When they were completed he came once more to his
home in the early part of 1912. After his week in Oakland he sang all
through the south and interior and later in Oregon and British
Columbia, returning in September to fill out the engagement at the
Empress, then again go on the Eastern circuit.
I have necessarily given more space to this special pupil and were it
possible to state accurately all the circumstances in his life you
would all agree with me that he deserved credit and recognition in a
musical way and proved himself a hero during the years he was
perfecting himself. He has never had any other instruction than mine
and has been true to the first placement of voice and development in
the art of singing. He goes to hear the best artists and takes his
lessons from their work; sends his criticisms of them all marked upon
the program to me for approval; keeps his ears and eyes open to all
advancement in his art; has acquired a graceful and acceptable
presence and personality on and off the stage. Musicians all like him;
his managers praise him and give him work as an acknowledgment of his
ability to entertain. I have still a circumstance to relate which
makes his singing the more marvelous and marks an "O.K." on my efforts
to make a Chinese with a dull, unmelodious, unmusical voice succeed.
Of course he never had the clear, ringing tone that is in the gift of
the white race and he could not always get the vowel sounds to suit me
and I attributed the fact to his being a Chinese, so I was obliged to
be satisfied with the result obtained.
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