Ellis, _Man and
Woman_, fourth edition, p. 290). As the neighborhood of
menstruation is also the period when sexual excitement is most
likely to be felt, we have here a further indication that sexual
emotion is not favorable to singing. I agree with the remarks of
a correspondent, a musical amateur, who writes: "Sexual
excitement and good singing do not appear to be correlated. A
woman's emotional capacity in singing or acting may be remotely
associated with hysterical neuroses, but is better evinced for
art purposes in the absence of disturbing sexual influences. A
woman may, indeed, fancy herself the heroine of a wanton romance
and 'let herself go' a little in singing with improved results.
But a memory of sexual ardors will help no woman to make the best
of her voice in training. Some women can only sing their best
when they think of the other women they are outsinging. One girl
'lets her soul go out into her voice' thinking of jamroll,
another thinking of her lover (when she has none), and most, no
doubt, when they think of nothing. But no woman is likely to
'find herself' in an artistic sense because she has lost herself
in another sense--not even if she has done so quite respectably.
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