dancing flute, everywhere at once.  It had the pure sound of a young child's first tones.  Experimentally, she hit a note on the piano.  The impossible sound was an "E flat" above soprano high C.  All day long, she was lost in contemplation of the mysterious sound.  What it did it mean?  Mame had always believed that there was an inward spiritual solution to all problems.  Somehow she knew that the golden, living note was her answer.

    That evening while asleep, Mame had a dream.  She was on top of a glowing mountain and could  look down over all creation.  She had a 360 degree view that looked everywhere at once and she heard the most exquisite music.  Her private concert ended with a giant chorus of children, animals, rocks and plants all singing her note - high E flat.

    The next day, she started her research into the world of sound,especially the sounds of children's voices.  Within one year, she had restored her speaking and singing voice to greater beauty than before.  She even had an extra octave of new tones.  Mame spent the next fifty years sharing her simple, natural vocal methods all over the world, teaching thousands that the voice is a stringed instrument and that anyone could sing!

THE DAY THE MICROPHONES DIED

     Hewa listened patiently to the many guest speakers.  Some of them couldn't be understood over the P.A. system.  This was unfortunate, for all the speakers were noted instructors in public speaking.  When her turn came to speak, the room came alive with the sound of Hewa's voice. It seemed to come from the very floor and walls.

     One member of the audience rose quickly from his seat and moved forward to turn down her microphone, but Hewa wasn't using one. Embarrassed, he asked her, "Could you please pipe your voice down?"  

     After her talk was over, she was asked to tell a little about how she had developed her voice. "I spent many years studying and teaching voice in my house at 2442 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois.  Students came from all over the world to study singing as vocalized speech.  These unique methods were developed by Mame Barbereux-Parry before there were any sound systems.  One's own body had to become a portable sound system, a sounding board for the voice.  This gave never-ending energy:  the more one sang, the more relaxed and stronger the voice got.

     Do the sunbeams ever get tired?  No!  And neither does the voice if one is relaxed.  All vocal problems can be traced to stress and tension.  Now-a-days, people amplify the tension in their voices with microphones instead of learning to relax so that microphones aren't needed.  You can be a living microphone!"

     On that day, many microphones died, and a large portion of the audience decided to study the voice as a living stringed instrument.  (A day in 1940).  

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