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+Project Gutenberg's Voice Production in Singing and Speaking, by Wesley Mills
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Voice Production in Singing and Speaking
+       Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged)
+
+Author: Wesley Mills
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2006 [EBook #19880]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOICE PRODUCTION IN SINGING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Newman, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOICE PRODUCTION
+
+IN
+
+SINGING AND SPEAKING
+
+BASED ON
+
+SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES
+
+BY
+
+WESLEY MILLS, M.A., M.D., F.R.S.C.
+
+EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY IN McGILL UNIVERSITY, AND LECTURER ON
+VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE IN THE McGILL UNIVERSITY CONSERVATORIUM
+OF MUSIC, MONTREAL, CANADA
+
+_FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED_
+
+[Illustration: publisher logo]
+
+PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1906,
+BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+The Rights of Translation and all other Rights Reserved
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1913,
+BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+Electrotyped and Printed by
+J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
+
+[Transcriber's Notes: In this e-text, illustrations of music notation
+have been rendered using standard text notation, e.g.: C = C two
+octaves below middle C; c = C one octave below middle C; c' = middle
+C; c'' = C one octave above middle C, etc.
+
+Macrons are indicated thus: [=a], [=e], [=i], [=o], [=u].]
+
+[Illustration: Illustrations of the appearance of the larynx during
+phonation in two special cases. (Gr�nwald.)]
+
+EXPLANATION OF THE COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+They contrast with each other in that the one (upper) is too red; the
+other, too pale. The upper represents appearances such as one gets
+with the laryngoscope when the subject has a very severe cold, or even
+inflammation of the larynx, including the central vocal bands. In this
+particular case, a young woman of twenty-five years of age, there was
+inflammation with a certain amount of weakness of the internal
+thyro-arytenoid muscles. Speaking was almost impossible, and such
+voice as was produced was of a very rough character. In the lower
+illustration we have the appearances presented in a man affected with
+tuberculosis of the lungs and larynx. The pallor of the larynx is
+characteristic. There is weakness of the internal thyro-arytenoid
+muscle on the right side, which results in imperfect tension of the
+vocal band on that side, so that the voice is uncertain and harsh.
+Such illustrations are introduced to impress the normal by contrast.
+The reader is strongly advised to compare these figures with others in
+the body of the work, especially those of Chapter VII.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FOURTH REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION.
+
+
+In addition to certain emendations, etc., introduced throughout the
+work, I have thought it well to add a chapter in which the whole
+subject is treated in a broad and comprehensive way in the light of
+the latest scientific knowledge.
+
+In this review the psychological aspects of the subject have not been
+neglected, and the whole has been related to practice to as great an
+extent as the character of the book permits.
+
+It is significant that on both sides of the Atlantic there is a
+growing conviction that the foundations for speaking and singing as an
+art must be made as scientific as the state of our knowledge will
+permit.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+January, 1913.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
+
+
+No preface to the Second Edition was written, so few were the changes
+that were made in the work, and the same might apply to this Third
+Edition. However, the fact that within a period of less than two
+years, a Second English and a Third American Edition have been called
+for, seems to the Author to be so conclusive an endorsement of the
+application of science to vocal art, that he may be entitled at least
+to express his gratification at the progress the cause, to which he
+has devoted his pen, is making. It would seem that the better portion
+at least of that public that is interested in the progress of vocal
+art has made up its mind that the time has come when sense and science
+must replace tradition and empiricism.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+MONTREAL, September, 1908.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The present work is based on a life study of the voice, and has grown
+out of the conviction that all teaching and learning in voice-culture,
+whether for the purposes of singing or speaking, should as far as
+possible rest on a scientific foundation.
+
+The author, believing that practice and principles have been too much
+separated, has endeavored to combine them in this book. His purpose
+has not been to write an exhaustive work on vocal physiology, with
+references at every step to the views of various authors; rather has
+he tried always to keep in mind the real needs of the practical
+voice-user, and to give him a sure foundation for the principles that
+must underlie sound practice. A perusal of the first chapter of the
+work will give the reader a clearer idea of the author's purpose as
+briefly expressed above.
+
+The writer bespeaks an unprejudiced hearing, being convinced that in
+art as in all else there is but one ultimate court of appeal: to the
+scientific, the demonstrable--to what lies at the very foundations of
+human nature.
+
+In conclusion, the author desires to thank those publishers and
+authors who have kindly permitted the use of their illustrations.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+MCGILL UNIVERSITY, Montreal, October, 1906.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE CLAIMS AND IMPORTANCE OF VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY.
+
+Science and art--The engineer, architect, physician, nurse, and
+others, compared with the vocal teacher and learner--Unfavorable
+tendencies--The old masters--The great elocutionists--Causes of
+failure--The lack of an adequate technique--Correct methods are
+physiological--Summary of the advantages of teaching and learning
+based on scientific principles--Illustrations of the application of
+physiological principles to actual cases--The evils from which
+speakers and singers suffer owing to wrong methods--Speaking and
+singing based on the same principles--Relation of hygiene to
+physiology 17
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GENERAL PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES.
+
+Relations of animals to each other--Common properties of living
+matter--Explanation of these--The mammal and man--The stimulus and its
+results--The one-celled animal--Various "systems"necessary--Complexity
+of structure and function--Harmony through the nervous system--The
+rule of nervous centres--Means by which they are influenced, and by
+which they influence--Reflex action--Muscular mechanisms and
+neuro-muscular mechanisms--Work of the singer and speaker largely
+reflex in character--Summary 34
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BREATHING CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+Breathing the great essential--Misconceptions--Purpose of breathing as
+a vital process--The respiratory organs--Their nature--Relations of
+the lungs to the chest-wall--Expansion of the chest--Its
+diameters--The muscles of respiration--Personal observation--The
+diaphragm--Varying quantities of air breathed--Breathing when properly
+carried out by the singer or speaker is healthful 44
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+BREATHING FURTHER CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+Relations of the nervous system to breathing--The respiratory
+centre--Reflex action in breathing--Methods of preventing
+nervousness--Tones produced by the outgoing breath--Waste of
+breath--The happy combination for good singing or speaking 57
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+The well-developed chest--The voice-user a kind of athlete--The
+tremolo--Exercises recommended for the development of the chest--Forms
+of dress that hamper breathing--Weighing and measuring,
+re-measurement, etc.--Specific directions for methods to develop the
+chest--Warnings--Additional exercises--Breathing through the nose and
+through the mouth--Exercises for the development of the diaphragm and
+abdominal muscles--Relation of the diaphragm to the staccato
+effect--Forms of general exercise for the voice-user--Summary 62
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SPECIAL VOICE-PRODUCING MECHANISM, THE LARYNX.
+
+Not the only voice-producing apparatus--Specific structures of the
+larynx in use when the subject phonates--Muscles and their
+attachments--The cartilages of the larynx--The lining mucous
+membrane--Changes in it when one has a "cold"--The vocal
+bands--Functions of the epiglottis--The "middle line" and relative
+position of parts--Adam's apple--Ventricle of the larynx--The
+importance of the arytenoid cartilages--Muscles of the larynx in
+detail--Sphincter action--Straining--Position of the larynx--Practical
+considerations--Dissection of a "pluck" and especially of the
+larynx--Hygiene--How disorder of one part may affect another--Summary
+74
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SOUND--THE LARYNGOSCOPE--THE LARYNX RECONSIDERED.
+
+Some study of physics desirable--Sound and vibrations--The sounding
+body--Experiments to illustrate the principles of sound--Qualities of
+sound--Animals and perception of sound--The range of hearing in
+man--The larynx as a musical instrument--Experiments of Johannes
+M�ller--Discovery of the laryngoscope by Garcia--Description
+of the instrument--Method of using the laryngoscope--The
+difficulties--Auto-laryngoscopy--The importance of both laryngoscopy
+and auto-laryngoscopy--Change in size of the larynx due to
+use--Delicate changes in the laryngeal mechanism--Changes in the
+larynx during adolescence--Warnings--The "breaking" of the
+voice--Analogies with fatigue, etc.--When should singing be
+begun?--Singing with others--Choral singing 97
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BREATHING, LARYNGEAL ADJUSTMENT, ETC.
+
+Various kinds of breathing, as "abdominal," "clavicular," etc.,
+discussed--Control of the whole of the breathing mechanism
+urged--Correct breathing as a habit--Breathing in the most vigorous
+speaking and singing--Different views expressed by a diagram--Economy
+of energy in art--Reserve energy in breathing--"Pumping"--_Coup de
+glotte_--"Attack"--Breath-adjustment--Quality of sound the prime
+consideration in tone-production--Tremolo and other faults--Tests of
+good breathing--Mouth-breathing--Exercises--Singing of a single
+tone--Its relation to scale-singing--Summary and review 118
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.
+
+Vocal bands and resonance-chambers compared--Improvised mechanism to
+illustrate resonance--Musical instruments as resonance-bodies--A vowel
+in relation to the resonance-chambers--Description of the
+resonance-chambers--How the quality of tones may be made to vary--New
+views as to the sounding-chambers--Summary 140
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.
+
+A controverted subject--Definitions of a register--Qualifications for
+dealing with this subject--Madame Seiler--Tabular statement of her
+views--Garcia's and Behnke's divisions of registers--Sir Morell
+Mackenzie's views in detail--The author's earlier investigations--Madame
+Marchesi's views and practice 151
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.
+
+Auto-laryngoscopy and photography of the larynx--Dogmatism and
+science--Confusion and controversy--The break--Ignoring
+registers--Modification of tones, or "covering"--Points of agreement
+between different writers on the subject--The falsetto for
+males--Madame Seiler's special qualifications--Behnke's and
+Mackenzie's views--The author's conclusions--Rule for the extension of
+a register--Why certain artists deteriorate while others do
+not---Males and females compared as to registers--The division of the
+registers for female voices recommended by the author--Teacher and
+pupil as regards registers--Objection to registers answered--The
+manner of using the breath and registers--How to distinguish
+registers--The teacher's part--Hearing singers of eminence is
+recommended--Madame Melba--Guiding sensations--Summary 161
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING VOICE-PRODUCTION.
+
+Artistic expression only through movements--Emotions and
+technique--Relation of ideas to movements--Memories and
+movements--Guiding sensations essential for movements--The principles
+underlying all movements the same--Associated reflexes and habits--How
+habits are formed--inhibitions and their importance--Early practices
+only before the teacher--Careful practice with concentration of energy
+the best--Queries as to practice--Fatigue a warning--Practice in the
+early hours of the day, and short of fatigue--Quality to be aimed at
+rather than quantity--The total amount of time to be devoted to
+practice--"Hasten slowly;" "Little and often"--The treatment of the
+voice ruined by wrong methods--Summary 179
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CHIEFLY AN APPLICATION TO VOICE-PRODUCTION OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES
+PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED.
+
+Vowels, consonants, noise--Consonants and pauses--Voice-production and
+vowels--Certain vowel sounds common to most languages--Why German and
+English are relatively unmusical--The needs of the musical artist--The
+mechanism required for the production of a vowel sound--Reconsideration
+of the resonance-chambers--The larynx to be steadied but not held
+rigidly immovable--The principal modifiers of the shape of the
+mouth-cavity--Breath to be taken through the mouth--The lips--Tongue
+and lip practice before a mirror--Importance of the connection between
+the ear and the mouth parts, etc--"Open mouth"--The mouth in singing a
+descending scale--Undue opening of the mouth--Proper method of opening
+the mouth--Causes of compression and the consequences 195
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+SOME SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF PRINCIPLES IN TONE-PRODUCTION.
+
+Principles and their expression in a few exercises--Analysis of the
+methods of tone-production--The sustained tone--Smoothly linked
+tones--The legato--The staccato and kindred effects--The mechanisms
+concerned--Perfection requires years of careful practice--The
+bel canto and the swell--The same exercises for singer and
+speaker--"Forward," "backward," etc., production--Escape of
+breath--The action of the soft palate--When to use "forward" and when
+"backward" production--Voice-placement--Nasal resonance, not nasal
+twang--Summary 207
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.
+
+The subject may be made dry or the reverse--Vowels, consonants,
+noise--The position of the lips and the shape of the mouth-cavity in
+sounding the various vowels--How to demonstrate that the mouth-cavity
+is a resonance-chamber--Practical considerations growing out of the
+above--Speaker, vocalist, and composer--Bearing of these facts on the
+learning of languages--Consonants as musical nuisances--Their great
+variation in pitch--Br�cke's division of consonants--Tabulation of the
+same 218
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+FURTHER THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION OF VOWELS AND
+CONSONANTS.
+
+The best vowel to use in practice--Necessary to practise all--The
+guttural _r_ and the lingual _r_--Consonants that favor nasality of
+tone--Overtones and fundamental tones--Relation of intensity and
+quality--The carrying power of a tone--Unusual distinctness in
+practice as related to ease--The registers of the speaking voice
+according to Madame Seiler--The range in speaking--Summary 230
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE HEARING APPARATUS AND HEARING IN MUSIC.
+
+Why this chapter is introduced--The essential mechanism of
+hearing--The part played by waves and vibrations--Divisions of the
+ear--The external ear in lower animals--The drum-head or tympanic
+membrane--The middle ear and its connections--Relation of the throat
+and the ear--The inner ear or labyrinth--The end-organ and its
+relations--The connection of the ear and various parts of the
+brain--The musician's ear--Relation of music and hearing--Lack of ear
+and inattention--The artist and the musician--The ear and the speaking
+voice--General musical training in relation to intonation, etc--The
+appreciation of music, and training to that end--The art of listening
+with close attention--Summary 236
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL HYGIENE AND RELATED SUBJECTS.
+
+Hygienic as related to physiological principles--Hygiene in the
+widest sense--Unfavorable conditions in the public life of an
+artist--Qualifications for success--Technique and a public career--The
+isolation of the artist and its dangers--The need for greater
+preparation now than ever--Choral singing and its possible
+dangers--The tendencies of the Wagner music-drama--Special faults, as
+the "scoop," "_vibrato_," "_tremolo_," "pumping"--Desirability of
+consultations by teachers of the use of the voice--Things the
+voice-user should avoid--Mouth-toilets--Lozenges--The sipping of
+water--What one should and should not eat--Tea and Coffee--The whole
+subject of congestion from compression, straining, etc., of the utmost
+importance--A sore throat when frequent should give rise to inquiry as
+to methods--Constipation--Exercise--Bathing 251
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+FURTHER TREATMENT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HYGIENE.
+
+Stammering and stuttering--Those who have broken down--The increase of
+the range of a voice--The part the student plays in settling such
+questions--Selections to be avoided--Conservation of energy--Change
+and contrast--The voice as related to the building in which it is
+produced--The listener and pauses--Nervousness, and how to ward it
+off--General conclusion 268
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+REVIEW AND REVISION.
+
+The object of the speaker or singer--The idea of co-ordination--The
+study of vocalization may be considered a study of movements--The
+psychic condition--The instrument which is played upon--How is this
+instrument played upon?--Vibration of the air--Breathing--The aim of
+all training--The whole subject of breathing--Breathing exercises--The
+resonance chambers--The formation of vowels--Muscular efforts for the
+production of consonants--The pronunciation of words--General health
+of great importance 276
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+FIG.                                                             PAGE
+
+Appearance of the larynx during phonation in two
+special cases (in colors)                               _Frontispiece_
+
+ 1. Muscle-fibres from the heart, much magnified                   34
+ 2. Small portion of muscle, moderately magnified                  34
+ 3. Muscle-cells from coats of intestine                           35
+ 4. Body of a nerve-cell of the spinal cord                        38
+ 5. Large nerve-cell from spinal cord of an ox                     38
+ 6. Cell from the cortex cerebri                                38-39
+ 7. Nerve terminating in a muscle                               38-39
+ 8. Muscle-fibres with capillaries around and between them         39
+ 9. Parts of the respiratory apparatus                             44
+10. Trachea and bronchial tubes                                    45
+11. Heart, lungs, and diaphragm                                    45
+12. Diagram showing changes in shape of chest during inspiration   49
+13. Diagram showing depression of the diaphragm during
+    inspiration                                                    50
+14. Position of diaphragm, abdominal walls, etc., during
+    expiration                                                     55
+15. Diagram illustrating reflex action                             58
+16. A well-developed, healthy chest                                62
+17. A chest deformed by corsets                                    62
+18. Normal position of diaphragm and vital organs                  63
+19. Vital organs misplaced by compression of the chest             63
+20. Thyroid and cricoid cartilages, side view                      76
+21. Thyroid and cricoid cartilages, front view                     76
+22. Back surface of cricoid cartilage                              77
+23. Cricoid cartilage, side view.                                  77
+24. Arytenoid cartilages                                           77
+25. A view of the larynx from behind                               78
+26. Epiglottis, thyroid and cricoid cartilages, etc.            78-79
+27. Hyoid bone, crico-thyroid muscle, etc.                      78-79
+28. Posterior view of the larynx                                   79
+29. Diagram showing relation of parts to the thyroid cartilage     80
+30. Diagram showing the action of crico-thyroid muscle             82
+31. View of larynx from above                                      83
+32. Transverse section of larynx                                   83
+33. False and true vocal bands, etc.                               86
+34. Inner surface of the larynx                                    87
+35. Diagram to show the action of the laryngeal muscles            96
+36. Registering the vibrations of a tuning-fork                   100
+37. Illustrating the transmission of vibrations                   101
+38. Illustrating the theory and practice of laryngoscopic
+    examination                                                   104
+39. Illustrating the practice of laryngoscopic examination        106
+40. Laryngoscopic picture of male larynx                          112
+41. Laryngoscopic picture of female larynx                        112
+42. Larynx during an attack of a common "cold"                    113
+43. The vocal bands as seen with laryngoscope during deep
+    inspiration                                                   113
+44. Diagram showing form of chest and abdomen in forced
+    abdominal breathing                                           122
+45. The vocal bands during the production of a high-pitched tone  138
+46. Water being poured into a tube until the remaining air-space
+    becomes a resonator of a tuning-fork                          142
+47. Soft palate, fauces, and tonsils                          142-143
+48. Nares and soft palate, from behind                        142-143
+49. Turbinated bones of the nose                                  143
+50. Madame Seiler's division of the registers                     155
+51. Appearance of the vocal bands when sounding first E and
+    then F sharp                                                  164
+52. Diagram to show the nature of registers and breaks            166
+53. Diagram of the processes involved in singing                  186
+54. Highly magnified diagramatic representation of a section
+    through the superficial part of the great brain               188
+55. Nerve-cell from the outer rind of the great brain, much
+    magnified                                                     189
+56. Position of parts in sounding the vowel A                     219
+57. Position of the parts in sounding I                           220
+58. Position of the parts in sounding OU                          222
+59. Position of the parts in sounding T, K, F, R, N, and P        227
+60. Vertical section of the auditory apparatus                    237
+61. Diagram of the auditory apparatus                             238
+62. Two of the ear-bones (malleus and incus), enlarged            239
+63. The complete chain of auditory ossicles                       240
+
+
+
+
+VOICE PRODUCTION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE CLAIMS AND IMPORTANCE OF VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY.
+
+
+To know consciously and to do with special reference to guiding
+principles are to be distinguished from carrying out some process
+without bearing in mind the why or wherefore. Science is exact and
+related knowledge, facts bound together by principles. Art is
+execution, doing, and has not necessarily any conscious reference to
+principles.
+
+While every art has its corresponding science, their relation is in
+some cases of much greater practical importance than in others. While
+a painter may be the better for knowing the laws of light, there can
+be no question that he may do very good work without any knowledge
+whatever of the science of optics. He is at least in no danger of
+injuring any part of his person.
+
+Entirely otherwise is it with the voice-user. He employs a delicate
+and easily injured vital apparatus. His results depend on the most
+accurate adjustment of certain neuro-muscular mechanisms, and one
+might suppose that it would be obvious to all who are concerned with
+this art that a knowledge of the structure and functions of these
+delicate arrangements of Nature would be at least of great if not of
+essential importance. The engineer knows the structure and uses of
+each part of his engine, and does not trust to unintelligent
+observation of the mere working of mechanisms which others have
+constructed. The architect studies not only the principles of design,
+etc., but also the nature and relative value of materials. In his own
+way he is a kind of anatomist and physiologist.
+
+We do not trust the care of our bodies to those who have picked up a
+few methods of treatment by experience or the imitation of others. The
+doctor must have, we all believe, a knowledge of the structure and
+working of the animal body; he must understand the action of drugs and
+other healing agents. We expect him not only to diagnose the
+disease--to tell us exactly what is the matter--but also to be able to
+predict with, some degree of certainty the course of the malady. Even
+the nurse of the day must show some grasp of the principles underlying
+her art.
+
+In connection with all the largest and best equipped universities in
+America there are officials to plan and direct the courses in physical
+culture. This matter is no longer entrusted to a "trainer," who has
+only his experience and observation to rely upon. It is realized that
+the building up of the mechanism which they are supposed to train in
+an intelligent manner rests upon well-established principles.
+
+It would be just as reasonable for an engineer to point to the fact
+that his engine works well, as evidence of his ability, as for the
+teacher of voice-production to make the same claim in regard to the
+vocal mechanism. In each case there is a certain amount of
+justification for the claim, but such teaching cannot be called
+scientific. Is it even enlightened? It is just as rational to follow
+in medicine methods that seem to lead to good results, without any
+reference to the reason why, as to train for results in speaking and
+singing by methods which have for the student and teacher no conscious
+basis in scientific knowledge. The physician to-day who treats disease
+without reference to anatomy and physiology is, at best, but a sort of
+respectable charlatan. Why should students and teachers of
+voice-production be content to remain, in the advanced present, where
+they were hundreds of years ago?
+
+Indeed, there is much more reason now than formerly why the vocalist,
+speaker, and teacher should have a theoretical and practical
+knowledge of the structure and workings of the mechanism employed.
+Many tendencies of the present day work against successful
+voice-training--worst of all, perhaps, the spirit of haste, the desire
+to reach ends by short cuts, the aim to substitute tricky for
+straightforward vocalization, and much more which I shall refer to
+again and again. They hurt this cause; and I am deeply impressed with
+the conviction that, if we are to attain the best results in singing
+and speaking, we must betake ourselves in practice to the methods in
+vogue at a time which may be justly characterized as the golden age of
+voice-production.
+
+We have advanced, musically, in many respects since the days of the
+old Italian masters, but just as we must turn to the Greeks to learn
+what constitutes the highest and best in sculpture, so must we sit at
+the feet of these old masters. Consciously or unconsciously they
+taught on sound physiological principles, and they insisted on the
+voice-training absolutely necessary to the attainment of the best art.
+
+However talented any individual may be, he can only produce the best
+results as a singer, actor, or speaker, when the mechanisms by which
+he hopes to influence his listeners are adequately trained. Why do we
+look in vain to-day for elocutionists such as Vandenhoff, Bell, and
+others? Why are there not actors with the voices of Garrick, Kean,
+Kemble, or Mrs. Siddons, or singers with the vocal powers of a score
+of celebrities of a former time? It is not that voices are rarer, or
+talent less widely bestowed by nature. It is because _we do not to-day
+pursue right methods for a sufficient length of time_; because our
+methods rest frequently on a foundation less physiological, and
+therefore less sound. Take a single instance, breath-control. In this
+alone singers to-day are far behind those of the old Italian period,
+not always because they do not know how to breathe, but because often
+they are unwilling to give the time necessary for the full development
+of adequate breathing power and control.
+
+There was probably never a time when so much attention was paid to the
+interpretation of music, yet the results are often unsatisfactory
+because of inadequate technique. People seem to hope to impress us, on
+the stage, with voices that from a technical point of view are crude
+and undeveloped, and accordingly lack beauty and expressiveness.
+Speakers to-day have often every qualification except voice--a voice
+that can arrest attention, charm with its music, or carry conviction
+by the adequate expression of the idea or emotion intended.
+
+Is it not strange that a student of the piano or violin is willing to
+devote perhaps ten years to the study of the technique of his
+instrument, while the voice-user expects to succeed with a period of
+vocal practice extending over a year or two, possibly even only a few
+months?
+
+When the anatomy and physiology of the larynx are considered, it will
+be seen that the muscular mechanisms concerned in voice-production are
+of a delicacy unequalled anywhere in the body except possibly in the
+eye and the ear. And when it is further considered that these
+elaborate and sensitive mechanisms of the larynx are of little use
+except when adequately put into action by the breath-stream, which
+again involves hosts of other muscular movements, and the whole in
+relation to the parts of the vocal apparatus above the larynx, the
+mouth, nose, etc., it becomes clear that only long, patient, and
+_intelligent_ study will lead to the highest results.
+
+It should also be remembered that such an apparatus can easily acquire
+habits which may last for life, for good or ill, artistically
+considered. Such delicate mechanisms can also be easily injured or
+hopelessly ruined; and, as a matter of fact, this is being done daily.
+A great musical periodical has made the statement that thousands of
+voices are being ruined annually, in America alone, by incompetent
+teaching. My experience when a practising laryngologist made me
+acquainted with the extent of the ruin that may be brought about by
+incorrect methods of using the voice, both as regards the throat and
+the voice itself; and contact with teachers and students has so
+impressed me with the importance of placing voice-production on a
+sound foundation, not only artistic but physiological, that I have
+felt constrained to tell others who may be willing to hear me what I
+have learned as to correct methods, with some reference also to wrong
+ones, though the latter are so numerous that I shall not be able to
+find the space to deal at length with them.
+
+The correct methods of singing and speaking are always, of necessity,
+physiological. Others may satisfy a vitiated or undeveloped public
+taste, but what is artistically sound is also physiological. None have
+ever sung with more ease than those taught by the correct methods of
+the old Italian masters; as none run so easily as the wisely trained
+athlete, and none endure so well. People in singing and speaking will,
+as in other cases, get what they work for, but have no right to expect
+to sing or speak effectively by inspiration, any more than the athlete
+to win a race because he is born naturally fleet of foot or with a
+quick intelligence. In each case the ideas are converted into
+performance, the results attained, by the exercise of neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. I am most anxious that it shall be perceived that this is
+the case, that the same laws apply to voice-production as to running
+or any other exercise. The difference is one of delicacy and
+complexity so far as the body is concerned.
+
+It will be understood that I speak only of the technique. For art
+there must be more than technique, but there is no art without good
+methods of execution, which constitute technique. The latter is
+nothing more than method--manner of performance. Behind these methods
+of performance, or the simplest part of them, there must be some idea.
+The more intelligent the student, speaker or singer, as to his art and
+generally, the better for the teacher who instructs scientifically,
+though such intelligence is largely lost to the teacher who depends on
+tradition and pure imitation. In the present work I shall be so
+concerned with the physical that I shall be able only to refer briefly
+to the part that intelligence and feeling play in the result.
+
+The qualifications for the successful treatment of vocal
+physiology--that is, such a discussion of the subject as shall lead to
+a clear comprehension of the nature of the principles involved, and
+place them on a practical foundation, make them at once usable in
+actual study and in teaching--such qualifications are many, and, in
+their totality and in an adequate degree, difficult to attain. After
+more than twenty years of the best study I could give to this subject
+in both a theoretical and a practical manner, I feel that I have
+something to say which may be useful to a large class, and, so far as
+I know, that is my reason for writing this book.
+
+For myself music is indispensable. The one instrument we all possess
+is a voice-mechanism. I am one of those who regret that so little
+attention is paid, especially in America, to pleasing and expressive
+use of the voice in ordinary conversation. Yet how much pleasure
+cannot a beautiful speaking voice convey! The college undergraduate
+rarely finds vocal study among the requirements, in spite of the fact
+that the voice is an instrument that he will use much more than the
+pen. The truth is, the home methods of voice-production are those we
+are most likely to carry with us through life, and, unfortunately,
+little attention is given to the subject.
+
+Sometimes a love of sweet sounds may be a hidden cause for much that
+would otherwise be inexplicable in an entire career, as in my own
+case. It led to an early study of singers and actors and their
+performances; it gave rise to an effort to form a voice that would
+meet the requirements of an unusually sensitive ear; it led to the
+practice and teaching of elocution, and, later, to much communion with
+voice-users, both singers and speakers. In the meantime came medical
+practice, with speedy specialization as a laryngologist, when there
+were daily consultations with singers and speakers who had employed
+wrong methods of voice-production; this again led on to the scientific
+investigation of voice problems, with a view of settling certain
+disputed points; then came renewed and deeper study of music, both as
+an art and as a science, with a profound interest in the study of the
+philosophy of musical art and the psychological study of the musical
+artist, all culminating in this attempt to help those who will listen
+to me without prejudice. I do not think I know all that is to be
+known, but I believe I do know how to form and preserve the voice
+according to physiological principles; I at least ask the reader to
+give my teachings and recommendations a fair trial. He shall have
+reasons for what is presented and recommended to him.
+
+Once more let it be said that I do not deny that good practical
+results may follow teaching that is not put before the pupil as
+physiology; but what is claimed for physiological teaching is that--
+
+1. It is more rational. The student sees that things must be thus and
+so, and not otherwise.
+
+2. Faults can be the better recognized and explained.
+
+3. The student can the more surely guide his own development, and meet
+the stress and storm that sooner or later come to every professional
+voice-user.
+
+4. Injured voices can be the more effectively restored.
+
+5. The physical welfare of the student is advanced--a matter which I
+find is often neglected by teachers of music, though more so in the
+case of instrumental than vocal teachers.
+
+6. The student can much more effectively learn from the performances
+of others, because he sees that singing and speaking are physical
+processes leading to artistic ends. This is perhaps one of the most
+valuable results, and I can testify to the greater readiness with
+which analysis of a performance can be made after even moderate
+advancement. The teacher who is wise will encourage the student to
+hear those who excel, and to analyze the methods which successful
+artists employ. The student can much more readily accomplish this than
+detect the mental movements of the artist, though the two really go
+hand in hand to a large extent.
+
+The above are some of the advantages, but by no means all, of a method
+of study of voice-production which I must claim is the only rational
+one--certainly, the only one that rests on a scientific foundation.
+
+It does not follow that such study, to be scientific, shall be made
+repellent by the use of technical terms the significance of which the
+reader is left to guess at, but finds unexplained. I fear such
+treatment of vocal physiology has brought it into disrepute. The aim
+of the writer will be to give a clear scientific treatment of the
+subject, which shall not be obscured by unexplained technical terms,
+and which shall be _practical_--capable of immediate use by student
+and teacher. If he did not believe the latter possible he would not
+think it worth while to attempt the former, especially as this has
+often been done before, he regrets to say, badly enough.
+
+Although the author has not now the tune to give regular lessons in
+voice-production, he is frequently consulted, especially when abroad,
+during his vacations, by speakers and especially singers who are
+anxious to learn how they may increase their efficiency in the
+profession by which they earn their livelihood and make their
+reputation; and the reader may be gratified to learn how, in such
+cases, the writer applies the principles he so strongly recommends to
+others.
+
+Let two or three illustrations suffice:
+
+1. A tenor of world renown consulted him in regard to the position of
+the larynx in singing, as he had a suspicion that his practice was not
+correct, inasmuch as his voice seemed to be deteriorating to some
+extent. The answer to his question need not be given here, as this
+subject is discussed adequately in a later chapter.
+
+2. The second was the case of a young lady, an amateur singer, who was
+anxious to know why she failed to get satisfactory results. The author
+heard her in a large room, without any accompaniment (to cover up
+defects, etc.), and standing at first at some distance from her, then
+nearer. Her tones were delightfully pure and beautiful, but her
+performance suggested rather the sound of some instrument than singing
+in the proper sense. It was impossible to learn the ideas to be
+imparted, as the words could not be distinctly made out; there was a
+monotony in the whole performance, though, it must be confessed, a
+beautiful monotony, and there was a total lack of that vigor and
+sureness that both educated and uneducated listeners must be made to
+feel, or there results a sense of dissatisfaction, if not even
+irritation.
+
+The beauty of tone was owing to a production that was to a certain
+extent sound, and this explained why the voice carried well in spite
+of its being small. This young lady was well educated, had heard much
+good music, possessed a sensitive ear and a fine �sthetic taste, and,
+perhaps most important of all, in this case at least, was able to
+think for herself. She was very slight of body, with an ill-developed
+chest, and, from her appearance, could not have enjoyed robust health.
+It was at once evident that this was an admirable case by which to
+test the views advocated. Accordingly, the author addressed the young
+lady as follows:
+
+"Your voice is beautiful in quality, and carries well; you observe the
+registers properly; but your vocalization is feeble, and your singing
+is ineffective. This is due largely to the lack of robustness in your
+voice, but not wholly. You do not tell your story in song so that the
+listener may know what you have to say to him. The imperfections in
+your method of speaking, so common in America--an imperfect
+articulation and a limp texture of voice--are evident in your singing;
+you do not phrase well, and you paint all in one color. This is due
+chiefly to your breathing and your attacks. One may observe that at no
+time do you fill your chest completely. You use the lower chest and
+the diaphragm correctly, but you rob yourself of one half of your
+breathing power, and your chest is not at all well developed. You do
+not use the parts above your voice-box with vigor and efficiency, and
+you direct so much attention to the quality of the tone that you
+neglect its quantity and the ideas to be expressed. You have been
+correctly but inadequately instructed. Your teachers have evidently
+understood registers practically, as few do, but they have only half
+taught you breathing and attack. Their fidelity to that high ideal of
+quality of tone as the final consideration wins my respect."
+
+The writer thought, but did not say, that they must have understood
+little of vocal physiology, or they would not have left this young
+lady so ill-developed physically, at least so far as the chest is
+concerned.
+
+I then asked this earnest and intelligent student, as she proved to
+be, to take a full breath. She did not understand this, and was
+absolutely incapable of doing it. She had been taught to begin
+breathing below, to expand from the lower chest upward, and, as a
+natural result, she never filled the upper chest. She was at once
+shown how it was done, when she seemed greatly surprised, and said: "I
+never have done that in my whole life." "Did you not run and shout as
+a child?" "No, I never did run enough or shout enough to fill up my
+chest." The latter was small, and flat.
+
+The method of attack was next explained and illustrated, first without
+reference to words, and then to show its importance in conveying
+ideas, and the causes of the defects in speaking were indicated, and
+the corrections named and illustrated. The lady was then asked to sing
+again, making the improvements suggested, with the result that it was
+clear that every principle set forth had been clearly apprehended,
+though of course as yet only imperfectly carried out. The student was
+recommended to take walking exercise, and to practice filling the
+chest in the manner to be explained later.
+
+After six weeks she again asked to be heard. The change effected was
+wonderful; she was another type of vocalist now. Without any loss in
+quality her voice had a volume and intensity that made it adequate for
+singing in at least a small hall; her attacks were good, though not
+perfect; and at the end of a very large room it could easily be seen
+that her chest was, when necessary, filled full, so that she was able
+to produce a large and prolonged tone. But, best of all, her health
+had greatly improved, and she had gained in size and weight.
+
+It is but fair to point out that, in the present case, the student was
+an unusually intelligent and thoughtful person. Had it been otherwise,
+more consultations would have been necessary, with probably many
+detailed instructions and much practice before the teacher. But the
+case sufficed to convince me afresh that only physiological teaching
+meets the needs of pupil and teacher. I do not claim, of course, that
+it is a panacea. It will not supply the lack of a musical ear or an
+artistic temperament. Vocalization does not make an artist, but there
+can be no artist without sound vocalization.
+
+All the author's experience as a laryngologist tended to convince him
+that most of those evils from which speakers and singers suffer,
+whatever the part of the vocal mechanism affected, arise from faulty
+methods of voice-production, or excess in the use of methods in
+themselves correct. A showman may have a correct method of
+voice-production--indeed, the writer has often studied the showman
+with admiration--but if he speak for hours in the open air in all
+sorts of weather, a disordered throat is but the natural consequence;
+and the Wagnerian singer who will shout instead of sing must not
+expect to retain a voice of musical quality, if, indeed, he retain one
+at all.
+
+Throughout this work it will be assumed that the speaker and the
+singer should employ essentially the same vocal methods. The singer
+should be a good speaker, even a good elocutionist, and the speaker
+should be able to produce tones equal in beauty, power, and
+expressiveness to those of the singer, but, of course, within a more
+limited range, and less prolonged, as a rule. To each alike is
+voice-training essential, if artistic results are to follow; neither
+rhetorical training on the one hand nor musical training on the other
+will alone suffice.
+
+So that it may be clear that the same physiological principles apply
+to the vocal mechanism as to all others in the body, a short chapter
+dealing with this subject is introduced, before taking up the
+structure and functions of any part of that apparatus by which the
+speaker or singer produces his results as a specialist.
+
+The laws of health known as hygiene follow so naturally on those of
+physiology that brief references to this subject, from time to time,
+with a chapter at the end of the work bearing specially on the life of
+the voice-user, will probably suffice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GENERAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+
+The principle that knowledge consists in a perception of relations
+will now be applied to the structure and functions or uses of the
+different parts of the body.
+
+The demonstration that all animals, even all living things, have
+certain properties or functions in common is one of the great results
+of modern science. Man no longer can be rightly viewed apart from
+other animals. In many respects he is in no wise superior to them. The
+most desirable course to pursue is to learn wherein animals resemble
+and wherein they differ, without dwelling at great length on the
+question of relative superiority or inferiority. It may be
+unhesitatingly asserted that all animals live, move, and have their
+being, in every essential respect, in the same way. Whether one
+considers those creatures of microscopic size living in stagnant
+ponds, or man himself, it is found that certain qualities characterize
+them all. That minute mass of jelly-like substance known as
+protoplasm, constituting the one-celled animal amoeba, may be
+described as _ingestive_, _digestive_, _secretory_, _excretory_,
+_assimilative_, _respiratory_, _irritable_, _contractile_, and
+_reproductive_: that is to say, the amoeba must take in food;
+must digest it, or change its form; must produce some fluid within
+itself which acts on food; must cast out from itself what is no longer
+of any use; must convert the digested material into its own
+substance--perhaps the most wonderful property of living things; must
+take up into its own substance oxygen, and expel carbonic acid gas
+(carbon dioxide); and possess the power to respond to a stimulus, or
+cause of change, the property of changing form, and, finally, the
+ability to bring into being others like itself.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. Muscle-fibres from the heart, much magnified,
+showing cross-stripings, nuclei, or the darkly stained central bodies
+very important to the life of the cell, also the divisions and points
+of union. (Sch�fer's _Histology_.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2. Appearance of a small portion of muscle under a
+moderate magnification. Between the muscle-cells proper a form of
+binding tissue may be seen.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3. Muscle-cells isolated from the muscular coats
+of the intestine. Similar cells are found in some part of most of the
+internal organs, including the bronchial tubes. These cells are less
+ready in responding to a stimulus, contract more slowly, and tend to
+remain longer contracted when they pass into this condition than
+striped muscle cells. (Sch�fer.)]
+
+Before justifying these statements in detail it will be desirable to
+say something of the anatomy or structure of a mammal, and we may
+select man himself, though it is to be remembered that one might apply
+exactly the same treatment to a dog, pig, mouse, or any other member
+of this group of animals. The amoeba and creatures like it live
+immersed in water; man, at the bottom of an ocean of air. Both move in
+their own medium, the amoeba creeping with extreme slowness, man
+moving with a speed incalculably greater. In each case the movements
+are determined by some cause from without which is termed by
+physiologists a _stimulus_. The slightest movement of the thin
+cover-glass placed over the drop of water in which an amoeba is
+immersed, on a microscopic slide, suffices to act as a stimulus, and
+serves much the same purpose as an electric shock to the muscles of a
+man. In man an elaborate apparatus exists for the process known as
+respiration, but in this and in all other cases the mechanism is
+composed of what is known technically as _cells_, the latter being the
+units of structure, the individual bricks of the building, so to
+speak; and just as any edifice is made up of individual pieces some of
+which differ from one another while others do not to any appreciable
+extent, so is it with the body. The individual cells of a muscle are
+alike in structure and function, but they differ widely from those of
+a gland or secreting organ, as the liver. But it is to be ever
+remembered that the statements with which we set out hold: that is,
+that however cells may differ, they have in all animals certain
+properties in common. Of the muscle-cell, the liver-cell, and the
+one-celled animal we may affirm the same properties, but the
+difference is that while all are secretory the liver-cell is eminently
+so, and produces bile, which other cells do not; that while it is but
+feebly contractile, or susceptible of change of form, the muscle-cell
+is characterized by this property above all others.
+
+The lower we descend in the animal scale the more simple are the
+mechanisms by which results are attained. The one-celled animal may be
+said to breathe with its whole body, while the man employs a large
+number of muscles, not to speak, at present, of other arrangements.
+But when a muscle is examined under the microscope, it is found to
+consist of cells, each one of which is physiologically in all
+essentials like an amoeba, so that we may say that a muscle or other
+tissue or organ is really a sort of colony of cells of similar
+structure and function, all working in harmony like a happy family. We
+actually do find colonies of unicellular animals much like amoeba,
+so that the muscle-cells and all other cells of the body may be
+compared to amoeba and other one-celled animals.
+
+But while in such unicellular creatures all functions are properties
+of the individual cell, among higher forms _systems_ take the place of
+the protoplasm of the single cell. There is a circulatory system, a
+respiratory system, etc.; but we must once more point out that such
+systems are made up of cells, so that every function of the highest
+animal may be finally reduced to what takes place in the unicellular
+animal. A circulatory system consists of a heart and blood-vessels,
+all filled with blood, which latter is "the life," as was known from
+the earliest times; yet this same blood is of no more use for the
+nourishment of the body while it is contained in those tubes which
+constitute the blood-vessels than is bread locked up in a pantry to a
+hungry boy. That which really provides the nutriment for the body is a
+fluid derived from the blood, a something like the liquid part of
+blood and known as _lymph_. This latter is to the cells of any tissue,
+as a muscle, as is the water filled with the food on which an amoeba
+lives. In like manner, in spite of the complicated apparatus which
+supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, the respiratory system,
+respiration is finally the work of the cell, as in amoeba; a
+muscle-cell respires exactly as does the one-celled animal.
+
+When we consider the marvellous complexity of structure of one of the
+higher animals, and the amazing variety of its functions, the question
+naturally arises as to how all this is brought about without any sort
+of clashing of the interests of one part with those of another. Why is
+it that the stomach has enough and not too much blood? By what means
+has Nature solved the problem of supplying more oxygen to parts in
+action than to those at rest? How is it that one set of muscles acts
+with instead of antagonizing another set, as in any complicated series
+of movements, such as walking?
+
+To bring about this harmonization, or _co-ordination_, the nervous
+system has been provided. As the nervous and muscular systems are of
+pre�minent importance in voice-production, they will now be considered
+with more detail than it is necessary to give to other systems.
+
+Complicated as is the nervous system, modern advances in the sciences
+of anatomy and physiology have made the comprehension of the subject
+easier. It is now known that the nervous system, in spite of its wide
+ramifications, is also made up of cells which are structurally and
+functionally related to each other, and make connection with every
+part of the whole community, the body. A nerve-cell, or _neurone_, may
+be very complicated in its structure because of its many branches
+or extensions from the main body of the cell.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4. Body of a nerve-cell of the spinal cord,
+specially stained so as to show the minute structure. (Sch�fer's
+_Histology_.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5. A large nerve-cell from the spinal cord of the
+ox, magnified 175 diameters. (Sch�fer.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6. A cell of another form, from the superficial or
+outer part of the greater brain (cortex cerebri). The great amount of
+branching is suggestive of the power to receive and to transmit
+nervous influences (impulses) from various other cells; in other
+words, complexity of structure suggests a corresponding complexity of
+function.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7. Representation of the manner in which a nerve
+is seen to terminate in a muscle, such ending being one form of
+"nerve-ending" termed a "muscle plate." It tends to emphasize the
+close relationship existing between muscle and nerve, and to justify
+the expression "neuro-muscular mechanism," the nervous system being as
+important for movements as the muscles. (Sch�fer's _Histology_.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 8. Three muscle-fibres lying beside each other,
+with the small blood-vessels (capillaries) around and between them.
+Such are the appearances presented under the microscope by skeletal or
+striped muscles such as those of the larynx. (Sch�fer.)]
+
+It may be said, in general terms, that the nervous _centres_, the
+brain and the spinal cord, which are parts of one anatomical whole,
+are characterized by the presence of the cell-bodies as well as their
+extensions, while nerves consist only of the extensions or arms of the
+cell-bodies. The nerve-cell whose body is in the top of the brain may
+have an extension or arm which may reach practically to the end of the
+spinal cord, and there make communication with another cell whose arm,
+in turn, may reach as far as the toe. Such nerve arms or extensions
+constitute the _nerve-fibres_, and bundles of these _nerves_, or
+_nerve-trunks_.
+
+Usually nerve-fibres make connection with the cells of an organ by a
+special modification of structure known as a _nerve-ending_. A nervous
+message or influence (_nerve-impulse_) may pass either to the
+centre--_i.e._, toward a cell-body--or from it; in other words, a
+nervous impulse may originate in the centre or in some organ more or
+less distant from it; a nervous impulse may be _central_ or
+_peripheral_. Nearly all central impulses, we now know, arise because
+of the peripheral ones. One may illustrate this important relation by
+a telegraph system. The message a railroad operator sends out--_e.g._,
+that which determines whether a train is to be held at a certain
+station or sent on--might depend wholly on information received from
+another office. The extra flow of blood to the stomach when food
+enters it is owing to such a relation of things. The food acts as a
+stimulus to the ends of the nerve-fibres, and, in consequence, there
+is an ingoing (_afferent_) message or impulse, and, by reason of this,
+an outgoing (_efferent_) one to the muscle-cells of the small
+blood-vessels, owing to which they contract less strongly and the
+calibre of these vessels is increased; hence more blood reaches the
+smallest vessels of all (_capillaries_.) Such a physiological relation
+of things is termed _reflex action_. For such reflex action there are
+required structurally at least two neurones or nerve-cells, and
+functionally a stimulus of a certain strength and quality. Of course,
+if more blood passes to the stomach there must be less somewhere else,
+as the total volume of the blood is limited. The value of the
+knowledge of such a fact is obvious. It must be unwise to exercise
+vigorously immediately after meals, for this determines blood to the
+muscles which would serve a better purpose in the digestive organs.
+For a like reason the singer who would do his best before the public
+will refrain from taking a large meal before appearing.
+
+As this subject of reflex action is of the highest importance, the
+reader is advised to make himself thoroughly familiar with the
+principles involved before perusing the future chapters of this work.
+Fig. 16 shows the structural relations for reflex action. It also
+indicates how such nervous relations may be complicated by other
+connections of the nerve-cells involved in the reflex action. It will
+be seen that they make many upward connections with the brain, in
+consequence of which consciousness may be involved. Ordinarily one is
+more or less conscious of reflex action, though the will is not
+involved; in fact, a willed or voluntary action is usually considered
+the reverse of a reflex or involuntary action. But for a reflex action
+the brain is not essential. As is well known, a snake's hinder part
+will move in response to a touch when completely severed from the head
+end; and movements of considerable complexity can be evoked in a
+headless frog.
+
+Herein, then, lies the solution of the problem. This is Nature's way
+of bringing one part into harmonious relations with another. As by a
+telegraphic system the most distant parts of a vast railway system may
+be brought into harmonious working, so is it with the body by means of
+the nervous system. The nerve-centres correspond to the heads of the
+railway system, or, perhaps more correctly, to the various officials
+resident in some large city who from this centre regulate the affairs
+of the whole line.
+
+The muscular system is made up of cells of two kinds, those
+characteristic of the muscles used in ordinary movements, and those
+employed for the movements of the internal organs. The muscles of the
+limbs are made up of striped muscle-cells; those of the stomach, etc.,
+of unstriped cells. These latter are slower to act when stimulated,
+contract more slowly, and cease to function more tardily when the
+stimulus is withdrawn.
+
+The muscular mechanisms used by the singer and speaker are of the
+skeletal variety.
+
+If it be true that the welfare of one part of the body is bound up
+with that of every other, as are the interests of one member of a firm
+with those of another, in a great business, it will at once appear
+that the most perfect results can follow for the voice-user only under
+certain conditions. However perfect by nature the vocal mechanism, the
+result in any case must be largely determined by the character of the
+body as a whole. The man of fine physique generally has naturally more
+to hope for than one with an ill-developed body.
+
+In the natural working of the body the stimulus to a muscle is
+nervous; hence we may appropriately, and often to advantage, speak of
+_neuro-muscular_ mechanism, the nervous element being as important as
+the muscular.
+
+In a later chapter it will be shown that the work of the singer and
+speaker when most successfully carried out must be largely reflex in
+nature--a fact on which hang weighty considerations with regard to
+many questions, among them methods of practice, the influence of
+example, etc.--be he ever so much the natural artist. It will be the
+writer's aim, however, to give such warnings and advice as may assist
+each reader in his own best development. Many who began with a
+comparatively poor physical stock in trade have surpassed the
+self-satisfied ones who trusted too much to what nature gave them.
+Singers as well as others would do well to believe that _Labor omnia
+vincit_.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The same fundamental physiological principles apply to the lowest and
+to the highest animals. To all belong certain properties or qualities.
+As structure is differentiated, or as one animal differs from another
+owing to greater or less complexity of form, there is a corresponding
+differentiation of function, none, however, ever losing the
+fundamental properties of protoplasm. Each organ comes to perform some
+one function better than all others. This is specialization, and
+implies advance among animals as it does in civilization.
+
+The neuro-muscular system is of great moment to the voice-user. He is
+a specialist as regards the neuro-muscular systems of the vocal
+mechanism. But the same laws apply to it as to other neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. It is of great theoretical and practical importance to
+recognize this, and that one part of the body is related to every
+other, which relationship is maintained chiefly by the nervous system,
+and largely through reflex action.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BREATHING CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+
+If the old orator was right in considering _delivery_ as the essence
+of public speaking as an art, it may with equal truth be said of
+singing, the term being always so extended in signification as to
+imply what Rossini named as the essential for the singer--_voice_.
+
+Looking at it from the physiological point of view, we may say that
+the one absolutely essential thing for singers and speakers is
+breathing. Without methods of breathing that are correct and adequate
+there may be a perfect larynx and admirably formed resonance-chambers
+above the vocal bands, with very unsatisfactory results. The more the
+writer knows of singers and speakers, the more deeply does he become
+convinced that singing and speaking may be resolved into the correct
+use of the breathing apparatus, above all else. Not that this alone
+will suffice, but it is the most important, and determines more than
+any other factor the question of success or failure. Breathing is the
+key-note with which we must begin, and to which we must return again
+and again.
+
+The extent to which this subject has been misunderstood,
+misrepresented, and obscured in works on the voice, and its neglect by
+so large a number of those who profess to understand how to teach
+singing and public speaking, are truly amazing. That many should fail
+to fully appreciate its importance in attaining artistic results is
+not so surprising as that the process itself should have been so ill
+understood, especially as it is open to any one to observe in himself,
+or in our domestic animals, Nature's method of getting air into and
+out of the body.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9. A front view of parts of the respiratory
+apparatus. (Halliburton's Physiology.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9. A back view of the parts represented in Fig. 9.
+(Halliburton's Physiology.)] [Transcriber's Note: numbered thus in
+original.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 10 (Spalteholz). A view of the lower part of the
+trachea, dividing into the main bronchial tubes, which again branch
+into a tree-like form. The air-cells are built up around the
+terminations of the finest bronchial tubes, of which they are a sort
+of membranous extension.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 11 (Spalteholz). Shows well the relations of
+heart, lungs, and diaphragm. The lungs have been drawn back, otherwise
+the heart would be covered almost wholly by them. It will be noted
+that the heart-covering is attached to the diaphragm. The fact that
+the stomach and other important organs of the abdomen lie immediately
+beneath the diaphragm is a significant one for the voice-user.
+Manifestly, a full stomach and free, vigorous breathing are
+incompatible.]
+
+This misapprehension is in all probability to be traced to the
+dependence of the student and teacher on tradition rather than
+observation--on authority rather than rational judgment. If a great
+teacher or singer makes any announcement whatever in regard to the
+technique of his art, it is natural that it should be considered with
+attention, but it may prove a great misfortune for the individual to
+accept it without thoughtful consideration. The author will
+illustrate, from time to time, the truth of the above.
+
+In this and all other chapters of this work the student, by which term
+I mean every one who is seriously interested in the use of the voice,
+is recommended to give attention, before reading on any subject, to
+the illustrations employed, perusing very carefully the explanatory
+remarks beneath them.
+
+The author considers the summaries at the conclusion of the chapters
+of much importance. They not only furnish exact and condensed
+statements of the main facts and principles involved, but afford the
+reader a test of the extent to which the foregoing chapter has been
+comprehended. As the author has a horror of what is termed "cramming,"
+he expresses the hope that no student will use these synopses, which
+have been prepared with much care, for so great a misuse of the mind
+as cramming implies.
+
+Breathing is essential for life. The oxygen of the air is, of all
+food-stuffs, the most important. Without it a mammal will perish in
+less than three minutes; hence there is no need of the body so urgent
+as that of oxygen. It is also of great moment that the waste--the
+carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid gas--should be got rid of rapidly;
+nevertheless, it is not this gas which kills when the air-passages are
+closed, though it is highly deleterious. The body is a sort of furnace
+in which combustions are continually going on, and oxygen is as
+essential for these as for the burning of a candle, and the products
+are in each case the same.
+
+Whether the voice-user respires, like others, to maintain the
+functions of the body, or whether he employs the breathing apparatus
+to produce sound, it is to be borne in mind that he uses the same
+physical mechanisms, so that the way is at once clear to consider the
+anatomy and physiology of the breathing organs.
+
+It has been already pointed out that respiration is in all animals, in
+the end, the same process. The one-celled animal and the muscle-cell
+respire in the same way, and with the same results--oxidation,
+combustion, and resulting waste products. In the animal of complicated
+structure special mechanisms are necessary that the essential oxygen
+be brought to the blood and the useless carbon dioxide removed. The
+respiratory organs or tract include the mouth, nose, larynx, trachea,
+bronchial tubes, and the lung-tissue proper or the air-cells.
+
+The mouth, nose, and larynx, in so far as they are of special
+importance in voice-production, will be considered later.
+
+The air enters the trachea, or windpipe, through a relatively narrow
+slit in the larynx, or voice-box, known as the _glottis_, or _chink of
+the glottis_, which is wider when air is being taken in
+(_inspiration_) than when it is being expelled (_expiration_). Life
+depends on this chink being kept open. The windpipe is composed of a
+series of cartilaginous or gristly rings connected together by softer
+tissues. These rings are not entire, but are completed behind by soft
+tissues including muscle. It follows that this tube is pliable and
+extensible--a very important provision, especially when large
+movements of the neck are made, during vigorous exercise, and also in
+singing and speaking.
+
+The bronchial tubes are the tree-like branches of the trachea, and
+extend to the air-cells themselves, which may be considered as built
+up around them in some such fashion as a toy balloon on its wooden
+stem, but with many infoldings, etc. (Fig. 10). The air-cells are
+composed of a membrane which may be compared to the walls of the
+balloon, but we are of course dealing with living tissue supplied by
+countless blood-vessels of the most minute calibre, in which the blood
+is brought very near to the air which passes over them.
+
+Throughout, the respiratory tract is lined with mucous membrane.
+Mucous membranes are so named because they secrete mucus, the fluid
+which moistens the nose, mouth, and all parts of the respiratory
+tract. When one suffers from a cold the mucous membrane, in the early
+stages, may become dry from failure of this natural secretion; hence
+sneezing, coughing, etc., as the air then acts as an irritant.
+
+At no time do we breathe pure oxygen, but "air"--_i.e._, a mixture of
+21 parts of the former with 79 parts of an inert gas, nitrogen; and
+there is always in the air more oxygen than the blood actually takes
+from it in the air-cells.
+
+The intaking of air is termed by physiologists _inspiration_, and its
+expulsion _expiration_, the whole process being _respiration_.
+Expiration takes a very little longer than inspiration, and the
+rapidity of respiration depends on the needs of the body. The more
+active the exercise, the more rapidly vital processes go on, the more
+ventilation of the tissues is required and the more is actually
+effected. When one is at rest breathing takes place at the rate of
+from 14 to 18 inspirations and expirations in the minute; but of all
+the processes of the body none is more variable than respiration,
+and of necessity, for every modification of action, every movement,
+implies a demand for an increased quantity of oxygen. It is not
+surprising, therefore, that the very exercise of singing tends in
+itself to put one out of breath.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 12. In the above, the shaded outlines indicate the
+shape of the bony cage of the chest during inspiration, and the
+lighter ones the same during expiration. The alterations in the
+position of the ribs and in the diameters of the chest, giving rise to
+its greater capacity during inspiration, are evident.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 13. This figure is intended to indicate, in a
+purely diagrammatic way, by dotted lines, the position of the
+diaphragm (1) when inspiration is moderate, and (2) when very deep.
+The unbroken curved line above the dotted ones indicates the position
+of the diaphragm (only approximately, of course) after expiration.]
+
+Attention will now be directed to some facts that it is of the utmost
+importance to clearly understand, if one is to know how to breathe and
+the reasons for the method employed. The lungs are contained in a
+cavity the walls of which are made up of a domed muscular (and
+tendinous) structure below, and elsewhere of bony and cartilaginous
+tissues filled in with soft structures, chiefly muscles. This cage is
+lined within by a smooth membrane which is kept constantly moist by
+its own secretion. The lungs are covered by a similar membrane, both
+of these fitting closely like the hand to a glove, so that there are
+two smooth membranes in opposition. It cannot be too well remembered
+that these two, the inner surface of the chest walls and the outer
+surface of the lungs, are in the closest contact. This is so whatever
+the changes that take place in the size and shape of the chest. The
+lungs are concave below, and so fit accurately to the fleshy partition
+between the chest and the abdomen which constitutes the lower boundary
+of the chest, if we may use the term "chest" somewhat loosely. Above,
+suiting the shape of the chest, the lungs are somewhat conical.
+
+The pressure of the air tends of itself to expand the lungs, which are
+highly elastic, even when one does not breathe at all. But if more
+air is to enter there must be additional space provided; hence greater
+expansion of the lungs can only follow an enlargement of the chest
+cavity in one or in all directions. These are spoken of as
+_diameters_. It follows that it is possible to conceive of the chest
+being enlarged in three, and only three, directions; so that it may be
+increased in size in its vertical, its transverse, and its
+antero-posterior diameter, or diameter from before backwards.
+
+This expansion, as in the case of all other movements, can be effected
+only by muscles, or, to speak more accurately, by neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. Exactly what muscles are employed may be learned from the
+accompanying illustrations and by observation. While it is highly
+important to know in a general way which muscles are chiefly
+concerned, or, rather, where they are situated, it cannot be deemed
+essential for every reader to learn their names, attachments, etc.,
+down to the minutest details, as in the case of a student of anatomy
+proper. The author does, however, deem it of the highest importance
+that the student should learn by actual observation on his own person
+that his chest does expand in each of the three directions indicated
+above.
+
+It is not necessary to dissect to observe muscles; in fact, they can
+be seen in action only on the living subject. All who would really
+understand breathing should study the chest when divested of all
+clothing and before a sufficiently large mirror. He may then observe
+the following during a fairly deep inspiration:
+
+1. The chest is enlarged as a whole.
+
+2. The abdominal walls move outward.
+
+3. The ribs pass from a more oblique to a less oblique position, and
+may become almost horizontal; their upper edges are also turned out
+slightly, though this is not so easy to observe.
+
+4. Again, in the case of a very deep and sudden inspiration, the
+abdomen and the lower ribs also are drawn inward.
+
+The changes above referred to are brought about in this way:
+
+1. The total enlargement is due to the action of many muscles which
+function in harmony with each other.
+
+2. The chief changes are brought about by those muscles attached
+between the ribs (_intercostales_); but these act more efficiently
+owing to the co�peration of other muscles which steady the ribs and
+chest generally, such as those attached to the shoulder-bones and the
+upper ribs; indeed, the most powerful inspiration possible can only be
+effected when most of the other muscles of the body are brought into
+action. One may observe that even the arms and legs are called into
+requisition when a tenor sings his highest tone as forcibly as
+possible, though this is often overdone in a way to be condemned. Art
+should not be reduced to a gymnastic feat.
+
+The most important muscle of inspiration is the _diaphragm_, or
+midriff, because it produces a greater change in the size of the chest
+than any other single muscle. Some animals can get the oxygen they
+require to maintain life by the action of this large muscle alone,
+when all other respiratory muscles are paralyzed. As it is so
+important, and above all to the voice-user, it merits special
+consideration.
+
+In studying the action of a muscle it is necessary to note its _points
+of attachment_ to harder structures, either bone or cartilage. Nearly
+always one such point is more fixed than the other, and from this the
+muscle pulls when it contracts.
+
+The diaphragm is peculiar in that it is somewhat circular in shape and
+is more or less tendinous or sinew-like in the middle. Being attached
+to the spinal column behind and to the lower six or seven ribs, when
+the muscle contracts it becomes less domed in shape--less convex
+upward--and of course descends to a variable degree depending on the
+extent of the muscular contraction. As to whether the ribs, and with
+them the abdominal muscles, are drawn in or the reverse, is determined
+wholly by the degree of force with which the contraction takes place
+and the extent to which it is resisted. Throughout the body muscles
+are arranged in sets which may either co�perate with or antagonize
+each other, as required. The forcible bending of one's arm by another
+person may be resisted by one through the use of certain muscles. In
+this the action of the muscles which bend the arm is imitated by the
+agent seeking to perform this movement for us. The muscles acting in
+opposition to certain others are said to be their _antagonists_.
+
+Were the diaphragm to contract moderately the ribs would be but little
+drawn in, even if no muscles acted as antagonists. But, as a matter of
+fact, this domed muscle descends at the same time as the ribs ascend,
+because of the action of the muscles attached to them. The diaphragm
+being concave below toward the abdomen, the contents of this cavity
+fit closely to its under surface. There are found the liver, stomach,
+intestines, etc.--a part of great practical importance, as will be
+shown presently.
+
+Naturally, in breathing, the organs of the abdomen, especially those
+above, are pressed down somewhat with the descent of the diaphragm in
+inspiration, and, in turn, push out the abdominal walls. If, however,
+the midriff contract so powerfully that the lower ribs are drawn
+inward, the abdominal walls follow them. Although the actual extent of
+the descent of the diaphragm is small in itself, since the total
+surface is large it effects a very considerable enlargement of the
+chest in the vertical diameter.
+
+The capacity of the lungs for air is a very variable quantity:
+
+1. The quantity of air taken in with a single inspiration in quiet
+breathing (_tidal air_) is about 20-30 cubic inches.
+
+2. The quantity taken in with the deepest possible inspiration
+(_complemental air_) is about 100 cubic inches.
+
+3. The quantity that may be expelled by the most forcible expiration
+(_supplemental air_) is about 100 cubic inches.
+
+4. The quantity that can under no circumstances be expelled (_residual
+air_) is about 100 cubic inches.
+
+5. The quantity that can be expelled after the most forcible
+inspiration--_i.e._, the amount of air that can be moved--indicates
+the _vital capacity_. This varies very much with the individual, and
+depends not a little on the elasticity of the chest walls, and so
+diminishes with age. It follows that youth is the best period for the
+development of the chest, and the time to learn that special
+breath-control so essential to good singing and speaking.
+
+When the ribs have been raised by inspiration and the abdominal organs
+pressed down by the diaphragm, the chest, on the cessation of the act,
+tends to resume its former shape, owing to elastic recoil quite apart
+from all muscular action; in other words, inspiration is active,
+expiration largely passive. With the voice-user, especially the
+singer, expiration becomes the more important, and the more difficult
+to control, as will be shown later.
+
+It must now be apparent that such use of the voice as is necessitated
+by speaking for the public, or by singing, still more, perhaps, must
+tend to the general welfare of the body--_i.e._, the hygiene of
+respiration is evident from the physiology. Actual experience proves
+this to be the case. The author has known the greatest improvement in
+health and vigor follow on the judicious use of the voice, owing
+largely to a more active respiration. It also follows, however, that
+exhaustion may result from the excessive use of the respiratory
+muscles, as with any others, even when the method of chest-expansion
+is quite correct. Before condemning any vocal method one does well to
+inquire in regard to the extent to which it has been employed, as well
+as the circumstances of the voice-user. A poor clergyman worried with
+the fear of being supplanted by another man, or a singer unable to
+secure employment, possibly from lack of means to advertise himself,
+is not likely to grow fat under any method of vocal exercise, be it
+ever so physiological; while the prima donna who has chanced to please
+the popular taste and become a favorite may "wax fat and kick."
+
+[Illustration: FIGS. 14, A and B, are to be compared: that on the left
+shows the position of the diaphragm, abdominal walls, etc., during
+expiration; the one on the right, during inspiration. The relative
+quantities of air in the chest in each case are approximately
+indicated by the shaded areas.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+BREATHING FURTHER CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+
+When one takes into account the large number of muscles employed in
+respiration, and remembers that these muscles must act in perfect
+harmony with each other if the great end is to be attained, he
+naturally inquires how this complex series of muscular contractions
+has been brought into concerted action so as to result in that
+physiological unity known as breathing.
+
+It is impossible to conceive of such results being effected except
+through the influence of the nervous system, which acts as a sort of
+regulator throughout the whole economy. All the parts of the
+respiratory tract are supplied with nerves, which are of both
+kinds--those which carry nervous impulses or messages from and those
+which convey them to the nervous centres concerned; in other words, to
+and from the bodies of the nerve-cells whose extensions are termed
+nerves. These centres are the central offices where the information is
+received and from which orders are issued, so to speak.
+
+The chief respiratory centre--_the_ centre--is situated in that
+portion of the brain just above the spinal cord, in its continuation,
+in fact, and is known as the _medulla oblongata_, or _bulb_. But
+while this is the head centre, at which the ingoing (_afferent_)
+impulses are received and from which the outgoing (_efferent_) ones
+proceed, it makes use of many other collections of nerve-cells, or
+subordinate centres--_e.g._, those whose nerve-extensions or
+nerve-fibres proceed from the spinal cord to the muscles of
+respiration.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 15. The purpose of this diagram is to indicate the
+relation between ingoing (afferent) and outgoing (efferent) nervous
+influences (impulses)--in other words, to illustrate _reflex action_.
+The paths of the ingoing impulses are indicated by black lines, and
+those of the outgoing ones by red lines, the point of termination
+being shown by an arrow-tip. The result of an ingoing message may be
+either favorable or unfavorable. The nervous impulse that reaches the
+brain through the eye may be either exhilarating or depressing. The
+experienced singer is usually stimulated by the sight of an audience,
+while the beginner may be rendered nervous, and this may express
+itself in many and widely distant parts of the body. An unfavorable
+message may reach the diaphragm or intercostal muscles, and render
+breathing shallow, irregular, or, in the worst cases, almost gasping.
+The heart or stomach, even the muscles of the larynx, the limbs, etc.,
+may be affected, and trembling be the result. On the other hand, the
+laryngeal and other muscles may be toned up, and the voice rendered
+better than usual, as a result of applause--_i.e._, by nervous
+impulses through the ear--or, again, by the sight of a friend. Even a
+very tight glove or a pinching shoe may suffice to hamper the action
+of the muscles required for singing or speaking. All this is a result
+of reflex action--_i.e._, outgoing messages set up by ingoing
+ones--the "centre" being either the brain or the spinal cord. From all
+this it is evident that the singer or speaker must guard against
+everything unfavorable, to an extent that an ordinary person need not.
+The stomach, as the diagram is also meant to show, may express itself
+on the brain, and give rise, as in fact it often does, owing to
+indiscretion in eating, to unpleasant outward effects on the muscles
+required in singing or speaking. Of course, no attempt has been made
+in the above figure to express anatomical forms and relations
+exactly.]
+
+When all the ingoing impulses from the lungs, etc., are cut off, if
+respiration does not actually cease, it is carried out in a way so
+ineffective that life cannot be long sustained. It follows that as the
+muscular contractions necessary for the chest and other respiratory
+movements are dependent on the impulses passing in from the lungs,
+etc., breathing belongs to the class of movements known as
+reflex--chiefly so, at all events. It will thus be seen that
+respiration is a sort of self-regulative process, the movements being
+in proportion to the needs of the body. The greater the need for
+oxygen, the more are the nerve-terminals in the lungs and the centre
+itself stimulated, with, as a result, corresponding outgoing impulses
+to muscles.
+
+As the respiratory centre is readily reached by impulses from every
+part of the body, like one who keeps open house, there are many
+different sorts of visitors, not all desirable. If, for example, a
+drop of a fluid that produces no special effect when on the tongue
+gets into the larynx, trachea, or lungs, the most violent coughing
+follows. This is one illustration of the _protective_ character of
+many reflexes. This violent action of the respiratory apparatus is
+not in itself a desirable thing, because it disturbs if it does not
+exhaust, but it is preferable to the inflammation that might result if
+the fluid, a bread-crumb, etc., were to pass into the lungs.
+
+In like manner, the deep breath and the "Oh!" that follow a
+fear-inspiring sight, a very loud noise, or a severe pinch of the
+skin, are examples of reflex action. They are quite independent of the
+will, though in some cases they may be prevented by it.
+
+This reflex nature of breathing throws much light on many matters of
+great interest to the speaker and singer, some of which, as the
+formation of good habits of breathing, will be considered later.
+Unfortunately for the nervous d�butant, his breathing is anything but
+what he could wish it. The pale face and almost gasping respiration,
+in the worst cases, are not unknown to the experienced observer. In
+such cases the preventive (_inhibitory_) influence of certain ingoing
+impulses is but too obvious. Such undesirable messages may pass in
+through the eyes when the young singer looks out on the throng that
+may either approve or condemn; or they may originate within, and pass
+from the higher part of the brain to the lower breathing centre. The
+beginner may have high ideals of art, and fear that they will be but
+ill realized in his performance. His ideals in this instance do not
+help but hinder, for they interfere with the regular action of the
+breathing centre. A few deep breaths after the platform has been
+reached greatly help under such circumstances. It is also wise for the
+singer to avoid those songs that begin softly and require long breaths
+and very evenly sustained tones. It is much better to begin with a
+selection that brings the breathing organs into fairly active exercise
+at once. One feeble, hesitating, or otherwise ineffective tone is in
+itself a stimulus of the wrong kind, sending in unfavorable messages
+which are only too apt to reach the breathing and other centres
+concerned in voice-production; but of this subject of nervousness
+again.
+
+It is important to realize that sounds, whether musical or the
+reverse, are produced by the outgoing stream of breath, by an
+expiratory effort. Breath is taken in by the voice-producer in order
+to be converted into that expiratory force which, playing on the vocal
+bands, causes them to vibrate or pass into the rapid movements which
+give rise to similar movements of the air in the cavities above the
+larynx, the resonance-chambers, and on which the final result as
+regards sound is dependent. Important as is inspiration to the speaker
+and singer, expiration is much more so. Many persons fill the lungs
+well, but do not understand how to husband their resources, and so
+waste breath instead of converting every particle into sound, so to
+speak. After the larynx has been studied the importance of the
+expiratory blast will be better understood.
+
+For the voice-user, it cannot be too soon realized that _all breath
+that does not become sound is wasted_, or, to express the same truth
+otherwise, the sole purpose of breathing is to cause effective
+vibrations of the vocal bands. In these two words, _effective
+vibrations_, lies the whole secret of voice production, the whole
+purpose of training, the key to the highest technical results, the
+cause of success or failure for those who speak or sing.
+
+Before the larynx, the apparatus that produces sound-vibrations, can
+be effectively employed, the source of power, the bellows, must be
+developed. To some Nature has been generous--they have large chests;
+to others she has given a smaller wind-chest, but has perhaps
+compensated by providing an especially fine voice-box. Happy are they
+who have both, and thrice happy those who have all three requirements:
+a fine chest, a well-constructed larynx, and beautifully formed
+resonance-chambers. If with all these there are the musical ear and
+the artistic temperament, we have the singer who is born great. These
+are the very few. To most it must be--if greatness at all--greatness
+thrust upon them, greatness the result of long and patient effort to
+attain perfect development. Indeed, even those with the most complete
+natural outfit can only reach the highest results of which they are
+capable by long and patient application. Those who do not believe in
+attainment only through labor would do well to abandon an art career,
+as there is already a great deal too much poor speaking and bad
+singing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+
+The first great requisite for a voice-user is a well-developed chest;
+the next, complete control of it, or, to put it otherwise, the art of
+breathing, as briefly explained above.
+
+The chest may be large enough, yet not be, in the physiological sense,
+developed. The voice-user is a sort of athlete, a specialist whose
+chest muscles must be strong and not covered up by very much
+superfluous tissue in the form of fat, etc. Whatever the public may
+think of the goodly form, the singer must remember that fat is
+practically of no use to any one in voice-production, and may prove a
+great hindrance, possibly in some cases being a co�perative cause of
+that _tremolo_ so fatal to good singing.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 16. The appearance of a well-developed, healthy
+person, with special reference to the chest.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 17. The appearance of the chest after undue
+compression, as with corsets.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 18. In this figure, the dark curved line in the
+middle is meant to represent the position, etc., of the diaphragm,
+beneath which, and fitting closely to it, are the liver, stomach, and
+other abdominal organs, in this case not pressed upon or injured in
+any way. This represents the normal human being.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 19. A condition the reverse of that represented in
+the preceding. The vital organs are pressed upon, with results some of
+which are obvious; others equally serious are not such as appear to
+the eye.]
+
+The voice-user should eschew ease and take plenty of exercise, but
+most of all must he use those forms of exercise which develop the
+breathing apparatus and tend to keep it in the best condition.
+Walking, running, and hill climbing are all excellent, but do not in
+themselves suffice to develop the chest to the utmost.
+
+To the beginner the following exercises are strongly recommended. They
+are highly important for all, whether beginners or not, who would
+have the best development of the breathing apparatus.
+
+Deep breathing, such a use of the respiratory organs as leads to the
+greatest possible expansion of the chest, should be learned and
+practised, if not absolutely before vocal exercises are attempted, at
+all events as soon after as possible. As in all cases where muscles
+are employed, the exercise should be _graduated_. It may be even
+harmful to attempt to fill the chest to its utmost capacity at once.
+It is better to breathe very moderately for several days. Any such
+symptoms as dizziness or headache accompanying or following the
+exercises indicate that they have been too vigorous, too long
+continued, or carried out under unsuitable conditions. Above all must
+the air be pure, and the body absolutely unhampered--most of all, the
+chest--by any form of clothing. Last century most ladies and some men
+applied to the chest a form of apparatus known as corsets, under the
+mistaken belief that they were for women a necessary support and
+improved the figure. They no doubt were responsible for much lack of
+development, and feeble health, and, as has been proved by examination
+of the body after death, led to compression of the liver and other
+organs. No voice-user should use such an effective means of preventing
+the very thing he should most desire, a full and free use of the
+breathing apparatus.
+
+Before carrying out the exercises suggested or others equally good,
+the student is recommended to be weighed, and especially to have the
+chest carefully _measured_. This can be done with sufficient accuracy
+by the use of a tape-measure. It will be well to take the
+circumference a few inches above and below a certain point, so that it
+may be ascertained that the chest expands in every region. The
+measurements should be taken under the following conditions:
+
+1. The chest should be almost or wholly divested of clothing.
+
+2. Its circumference is to be ascertained--(_a_) when the breath has
+been allowed to pass out gently, and before a new breath is taken;
+(_b_) with the deepest possible inspiration; (_c_) after the deepest
+possible expiration, which has been preceded by a similar inspiration.
+
+After about three weeks the individual should be again measured, by
+the same person, in exactly the same way, in order to learn whether
+there has been development or not, and, if so, how much. It is
+important that the measurements should be made at exactly the same
+horizontal planes, and with this end in view it is desirable to put a
+small mark of some kind on the chest, which may remain till the next
+measurements are made.
+
+The method of breathing recommended is as follows:
+
+1. Inhale very slowly through the nostrils, with closed mouth,
+counting mentally one, two, three, four, etc., with regularity.
+
+2. Hold the breath thus taken, but only for a short time, counting in
+the same manner as before.
+
+3. Exhale slowly, still counting.
+
+After a few moments' rest the exercise may be again carried out in the
+same way. These exercises may be in series, several times a day.
+
+The following warnings are especially to be observed:
+
+1. Never continue any exercise when there is a sense of discomfort of
+any kind whatever. Such usually indicates that it is being carried out
+too vigorously.
+
+2. Increase the depth of the inspirations daily, but not very rapidly.
+
+3. The inspirations and expirations should both be carried out very
+slowly at first.
+
+4. Cease the exercise before any sense of fatigue is experienced.
+Fatigue is Nature's warning, and should be always obeyed. It indicates
+that the waste products which result from the use of the muscles are
+accumulating and proving harmful.
+
+After a week of such exercises the following modification of them is
+recommended:
+
+1. Inhale with the lips slightly apart.
+
+2. Gradually increase the length of the time the breath is held, but
+let it never exceed a few seconds.
+
+3. Through open lips allow the breath to pass out, but with extreme
+slowness. The student should try to increase this last, somewhat,
+daily, as it is above all what is required in singing, and also in
+speaking, though to a somewhat less degree--a slow, regulated
+expulsion of the breath.
+
+If when the chest is full of air the subject gently raises the arms
+over the head, or directs them backward, he will experience a sense of
+pressure on the chest. If this be carefully done, its effect is to
+strengthen, and it is especially valuable for those inclined to stoop.
+The recommendation to inspire through the open lips applies only when
+one is in a room, or in the open air when it is warm enough and free
+from dust. But the student should learn to inspire through the
+slightly open mouth, as to breathe through the nose in speaking, and
+especially in singing, is objectionable for several reasons which can
+be better explained later; so that the rule is to _breathe through the
+nose when not using the voice, and through the mouth when one does_.
+
+Though all the exercises thus far referred to tend to develop the
+diaphragm and abdominal muscles, these may be strengthened by special
+exercises. The diaphragm is the soft floor of the chest, and must at
+once bear the strain of the air that acts on the approximated vocal
+bands, and assist in applying that pressure with just the amount of
+force required, and no more; hence it is important that this muscle be
+both strong and under perfect control. This large central muscle is
+probably not only the most generally effective of all the respiratory
+muscles, but has an action more precise and often more delicate, more
+nicely controlled, than that of any other. It is possible to make very
+powerful movements of this muscle, and an exercise that will cause it
+to descend deeply and remain in a tense condition is valuable. To
+effect this, one pushes it down as far as possible, and holds it there
+for a few seconds, then permits it to relax gradually. The extent to
+which this is successful can be inferred from the degree to which the
+abdominal wall bulges forward.
+
+The sudden though slight movements required in those forms of
+vocalization that bear more or less resemblance to what vocalists term
+_staccato_, and which are so effective in dramatic speaking and
+singing, can be prepared for by larger but sudden movements of the
+diaphragm, as when one taking a full breath imitates coughing
+movements, but in a regular and measured way, the throat being used
+but little. At the same time, or separately, the abdominal muscles may
+be effectively exercised by being drawn in and thrust out with
+considerable force.
+
+None of these movements are elegant--they scarcely put one in an
+artistic light; but they are highly effective in strengthening parts
+every voice-user must employ.
+
+To furnish adequate support for the diaphragm and chest in a very
+vigorous use of the voice, as in the most trying passages a tragic
+actor has to speak or a vocalist to sing, the abdominal muscles must
+remain more or less tense, and to do so effectually they must have
+strength beyond that possessed by the corresponding muscles in
+ordinary persons; hence the desirability of employing special
+exercises to increase their vigor. Hill climbing and bicycling also
+tend to this end, but the latter is for many reasons not a form of
+exercise to be recommended to one who wishes to attain the highest
+results with the voice. Wind, dust, a stooping position, excessive
+heat of the body, etc., are all among the many factors of risk for the
+delicate vocal mechanism.
+
+As the expiratory blast is so important in voice-production, the
+exercises above recommended should be followed by others in which this
+principle is specially recognized.
+
+1. Inspire so as to fill the chest to the fullest with considerable
+rapidity; then allow the breath-stream to pass out with the utmost
+slowness.
+
+2. Fill the chest with special reference to its lower or its upper
+part, as desired, and very rapidly, letting the breath flow out
+slowly.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The primary purpose of respiration in all animals is the same--namely,
+to furnish oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (carbonic acid). The
+lowest animals, as the amoeba, breathe by the whole surface of the
+body. In all vertebrates the anatomical mechanism is essentially the
+same: a membrane (covered with flat cells) in which the blood is
+distributed in the minutest blood-vessels (capillaries). Respiration
+is finally effected in the tissues (cells) of the body. The more
+active the animal, or the higher in the scale, the more need of
+frequent interchange between the air, the blood, and the tissues.
+
+The respiratory organs in mammals are the mouth, nose, larynx,
+trachea, bronchial tubes, and lung-tissue or air-cells proper. The
+windpipe is made up of cartilaginous rings completed by membrane,
+muscle, etc. (behind). The bronchial tubes are the continuation of the
+windpipe, and branch tree-like until they become very fine. The
+air-cells are built round these latter. The lung-tissue is highly
+elastic. The lungs are made up of an elastic membrane, covered with
+flat cells, and very abundantly supplied with a mesh-work of the
+finest blood-vessels. The whole of the respiratory tract as far as the
+air-cells is lined by mucous membrane.
+
+The air consists essentially of 21 parts of oxygen and 79 parts of
+nitrogen, with a variable quantity of watery vapor. Only a small
+portion of the total oxygen of the air is removed before it is
+exhaled. The respiratory act consists of (1) inspiration, and (2)
+expiration; the latter is of a little longer duration than the former.
+The rate of breathing in man is from 14 to 18 per minute, in the
+resting state, or about one respiration to three or four heart-beats.
+The quantity of air inspired depends on (1) the size of the thorax,
+and (2) the extent of its movements. These are effected solely by
+muscular contractions, and give rise to an increase in all the
+diameters of the thorax. The lungs are closely applied (but not
+attached) to the inside of the chest wall, and remain so under all
+circumstances. When the chest cavity is enlarged by inspiration, the
+air, pressing down into the elastic lungs, expands them as much as
+possible, that is, as much as the chest walls will allow; but the
+lungs are never at any time either filled with or emptied of air to
+their utmost capacity. At most, the amount of expansion is very
+moderate.
+
+
+_The Quantity of Air in the Lungs._
+
+1. The quantity of air inspired in quiet breathing is about 20-30
+cubic inches.
+
+2. The quantity that can be added to this by a deep inspiration is
+about 100 cubic inches.
+
+3. The quantity that can be expelled by a forcible expiration is about
+100 cubic inches.
+
+4. The quantity that cannot be expelled at all is about 100 cubic
+inches.
+
+The above are named: (1) The tidal air; (2) complemental air; (3)
+supplemental air; (4) residual air. The quantity that can be expelled
+by the most forcible expiration after the most forcible inspiration,
+that is, the air that can be moved, indicating the "vital capacity,"
+is about 225-250 inches.
+
+The chest is enlarged by the muscles of inspiration, the principal of
+which is the diaphragm or midriff. This muscle (tendinous in the
+centre) is attached to the spinal column (behind) and to the last six
+or seven ribs. When it contracts it becomes less domed upward, and is
+pressed down more or less on the contents of the abdomen; hence the
+walls of the latter move outward. During ordinary inspiration the
+lower ribs are steadied by other muscles, so that no indrawing of
+these ribs takes place, but a very forcible expiration makes such
+indrawing very noticeable. In addition to the enlargement of the chest
+by the descent of the diaphragm, the ribs are elevated and everted by
+the muscles attached to them, with the total result that the chest
+cavity is enlarged in all its three diameters during inspiration. The
+first rib is fixed by muscles from above. During extremely forced
+inspiration a large proportion of all the muscles of the body may act.
+Ordinary expiration is the result largely of the elastic recoil of the
+chest walls, only a few muscles taking part. The diaphragm ascends and
+becomes more domed. During forced expiration many other muscles are
+called into action. It is of importance for the singer and speaker to
+note: (1) That the chest cavity should be increased in all its
+directions; (2) that the muscular action should be easy and under
+perfect control, but also vigorous when required; (3) that the breath
+be taken through the nostrils when the individual is not actually
+vocalizing or about to do so; (4) that the breath be kept in or let
+out in the proportion required.
+
+Breathing is a reflex or involuntary act. The respiratory centre,
+consisting of an expiratory and inspiratory division, is situated in
+the bulb, or medulla oblongata, the portion of the brain just above
+the spinal cord. All the ingoing nervous impulses affect respiration
+through the outgoing impulses that pass along the nerves to the
+muscles; that is, the ingoing impulses pass up by the nerves from the
+lungs to the centre, and thence along other nerves to the respiratory
+muscles. The condition of the blood determines the activity of the
+respiratory centre, but the incoming impulses regulate this activity.
+The respiratory centre can be approached from every part of the body.
+
+
+_Hygiene._
+
+Every thing that favors the full and free expansion of the chest in a
+pure atmosphere is favorable, and the reverse unfavorable. Corsets are
+against the laws of beauty, are unnecessary for support, and may by
+compression injure and displace important organs, as the liver,
+stomach, etc.; and must interfere with the fullest expansion of the
+chest. They have militated against the physical, and indirectly the
+moral and mental advancement of the race.
+
+
+_Practical Exercises._
+
+I. Measurements of the chest.
+
+II. Exercises to strengthen muscles, promote complete expansion,
+regulate inflow and outflow of air, etc.
+
+1. (_a_) Inspiring slowly, with counting.
+   (_b_) Holding.
+   (_c_) Expiring slowly, with counting.
+
+2. The same, holding longer.
+
+3. The same, with shorter inspiration and longer expiration. Gradually
+diminish first and lengthen last.
+
+4. Breathing through open lips.
+
+5. Exercises to strengthen diaphragm.
+
+6. Exercises to improve shape of chest and strengthen muscles.
+
+7. Exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SPECIAL VOICE-PRODUCING MECHANISM, THE LARYNX.
+
+
+The larynx, or voice-box, is not the sole voice-producing apparatus,
+as is often supposed, but it is of great, possibly the greatest,
+importance. In describing the parts of this portion of the vocal
+mechanism the author deems it wiser to use the terms commonly employed
+by anatomists and physiologists, as others are awkward and inadequate.
+Moreover, there is this great advantage in learning the technical
+names of structures, that should the reader desire to consult a
+special work on anatomy in reference to this or other important
+organs, he will find in use the same terms as he has himself already
+learned. Such are, as a matter of fact, not difficult to learn or
+remember if one knows their derivation or other reason for their
+employment. All the muscles of the larynx have names which are not
+arbitrary but based on the names of the structures to which they are
+attached, so that one has but to know their connections and the names
+of the solid structures, which are few, to have a key to the whole
+nomenclature.
+
+When one is not using the voice the larynx is simply a part of the
+respiratory apparatus, but when one phonates this organ assumes a
+special function for which specific structures are essential. As
+sound is caused by vibrations of the air, and these may be set up by
+vibrations of the vocal cords, it may with absolute correctness be
+said that the whole larynx exists for the vocal bands so far as
+voice-production is concerned. Such a view renders the study of the
+larynx much more interesting and rational; one is then engaged in
+working out that solution of a problem which Nature has accomplished.
+
+The vocal cords, we can conceive, might be either relaxed or
+tightened, and lengthened or shortened, or both, and beyond that we
+can scarcely understand how they might have been modified so as to be
+effective in the production of sounds of different pitch. As a matter
+of fact, these are the methods Nature has employed to accomplish her
+purpose. For each vocal cord one fixed point, and only one, is
+required. We know of only one method in use by Nature to cause
+movement in living structures--viz., contraction, and muscle is the
+tissue which above all others has that property; hence the movements
+of the vocal cords are brought about by muscles. But both for the
+attachment of the muscles and the vocal cords themselves solid,
+relatively hard structures are required. Bone would prove too
+unyielding, but cartilage, or gristle, meets the case exactly. The
+entire framework of the larynx--its skeleton, so to speak--is made up
+of a series of cartilages united together so as to ensure sufficient
+firmness with pliability.
+
+The cartilages have been named from their shape, as that appealed to
+the original observers, and the terms employed are of Greek origin.
+The largest and strongest is the _thyroid_ (_thureos_, a shield)
+cartilage, which resembles somewhat two shields put together in front
+without any visible joint, and open behind but presenting a strongly
+convex surface externally, in front and laterally. "Front" (anterior)
+and "back" (posterior) always refer in anatomy to the subject
+described, and not to the observer's position. In observing another's
+larynx the subject observed and the observer naturally stand front to
+front, and it is impossible to see or touch the back of the larynx as
+it is covered behind by the other structures of the neck.
+
+This thyroid, the largest of the cartilages, is attached to the hyoid
+or tongue bone above by a membrane, so that the whole larynx hangs
+suspended from this bone by a membrane, though not by it alone, for
+muscles are attached to it which also serve for its support. It is of
+practical importance to remember that the larynx is free to a very
+considerable extent, otherwise it would go ill with the voice-producer
+in the vigorous use of the voice, not to mention the advantages of
+mobility as well as pliability in the movements of the neck
+generally.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 20 (Spalteholz). Shows the thyroid cartilage above
+and the cricoid below both viewed from the side. The anterior surface
+is turned toward the right.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 21 (Spalteholz). A front view of FIG. 20.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 22 (Spalteholz). The back or signet surface of the
+cricoid or ring cartilage, to which several muscles are attached.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 23 (Spalteholz). The cricoid cartilage, seen from
+the side, and showing behind and laterally the articular or joint
+surfaces by which it connects with the thyroid below and the arytenoid
+cartilage above.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 24 (Spalteholz). Shows the arytenoid cartilages,
+the most important of all the cartilages of the larynx, inasmuch as to
+the part termed "vocal process" the vocal band is attached on each
+side. The movements of the vocal bands are nearly all determined by
+the movements of these cartilages, which have a swivel-like action. In
+the above the front surfaces are turned toward each other.]
+
+The _cricoid_ (_krikos_, a signet-ring) is the cartilage next in size.
+It is situated below the thyroid cartilage, with which it is connected
+by a membrane, the crico-thyroid. The wider part of this signet-ring
+is situated behind, where it affords attachment to large muscles. It
+also furnishes a base of support for two very important structures,
+the _arytenoid_ (_arutaina_, a ladle) cartilages. As the vocal bands
+are attached behind to them, and as they have a large degree of
+mobility, they are from a physiological point of view the most
+important of all the solid structures of the larynx.
+
+There are two pairs of small bodies, the _cartilages of Santorini_, or
+_cornicula laryngis_, surmounting the arytenoids, and the _cuneiform_,
+or _cartilages of Wrisberg_, situated in the folds of mucous membrane
+on each side of the arytenoids; but these structures are of little
+importance.
+
+The whole of the inner surface of the larynx is lined with mucous
+membrane, though that covering over the true vocal bands is very thin,
+and so does not cause them to appear red like the false vocal bands,
+which are merely folds of the mucous membrane. However, the true vocal
+bands may become red and thickened when inflamed, because of this same
+mucous membrane, which, though ordinarily not visible to the eye,
+becomes so when the condition referred to is present; for inflammation
+is always attended by excess in the blood supply, with a prominence of
+the small blood-vessels resulting in a corresponding redness. The
+same thing happens, in fact, as in inflammation of the eyes or the
+nose, both of which are more open to observation. Bearing this in mind
+one can readily understand why in such a condition, which is often
+approached if not actually present in the case of "a cold," the voice
+becomes so changed. Such vocal bands are clumsy in movement, as the
+arms or any other part would be if thus swollen. The plain remedy is
+rest, cessation of function--no speaking, much less attempts at
+singing. Like the nose the larynx, and especially the vocal bands, may
+be catarrhal, and such a condition may call for medical treatment
+before the speaker or singer can do the most effective vocal work.
+
+While the _false vocal bands_ have little or nothing to do with
+phonation directly, they do serve a good purpose as protectors to the
+more exalted true vocal bands. When coughing, swallowing, vomiting,
+holding the breath tightly, etc., these folds of mucous membrane close
+over the true bands, often completely, and thus shut up for the moment
+the whole of that space between the bands known as the glottis, or
+glottic chink, to which reference was made in a previous chapter as
+the space through which the air finally gains access to the lungs.
+
+The true vocal cords (which, because of having some breadth and being
+rather flat, are better termed vocal bands) are composed largely of
+_elastic tissue_. The reader may be familiar with this structure,
+which is often to be found in the portions of the neck of the ox that
+the butcher sells as soup beef. It is yellow in color, and stretching
+it has furnished many a boy with amusement. It is so unmanageable when
+raw that when it falls to the dog he usually bolts it, the case being
+otherwise hopeless. Such elastic tissue is, however, the very material
+for the construction of vocal bands, as they require to be firm yet
+elastic.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 25 (Spalteholz). A view of the larynx from behind.
+Several of the muscles are well shown, of which the two indicated
+above are of the most importance. The arytenoideus proprius tends to
+bring the cartilages from which it is named, and therefore the vocal
+bands, toward each other; while the posterior crico-thyroid, from its
+attachments and line of pull, tends to separate these and lengthen the
+vocal bands.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 26 (Spalteholz). Showing structures as indicated
+above. The mucous membrane, that naturally covers all parts within the
+vocal mechanism, has been dissected away to show the muscles.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 27 (Spalteholz). Showing the parts indicated
+above; and of these the crico-thyroid muscle is to be especially
+observed. The oblique (especially so in the posterior part) direction
+of its fibres is evident, so that when it contracts, it must pull up
+the ring cartilage in front, and so tilt back its hinder portion and
+with it the arytenoid cartilages, and so lengthen and tense the vocal
+bands, as in the utterance of low tones.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 28 (Spalteholz). A back (posterior) view of the
+larynx, etc. Note how the arytenoid cartilages rest on the cricoid;
+how the epiglottis overhangs, as its name implies, the glottis; and
+that the posterior part of the windpipe is closed in by soft
+structures, including (unstriped) muscle.]
+
+It is important to remember the relative position of parts and to bear
+in mind that most of the laryngeal structures are in pairs. To this
+last statement the thyroid and cricoid cartilages and the epiglottis
+are exceptions, being single.
+
+Of the _epiglottis_, a flexible cartilage, it is necessary to say
+little, as its function in voice-production, if it have any, has never
+been determined. It hangs as a flexible protective lid over the
+glottis, and food in being swallowed passes over and about it. It no
+doubt acts to keep food and drink out of the larynx, yet in its
+absence, in some cases, owing to disease, no very great difficulty was
+experienced, probably because certain muscles acted more vigorously
+than usual and tended to close up the glottic chink.
+
+The following simple diagram will, it is hoped, make the relative
+position of parts plain so far as the anterior (front) attachments of
+parts to the thyroid cartilage are concerned. It will be understood
+that the inner anterior surface is meant, and that by "middle line"
+is intended the middle line of the body, the imaginary vertical
+diameter passing like a plumb-line from the middle plane of the head,
+let us suppose, downward just in front of the larynx.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
+
+The angle made above and in front where the two wings of the thyroid
+cartilage meet is termed _Adam's apple_ (_Pomum Adami_), and in some
+cases, mostly males, is very prominent. Adam's apple has in itself,
+however, no special significance in voice-production.
+
+The little concavity between the false vocal bands above and the true
+vocal bands below is termed the _ventricle of the larynx_. It allows
+of more space for the free movements of the bands, especially those
+more important in voice-production.
+
+The vocal bands are attached behind to the projecting angle of the
+base of the arytenoid cartilage, which is itself somewhat triangular
+in shape, the base of the triangle being downward and resting on the
+upper and posterior (back) surface of the cricoid cartilage, with
+which it makes a free joint, so that it can move swivel-like in all
+directions. This is most important, because through it is explained
+the fact that the vocal bands may be either tensed and lengthened or
+relaxed and shortened.
+
+_The muscles act on these movable cartilages, and nearly all the
+changes in the vocal bands are brought about through the alterations
+in position of the arytenoid cartilages, to which they are attached
+behind._
+
+Before describing the muscles of the larynx, the reader is reminded of
+the order of structures from above downward, in front, which is as
+follows:
+
+     The hyoid bone.
+     The thyro-hyoid membrane.
+     The thyroid cartilage.
+     The crico-thyroid membrane.
+     The cricoid cartilage.
+     The trachea.
+
+The latter is connected with the cricoid cartilage by its membrane.
+
+All the above structures can be felt in one's own person, the more
+readily if he be thin and have a long neck. The hyoid bone, or
+tongue-bone, is that hard structure just above the cricoid cartilage,
+and which one may easily demonstrate to be much more movable than the
+larynx itself. The tongue muscles are attached to it above, and from
+it, below, the larynx is suspended, as already explained.
+
+The muscles of the larynx are best understood if the principle of
+antagonistic action already referred to be remembered. Speaking
+generally, the muscles are arranged _in pairs_ which have an opposite
+or antagonistic action--viz.: (1) Those that open and close the
+glottis; (2) those that regulate the tension, or degree of tightness,
+of the vocal bands.
+
+1. The muscles whose action tends to approximate the vocal bands--the
+_adductors_--are the _arytenoid[=e]us proprius_ and the
+_thyro-arytenoid[=e]us_. The former is attached to the posterior or
+back surface of both arytenoid cartilages; the latter, as its name
+indicates, to the anterior and inner surface of the thyroid and the
+anterior lower surface or angle (_vocal process_) of the arytenoid.
+
+The opening or widening of the glottis is effected on each side (one
+muscle of the pair and its action being alone described in this
+and other cases) by the antagonist of these muscles, the
+_crico-arytenoid[=e]us posticus_, whose attachments are exactly as
+indicated by the names--viz., to the posterior part of the two
+cartilages named. When reading the description of these or other
+muscles it is absolutely necessary to have a pictorial illustration or
+the real object before one. The pull of this muscle is from the more
+fixed point, as in all other cases; hence the force is applied in a
+direction from below and outward, with the result that the
+arytenoid cartilage is tilted outward, and with it the vocal band is
+moved from the middle line.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 30 (Chapman). Diagram showing action of
+crico-thyroid muscle, stretching of the vocal cords, and lengthening
+of them. The dotted lines indicate the position assumed when the
+muscle has contracted.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 31 (Spalteholz). View of the larynx as looked at
+from above. The illustration shows particularly well both the true and
+the false vocal bands. The true vocal bands are placed much as they
+are when a barytone is singing a very low tone. The part of the figure
+lowest on the page represents the back part of the larynx.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 32 (Spalteholz). A cross-section transverse to the
+larynx, such as can be readily made with a strong knife.]
+
+The _crico-thyroid_ also tends to open the glottis. Just as the
+diaphragm is the most important muscle of breathing, so is the
+crico-thyroid the most important in ordinary speaking and in singing
+in the lower register. It is a relatively large and strong muscle with
+an oblique direction in the main, though it is composed in reality of
+several sets of fibres some of which are much more oblique in
+direction than others (Fig. 28). As its name indicates, its points of
+attachment are to the thyroid and the cricoid cartilages, but the most
+fixed point (_origin_) is its point of attachment to the larger
+cartilage; hence its direction of pull is from the thyroid, with the
+result that the anterior part of the cricoid is drawn up, the
+posterior part down, and the arytenoid cartilage, resting on the upper
+part of the cricoid, backward, so that the vocal band is rendered
+longer and more tense (see especially Fig. 29). It is important to
+note that this is the muscle most used in singing the lower tones of
+the scale, and that its action must necessarily cease, to a great
+extent, when a certain point in the pitch is reached, as there is a
+limit to the degree of contraction of all muscles; and, besides, the
+crico-thyroid space is of very moderate size, and the cricoid
+cartilage can ascend only within the limits thus determined. It thus
+follows that Nature has provided in the change of mechanism for a new
+register, which is nothing else than a change of mechanism with a
+corresponding change of function. It will be at once apparent that the
+claim that registers are an invention of men, and without foundation
+in nature, is without support in anatomy and physiology. The
+crico-thyroid is probably, however, of much more importance to tragic
+actors and barytones than to tenors or sopranos. This, however, is no
+excuse for the neglect of its development by the latter class, as
+often happens, for without it the best tones of the lower register are
+impossible. On the other hand, the elocutionists who prescribe for
+students practices that involve the excessive use of this muscle, with
+a cramped position of the vocal organs, the larynx being greatly drawn
+down, with the view of producing disproportionately heavy lower tones,
+must take no comfort from the above anatomical and physiological
+facts. Art implies proportion, and it was one of the ambitions of all
+the best actors in the golden age of histrionic art to have an "even
+voice"--_i.e._, one equally good through the whole range required. The
+tragic actor, elocutionist, and public speaker, and the singer,
+whether soprano or bass, should neglect no muscle, though they may be
+justified in developing some in excess of others, but ever with a
+watchful eye on the weakest part.
+
+2. The muscles which regulate the tension of the vocal bands are the
+following:
+
+(_a_) The _thyro-arytenoid[=e]us_ (pair), which by tilting the
+arytenoid cartilages forward relaxes the tension of the vocal bands.
+When they act with the adductors--_e.g._, the arytenoid[=e]us
+proprius--the result must be relaxation and approximation behind,
+which implies a greater or less degree of shortening, as usually
+happens when a certain point in an ascending scale is reached in
+persons whose methods of voice-production have not been in some way
+modified, and a new register begins, which in most female voices is
+marked by a more or less distinct and abrupt alteration of the quality
+of the tone.
+
+The crico-thyroids are the antagonists of the above-named muscles, and
+they may act either very much alone or, to some extent, in co�peration
+with the above, to regulate or steady their action; for in movements
+so complicated as those required for voice-production it is highly
+probable that we are inclined to reduce our explanations of muscular
+action to a simplicity that is excessive, and to appreciate but
+inadequately the delicacy and complexity of the mechanism and the
+processes involved. It is quite certain that in the production of the
+highest tones of a tenor or soprano several muscles co�perate, and
+one, especially, seems to be of great importance in the formation of
+such tones, most of all, perhaps, in high sopranos. The muscle
+referred to is the thyro-arytenoid already described. It is not only
+attached to the two cartilages indicated by its name, but also along
+the whole of the external or outer surface of the vocal band. It will
+be remembered that practically all the muscles are arranged in pairs,
+one on each side of the middle line. The muscle now under
+consideration, more, perhaps, than any other, is complex in its
+action. Apparently a very few of its fibres may act more or less
+independently of all the others at a particular moment and with a
+specific and very delicate result, a very slight change in pitch.
+Exactly how this is attained no one has as yet adequately explained;
+but it is doubtful whether any singer who does not possess a perfect
+control over this muscle can produce the highest tones of the soprano
+with ease and effectiveness. It is especially the muscle of the human
+birds of the higher flights.
+
+(_b_) To these thyro-arytenoids, which for most singers and all
+speakers are probably chiefly relaxing in action, must be added as
+aiding in this function another pair, the _lateral crico-arytenoids_.
+They are situated between the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, and
+the direction of action is obliquely from below and forward, upward,
+and backward, so that the arytenoids are brought forward and also
+approximated more or less, which involves relaxed tension, at least,
+possibly also shortening of the vocal bands.
+
+When a tenor or soprano singer reaches the upper tones, say about
+[Illustration: e'' f'' g''], or higher, there is considerable closing
+up in the larynx, much in the way in which the parts of the month are
+brought together in sucking. This is termed _sphincter action_, the
+mouth and the eyes being closed by such action, of which they are
+the most easily observed examples. As a result of this squeezing there
+is in some cases that reddening of the face and that tightness which
+is often felt uncomfortably, and which is _straining_, because when
+present in more than a very slight degree it is injurious, owing to
+congestion or accumulation of blood in the blood-vessels, with all the
+bad consequences of such a state of things. When the tightening does
+not go beyond a certain point it is normal--indeed, such sphincter
+action is inevitable; but it is the excess which is so common in
+tenors and others who strain for undue power, and to produce tones too
+high in pitch for their development or their method, which is so
+disastrous to the throat and to the best art also.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 33 (Spalteholz). Shows various structures, and
+especially well the false and the true vocal bands, with the space
+between them (ventricle of Morgagni), but which has no special
+function in phonation, unless it acts as a small resonance-chamber,
+which is possible. This space is a natural result of the existence of
+two pairs of vocal bands in such close proximity.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 34 (Spalteholz). Parts have been cut away to
+expose to view the whole of the inner surface of the larynx (lined
+with mucous membrane). An excellent view of the vocal bands and of the
+"ventricle" of the larynx, between them, is afforded.]
+
+When the vocal bands are in action their vibrations are accompanied by
+corresponding vibrations of the cartilages of the larynx--a fact of
+which any one may convince himself by laying his fingers on the upper
+part of the thyroid, especially when a low and powerful tone is
+produced. This vibration is not confined to the larynx, but extends to
+other parts--_e.g._, the chest itself, for when one speaks or sings a
+distinct vibration of the chest walls can be felt, though the extent
+to which this is present is very variable in different persons. As an
+ascending scale is sung the larynx can be felt (by the fingers) to
+rise, and the reverse as the pitch is lowered. This is due partly to
+the action of those muscles attached to the larynx which are not
+connected with the movements of the vocal bands, and partly to the
+influence of the expiratory air-blast. The glottis, partially closed
+as it must be in phonation, presents considerable resistance to the
+outgoing stream of air, hence the upward movement of the larynx when
+it is left free, and not held down by muscular action.
+
+In singing and speaking the larynx should be steadied, otherwise the
+"attack," or application of the air-blast to the vocal bands, cannot
+be perfect. On the other hand, it is obviously incorrect to attempt to
+hold the larynx always in the same position. Holding down this organ
+by main force, as in the production of the so-called "straw bass," is
+one of the surest methods of producing congestion and consequent
+disorders of the vocal organs; and the author wishes to warn all
+voice-producers against such unnatural practices. Students of
+elocution and young actors often sin in a similar way, and
+"clergyman's sore throat" is almost always due to this or some similar
+misuse of the vocal organs. One's own sensations and common sense
+should never be disregarded, however eminent the teacher who
+recommends unphysiological methods.
+
+
+PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+When the student has read the above description of the structure and
+functions of the larynx, and studied the illustrations well, he will
+be prepared to deal with the subject in a practical manner, and
+without that it is feared his ideas will remain somewhat hazy.
+
+First of all, he should try to find the parts mentioned in his own
+person, following this up by examinations of others, for which purpose
+children make good subjects, as they have usually necks that are not
+too deeply padded with fat, and they may be easily led to take the
+examinations as a sort of fun.
+
+From above downward one feels in the middle line the parts in the
+order previously mentioned, beginning with the hyoid bone. One may
+learn that the larynx is movable and yielding, a hard structure
+covered with softer tissues, but what these are, and much more, can
+only be learned by examination of the larynx after it has been removed
+from some animal. Every butcher can provide the material for getting a
+sound, practical knowledge of the respiratory apparatus. He may be
+asked to supply the following:
+
+1. A pig's "pluck"--_i.e._, the "lights," or lungs, with the windpipe
+attached. The liver, heart, etc., are not required, though to observe
+the relations of the circulatory system--_i.e._, the heart and large
+blood-vessels--to the respiratory system will be time well spent.
+Unless special instructions are given, the larynx, which the butcher
+may term the "weezend," may be lacking or mutilated. It should be
+explained that this organ, with a part of the windpipe and the extreme
+back part of the tongue, and all below it, are required. For one
+sitting this single "pluck" will suffice, as it will serve for a
+general examination. The lungs may be dilated by inserting a tube into
+the windpipe, tying it in position, and blowing into it with greater
+or less force. It should be especially observed how suddenly the lungs
+collapse when the breath force is removed, as this illustrates well
+their _elasticity_. By cutting through the windpipe lengthwise and
+following it downward one learns how numerous are the branches of the
+bronchial tree, etc.
+
+For a second sitting one should secure at least two specimens of the
+larynx of the pig or sheep, though the former is more like the human,
+and so the better on the whole. A case of dissecting instruments is
+not essential; a sharp pocket-knife will serve the purpose. In order
+that the student may have a clear idea of the cartilages, all the soft
+tissues must be cut or scraped away. It is necessary to exercise great
+care, or the membranes connecting the cartilages together will be cut
+through; and on the other hand, unless the work in the neighborhood of
+the arytenoids be cautiously done, these cartilages may be injured,
+and it is most important that their swivel-like action and their
+relations to the true vocal bands be observed. The glottic chink can
+be seen from above or below, and should be observed from both
+view-points. Its margins are formed by the true vocal bands.
+
+Then, with the figures before him, the student should endeavor to
+isolate each of the muscles described. The muscles can always be
+recognized by their red color, but it is to be remembered that those
+on the inner surface of the larynx, such as the crico-arytenoid, are
+covered with mucous membrane, which after death is very pale. This can
+by careful dissection be removed, and if in doing this a small pair of
+forceps be employed, the work will be greatly facilitated. One must be
+very skilful indeed if he would get all the muscles "out," or well
+exposed to view as individuals, on a single specimen. Likely several
+will be required before entirely satisfactory results are reached, but
+these are well worth all the time and labor required. The action of
+the muscles can in some measure be demonstrated by pulling on them in
+the direction of their loosest attachment, though it must be confessed
+this is much more difficult in the case of most of the muscles of the
+larynx than in those of other parts of the body.
+
+Should the specimens be very successfully dissected, it may be worth
+while to keep them for future observation, in rather weak alcohol (40
+per cent.), in, say, a preserve jar.
+
+All examinations of the vocal bands may leave the observer
+disappointed; he may fail to realize, most likely, how such wonderful
+results can be accomplished by structures so simple as those he sees
+before him. But when the laryngoscope is brought into use, then comes
+a revelation. This instrument will be described in the next chapter.
+
+
+HYGIENE.
+
+Some of the hygienic principles involved have already been referred to
+and illustrated, and others follow from the facts already set forth.
+It is very important for the voice-user to bear in mind that his
+larynx is a part of the respiratory tract, and that the whole of this
+region and the entire digestive tract, part of which is common to
+both, are lined with mucous membrane. If the nose be affected with
+catarrh, the throat does not usually long escape; and if the back of
+the mouth cavity (_pharynx_) be disordered, the vocal bands and other
+parts of the larynx are almost sure to be involved more or less.
+
+The condition of the stomach is reflexly, if not by direct continuity
+through the mucous membrane, expressed in the throat generally; hence
+as experience shows, the voice-user cannot exercise too great care as
+to what and how much he eats, especially before a public appearance.
+He must know himself what best suits him, in this regard, to a degree
+that is necessary for few others.
+
+When singing, more blood is sent to the organs used, hence the great
+danger of that excess of blood being retained in the parts too long,
+as might easily happen from pressure about the neck, etc. It is
+scarcely necessary to point out that draughts, cold rooms, etc., will
+also determine the blood from the skin inward, and set up that
+complicated condition of multiform evils known as "a cold." The
+obvious principle of prevention lies in keeping the body, and
+especially the neck, shoulders, and chest, warm after using the vocal
+organs in any way in public. To hand the singer a wrap after leaving
+the platform is always wise, and the judicious friend will see that
+conversation is not allowed, much less forced on the possibly
+breathless and wearied voice-user--a precaution that is probably more
+honored in the breach than in the observance, for in this as in other
+cases one's friends are sometimes his worst enemies.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The larynx is the most important organ in voice-production, and
+consists of cartilages, muscles, the vocal bands, true and false,
+membranes and ligaments, folds of mucous membrane, etc. It is situated
+between the hyoid (tongue) bone above and the trachea below. The
+cartilages are the (1) epiglottis, (2) thyroid, cricoid, arytenoid,
+the two small, unimportant cornicula laryngis, or cartilages of
+Santorini, surmounting the arytenoids, and the two cuneiform, or
+cartilages of Wrisberg, in the folds of mucous membrane on each side
+of the arytenoids.
+
+The muscles are attached to the main cartilages. In addition to the
+muscles that are concerned with the movements of the vocal bands,
+others that hold the larynx in place or raise and lower it are
+attached _externally_ to these, especially to the large thyroid
+cartilage. The epiglottis, the false vocal cords, the true vocal
+cords, and the thyro-arytenoid muscles are attached to the interior
+anterior surface of the thyroid in this order from above down.
+
+The false vocal bands have no direct function in phonation. _The whole
+larynx, so far as phonation is concerned, may be said to exist for the
+true vocal bands._ They are attached close together to the internal
+and anterior surface of the thyroid in front and to the lower anterior
+angles (vocal processes) of the arytenoids behind. Between the false
+vocal bands above and the true vocal bands below there is a cavity
+(the ventricle of Morgagni). The false vocal bands are protective, and
+approximate closely during coughing, swallowing, etc.
+
+It is very important to note that the arytenoid cartilages move freely
+on their base, swivel-like, so that nearly all the changes effected in
+the movements and tension of the vocal bands are brought about through
+alterations in the position of these cartilages; and this implies that
+all the muscles concerned are attached to them. From above down, in
+front, the order of structures is as follows:
+
+     Hyoid bone.
+     Membrane.
+     Thyroid cartilage.
+     Membrane.
+     Cricoid cartilage.
+     Trachea.
+
+The hyoid bone is not a part of the larynx, but from it the larynx is
+suspended. The bone itself gives attachment to the muscles of the
+tongue. The glottis is the chink between the true vocal bands.
+
+The muscles of the larynx may be divided into the following: (1) Those
+that open and those that close the glottis; (2) those which regulate
+the tension of the vocal bands. The latter include the (_a_)
+crico-thyroids, which tense and elongate them, (_b_) thyro-arytenoids,
+which relax and shorten them. The crico-thyroid may be considered the
+most important muscle of phonation, because it is so much used and so
+effective. By its action the cricoid is pulled up in front and down
+behind, so that the arytenoids are drawn back, and thus the vocal
+bands tensed and lengthened. The lateral crico-arytenoids and the
+thyro-arytenoids have the opposite effect--_i.e._, they relax and
+shorten the vocal bands; hence when they come into play a new register
+begins. The thyro-arytenoids, attached along the whole length of the
+vocal bands externally, have a very important but not well-understood
+action in the production of the higher tones, and probably also of the
+falsetto.
+
+The whole larynx is lined with mucous membrane, that covering the true
+vocal bands being very thin. The false vocal bands are made up chiefly
+of mucous membrane; the true vocal bands abound in elastic tissue. The
+larynx rises during the production of high tones, and during
+phonation its vibrations may be felt, as also those of the chest.
+
+
+_Practical._
+
+1. Feel in your own person the parts of the larynx, etc., from above
+down.
+
+2. Note the vibration of the larynx when a vowel is spoken or sung. A
+similar vibration of the chest walls may be felt by the hands laid
+over them.
+
+3. Note the change of position of the larynx in singing a scale.
+
+4. Dissect a pig's or sheep's pluck and some specimens of the larynx.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 35. These three figures illustrate perhaps more
+clearly the _action_ of the muscles indicated FIGS. 26-34.
+
+The arrows show the direction of the pull of the muscles. The result
+of this action is the new position of the cartilages and vocal bands,
+which is shown by red outlines. The muscle is also depicted in red.
+The heavier outer rim is to indicate the thyroid cartilage. By
+comparing the upper and the lowest figure it will be seen that they
+are opposites. Of course, in phonation the vocal bands are never so
+much separated as shown in the illustrations. Rather does the lower
+figure indicate a case of extreme separation due to a very deep
+inspiration. However, these illustrations are merely diagrams meant to
+indicate in a general way the manner of the working of parts. For
+exact pictures of the vocal bands and related parts, see Chapter
+VII.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SOUND--THE LARYNGOSCOPE--THE LARYNX RECONSIDERED.
+
+
+Before discussing our subject further it is desirable that some
+attention be given to a few of the fundamental principles of that
+department of physics termed _acoustics_, and which deals with the
+subject of sound. If the student has the opportunity to study this
+subject theoretically and practically, as it is set forth in some good
+work on physics, he will have no reason to regret the time spent. A
+deep knowledge of the laws of sound is not absolutely essential, or
+even highly necessary, for a sufficient understanding of the
+principles involved in voice-production. It is, however, all-important
+that a few facts and principles be thoroughly grasped.
+
+For those who feel that they have the time for a study of acoustics,
+the author would especially recommend Tyndall's work on sound, in
+which the subject is treated with wonderful clearness and charm. What
+we endeavor now to bring before the reader we have found sufficient
+for nearly all the purposes of the voice-user.
+
+An observer on the street, looking at a military band, notices certain
+movements of one member of the organization which result in what he
+termed the sound of the drum; but a deaf man by his side, though he
+sees the movements, hears nothing. This, being analyzed, means that
+the movements of the drummer's arm, conveyed through the drumstick to
+the membrane of the drum, give rise to movements in it which set up
+corresponding movements of the air within the drum, which again cause
+movements of the body of the instrument, the whole causing movements
+of the external air; and here the purely physical process ends. The
+movements other than muscular ones are not readily observed, but
+experiments not only prove that they exist, but demonstrate their
+nature, even to their exact rate of occurrence, their size, etc. These
+movements are termed _vibrations_, and, as has been indicated
+previously, they are the sole physical cause of sound. But that the
+latter is not due wholly to a physical origin is evident from the fact
+that sound for the deaf does not exist. It must, therefore, be a
+personal, a subjective experience, and as the sleeping, unconscious
+person does not necessarily hear a sound, the process is not wholly a
+corporeal or physiological process; it is finally an experience of the
+mind, the consciousness, and so is psychological as well as
+physiological.
+
+The fact that sound has a physical basis in the vibrations of bodies,
+either solid, liquid, or gaseous, may be brought home to one in
+various ways. Concussion or shaking of some kind is essential to start
+these vibrations. The air is made up of its particles, and one being
+moved sets up, inevitably, movements in neighboring particles on all
+sides, hence vibrations travel in all directions; which explains why a
+sound in the street may be heard by those in every part of the street
+not too distant, and also in the upper rooms of the houses and below
+in the basements. This is an important fact for the singer or speaker
+to bear in mind. His purpose must be to set up vibrations that will
+travel with great perfection and rapidity in all directions.
+
+The following experiments of a simple kind will serve to convince
+those who may not have given much attention to the subject that sound
+is due to movements of some object, which we term the sounding body,
+strictly that which starts the vibrations by its own movements or
+vibrations.
+
+If a sufficiently flexible band of metal or a stiff piece of whalebone
+be fixed at one end in a vice, and then sharply pulled to one side and
+suddenly let go, a sound results. The same effect is produced when a
+tight cord or small rope is plucked at and then suddenly released. In
+each of these cases, if actual movements are not seen, a certain haze
+which seems to surround the object may be observed. The same can be
+seen when a tuning-fork is set into action by a bow, a blow, etc. In
+the case of the fork a graphic tracing (Fig. 36) can be readily taken
+on smoked paper, thus demonstrating to the eye that vibrations exist,
+that they occur with perfect regularity and with a frequency that can
+be measured.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 36 (Tyndall). Illustrates how the vibrations of a
+tuning-fork are registered on a blackened (smoked) glass. In order
+that the movements of the fork shall be traced in the form of regular
+curves, the surface must be kept moving at a definite regular rate.]
+
+A similar observation can be made in the case of stringed instruments.
+If pieces of paper be laid on the strings of a violin, and the bow
+then drawn across them, the bits of paper will fly off owing to the
+movements--_i.e._, the vibrations--of the strings.
+
+That a force applied at one end of several objects in a line or series
+causes an obvious effect at the other end, can be well illustrated in
+a simple way. If a number of individuals stand one behind another in a
+line, each with his hands laid firmly on the shoulders of the one next
+to him, and the person at the end be pushed, the force will be
+conveyed through all the intermediate individuals, and cause the
+unsupported person at the distant end to move. So is it with the
+particles of which the air is composed. The movements begun in the
+drum set up by contact corresponding movements or vibrations in the
+adjacent air, which ultimately reach the hearing subject's ear,
+thereby affect his brain, and are accompanied by that change in
+consciousness which he terms "hearing." It will be observed that these
+events constitute a chain, and a break anywhere will prevent a sound
+being heard; there is then, in fact, no sound.
+
+Sounds are characterized by _pitch_, _volume_, and _quality_.
+
+The _pitch_ is determined by the number of vibrations that reach the
+ear within a certain time; the more numerous the sound-waves
+(vibrations) in a second, the higher the pitch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 37 (Tyndall). Meant to illustrate vibrations. The
+impulse communicated by the ball pushed from the hand to all the
+intervening ones causes only the last to actually move bodily.]
+
+Animals differ a good deal as to the limits of hearing. Cats hear very
+high-pitched sounds, as of mice, that human beings may not notice, and
+it is likely that insects hear sounds altogether beyond the limit of
+the human ear. But it is wonderful how much human beings differ among
+themselves in regard to this matter. It has surprised the author to
+find that many persons cannot hear the high-pitched note of certain
+birds, as the wax-wing.
+
+The lower limit, speaking generally, is for most persons 16
+vibrations, and the highest 38000 vibrations a second, according to
+Helmholtz, hence the entire range of the human ear would be fully 11
+octaves; but the practical range of musical sounds is within 40 and
+4000 vibrations a second--_i.e._, about 7 octaves--and, as is well
+known, even this range is beyond the appreciation of most persons,
+though as to this much depends on cultivation--attention to the
+subject extending over a considerable period of time.
+
+The _volume_, or loudness, of a sound depends on the size of the
+vibrations, just as one feels a blow from a large object, other things
+being equal, more than from a small one. The ear drum-head is in the
+case of a large sound beaten, as it were, more powerfully. The singers
+that give us bigness of sound instead of quality belabor our ears, so
+to speak; they treat us as persons of mean understanding--dull
+intellects; the thing is essentially vulgar.
+
+The _quality_ of a sound is determined by the form of the vibrations.
+A sound of good quality is to the ear what a beautiful statue or
+picture is to the eye. As will be explained later, the form or quality
+depends largely on the shape, etc., of the resonance-chambers above
+the vocal bands.
+
+Much discussion has taken place from time to time as to the nature of
+the larynx as a musical instrument, some being inclined to regard it
+as most closely allied to a stringed instrument, others to a
+wind-instrument. It has obviously points of resemblance to both, but
+the most recent researches make it clearer than ever that it is
+neither one nor the other, strictly speaking, but that it stands in a
+class by itself. It is, however, helpful, in considering many
+questions, to bear in mind its resemblances to both wind and stringed
+instruments. The vocal bands are not wholly free throughout their
+length, like the strings of a violin, nor do they bear any great
+resemblance to the reed of such an instrument as the clarinet, but as
+in the latter the force causing the vibrations is a blast of air. We
+have already pointed out that the vocal bands are set into vibration
+solely by the _expiratory_ blast of air.
+
+
+THE LARYNGOSCOPE.
+
+The distinguished physiologist Johannes M�ller demonstrated the
+working of the larynx by special experiments. He fixed into the
+windpipe a bellows, and showed, in the dead larynx, of course, that
+the blast from this source could cause the vocal bands to vibrate and
+thus produce sounds, which by varying the strength of the force, etc.,
+were made to vary in pitch.
+
+While such experiments indicate the essential principles of a possible
+voice-production, as the conditions in life were not and could not be
+fully met these results were rather suggestive than demonstrative of
+Nature's methods. These investigations served a good purpose, but
+they were manifestly inadequate, and this was felt by one thoughtful
+vocal teacher so keenly that he pondered much on the subject, in the
+hope of finding a method of observing the larynx during actual
+phonation. To this distinguished teacher, Manuel Garcia, belongs the
+honor of inventing the means of observing the vocal bands in action.
+This was accomplished in 1854, and, soon after, Garcia read an account
+of his observations to the Royal Society of London; and though much in
+this paper required correction by subsequent observations, it remains
+to this day the foundation of our knowledge of the action of the
+larynx in voice-production.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 38 (Bosworth). Intended to illustrate the optical
+principles involved and the practical method of carrying out
+laryngoscopic examination. The dotted lines show the paths of the
+light-rays.]
+
+As usually employed, the laryngoscope consists of two mirrors, the
+head-mirror, so called because it is usually attached to the forehead
+by an elastic band, and the throat-mirror, which is placed in the back
+part of the mouth cavity. The purpose of the head-mirror is to reflect
+the light that reaches it from a lamp or other source of illumination
+into the mouth cavity so perfectly that not only the back of the
+mouth, etc., but the larynx itself may be well lighted up; but
+inasmuch as this illumination may be accomplished, under favorable
+circumstances, by direct sunlight, the head-mirror is, though mostly
+indispensable, not an absolutely essential part of the laryngoscope.
+There is, indeed, one advantage in the use of direct sunlight, in that
+the color of the parts seen remains more nearly normal. Lamplight
+tends, because of its yellow color, to make parts seem rather of a
+deeper red than they actually are; but this to the practised observer,
+always using the same source of illumination, is not a serious
+matter--his standards of comparison remain the same. Moreover, this
+objection does not apply equally to electric light, now so much used.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 39. This illustration is meant to show more
+especially the relative position of observer and observed. The
+observer, on the right, is wearing the head-mirror, while two
+throat-mirrors seem to be in position--in reality, the same mirror in
+two different positions. One is placed so as to reflect the picture of
+the nasal chambers, especially their hinder portion. The walls of the
+nose, etc., may for the purposes of this illustration be considered
+transparent, so that the scroll (turbinated) bones, etc., come into
+view. The tongue is protruded. The light, not seen in this figure, is
+usually placed on the left of the subject, as in Fig. 38.]
+
+It being a fundamental law of light that the angle of reflection and
+the angle of incidence correspond--are, in fact, the same--it was
+necessary that the throat-mirror should be set at an angle to its
+stem, so that the light passing up by reflection from the larynx
+should, when striking on the surface of this plane throat-mirror, be
+reflected outward in a straight line to the eye, which must be in the
+same horizontal plane with it. This and all the other facts and
+principles involved can only be understood by a careful inspection of
+the accompanying figures, which it is hoped will make the subject
+plain. The throat-mirror is none other than the mouth-mirror of the
+dentists, and in use by them before Garcia discovered how it might be
+employed to throw light on the larynx, in a double sense.
+
+The essentials, then, for a view of the interior of the larynx are: A
+source of illumination; a mirror to reflect the light reaching it from
+this source into the back of the throat and larynx; and a second
+mirror to reflect the light outward which is, in the first instance,
+reflected from below, from the interior of the larynx. The principles
+involved are few and simple, but their application to any particular
+case is not easy, and is sometimes well-nigh impossible.
+
+The throat-mirror should be placed against that curtain suspended in
+the back of the mouth cavity known as the soft palate, so that it must
+be pushed back out of the line of view. But many persons find such a
+foreign object in the throat a sufficient cause of unpleasant
+sensations so that retching may be the result. Generally there is a
+tendency to raise the tongue behind in a way fatal to a view of the
+mirror and the picture reflected from it. These difficulties, however,
+can be overcome by a deft hand using the mirror brought to "blood
+heat" by placing it in warm water or holding it over some source of
+heat, as a small lamp, and directing the subject observed to breathe
+freely and _through the mouth_. This latter tends to quiet that unruly
+member, the tongue, and lead it to assume the flat position so
+important to an unobstructed view. It is for the same reason the
+author urges mouth breathing during speaking and singing. No other
+tends so well to put the tongue in the correct position.
+
+The extent to which one feels the annoyance of a small mirror held
+gently in the throat depends really on the amount of attention
+directed to it, and the degree of determination with which he resolves
+to exercise self-control. The author has examined an entire class of
+students of voice-production and found only one person who did not
+succeed in at once giving him a view of the larynx. But it must be at
+once said that of all persons examined by the author during his
+experience as an investigator of voice-production and in special
+medical practice, none have been able to show their throats, the
+larynx included, so well as speakers and, above all, singers; which in
+itself indicates that speaking and singing do give control of the
+throat--that all its parts respond to the will of the observed person.
+The author must further, however, remark that he has found this
+control associated not so much with vocal power as with intelligent
+study. Intelligence tells in music a good deal more than many people
+have yet learned to believe; but on this point the reader will long
+since have learned the author's views--in fact, so deep are his
+convictions on this subject that he hopes he may be pardoned for
+frequent reference to them, in one form or another.
+
+One anatomical fact may be so invincible that a view of the glottis
+cannot be obtained at all: the epiglottis may so overhang the opening
+to the larynx that a good view of its interior is absolutely
+impossible, in other cases only occasionally and under very favorable
+circumstances. Such cases are, however, of the rarest occurrence,
+while there are not a few persons in whom one may even see down the
+windpipe as far as its division into the two main bronchial tubes, and
+inflammation may thus often be traced from the vocal bands far down
+the mucous membrane common to the larynx, windpipe, etc.
+
+As has been remarked previously, it is only by the use of the
+laryngoscope that one can see the vocal mechanism of the larynx in
+action, so that for investigation laryngoscopy is essential.
+Auto-laryngoscopy, or the use of the laryngoscope by the subject to
+observe his own larynx, has its special difficulties and advantages,
+the greatest of the latter being, perhaps, that the observer may use
+himself as often and as long as he will, while he would hesitate to
+make observations on others at great length or with frequent
+repetition. There are no new principles involved in auto-laryngoscopy.
+The observer must simply see that a good light is reflected into his
+own throat, and that the picture in his throat-mirror is reflected
+into another into which he may gaze, an ordinary small hand-glass
+usually sufficing.
+
+Only rarely is the individual met who can himself so control his
+tongue that assistance from the observing laryngologist is
+unnecessary. In by far the greater number of instances the tongue,
+after being protruded, must be gently held by the left hand of the
+observer, a small napkin covering the tip of the organ. The
+auto-laryngologist must, of course, control his own tongue, and better
+if without any hand contact.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that before placing the mirror in the
+mouth its temperature must be tested by touching it for a moment
+against the back of the hand.
+
+Nearly all the facts of importance in phonation, several of which have
+already been referred to, or will be mentioned in the "Summary and
+Review" below, could only have been discovered by the use of the
+laryngoscope. The difference in the larynx in the two sexes and in
+different types of singers and speakers, though open to ordinary
+observation, dissection, etc., are still better brought out by the use
+of the instrument now under consideration.
+
+One naturally expects any organ to be larger and heavier in the male
+than in the female, and to this the larynx is no exception; and
+individual differences are equally pronounced. There may be almost if
+not quite as much difference between the larynx of a barytone and of a
+tenor as between that of an ordinary man who is not a public
+voice-user and the larynx of the ordinary woman. The larynx of the
+contralto may in its size and general development remind one of the
+same organ in the male. The vocal bands of the bass singer may be to
+those of a soprano as are the strings of a violoncello to those of a
+violin--using these examples, it will be understood, merely as rough
+illustrations.
+
+The change in the size of the larynx produced by even a few months'
+judicious practice may be astonishing. As already hinted, it is
+important that in bringing about this development exclusive attention
+should not be given, as is sometimes done, especially in the case of
+speakers, to the lower tones, though it is not so important for them
+as for singers to have an even development up to the highest range.
+
+But again the author would urge the voice-user to aim at attaining
+that delicate control of muscles (neuro-muscular mechanisms, to speak
+more scientifically) so important for the finest vocal effects, rather
+than be satisfied with mere power. The vocalist and speaker must
+indeed be athletic specialists, but they should not aim at being like
+the ordinary athlete, much less mere strong men of the circus.
+
+It is said that Madame Mara within her range of three octaves could
+effect 2100 changes of pitch, or 100 between each two tones of the
+twenty-one in her compass, which would represent a successive change
+in the length of the vocal bands of a small fraction, possibly not
+more than 1/17000 of an inch--something unapproachable in nicety in
+the use of any other instrument. Even if we make large deductions from
+the above, the performances of those who have reached the highest
+laryngeal control must remain marvellous, all the more when it is
+remembered that this control over the larynx, to be efficient for
+musical purposes, must be accompanied by a corresponding mastery of
+the art of breathing. Is it necessary to point out that such wonderful
+development and control can only be attained after years of steady
+work by the best methods?
+
+At one period in the life of the individual changes of such importance
+take place in the entire nature, physical, mental, and moral, that he
+becomes almost a new being. This epoch is known as the period of
+puberty or adolescence, and may be considered that of the gravest
+moment during one's whole life; for then, for better or worse, great
+changes inevitably occur. It is incomparably the period of greatest
+development, and, unfortunately, there may also spring into being,
+with striking suddenness, physical and psychic traits which cause the
+greatest anxiety. In any case, the thoughtful must then regard the
+youth or maiden with feelings of the deepest interest, if not anxiety;
+and in the case of the voice-user, especially the singer, this period
+may come laden with the destinies of the future.
+
+The vocal organs, especially in males, undergo very marked changes in
+relative proportions and actual growth. So marked is this that the
+boy soprano may actually become a barytone, or, unfortunately, no
+longer have a singing voice at all.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 40 (Gr�nwald). If this be compared with the next
+illustration (FIG. 41), some of the differences between the larynx of
+the male and that of the female may be noted. The vocal bands in FIG.
+40, being those of a male, are heavier and wider. They are more
+covered by the epiglottis than in the other case--that of a female
+(FIG. 41). The false vocal bands are well seen in both cases, and by
+their redness (dark in the figures) contrast with the whiteness of the
+true vocal bands. In both illustrations the bands are in the
+inspiration position.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 41 (Gr�nwald). Laryngoscopic picture of the female
+larynx--to be contrasted with that of a male, shown in FIG. 40.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 42 (Gr�nwald). In this case, owing to the subject
+having a cold, it is with difficulty that the true can be
+distinguished from the false vocal bands, so reddened (dark, in the
+figure) were the former, with corresponding changes in the character
+of the voice. This view was obtained as the subject was phonating, so
+that the vocal bands are approximated somewhat closely.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 43 (Gr�nwald). Shows the larynx as it may be seen
+only by the use of the laryngoscope. The above is an example of the
+appearance of the vocal bands during a deep inspiration, and in this
+subject, as in those illustrated by FIGS. 40, 41, the circumstances
+were so favorable that the observer could see even the trachea, the
+rings of which are indicated in the picture. The reader will bear in
+mind that in this and all laryngoscopic pictures, while right remains
+right, front becomes back, and back front, so that the back of the
+larynx appears toward the observer--_i.e._, is lowest on the page.]
+
+So far as the larynx is concerned the changes are less pronounced,
+usually, in the girl; nevertheless, the period is one of such change
+for the female that the greatest care should be exercised at this
+time, especially in the case of city girls. The body requires all its
+available resources for the growth and development which is so
+characteristic of this biological and psychological epoch; hence it
+may be ruinous for the future of the girl if at this time the same
+strain is put upon her as on the adult, whether in the direction of
+study, physical exertion, or social excitement, and of course the
+voice must suffer with all the rest. The farmer who would attempt to
+work the colt of a year or two old as he does the horse of four or
+five would be regarded as either grossly ignorant of his business or
+utterly reckless as to his own interests, if not positively cruel. Do
+our modern usages not show a neglect of facts of vital moment still
+more marked? Unfortunately, the woman all her life must live, to a
+greater or less extent, on a sort of periodic up-curve or down-curve
+of vitality; and that this fact is so generally ignored by society and
+educators is one of those peculiarities of our age at which, in spite
+of its great advancement in so many directions, a future generation
+must wonder.
+
+To use the voice when the health is even slightly disordered is not
+without risk to the vocal organs, and it is the clear duty of every
+teacher of vocal culture, at all events, to allow no practice and to
+give no lessons that imply the actual use of the vocal organs at these
+times. Nor is this a great loss, rightly considered, for the
+intellectual side of the subject, which requires so much attention,
+may readily be made to take the place of the vocal for a few days.
+
+The so-called "breaking" of the voice is largely confined to males,
+because the growth changes, etc., as already said, are most marked in
+boys. At this time, also, there is frequently an excess of blood
+supplied to the larynx, with possibly some degree of stagnation or
+congestion, which results in a thickening of the vocal bands, unequal
+action of muscles, etc., which must involve imperfections in the
+voice. In all such cases common sense and physiology alike plainly
+indicate that rest is desirable. All shouting, singing, etc., should
+be refrained from, and even ordinary speech, as much as possible, in
+very marked cases, especially when the individual is even slightly
+indisposed or weary.
+
+In other cases the changes are so gradual and so little marked that it
+is not at all necessary to discontinue vocal practice, if carried out
+with care and under the guidance of an intelligent friend or teacher;
+but because of the possibility of the voice changing in quality, there
+is no time when the advice of an experienced and enlightened teacher
+or laryngologist is more necessary.
+
+The condition present in the vocal bands and larynx generally of the
+boy at puberty is more or less akin to that found in fatigue,
+ill-health, hoarseness, etc., as well as in old age, when muscular
+action is very uncertain, so that in the weak larynx, as elsewhere,
+the old man may approach the undeveloped youth, and for much the same
+reason--lack of co-ordinated or harmonious control of parts.
+
+These remarks imply, of course, that the youth has already begun
+studies in voice-production, and that raises another important
+question, viz.: When should the individual who is sufficiently endowed
+musically begin to sing, or study public utterance practically in some
+of its forms?
+
+No faculty develops earlier than the musical, and this is a strong
+argument in itself for the early study of music, apart altogether from
+other considerations about which there is room for more difference of
+opinion. Should the child get his musical development through the use
+of his own musical instrument or another? If he shows natural ability
+for the use of the voice, should he be trained very early?
+
+Against early training may be urged the facts above referred to--the
+liability of great changes taking place in the larynx at puberty,
+especially in the boy. But marked are the changes that take place in
+other parts of the body also, and this is not urged against exercises
+for general development, for the boy. It is a remarkable fact that
+many of the great composers sang as boys, and possibly this has had
+something to do with their writing music for the voice, later, when
+they were most of them by no means fine singers; but on this too much
+stress should not be laid.
+
+The question at issue is to be sharply marked off from another--the
+public appearance of children as soloists, reciters, etc. In this case
+the question is more complicated, and cannot be settled by
+physiological considerations alone. Our problem is also to be kept
+apart from another very important question--the singing of children,
+or, indeed, adults, in classes, choirs, etc.
+
+If a child shows himself a desire to sing, and especially if he has
+musical ability above the average and a voice that is of fair range
+and quality, one can scarcely see why he should not be encouraged, and
+placed under a wise teacher; for it is doubtful if there be any better
+way of developing the ear and musical nature, even if in future the
+child shows that he will accomplish more as an instrumentalist. Such
+vocal training tends to development of the larynx, and that can
+scarcely be wholly lost, no matter what changes puberty may bring
+about. At the same time, one must take care not to be too hopeful in
+regard to child singers. Nature gives us some surprises, and not
+always pleasant ones.
+
+But as to the cultivation of the vocal organs with the view of
+producing a beautiful speaking voice by processes akin to those used
+for the singer, as the teaching of this work constantly implies, there
+can be no doubt. Unless the individual acquires a respect for the
+beautiful in the speaking voice when young, it is feared he may never
+get it, as the existing state of things only too clearly shows.
+
+It is hoped that enough has been said on this subject to indicate the
+principles, at all events so far as physiology is concerned, on which
+the decisions regarding some weighty questions must be made.
+
+The question of singing with others, as usually carried out in
+schools, seems to the author a very doubtful procedure, to say the
+least, as for those with fine throats it may prove injurious, and for
+those who have feeble musical endowments it does little; but of this
+subject and concerted singing generally again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BREATHING, LARYNGEAL ADJUSTMENT, ETC.
+
+
+Experience proves that breathing, for the speaker and singer, is one
+of those subjects that may be very inadequately comprehended by the
+student, and, the author regrets to say, may be positively
+misrepresented by teachers and writers.
+
+Some--indeed, a great many--teachers direct their students to employ
+"abdominal" or "diaphragmatic" breathing, others "clavicular"
+respiration. A little consideration must convince those who have read
+the chapters on breathing that such distinctions, in which one part of
+an entire process is treated as if it were the whole, cannot be
+justified. By "clavicular" breathing some mean upper chest breathing,
+and others a form of respiration in which the shoulders (clavicles, or
+key-bones) are raised with inspiration in an objectionable manner. The
+latter is, of course, to be condemned; yet, very exceptionally, a
+tenor of excellent training may feel that he can, under the
+circumstances of the hour, reach a certain tone very high in his range
+only by the utmost exertion. We all know how a singer's reputation may
+be more or less ruined should he fail to reach such a high note--one,
+indeed, by which he may, owing to the vitiated taste of the public,
+have acquired a reputation beyond his artistic merits. Under these
+circumstances such a singer might be justified in a momentary use of
+every resource of what physiologists term _forced respiration_,
+including clavicular breathing; but in general any raising of the
+shoulders should be absolutely avoided.
+
+When "clavicular" breathing is used in the sense of upper chest
+breathing, it is correct as far as it goes, but the term is not a
+happy one to employ in this sense, and it has led to error in theory
+and practice.
+
+In the same way, "diaphragmatic" breathing is perfectly correct, but
+its exclusive use cannot be justified, for Nature teaches us
+otherwise. It is true that the lower part of the chest, which always
+should expand with the descent of the diaphragm, is wider than the
+upper; it is true that by a very well-developed diaphragmatic
+breathing a singer or speaker is fairly well provided with breath
+power; but why teach this method exclusively, when thereby the
+voice-user is being robbed of possibly from one quarter to one third
+of his total breathing efficiency?
+
+It is likely that teachers have insisted on diaphragmatic breathing,
+especially in the case of females, because, unfortunately, prevalent
+modes of dress so restrict the lower chest, etc., that individuals
+instinctively seek relief in upper chest or clavicular breathing, in
+which case it may be observed that the actual breath power of the
+singer is very small. It cannot be denied that few people ever
+adequately fill the chest--least of all, few women--and if admonitions
+as to diaphragmatic breathing accomplish this purpose, the practice
+must be commended. But another remedy should obviously precede this
+one: the respiratory prisoner should first be released.
+
+No doubt, in the most vigorous singing and speaking the lower part of
+the chest, with the diaphragm, is of the greatest importance, but
+often both the speaker and the singer, as in a short, rapid passage,
+require to take breath, and the only way in which they can really meet
+the case is by a short, more or less superficial action of the
+respiratory apparatus, in which the upper chest must play the chief
+part. There is no opportunity to fill the whole chest, so that any
+admonition in regard to abdominal breathing is then quite out of
+place.
+
+The fact is, the voice-user should have control of his whole breathing
+mechanism, and use one part more or less than another, or all parts
+equally and to the fullest extent, as the circumstances require; and
+if the student has not already learned such control, the author
+recommends his practising breathing with special attention first to
+filling the upper chest completely, and then the lower. It must be
+remembered that for a long time breathing, for the voice-user, must be
+a voluntary process, which, as has been pointed out, is not the usual
+and natural one for the individual when not phonating, which latter
+is essentially reflex or involuntary. The voice-user, in other words,
+must, with a definite purpose in view, take charge of himself. In
+time, breathing for him too will become reflex--_i.e._, correct
+breathing for the purposes of his art will become a habit. It must be
+pointed out that the breathing for any particular composition,
+literary or musical, should be carefully studied out, for this is
+nothing else than determining how this part of the voice-user's
+mechanism can be employed with the best artistic result. This,
+fortunately, is now recognized by a large number of teachers, for the
+fact is, the artistic is at present much better understood and
+appreciated than the technical; were it not so, such erratic
+literature on the subject of breathing could never have appeared.
+
+On another aspect of the subject there is room for much greater
+difference of opinion. Among even eminent singers and teachers there
+is lack of agreement in regard to the part the diaphragm and abdomen
+should play in the most vigorous (_fortissimo_) singing.
+
+Singers of renown practise what may be termed a sort of "forced"
+abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing. The breath is so taken that the
+whole chest is filled, the diaphragm brought well down, and the
+abdominal walls drawn in (retracted), which gives the singer, in all
+parts above and below, a bellows with tense walls in all parts, with
+the great advantage that such breathing permits of a firmness
+otherwise unattainable, and he is enabled to exert his breath force
+with great certainty and power, and, as some maintain, with all the
+control necessary for even delicate effects.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 44. Intended to express to the eye the two views
+of respiration discussed in the body of the work (p. 113-117). The
+dotted lines indicate the form of the chest and abdomen advocated by
+some as the best for the singing or speaking of long and vigorous
+passages.]
+
+Against this it has been urged that it is unnatural, not according to
+what is found in man and other animals in nature. It is perhaps
+forgotten that when we make a great effort, as in lifting, we put the
+breathing apparatus into just this state; we gird up our loins--or the
+equivalent of that process--so that this method cannot be said to be
+contrary to nature. The only question seems to be as to whether it is
+necessary and advantageous, or wasteful of energy. For ordinary
+efforts it does not seem to be necessary, though the chest must in
+singing and speaking always be _held_ more or less full, not by any
+deliberate and painful effort, but in a quiet, unobtrusive way.
+
+The diagram (Fig. 44) will make the difference in the theories
+referred to clear.
+
+Up to the present the student has been urged to fill his chest, after
+days of less vigorous practice, to the fullest, retain the mechanism
+in this condition for a short time, and then in the slowest and most
+regular fashion relax it, the purpose being development and control.
+In actual speaking and singing such breathing is not usually either
+possible or desirable.
+
+Nature herself always works with the least possible expenditure of
+energy and with power in reserve. These must be the voice-user's
+principles, to be deliberately and persistently applied. To fill the
+chest to the fullest on all occasions is to use up energy to no
+purpose and to induce fatigue. Art is ever economical. Effort, obvious
+effort, detracts from the listener's enjoyment. Ease in the executant
+corresponds with enjoyment in the listener, or, at all events, if
+nothing more, it puts him in such a frame of mind, that the more
+positive qualities of the performance find him in an undisturbed,
+receptive state.
+
+The singer or speaker must breathe easily and adequately, but not so
+as to waste his energies. Prior to the execution of his task, he
+should consider what respiratory efficiency calls for in the case of
+any particular phrase, and meet this without waste--_i.e._, fully, but
+with something to spare. For the best art, as well as the soundest
+technique, there should always be in the executant enough and to
+spare. Let the last word be so uttered or sung that the listener may
+feel, however vigorous the passage, that more could have been done had
+it been required; in other words, _speak or sing the last word feeling
+that several others might follow did one so choose_.
+
+When this principle of reserve force is not observed, the voice-user
+may distress himself or his audience in a variety of ways, among
+others by a bad habit known as "pumping"--_i.e._, endeavoring to
+produce sound when the breath power is really spent. It is only
+necessary to refer to it for a moment that its unwisdom and
+physiological unrighteousness may be apparent.
+
+Another term, _coup de glotte_ (blow or shock of the glottis), has led
+to so much confusion and misunderstanding, which unfortunately, has
+been followed by erroneous practice, that it would be well if its
+further employment were abandoned.
+
+Breathing, so far as voice-production is concerned, is for the sole
+purpose of causing the vocal bands to vibrate; and at this stage we
+may say that the perfection of any vocal result depends wholly on the
+efficiency with which these vibrations are produced, so that breathing
+and tone are brought together, so to speak, by the mediation of these
+little bands, the vocal cords; and this is the justification for
+speaking of the larynx as _the_ vocal organ. This usage, however, is
+objectionable, as it tends to narrowness and to divert the mind from
+other highly important parts of the vocal mechanism. In one sense, the
+respiratory organs and the resonance-chambers are each as important as
+the larynx.
+
+The term _coup de glotte_ has been sometimes employed as the
+equivalent of "attack," and again as the synonym of nearly all that is
+bad in voice-production. As to this latter, all depends on the sense
+in which the term is employed.
+
+Before the vocal bands can be set into suitable vibrations the
+expiratory breath-stream must be directed against them in a special
+manner, and they themselves must be adapted to the blast. It is a case
+of complex and beautiful adaptation. The clarinet or flute player must
+learn to "blow," and equally must the singer learn to use his breath.
+The processes each employs, though not identical, are closely related;
+both use the breath to cause vibrations, and there can be none that
+are effective, in either case, except a certain relation of adaptation
+of breath-stream to instrument be effected--with the clarinet-player,
+adjustment of breath to reed, and with the voice-user, of breath to
+vocal bands.
+
+Exactly what changes are made in the larynx, and by what means, have
+already been described, and will be again considered in more than one
+part of this volume. The main fact is that owing to a multitude of
+neuro-muscular mechanisms the different parts of the respiratory and
+laryngeal apparatus are brought to work in harmony for the production
+of tones.
+
+The nature of the vibrations of the vocal bands, and, therefore, the
+character of the sounds produced, depend in no small measure on one
+thing, to which attention cannot be too carefully given. To a large
+extent the pitch, the volume, the quality, the carrying power, etc.,
+of a tone depend on the adjustment now referred to--one of the facts
+which were, if not physiologically, at least practically recognized by
+the old Italian masters. Teachers everywhere felt the need of some
+technical term to express the adjustment we are considering, hence the
+expression _coup de glotte_, which is not in itself necessarily either
+incorrect or for other reason to be condemned. All depends on the
+sense in which it is used, as we have already said. It must, however,
+be admitted that it does; to most persons, convey the idea of
+something that is more or less violent as well as sudden, so that
+there seems to lurk in this term a tendency to mislead, to say the
+least.
+
+There really should never be a blow or shock of the glottis; the vocal
+bands should never strike together violently, or, indeed, strike
+together at all, in the ordinary sense of the term. They should,
+however, be approximated with considerable rapidity and with a perfect
+adjustment to the breath-stream, and this must be associated with a
+like perfect adaptation of the breath-stream to them through the
+harmonious working of the many muscles (neuro-muscular mechanisms)
+which constitute the most important part of the respiratory mechanism.
+In brief, the adjustment of the breathing and laryngeal mechanisms
+resulting in the adequate and suitable approximation of the vocal
+bands for tone-production constitutes the _coup de glotte_, or, as the
+author prefers to term it, the "attack."
+
+To get this perfect should be one of the aims of teachers and one of
+the ambitions of students. Without a good attack the singer or speaker
+fails to do himself justice, and the listener is left unsatisfied. The
+good attack suggests physiological and technical perfection, so far as
+it goes; artistically, it implies power and sureness, and for the
+listener satisfaction, a feeling that what has been attempted has been
+accomplished; and the best of it is that the auditor at the end of a
+large hall experiences this sense of satisfaction quite as fully as
+the persons sitting in the first row of seats. Without good attacks
+there can be no intellectual singing or speaking, no broad phrasing,
+and much more that all should aim at who come before the public, and
+which listeners have, indeed, a right to expect. But just because many
+persons feel this to be true, they make serious errors in attempting
+to attain the result; they substitute main force for the correct
+method. Impatience and eagerness may defeat the voice-user's purpose.
+In this and all other cases the action should be performed with but
+moderate force, or even, at first, softly, and with gradual increase
+in vigor, and always in relation to the quality of the sound produced;
+quality must always be the first if not also the last consideration.
+
+If the method be correct, power can be attained with patience; if
+wrong, the throat and voice may be absolutely ruined. This point will
+be considered later, but we must at once express the opinion that a
+bungling attack in which main force is substituted for the proper
+method is one of the most dangerous, as it is one of the most serious
+errors in the technique of modern singing, and the same may often be
+charged against our public speaking.
+
+Another of the worst faults of singing, the _tremolo_, is due to
+unsteadiness in attack and in maintaining the proper relations between
+the breathing and the laryngeal mechanism. If the voice-user fails to
+get a tone of good quality easily and without escape of breath to any
+appreciable extent, he must consider that his method is incorrect.
+There must be no wasted breath in the best vocal technique. This leads
+to ineffectiveness in the voice-producer and lack of satisfaction in
+the listener. Breath must, for a perfect technique, mean tone--all
+tone--and this must be produced so that the singer is not aware, by
+any unpleasant feelings, that he has vocal bands or a larynx at all;
+in a perfect technique one must only be distinctly aware of certain
+sensations in the parts above the larynx, in his mouth cavity, etc.
+His consciousness is concerned with tone--the result. But, to attain
+this, the method must be physiological--_i.e._, natural, and not only
+that, but carried out with an approach to perfection in the details of
+the process which takes time and calls for infinite patience and care,
+all permeated by sound and clear ideas of what is being aimed at by
+the voice-user. Nothing should be attempted till the method and the
+end are understood thoroughly; to do otherwise is to waste time,
+defeat the purpose, and court failure and disappointment; and the more
+the student can think for himself, and the less dependent he is on his
+teacher, the better will it be for both and for art itself.
+
+From all that has been hitherto said it will be inferred that one of
+the best tests of a good attack, or any other feature in
+voice-production, is the absence of escape of breath, as such, from
+the mouth. Many persons begin wrongly; they attempt to produce tones
+by forcing the breath out in such a way that all their resources in
+breathing are at once spent, instead of being husbanded with the care
+of a miser. As time is the most precious possession of man, as man, so
+is breath for the singer or speaker. It is his hoard. Nothing must be
+paid out of this always limited capital for which the best value is
+not obtained.
+
+The test for perfect economy of breath known to older generations of
+actors still remains the best. They were accustomed to hold a candle a
+few inches from the mouth when speaking. If the flame did not flicker,
+it was clear that breath was not being uselessly expelled.
+
+Instead of feeling that the breath passes out, the voice-producer
+should rather feel, when phonating, as if it passed in--an illusion,
+it is true, but still a safe one. It will be found that holding a
+mirror or the hand with the back turned toward the mouth, and a few
+inches (four to six) from it, will serve fairly well to indicate
+whether the breath is escaping or not, though in sensitiveness and
+convincing power this is not equal to the flame test.
+
+We would again urge that in every instance of phonation in either
+speaker or singer, the breath be taken through the open mouth. Only in
+this way can enough breath be inhaled in the mere moment available for
+this purpose. Often the singer or actor must take breath with
+absolutely the greatest rapidity possible, and the narrow passages of
+the nose do not suffice to admit enough air within the time for
+action.
+
+But even more important, perhaps, is the fact that when breath is
+taken through the nostrils the singer may find that on opening his
+mouth to sing the tongue and soft palate are in an unfavorable
+position for good tone-production; his sounds may be muffled, throaty;
+but if breath be inhaled through the open mouth, and not through the
+nose at all, the tongue tends to lie flat, and this organ and other
+parts assume the correct position for good intonation.
+
+Mouth breathing, for the purposes of tone-production, is the only
+method which has physiological justification. Many singers especially
+complain of having trouble with the tongue; some believe it too large,
+others that it is beyond their control. These so-called large tongues
+have one advantage--they may exercise a great influence on the quality
+of the tone; and correct breathing brings them to good behavior. The
+author has time and again, by explaining the influence of mouth
+respiration, brought sudden joy to the heart of the singer who had
+been all his life troubled with the tongue, and worried by the
+consciousness that his tones lacked in clearness, carrying power, etc.
+
+Nose breathing is of course to be used exclusively when the subject is
+not phonating. During the latter many opportunities occur to close the
+mouth; and the idea that drying of the mucous membrane of the mouth,
+etc., will occur by reason of mouth breathing in speaking and singing
+is purely imaginary.
+
+
+EXERCISES.
+
+The student, whatever his degree of advancement, will find the
+exercises about to be recommended, or others closely resembling them,
+of great value.
+
+It cannot be too well borne in mind, obvious though it is, that all
+speaking and singing, whatever else they be, are tone-production;
+hence the first thing for every one to ascertain regarding himself is
+the extent to which he can form and hold tones of good quality--in
+other words, the success with which he can establish the essential
+co-ordinations or harmonious actions of the breathing and laryngeal
+mechanisms, and maintain them for a considerable length of time.
+
+Many singers can produce a fairly good and powerful tone, but it is a
+sort of vocal explosion rather than a tone, which will continue to do
+the singer's bidding for as long as he will. The correctly produced
+and sustained tone is the foundation of all that is best in
+voice-production; all the rest is but a series of variations on this.
+Hence the author recommends the following practice to all, whatever
+else they may do or have done. It is to be a test of inspiration,
+attack, economy of breath, adjustment of the vocal bands, the
+resonance-chambers, etc.
+
+1. Inhale slowly through the somewhat open mouth, filling the chest
+moderately full, and at once attack so as to produce a tone of but
+moderate force, but of the best quality possible.
+
+2. Continue to hold this tone as long as the breath is easily
+sufficient, taking care that the tone be on no account sustained after
+there is the slightest difficulty in maintaining it of the same
+quality and power as before. Steadiness and perfection in quality are
+to be the chief considerations.
+
+3. The student is advised, after a few days' practice in this manner,
+to note with a watch the time during which he can hold a tone under
+the restrictions above referred to, and to endeavor to increase the
+holding power daily by a little. It will, of course, be necessary to
+fill the chest more completely day by day.
+
+4. It will also be well for the voice-producer to practise taking very
+deep and rapid inspirations, followed by the most prolonged
+expirations.
+
+5. This method of breathing may then be put to the actual test in
+intonation.
+
+Another exercise very valuable in giving breath-control is the
+following:
+
+Produce a tone exactly as before, but every now and then, at regular
+intervals at first, then at irregular ones, cut the tone off short by
+suddenly arresting the breath, and, after a very short pause, continue
+again in exactly the same way _without_ taking a fresh breath; and, as
+in the above and all other exercises, frequently apply the hand and,
+when more practised, the more exacting flame test.
+
+The first of the above exercises may be represented to the eye by a
+continuous straight line; the second by straight lines with short
+spaces between them.
+
+In all these exercises there must never be any sort of _push_
+anywhere, neither in the chest nor throat. Such methods are absolutely
+wrong, because so wasteful of energy. The tone should come as
+spontaneously and inevitably as the gas from a soda-water bottle when
+the cork is slightly loosened, or, if this illustration be too strong
+(it is employed because gas, air, is concerned in each case), let us
+say, as water from the pipe of a waterworks' system when the tap is
+turned. _The tone should come, the breath must tarry._
+
+If the student does not feel ease, certainty, and inevitableness in
+result, he has not made a good attack. If he cannot sustain the tone
+for a few seconds, he should conclude that his method of using his
+breath is wasteful. In time a tone should be easily held for at least
+ten seconds.
+
+The purpose of the second exercise is to give still more fully
+breath-control, and to lead the voice-user to realize how important is
+breathing for intonation.
+
+The student may ask: "Why not begin, as is often done, by the singing
+of scales?" Really useful scales are too complex; they imply the use
+of a series of tones formed according to the principles insisted upon
+above. The first thing is to get one perfect tone--to use the vocal
+mechanism under simple conditions; and _that tone should be chosen
+which the voice-user can produce of best quality and with greatest
+ease, with least expenditure of energy_. It should never be selected
+from the extremes of the subject's range. From the favorite or best
+tone he should work down and up the scale. After this the scale comes
+easy, and all actual singing is scale singing--the use of
+intervals--and all speaking the same thing; so that, from every point
+of view, this exercise should be the first in intonation, and the
+student will do well not to leave it till the conditions above
+prescribed can be fully met. Some singers have continued such
+exercises throughout a long artistic career.
+
+It is to be understood always that the exercises, etc., recommended in
+this work are intended for all voice-users, whether they are singers
+or speakers. It is easy for a speaker to pass from such prolonged
+tones to the shorter ones required in speaking, but after such
+exercises he can do so with a feeling of ease, mastery of himself,
+improved ear, and purity of speech not otherwise attainable.
+
+The author would also insist, in the most emphatic manner, on the
+great importance of making all such exercises musical. Every tone
+should be the best then possible to the voice-user, and power must on
+no account be aimed at for some time. Thus are developed and go hand
+in hand, as they always should, a sound technique with the artistic
+conscience and perceptions.
+
+
+SUMMARY AND REVIEW.
+
+_The Principles of Physics, etc., Involved._
+
+Sound (tone) is a mental result having its origin in certain changes
+in the ear and the brain, owing to vibrations of the air. Tones have
+_pitch_, depending on the number of vibrations in a second, _volume_
+(power), depending on the size of the waves or vibrations, and
+_quality_ (_timbre_), determined by the shape of the waves. Pitch is
+determined by the vocal bands, volume by the same, in great part, and
+quality by the shape of the resonance-chambers above the vocal bands.
+The resonance-chambers influence volume also. A tone is augmented by
+resonance.
+
+The larynx bears certain resemblances to both stringed and wind
+instruments, but it is really unique (_sui generis_). The vibrations
+of the vocal bands are caused solely by the expiratory current of air,
+which is more or less held back by the cords, owing to their
+approximation, so that the greater the obstruction the stronger must
+the blast of air be, other things being equal, and the result increase
+in pitch. The problem Nature had to solve is very complex.
+
+The laryngoscope was invented in 1854 by a teacher of singing, Manuel
+Garcia, who soon after gave an account of it to the Royal Society of
+England. The instrument consists essentially of two mirrors, the
+external, or "head-mirror," which is concave and reflects into the
+larynx, and the internal, or "mouth-mirror," which reflects the
+picture outward to the eye. The latter mirror is plane, and set at an
+angle. The picture may show, under the most favorable circumstances,
+all the upper parts of the larynx, including the vocal bands, but
+sometimes, also, the windpipe as far down as its division into the two
+main bronchial tubes. The difficulties commonly met with in the use of
+the instrument are a constrained action of the throat and mouth parts
+of the subject, unnatural breathing, an unruly tongue, etc. The
+epiglottis may, also, naturally so overhang the glottis that a good
+view of the vocal cords is impossible. It is difficult to see more
+than one-half to two-thirds of the length of the vocal bands. The
+picture seen is that of the parts of the larynx reversed--_i.e._,
+while right remains right, posterior becomes anterior. The
+laryngoscope shows that (1) in singing an ascending scale the vocal
+bands are for a certain time in action (vibration) throughout their
+whole length; that (2) there may be observed a rather sudden change
+when the vocal bands are relaxed and shortened, and that this process
+of shortening goes on, the bands approaching more and more, both
+behind and in front, till (3) in the highest tones of a soprano of
+great range there is only a small portion of each vocal cord toward
+the centre that is not approximated somewhat closely.
+
+With certain qualifications, it may be said that the action of the
+vocal bands is alike for all voices. In all cases a certain degree of
+approximation of the vocal bands is absolutely necessary for
+phonation, and the mechanism is generally similar in males and females
+till the highest tones, above alluded to, are reached. This is in
+harmony with the following facts: (1) The crico-thyroids are the
+muscles most in use in ordinary speech and in singing the lower tones.
+(2) Several muscles combine in relaxing and shortening the vocal
+bands. (3) The peculiar mechanism of the highest tones in a soprano
+voice of great compass is only to be explained by a combined action of
+several muscles, and a very delicate and precise use of the internal
+thyro-arytenoids attached along the whole length of the outer surface
+of the vocal bands. The larynx of the male differs from that of the
+female chiefly in its greater size, weight, etc. The vocal bands in
+the male may measure from three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when
+relaxed, and from four-fifths to one inch when tense; in the female,
+from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch when relaxed, and from
+three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when tense. There are
+structural differences corresponding to and determining the kind of
+voice, as to range and power more especially. The bass singer has, as
+a rule, the largest larynx and the longest and heaviest vocal bands.
+
+At puberty the changes that take place in the body generally are
+associated with corresponding alterations in the larynx. The larynx
+grows, changes its proportions, etc., often somewhat rapidly, and the
+result may be a corresponding alteration in voice, as regards range,
+power, and quality. The voice, because of imperfect anatomical and
+physiological adjustment, may "break," to a greater or less extent.
+The same may take place, owing to similar imperfect adjustment, in
+old age, and temporarily, owing to disease, weakness, nervousness,
+fatigue, faulty production, etc. These facts indicate that under such
+circumstances the voice should be used with great care, not at all, or
+in a whisper, when the vocal bands are practically not in action.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 45. Represents what the author has frequently
+seen, by the use of the laryngoscope, when a soprano is producing a
+very high head-tone, say C, D, or E in alt. It will be observed that
+the vocal bands approximate in front and behind ("stopped"), so that
+the only parts of the bands capable of vibration are those short
+portions which form the margins of the oval opening shown in the
+illustration. Only a very limited number of singers are capable of the
+delicate adjustments required.]
+
+In a singer highly endowed by nature and perfected by long training
+based on the soundest principles, the action of the muscles of the
+larynx may reach a degree of perfection only to be compared with that
+of the eye and ear.
+
+Consideration of the _coup de glotte_, the attack, or adjustment of
+mechanisms to produce tone that begins correctly; breathing, with open
+mouth, with effectiveness and economy of energy; singing for children,
+in choirs, etc., have been discussed.
+
+Practical exercises should be related to the principles underlying
+them. Musical and �sthetic principles are always to be associated with
+a sound technique. The artistic and technical or physiological
+conscience should be associated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.
+
+
+When it is borne in mind that the vocal bands have little or nothing
+to do with the quality of tones, the importance of those parts of the
+vocal apparatus which determine quality, and the error of speaking of
+the larynx as if it alone were the sole vocal organ, become apparent.
+
+It may be strictly said that the vocal bands serve the purpose of
+making the resonance mechanism available. What one hears may be said
+to be vibrations of this resonance apparatus, and not, strictly, those
+of the vocal bands, though this expression would also be correct, but
+would not indicate the final link in the series of vibrations.
+
+The tone caused by the vibration of two such small bands as the vocal
+cords must, in the nature of the case, be very feeble. It becomes
+important for the reader to convince himself of the importance of
+resonance in sounding bodies and musical instruments.
+
+When the stem of a tuning-fork so small that it can be scarcely heard
+when in vibration, except by, the person holding it, is laid against a
+solid body, as a table, its sound is at once so increased that it can
+be heard in the most distant part of a large room. When the same fork
+is held over an empty jar of suitable size and shape, a similar but
+much, less marked increase of its tone is to be observed.
+
+If a cord of but moderate thickness be fastened at each end to a thin
+piece of wood, say a split shingle, and a little block of wood, in
+imitation of the bridge of a violin, be placed under the cord so as to
+render it tense, we have the essentials of a stringed instrument, the
+pitch of which can be made to vary by moving the block about and thus
+varying the tightness of the cord. But the sound of such an improvised
+instrument, produced by drawing a bow across the cord, is ridiculously
+feeble.
+
+In the actual violin the volume of sound, as well as its quality,
+depends on the size, shape, and weight of the instrument. The strings
+serve the purpose of causing the body of the instrument, the air
+within it, and, in consequence, the air without, between it and the
+ear of the auditor, to vibrate or move in a specific manner.
+
+Similarly, the imposing size of the grand piano is associated
+inevitably with loudness, as compared with a smaller instrument. A
+violoncello must produce a larger tone than a violin, though not
+necessarily one more intense.
+
+These principles of resonance apply in the case of the singer and the
+speaker. The bass and barytone produce tones of larger volume (as well
+as different quality) than those of the tenor, because their resonance
+apparatus is different in size and shape. It is true, their vocal
+bands, their wind-power, and the laryngeal muscles are different--they
+are not of the same size, etc.--and, in a more remote sense, this is
+the cause of the differences in the tones they produce; but the
+immediate cause is to be sought in the resonance mechanism, and, above
+all, in the resonance-chambers.
+
+It is true that when one speaks or sings, the chest, windpipe, and
+larynx may be felt to vibrate, but the essential vibrations are
+_supra-glottic_--above the vocal bands.
+
+These resonance-chambers are the _mouth cavity_, in the widest sense,
+and the _nasal chambers_. It is highly probable that the vibrations of
+the chest walls and of the bones of the head may to some degree modify
+the vibrations of the air within the resonance-chambers, chiefly in
+the direction of intensification; but the idea that the hollow spaces
+in certain of the bones of the head have any appreciable influence on
+the tones of the speaker or singer, can at best not be considered as
+demonstrated, and it serves no practical purpose to take into account
+this possibility.
+
+The great facts, the facts which are so plain that they may be
+demonstrated to a child, are these: that the quality of any
+tone--_e.g._, a vowel--is absolutely determined by the shape of these
+cavities, the mouth and nasal chambers. This subject will be treated
+further when the tones, etc., of speech are considered, but inasmuch
+as no one can sing, in the proper sense of the term, without the use
+of vowels, at least, and as we produce different vowels with
+ease, one may at once demonstrate to himself that this is done by
+altering the shape of his mouth cavity, and chiefly by the agency of
+the tongue and soft palate.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 46 (Tyndall). Representing water being poured into
+the vessel A B, till the air-space is just sufficient to respond to
+the vibrations of the tuning-fork. The air thus becomes a resonator of
+the fork.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 47 (Spalteholz). The mouth is extremely widely
+opened. The soft palate is seen terminating in the uvula, and on each
+side, extending from it, are the pillars of the fauces, a pair of
+folds between which the tonsil is seen to lie.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 48. View of the nose, etc., from behind, showing
+the parts enumerated above. It is not hard to understand that any
+considerable amount of swelling of the lining mucous membrane might
+give rise to difficulty in breathing through the nose, and even compel
+mouth-breathing.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 49 (Spalteholz). Showing well the scroll
+(turbinated) bones of the nose, which break up the space and make it
+more cavernous. It can be seen that there is free communication
+behind, between the mouth and the nasal cavities, and that if the soft
+palate and the tongue approximate, the breath-stream must pass into
+and through the nose, giving rise to nasality in utterance.]
+
+A short description of a part to which many voice-users remain
+strangers all their lives will now be given. These resonance-chambers
+remain, for many, an apparatus used daily and absolutely essential,
+yet never examined. Fortunately, a few illustrations, which should be
+followed by an examination of the student's own resonance-chambers and
+their various parts as they may be seen in a mirror, will remove all
+difficulty in the understanding of them, and prepare for that detailed
+study to be recommended in a subsequent chapter.
+
+Passing from before backward, one meets the _lips_, the _teeth_ and
+_gums_, the _hard palate_, which is a continuation of the gums; then,
+suspended from the hard palate, behind, is the _soft palate_, back of
+which lies the _pharynx_ (often termed "the throat"), and above it and
+constituting its continuation, the _naso-pharynx_; and lying on the
+floor of the mouth there is the _tongue_.
+
+Certain of these parts, as the teeth, gums, hard palate, nasal bones,
+etc., constitute fixed structures, and though they determine in no
+small measure the shape of the resonance-chambers, and so to a degree
+the quality of the voice, so movable are the lips, soft palate, and,
+above all, the tongue, that there is the widest scope for varying the
+quality and even the volume of the voice; so that it is a good thing,
+practically, for every one to believe that so far as quality, at all
+events, is concerned, he is the master of his own destinies.
+
+Though we are accustomed to believe that the mouth and nose are,
+though neighbors, quite separate and independent of each other, such
+is not the case. Indeed, in the pre-natal condition these are not two,
+but one; and in some instances they remain imperfectly separated,
+owing to the failure of the hard palate to develop to the full--a
+condition known as "cleft palate," and giving rise to a peculiar nasal
+intonation, to be explained presently.
+
+The _nasal chambers_ are divided into two by a vertical partition, as
+one can readily demonstrate by the use of his fingers, and are still
+further broken up by certain bones, the scroll-shaped or _turbinated_
+bones, so that the nasal chambers are of very limited size, and much
+divided up by bony outgrowths from their walls. The _vertical septum_,
+while bony above, is cartilaginous and flexible below.
+
+Without the aid of instruments and a good light the nose can be but
+indifferently examined from the front, while it requires the greatest
+skill on the part of a laryngologist to see it well from behind.
+However, the whole difficulty can be got over by visiting a butcher
+and securing a sheep's head split through from before back. In a few
+moments one can learn all the essential facts, including that one of
+great practical importance--viz.: that every part of the
+resonance-chambers is lined by the same mucous membrane which is also
+continued downward into the larynx and the gullet.
+
+It will be thus observed that the throat and nose communicate in the
+freest manner behind, and that the only way of closing off the mouth
+cavity from the nasal chambers is by means of the tongue and the soft
+palate working together. As in the proper use of the tongue and soft
+palate lie many of the secrets of the art of the speaker and singer,
+special attention must be given to these parts.
+
+The _tongue_, which completely fills the floor of the mouth, is made
+up of several muscles of different attachments, which explains why
+this organ is so movable. To say that it can with the greatest ease
+and rapidity be turned toward every one of the thirty-two points
+marked on a mariner's compass, is but to feebly express its capacity
+for movements. What we are most concerned with now is its power to
+alter the shape of the mouth cavity in every part.
+
+The _soft palate_ is suspended like a curtain from the hard palate,
+behind. It is composed of muscles arranged in pairs, and is continued
+into a conical tip below known as the _uvula_, and on each side into
+folds, the _pillars of the fauces_, between which lie the _tonsils_,
+which are in shape like very small almond nuts. When quite normal
+these should not protrude much, if at all, beyond the cavity made by
+the folds referred to above.
+
+Both the tonsils and the uvula may become so enlarged as to be a
+source of awkwardness or more serious evil to the voice-user. They
+may, in fact, require operative interference. So serious, however, is
+the decision to operate, or the reverse, for the voice-user, that the
+author recommends that such operations be entrusted only to
+laryngologists who have some knowledge of their influence on
+voice-production.
+
+It is of the greatest moment to observe that the quality of tones can
+be made to vary in the highest degree by the joint use of the tongue
+and soft palate. When in vocalizing the tongue is raised behind and
+the soft palate made to approach it, or actually to meet it, the tone
+assumes a more or less nasal character. The reason of this is that the
+cavity of the mouth proper, or "mouth" in the narrower sense, the
+forward part, is shut off from the hinder part, or the pharynx, so
+that the breath is then directed upward and passes chiefly through the
+nose, producing a nasal tone or twang--always a fault, and one
+fearfully common in America.
+
+When the tongue alone is raised behind, or drawn back unduly, tones
+become muffled--indistinct, etc. This is also a very common fault, but
+is found in England and Germany also. English speech is often hard and
+guttural, German unduly guttural, if not so hard, and American
+slovenly and horribly nasal.
+
+But what may in a certain degree be disagreeable and a vocal error, is
+in another a positive excellence; so, in this case, the use of the
+tongue and soft palate in the proper degree and at the right moment
+gives us emotional expression. This subject will, however, be
+considered again later; in the meantime, the student is advised to do
+a little experimenting in the use of his tongue and soft palate, with
+a view of noting how the quality of tone may be thus made to vary. He
+is also advised to use a hand-glass with the object of observing the
+parts mentioned in this chapter, and if he can also find a friend
+willing to lend his mouth for observation, so much the better.
+
+The sooner any voice-user comes to feel that his vocal destinies lie
+in his own hands, the better. "Know thyself" is as necessary an
+admonition for the speaker and singer as for any other artist, but
+with that must go another, "Believe in thyself"--that thou canst
+produce tones of beautiful and expressive quality if thou wilt; it may
+be only after much wisely directed work, but yet it is possible.
+
+Allusion must be made to the danger of those engaged in mathematical
+and physical investigations applying their conclusions in too rigid a
+manner to the animal body. It was held till recently that the pitch of
+a vocal tone was determined solely by the number of vibrations of the
+vocal bands, as if they acted like the strings of a violin or the reed
+of a clarinet, while the resonance-chambers were thought to simply
+take up these vibrations and determine nothing but the quality of
+tone; they were believed not to have any influence on pitch. Against
+this view the author long ago demurred. To Prof. Scripture, however,
+belongs the credit of demonstrating that the resonance-chambers
+determine pitch also. It seems probable that the vocal bands so beat
+the air within the resonance-chambers as to determine the rate of
+vibration of the air of these cavities, and so the pitch of the tone
+produced. These chambers not having rigid walls, one can the better
+understand that the tension of these parts may not only be different
+in individuals, but vary in the same person from time to time,
+according to the condition of his health, etc. Herein we find another
+source of explanation of variations in the voice. All these
+considerations make the resonance-chambers more important than ever,
+so that there is greater objection to speaking of the larynx as _the_
+vocal organ than we were aware of before these investigations were
+undertaken.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+Without a resonator, which may be solid or hollow, the sound made by a
+reed or tense string is feeble. That the mouth can act as a resonator
+may be proved by holding a vibrating tuning-fork of suitable pitch
+before this chamber when open.
+
+The resonating chambers of importance are supra-glottic. Of these the
+"mouth" including all as far back as the pharynx and the nasal
+chambers are the principal. These two main cavities are separated from
+each other by the hard palate, which is a bony floor, covered with
+mucous membrane, as are all the parts of the resonance-chambers. The
+hard palate extends horizontally from the gums backward, and
+is continued as the soft palate. The latter is a muscular and
+therefore movable curtain that divides, with varying degrees of
+completeness, the mouth (in the narrower sense) from the pharynx and
+naso-pharynx--_i.e._, the space back of the soft palate and the
+posterior nares (back nostrils) respectively. By the elevation of the
+back of the tongue and the lowering of the soft palate as when one
+speaks nasally, the mouth proper is largely shut off from the nasal
+chambers, so that the breath must be directed through the nose. "Cleft
+palate" also connects undesirably the mouth and nasal chambers. The
+tonsils lie between two folds, the pillars of the fauces, connected
+with the soft palate. When normal in size the tonsils should scarcely
+extend beyond these folds. The uvula is the central lower tip of the
+soft palate. The nasal chambers are divided by a central bony and
+cartilaginous partition, the septum nasi, but are further encroached
+upon, on each side, by three scroll-like (turbinated) bones. The
+tongue is composed of several muscles, which explains why its
+movements may be so complicated and delicate. The mouth cavity is
+bounded in front by the gums, teeth, and lips.
+
+The form and, to some extent, possibly; the size of the
+resonance-chambers determine the quality of the tone produced in
+speaking and singing. The shape and size of the mouth can be made to
+vary by the soft palate and lips, but chiefly by the tongue, so that
+the movements of the latter, especially, cannot be too well studied.
+
+It was formerly considered that pitch was determined solely by the
+rate of vibration of the vocal bands; though the author opposed this
+view as rigidly applied. Very recently Prof. Scripture, by the use of
+new methods, has shown that the supra-glottic chambers cannot be
+correctly likened to a resonator with rigid walls. It is held that the
+vocal bands give a number of sudden shocks to the air in the
+resonators, so that, in a sense, the resonance-chambers determine both
+the pitch and the quality of the tone; and as the tension of the
+resonators varies with both the physical and psychical condition of
+the individual, variations in tone-production, more especially as to
+quality, can now be the better understood. According to this view
+these chambers are not properly resonators but sounding cavities.
+
+     The reader's attention is particularly drawn to the new
+     views of the method of action of the vocal bands, etc.,
+     referred to on this page. Since the above was written, such
+     views have become more widely known, and it is hoped that as
+     they are very radical they may be established by other
+     methods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The chapters on the Registers of the Singing Voice may be
+omitted by readers whose practical interest is confined to the
+Speaking Voice.]
+
+
+About no subject in the whole range of voice-production has there been
+so much confusion, difference of opinion, and controversy as that of
+registers; so that it is important at the very outset to define
+register, and throughout to aim at the utmost precision and clearness.
+
+"A register is a series of consecutive and homogeneous sounds rising
+from the grave to the acute, produced by the development of the same
+mechanical principle, the nature of which essentially differs from any
+other series of sounds equally consecutive and homogeneous, produced
+by another mechanical principle" (Manuel Garcia).
+
+"A register consists of a series of tones which are produced by the
+same mechanism" (Behnke).
+
+"A register is the series of tones of like quality producible by a
+particular adjustment of the vocal cords" (Mackenzie).
+
+From a consideration of the above proposed definitions it will be seen
+that for the successful or, at all events, complete or ideal
+investigation of a subject so many-sided and difficult, many
+qualifications are desirable, if not absolutely essential. It is not
+too much to say that the ideal investigator of the registers should
+have a practical knowledge of general anatomy and physiology, together
+with a detailed and exact knowledge of the vocal organs; be versed in
+the laws of sound; have an adequate knowledge of music; be capable of
+examining himself with the laryngoscope (auto-laryngoscopy) as well as
+others (laryngoscopy); possess an acute ear for the pitch and quality
+of tones; be himself able to use his voice at least fairly well in
+singing and speaking; be provided with the all-important ballast of
+common sense, and an impartial mind longing above all things to learn
+the truth.
+
+As few can hope to unite all these qualities in themselves in even a
+moderate degree, openness of mind, temperance in the expression of
+opinion, and common sense with experience, must be largely relied on
+to furnish working conclusions.
+
+A discussion of a subject so difficult and complicated is not easy to
+follow. It is but just to other investigators, and fair to the reader,
+to present the views of those who have possessed special
+qualifications for dealing with the questions involved. The author
+will endeavor to present the grounds on which others have taken their
+stand, in a few words and clearly, if the reader will patiently
+follow. There will at first seem, possibly, to be little agreement,
+but it will be shown that on some of the most essential points there
+is substantial unity of opinion; and the subject is of such vital
+moment, as the author will endeavor to make clear, that it is hoped
+that the most patient examination will be given to the questions that
+arise, from the beginning to the end of the discussion. For the author
+to express a dogmatic opinion, and simply state his disagreement or
+agreement with others, would be contrary to the whole spirit of this
+work, and leave the subject where it once was--in the realm of
+hopeless disagreement and controversy. If the problem of the registers
+is to be solved to the satisfaction of the rational thinker, it must
+be by evidence, and not the mere opinions of any teacher or writer,
+however eminent. To lay this evidence before the reader is now the
+author's task.
+
+One of those most eminently equipped, by a great variety of qualities,
+for the investigation of this subject, or any other question of the
+voice, was Madame Seiler. Whenever the author is obliged to differ
+from this really great investigator, he does so with the sense of the
+highest respect for her opinions generally, because she always sought
+for scientific grounds for such opinions. Her views may be thus
+briefly presented:
+
+She recognized three registers, chest, falsetto, and head, with their
+subdivisions.
+
+(1) The first chest register extends          (1) The whole glottis (vocal
+to [Illustration: a b-flat] in men,           bands) is moved in loose
+and to [Illustration: c' c-sharp']            vibrations.
+in women.
+
+(2) The second chest register extends         (2) The vocal ligaments (or
+to [Illustration: f' f-sharp'] in both        ligamentous glottis) alone
+sexes.                                        are in action.
+
+(3) The first falsetto extends in             (3) The edges alone of the
+females to [Illustration: c'' c-sharp'']      vocal bands vibrate, but the
+and in males to [Illustration: e''            whole glottis is in action.
+e-flat''].
+
+(4) The second falsetto in the                (4) The edges only of the
+female extends to [Illustration:              vocal bands are used, and the
+f'' f-sharp''] and to [Illustration: g'']     vocal ligaments alone are in
+in women.                                     action.
+[Transcriber's Note: So in original;
+"female" should probably be "male."]
+
+(5) Above this point head tones               (5) Edges only of the vocal
+begin.                                        bands in vibration; partial
+                                              closure of the ligaments
+                                              posteriorly (behind).
+
+It will be noted that Madame Seiler spoke of the vocal bands (cords)
+proper as the "ligamentous glottis," and included in the "glottis" the
+arytenoid cartilages themselves, or, at all events, that part of them,
+their lower anterior angles, known as the vocal processes (or
+extensions), to which the vocal bands proper are attached.
+
+The above tabular statement shows (1) that Madame Seiler recognized
+five registers for both male and female voices; (2) that she used the
+term "falsetto" in a sense different from its ordinary one. Usually
+this term is not applied at all to the female voice, but only to that
+special modification of the male voice seldom employed now, and almost
+never except by tenors. With this writer, "falsetto" as applied to
+female voices replaces "middle," in the commoner usage.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 50. Tabular representation of Madame Seiler's
+division of the register.]
+
+Garcia, also, recognized five registers. Behnke, a teacher of singing,
+who practised laryngoscopy and auto-laryngoscopy in the investigation
+of the registers, used "lower thick," "upper thick," "lower thin,"
+"upper thin," and "small," as answering to the "first chest," "second
+chest," etc., of Madame Seiler and others.
+
+Nearly all writers have used the term "break" to indicate the point at
+which a new register begins. Behnke held that the break between the
+thick and the thin register occurred in _both_ sexes at about
+[Illustration: f' f-sharp']. The vocal bands in this part of the scale
+vibrate in their entire breadth, and the series of tones above the
+point just referred to is produced by a new mechanism, but one which
+is the same for all voices and both sexes--_i.e._, only the inner
+edges of the vocal bands vibrate.
+
+According to Behnke, the male voice has but two registers, the thick
+and the thin, but the female voice three, the thick, the thin, and the
+small. These terms were not original with Behnke, but had been used
+earlier by Curwen.
+
+Behnke was emphatic on one point, to which we would call special
+attention, in his own words: "If there is _straining_ anywhere, it is
+during the attempt to carry the mechanism of the upper thick beyond
+its natural limit."
+
+Mackenzie (afterwards Sir Morell Mackenzie) held that "It is certain
+that however over-refined musicians may multiply the 'registers' of
+the voice, physiologically there are but two--_i.e._, 'chest' and
+'head,' the falsetto of the man answering to the head production of
+women."
+
+According to the same author, "The essential factor in chest
+production is the long reed, whilst the essential factor in head
+delivery is the short reed." The terms "long reed" and "short reed"
+were the equivalents of Madame Seiler's "glottis" and "ligamentous
+glottis" respectively. Mackenzie held that the cartilaginous
+(inter-arytenoid) glottis is generally open in the lower and gently
+closed in the upper tones of the chest register, while a segment of
+the ligamentous glottis (vocal bands proper) is tightly closed in the
+head voice.
+
+As the result of the examination of 50 persons gifted with fine
+voices, 42 of whom were "trained" singers and 8 "natural" singers,
+Mackenzie formulated his conclusions as follows:
+
+1. In tenor voices the whole glottis may be open to [Illustration: g a
+b] and not unfrequently to [Illustration: g']. Beyond this point there
+is closure of the cartilaginous glottis. Sometimes the whole glottis
+is open throughout.
+
+2. In barytone voices the whole glottis is often open to
+[Illustration: a b], and occasionally to [Illustration: c']. Beyond
+this point the cartilaginous glottis is closed, except in rare cases.
+
+3. In bass voices the whole glottis is sometimes open to
+[Illustration: g b]. Beyond this point, except in a few instances, the
+cartilaginous glottis is gradually closed.
+
+4. In sopranos and mezzo-sopranos the whole glottis is sometimes open
+to [Illustration: f' g'], often to [Illustration: c''], beyond which
+the cartilaginous glottis is usually closed. The glottis is sometimes
+closed throughout the scale, and in one case it was open throughout.
+
+5. In contralto voices the whole of the glottis is often open to
+[Illustration: f' g'], beyond which the cartilaginous portion is
+closed.
+
+6. In the head voice of women and the falsetto voice of men
+"stop-closure" (_i.e._, closure so tight that the cords in this region
+do not vibrate) always takes place in the posterior portion of the
+ligamentous glottis, and sometimes at the anterior part also.
+
+This writer also held that "Boys who sing alto always use the chest
+register." He was of opinion that "The quality of the voice generally,
+but not always, indicates which mechanism is being used."
+
+The views of the author, published at a former period, and based on
+the special examination of a large number of persons with the
+laryngoscope, etc., and on auto-laryngoscopy, may be briefly stated as
+follows:
+
+A nomenclature for the registers involving no theory would be best,
+such, for example, as _lower_, _middle_, and _upper_ registers. Mandl,
+who recognized only two registers, spoke of them as "lower" and
+"upper," equivalent to "chest" and "head," as commonly used.
+
+The author examined with the laryngoscope 50 persons, who might (with
+Gr�tzner) be divided into "trained singers," "natural singers," and
+"non-singers." The whole glottis was found to be open in all voices in
+the lowest tones of the chest register, and this condition obtained up
+to about [Illustration: f-sharp' g'], beyond which another mechanism
+came into play, except in rare cases.
+
+The high falsetto of men and the head voice of women are produced by a
+similar mechanism and method.
+
+In the investigation of registers more attention should be given to
+the use of the breathing organs than has hitherto been done by those
+writing on this subject.
+
+As Madame Marchesi, of Paris, has taught with pre�minent success, and
+with the greatest practical consideration for the preservation of the
+voice and the vocal organs in an unimpaired condition, and as the
+author has had, through her kindness, the opportunity to become
+acquainted with her methods by observation, her views on the registers
+are here presented. It is to be understood that as she teaches only
+ladies, her views are considered, so far as she is concerned, as
+applying only to female voices. These views are further presented
+because Madame Marchesi was herself taught by Garcia, who was in the
+direct line of the old Italian masters, though it will be observed
+that the pupil has retained only the essentials of the master's views
+on the registers.
+
+1. There are three registers in female voices: chest, middle, and
+head.
+
+2. While there are small differences in voices and individuals as
+regards the registers, the following principles apply to all of them:
+
+(_a_) The chest register must never be carried above [Illustration:
+f-sharp'].
+
+(_b_) [Illustration: e' f'] should be "covered" or modified chest
+tones.
+
+(_c_) In all cases [Illustration: f-sharp''] must be a head tone.
+
+(_d_) In quick passages chest should not be carried beyond
+[Illustration: d-flat']--_i.e._, [Illustration: d' e' f'] are middle
+in quick passages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.
+
+
+It will, it is hoped, be apparent to the reader that the subject now
+under treatment may be considered either theoretically or practically.
+If science be exact, systematized, and, when complete, unified
+knowledge, then every source of information must be employed in the
+investigation of so difficult a subject as the registers. There may be
+differences of opinion as to the relative importance of some of these
+means of investigation--_e.g._, auto-laryngoscopy, but that it should
+be utilized, there can be no question. The value of photography of the
+larynx, as carried out up to the present, may be questioned; but there
+can be no doubt that if this method of studying the action of the
+vocal bands could be pushed to a certain point, much light might be
+thrown on the questions at issue.
+
+Merely to assume that a method of treating the registers which has
+given, apparently, good practical results in the hands of one teacher
+is sound, and rests on a scientific basis, is unwarranted. It may be
+simply a little better or a little worse than some other. How is the
+student to distinguish, in his choice, between Mr. A and Mr. B, in the
+case of two successful teachers, both of whom recognize registers? A
+physiologist may be sound as far as he goes, yet lack that practical
+knowledge of the voice which the vocal teacher properly considers
+requisite in determining how a pupil shall use the registers. Among
+those who are most dogmatic on this and other questions there is often
+a plentiful lack of knowledge of the vocal organs; and some clever
+laryngologists must have learned, when they were carried into the
+discussion of this subject, that some knowledge of music and singing
+is absolutely indispensable, and that enough cannot be picked up, even
+by an able man, in a few minutes devoted to interrogating singers,
+especially when these vocalists have been trained by widely different
+methods, and have, as is too often the case, given but little real
+_thought_ to the scientific, or, indeed, any other side of their art.
+
+We find "break" confounded with "register," and the meaning attached
+to the latter, at best, one-sided or inadequate in some respects. The
+truth is, such a subject cannot be settled by the physiologist, even
+when a laryngologist, as such; nor can the solution to a scientific
+question of this kind be given by a singer, as a singer. Such a
+problem can only be settled, as we have throughout insisted, by those
+possessing many qualifications, and even when the investigator unites
+in himself every intellectual qualification, something will depend on
+his temperament and spirit. An atmosphere of controversy is not
+favorable to scientific investigation, and among the dangers that ever
+lie in the path of the teacher are pride and prejudice. The
+assumption that one is prepared to teach is too often associated with
+views and feelings that prevent the guide from remaining himself a
+student and being ready to learn even from the very beginner, as he
+must if he have the true spirit. Unfortunately, several of the most
+highly qualified writers on this subject have formulated their views
+under conditions unfavorable to the attainment of the whole truth.
+
+It is to be borne in mind always that a register implies (1) a series
+of tones of a characteristic clang, _timbre_, color, or quality; (2)
+that this is due to the employment of a special mechanism of the
+larynx in a particular manner. It follows that in thinking of
+registers scientifically, one must take into account both the tones
+and the mechanisms by which they are produced.
+
+Naturally, with most untrained people the passage from one register to
+another is associated with a suddenness of change which is unpleasant,
+and which is termed the _break_. It is often suggestive of weakness,
+uncertainty, etc., and to an ear at once sensitive and exacting
+through training is intolerable when very pronounced. Often this break
+is very marked in contraltos, and is invariably so pronounced in the
+male voice when it passes to the upper falsetto that even the dullest
+ear does not fail to notice the change.
+
+It is, therefore, not surprising that teachers should have sought to
+lessen the unpleasant surprise for the listener caused by the break.
+Some have looked on registers as almost an invention of the Evil One,
+and forbidden the use of the term to their students; but such
+ostrich-like treatment of the subject--such burying of the head in the
+sand--does not do away with a difficulty, much less can such a plain
+fact as the existence of registers be ignored without the most
+detrimental results, as we shall endeavor to make plain. Some, feeling
+that the break was an artistic abomination, have proceeded to teach
+the student to reduce all tones to the same quality, which is about as
+rational as asking a painter to give us pictures, by the use of but
+one pigment.
+
+To attempt to abolish registers would be like leaving but one string
+to the violin; which instrument, in its present form, has a register
+for each string; and the player endeavors to avoid the breaks that
+naturally occur in passing from string to string, and to get a smooth
+series of tones just as the intelligent vocalist does.
+
+The registers may be represented to the eye by the method illustrated
+in figure 52.
+
+The wise instructor recognizes registers; they are a fact in nature,
+and one to be valued. The more colors, the greater the range of the
+artist's powers, other things being equal, whether the artist paint
+with pigments or tones; but just as the painter uses intermediate
+tones of color to prevent rude transitions or breaks, so must the
+singer modify or "cover" the tones between the registers--_i.e._, use
+to some extent the mechanism of both neighboring registers.
+
+The reader who has perused the previous chapter thoughtfully may
+naturally ask: "With such difference of opinion among eminent authors
+like those quoted, how am I to know which one to follow, and what to
+believe on this subject?"
+
+The answer to that question we propose now to give. It will be wise to
+endeavor to show just wherein the writers quoted differ and on what
+they agree. A careful examination will show that there is substantial
+agreement on the most important points:
+
+1. All agree that there are registers, or natural changes of quality
+of tone, corresponding to changes of mechanism or method.
+
+2. All, with the exception of Madame Seiler, agree that the most
+important changes take place at or near [Illustration: a'] in female
+voices, and the majority consider that this applies to both sexes
+equally.
+
+3. Often in males there is some laryngeal change lower than this.
+
+4. All agree that the high falsetto of tenors is of a special quality,
+and produced by a mechanism of its own--_i.e._, all consider it a
+separate register--and often, at least, it begins naturally about
+[Illustration: f-sharp'], which is usually, however, written an octave
+higher, though really sung as given above.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 51. A photographic representation of the
+appearances of the vocal bands when the subject is sounding first E
+and then F sharp, in which latter case "the vibratory portions of the
+vocal bands are shortened about one-sixteenth inch," according to Dr.
+French, who has been eminently successful in photographing the larynx.
+It will be noted that this is the point in the scale at which the
+change of register usually takes place--_i.e._, there is a change of
+mechanism corresponding to the change in quality. (French-Raymond.)]
+
+The point of greatest strain is generally, for both sexes, about this
+point, and many persons cannot sing higher than this--_i.e._, about
+[Illustration: f-sharp'] for males, and its octave for females.
+
+It is to be remembered, as Madame Seiler has pointed out, that at the
+period of greatest perfection in vocal training, some hundred and
+fifty years or more ago, concert pitch was very much lower than it is
+to-day; so that to teach tenors to sing in one register up to
+[Illustration: a''] then, was quite a different matter from what that
+would be to-day. The old Italian masters were accustomed to train
+singers to the use of the falsetto, and whatever views may be held as
+to the desirability of the tenor using this register, so far as art is
+concerned, there can be no question whatever that physiologically it
+is easy, and one of the means by which relief may be sought from the
+high tension caused by carrying up the lower register.
+
+The author, after a special investigation of this and other questions
+connected with the registers, came to the conclusion that the falsetto
+in males and the head voice in females are produced by a similar
+mechanism. In the high falsetto the vocal bands do not vibrate
+throughout their whole breadth, and there must be, for a successful
+result, in every case a feeling of ease, due to the relaxation of
+certain mechanisms in use up to that point and the employment of new
+ones.
+
+[Illustration: FIGS. 52. These figures are meant to convey through the
+eye some of the main truths regarding the nature of registers and
+breaks. The figure on the left applies to the case of one with three
+registers in the voice, and with the breaks only very moderately
+marked; the illustration on the right applies to the same person after
+training, when the breaks have become indistinct, almost
+imperceptible. For teaching purposes the author is accustomed to use a
+similar diagram, but in shades of the same color, the difference being
+rendered less obvious by intermediate shades _between_ the register
+shades in the right-hand figure.]
+
+The author now offers, with all respect, but confidence, a few
+criticisms on the eminent investigators whose conclusions and methods
+he has been discussing.
+
+Madame Seiler was the writer who, as has been already said, brought
+more numerous and higher qualifications of a scientific and practical
+kind to the investigation of this subject than any other person.
+However, the study of physics, involving as it does the use of methods
+of extreme precision, tends to beget habits of mind which are not in
+all respects the best for the consideration of biological problems.
+Madame Seiler and her master, the physicist Helmholtz, regarded the
+vocal mechanism very much in the same light as they did their
+laboratory apparatus. Only in this way can the author explain some of
+Madame Seiler's positions; but on this assumption one can understand
+why she should make five registers, and consider them all, apparently,
+of equal importance. This latter, together with the tendency generally
+to present her views in too rigid a form, was, we think, her great
+error.
+
+Behnke admitted that all five registers might be heard, especially in
+contraltos, but he did not attach equal importance to each of these
+registers.
+
+Mackenzie the author conceives to have been misled by the very method
+that he considered a special virtue in his investigations--the
+examination of trained singers. Surely, if one would learn what is
+Nature's teaching on this subject, he must not draw conclusions from
+trained vocalists alone! By training one may learn to walk well on his
+hands, but this does not prove such a method the natural one, nor
+would it be good reasoning to draw this conclusion, even if a few
+individuals were found who could thus walk more rapidly than in the
+usual way.
+
+The diversity that Mackenzie found in singers does not, in the
+author's opinion, exist in nature; much if not most of it was due to
+training, and all that can be said is that several people may sing in
+different ways with not greatly different �sthetic results; but such
+methods of investigation may, as in this case, lead to conclusions
+that are dangerously liberal.
+
+The author holds to-day, as he did when he published his results many
+years ago, that "Impressions from general laryngoscopic observations
+or conclusions drawn from single cases will not settle these
+questions. Very likely differences such as these writers allude to may
+exist to a slight degree; but if they do, I question whether they are
+sufficiently open to observation ever to be capable of definition; nor
+is it likely that they interfere with methods of voice-production
+which are alike operative in all persons."
+
+Holding these views, not only can the author not agree with those who
+believe that the change in a register occurs in different persons of
+the same voice (_e.g._, soprano) at appreciably different levels in
+the scale, and even varies naturally from day to day, but he holds
+that to believe this in theory and embody it in practice is to pursue
+a course not only detrimental to the best artistic results, but
+contrary to the plain teachings of physiology in general and that of
+the vocal organs in particular.
+
+The change in a register should be placed _low_ enough in the scale to
+suit all of the same sex. _It is safe to carry a higher register down,
+but it is always risky, and may be injurious to the throat, to carry a
+lower up beyond a certain point._ The latter leads not only to a
+limitation of resources in tone coloring, but also to straining, to
+which we have before alluded. Though this process may not be at once
+obviously injurious, it _invariably_ becomes so as time passes, and no
+vocalist who hopes to sing much and to last can ignore registers, much
+less make the change at a point to any appreciable extent removed from
+those that scientific investigation and equally sound practice teach
+us are the correct ones at which to make the changes.
+
+Why is it that some artists of world-wide reputation sing as well
+to-day as twenty years ago, while others have broken down or have
+become hopelessly defective in their vocal results in a few years?
+There is but one answer in a large proportion of these cases: correct
+methods in the former and wrong methods in the latter class of
+singers--and "correct" in no small degree refers to a strict
+observance of registers.
+
+The author has known a professional soprano to sing every tone in the
+trying "Hear, O Israel" (_Elijah_) in the chest register. How can such
+a singer hope to retain either voice or a sound throat? But so long as
+audiences will applaud exhibitions of mere lung-power and brute force
+the teachings of physiology and healthy art will be violated. But,
+surely, all artists themselves and all enlightened teachers should
+unite in condemning such violations of Nature's plain teachings!
+
+The question of the registers is generally considered now a somewhat
+simpler one for males than for females. Basses and barytones sing in
+the chest register only; tenors are usually taught to sing in the
+chest register; but few teachers believe that the high falsetto is
+worth the expenditure of the time and energy necessary to attain
+facility in its use.
+
+Probably in many male voices there are the distinctions of register
+Madame Seiler alludes to--_i.e._, first chest and second chest, or
+some change analogous to the middle of females; but, from one cause
+and another, this seems to readily disappear. Whether it would not be
+worth maintaining is a question that the author suggests as at least
+worth consideration. Certain it is that, speaking generally, there is
+no change in males equally pronounced with the passage from the lowest
+to the next higher (chest to middle) register in females.
+
+What, then, are the views that the author believes so well grounded,
+in regard to the registers, that they may be made, in all confidence,
+the basis of teaching?
+
+Without hesitation, he recommends that arrangement of the registers
+set forth in the last chapter. It is not the exclusive invention nor
+the basis of practice of any one person, but it may fittingly enough
+be associated with the name of a woman who for over fifty years has
+taught singing with so much regard for true art and for Nature's
+teachings--_i.e._, for physiological as well as artistic principles.
+
+Such a method for female voices is wholly consistent with the best
+scientific teaching known to the author; it is in harmony with the
+laws of vocal hygiene; it gives the singer beautiful tones, and leaves
+her with improved, and not injured, vocal organs. Such an arrangement
+of the registers is not marred by the rigidity of Madame Seiler's nor
+the laxity of Mackenzie's, but combines flexibility with sufficiently
+definite limitations.
+
+As to just how much a teacher of singing should say to the pupil on
+the subject of registers, and especially in a physiological way, must
+depend on circumstances. About the wisdom of teachers of singing (and
+elocution) understanding the vocal mechanism, and carefully weighing
+the matter of registers from every point of view, the reader of this
+book will have no doubt, by this time, the author ventures to hope.
+
+Of course, one may object that for every tone, as it differs slightly
+in quality from its neighbor in the scale, there should be a new
+register--a new mechanism. Such an objection, though theoretically
+sound, is of no practical weight. What students wish to know and
+instructors to teach is how to attain to good singing--the kind that
+gives genuinely artistic results, and leaves the throat and entire
+body of the vocalist the better for his effort. The teaching of this
+work in regard to the registers and other subjects is intended to
+accomplish this, and not to occupy the attention of readers with vocal
+or physiological refinements of no practical importance.
+
+The author has always been of opinion that those who have investigated
+and written on this subject have devoted insufficient attention to one
+point--viz., the manner of using the breath. The breathing in the use
+of the high falsetto, for example, is as different as are the
+laryngeal processes; and this is a point of practical importance, for
+the voice-user must ever consider economy in breathing. It is
+expenditure in this direction that most taxes all singers, even the
+best trained and the most highly endowed.
+
+But the student, deeply impressed with the importance of the subject
+of registers, may ask: "How am I to distinguish between one register
+and another? How am I to know when I am singing with chest, middle, or
+head voice?" The answer is: "By sensations"--chiefly by hearing, but
+also by certain sensations (less properly termed "feelings") in the
+resonance-chambers and to a certain extent in the larynx. Of course,
+before one can thus identify any register, he must have heard a singer
+of fairly good voice form the tones of this particular register. One
+who has never heard sounds of a particular color or quality cannot, of
+course, learn to recognize them from mere description, though by this
+means he is often _prepared_ to hear, and to associate clear ideas
+with that hearing.
+
+As the registers are of such great practical importance, especially
+for the female voice, there is no period when it is of so much value
+to have a lady teacher as just when the voice is being "placed"--which
+should mean the recognition of its main quality, and the teaching of
+registers by imitation as well as description. The student should be
+made to understand, by practical examples, the subject of "covering,"
+or modification. Certainly, the training of a vocalist cannot be
+adequately undertaken by even the most learned musician, however good
+an instrumentalist, if he has paid no attention to the voice
+practically. Much of the teaching done by those ignorant of
+voice-production, however well meant, may be a positive drawback, and
+leave the would-be singer with faults that may never be wholly
+eradicated.
+
+The author would recommend all students who have begun a serious
+practical study of the registers to hear, if possible, some singer of
+eminence who observes register formation strictly. In this way more
+can often be done in getting a clear notion of their characteristic
+qualities, in a single evening, than by listening to an ordinary
+amateur, or to such a voice as an otherwise excellent vocal teacher
+can bring to her work, on many occasions; better one hour listening to
+a Melba, with her observance of registers, covering, etc., as set
+forth by the author in this chapter, than a score of vocalists of
+indifferent, even if not incorrect production. One then has before her
+an individual who, after long and careful training, attains results
+not, indeed, within the reach of all, but such as may be approached if
+the same methods are pursued long enough; and in Madame Melba, and
+others that might be named, the student has examples of how those
+using correct methods, and not worshipping at the shrine of mere vocal
+power, may retain the vocal organs uninjured and the voice unimpaired
+after the lapse of well-nigh a score of years of exacting public
+singing. Teachers will do well to encourage their pupils to hear the
+best singers; for do not students need inspiration as well as
+discipline?
+
+Granted that the ear can at once determine what register the pupil
+herself or another singer may be using, what other guide has she?
+
+There are certain sensations, as already said, felt within the
+resonance-chambers and larynx, which are sure guides. In a person who
+had learned to recognize the correct register formation by the help
+of the ear and those sensations now referred to, the latter would
+suffice to be a partial guide, at least, even had he become deaf.
+While these sensations are absolutely characteristic, it is difficult
+to describe them; they must be experienced to be understood. To
+attempt to describe the taste of a peach to one who knew that of an
+apple but had never eaten a peach would be, perhaps, not absolutely
+useless, but would certainly serve little purpose. The sensation must
+accompany the correct formation of the tone. The term "straining"
+carries with it the idea of unpleasant sensations; all understand
+practically what this term means; yet the sensation of strain in a
+tenor carrying his chest register too high is no more marked than the
+sensation of relief when he changes to the falsetto.
+
+When once the voice has been well placed, little attention need be, or
+is usually, paid _consciously_ to the sensations associated of
+necessity with all changes in the vocal organs. When one becomes
+unduly conscious of any of the normal sensations of the body, he is no
+longer a perfectly healthy person. At the same time, as we have
+pointed out in Chapter II., and shall do more at length shortly,
+sensations are absolutely essential guides for all muscular and other
+processes of the body; but they should enter just so much into
+consciousness, and no more.
+
+It is practically helpful to the voice-producer and the teacher to
+think of the resonance-chambers and the ear as bearing a close
+relationship to the movements essential to tone-production. The
+sensations from these parts are of importance above all others in
+voice-production. They are the chief guides, and the attention may to
+advantage be concentrated on them.
+
+No doubt the question of registers for the speaker must be considered,
+but this can be done to greater advantage in a later chapter.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+All good definitions of a register must recognize two things: change
+of quality in the voice, and change of mechanism in the vocal
+apparatus. A break is not a register, but occurs because of the
+existence of registers. The abrupt transition, or break, is to be
+avoided by covering, or modification of the upper tones of the lower
+(at least) register.
+
+For an adequate scientific examination of the question of registers,
+many qualifications are required in the investigator; and the student,
+when not an investigator, should endeavor to weigh the evidence
+presented so as to choose with caution from among conflicting
+opinions. He should be suspicious of those who scout the value of
+scientific study of this or any other subject, and also of those who
+claim that experience is of no importance in settling such a question.
+
+Though several well-qualified persons who have written on the subject
+differ in some respects, they are in agreement as to many of the more
+important points. They are practically all convinced that there is
+commonly a change of register for all voices, at or near one point in
+the scale (F), and that if this be practically disregarded, dangerous
+straining may result.
+
+Conclusions drawn from trained singers, alone, may be misleading. All
+classes of persons should be examined with the laryngoscope, if
+correct and far-reaching generalizations are to be safely made.
+
+The precision and rigidity of physics and mathematics cannot be
+introduced with safety into a subject of this character; otherwise the
+division and limits of registers will be fixed with a narrowness of
+margin that does not comport with Nature's methods.
+
+In all questions of register, the method of breathing--_i.e._, the
+nature of the application of the expiratory blast--must be duly
+considered.
+
+With male voices, the subject is usually considered much simpler than
+in the case of female voices. Men sing mostly in the chest register;
+basses and barytones wholly so, with the rarest exceptions. Tenors are
+taught to do so. Whether there might not be a subdivision of this
+register made to advantage in training, the author leaves as an open
+question; but about straining, in the case of tenors and all others,
+and as to the importance of recognizing three registers for female
+voices, there is in his mind no question. The fact that some may not
+be able to produce head tones does not justify carrying up the chest
+register to any appreciable extent, even by altos.
+
+Now, as in past times, the high falsetto for males, if good, the
+result of proper training, has the warrant of both art and sound
+physiology.
+
+In the use of registers, sensations are infallible guides. Of these,
+the most important are those associated with the organs of hearing,
+but those arising in the vocal organs are also valuable.
+
+Those only should expect to sing artistically, and to preserve their
+voices unimpaired for a long period, who wisely observe Nature's
+teachings in regard to registers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING VOICE-PRODUCTION.
+
+
+It is highly important for the speaker or singer to realize early in
+his career that all forms of artistic expression can be carried out
+only through movements--muscular movements; in other words, technique
+or execution implies the use of neuro-muscular mechanisms. However
+beautiful the conception in the mind of the painter, it can only
+become an artistic thing when it assumes material form--when it is put
+on canvas. The most beautiful melody is no possession of the world
+while it is in the mind of the composer alone; till it is _expressed_,
+it is as good as non-existent.
+
+Even poetry can only affect us when it exists in the form of words
+produced by lip or pen. Between the glowing thought of the poet and
+the corresponding emotion produced in ourselves there must intervene
+some form of technique--_i.e._, some application of neuro-muscular
+action. This latter term is a convenient one, and has been already
+explained. It is a condensed expression for that use of the nervous
+and muscular systems that results in movements, simple or complex.
+
+Without nerve-cells and muscles movements are impossible, speaking
+generally, and for a willed or voluntary movement there must be
+something more, an idea or concept. Before one can make a movement
+resulting in a simple line or even dot on a piece of paper, he must
+have the idea of that line or dot in mind. In like manner, before one
+plays or sings a single note, he must have the idea of that note in
+mind; in other words, the idea is the antecedent to the movement, and
+absolutely essential. To have such an idea, memory is necessary. It is
+impossible to sing a tone after another, as an imitative effort,
+unless one has the power to retain that tone in memory for at least a
+brief period of time; and before this same tone can be reproduced on
+sight of it as represented by a written note, the memory of the sound
+to which it answers must first be recalled; and not only so, but other
+memories--indeed, memories of all the sensations associated with the
+bodily mechanism used in producing it.
+
+This applies to all movements, of whatever kind, that we at any time
+execute. Without the past--_i.e._, without memories--no present. Some
+of the memories associated with an act may be lost, and others,
+sufficient for its performance in some fashion, remain. A man may
+forget, after the lapse of months or years, how to tie his necktie in
+a certain way, as he stands before a mirror; yet on turning away he
+may succeed at once. In this case the visual memories, those that come
+through the eyes, were lost, but others, those associated with
+muscular movements, remain. The muscular sense may prove an adequate
+guide when the visual is ineffective.
+
+In the same way, one may call up a melody by moving the fingers over
+the piano keys, when it cannot otherwise be recovered, or one rescues
+an air from oblivion by humming a few of its tones; all of which is
+explained by the revival of muscular and similar memories.
+
+All voluntary movements are at first accomplished relatively slowly
+and with difficulty. They soon weary us. A child learns to walk with
+the greatest difficulty, and only after numberless failures or errors.
+The first tones of the would-be pianist or violinist are produced but
+slowly and with great difficulty, in spite of the most determined
+effort. If the attempts to vocalize are any more successful, it is
+because one has already learned to talk--a process that in the first
+instance (in infancy) was even more laborious than that of walking.
+
+The degree to which any one succeeds in his earliest efforts to sing a
+scale will depend on the readiness with which he can use a variety of
+neuro-muscular mechanisms--indeed, all those associated with the
+respiratory, laryngeal, and resonance apparatus. Fortunately for the
+voice-user, this apparatus has all been in use in ordinary speaking.
+But when this latter process is analyzed, it is found that it is not
+essentially different from singing. In each the same mechanism is
+used, and in much the same way; but every one knows that not all who
+can talk are able to sing, and it is usual to say that those who
+cannot have no "ear" for music; and this expresses a part of the
+truth, though not in a scientific way. What is really the truth is
+found to be, on analysis, that certain guiding sensations, chiefly
+those from the hearing apparatus (ear, nerves, brain), are
+insufficient, owing either to natural defect or lack of training; but
+that this is not the only explanation is plain from the fact that many
+composers with the most vivid musical imagination, the most perfect
+auditory memory, and the most acute ear, cannot sing in any but the
+most imperfect manner. As we have said before, the speaker of great
+power to affect his fellows through tones, or the artistic singer,
+must be a sort of vocal athlete. In the athlete there is a very
+perfect association into one whole of certain sensations from eye,
+skin, muscles, etc., and certain movements. These exist in all men,
+but in very unequal degree. The singer is a tone specialist in whom
+the perception of the pitch and the quality of sounds may not be more
+acute than in the composer, possibly less so, but he can do what the
+composer of music often cannot--viz., associate these sensations with
+muscular movements of a highly perfect character; in different words,
+he has the technique which others have not in an equal degree.
+
+In the singer and speaker there is a very close association between
+the sensations of the resonance-chambers, the larynx, and other parts
+of the vocal mechanism, and those from the ear. So perfect does this
+become from training that the necessary technique at last becomes
+easy. But it is of the greatest importance that the exact nature of
+this process be realized by both students and teachers, for weighty
+considerations grow out of it.
+
+We wish to impress the fact that the nature of all neuro-muscular
+processes is essentially the same. Learning to sing is like learning
+to talk, and the latter is not radically different from learning to
+walk. This last is at first slow, imperfect, laborious, and largely a
+voluntary or willed process, or, more strictly, a series of processes.
+As progress is made, there is less of the voluntary and more that is
+involuntary, or what physiologists term reflex. When ideas, feelings,
+etc., enter into a process which is carried out reflexly, a _habit_ is
+formed.
+
+One may say that talking implies a series of associated reflexes, the
+parts associated being the respiratory, the laryngeal, and the
+resonance apparatus. Singing only approaches this condition of reflex
+action and habit after practice, and yet no air is perfectly sung
+except when the result is the outcome of a sort of new habit. Every
+song involves, the learning of new vocal habits. One forms a new habit
+of an athletic character all the more readily because of previous
+ones. A man learns to play one game of ball the better, usually, if he
+have already played at another, the reason being that he has only to
+modify the action of neuro-muscular mechanisms, not associate new
+mechanisms together to the same extent as in the formation of a habit
+of a widely different kind, as rowing a boat. At the same time, one
+must always unlearn something--break up old habits, to some extent. An
+opera singer often makes a failure of oratorio at first. The sets of
+reflexes or the habits, bodily and mental, which he has found valuable
+for the one form of art do not suit the other perfectly; nevertheless,
+the same materials are used, the reflexes are in the main the same. He
+must use preventions, or _inhibitions_, as the physiologists term
+them. Rather is it that he must avoid doing certain things--_i.e._,
+modify his neuro-muscular processes or reflexes, than form wholly new
+ones.
+
+Were it not for reflexes and habits, learning would be so slow one
+lifetime would not suffice to make an artist. It must be apparent that
+habits and reflexes are Nature's ways of economizing energy. As the
+best have but a limited amount of energy, it should be the aim of
+every one who will not be a mere reckless spendthrift to economize, to
+make the most of what Nature has given him; hence the purpose of
+practice is not only to render success more certain and more perfect,
+but to make efforts tell to the fullest extent with as little
+expenditure of energy to the speaker or singer as possible. _He sings
+or speaks best who attains the end with the least expenditure of
+energy._
+
+It may with scientific accuracy be said that the object of the student
+should be to attain to the formation of correct habits in singing and
+speaking, and of the teacher to guide in this process. It follows that
+all practice by the beginner should be carried out only in the
+presence of one who knows the correct methods and can teach the
+student how to form his habits wisely. Practice alone may not only do
+little good, but, by the formation of wrong habits of production, be
+positively mischievous; yet a trainer of athletes often lays more
+restrictions on his ward as to when and how he shall practise, and
+exercises more supervision over it, than do some teachers of singing,
+in spite of the fact that the apparatus the singer or speaker uses is
+much more delicate, and wrong habits much more injurious.
+
+The admonition "Practise, practise," is greatly overdone. The best
+results cannot be obtained in either singing, speaking, or playing,
+with the lengthy and necessarily more or less imperfect if not
+careless practice in which many students of music indulge. Better ten
+minutes with the whole attention of a fresh and interested mind given
+intelligently to a subject than ten hours of mere mechanical movement.
+It is a mistake to suppose that the acquirement of a sound technique
+is a purely mechanical process. We have shown that for all successful
+effort there must be the idea, and as soon as that fades, from
+weariness, etc., the practice should be discontinued. Students are
+not treated fairly when given exercises the meaning or purpose of
+which is not explained to them.
+
+There is now more need than ever that the teacher of music or
+elocution should be intellectual and not mechanical in his methods.
+Technique is mechanism, but it should be mechanism subordinated to
+ideas. Technique is essential to art, but it is not art. Art is the
+soul, technique the body. The soul will be unknown to the world
+without technique; hence the author strives in this book to teach the
+principles on which a sound vocal technique rests, but only that what
+is best in the soul be not hidden, that the one noble or poetic
+thought shall be multiplied a thousand times--indeed, that if it be
+sufficiently worthy, it shall, like Tennyson's Brook, "go on forever."
+To believe, on the one hand, that the highest art can be attained with
+a very mediocre technique, and, on the other, that a perfect technique
+is the main object of musical training, are alike great and
+mischievous errors.
+
+The author has been asked frequently such questions as the following:
+"When is the best time to practise? How long should a singer practise
+at one time, and for how long during a single day? Should one practise
+softly (_piano_) or vigorously (_forte_)?"--etc.
+
+Often the student is puzzled by contradictory opinions on this
+subject. One celebrated prima donna states that she never practises
+more than one hour a day; another, equally distinguished, that she
+has often spent several hours in almost continuous strenuous practice.
+What is the student to believe, and whom to follow? No one, for no two
+persons are alike. All the above questions can be safely and surely
+answered in the light of science and experience combined, but such
+questions cannot be settled by the dictum of any singer, teacher, or
+writer, nor does the experience, in itself, of any one person furnish
+an adequate guide for others.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 53. By this diagram the author has attempted to
+give the reader some idea of the nature of the chain of processes
+involved in singing a single tone, from the time the eye looks on the
+note till the muscles concerned have given it utterance as a tone. The
+various nervous centres concerned are all in the brain (though the
+spinal cord supplies some subordinate centres). There are sensory
+centres, or those for the eye and the ear, and motor centres, or those
+sending the commands to the muscles involved. Further, these must be
+_connected_ by paths not shown in detail, but represented by one
+centre spoken of as an "association" centre, which may also, possibly,
+have much to do with emotions, etc. But, at all events, the dependence
+of movements on ingoing messages or sensations is emphasized. The deaf
+cannot speak or sing, and the blind cannot read (ordinary) music. The
+defect may not be in either senses or muscles, but in the relating
+nervous mechanism between them. As explained in the body of the work,
+execution depends on at least two factors, sensations, or ingoing
+messages, and movements determined by these. Now the _connection_
+between the ingoing and the outgoing impulses is the most important
+and the least understood part, but the above diagram will at least
+serve to emphasize the fact that such connections exist, and that in a
+general way the result, performance, can be explained. No attempt has
+been made to trace the path of other sensory impulses than those from
+eye and ear, as this would make the diagram too complicated.]
+
+Investigation has shown that the use of muscles tends to the
+accumulation of the waste products of vital activity; that such
+accumulation is associated with the experience in consciousness of
+what we term "fatigue," and which is preceded by "weariness." The
+latter is a warning that the more serious condition is approaching,
+but is to be distinguished from another feeling not necessary to name,
+often present in unwilling youthful students, and for which various
+forms of treatment are sometimes tried so unsuccessfully that it is as
+well to discontinue study altogether.
+
+1. The time at which, as a rule, any work can best be carried out is
+during the early hours of the day, so that if it is possible, practice
+should be begun early, and after some preliminary exercise for the
+good of the body generally--_e.g._, a short walk, during which the
+lungs may be filled with pure air. As the muscles of the chest, etc.,
+are to be used in voice-production, such a walk or other form of
+general exercise should not be lengthy. Energy should be reserved for
+the muscular activities involved in vocal practice.
+
+2. The principle that guides in all use of the muscles, all exercise,
+is that it be taken under the most favorable circumstances and short
+of fatigue, even of weariness; hence the question whether the student
+should practise five minutes or one hour is one that he himself, and
+he alone, can determine, provided he is old enough and observant
+enough to know when he begins to feel weary in his vocal mechanism,
+whether it be in the respiratory organs, the larynx, or the
+resonance-chambers. With some there is a weak spot, and this settles
+the question for all other parts. As a rule, beginners will do well
+not to practice, at first, for longer at one time than five minutes,
+not only because of the possible weariness, but because at the outset
+it is difficult to keep the attention fixed. The ear and brain tire as
+well as the muscles.
+
+Naturally, the condition of the student at the time has much to do
+with the length of a practice, but all things are determined by the
+sensible application of that principle which science and experience
+alike show to be a safe guide.
+
+Naturally, as in other exercises, the duration of an exercise may be
+gradually lengthened with experience. One singer may find an hour a
+day sufficient, if she be already perfectly trained in every
+respect--be "in good form," or "fit," as the athletes say--and have
+only light or _coloratura_ parts to sing; but would this suffice to
+form a singer to sustain the heaviest dramatic parts for hours
+together before a large public audience? The training of a
+hundred-yards sprinter should not be the same as that prescribed for a
+long-distance runner or a wrestler.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 54. The above is a diagrammatic representation of
+a highly magnified section (or very thin slice) through the outermost
+or most superficial part of the great brain (cortex cerebri), and is
+inserted to help the reader to form some idea of the complexity of
+structure of the most important part of the brain so far as the
+highest mental processes are concerned. This complexity is greater in
+man than in other animals.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 55. A nerve-cell from the outer rind of the great
+brain (cortex cerebri), much magnified. (Sch�fer.)]
+
+3. In all practice it is ever to be borne in mind that the end, even
+in an exercise, is artistic. Tones of that quality only which is the
+best possible to the singer at the time are to be produced, and
+everything else must yield to this.
+
+4. No wise trainer ever allows his charges to go on a racing track and
+at once run a hundred yards at the highest possible speed. Such a
+course would be against all sound knowledge and all the best
+experience. Hence the question of _piano_ and _forte_ practice answers
+itself; the singer should never begin any exercise _forte_, but either
+_piano_ or _moderato_--as to which depends on the individual. Some
+persons can only after long study produce really good tones _piano_;
+such if not most persons should, of course, begin practising with
+moderate force.
+
+Certainly, the voice-user should, in order to gain volume, gradually
+increase the vigor of his practice, but exactly how to do this, and to
+what extent daily, are questions in which the advice of a sensible and
+experienced teacher is of great value, though the principle on which
+that opinion should be founded is clear enough.
+
+5. The questions as to the total amount of time to be devoted to
+practice in a single day, and as to whether practice should be
+continued day after day for weeks and months without interruption,
+must be decided by the condition of the student, and not by any
+arbitrary opinion. Some individuals and some racers have a capacity
+for steady work not possessed by others, and happy are they; but there
+are others who go on by spurts, and such natures are often capable of
+reaching lofty artistic heights, if they be wisely managed. They need
+much the same sort of care as a very fleet but uncertain race-horse,
+and they are often a source of disgust to themselves and of worry to
+their teachers; but they in some cases get far beyond what the more
+steady ones can attain to, while others are so unsteady without being
+talented that they are a trial, and a trial only, to all concerned.
+Such people should, even when clever, not be encouraged in their
+vagaries, but brought gradually and tactfully under a stricter
+discipline.
+
+6. "Hasten slowly" applies to all musical practice, that of the voice
+included, and there never was a time in the history of the world,
+unfortunately, when people believed in it less. The author would
+especially warn the student against attempting to force progress by
+violent or unduly long-continued practices, for if the vocal apparatus
+be strained, it may remain impaired for months or even for life.
+"Little and often" is a good maxim for vocal practice, all the more as
+the discontinuation, for the time, of voice-production need not imply
+that the mind must cease to act. An artist is not formed by
+vocalization alone, but by processes of education that are many and
+complicated, into which we might be tempted to enter did they not lie
+beyond the range of the present work.
+
+If the principles set forth in this chapter are scientifically
+reliable, and we believe they will not be questioned, certain
+practical considerations are well worthy of special attention. If
+practice, repetition, leads to the formation of habits more or less
+fixed, then there can be no surer way to ruin a speaker or vocalist
+than to permit him to practise by a wrong method; the more he
+practises, the more he stamps in what is bad. It follows that the most
+hopeless cases eminent teachers have to deal with are to be found
+among those vocalists who come to them after years of professional
+life before the public. One must look on some of these people as on a
+building spoiled by a bad architectural design. In some cases there is
+nothing to do but to take the whole structure apart and put it
+together afresh. It may be humiliating to the vocalist, and it is a
+severe condemnation of certain methods of teaching, but there is often
+no other course open, the only question being as to whether the
+material is good enough to warrant such a radical proceeding. Every
+eminent teacher can recall such cases, and might fill volumes with
+their histories. If more of these were published as warnings to
+students and teachers, a good purpose would be served. It is truly sad
+to find that the prospects of one who might have been formed into a
+fine artist have been hopelessly ruined by years of practice based on
+principles that are radically unsound.
+
+In the next chapter some specific applications of the principles
+discussed in the foregoing pages will be considered.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+All forms of artistic and other expression imply movements. For a
+willed or voluntary movement there are required (1) an idea, (2) a
+neuro-muscular mechanism. Such movements may be relatively simple or
+highly complex. They all tend, when frequently carried out, to become
+reflex, and to some extent unconscious or subconscious. Combinations
+of reflexes when associated with consciousness become habits.
+Movements only attain their highest perfection when they reach this
+stage. It follows that the purpose of all musical practice should be
+to establish those reflexes which attain the end, the ideal, and to
+form correct habits. A poem properly recited or a song satisfactorily
+sung implies a combination of certain reflexes or habits. Some of
+these are in their main features common to all speech and song, but
+many are peculiar to each example.
+
+As phonation implies the use of the muscles (neuro-muscular
+mechanisms) of the (1) respiratory organs, (2) vocal bands, (3)
+resonance-chambers, and as these must all work in harmony, or be
+"co-ordinated," it will be seen that speaking and singing are
+physiologically highly complex. When, in addition, ideas and feelings
+are associated, and determine the exact form of these co-ordinations,
+the whole matter is seen to be still more complex. The emission of a
+single tone implies (1) an idea--the nature of the sound as to pitch
+and quality, (2) such an arrangement of all the parts of the mechanism
+as will produce it. The former involves memory of the tone; the
+latter, memories of former movements. Then, partly as a series of
+voluntary acts and partly reflexly, according as the student is more
+or less advanced, or the particular tone new or old in experience, do
+the various neuro-muscular arrangements pass into orderly action. In
+this process the ear is the chief guide, always in relation to
+memories. When one uses the printed page, the eyes also guide--_i.e._,
+the nervous impulses that pass in through these avenues determine the
+outgoing ones that bring the muscles into action. In doing so they
+rouse many others (associated nervous connections) which are highly
+important when an artistic result is to be reached.
+
+To consider a single case: Assume that the note [Illustration: a'] is
+to be sung. The following are required: (1) Memory of this tone. (2)
+Adaptation through eye and ear of all the neuro-muscular mechanisms
+required for (_a_) bringing the vocal bands into the correct position
+and degree of tension; (_b_) the proper shape, tension, etc., of the
+resonance-chambers; (_c_) that use of the breathing apparatus suitable
+to cause the proper vibrations of the vocal bands. All use of the
+voice implies this much, but in most instances there are _associated_
+nervous mechanisms and ideas that are highly important in determining
+the exact volume, quality, etc., of the tone as related to expression
+of ideas and feelings according to conventional usage.
+
+The breath-stream must in all cases be so employed that there shall be
+economy of energy--no waste. Waste occurs whenever air escapes to any
+appreciable extent through the glottis chink, as that implies an
+imperfect adjustment of the vocal bands and the expiratory current.
+From this and other points of view it may be said that _he is the best
+singer who gets the most perfect result with the least expenditure of
+energy_.
+
+It is of the highest importance that during every practice, and every
+moment of each practice, attention be given to as perfect a result as
+possible, and that the same method be invariably employed.
+
+All questions as to methods of practising can be decided on well-known
+scientific principles which harmonize with experience, and need not be
+left in that loose and unsatisfactory condition when the dictum of
+some individual is substituted for principles capable of actual
+experimental demonstration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CHIEFLY AN APPLICATION TO VOICE PRODUCTION OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES
+PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED.
+
+
+Certain sounds may be made without the use of words or syllables, even
+without the employment of vowels or consonants, but intonation proper
+cannot be carried out without vowels, at least.
+
+The exact nature of vowels and consonants will be considered in the
+next chapter, but in the meantime it may be pointed out that a vowel
+is a free and open sound requiring for its production a certain form
+of the resonance-chambers. Neither vowels nor consonants are
+absolutely pure--that is, entirely free from foreign elements, from
+noise; but for all practical purposes a vowel is a pure sound, a
+consonant a sound accompanied inevitably by much noise. This noise is
+largely due to the difficulties of sounding consonants, the breath
+breaking against the vocal organs, especially the teeth, lips, etc.,
+much as the waves of the sea against a rocky beach. So far then as
+musical quality is concerned, a consonant is an unmitigated nuisance.
+On the other hand, none but the most elemental communication by sounds
+could be carried out by the use of vowels alone. The consonants stop
+the breath-current, separate the vowels, and thus lay the foundation
+for the expression of ideas. Ideas imply differences; a new idea is
+conveyed by a new word, which in its simplest form is a syllable.
+
+When a consonant is introduced after a vowel sound, a momentary arrest
+is produced in the breath-flow, and this has its corresponding effect
+on the mind. It is, in fact, equivalent to a pause--say a comma or a
+period. If introduced before a vowel, it is marked off in a more
+definite way. The effect of this is to enable the ear the better to
+grasp the sounds. There is the principle of differentiation and the
+principle of rest, both highly important in all sensory and other
+psychic or mental processes.
+
+Consider the sentence "He is a man"--composed purely of monosyllables.
+Remove the consonants, and we have the following: "e i a a." Their
+ineffectiveness in conveying ideas is at once plain, for though "a
+man" conveys two ideas, such are not expressed by the vowels, which
+are identical, while "e" and "i" are common to too many words of one
+syllable to serve any useful purpose, alone, in the conveyance of
+_definite_ ideas. The consonants at once mark off the limitations;
+they fence around the ideas, so to speak. For the communication of
+ideas they are indispensable; nevertheless, being largely noises, they
+are musically abominable.
+
+It follows that voice-production should begin with vowel sounds, and
+not words--not even syllables. For successful intonation, the first
+steps should be made as simple as possible, as we have already
+endeavored to show, hence no such complication as a consonantal noise
+should be introduced. Upon this point there is room for no difference
+of opinion, though as to which vowel sound is best suited for the
+beginner, and for more advanced voice-production, there has been great
+diversity in teaching--a diversity which we propose to show, in the
+next chapter, need not exist to any appreciable extent.
+
+Certain vowel sounds may be said to be common to most of the languages
+used by civilized peoples. These are _u_ (_oo_), _[=o]_, _a_ (_ah_),
+_[=a]_, _i_ (_ei_), and _[=e]_. There is, fortunately, among teachers
+considerable agreement as to the question of the best vowel sound with
+which to begin intonation, or the process of forming musical tones.
+There can be no question that _a_ (ah) is for general purposes the
+best, the reason for which will appear later. Unfortunately, there is
+not in the minds of students or teachers generally a sufficiently deep
+conviction of the importance of forming the voice by long-continued
+practice with vowels only, for which lack the spirit of the times is
+largely responsible. Until a student of either speaking or singing can
+form every vowel perfectly, which implies the recognition of these
+sounds as pure and perfect, and the ability to sing them as the tones
+of a musical scale, he should not take a single step in any other
+direction. To do so is to waste tune and to lower artistic ideals.
+
+When words are to be used, the question as to which language should be
+employed is for the singer, at least, a very important one. The ideal
+vocalist who will bring before the ideal public the best in vocal
+music must sing in Italian, French, German, and English, at least.
+Each of these languages produces its own effects through the voice,
+and each presents its own advantages and difficulties; but all
+competent to judge are agreed that Italian, because of the abundance
+of vowels in its words, is the best language in which to sing, or, at
+all events, to begin with as a training. Because of the prevalence of
+consonants, the German and the English languages are relatively
+unmusical. The English abounds in hissing sounds, which are a trial to
+the singer with an exacting ear and perfect taste, and produce most
+unwelcome effects on the refined listener who really puts music first
+and the conveyance of ideas second in a vocal composition. It should,
+of course, be the aim of the student to overcome these difficulties,
+as German and English, the languages of Goethe, Schiller, and
+Shakespeare, are for dramatic and some other purposes not equalled by
+any other languages.
+
+But the artist, and above all the musical artist, must be a citizen of
+the world. He deals with those forms of emotion common to all mankind,
+and not with the peculiar little combinations of ideas that grow up in
+a province, city, or village; though of course he will not neglect
+local coloring, so well illustrated in the folk-songs or popular
+melodies that have survived for ages in different countries.
+
+Though a vowel can be produced pure only when the resonance-chambers
+assume a certain form, this is, of course, only one link in the chain
+of production. The breathing apparatus and the larynx are also
+concerned, and we are again brought back, as ever, to the triple
+combination of the three sets of mechanisms so often alluded to, yet,
+we venture to think, very inadequately linked in the minds of
+learners, if not also of teachers.
+
+In producing a vowel sound the end aimed at is, on the one hand,
+purity, on the other, as a result, the easy and effective use of
+mechanisms--_i.e._, the technique. In every case the breath must be
+used without waste--just enough, and no more; the laryngeal apparatus,
+the vocal bands, must be so adapted as to set the air of the
+resonance-chambers into perfect vibration, which only occurs when the
+expiratory blast is applied in the correct way and at the right moment
+to the properly adjusted vocal bands. This latter we have defined as
+the attack. It implies giving a good start to the tone. It is not all,
+but it is a large half, in the artist and for the auditor.
+
+
+RECONSIDERATION OF THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS
+
+We shall now give further attention to some of the more important
+parts of the resonance-chambers, in so far as they bear directly on
+voice-production.
+
+In singing and speaking, the larynx should be _steadied_, but not held
+rigidly fixed in any one position. It will be remembered that to this
+part of the vocal mechanism are attached, below, the trachea, and
+above, the tongue, indirectly through the hyoid bone and the
+thyro-hyoid membrane, as well as certain muscles which influence the
+relative position of these various parts, so that to maintain the
+larynx in the same position, absolutely, must be against Nature's
+methods. The tongue alone must in its movements tend to alter the
+position of the larynx, as we have before pointed out. At the same
+time, the laxness and lack of control which some singers permit in
+their vocal organs, under the mistaken idea that all the parts of the
+"throat" cannot be too free, prevents them from getting the effects
+they desire, with that vigor and certainty the public so much admires,
+and rightly so. The golden mean should be observed; between undue
+tension, which implies inability to control, whether it be in the
+larynx or the breathing apparatus, and a looseness inconsistent with
+neat and certain results, the voice-producer must choose, with that
+common sense so indispensable to success in all undertakings, but
+which will never be adequately encouraged till students look more
+frequently for the reasons of the procedures recommended to them, and
+teachers strive to gain influence with their pupils by showing them
+that what they recommend lies beyond their own minds--that it, in
+fact, has its foundation in the laws of Nature.
+
+Of the tongue, soft palate, and lips, which are the principal
+modifiers of the shape of the mouth cavity, the tongue has by far the
+most influence. When the tongue lies flat in the mouth, it may be
+considered to be in its primary position, and it is important that in
+singing and speaking the student learn to begin his voice-production
+with this organ in that position, or a slight modification of it, for
+it is only when it is thus placed that a tone at once round, full, and
+pure can be produced.
+
+In order to secure this result, the vocalist or speaker must begin by
+taking breath through the mouth, as we have already insisted, and at
+once, before there is time for any stiffening of parts, commence to
+intonate--_i.e._, as soon as enough air has been inhaled for the
+purpose intended. The correct position is facilitated when one taking
+breath through the mouth acts as if about to _yawn_. If this act be
+well imitated, the student will find, on looking into a hand-glass,
+that the tongue is more or less furrowed behind in the middle--in
+other words, it forms a sort of trough; and the deeper the trough the
+student learns to form at will, the better, for there are times in
+actual singing and speaking when this must be as deep as possible. It
+is clear that in this way the central convexity above, formed by the
+hard palate, forms with the corresponding concavity in the tongue a
+sort of trumpet-shaped organ admirably adapted for the production of
+the desired tone.
+
+The tongue is important in the highest degree not only in the
+formation of vowels, as will be shown more fully in the next chapter,
+but also in shaping consonants.
+
+It is sometimes important to move the tongue from one position to
+another with great rapidity. Such a composition as Figaro's song
+(cavatina) in Rossini's "Barber of Seville" could not be properly sung
+by any one not possessing great control over the tongue. Indeed, this
+composition may be considered a perfect test of the extent to which
+the singer is a master of mouth gymnastics; and this is only one of
+many such works. In like manner, many passages in Shakespeare and
+others of the best writers in all languages can only be spoken with
+effect by those with a mastery over the tongue, lips, soft palate,
+etc., but above all, the tongue.
+
+Important as are the lips, many persons tend to use them too much, and
+the tongue too little, in speaking and singing. They attempt to make
+up for a mouth almost closed in front by the teeth, by excessive
+movements of the lips.
+
+Special tongue and lip practice should be carried out before a mirror.
+The lips should be kept rather close to the gums, and moved away as
+little as possible (_i.e._, the lips), as to do so serves no good
+purpose, and is unpleasant to the eye of the observer. Teeth and lips
+must be regarded, so far as musical sounds are concerned, as danger
+regions--rocks on the shore, against which the singer or speaker may
+shipwreck his tones. His object should be to use them adequately to
+form vowels and consonants--in other words, in the formation, not the
+spoiling, of words, as is so often the case.
+
+We cannot too much insist on both speaker and singer attending to
+forming a connection between his ear and his mouth cavity. He is to
+hear, that he may produce good tones, and the tones cannot be
+correctly formed if they be not well observed. To listen to one's self
+carefully and constantly is a most valuable but little practised art.
+The student should listen as an inexorable critic, accepting only the
+best from himself.
+
+This leads to the consideration of the question of the open mouth. The
+expression "open mouth" means, no doubt, to most people, the open lips
+rather than the open mouth cavity--_i.e._, open in front, the teeth
+well separated. In voice-production, by "open mouth" both open cavity
+and open lips must be understood.
+
+There is a special tendency in many, perhaps in most persons, to close
+the mouth cavity unduly in singing a descending scale. This is often
+accompanied by a bad use of the breath, and a general relaxation of
+the vocal apparatus, which is possibly more frequent in sopranos and
+tenors, whose chief effects are often produced by their high tones.
+But to-day, more than ever, when refined intellectual and emotional
+effects are demanded, is it important that the lower tones, so
+effective in producing emotional states, should not be neglected by
+any singer of whatever voice; while for speakers high tones are really
+comparatively little used.
+
+Much more attention is paid by teachers and students to the open mouth
+at the present time than formerly; in fact, like some other good
+things, it is often overdone. The individuality of the singer and
+speaker must always be borne in mind. If some are obliged to open the
+mouth as much as others, the result will not be happy. Any one may
+demonstrate to himself that the quality of a tone may be at once
+changed by unduly opening or closing the mouth. One may say that _the
+mouth should be sufficiently opened to produce the best possible
+effect_. We have never seen the mouth opened to such an extent that it
+was positively unsightly--reminding one of the rhinoceros at a
+zoo--without feeling that the tone had suffered thereby.
+
+If all would remember that the mouth is best opened by simply
+_dropping the lower jaw_, passively, in the easiest manner possible,
+the difficulties some students experience would disappear. Many act as
+if the process were chiefly an active one, while the reverse is the
+case, as one may observe in the sleeper when the muscles become unduly
+relaxed--a condition that is often accompanied by snoring, which is
+produced by a mouth-breathing that gives rise to vibrations of the
+soft palate. We mean to say that the lower jaw drops when muscles
+relax, and that opening the mouth is largely a passive thing, while
+closing the mouth is an active process.
+
+The position of the head in its influence on tone-production is an
+insufficiently considered subject. It is impossible that the head be
+much raised or lowered without changes being produced in the vocal
+apparatus, especially the larynx, and if the tone is not to suffer in
+consequence, special care must be taken to make compensatory changes
+in the parts affected. It is only necessary to sing any vowel, and
+then raise the chin greatly, to observe a distinct change in the
+quality of the tone, with corresponding sensations in the vocal
+organs.
+
+To speak or sing with the head turned to one side is plainly
+unfavorable to the well-being of the parts used, because it leads to
+compression, which gives rise to that congestion before referred to as
+the source of so many evils in voice-users. To sit at a piano and sing
+is an unphysiological proceeding, because it implies that the head is
+bent in reading the music on a page much lower than the eyes, and
+when, with this, the head is turned to one side to allow of reading
+the music on the distant side of the page, furthest from the middle
+line of the head, the case is still worse. If all who thus use the
+vocal organs do not give evidence of the truth of the above by
+hoarseness, etc., it is simply because in young and vigorous organs
+there may be considerable power of resisting unfavorable influences.
+The student is recommended to use his voice in the standing position
+only, when possible, as all others are more or less unnatural.
+
+One often has the opportunity to observe how the effect is lost when a
+reader bends his head downward to look at his book or manuscript; and
+he himself, if the process is long-continued, will almost certainly
+feel the injurious influence of this acting on his vocal organs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+SOME SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF PRINCIPLES IN TONE PRODUCTION.
+
+
+It is no doubt valuable, indeed for most singers essential, to employ
+a series of elaborate exercises, or _vocalises_, which in some cases
+differ from each other only by slight gradations; but it is to be
+borne in mind that all the actual principles involved can be expressed
+practically in a very few exercises. These are: (1) The single
+sustained tone; (2) the tones of a scale sung so as to be smoothly
+linked together; (3) the same, sung somewhat more independently of
+each other; (4) the same, but each tone beginning and ending very
+suddenly. If the execution of any vocal musical composition be
+analyzed, it will be found that these four methods cover substantially
+the whole ground. As one other is very extensively used in giving
+expression in the form of shading, it is worthy of special
+mention--viz., (5) the swell. All others are modifications of the
+above.
+
+As these methods of tone-production are of so much importance, it will
+be worth while to analyze them. It will be found that in each there is
+a characteristic use of the breathing mechanism. The larynx and the
+resonance-chambers are of course intermediate, as usual, between the
+breath-stream and the result, the tone; without them there could be
+no tones. But if the student have clearly in mind the memory of the
+tone he wishes to produce, including its various properties of pitch,
+volume, quality, etc., it will be found that the point requiring
+strict attention, in production, is the breathing, especially the
+manner of using the expiratory current.
+
+1. The sustained tone requires an amount of breath proportional to its
+length, and the great aim in its production should be to convert, so
+to speak, all the breath into tone, as we explained in a previous
+chapter. This sustained tone, which may be practised with advantage on
+every one of the notes of a scale, is, in the nature of things, the
+very foundation of all good singing and speaking.
+
+2. In the second and third exercises the differences in the method lie
+in the attack and the manner of using the breath. The smoothly linked
+tones are the more difficult for most people, since they require
+special control over the laryngeal mechanism and the breathing
+apparatus. Between the singing of a scale in this manner (_legato_),
+and as it is frequently done, there is the same difference as in
+walking up-stairs as does a perfectly trained ballet-dancer, and this
+act as carried out by a rough countryman, used only to ploughed
+fields, etc. For a perfect execution, the attack, while decisive
+enough, must be most carefully regulated, and the breathing, which is
+always to be considered in a good attack, must be of the most even
+character; the outflow requires the most perfectly controlled
+movements of the respiratory apparatus. In the other form of exercise
+(detached tones) there is often, at least, a little more emphasis on
+the attack, and the breathing is perhaps not always so even, but in
+some passages, in actual singing, the method employed for these less
+closely linked tones is in most respects the same as the last.
+
+3. Very different from all the preceding is the mode of production
+usually designated by musicians _staccato_, _marcato_, etc. The tone
+is attacked suddenly, and as suddenly dropped, which, expressed
+physiologically, means that the entire vocal mechanism is rapidly
+adjusted, one part to another, and as suddenly relaxed; and the one
+seems to be about as difficult as the other. In this a certain sudden
+tension of the vocal apparatus is essential. The whole respiratory
+apparatus, after the breath is taken, is held more or less tense. In
+executing these abrupt (staccato) effects the diaphragm is the chief
+agent, and operates against the column of air in the lungs, the chest
+and abdominal walls being kept more or less tense.
+
+Though this is the case, the voice-producer will succeed best if he
+gives attention to the resonance-chambers, after having put the
+breathing mechanism into the right condition. There should be as
+little movement of the chest walls, diaphragm, larynx, etc., as
+possible. The whole is a question of tension, but not rigidity, and
+the reason the staccato effect is so difficult for most persons is
+that they attempt to accomplish it by _excessive movements_ of the
+breathing apparatus or larynx.
+
+The _mind_ must be relieved of any feeling of undue tension, and the
+result attained by the establishment of a close connection between the
+ear and the resonance-chambers. The first interrupted effects should
+be of very brief duration and as _piano_ as possible, but the attempt
+to produce the real staccato may to great advantage be preceded by an
+exercise recommended in Chapter VIII.,--viz., singing a tone of some
+duration, then suddenly interrupting it, and, with the same breath,
+beginning the tone again as suddenly as it was interrupted. In fact,
+till this can be done with ease the staccato proper should not be
+attempted, for though the principles involved are the same, the
+execution requires far more skill than the exercise recommended for an
+earlier stage, and which it is well to continue throughout.
+
+Simple as these exercises seem from mere description, or as carried
+out with a certain degree of success, perfection in them is not to be
+attained short of years of the most diligent study. How many singers
+living can sing an ascending and a descending scale, in succession,
+with a perfect staccato, to mention no other effect? Yet among all the
+resources of dramatic singing and speaking none is more important than
+this one. What so eloquent as the silence after a perfect stop--a
+complete and satisfactory arrest of the tone? How many modern actors
+are capable of it? How many singers? Instead of the perfect arrest,
+the listener is conscious, not of the rounded and complete tone, but
+of an edge more or less ragged. There is some noise with the actual
+tone.
+
+The above exercises, when carried out to a perfect result, give us
+_bel canto_ singing, for which the old Italian school was so noted,
+and which is now largely a lost art, not so much because the methods
+are not known to teachers, as because students will not do the work
+necessary to attain to this _bel canto_. We seek for short cuts, and
+we get corresponding results.
+
+The _bel canto_ is, simply, beautiful singing, the result of perfect
+technique, and is opposed to effects which are not truly artistic,
+though no doubt often highly expressive to the unmusical and the
+inartistic. They may appeal to us as feats, but they are not artistic
+results, and, as we have before insisted, they are injurious in many
+cases to the vocal organs, while good voice-production strengthens
+them.
+
+5. The swell is simply a modification of the sustained tone. When a
+tone is perfectly sustained, without any change in volume, etc., we
+have a most valuable effect, and one very difficult to achieve,
+because it implies such a steady application of the breath power and
+such nice adjustments of all the parts concerned. To produce a tone
+with variations in it is easy enough, and that is what is usually
+given us instead of the perfectly even tone, reminding us of a
+straight line.
+
+In the swell, as the name suggests, the tone should rise gradually in
+volume or loudness, and as gradually decline. If this can be done
+readily, and continued for several seconds, it will be easy to produce
+other effects, as the sudden swell, but such effects should come
+after, not before, the slower ones. A critical observer soon realizes
+the defects of modern technique when he listens to a singer's tones
+when attempting slow effects, as in a softly sustained melody. Only
+the well-trained vocalist can hope to sing such a melody, especially
+if long sustained, in a way to meet the demands of an exacting ear and
+advanced musical taste. It will be apparent that the swell is the
+basis of shading, a quality that is so highly appreciated in this
+refined age. He who can manage the swell perfectly has the secret of
+this effect in his possession as have none others.
+
+Although we have referred more to the singer than to the speaker, in
+this chapter, it is to be understood that these and all other
+exercises suggested are of great value in forming the voice for public
+speaking. It is not so important, it must be admitted, for the speaker
+as for the singer that his tones be musically perfect, as he relies
+more on ideas than on tones, still, with every idea employed by the
+public speaker there is the inseparable feeling, or "feeling-tone;" so
+that the speaker, as well as the singer, is to some extent dependent
+on tone painting--indeed, must be, if he will be no mere man of wood,
+a "dry stick," to some extent, in spite of the use of appropriate
+language, gestures, etc. There are many avenues to the heart, and that
+by tones cannot with impunity be neglected by the speaker, though for
+his purpose the singing of tones need occupy only weeks or months,
+while for singers, in the case of all who would attain to a high
+degree of excellence, it must extend over years.
+
+
+"FORWARD," "BACKWARD," ETC., PRODUCTION.
+
+Certain expressions are in common use by teachers and singers, such as
+"to direct the breath forward," "forward production," "backward
+production," etc. No doubt such terms may serve a practical purpose,
+though they are often used with lamentable vagueness, but it must be
+understood that they do not answer to any clearly demonstrated
+physiological principles. There is, for example, no clear evidence
+that the breath can be directed toward the hard palate in the
+neighborhood of the teeth, as the drawings sometimes published would
+indicate.
+
+It has already been many times urged that when breathing is
+satisfactory, breath does not escape to any considerable extent into
+the mouth cavity, but that the expiratory blast is used to set the air
+of the resonance-chambers into vibration. The changes that must be
+made in these cavities, to lead to certain effects, are accompanied by
+characteristic sensations, and these, and not the direction of the
+breath, are largely responsible for the ideas on which the above
+expressions rest.
+
+As before shown, the soft palate is constantly being used more or
+less, and when it and the tongue unite in action so as to cut off the
+mouth cavity, or, more strictly, the anterior portion of it, from the
+nasal chambers, a very pronounced modification in the tone results,
+and, of necessity, such actual escape of breath as occurs takes place
+through the nose. In reality, there is a special modification of the
+shape of the resonance-chambers for every tone produced, and
+especially when the color or quality is changed, as well as the pitch.
+There is, therefore, not only "forward" and "backward" but also middle
+production, though, in reality, these terms at best but imperfectly
+describe, even for practical purposes, what happens.
+
+It is to be feared that with some teachers of both singing and
+speaking "forward production" has become a sort of panacea for all
+vocal ills; but it is not, and just the reverse teaching is required
+in certain cases. If a voice be brilliant, yet hard, it will be
+improved by a more backward production, judiciously employed, and in
+this way the French language is often to be recommended to such
+singers, as it favors this backward production, with such use of the
+nasal resonance as mellows the tones. The tenor who has not learned
+the use of the nasal resonance, to give richness to the tones of his
+middle and upper range, has missed a valuable principle. On the other
+hand, for voices that are too soft, lack brightness, and fail in
+carrying-power, a more forward production will often improve the
+quality of the voice greatly. But a little consideration must convince
+the student that if he is to be master of his voice-production
+throughout, if he is to produce tones of every shade of quality, he
+must be able to shift that voice about in every quarter as occasion
+demands; in other words, _all the changes possible in the
+resonance-chambers must be at his command_. Such is the case in the
+very greatest singers of both sexes; and, of course, this applies
+equally, if not still more, to speakers.
+
+When the voice-producer has learned to intonate surely, when the voice
+is "placed," and the secrets of the registers are known to him, he
+will do well to experiment a little, cautiously, with his own
+resonance-chambers, so as to widen his practical knowledge of the
+principles underlying the modification of tones. Why should the
+student of the voice remain a mere imitator, when the one who works in
+any other direction is, or should be, encouraged to be an original
+investigator? The inability of students to judge of either the grounds
+for or the value of the exercises and methods recommended to them by
+their teachers seems to the author to indicate a regrettable state of
+things, which teachers of every form of vocal culture should endeavor
+to remedy. Some teachers do not use the terms "backward" and
+"forward," but "darkening" and "brightening" the voice; and, of
+course, the result of a certain use of the tongue and soft palate is
+to darken or veil the quality of the voice. But the attentive reader
+will scarcely mistake the author's meaning in the above and other
+references to this subject.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to point out that in what has been said no
+encouragement is intended to be given to the nasal twang, or any thing
+resembling it--and it is easy to so use the nasal resonance that it
+becomes a defect; but the value of a judicious use of the nose in
+singing and speaking is, we are convinced, not as well known in vocal
+teaching as it deserves to be.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The relation of vowels and consonants to singing and speaking.
+Intonation should be by vowels only, at first. Consonants are a
+necessary evil in singing, but all-important in the formation of
+words--_i.e._, in imparting ideas.
+
+Every language has its own special merits and defects for the purposes
+of song and speech. That language which abounds in vowels is the best
+adapted for vocal exercises, etc.
+
+It is a cardinal error to begin a course in speaking and especially
+singing with exercises based on words. Vowel sounds should be
+exclusively employed at first. In the formation of vowels and
+consonants the resonance-chambers are especially involved.
+
+The tongue, soft palate, and lips are the most movable parts, and so
+have the largest share in giving color and meaning to sounds--_i.e._,
+they are the organs most important in the formation of the elements of
+words.
+
+The "open mouth" should mean open mouth cavity and duly separated
+lips.
+
+It is important that there be control of all parts of the
+resonance-chambers, and always in relation to other parts of the vocal
+apparatus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.
+
+
+The subject treated in this chapter may be made dry enough; but if the
+student will, while reading the descriptions given, endeavor to form
+the sounds described, observing at the same time his own
+resonance-chambers (mouth parts) carefully in a hand-glass, and then
+follow up the applications made, the reader's experience will be, in
+all probability, like the author's: the more the subject is studied
+the more interesting does it become, especially if one experiments
+with his own resonance apparatus.
+
+Vowels and consonants are the elements of syllables, and words are
+composed of the latter. However pure a vowel is, it is accompanied in
+its utterance by some noise; a consonant, by relatively a great deal
+of noise.
+
+A _noise_, in distinction to a musical tone, is characterized by
+irregularity as regards the vibrations that reach the ear, while in
+the case of a tone a definite number of vibrations strikes against the
+drum-head of the ear within a given time; so that so far as syllables
+and words, even vowels, are concerned, we are not dealing with pure
+tones.
+
+For the formation of each vowel a definite form of the
+resonance-chambers is essential. In uttering, either for the purposes
+of speech or song, the vowel _u_ (_oo_), the mouth cavity has the form
+of a large flask such as chemists use for their manipulations, but the
+neck in this case is short. The whole resonance cavity is elongated,
+and the lips are protruded; the larynx is depressed, and the root of
+the tongue and the fauces (folds from the soft palate, usually spoken
+of as the "pillars of the fauces") approach. The pitch of this vowel
+is very low.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 56 (Beaunis). Shows the position of parts in
+sounding the vowel _a_. By comparing this illustration with those
+following, the relatively greater size of the cavity of the mouth in
+this case will be evident. The reader is recommended to at once test
+the correctness of these representations by sounding the vowels, and
+observing the parts of his own vocal mechanism with a hand-mirror.]
+
+In _[=o]_ the lips are nearer to the teeth, and the neck of the flask
+is shorter and wider; the larynx is somewhat more elevated than in the
+last case, and the pitch of the sound is higher.
+
+When sounding _a_ (as in _father_) the mouth cavity has the shape of
+a funnel, wide in front; the tongue lies rather flat on the floor of
+the mouth, the lips are wide apart, and the soft palate is somewhat
+raised.
+
+In _[=a]_ (as in _fate_) there is some modification of the last, the
+tongue and larynx being more raised. The pitch of this vowel is higher
+than is that of the more open _a_.
+
+In the case of _[=e]_ (as in _me_) the flask is relatively small, and
+the neck is long and narrow, the larynx much raised, the lips drawn
+back against the teeth, and the tongue greatly elevated, so as to form
+the narrow neck of the flask. The pitch of this vowel is high.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 57 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of parts
+in sounding _I_. In sounding _E_ the position is a good deal like that
+for _I_.]
+
+When sounding _[=i]_ (as in _mine_) the cavity of the mouth behind
+resembles a small-bellied flask with a long, narrow neck, the larynx
+is at its highest, and the lips assume a position much as in the case
+of _[=e]_; between the hard palate and the back of the tongue there is
+only a narrow passage--a mere furrow. The pitch of this vowel is also
+high.
+
+It is thus seen that every vowel has its characteristic quality and
+pitch, the order as regards the latter being from below upward, _u_,
+_o_, _a_, _[=a]_, _e_, _i_.
+
+That the mouth cavity really can act as a resonance-chamber can be
+easily demonstrated by holding a small vibrating tuning-fork before
+the open mouth, and varying the shape and size of the cavity till the
+sound of the fork is observed to be suddenly increased in volume. The
+cavity then is a resonance-chamber for the fork, and thus intensifies
+its sound; in other words, the air in the mouth cavity vibrates in
+harmony with the tuning-fork.
+
+To demonstrate in a simple manner that each vowel has its own pitch,
+the mouth cavity is put into the form usual in sounding the vowel, and
+the finger is filliped against the cheek, when a tone answering in
+pitch to that of the vowel in question results. The demonstration is
+easier with the lower-pitched, broader vowels, but the correctness of
+the order of the pitch mentioned above can thus be shown to be
+established.
+
+Some very important principles for the speaker and singer hinge upon
+the above-mentioned facts. It follows, for example, that it is
+impossible to give a vowel its _perfect_ sound in any but one
+position of the mouth parts, so that for a singer to utter a word
+containing the vowel _[=u]_ (_oo_) at a high pitch is a practical
+impossibility. The listener may know what syllable is meant, and
+overlook the defect either from habit or from an uncritical attitude,
+but composers of vocal music should bear such facts in mind and not
+impose impossibilities on singers. At the same time, the vocalist, in
+order to satisfy a modern audience, is obliged to sound every word and
+every syllable as correctly as possible, even if the tone suffer
+somewhat thereby. It is wonderful how fully the best poets have, with
+the insight of genius, adapted their words (vowels) to the ideas they
+wish to convey, and had all composers of vocal music done the same,
+the path of the singer would not have been strewn with so many
+thorns. The difficulties in the case of the speaker are similar, but
+less marked, as his range is so much more limited as regards pitch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 58 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of the
+parts in sounding _OU_.]
+
+This subject has also most important bearings on the learning of
+languages. One is born with tendencies toward certain mouth positions,
+etc., and from infancy he is constantly using the resonance-chambers
+in certain characteristic ways. In the course of years these
+positions, etc., become such fixed habits that it is difficult to
+change them, so that for this as well as many other reasons the
+learning of languages by persons beyond a certain age is a difficult
+matter. But to all students of a foreign tongue it is really essential
+to explain the physical mechanism by which the various sounds are
+made. The author has known an adult to struggle for months with French
+and German pronunciation, and get into a state of discouragement,
+fearing that he never would be able to learn the languages in which he
+wished to speak and sing, when a few moments spent in explaining just
+what we have written above for vowels, and what we have earlier and
+shall now more fully set forth in this chapter as regards consonants,
+have been followed by the lifting of the cloud from the mind and of a
+load of heaviness from the heart.
+
+The learner should (1) hear the sound (elemental--a vowel, say) from
+the lips of the teacher, and actually perceive just what that sound
+is--_i.e._, he must really hear it; (2) observe the shape of the
+resonance-chambers; (3) try to produce the same shape of his own, and
+under the guidance of his ear and his eye (watching the mouth of the
+teacher) so utter the sound correctly. This sound should be fixed in
+the mind, and the ear trained by comparing it with other sounds, as
+the wise teacher will do, and require imitations. Any language can be
+pronounced correctly in a short time, if this method be followed. It
+is, indeed, the only one that rests on science and common sense. The
+student when away from the teacher, after he has once learned to form
+the vowels correctly, should practise with a hand-glass before him for
+some time, at least.
+
+The learning of a new language is the acquiring of a new mouth, or, at
+all events, entirely new methods of using the old one. In reality,
+however, this is not so fully the case as it at first seems. In all
+the languages one wishes to acquire, the same vowels occur, and for
+the learner it is often a question of lower or higher pitch, or
+greater or less breadth, though all this involves the formation of new
+habits and the fighting of old ones, and often in the case of the
+adult the struggle is a long-continued and severe one. Some nations
+speak at a lower pitch than others, and if a foreigner enunciate ever
+so well, yet at the pitch of his own and not that of the new language,
+his utterance may seem foreign. The Germans speak at a much lower
+pitch than Americans, and their tongue, even when grammatically spoken
+by the latter, is apt to have a sort of foreign flavor. It slightly
+disturbs the listener, who is not accustomed to hear his mother-tongue
+transposed into another key, so to speak.
+
+We have known a learner to derive great benefit from having it pointed
+out to him that certain of his vowel sounds would at once cease to be
+incorrect if their pitch were altered. Of course, in doing this, there
+were at once many changes made in the resonance-chambers, in order to
+get the changed pitch. Pitch, accent, and duration of the sound throw
+much light on the subject of dialect, as a little analysis of Irish or
+Scotch will show.
+
+Consonants are, as we have already said, noisy nuisances for the
+singer, but indispensable for word-formation, and so for human
+intercourse. Each has also its own pitch, and investigators have come
+to a measurable degree of agreement on this subject.
+
+To illustrate: Madame Seiler found that _r_ and _s_ are separated from
+each other by an interval of many octaves: [Illustration: C], _r_;
+[Illustration: b-flat'''], _s_. The latter, _s_, cannot be sounded
+without more or less of a hissing sound, suggesting escape of air,
+which is very unpleasant to the ear, and, unfortunately, these hissing
+sounds are very common in English, so that the speaker or singer is
+called upon to use all his art to overcome this disagreeable effect.
+This is also prominent in _whispering_--_i.e._, the escape of breath,
+with its corresponding effect on the ear. Whispering is effected
+chiefly, if not solely, by the resonance-chambers, the vocal bands
+taking only the slightest part, if any at all.
+
+The physiologist Br�cke, treating of the utterance of consonants,
+considered that they were formed by the more or less complete closure
+of certain doors in the course of the outgoing blast of air, and we
+have already referred to a consonant as an unpleasant interrupter,
+musically considered. Perhaps we should be disposed to compare them to
+the people that talk during the performance at a concert, did we not
+wish to avoid bringing such useful members of the speech community
+into undeserved disrepute.
+
+Consonants, like vowels, have their own mouth positions. This follows
+from their having pitch, but, in addition, they require the use of the
+tongue, lips, etc., in a special way. The principal articulation
+positions are the following: (1) Between the lips; (2) between the
+tongue and the hard palate; (3) between the tongue and the soft
+palate; (4) between the vocal bands.
+
+To indicate this, certain terms have been employed, and as they are in
+common use by those who treat of this subject, it will be well to
+explain them.
+
+_Explosives_ are consonants in uttering which there is complete
+closure with a sudden opening of the resonance-chambers in front, as
+in _b_ and _p_.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 59 (Beaunis). Representation of the relative
+position of the parts and the resulting shape of the sounding chamber
+when the consonants indicated are formed vocally. Verification of the
+truthfulness of the illustrations will prove profitable.]
+
+_Vibratives_ call for an almost complete closure of the door and a
+vibration of its margin, as in _r_.
+
+_Aspirates_ partly close the opening, which is at once suddenly opened
+again, as in _f_, _v_, etc.
+
+_Resonants_ close the mouth, so the sound must find its way out
+through the nose, as in _m_, _n_, _ng_.
+
+The above may be put in tabular form as follows:
+
+Articulation
+Positions.     Explosives.   Aspirates.          Vibrates.     Resonants.
+
+1              _b, p_        _f, v, w_                         _m_
+2              _t, d_        _s, z, l, sch, th_                _n_
+3              _k, g_        _j, ch_             Palatal _r_   _ng_
+4                            _h_
+
+Of course the above is only one of many possible classifications, and
+expresses only a part of the whole truth, for the formation of a
+single consonant is a very complicated process, the exact nature of
+which can only be very imperfectly analyzed and expressed in words.
+
+In complexity of action the resonance-chambers are wonderful beyond
+any instrument devised by man, and the more one studies the subject,
+the greater the wonder becomes at the amount and complexity of the
+work done in a single day's speaking. It is also easy to understand
+how difficult it is to attain to absolutely perfect results. To enable
+one's fellow-creatures to understand him in even his mother-tongue
+involves an amount of effort and energy, a complexity and facility in
+function, that can only be reached after months of practice in
+infancy; but to attain to that degree of perfection that makes an
+artist in speaking, how much greater is the expenditure in vital
+capital! Is not the result when attained worth the best efforts of the
+most talented individual?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+FURTHER THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION OF VOWELS AND
+CONSONANTS.
+
+
+The reader will now be prepared to consider the answer to be given to
+the question as to the _vowels_ most suitable for practice in
+intonation. Plainly, _a_ (_ah_) puts the resonance-chambers into the
+easiest and best position to form a good pure tone. The pitch of the
+vowel is intermediate--not very low and not high in the scale. For the
+higher tones, evidently, _[=a]_, _e_, and _i_ are better than _a_
+(_ah_), much less _o_ and _u_, which are quite out of the question,
+comparatively speaking.
+
+However, as music must be sung with vowels in every position, it is
+plainly necessary to learn to sound all the vowels well throughout the
+scale. In fact, one might wisely, after preliminary practice on _a_,
+begin a scale below with _u_, then go on to _o_, _a_, _[=a]_, _e_, and
+_i_.
+
+Some have recommended that the vocalist begin his scale practices with
+_a_, and when the higher middle tones are reached, that he use _[=a]_,
+and for head tones _[=a]_ and _e_, an advice which is obviously sound,
+as it is based on scientific principles.
+
+Sounds that are very expressive in public utterance, whether in speech
+or song, are _l_ and especially _r_. In ordinary speech most persons
+use only the guttural _r_, in the formation of which the soft palate
+takes a prominent part; but for the speaker and the singer the lingual
+_r_ is often much more effective. It is produced by the vibration of
+the tip of the tongue, and can only be formed well, in most cases,
+after long-continued and persevering practice.
+
+Certain consonants tend to nasality. These are _m_, _n_, _ng_, and of
+these all persons who are disposed to this production to the point of
+excess must especially beware. These letters, with such people, should
+be given a rapid and forward production, while singers with hard and
+metallic voices will do well to sing syllables beginning with these
+consonants, such as _maw_, _naw_, _ang_, _eng_, etc.
+
+According to the teachings of physics, the quality of a tone is
+determined largely by the number and variety of the _overtones_
+accompanying the fundamental tone. Practically all musical tones,
+whether vocal or instrumental, are made up of the ground tone and
+certain others less loud and prominent, and the latter are the
+overtones. These may be very numerous, and some are favorable and
+others unfavorable to excellence in quality. It has been thought, as
+the result of scientific investigation, that when the first octave of
+the fundamental tone and its fifth interval are prominent, the voice
+is soft, and with the fifth and seventh well in evidence, the voice is
+bright and clear.
+
+It might be said that the voice-user should endeavor to keep out of
+his voice certain overtones, especially those which are not within
+the range of our modern harmonies. A harsh voice is one in which such
+unharmonic intervals preponderate.
+
+The most beautiful quality of tone is produced by keeping intensity
+within limits, and by a sudden, elastic attack, a point on which we
+dwelt at some length before; but this only emphasizes the importance
+of all who use the voice employing, not only when beginners, but
+throughout their career, exercises with vowels alone. Only in this way
+will the association between the hearing of pure tones and their
+production be established.
+
+Such exercises are also necessary to give good carrying power to the
+voice. If more attention were given to this point, and less to the
+production of mere volume of sound, it would be well for the best
+musical art. Naturally, the higher the pitch of tones, within certain
+limits, the greater their carrying power, and the reverse, of course,
+with the lower tones; so that it is very important that the speaker
+and singer use all reasonable means to produce these lower tones well,
+else they are muffled, and the words associated with them are not
+heard. This principle should be borne in mind especially by tenors and
+light sopranos, in whom the lower tones are not usually the best, or
+the easiest to produce; so that a good attack and careful and neat
+syllable-formation, with all attention to both vowels and consonants,
+should be especially studied, and, above all, in tones below about G
+on the treble clef. The tendency to close the mouth, especially in a
+descending scale, below this point, and to confound blurring with soft
+(_piano_) singing, is common. A _piano_ tone should be formed with
+especial care as to attack, open mouth, etc., and all words associated
+with the duller, lower-pitched vowels be spoken with the greatest
+distinctness, both in singing and speaking. At the same time, the
+barytone and contralto should not boast themselves over the tenor or
+soprano, if they are more successful with lower tones and the words
+associated with them, for the latter class of singers can often revel
+like birds in regions not approachable by the deeper-voiced singers.
+Each in its own order!
+
+It follows that if the organs of speech are used so as to produce
+vowels, consonants, and their combinations, with unusual and, for
+practical purposes, unnecessary distinctness, the actual performance,
+as demanded by a critical ear, will be easier. One that can run two
+hundred yards as readily as another can one hundred is in a better
+position for the shorter sprint than the other man; hence the wisdom
+of the singer and speaker practising first with unusual and indeed
+unnecessary distinctness, so far as the listener is concerned, in
+order that he may satisfy even the critical with _ease_--that
+all-important principle in art.
+
+All persons must, of necessity, speak in some register, and even an
+ear but little cultivated can recognize that the pitch and quality of
+the tones of adult males, adult females, and children differ greatly
+from each other.
+
+Madame Seiler has thus expressed herself on this subject:
+
+"Women use mostly tones of the second chest and first falsetto
+registers, sometimes also those of the first chest register. Men speak
+an octave lower than women, and use mostly the upper half of the chest
+register. In public speaking, as well as on the stage, the second
+chest register is used by men, and sometimes also the lowest tones of
+the voice. The second falsetto and head registers are used only by
+little children."
+
+It will be remembered that Madame Seiler's "second chest" corresponds
+to the upper chest tones of some writers, and that "falsetto" is
+equivalent to "middle," as generally employed.
+
+Ordinary speech is economical, and a range of very few tones, usually
+not more than two to four intervals of the scale, suffices, but on the
+stage, and by some of our best public speakers, twice this range may
+be exceeded. In nature, the cat, under the excitement of a heated
+interview with a fellow-vocalist, may pass through an entire octave.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The shape of the resonance-chambers varies in the formation of vowels
+and consonants, which may be classified accordingly, or according to
+their pitch.
+
+Practical implications for singing and speaking, the learning of
+foreign languages, the study of dialects, etc.
+
+The importance of special attention to those words containing the
+low-pitched and dark vowels, especially when low in the scale, and
+when sung _piano_.
+
+Overtones, and their bearing on the quality of the voice.
+
+The carrying power of the voice, determined by the method of its
+production, is more important than its volume.
+
+The value of practice with the use of a mirror, and of the formation
+of the sounds in practice with a distinctness in excess of the actual
+needs of the listener. Ease is essential to art.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE HEARING APPARATUS AND HEARING IN MUSIC.
+
+
+So important are the ingoing sensory messages (impulses) that
+originate in the ear, as a guide not only in the appreciation of
+musical sounds but in those movements on which all musical execution,
+all vocal effects, whether of song or speech, depend, that we think
+the reader will welcome a chapter on the ear, even though it be no
+part of the vocal apparatus proper.
+
+The essential mechanism used by Nature to give us the sensation of
+sound consists of (1) a complicated form of nerve-ending; (2) an
+auditory nerve leading from, and a continuation, in a certain sense,
+of, the latter; (3) nerve tracts and hearing centres in the brain. The
+whole constitutes a very complicated mechanism, but the principles on
+which it is constructed may be reduced to a few. Mechanical or
+physical principles, as well as physiological ones, are involved.
+
+The entire apparatus has for its purpose the conversion of the
+vibrations of the air into the vibrations of a fluid, which thus
+stimulates the end-organ, and brings about those changes in the nerve
+which result in corresponding changes in the brain, that are
+associated, in some way we cannot explain, to that state of
+consciousness we term hearing. Complicated as is the auditory
+apparatus, it can be readily enough comprehended, if the reader
+accompany the perusal of the text by an examination of the figures
+introduced.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 60. (Beaunis). In this illustration parts are
+exposed to view by the removal of others. The whole of the inner ear
+lies within bone, which in this figure is cut away. The drum-head
+(membrana tympani); the Eustachian tube, extending from the back of
+the throat, and opening into the middle ear; the semicircular canals
+(which are not concerned with hearing, but with the maintenance of
+equilibrium); the cochlea, (snail-shell), which contains the various
+parts most essential to hearing, as the "hair-cells," the terminals of
+the auditory nerve, the latter nerve itself, and several other
+parts--are well shown. Should the Eustachian tube be closed owing to
+swelling of its lining mucous membrane, a certain amount of temporary
+deafness may result, because, the air within the middle ear (drum)
+being absorbed, and fresh air not being admitted, the outer air
+presses against the drum-head uncounteracted, and renders the
+conducting mechanism too rigid.]
+
+Anatomists speak of (1) an outer or external ear, (2) a middle ear,
+drum, or tympanum, and (3) an inner ear, or labyrinth.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 61 (Beaunis). Diagrammatic representation of the
+auditory apparatus. The external, middle, and internal ear are
+separated by dotted lines. A, the external; B, the middle; C, the
+internal ear; 1, auricle; 2, external auditory meatus; 3, tympanum
+(middle ear), with its chain of bones, 7, 8, 9. Into it opens 5,
+Eustachian tube, leading from back of throat; 4, membrana tympani or
+drum-head, closing the middle ear off from the external ear. The most
+important part of the inner ear is 13, the cochlear canal, in which
+the "hair-cells" are found, around which latter the final branches of
+the auditory nerve end. Above it is the scala vestibuli and below it
+the scala tympani, passages filled with fluid. The openings to these
+canals are closed with membrane. Attached to the membrane of the oval
+opening is the stapes (stirrup). It is thus seen that vibrations
+communicated to the chain of bones from the tympanic membrane are
+passed on to the fluid filling the passages (scal�) of the cochlea,
+and thus affect the hair-cells, and so the nerve of hearing, and
+through it the brain. The parts indicated by 12 and 16 are important
+in the maintenance of equilibrium, but are not concerned in hearing.]
+
+The purpose of the _outer ear_ is to collect the air vibrations and
+convey them to the middle ear, which passes them on to the inner ear,
+where they produce the vibrations in the fluid therein contained and
+which affect the end-organ and nerve-endings, and thus initiate the
+essential physiological processes in the nerve of hearing. It follows
+that we have an instance of the conversion of one kind of vibrations,
+those of the air, into another kind, those of fluid, which latter
+furnish a sufficiently delicate stimulus or excitation of the fine
+hair-like extensions (_processes_) of the cells known as
+_hair-cells_, about which the nerves in their final smallest branches
+wrap themselves.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 62 (Beaunis). Two of the bones of the ear (the
+malleus or hammer and the incus or anvil) enlarged. These small
+ear-bones have joints like larger ones. The line of conveyance of
+vibrations is indicated by B A.]
+
+When we ourselves hear sounds when under water, we are affected
+directly by the vibrations of that water; in this case we, in our
+whole body, represent the hair-cells which are stimulated by the fluid
+(_endolymph_) which surrounds them.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 63 (Beaunis). The complete chain of bones. The
+arrows indicate in a general way the direction of the line of
+transmission of vibrations from the tympanic membrane on to the fluid
+within the passages of the inner ear.]
+
+The external ear, well developed in many of the lower animals, being
+often highly movable, is practically immovable in man, and is wholly
+wanting in some animals, as the frog. The circular plate one sees
+behind the eye of the frog is the drum-head of the middle ear.
+
+From the _drum-head_, or _tympanic membrane_, the vibrations, which
+are now those of a solid, are communicated by a series of very small
+bones, most beautifully linked together by perfect joints, to another
+membrane, which closes a small hole in the outer wall of the inner
+ear.
+
+The _middle ear_, it will be seen, is a drum with its stretched
+membrane like any other drum, and it too has a communication with the
+exterior air through a tube, the _Eustachian tube_, which leads from
+the drum into the back part of the throat. When one has a cold, the
+mucous membrane which lines this tube may become swollen or even
+catarrhal, and be so closed that no air can enter from the throat; the
+air already within the drum being absorbed, the outer air presses
+unduly against the drum-head, with the result that the whole
+conducting apparatus is put more or less out of condition, and a
+certain degree of deafness naturally results. The tension of the
+drum-head is regulated by a muscle attached to the bone which is
+connected with the inner part of this membrane.
+
+It is now easy to understand how any unfavorable condition of the
+throat may affect the ear, or that of the ear influence the throat.
+
+In the hearing mechanism of man, the _inner ear_, or _labyrinth_, well
+so named because of its complexity, is really situated in the inner
+hardest portion of the "temporal" bone. It consists of a membrane and
+a bony portion, the former containing the essential mechanism of
+hearing, the latter being chiefly protective to it. The membranous
+portion consists of a series of canals communicating with some
+similarly membranous sacs, the whole being surrounded by and filled
+with fluid. These latter communicate with an extension termed the
+_cochlea_, which contains a central canal in which that collection of
+cells is found which constitutes the _end-organ_, among them the
+hair-cells, about which the nerve ends.
+
+This end-organ in the cochlea may be compared very fitly to the
+telephone which receives the message, and that portion of the brain
+where the auditory tract ends, to the telephone at the distant end of
+the path, the listener there representing consciousness. The auditory
+path within the brain is long and complicated, there being, in fact,
+many way-stations through which the message passes before it reaches
+the final one.
+
+The auditory nerve proceeds first to the lowest or hindermost portion
+of the brain, known as the _bulb_, or _medulla oblongata_; thence a
+continuation of the nerve tract passes forward to a central region,
+the _posterior corpora quadrigemina_, then, by a new relay of
+nerve-fibres, to the highest and most important part of the brain,
+that most closely associated with consciousness, the _cortex of the
+temporal lobe_, where there is situated the most important of all the
+centres of hearing.
+
+It will be apparent, on consideration, that "hearing" is a very
+elaborate result, the outcome of many physiological processes
+(initiated by physical ones), the initial and final being better
+understood than the intermediate ones.
+
+One asks, with natural curiosity and interest, "Is the auditory
+apparatus of the highly endowed musician different from and superior
+to that of the individual with little talent for music?"
+
+It is not easy to give a short and definite answer to this question.
+No special examinations of the essential parts of the ears of eminent
+musicians have been made, so far as we are aware, and as yet few of
+the brains of this class of men. It is, however, practically certain
+that there is a brain development peculiar to the born musician, and
+that this, whatever else it may be, involves a special excellence of
+the auditory path within the brain, rather than any unusual
+development of the essential parts of the ear. The individual who is a
+musical prodigy has, without question, _a more perfect connection_
+established between his auditory apparatus, in the widest sense of the
+word, and those muscular mechanisms employed in the execution of
+music, whether vocal or instrumental, than is the case with the
+average man. Usually, with this goes a wide series of brain
+associations or connections, we may presume, between the auditory
+tracts and other regions, for without this it is difficult to explain
+temperament and artistic perception. That they are not necessarily
+associated, however, is clear from the fact that some have a high
+degree of executive ability and little real artistic development.
+
+It must never be forgotten, however, that whatever else music may be,
+it is essentially and primarily a sensuous experience. The one who
+enjoys music must feel its sensuous charm, and the artist who
+furnishes that which is enjoyed addresses himself primarily to our
+auditory mechanism. Executing music is hearing music, and enjoying
+music is hearing music, though both may involve much more than this,
+and herein individuals must differ greatly, owing to education, past
+experience, etc.; but all who have the power to really appreciate
+music must be capable of the sensuous enjoyment of tones. In this all
+everywhere find something in common; often that which we enjoy is of
+the most varied nature.
+
+One thing is certain: those connections between the hearing and the
+motor processes we term singing or playing should be made early in
+life, if they are to reach that degree of facility and general
+excellence essential to success. We think there is good reason to
+begin voice-production early, as well as the practice of an
+instrument, though we do not maintain that the argument is as strong
+in the one case as in the other.
+
+That the "ear for music" may be well developed, in the sense that one
+may know perfectly what is correct in time and tune, without the power
+to execute well, there can be no doubt, as witness the case of many
+composers, but the reverse does not hold. There can be no doubt that
+_the nervous impulses that pass from the ear to the brain are of all
+sensory messages the most important guides for the outgoing ones that
+determine the necessary movements_.
+
+The author would advise every serious student of music to believe in
+the unlimited capacity of his own ear for improvement. The lack of
+"ear" of many people is due largely, if not solely, to inattention.
+Indeed, an excess of temperament may be a positive hindrance to
+musical development, both as regards appreciation and execution, for
+it may be accompanied by inattentive listening and consequent
+inadequate hearing. On the other hand, no one should, because he has a
+good faculty for time and tune and the memorizing of airs, conclude
+that he is an artist. The one faculty may exist altogether apart from
+the capacity for the highest art. It is a matter of history that
+several vocalists now before the public, and who rank in the highest
+class of musical artists, displayed at one period of their career a
+lack of perception as to pitch or rhythm that was, to say the least,
+very discouraging, and which, but for their force of character, would
+have kept them from ever being eminent.
+
+If one have neither ear, temperament, nor artistic perception, he
+should not waste his energies on musical study--at least, not extended
+efforts; but if he have the two last, and but a moderate ear, he will
+do well to try to improve the lower for the sake of the higher
+qualities.
+
+In children the difficulty often is due wholly to inattention.
+
+Those who would cultivate the speaking voice are frequently
+discouraged from lack of "ear," and when urged to follow such
+exercises as have been recommended in this work, complain that they
+have not the "ear" to do so. To such the author would say, "Persevere;
+believe in your ear; learn to listen--_i.e._, to attend to sounds
+having musical qualities."
+
+Besides, it must not be forgotten that in addition to the
+"ear"--_i.e._, the ability to appreciate relative pitch, tune, and
+rhythm--there is also the entirely distinct faculty that appreciates
+the _quality_ of sounds. The latter is really more important for the
+speaker, who can succeed with a very moderate development of the
+faculty for time and tune, but to whom the power to appreciate the
+_quality_ of sounds is essential.
+
+No doubt the first and fundamental qualities in the make-up of a
+musician are the capacities to appreciate pitch and rhythm, but no
+result worthy the term "artistic" can be produced in which attention
+is not given to the quality of sounds, hence the technical and
+artistic should be developed together. The lack of attention on the
+part of a certain class of vocal teachers to the quality of the tones
+produced is one of the special defects in the instruction of the day.
+
+In the early weeks of vocal training, when the student should intone
+only before his teacher, the former need not be left without musical
+culture, and it is for each teacher to give the pupil that training,
+at this time, which will forestall disgust and impatience at the
+apparent slowness of his progress. At this time much can be done to
+cultivate the ear in all its various powers.
+
+And the author would like to put in a plea for the development of the
+_appreciation of music_. Whatever difference of opinion there may be
+as to choral singing, singing in schools, etc., there can be no
+question that time spent in developing the appreciation of musical art
+is well spent, and makes for the development and provides for the
+innocent and elevating sources of enjoyment of a people. If some of
+the time spent in bad piano-playing were devoted to the development of
+the power to appreciate and delight in really good music, including
+the sweet sounds of speech and song, the world would thereby be
+greatly the gainer.
+
+The author would impress on all students of music, and of the voice as
+used in both singing and speaking, the paramount importance of
+learning early to listen most attentively to others when executing
+music; and, above all, to listen with the greatest care to themselves,
+and never to accept any musical tone that does not fully satisfy the
+ear. When one considers how much harshness is passed as singing or
+speaking, by the student, even by those who pose as public singers and
+speakers, one must often wonder where they keep their ears. As a
+matter of fact, the ideal listeners are rare, and the critical ear,
+like a sentinel on guard, is among students, really seldom to be met
+with, if one extend the term "listening" to mean giving attention
+equally and in the most critical way, not only to pitch and rhythm,
+but also to the quality of sounds, the effects of pauses, shading,
+etc., all of which are perceived through the ear.
+
+If such listening requires, as it does, the closest attention, it must
+give rise to fatigue, so that it is clear that the lengthy practices
+some undertake are against the plainest laws of physiology and
+psychology, even if the hearing processes alone be considered; but as
+we have before shown, there are other reasons why such long-continued
+exercises as some attempt are in every way unwise; in fact, in the
+author's opinion, they are in the musical world a great evil under the
+sun.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+Hearing is finally a psychological or mental condition, a state of
+consciousness, but is always associated with certain physiological
+processes, which are initiated by a physical stimulus in the form of
+waves in a fluid surrounding the hair-cells of the auditory end-organ;
+which waves may again be traced to the movements of the bones of the
+middle ear, caused by the swinging to and fro of the drum-head, owing
+to vibrations of the air produced by a sounding body.
+
+The ear is anatomically divisible into external, middle (tympanum or
+drum), and internal (labyrinth). The outer ear collects the
+vibrations, the middle ear conducts them, and the internal converts
+them into a special physiological condition of the hair-cells and the
+auditory nerve. This condition is communicated to the other links in
+the anatomical hearing chain, until the highest part of the brain, or
+cortex, is reached. Hearing, from the physiological point of view, is
+the outcome of a series of processes having their development in a
+corresponding series of centres, or collections of nerve-cells.
+
+The perceptions associated with the ear, in the mind of the musician,
+are those of the pitch, rhythm (and time), and quality of tones. The
+loudness of a tone is, of course, recognized by the ear also, but this
+is hardly a musical quality proper. In reality, like all that belongs
+to hearing, these perceptions are the result of a series of
+physiological processes, in which the ear takes an important but not
+the sole or even the chief part, which is to be referred to the brain.
+
+It is practically important to recognize that these various qualities
+are distinct perceptions, and that the "ear" for relative pitch may
+exist well developed and the color, clang, or quality of a tone be
+imperfectly recognized, and the reverse.
+
+The most comprehensive ear-training involves attention to each of the
+above characters of tones, and then uniting them in a musically
+perfect result. Lack of "ear" is often simply want of attention to the
+characters of sounds.
+
+The auditory messages are the most important of all the nervous
+impulses that reach the brain, for the musician, whether appreciation
+or execution be considered. They are the chief guides for the outgoing
+nervous impulses to the muscles.
+
+The good executant must, above all, be a good listener.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL HYGIENE AND RELATED SUBJECTS.
+
+
+Hygiene deals with the laws by the observance of which health is to be
+maintained and disease prevented; but as such laws must be based on
+physiological principles, hygiene follows from physiology.
+Accordingly, throughout this work our method has been to point out the
+correct way as soon as the physiological principle has been laid down,
+so that the reason for the recommendation made would be obvious.
+However, it may be well if now some of the more important tendencies,
+errors, bad habits, and dangers to be guarded against by the singer
+and speaker be pointed out afresh, briefly, with some additional
+observations that experience has shown to be of practical importance.
+
+Hygiene, for all persons, should, in the widest sense, refer to the
+whole man, his body, intellect, feelings, and will, though the term
+has usually been restricted to the preservation of bodily health. But,
+fortunately, it is being more and more recognized that man is a whole,
+and that one part of him cannot suffer without the others
+participating, so we shall pursue the broader course, and consider the
+general welfare of the voice-user as properly coming under
+consideration.
+
+He, being a human being like his fellows, must, of course, observe the
+same laws for the preservation of his general health as they, but just
+because he comes before the public, his case is peculiar, and he must,
+in addition, take special precautions to avoid every form of temporary
+or permanent disability.
+
+There is, of course, much in the life of a public speaker or singer
+that conduces to health of body and mind, such as the vigorous use of
+the breathing apparatus, the favorable effect of praise expressed in
+one way and another, etc., but even with the most successful, all this
+may be more than counter-balanced by other unfavorable factors. When
+one considers the necessary travelling, often including night
+journeys, the late hours, the concentrated efforts essential to
+success, the uncertainty of the public taste, the rivalries,
+jealousies, exhaustion, etc., often associated with a public career,
+it must be clear that no one should embark upon it without counting
+well the cost. For one with mediocre ability, imperfect training,
+voice of very limited range, power, and quality, feeble will, an
+imperfectly developed body, and indifferent health, to enter on a
+public career is practically to court failure and to ensure
+disappointment and unhappiness.
+
+It is to be remembered that never was the world so exacting of the
+artist, and never were there so many aspirants to popular favor, so
+that the competition in the ranks of the actors and singers, at
+least, is very keen. At the same time, there is room for a certain
+class of persons--viz., those with good health, excellent physique,
+first-rate ability, self-control, sound moral principles,
+perseverance, industry, musical feeling, and artistic insight, with
+vocal organs trained like the muscles of the athlete, and, in the case
+of singers, sound musical knowledge and an exacting and reliable ear.
+
+Considering that the actor, often the public speaker, and the singer
+are constantly being put under excessive strain, it follows that (1)
+such persons should begin with an unusually good physical
+organization--others can scarcely hope to get into the first class,
+even with the best abilities; and (2) because there is a tendency to
+exhaustion of the body and mind through emotional and other
+expenditure, the public voice-user must take precautions, on the one
+hand, to prevent this, and, on the other, to make good his outlay by
+special means. He needs more sleep and rest generally than others, and
+he should counteract the influence of unhealthy conditions on the
+stage or platform by some quiet hours in the open air, all the better
+if with some congenial friend, sympathetic with his aims, yet
+belonging, preferably perhaps, to another profession, and who will
+speak of topics other than those that are ever recurring in the life
+of an artist. The uninterrupted pursuit of one thing, without the mind
+and spirit being fed from other springs, can be good for no human
+being. The specialist who is only a specialist will never reach the
+very highest point. The artist must seek sources of inspiration and
+mental nutriment outside of his own line of thought, or he will suffer
+professionally and in his own spirit.
+
+The reader will by this time understand why the author considers that
+for one who would be an artist to enter on his public career without
+the fullest mental equipment and vocal training is an exceedingly
+unwise course. Technique should be acquired before an aspirant to
+success steps on a public stage or platform, and this is exactly what
+is so seldom done in these days, and why we have so few singers,
+actors, and public speakers of the highest rank. Many, very many, know
+what they wish to express, and, in a sense, how to express it, but
+they have neither the formed voice nor the control of that voice by
+which their ideas are to be embodied. Let no one delude himself into
+the belief that technique will be learned in public; such is rarely,
+if ever, the case. Expression, style, etc., may come to the vocalist
+or speaker all the more readily if he occasionally goes before the
+public; but that such may be so, he must first have voice and
+technique. It is because of the neglect of this training for the
+acquirement of technique that so many naturally good voices are of
+little practical use for the public, and this explains why the ranks
+of the professions are crowded with inferior artists, if, indeed,
+artists they may be called.
+
+The _isolation_ of the dramatic and musical artist from his fellows
+generally is a great evil. Much that society complains of in the
+lives of artists would never exist but for this isolation, in spite of
+the fact that the artistic temperament is so moody and so impulsive,
+so little regardful of ordinary conventionalities. That it is so is
+partly the fault of society. It is quite true that because of
+journeying, rehearsals, etc., the travelling artist has little time to
+meet the members of the community in private life; but this state of
+things could be mitigated were society and the artists themselves
+convinced that for any class of people to live in little hives, wholly
+separated from their fellows, must be unfortunate for them and
+society. Artists as men and women are practically unknown to the
+world, though their false selves as represented by sensational
+paragraphs in newspapers are only too familiar to us. It may truly be
+said of the artist: "Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou
+shalt not escape calumny." It is within the power of society to alter
+this, and it should do so.
+
+Why is it that actors and singers do not prepare themselves by as
+prolonged and thorough a vocal training as in a past time?
+
+Considering that there never was a period when there was the same
+scope for art, never a time when the public was so eager to hear and
+so able to pay for art, as now, never a period of such widespread
+intelligence on all subjects, music included, the question is a very
+pertinent one. We believe there are many factors underlying the
+technical decadence we must regret. The orchestra has greatly
+developed, choral singing is common in all countries, and the spirit
+of the times has changed. So analytical, so refined is our age, that
+singing sometimes becomes a sort of musical declamation, but,
+unfortunately, without that power to declaim possessed by the actors
+and often the opera-singers of a former period. A singer often
+attempts now to make up by an expressive reading of a song, for
+technical defects. We must all commend every evidence of
+intellectuality in music, but this does not imply that we should
+accept good intentions for execution--performance. Let us have every
+possible development of orchestral music; let every village have, if
+possible, its choral society, but let none enter it who have not been
+trained vocally.
+
+Out of the author's own experience he could a tale unfold of the evil
+done to the vocal organs by those who have sung in choirs without
+adequate vocal training. Choristers are tempted to reach high tones by
+a process of their own, without any regard to registers, and with
+corresponding effects on their throats, some of which imply also
+lasting injury to the voice itself.
+
+In choral singing there is the tendency to lean on certain singers who
+are natural leaders, with the result that there is little independent
+listening and individual culture, even if the singer could hear his
+own voice well, which is not usually the case. The same objections and
+others apply to class singing in schools, which does little for
+music, and tends to make slovenly singers. If some of the time given
+to school singing were taken up in illustrating why certain musical
+selections are good, and others mere rubbish--in other words, in
+forming the taste of the nation in the children--a valuable work would
+be done; but school class singing, as commonly carried out, tends
+rather to injure than develop voices and good musical taste.
+
+We cannot honestly pass by the subject of Wagner's music and some of
+its tendencies. Wagner was an intellectual giant among men, and his
+works are amazingly grand, yet they unfortunately are, in a certain
+sense, responsible for much bad singing and not a little injury to
+fine voices.
+
+First of all, Wagner's operas are, in their present form, too long. To
+sing these compositions night after night is beyond human powers, even
+in the case of those of the most perfect musical and technical
+training. If they were divided into two, and one half sung on one
+evening and the other on the next, it would be a gain for the public
+and the artists. It is impossible for even the musically cultivated to
+absorb and assimilate the whole of such an opera as "Siegfried" or
+"Tristan and Isolde" in one evening, and it is too much to expect any
+artist to sing them through without a rest.
+
+Again, they call for such strong accents, such deep and strenuous
+breathing, that the artist impersonating a hero or a god or goddess
+is put to a degree of exertion that is too great for human powers when
+continued for more than a very moderate period; besides, there is a
+temptation to a wrong use of the larynx--a forcible _coup de glotte_,
+or attack--that is exceedingly dangerous, and has injured many voices
+and ruined others. The man or woman who would sing Wagner's greater
+music dramas should, in addition to a strong physique, be master of a
+wonderfully perfect technique. These operas should never be attempted
+by very young singers of either sex, and especially not by very young
+women. They are for the powerful, the mature, the perfectly trained,
+the experienced.
+
+Turning to some special faults, we would warn against the "scoop," the
+excessive use of the _portamento_, or glide, so common a fault at the
+present time, and the _vibrato_ and _tremolo_.
+
+The two former are musical faults, so we pass them by without further
+consideration. Otherwise is it with the last two faults; they both
+result from a wrong use of the vocal organs. They are both due to some
+unsteadiness and lack of control, and, unfortunately, when once
+acquired, are very difficult to remedy. The unsteadiness may be almost
+anywhere in the vocal organs, but is usually referable to the
+respiratory apparatus or to the larynx.
+
+A _vibrato_ is the milder form of the evil, and is encouraged, we
+regret to say, by some teachers, while the _tremolo_ is due to an
+extreme unsteadiness, and, so far as we are aware, is universally
+condemned. It is about the worst fault any singer can have. It is
+evident in some cases only when the vocalist sings _piano_, but mostly
+in vigorous singing, and often arises from straining, disregard of
+registers, etc. It may be due to the singer trying to control too
+large a supply of air, or from bringing a blast to bear on the vocal
+bands too strong for them. In every case there is lack of adjustment
+between the vocal bands and the respiratory organs. The remedy must be
+adapted to the case, but usually the singer must for a time give up
+the use of the voice in _forte_ singing altogether, and gradually
+again learn to control his vocal mechanism.
+
+Associated sometimes with this fault is another, which, indeed, often
+gives rise to the former--viz., "pumping," or attempting to vocalize
+after the breath power is exhausted. One should always have enough air
+in reserve to sing at least two tones more than what is required.
+
+It will be observed that good singing and speaking are always
+physiological--_i.e._, they depend on the observance of well-known
+physiological principles; we wish we could add, principles clearly
+recognized by singers and teachers generally. It is to those who do
+that we would recommend the student of the vocal art to go at the
+outset of his career, otherwise much time may be lost and possibly
+much injury done. We distinguish, of course, between the teacher who
+recognizes physiological principles only practically and the one who
+does so consciously. The former may be an excellent and safe teacher,
+though, we think, not so good, other things being equal, as one of the
+latter type,--as yet somewhat rare.
+
+At an earlier period we referred to the important matter of
+classifying the voice. It often happens that one who is a tenor is
+trained as a barytone, or a contralto as a soprano, and the reverse,
+only to discover later that a mistake has been made. If it could
+become the custom to have vocal consultations among teachers, as
+medical ones among doctors, the author is convinced it would be well.
+Often a patient is sent a long distance to consult a medical man, and
+to return to his own physician for treatment based on the diagnosis
+made. In these instances the doctor consulted is expected to write his
+views privately to the patient's doctor, and to recommend treatment.
+Why should the same not occur in the vocal teacher's profession? It is
+considered scandalous in the medical profession to "steal" another
+physician's patient, and why should not a similar etiquette prevail in
+the profession now under consideration? The teacher in doubt about a
+voice might thus obtain the views of another member of his profession,
+of longer experience, on such a vital point as the classification of a
+voice, and with satisfaction alike to himself and to his pupil. If the
+teacher or pupil were not satisfied with the diagnosis, another
+eminent vocal teacher might be consulted, which would only be
+following custom in the medical profession.
+
+We would again remind the reader that voices are to be _classified by
+quality_, and not by range, at least not to any appreciable extent.
+
+Of all persons, the singer should know himself. He must learn his
+limitations, and the sooner the better. At the outset of his career he
+may be able to take certain liberties with himself with apparent
+impunity, but sooner or later he will pay the penalty; so that we
+recommend him to live with all the care of an athlete in training.
+However it may be with other men, spirits in every form, tobacco,
+etc., are not for him. Both tend to irritate and relax if not to
+inflame the throat, not to mention their bad effects on the general
+health, both psychical and physical. This advice is all the more
+necessary when one considers the exacting nature of the professional
+life of the artist. Strenuous exertion tends to fatigue and
+exhaustion, with a natural desire to relieve them by some special
+means, such as alcohol. To do so is often but to make a beginning of
+the end. How many bright lights in the dramatic and musical
+professions have been prematurely quenched through indulgence in the
+delusive draught! If tonics, sedatives, etc., are to be taken, which
+should not be a habitual practice, they should be used only under the
+direction of a medical man, and not self-prescribed.
+
+As the speaker and singer must often practise their art in an
+atmosphere that is far from pure, they will do well to carry out in a
+routine way some sort of mouth toilet on their return home and the
+next morning. Various simple mouth and throat washes may be used, such
+as (1) water with a little common salt dissolved in it; (2) water
+containing a few drops of carbolic acid--just enough to be distinctly
+tasted; (3) water containing listerine; (4) either of the last two
+with the addition of a pinch of bicarbonate of sodium to a teacupful
+of the fluid, when there is a tendency to catarrh.
+
+The use of lozenges in a routine way is not to be commended, and those
+containing morphia, cocaine, etc., should be employed only under the
+supervision of a medical practitioner. Sometimes, especially in the
+case of nervousness, a licorice pellet or a particle of gum arabic
+serves a good purpose in aiding in keeping the mouth moist.
+
+For one with a healthy throat the sipping of water is unnecessary, and
+the habit is one on no account to be learned, for the most admirable
+effect may be spoiled through the speaker stopping to sip water; there
+is the fatal and rapid descent from the lofty to the little.
+
+It is much more important to avoid eating certain things which
+interfere with the voice than to take anything to improve it before
+singing or speaking. Each individual should learn just what he can or
+cannot with safety eat. Certain kinds of fruit, cheese, fat meat,
+pastry, nuts, occasionally even butter, not to mention puddings, etc.,
+must be put on the list of what singers and speakers had better not
+partake of before a public appearance. But the quantity is quite as
+important as the quality of the food taken. About one half the usual
+quantity, at most, and of very simple but nourishing food, is enough
+for any one who would do himself justice before the public. If blood
+and energy be drawn off to the stomach by a large meal, it cannot be
+available for the uses of the artist. Moreover, a full stomach
+pressing up under the diaphragm greatly hampers the movements of this,
+the most important of all the muscles of breathing. Of course, the
+public singer or speaker should eat after his work is done, of what
+and how much he can best learn by experience.
+
+As the author has felt called upon to condemn the use of alcohol in
+every form, he should, perhaps, point out that to take a cup of such a
+mild stimulant as tea or coffee during an interval, in the case of
+those who feel weary, is generally an unobjectionable, indeed, often a
+useful, procedure; but the less the artist coddles himself, especially
+while still young, the better.
+
+We would again call attention to one anatomical fact of great
+importance for the explanation of certain facts of experience--viz.:
+that the whole respiratory tract, the larynx included, is lined with a
+_mucous membrane_, which is continuous with that covering the inner
+surface of the digestive organs. That is to say, the nose, the mouth,
+the back of the throat, the larynx, the windpipe, the bronchial tubes,
+the gullet, the stomach and intestines are all brought into structural
+connection by this common lining membrane. Moreover, these parts have
+to some extent the same nerve supply, and are, in fact, so related
+that derangement in one region must affect sooner or later, and to a
+variable degree according to the resisting power of each individual,
+other related parts. Thus it is that a disordered stomach affects the
+voice, that a cold may affect digestion, that a catarrh of the nose
+will eventually reach the vocal bands, etc.
+
+Another principle of wide-reaching importance is that all sorts of
+_compression_ must, of necessity, be attended by functional disorders,
+which, if long continued, will result in organic or structural changes
+implying deterioration of a kind that must be more or less permanent.
+Whatever the cause of compression of the chest or neck, the result is
+the same: a retention of blood in parts for too long a period--a
+condition of things which must inevitably be injurious.
+
+The tissues are made up of cells, which are the individuals of the
+bodily community. Around these cells are found the smallest of the
+blood-vessels, the capillaries, between which and the tissues a sort
+of physiological barter is continually going on, the capillaries
+handing over oxygen and food supplies from the blood, and receiving
+waste materials in return, as the blood creeps along at a very slow
+rate. If, however, in consequence of pressure on a part, the blood be
+kept back in these minute vessels too long, there is naturally a
+double evil: first, the food and oxygen supplies fail--they have been
+used up already--and, secondly, the waste products accumulate in the
+tissue cells, so that there is a combination of starvation and
+poisoning--a sort of physiological slum life, with corresponding
+degradation; so that it is not at all difficult to understand why
+tight collars, neckbands, corsets, etc., must be unmixed evils, apart
+altogether from the fact that they so greatly hamper the very
+movements the voice-user most requires for the successful execution of
+his task.
+
+All sorts of straining or forcing also involve this same evil, known
+to medical men as _congestion_. The sore throats so common with those
+who force, owing to methods essentially wrong, or simply to the too
+vigorous use of methods correct in themselves, are to be traced to the
+above--_i.e._, to this congestion, which is bad, and bad only.
+
+If one who had a naturally sound throat at the outset finds that after
+vocal exercise he experiences either a soreness or an undue weariness
+of parts, he should conclude, if he is living under healthy
+conditions, that the methods he is employing are incorrect, and seek
+the natural remedy. Proper vocal exercise should, in those with
+healthy vocal organs, always improve them and the condition of the
+whole man. The author has met those who have been ruined vocally for
+life by the use of certain methods recommended by would-be
+professional guides. Why should not all who assume the responsibility
+of guiding speakers and especially singers be required by the state to
+show that they have not only a knowledge of music and vocal technique,
+but also at least a moderate amount of practical knowledge of the
+anatomy and physiology of the vocal organs, with some elementary
+information on general physiology? If the injury done by incompetent
+teachers were realized, we feel certain that the above proposition
+would not be questioned.
+
+A common cause of congestion of the digestive organs, with which, of
+course, other parts sympathize physiologically, is _constipation_,
+very often the result of insufficient exercise, and injurious in many
+ways. Speakers and singers very generally ride to and from their
+engagements, so that there is special reason why they should see to it
+that some time is set aside for general exercise, as walking in the
+open air, which would of itself work against that tendency to grow fat
+which is the physical curse that seems to fall on artists above most
+others.
+
+It seems scarcely necessary to point out how important it is for those
+who propose to take up the life of the stage or the platform to look
+to hardening themselves against catching cold, by friction of the
+skin, cold bathing, etc. The use of a sponge-bath of cold salt and
+water to the upper parts of the body, especially the neck and chest,
+will prove valuable in many cases, but the enervating effects of hot
+water should be avoided by all.
+
+     The remarks made in regard to Wagner's music on page 257
+     have been among the very few to which exception has been
+     taken by my reviewers.
+
+     To those who disagree with me on the merits of the case I
+     have nothing to say, but some have assumed that the writer
+     was speaking out of pure theory, in real ignorance of
+     Wagner's works. I wish to set that class of critics right.
+
+     I have spent a great many seasons in Germany, and have heard
+     Wagner's works under a great variety of circumstances, and
+     have heard them also in several other countries. I have also
+     had the opportunity of getting behind the scenes in a way
+     that falls to the lot of few, so I think I am entitled to
+     speak with rather more than the usual authority.
+
+     My convictions as expressed in the foregoing chapter have in
+     the interval rather strengthened than weakened. I am firmly
+     convinced that it would be in the interests of art, the
+     singer, and the auditor alike, either to shorten these
+     operas, or to produce them in some way which will relieve
+     the continuous strain. It must not be forgotten, either,
+     that the poor overworked and greatly underpaid orchestral
+     player often suffers severely in his nervous system from
+     long continued Wagner playing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+FURTHER TREATMENT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HYGIENE.
+
+
+_Stammering_ and _stuttering_ are allied but not identical defects.
+They require special treatment, the earlier the better. Much can be
+done by the exercise of a little patience and kind consideration, to
+make the subject of these infirmities feel at ease, and so manifest
+the defects as little as possible. It is, of course, as a general
+rule, very unwise to take any notice whatever of such imperfections,
+as they are thereby made worse. As a rule, they are best treated
+practically by those who have made this branch a specialty.
+
+Those who have been badly taught, or who have overworked the vocal
+organs and, in consequence, may have broken down, are among the most
+discouraging if they be not the very worst cases that come under the
+treatment of the physician or vocal teacher. If the throat be out of
+order, a specialist should be consulted. He will likely enjoin
+complete rest of the vocal organs, and his advice should be implicitly
+followed. But usually the time comes when some sort of vocal exercises
+may be resumed. When this is the case, the choice of a teacher becomes
+of the utmost importance, more so than in ordinary cases, for further
+injudicious treatment may lead to the utter ruin of the voice.
+Assuming that medical treatment is no longer or not at all required,
+we recommend: (1) That all practices be only _piano_, or, at most,
+_moderato_, for some time; (2) that they be of very brief duration at
+any one period, so as to avoid fatigue; (3) that they be well within
+the range of the singer. The same principles apply to speakers who
+have broken down, whether owing to bad methods or to over-use of the
+voice. It is most important that strength and facility be gradually
+gained, and that weariness, not to say fatigue, be strictly avoided.
+If the general health be good, time, patience, and the utmost care in
+the application of the above principles, under the direction of an
+enlightened teacher, will in a large proportion of cases restore the
+voice for efficient use in at least moderate efforts. Of course, much
+depends on the age, general health, intelligence, etc., of the
+subject.
+
+On the question of the extent to which a singer's range can be safely
+increased, the greatest difference of opinion exists, and very extreme
+views have been held. On the one hand are those who almost ridicule
+the idea of "making" tones, and on the other, those who maintain that
+the range of all young singers can be increased by proper training.
+
+As a matter of fact, there are many singers before the public to-day
+whose range, either upward or downward, has been increased by many
+tones, in some cases almost an octave, and these singers are
+successful artists and sound vocalists; while others have sought to
+add but two or three tones to their range, and in vain. This is quite
+intelligible. As a rule, those of the former class have fallen into
+the hands of very good teachers, while yet young, have had excellent
+health and well-formed vocal organs, and been patient and attentive
+students. The acquisition has been gradual, and never forced. We have
+before said that if a pupil felt his throat the worse for a lesson in
+vocal culture, there was something wrong: either the method was
+incorrect in itself, or the practice was continued too long or carried
+out too vigorously. Of course, it is always assumed that the vocal
+organs are in a normal condition, and the student's health good not
+only generally but on the day of the practice.
+
+It is in every case for the student himself to determine, from his own
+feelings, whether the attempt to reach a certain tone produces
+straining, and for the teacher to judge whether this be so, from the
+appearance of the face of the pupil, the character of the tone, etc.
+One thing is certain: harm, and harm only, is done by any form of
+forcing or straining. At the same time, as the athlete increases the
+height to which he can jump, or the speed with which he can run, even
+during a single season, it seems illogical to conclude that in no case
+can a singer safely reach tones that are not originally in his
+voice--meaning thereby that he is unable to sing them at the outset of
+his career. This is one of those subjects on which common sense and
+science unite in admonishing us to test cautiously and to progress
+gradually, if the purpose is to be achieved with good results for the
+individual and for art.
+
+It is also unwise for a singer to attempt those selections in public
+the range of which taxes him to the very utmost. They lead to undue
+anxiety as to success, violate the principle of reserve force, to
+which reference has several times been made, and may lead to vocal
+failure, if not to injury to the throat. Though it is true that
+occasionally a song suffers by transposition to a lower key, if the
+vocalist is determined to sing a composition even slightly beyond his
+easy range, it is better to resort to it than to risk the
+possibilities mentioned above and other undesirable ones.
+
+Everyone who purposes to follow the arduous career of the vocal or
+dramatic artist would do well to realize early the importance of
+learning the art of conserving energy, or making the most of all that
+Nature has given him. When a man or woman is small, and has less
+breath power than some others, it becomes more important that they
+observe the laws of contrast, rest, etc., in their public efforts. A
+_forte_ has much the same effect, if it be preceded by darker, quieter
+tones, as if it were really louder. In like manner, a pause may often
+serve a very good purpose in preparing the ear of the listener for an
+effect that should be telling, yet a difficult one for a person of
+limited physical powers.
+
+In reality, all the best art recognizes, mostly unconsciously, the
+peculiarities of our physical and mental nature. A continuous _forte_,
+for example, ceases to be a _forte_, in reality, since the ear and the
+mind weary under it, and all the effect of contrast is lost. As we
+have more than once said, good art is physiological--in harmony with
+the laws of the body, as well as of the mind. It follows that each one
+should study especially how to make the wisest, the most effective,
+use of his powers, for what is best for one may not be so for another.
+
+A singer or speaker, by reason of a voice somewhat small in volume,
+may seem to be shut out from certain buildings. This need rarely be
+the case. The artist must simply the more carefully consider how he
+shall vary his effects, how so use his powers that they shall suffice.
+A loud voice may be a very bad one for the hearer, and may annoy and
+weary rather than please. When a building is large, nearly all effects
+should be increased--_e.g._, all pauses lengthened, the _tempo_ taken
+a little slower, the contrasts made stronger, etc.,--rather than the
+volume of tone increased. The method of attack becomes of the utmost
+importance; all low or soft passages should be sung or uttered with
+the greatest distinctness, all final letters most perfectly finished.
+It is especially important for a speaker to be aware of his
+favorite--_i.e._, most easy and natural--pitch, and also that pitch
+which best adapts his voice to a certain building. Many forget that
+sound does not, in reality, travel very rapidly, and that allowance
+must be made for this, so that one tone shall not break on the ear
+before another has had time to be attended to--one idea to be grasped
+before another is presented.
+
+Of all things pauses are of the greatest importance, to the listener,
+that he may apprehend the ideas presented, and to the speaker, that he
+may have time to take breath and a brief rest, and also seize the
+opportunity to readdress himself, so to speak, to his auditors, by the
+use of another accent, pitch of tone, or whatever he deems most apt to
+his purpose. Speakers who make suitable pauses with intention (not
+from lack of ideas), or from an artistic instinct, give pleasure, as
+well as effect their intellectual purpose, for the listener also gets
+his moments for rest, perceives readily what is meant, and enjoys the
+purely sensuous in the art far more than when the speaker's utterance
+rushes on like a torrent. All this applies to a certain extent to the
+singer, though it is but very inadequately observed--we must say,
+however, much better than at a former period, when "ranting," on the
+stage especially, was a very common fault.
+
+In an earlier chapter attention was given to the precautions to be
+taken before a public appearance, especially by those who are
+inexperienced; and we would again emphasize the fact that those who
+have the best training, and have made the most perfect special
+preparation for the coming event, are least likely to suffer from that
+great disturber, nervousness; and when they are somewhat tense, the
+well-disciplined often recover rapidly, and frequently astonish their
+friends by the success of their first appearance. We strongly
+recommend all who can to take rest on the day preceding and following
+a hard evening's work, and preferably, in summer, in the open air. A
+quiet walk in a park, where one may think or observe or not, as he
+feels inclined, is an excellent thing to do, either before or after a
+strenuous artistic effort. If the battery is to be well charged, it
+must not be discharged even partially before the right moment.
+Amateurs and the inexperienced are particularly apt to neglect such
+precaution for success, and to fritter away their energies by
+attention to details, possibly trivial ones, up to the last moment.
+
+Happy is he who, well prepared for his task, free from worries,
+unmoved by envy, jealousy, or undue ambition, can step before the
+public resolved to do his best for art, and who, having done it, can
+rest in the satisfaction that he has contributed something to the
+innocent and ennobling enjoyment of his fellows, and so has helped to
+advance those of his own generation; caring little for either the
+flatteries of admirers or a criticism that may be ignorant, unjust,
+or malignant, but feeling that the best reward is the approval of his
+own conscience, knowing that "Art is long, and life short."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+REVIEW AND REVISION.
+
+
+All the most important truths of any subject may be stated in a brief
+space. The Author proposes to make this final chapter one of a
+restatement of the essentials of the subject in the light of our
+present-day knowledge, and with a distinct relation to practice.
+
+The object of the speaker or singer is to produce certain sounds which
+shall as easily as possible convey to the listener his own state of
+mind. It follows that he must have a clear idea of these sounds, that
+he must hear them mentally prior to their utterance; in other words,
+the psychological must precede the physiological. Voice production for
+the purpose of speaking and singing implies a co�peration of the
+psychic and the physiological, a co-ordination of processes that are
+psychic, and physical, somatic or physiological.
+
+It is well to regard the subject from as many points of view as
+possible, and to consider the various ways in which the same truth may
+be stated.
+
+Stress must be laid on the idea of co-ordination, for processes may be
+independently satisfactory yet fail to lead to the desired result if
+they are not connected, harmonised or co-ordinated. The latter is the
+better term because it suggests a certain order of progress. As a
+matter of fact, first the psychic, then the physiological. The idea
+may be clear, yet from a physical defect, as in stammering, the result
+does not follow, though this physiological imperfection in movement
+may itself be the result of a psychic condition and generally is so. A
+clearer case is that of paralysis of the vocal organs. The ideas to be
+expressed may be perfectly clear in the mind yet impossible of
+expression. The defect is at the distal end of the combination--_i.e._,
+in the physical, somatic or bodily part of the process to express the
+same idea by the use of different terms. The consideration of
+conditions of defect or pathological states may make normal
+psychological and physiological ones clearer, as has been shown by the
+above illustrations. The practical importance of the co-ordination of
+processes is very great. It is not possible for one born deaf to speak
+because the necessary mental or psychic conditions for co-ordination
+do not exist--_i.e._, there is no sound in the mind to be
+expressed--not because there is any serious anatomical defect. In like
+manner the student of singing will produce no better tone than he has
+in mind no matter how much he practices vocalization. It follows,
+therefore, that the psychic state of the student should be kept in
+advance of his actual powers of execution. This he will most
+successfully do by listening to the best artists either directly or if
+this be impossible by hearing their gramophone records--all this in
+addition to the best the teacher can do for him by the correction of
+faults, giving him illustrations of better tone by his own efforts,
+etc. If the student has the opportunity of hearing himself by means of
+a phonographic record, he should not fail to do so. No one ever hears
+himself as others hear him.
+
+As the mind and the brain are always associated in thought and
+feeling; in other words, in psychic processes, and these latter find
+expression chiefly through movements, in one sense a study of
+vocalization may be considered a study of movements. These are always
+brought about by the use of several muscles which act together for a
+definite end--_i.e._, they are co-ordinated. As such movements
+generally involve many muscles and to be effective must be exact and
+under perfect control, much practice is necessary, though "much"
+should have reference rather to the clearness of the mind in reference
+to what is to be attained and the means of accomplishing it, rather
+than to the amount of time spent over the actual performance. We may
+confidently assert that technique or the physical side of putting the
+ideas into execution, which is simply making certain movements, is
+successful largely in proportion to the perfection of the psychic
+processes involved. A clear head should precede the moving hand, or
+functioning vocal organs. The student should think technique before
+and after its actual execution. This is even yet, in spite of a great
+advance in recent years, the weakest part of the student's method of
+work. All that we know of science as well as the results of all
+rightly directed practice emphasizes the importance of this central
+truth.
+
+Assuming that the psychic condition is satisfactory for the production
+of a definite tone--_i.e._, that it is heard mentally, what follows
+before it is actually produced, before it becomes a tone from the
+physicist's point of view? What is the chain of physical, somatic,
+bodily or anatomical (to use several words that express similar but
+slightly different aspects of the same main idea) connections
+involved, and what is the nature of the physiological processes; in
+other words, what are the parts of the body involved and how do they
+act? This will be clearer if we first consider the mechanism concerned
+and its functions in a general way.
+
+The instrument which is played upon, which finally gives rise to the
+tone, may be spoken of as that connected series of cavities for which
+we have no single term but which are generally named the resonance
+chambers when regarded from the physicist's point of view. To the
+musician they are the instrument, to the physiologist and anatomist a
+set of chambers communicating with each other. Plainly all the rest
+of the vocal mechanism exists for them, and too much stress cannot be
+laid on this fact. However excellent the state of training of the part
+below them this is of no avail except in so far as it can affect these
+resonance cavities.
+
+How is this instrument played upon and how are these cavities made
+actually into resounding chambers? In the answer to this, in the
+recognition of the relationship of the three distinct parts of the
+vocal apparatus lies the one great fundamental conception of the
+manner in which tone is produced. To understand this clearly is to
+comprehend in its main outlines the whole subject of voice production
+in a scientific way.
+
+Before a tone is heard vibrations of the atmospheric air must reach
+the ear. These are set up by the vibration of the air within the
+resonance chambers, and this again is effected by the mechanism below
+them--_i.e._, by the movements of the vocal bands of the larynx which
+are due to the blast of air emanating from the lungs, this itself
+being brought into being by the movements of the chest, using the term
+in the widest sense, thus including the diaphragm, etc.
+
+Breathing has for its object so far as phonation is concerned no other
+purpose than to so affect the vocal bands, that the resonance chambers
+really do resound. The question is how is this breathing best
+accomplished so that the instrument shall be most efficiently played
+upon? We cannot alter the anatomical structure of the instrument
+appreciably, but we can improve the functioning of the several parts
+of the whole apparatus. Breathing can be improved as regards power and
+control. More can be done with less expenditure of energy than
+originally if there be judicious training. How shall we train? As the
+outgoing stream of air alone affects the vocal bands, it is clear that
+we must aim to so apply and regulate this outflow that the desired
+result shall follow from the least possible expenditure of energy. How
+the air is got in is important only in relation to its expenditure.
+But the easier the supply is furnished the better. This law of the
+conservation of energy is one of the greatest importance, for all
+beings have but a limited supply of energy and our problem must ever
+be how best to husband this as a wise man should study how best to
+spend his limited income. One must not only consider what is called
+for in ordinary conversational speaking, or in singing in a small
+room, but also when the greatest possible efforts are demanded. In all
+cases when movements are concerned, indeed whenever activity of any
+kind psychic or physiological is involved the _law of habit_ should be
+borne in mind--_i.e._, one should so think and do that a habit may be
+established, for a habit implies, when a good one, that there is
+economy of both mental and bodily energy.
+
+The aim of all training is to establish good habits--ways of doing
+things which will leave the subject with more capital to invest so to
+speak, as he wastes less. It follows that the same methods should
+always be used in trying to attain the same end. There are few
+subjects of equal importance so little considered by students of music
+in a conscious intelligent way. A clear conviction as to the
+foundation for close adherence to certain methods of doing things is
+an invaluable mental asset for any student.
+
+The whole subject of breathing has been so fully considered in
+previous chapters--indeed more or less in all parts of this work--that
+it is not necessary to go into much detail now. The investigations of
+physiologists in the internal have only emphasised the author's
+teaching on this subject. The present position of the subject may be
+stated thus: (1) In inspiration the whole chest is enlarged, this
+involving the descent of the diaphragm. (2) The amount of mobility is
+much greater in the lower half of the chest. (3) This lower half of
+the chest and the diaphragm act together, constituting a special
+mechanism of great importance. (4) The abdominal muscles discharge a
+co�perative function. It follows that the advice of a present day
+famous tenor to "breathe low" is sound. Nevertheless, it must not be
+forgotten that inspiration begins above and that the upper chest has
+its functions also. It is not merely a region of support for the
+lower mechanism, important as this function is. The terms "abdominal"
+and "diaphragmatic" respiration have led to misunderstanding. Neither
+the abdominal muscles nor the diaphragm ever act alone in normal
+respiration, though they are important co�perative factors.
+
+Breathing exercises should be based on broad views of the subject, and
+no part of the respiratory mechanism should be neglected.
+
+Small an organ as is the larynx it is through it the energy of the
+expiratory act is transmitted effectively or the reverse to the
+all-important resonance chambers. This should be so done that there is
+no waste; in other words, that there be perfect co-ordination between
+the breathing and the laryngeal mechanism. The vocal bands must be so
+related in function to the expiratory mechanism that the outgoing
+blast of air shall be as effective as possible. There must be no waste
+of power--_i.e._, of the expiratory blast through escape of air that
+accomplishes no purpose. The blast must be so applied to the vocal
+bands, or, in other words, they must be so adapted to the blast that
+there is no waste of energy. If the bands approximate a little too
+late there is waste of breath power. The bands must further so beat
+the air of the resonance chambers as to get the greatest possible
+result with the least possible expenditure of energy. As all these
+co-ordinations imply the action of many muscles in a related way, it
+is plain that intelligent and prolonged training is necessary; and if
+our scientific knowledge had no other result than to establish such a
+conviction on a sure basis it would be well worth while; but it is a
+light unto the feet of the student and teacher at every step, only it
+must be a clear light, not one seen through a mental haze. If there be
+failure the fault must not be set down to science but to ourselves.
+
+It is ever to be borne in mind that when anything is done in the right
+way not only is there no pain, unpleasant feeling or evil
+after-effects, but when real skill has been attained through training,
+the result is accomplished with a sense of ease and all the
+accompanying feelings are agreeable. The singer need not know that he
+has a throat by any disagreeable reminder. At the same time a function
+may be correctly discharged but continued too long, so that weariness
+or positive fatigue with some evil consequences may follow. Fatigue
+always implies more or less poisoning of the system.
+
+Of the resonance chambers, the mouth cavity, the pharyngeal cavity and
+the naso-pharynx, which may both be regarded as a part of the mouth
+cavity, and the nasal chambers, the latter may be considered the least
+variable in shape; nevertheless they can, by means of the soft
+palate, be to a large extent shut off from the other parts of this
+series of chambers.
+
+The means by which the size and shape of the resonance chambers can be
+varied are chiefly the soft palate and the tongue, the latter being of
+the greatest importance. The changes in the shape of the mouth cavity
+necessary for the formation of vowels are due chiefly to the movements
+of the tongue, and the tongue is more largely concerned in the
+utterance of consonants than any other moveable part of the upper
+voice mechanism.
+
+For practical ends it is important to realize that one speaks with the
+tongue; and if one believed that everything depended on this organ,
+other parts--including the outer mouth or lips merely to be kept out
+of the way--the result would on the whole likely be gain.
+
+In the formation of vowels the result may be good when the lips take
+but the slightest active part, and the student is advised to practice
+vowel formation without the use of the lips. He is likely to use them
+enough in any case provided he ensures the formation of pure vowel
+sounds, and people seem to have an extraordinary facility for
+over-doing the use of lip movements, for getting the teeth in the way
+and thus spoiling tone, that was begun well, before it has escaped
+from the mouth. It may be observed that those who get their living on
+the streets by the use of the voice, and who use the voice much and
+often speak rapidly, and in spite of this are heard well, so construct
+their words that the lips are not seen to move to any appreciable
+extent except as the lower jaw moves. The lips seem to be always
+apart. It is not the amount of movement that is important but the kind
+of movement, especially its rapidity.
+
+Muscular efforts for the production of consonants should be neat,
+decisive, sharp, rather than held ones, which tend to spoil the word
+as a whole. As a rule, one is safe in holding the vowel as long as
+possible and in making the time dwelt on the consonant as short as
+possible--_i.e._, consistent with distinct and musical utterance.
+
+The same applies to singing with even greater force. In speaking
+especially short pauses not printed in the text may be made to great
+advantage, and this is often better than dwelling on consonants. The
+mouth of the speaker and still more that of the singer should not
+attract the attention of the listener, so the less movement of the
+lips of a kind readily open to observation, the better. Besides such
+movements being unnecessary are a waste of muscular and nervous
+energy.
+
+Singers are not warranted in departing to any appreciable extent from
+the pronunciation of words laid down as standard for speakers--_e.g._,
+"shall" should not be sung as "sholl," and in such a word as "motion,"
+the final syllable should not be made equally important with the
+first one. Singers should observe the laws of a good elocution; in
+other words, such treatment of the language of the song as an approved
+reader would employ. The author would go so far as to say that no
+singer should appear in public till he can utter every syllable as he
+sings so that it is readily recognised by the listener. At present
+such is rarely the case even with the best vocalists. All prospective
+vocalists should study utterance by the speaking voice first and
+continue it when the study of singing has been begun. The words of
+every song, etc., should be mastered in all respects before they are
+sung.
+
+As the degree of success in singing or speaking depends so far as
+technique is concerned on a series of co-ordinations the condition of
+both the psychic and bodily mechanism as determined by training and
+the general health of the individual is of great importance; and it is
+not to be forgotten that the mind as well as the body is to be
+considered in all questions of hygiene.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+A
+
+Abdominal muscles, 66
+
+Acoustics, 97
+
+Adam's apple, 80
+
+Adductors, 82
+
+Air, 48
+  complemental, 70
+  quantity of, in lungs, 70
+  residual, 70
+  supplemental, 70
+  tidal, 70
+
+Amateurs, 274
+
+American speech, 146
+
+Americans, pitch of, 224
+
+Antagonists, 53
+
+Anatomy, 35
+
+Art, 17, 272
+
+Artist, isolation of, 254
+
+Artistic, 246
+  perception, 245
+  temperament, 31
+
+Arytenoid cartilages, 77
+
+Aspirates, 228
+
+Attack, 30, 125, 127, 208
+  best tests of a good, 129
+  good, 127, 232
+
+Auditory messages, 250
+
+Auto-laryngoscopy, 109, 110, 152, 161
+
+
+B
+
+"Backward" production, 213
+
+Bel Canto, 211
+
+Break, 162
+
+Breath, 60, 72
+  control of, 20, 21
+  exercise for, 133, 134
+  in phonation, 130
+  manner of using, 172, 208
+  stream, 22, 125, 194
+
+Breathing, 44-73, 118, 124
+  abdominal, 118
+  clavicular, 118, 119
+  deep, 63
+  diaphragmatic, 118, 119
+  exercises, 131
+  mechanism, control of, 120
+  method of, 64, 177
+  nose, 131
+
+
+C
+
+Cartilage of Santorini, 77
+  Wrisberg, 77
+
+Cells, 36
+
+Chest, 50, 62, 71
+  cavity of, 71
+  complete control of, 62
+  position of, in singing, 123
+  in speaking, 123
+
+Children, public appearance of, 116
+  register of, 234
+
+Choral singing, 247
+
+Choristers, 256
+
+Circulatory system, 37
+
+Clergyman's sore-throat, 88
+
+Cold, a, 77, 92
+  prevention of, 93
+
+Color, 214
+
+Composers, 116
+
+Consonant, a, 195, 196
+
+Consonants, 223, 225, 226, 230-235
+  mouth positions of, 226-228
+
+Corsets, evil effects of, 72
+
+Coup de glotte, 124-127, 139
+
+Cramming, 46
+
+Cricoid cartilage, 77, 81
+  thyroid, 83, 85
+    membrane, 81
+
+Curwen, 156
+
+
+D
+
+Dialects, 225, 235
+
+Diameters, 50
+
+Diaphragm, 52, 53, 66, 71
+
+
+E
+
+Ear, 182, 236, 245, 248
+  connection with mouth cavity, 203
+  drum-head of, 240
+  external, purpose of, 240
+  for music, 244
+    lack of, 245, 249
+  inner, 237, 241
+  middle, 237, 241
+  musical, 31
+  outer, 237
+    purpose of, 238
+
+Ease, 123, 233
+
+English, 198
+  speech, 146
+
+Epiglottis, 79
+
+Eustachian tube, 241
+
+Execution, 179, 256
+
+Exercises, 131-135, 139
+  practical, 73
+
+Expiration, 49
+
+Expiratory blast, 60, 68, 88, 103, 177
+  current, 136, 208
+
+Explosives, 226
+
+Expression, 254
+
+
+F
+
+Falsetto, 154
+  high, 170, 178
+  in males, 160, 179
+
+"Feeling-tone", 212
+
+Food, 263
+
+"Forward" production, 213
+
+Fundamental principles, 179-194
+  application of, 195-206
+  tone, 231
+
+
+G
+
+Garcia, Manuel, 105, 138, 159
+
+German language, 198
+  speech, 146
+
+Germans, pitch of, 224
+
+Glide, 258
+
+Glottis, 47, 78, 82, 88, 126, 159
+  in barytone voices, 157
+  bass voices, 157
+  contralto voices, 158
+  mezzo-soprano voices, 158
+  tenor voices, 157
+  ligamentous, 157
+
+
+H
+
+Head, position of, 205
+
+Hearing, 101, 236-250
+  difference in animals, 101
+  highest limit of, 102
+  lower limit of, 102
+
+Helmholtz, 167
+
+Hygiene, 33, 72, 92, 93, 251-275
+
+Hyoid bone, 81, 95
+
+
+I
+
+Illustration of principles, 27, 28
+
+Impulses, 236
+
+Inhibitions, 184
+
+Inspiration, 48, 51, 71
+
+Intonation, 195, 196, 230
+  correct position for good, 131
+
+Italian language, 198
+
+
+K
+
+Knowledge, principle of, 34
+
+
+L
+
+Larynx, 60, 74-96, 136, 148, 258
+  anatomy of, 21
+  as a musical instrument, 102
+  change in size of, 111
+  control over, 112
+  difference in size, 110
+  growth of, 138
+  in action, 109
+  in singing and speaking, 198
+  muscles of, 81, 95
+  of the male 138
+  photography of, 161
+  physiology of, 21
+  ventricle of, 80
+  vibrations of, 96
+  whole, 94
+
+Laryngoscope, 91, 103, 136
+
+Ligamentous glottis, 157
+
+Lips, 202
+
+Lungs, 49, 63
+
+Lymph, 37
+
+
+M
+
+Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 156, 167, 168
+
+Mara, Madame, range of, 111
+
+Marcato production, 209
+
+Marchesi, Madame, teaching of, 159
+
+Men, register of, 234
+
+Messages, Auditory, 250
+
+Methods, correct, 22, 23
+  faulty, 32
+
+Middle production, 214
+
+Midriff, see diaphragm
+
+Mind, 210
+
+Mirror, use of, 235
+
+Mouth, as a resonance chamber, 221
+  resonator, 148
+  cavity, 149
+  respiration, 131
+  toilet of, 262
+
+Movements, 192
+
+Muscles, 36, 82
+  abdominal, 66
+
+Muscular action, 71
+  mechanism, 42
+  movements, 179
+
+Music, 243
+  appreciation of, 247
+  intellectuality in, 256
+  intelligence in, 108
+  interpretation of, 21
+
+Musical artist, 198
+  ear, 31
+  prodigy, 243
+  faculty develops early, 115
+  faults, 258
+  sounds, practical range of, 102
+  tones, 231
+
+Musician, fundamental qualities of, 246
+
+
+N
+
+Nasal chambers, 144, 149, 214
+
+Nasality, 231
+
+Nerve-cells, 38
+
+Nervous centres, 39
+  impulses, 244, 250
+  system, 38
+
+Nervousness, 274
+
+Neuro-muscular mechanisms, 17, 42, 181
+  processes, 183
+  system, 43
+
+New language, learning of, 224
+
+Noise, 218
+
+
+O
+
+Open mouth, 203, 204, 217
+
+Ordinary speech, 230
+
+Overtones, 231, 235
+
+
+P
+
+Palate, cleft, 149
+  hard, 149, 213
+  soft, 145, 214, 216, 231
+
+Phonation, 192, 193
+  breath in, 130
+  example of, 193
+
+Physics, principles of involved, 135
+
+Physiological considerations, 34-43
+  teachings, 26, 31
+
+Piano production, 259
+
+Pillars of the fauces, 145
+
+Pitch, 101, 136, 150, 214
+  favorite, 273
+
+Portamento production, 258
+
+Practical considerations, 88
+
+Practice, 132, 185-192
+  best time to, 186, 187
+  by wrong method, 191
+  for sustained tone, 132
+  methods of, 194
+
+Puberty, at, 112, 138
+  in boys, 114, 115
+  in girls, 113
+
+Public singing, age to begin, 115
+  speaking, 212
+
+Pumping, 259
+
+
+Q
+
+Quality, 101, 136, 214
+
+
+R
+
+R and s, interval between, 225
+
+Reed, long, 157
+  short, 157
+
+Reflex action, 40
+
+Reflexes, associated, 183
+  protective character of, 58, 59
+  sets of, 184
+
+Register, 233
+  change in, 169, 177
+  chest, 160
+  definition of, 176
+  in female voices, 160
+  of basses and barytones, 170
+  of tenors, 170
+
+Registers, 151-178
+  Behnke on, 155, 156, 167
+  Garcia on, 155
+  Mackenzie on, 156, 167, 168
+  Madame Seiler on, 153, 165, 170
+  Mandl on, 158
+
+Resonance chambers, 102, 136, 140-150, 175, 182, 198, 213, 223, 224,
+    228, 234
+  in sounding bodies, 140
+  of musical instruments, 140, 141
+
+Resonants, 228
+
+Resonator, 148
+
+Respiration, 46, 48, 68, 69
+  forced, 119
+  hygiene of, 55
+  mouth, 131
+
+Respiratory centre, 57, 58, 172
+  efficiency, 124
+  organs, 47
+  system, 37
+  tract, 26
+
+
+S
+
+Science, 17
+
+Scripture, Prof., 150
+
+Seiler, Madame, 153, 165, 170
+
+Selections in public, 271
+
+Sensations, 172, 174, 175, 178
+
+Septum nasi, 149
+
+Singer, purpose of, 99
+  range of, 269
+
+Singing, choral, 256
+  class, 257
+  fortissimo, 121
+  good, 259
+  in schools, 247
+
+Song, elements of, 218-229
+
+Soprano, highest tones of, 137
+  light, 232
+
+Sound, 60, 97-103, 135, 225
+  quality of, 102, 246
+  Tyndall on, 97
+  volume of, 101, 102, 136
+
+Sounding body, 99
+
+Speaker, purpose of, 99
+
+Speaking, good, 259
+
+Speech, elements of, 218-229
+  organs of, 233
+  purity of, 135
+
+Sphincter action, 86
+
+Staccato production, 209
+
+Stammering, 268
+
+Stop-closure, 158
+
+Straining, 86, 175
+
+Straw bass, 88
+
+Stuttering, 268
+
+Style, 254
+
+Swell, 207, 212
+
+
+T
+
+Technique, 23, 179, 183, 185, 186, 254, 255
+
+Teeth, 202
+
+Temperament, 245
+
+Tenors, 232
+
+Throat mirror, 107
+  sore, 265
+
+Thyro-arytenoideus, 84, 85
+  hyoid membrane, 81
+
+Thyroid cartilage, 76, 81
+
+Timbre, 136
+
+Tone, 132, 135, 136
+  carrying power of, 126
+  color of, 214
+  ground, 231
+  head, 160
+  piano, 233
+  pitch of, 126
+  production, 132, 207-217
+  quality of, 128, 142, 150, 231
+  the sustained, 208
+  volume of, 126
+
+Tones, 189
+  head, 177
+  highest, 137
+  lower, 137
+  quality of, 146
+  timbre of, 136
+  upper, 86
+
+Tongue, 131, 145, 149, 214
+  control of, 202
+  influence of, 201
+
+Tonsils, 145, 149
+
+Trachea, 81
+
+Tremolo, 128, 258, 259
+
+Tuning fork, 99
+
+
+U
+
+Uvula, 145
+
+
+V
+
+Vibrations, 61, 98, 100, 236
+
+Vibratives, 228
+
+Vibrato, 258
+
+Vital capacity, 71
+
+Vocal athlete, 182
+
+Vocal bands, 87, 103, 126
+    action of, 137
+    false, 78
+    true, 77, 78, 80, 94
+    vibrations of, 136
+  cords, false, 95
+    Madame Seiler on, 154
+    true, 95
+  methods, 32
+  physiology, 17-32
+  training, early weeks of, 246
+
+Vocalises, 207
+
+Vocalist, ideal, 198
+
+Vocalization, 19, 31
+
+Voice, 44, 254
+  breaking of, 114
+  brightening the, 216
+  carrying power of, 232
+  darkening the, 216
+  even, 84
+  harsh, 232
+  head, in females, 166
+  in ill health, 114
+  loud, 272
+  placed, 215
+  position in use of, 206
+  production, 22, 244
+  small in volume, 272
+  user, 17, 33, 46
+    exercises for, 135
+  well placed, 175
+
+Voices, classification of, 260, 261
+  injured, 26
+
+Vowel, a, 195
+  purity of, 199
+  sounds, 196, 197, 216
+
+Vowels, adaptation of, to ideas, 222
+  and consonants, 230, 235
+  dark, 235
+  formation of, 218-221
+  low-pitched, 235
+  mouth positions of, 218
+  perfect sound of, 221
+  pitch of, 221, 225, 230
+  quality of, 221
+
+
+W
+
+Wagner, 257
+
+Whispering, 225, 226
+
+Women, register of, 234
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Voice Production in Singing and
+Speaking, by Wesley Mills
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOICE PRODUCTION IN SINGING ***
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Voice Production in Singing and Speaking, by Wesley Mills.
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Voice Production in Singing and Speaking, by Wesley Mills
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Voice Production in Singing and Speaking
+       Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged)
+
+Author: Wesley Mills
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2006 [EBook #19880]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOICE PRODUCTION IN SINGING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Newman, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>VOICE PRODUCTION</h1>
+
+<h4>IN</h4>
+
+<h2>SINGING AND SPEAKING</h2>
+
+<h4>BASED ON</h4>
+
+<h3>SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES</h3>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h2>WESLEY MILLS, M.A., M.D., F.R.S.C.</h2>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY IN McGILL UNIVERSITY, AND LECTURER<br />
+ON
+VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE IN THE McGILL UNIVERSITY<br />
+CONSERVATORIUM
+OF MUSIC,<br />
+MONTREAL, CANADA</p>
+
+<h3><i>FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED</i></h3>
+
+<h3><a href="#TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h3>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/logo.jpg" width="96" height="91" alt="logo" title="logo" /></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+PHILADELPHIA &amp; LONDON<br />
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1906,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By J.B. Lippincott Company</span><br />
+<br />
+The Rights of Translation and all other Rights Reserved<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1913,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By J.B. Lippincott Company</span><br />
+<br />
+Electrotyped and Printed by<br />
+J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="frontispiece">
+<img src="images/image01.jpg" width="400" height="265" alt="larynx" title="larynx" /></a></p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/image02.jpg" width="400" height="247" alt="larynx" title="larynx" /></p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>Illustrations of the appearance of the larynx
+during phonation in two special cases. (Gr�nwald.)</b></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<h3>EXPLANATION OF THE COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS.</h3>
+
+<p>They contrast with each other in that the one (upper) is too red; the
+other, too pale. The upper represents appearances such as one gets
+with the laryngoscope when the subject has a very severe cold, or even
+inflammation of the larynx, including the central vocal bands. In this
+particular case, a young woman of twenty-five years of age, there was
+inflammation with a certain amount of weakness of the internal
+thyro-arytenoid muscles. Speaking was almost impossible, and such
+voice as was produced was of a very rough character. In the lower
+illustration we have the appearances presented in a man affected with
+tuberculosis of the lungs and larynx. The pallor of the larynx is
+characteristic. There is weakness of the internal thyro-arytenoid
+muscle on the right side, which results in imperfect tension of the
+vocal band on that side, so that the voice is uncertain and harsh.
+Such illustrations are introduced to impress the normal by contrast.
+The reader is strongly advised to compare these figures with others in
+the body of the work, especially those of <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chapter VII</a>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>PREFACE TO THE FOURTH REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> addition to certain emendations, etc., introduced throughout the
+work, I have thought it well to add a chapter in which the whole
+subject is treated in a broad and comprehensive way in the light of
+the latest scientific knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>In this review the psychological aspects of the subject have not been
+neglected, and the whole has been related to practice to as great an
+extent as the character of the book permits.</p>
+
+<p>It is significant that on both sides of the Atlantic there is a
+growing conviction that the foundations for speaking and singing as an
+art must be made as scientific as the state of our knowledge will
+permit.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">The Author.</span></p>
+
+<p>January, 1913.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">No</span> preface to the Second Edition was written, so few were the changes
+that were made in the work, and the same might apply to this Third
+Edition. However, the fact that within a period of less than two
+years, a Second English and a Third American Edition have been called
+for, seems to the Author to be so conclusive an endorsement of the
+application of science to vocal art, that he may be entitled at least
+to express his gratification at the progress the cause, to which he
+has devoted his pen, is making. It would seem that the better portion
+at least of that public that is interested in the progress of vocal
+art has made up its mind that the time has come when sense and science
+must replace tradition and empiricism.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">The Author</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Montreal</span>, September, 1908.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> present work is based on a life study of the voice, and has grown
+out of the conviction that all teaching and learning in voice-culture,
+whether for the purposes of singing or speaking, should as far as
+possible rest on a scientific foundation.</p>
+
+<p>The author, believing that practice and principles have been too much
+separated, has endeavored to combine them in this book. His purpose
+has not been to write an exhaustive work on vocal physiology, with
+references at every step to the views of various authors; rather has
+he tried always to keep in mind the real needs of the practical
+voice-user, and to give him a sure foundation for the principles that
+must underlie sound practice. A perusal of the first chapter of the
+work will give the reader a clearer idea of the author's purpose as
+briefly expressed above.</p>
+
+<p>The writer bespeaks an unprejudiced hearing, being convinced that in
+art as in all else there is but one ultimate court of appeal: to the
+scientific, the demonstrable&#8212;to what lies at the very foundations of
+human nature.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, the author desires to thank those publishers and
+authors who have kindly permitted the use of their illustrations.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">The Author</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">McGill University</span>, Montreal, October, 1906.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b><a href="#LIST">List of Illustrations</a></b></p>
+
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>THE CLAIMS AND IMPORTANCE OF VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY.</h4>
+
+<p>Science and art&#8212;The engineer, architect, physician, nurse, and
+others, compared with the vocal teacher and learner&#8212;Unfavorable
+tendencies&#8212;The old masters&#8212;The great elocutionists&#8212;Causes of
+failure&#8212;The lack of an adequate technique&#8212;Correct methods are
+physiological&#8212;Summary of the advantages of teaching and learning
+based on scientific principles&#8212;Illustrations of the application of
+physiological principles to actual cases&#8212;The evils from which
+speakers and singers suffer owing to wrong methods&#8212;Speaking and
+singing based on the same principles&#8212;Relation of hygiene to
+physiology <a href="#Page_17">17</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>GENERAL PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES.</h4>
+
+<p>Relations of animals to each other&#8212;Common properties of living
+matter&#8212;Explanation of these&#8212;The mammal and man&#8212;The stimulus and its
+results&#8212;The one-celled animal&#8212;Various &quot;systems&quot;necessary&#8212;Complexity
+of structure and function&#8212;Harmony through the nervous system&#8212;The
+rule of nervous centres&#8212;Means by which they are influenced, and by
+which they influence&#8212;Reflex action&#8212;Muscular mechanisms and
+neuro-muscular mechanisms&#8212;Work of the singer and speaker largely
+reflex in character&#8212;Summary <a href="#Page_34">34</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>BREATHING CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.</h4>
+
+<p>Breathing the great essential&#8212;Misconceptions&#8212;Purpose of breathing as
+a vital process&#8212;The respiratory organs&#8212;Their nature&#8212;Relations of
+the lungs to the chest-wall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>&#8212;Expansion of the chest&#8212;Its
+diameters&#8212;The muscles of respiration&#8212;Personal observation&#8212;The
+diaphragm&#8212;Varying quantities of air breathed&#8212;Breathing when properly
+carried out by the singer or speaker is healthful <a href="#Page_44">44</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>BREATHING FURTHER CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.</h4>
+
+<p>Relations of the nervous system to breathing&#8212;The respiratory
+centre&#8212;Reflex action in breathing&#8212;Methods of preventing
+nervousness&#8212;Tones produced by the outgoing breath&#8212;Waste of
+breath&#8212;The happy combination for good singing or speaking
+<a href="#Page_57">57</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.</h4>
+
+<p>The well-developed chest&#8212;The voice-user a kind of athlete&#8212;The
+tremolo&#8212;Exercises recommended for the development of the chest&#8212;Forms
+of dress that hamper breathing&#8212;Weighing and measuring,
+re-measurement, etc.&#8212;Specific directions for methods to develop the
+chest&#8212;Warnings&#8212;Additional exercises&#8212;Breathing through the nose and
+through the mouth&#8212;Exercises for the development of the diaphragm and
+abdominal muscles&#8212;Relation of the diaphragm to the staccato
+effect&#8212;Forms of general exercise for the voice-user&#8212;Summary
+<a href="#Page_62">62</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>THE SPECIAL VOICE-PRODUCING MECHANISM, THE LARYNX.</h4>
+
+<p>Not the only voice-producing apparatus&#8212;Specific structures of the
+larynx in use when the subject phonates&#8212;Muscles and their
+attachments&#8212;The cartilages of the larynx&#8212;The lining mucous
+membrane&#8212;Changes in it when one has a &quot;cold&quot;&#8212;The vocal
+bands&#8212;Functions of the epiglottis&#8212;The &quot;middle line&quot; and relative
+position of parts&#8212;Adam's apple&#8212;Ventricle of the larynx&#8212;The
+importance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> of the arytenoid cartilages&#8212;Muscles of the larynx in
+detail&#8212;Sphincter action&#8212;Straining&#8212;Position of the larynx&#8212;Practical
+considerations&#8212;Dissection of a &quot;pluck&quot; and especially of the
+larynx&#8212;Hygiene&#8212;How disorder of one part may affect another&#8212;Summary
+<a href="#Page_74">74</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>SOUND&#8212;THE LARYNGOSCOPE&#8212;THE LARYNX RECONSIDERED.</h4>
+
+<p>Some study of physics desirable&#8212;Sound and vibrations&#8212;The sounding
+body&#8212;Experiments to illustrate the principles of sound&#8212;Qualities of
+sound&#8212;Animals and perception of sound&#8212;The range of hearing in
+man&#8212;The larynx as a musical instrument&#8212;Experiments of Johannes
+M&#252;ller&#8212;Discovery of the laryngoscope by Garcia&#8212;Description
+of the instrument&#8212;Method of using the laryngoscope&#8212;The
+difficulties&#8212;Auto-laryngoscopy&#8212;The importance of both laryngoscopy
+and auto-laryngoscopy&#8212;Change in size of the larynx due to
+use&#8212;Delicate changes in the laryngeal mechanism&#8212;Changes in the
+larynx during adolescence&#8212;Warnings&#8212;The &quot;breaking&quot; of the
+voice&#8212;Analogies with fatigue, etc.&#8212;When should singing be
+begun?&#8212;Singing with others&#8212;Choral singing <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BREATHING, LARYNGEAL ADJUSTMENT, ETC.</h4>
+
+<p>Various kinds of breathing, as &quot;abdominal,&quot; &quot;clavicular,&quot; etc.,
+discussed&#8212;Control of the whole of the breathing mechanism
+urged&#8212;Correct breathing as a habit&#8212;Breathing in the most vigorous
+speaking and singing&#8212;Different views expressed by a diagram&#8212;Economy
+of energy in art&#8212;Reserve energy in breathing&#8212;&quot;Pumping&quot;&#8212;<i>Coup de
+glotte</i>&#8212;&quot;Attack&quot;&#8212;Breath-adjustment&#8212;Quality of sound the prime
+consideration in tone-production&#8212;Tremolo and other faults&#8212;Tests of
+good breathing&#8212;Mouth-breathing&#8212;Exercises&#8212;Singing of a single
+tone&#8212;Its relation to scale-singing&#8212;Summary and review
+<a href="#Page_118">118</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.</h4>
+
+<p>Vocal bands and resonance-chambers compared&#8212;Improvised mechanism to
+illustrate resonance&#8212;Musical instruments as resonance-bodies&#8212;A vowel
+in relation to the resonance-chambers&#8212;Description of the
+resonance-chambers&#8212;How the quality of tones may be made to vary&#8212;New
+views as to the sounding-chambers&#8212;Summary <a href="#Page_140">140</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.</h4>
+
+<p>A controverted subject&#8212;Definitions of a register&#8212;Qualifications for
+dealing with this subject&#8212;Madame Seiler&#8212;Tabular statement of her
+views&#8212;Garcia's and Behnke's divisions of registers&#8212;Sir Morell
+Mackenzie's views in detail&#8212;The author's earlier investigations&#8212;Madame
+Marchesi's views and practice <a href="#Page_151">151</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.</h4>
+
+<p>Auto-laryngoscopy and photography of the larynx&#8212;Dogmatism and
+science&#8212;Confusion and controversy&#8212;The break&#8212;Ignoring
+registers&#8212;Modification of tones, or &quot;covering&quot;&#8212;Points of agreement
+between different writers on the subject&#8212;The falsetto for
+males&#8212;Madame Seiler's special qualifications&#8212;Behnke's and
+Mackenzie's views&#8212;The author's conclusions&#8212;Rule for the extension of
+a register&#8212;Why certain artists deteriorate while others do
+not&#8212;-Males and females compared as to registers&#8212;The division of the
+registers for female voices recommended by the author&#8212;Teacher and
+pupil as regards registers&#8212;Objection to registers answered&#8212;The
+manner of using the breath and registers&#8212;How to distinguish
+registers&#8212;The teacher's part&#8212;Hearing singers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> of eminence is
+recommended&#8212;Madame Melba&#8212;Guiding sensations&#8212;Summary
+<a href="#Page_161">161</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING VOICE-PRODUCTION.</h4>
+
+<p>Artistic expression only through movements&#8212;Emotions and
+technique&#8212;Relation of ideas to movements&#8212;Memories and
+movements&#8212;Guiding sensations essential for movements&#8212;The principles
+underlying all movements the same&#8212;Associated reflexes and habits&#8212;How
+habits are formed&#8212;inhibitions and their importance&#8212;Early practices
+only before the teacher&#8212;Careful practice with concentration of energy
+the best&#8212;Queries as to practice&#8212;Fatigue a warning&#8212;Practice in the
+early hours of the day, and short of fatigue&#8212;Quality to be aimed at
+rather than quantity&#8212;The total amount of time to be devoted to
+practice&#8212;&quot;Hasten slowly;&quot; &quot;Little and often&quot;&#8212;The treatment of the
+voice ruined by wrong methods&#8212;Summary <a href="#Page_179">179</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>CHIEFLY AN APPLICATION TO VOICE-PRODUCTION OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES
+PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED.</h4>
+
+<p>Vowels, consonants, noise&#8212;Consonants and pauses&#8212;Voice-production and
+vowels&#8212;Certain vowel sounds common to most languages&#8212;Why German and
+English are relatively unmusical&#8212;The needs of the musical artist&#8212;The
+mechanism required for the production of a vowel sound&#8212;Reconsideration
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span>of the resonance-chambers&#8212;The larynx to be steadied but not held
+rigidly immovable&#8212;The principal modifiers of the shape of the
+mouth-cavity&#8212;Breath to be taken through the mouth&#8212;The lips&#8212;Tongue
+and lip practice before a mirror&#8212;Importance of the connection between
+the ear and the mouth parts, etc&#8212;&quot;Open mouth&quot;&#8212;The mouth in singing a
+descending scale&#8212;Undue opening of the mouth&#8212;Proper method of opening
+the mouth&#8212;Causes of compression and the consequences <a href="#Page_195">195</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>SOME SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF PRINCIPLES IN TONE-PRODUCTION.</h4>
+
+<p>Principles and their expression in a few exercises&#8212;Analysis of the
+methods of tone-production&#8212;The sustained tone&#8212;Smoothly linked
+tones&#8212;The legato&#8212;The staccato and kindred effects&#8212;The mechanisms
+concerned&#8212;Perfection requires years of careful practice&#8212;The
+bel canto and the swell&#8212;The same exercises for singer and
+speaker&#8212;&quot;Forward,&quot; &quot;backward,&quot; etc., production&#8212;Escape of
+breath&#8212;The action of the soft palate&#8212;When to use &quot;forward&quot; and when
+&quot;backward&quot; production&#8212;Voice-placement&#8212;Nasal resonance, not nasal
+twang&#8212;Summary <a href="#Page_207">207</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.</h4>
+
+<p>The subject may be made dry or the reverse&#8212;Vowels, consonants,
+noise&#8212;The position of the lips and the shape of the mouth-cavity in
+sounding the various vowels&#8212;How to demonstrate that the mouth-cavity
+is a resonance-chamber&#8212;Practical considerations growing out of the
+above&#8212;Speaker, vocalist, and composer&#8212;Bearing of these facts on the
+learning of languages&#8212;Consonants as musical nuisances&#8212;Their great
+variation in pitch&#8212;Br&#252;cke's division of consonants&#8212;Tabulation of the
+same <a href="#Page_218">218</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>FURTHER THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION OF VOWELS AND
+CONSONANTS.</h4>
+
+<p>The best vowel to use in practice&#8212;Necessary to practise all&#8212;The
+guttural <i>r</i> and the lingual <i>r</i>&#8212;Consonants that favor nasality of
+tone&#8212;Overtones and fundamental tones&#8212;Relation of intensity and
+quality&#8212;The carrying power of a tone&#8212;Unusual distinctness in
+practice as related to ease&#8212;The registers of the speaking voice
+according to Madame Seiler&#8212;The range in speaking&#8212;Summary
+<a href="#Page_230">230</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>THE HEARING APPARATUS AND HEARING IN MUSIC.</h4>
+
+<p>Why this chapter is introduced&#8212;The essential mechanism of
+hearing&#8212;The part played by waves and vibrations&#8212;Divisions of the
+ear&#8212;The external ear in lower animals&#8212;The drum-head or tympanic
+membrane&#8212;The middle ear and its connections&#8212;Relation of the throat
+and the ear&#8212;The inner ear or labyrinth&#8212;The end-organ and its
+relations&#8212;The connection of the ear and various parts of the
+brain&#8212;The musician's ear&#8212;Relation of music and hearing&#8212;Lack of ear
+and inattention&#8212;The artist and the musician&#8212;The ear and the speaking
+voice&#8212;General musical training in relation to intonation, etc&#8212;The
+appreciation of music, and training to that end&#8212;The art of listening
+with close attention&#8212;Summary <a href="#Page_236">236</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL HYGIENE AND RELATED SUBJECTS.</h4>
+
+<p>Hygienic as related to physiological principles&#8212;Hygiene in the
+widest sense&#8212;Unfavorable conditions in the public life of an
+artist&#8212;Qualifications for success&#8212;Technique and a public career&#8212;The
+isolation of the artist and its dangers&#8212;The need for greater
+preparation now than ever&#8212;Choral singing and its possible
+dangers&#8212;The tendencies of the Wagner music-drama&#8212;Special faults, as
+the &quot;scoop,&quot; &quot;<i>vibrato</i>,&quot; &quot;<i>tremolo</i>,&quot; &quot;pumping&quot;&#8212;Desirability of
+consultations by teachers of the use of the voice&#8212;Things the
+voice-user should avoid&#8212;Mouth-toilets&#8212;Lozenges&#8212;The sipping of
+water&#8212;What one should and should not eat&#8212;Tea and Coffee&#8212;The whole
+subject of congestion from compression, straining, etc., of the utmost
+importance&#8212;A sore throat when frequent should give rise to inquiry as
+to methods&#8212;Constipation&#8212;Exercise&#8212;Bathing <a href="#Page_251">251</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>FURTHER TREATMENT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HYGIENE.</h4>
+
+<p>Stammering and stuttering&#8212;Those who have broken down&#8212;The increase of
+the range of a voice&#8212;The part the student plays in settling such
+questions&#8212;Selections to be avoided&#8212;Conservation of energy&#8212;Change
+and contrast&#8212;The voice as related to the building in which it is
+produced&#8212;The listener and pauses&#8212;Nervousness, and how to ward it
+off&#8212;General conclusion <a href="#Page_268">268</a></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></h3>
+
+<h4>REVIEW AND REVISION.</h4>
+
+<p>The object of the speaker or singer&#8212;The idea of co-ordination&#8212;The
+study of vocalization may be considered a study of movements&#8212;The
+psychic condition&#8212;The instrument which is played upon&#8212;How is this
+instrument played upon?&#8212;Vibration of the air&#8212;Breathing&#8212;The aim of
+all training&#8212;The whole subject of breathing&#8212;Breathing exercises&#8212;The
+resonance chambers&#8212;The formation of vowels&#8212;Muscular efforts for the
+production of consonants&#8212;The pronunciation of words&#8212;General health
+of great importance <a href="#Page_276">276</a></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></b></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="LIST"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tbody>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left"><b>FIG.</b></td><td style="text-align: right">
+  <b>PAGE</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">Appearance of the larynx during phonation in two special cases (in colors)</td><td style="text-align: right"><i>
+  <a href="#frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">1. Muscle-fibres from the heart, much magnified</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">2. Small portion of muscle, moderately magnified</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">3. Muscle-cells from coats of intestine</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">4. Body of a nerve-cell of the spinal cord</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">5. Large nerve-cell from spinal cord of an ox</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">6. Cell from the cortex cerebri</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a>-39</td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">7. Nerve terminating in a muscle</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a>-39</td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">8. Muscle-fibres with capillaries around and between them</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">9. Parts of the respiratory apparatus</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">10. Trachea and bronchial tubes</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">11. Heart, lungs, and diaphragm</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">12. Diagram showing changes in shape of chest during inspiration</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">13. Diagram showing depression of the diaphragm during inspiration</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">14. Position of diaphragm, abdominal walls, etc., during expiration</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">15. Diagram illustrating reflex action</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">16. A well-developed, healthy chest</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">17. A chest deformed by corsets</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">18. Normal position of diaphragm and vital organs</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">19. Vital organs misplaced by compression of the chest</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">20. Thyroid and cricoid cartilages, side view</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">21. Thyroid and cricoid cartilages, front view</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_76">
+  76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">22. Back surface of cricoid cartilage</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">23. Cricoid cartilage, side view.</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">24. Arytenoid cartilages</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">25. A view of the larynx from behind</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">26. Epiglottis, thyroid and cricoid cartilages, etc.</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a>-79</td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">27. Hyoid bone, crico-thyroid muscle, etc.</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a>-79</td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">28. Posterior view of the larynx</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">29. Diagram showing relation of parts to the thyroid cartilage</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">30. Diagram showing the action of crico-thyroid muscle</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">31. View of larynx from above</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">32. Transverse section of larynx</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">33. False and true vocal bands, etc.</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">34. Inner surface of the larynx</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">35. Diagram to show the action of the laryngeal muscles</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">36. Registering the vibrations of a tuning-fork</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">37. Illustrating the transmission of vibrations</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">38. Illustrating the theory and practice of laryngoscopic examination</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">39. Illustrating the practice of laryngoscopic examination</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">40. Laryngoscopic picture of male larynx</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">41. Laryngoscopic picture of female larynx</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">42. Larynx during an attack of a common &quot;cold&quot;</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">43. The vocal bands as seen with laryngoscope during deep inspiration</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">44. Diagram showing form of chest and abdomen in forced abdominal breathing</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">45. The vocal bands during the production of a high-pitched tone</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">46. Water being poured into a tube until the remaining air-space becomes a resonator of a tuning-fork</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">47. Soft palate, fauces, and tonsils</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a>-143</td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">48. Nares and soft palate, from behind</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a>-143<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">49. Turbinated bones of the nose</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">50. Madame Seiler's division of the registers</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">51. Appearance of the vocal bands when sounding first E and then F sharp</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">52. Diagram to show the nature of registers and breaks</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">53. Diagram of the processes involved in singing</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">54. Highly magnified diagramatic representation of a section through the superficial part of the great brain</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">55. Nerve-cell from the outer rind of the great brain, much magnified</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">56. Position of parts in sounding the vowel A</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">57. Position of the parts in sounding I</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">58. Position of the parts in sounding OU</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">59. Position of the parts in sounding T, K, F, R, N, and P</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">60. Vertical section of the auditory apparatus</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">61. Diagram of the auditory apparatus</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">62. Two of the ear-bones (malleus and incus), enlarged</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: left">63. The complete chain of auditory ossicles</td><td style="text-align: right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+<h1>VOICE PRODUCTION</h1>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CLAIMS AND IMPORTANCE OF VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">To</span> know consciously and to do with special reference to guiding
+principles are to be distinguished from carrying out some process
+without bearing in mind the why or wherefore. Science is exact and
+related knowledge, facts bound together by principles. Art is
+execution, doing, and has not necessarily any conscious reference to
+principles.</p>
+
+<p>While every art has its corresponding science, their relation is in
+some cases of much greater practical importance than in others. While
+a painter may be the better for knowing the laws of light, there can
+be no question that he may do very good work without any knowledge
+whatever of the science of optics. He is at least in no danger of
+injuring any part of his person.</p>
+
+<p>Entirely otherwise is it with the voice-user. He employs a delicate
+and easily injured vital apparatus. His results depend on the most
+accurate adjustment of certain neuro-muscular mechanisms, and one
+might suppose that it would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> obvious to all who are concerned with
+this art that a knowledge of the structure and functions of these
+delicate arrangements of Nature would be at least of great if not of
+essential importance. The engineer knows the structure and uses of
+each part of his engine, and does not trust to unintelligent
+observation of the mere working of mechanisms which others have
+constructed. The architect studies not only the principles of design,
+etc., but also the nature and relative value of materials. In his own
+way he is a kind of anatomist and physiologist.</p>
+
+<p>We do not trust the care of our bodies to those who have picked up a
+few methods of treatment by experience or the imitation of others. The
+doctor must have, we all believe, a knowledge of the structure and
+working of the animal body; he must understand the action of drugs and
+other healing agents. We expect him not only to diagnose the
+disease&#8212;to tell us exactly what is the matter&#8212;but also to be able to
+predict with, some degree of certainty the course of the malady. Even
+the nurse of the day must show some grasp of the principles underlying
+her art.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with all the largest and best equipped universities in
+America there are officials to plan and direct the courses in physical
+culture. This matter is no longer entrusted to a &quot;trainer,&quot; who has
+only his experience and observation to rely upon. It is realized that
+the building up of the mechanism which they are supposed to train<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> in
+an intelligent manner rests upon well-established principles.</p>
+
+<p>It would be just as reasonable for an engineer to point to the fact
+that his engine works well, as evidence of his ability, as for the
+teacher of voice-production to make the same claim in regard to the
+vocal mechanism. In each case there is a certain amount of
+justification for the claim, but such teaching cannot be called
+scientific. Is it even enlightened? It is just as rational to follow
+in medicine methods that seem to lead to good results, without any
+reference to the reason why, as to train for results in speaking and
+singing by methods which have for the student and teacher no conscious
+basis in scientific knowledge. The physician to-day who treats disease
+without reference to anatomy and physiology is, at best, but a sort of
+respectable charlatan. Why should students and teachers of
+voice-production be content to remain, in the advanced present, where
+they were hundreds of years ago?</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, there is much more reason now than formerly why the vocalist,
+speaker, and teacher should have a theoretical and practical
+knowledge of the structure and workings of the mechanism employed.
+Many tendencies of the present day work against successful
+voice-training&#8212;worst of all, perhaps, the spirit of haste, the desire
+to reach ends by short cuts, the aim to substitute tricky for
+straightforward vocalization, and much more which I shall refer to
+again and again. They hurt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> this cause; and I am deeply impressed with
+the conviction that, if we are to attain the best results in singing
+and speaking, we must betake ourselves in practice to the methods in
+vogue at a time which may be justly characterized as the golden age of
+voice-production.</p>
+
+<p>We have advanced, musically, in many respects since the days of the
+old Italian masters, but just as we must turn to the Greeks to learn
+what constitutes the highest and best in sculpture, so must we sit at
+the feet of these old masters. Consciously or unconsciously they
+taught on sound physiological principles, and they insisted on the
+voice-training absolutely necessary to the attainment of the best art.</p>
+
+<p>However talented any individual may be, he can only produce the best
+results as a singer, actor, or speaker, when the mechanisms by which
+he hopes to influence his listeners are adequately trained. Why do we
+look in vain to-day for elocutionists such as Vandenhoff, Bell, and
+others? Why are there not actors with the voices of Garrick, Kean,
+Kemble, or Mrs. Siddons, or singers with the vocal powers of a score
+of celebrities of a former time? It is not that voices are rarer, or
+talent less widely bestowed by nature. It is because <i>we do not to-day
+pursue right methods for a sufficient length of time</i>; because our
+methods rest frequently on a foundation less physiological, and
+therefore less sound. Take a single instance, breath-control. In this
+alone singers to-day are far behind those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> the old Italian period,
+not always because they do not know how to breathe, but because often
+they are unwilling to give the time necessary for the full development
+of adequate breathing power and control.</p>
+
+<p>There was probably never a time when so much attention was paid to the
+interpretation of music, yet the results are often unsatisfactory
+because of inadequate technique. People seem to hope to impress us, on
+the stage, with voices that from a technical point of view are crude
+and undeveloped, and accordingly lack beauty and expressiveness.
+Speakers to-day have often every qualification except voice&#8212;a voice
+that can arrest attention, charm with its music, or carry conviction
+by the adequate expression of the idea or emotion intended.</p>
+
+<p>Is it not strange that a student of the piano or violin is willing to
+devote perhaps ten years to the study of the technique of his
+instrument, while the voice-user expects to succeed with a period of
+vocal practice extending over a year or two, possibly even only a few
+months?</p>
+
+<p>When the anatomy and physiology of the larynx are considered, it will
+be seen that the muscular mechanisms concerned in voice-production are
+of a delicacy unequalled anywhere in the body except possibly in the
+eye and the ear. And when it is further considered that these
+elaborate and sensitive mechanisms of the larynx are of little use
+ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>cept when adequately put into action by the breath-stream, which
+again involves hosts of other muscular movements, and the whole in
+relation to the parts of the vocal apparatus above the larynx, the
+mouth, nose, etc., it becomes clear that only long, patient, and
+<i>intelligent</i> study will lead to the highest results.</p>
+
+<p>It should also be remembered that such an apparatus can easily acquire
+habits which may last for life, for good or ill, artistically
+considered. Such delicate mechanisms can also be easily injured or
+hopelessly ruined; and, as a matter of fact, this is being done daily.
+A great musical periodical has made the statement that thousands of
+voices are being ruined annually, in America alone, by incompetent
+teaching. My experience when a practising laryngologist made me
+acquainted with the extent of the ruin that may be brought about by
+incorrect methods of using the voice, both as regards the throat and
+the voice itself; and contact with teachers and students has so
+impressed me with the importance of placing voice-production on a
+sound foundation, not only artistic but physiological, that I have
+felt constrained to tell others who may be willing to hear me what I
+have learned as to correct methods, with some reference also to wrong
+ones, though the latter are so numerous that I shall not be able to
+find the space to deal at length with them.</p>
+
+<p>The correct methods of singing and speaking are always, of necessity,
+physiological. Others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> may satisfy a vitiated or undeveloped public
+taste, but what is artistically sound is also physiological. None have
+ever sung with more ease than those taught by the correct methods of
+the old Italian masters; as none run so easily as the wisely trained
+athlete, and none endure so well. People in singing and speaking will,
+as in other cases, get what they work for, but have no right to expect
+to sing or speak effectively by inspiration, any more than the athlete
+to win a race because he is born naturally fleet of foot or with a
+quick intelligence. In each case the ideas are converted into
+performance, the results attained, by the exercise of neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. I am most anxious that it shall be perceived that this is
+the case, that the same laws apply to voice-production as to running
+or any other exercise. The difference is one of delicacy and
+complexity so far as the body is concerned.</p>
+
+<p>It will be understood that I speak only of the technique. For art
+there must be more than technique, but there is no art without good
+methods of execution, which constitute technique. The latter is
+nothing more than method&#8212;manner of performance. Behind these methods
+of performance, or the simplest part of them, there must be some idea.
+The more intelligent the student, speaker or singer, as to his art and
+generally, the better for the teacher who instructs scientifically,
+though such intelligence is largely lost to the teacher who depends on
+tradition and pure imitation. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> present work I shall be so
+concerned with the physical that I shall be able only to refer briefly
+to the part that intelligence and feeling play in the result.</p>
+
+<p>The qualifications for the successful treatment of vocal
+physiology&#8212;that is, such a discussion of the subject as shall lead to
+a clear comprehension of the nature of the principles involved, and
+place them on a practical foundation, make them at once usable in
+actual study and in teaching&#8212;such qualifications are many, and, in
+their totality and in an adequate degree, difficult to attain. After
+more than twenty years of the best study I could give to this subject
+in both a theoretical and a practical manner, I feel that I have
+something to say which may be useful to a large class, and, so far as
+I know, that is my reason for writing this book.</p>
+
+<p>For myself music is indispensable. The one instrument we all possess
+is a voice-mechanism. I am one of those who regret that so little
+attention is paid, especially in America, to pleasing and expressive
+use of the voice in ordinary conversation. Yet how much pleasure
+cannot a beautiful speaking voice convey! The college undergraduate
+rarely finds vocal study among the requirements, in spite of the fact
+that the voice is an instrument that he will use much more than the
+pen. The truth is, the home methods of voice-production are those we
+are most likely to carry with us through life, and, unfortunately,
+little attention is given to the subject.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a love of sweet sounds may be a hidden cause for much that
+would otherwise be inexplicable in an entire career, as in my own
+case. It led to an early study of singers and actors and their
+performances; it gave rise to an effort to form a voice that would
+meet the requirements of an unusually sensitive ear; it led to the
+practice and teaching of elocution, and, later, to much communion with
+voice-users, both singers and speakers. In the meantime came medical
+practice, with speedy specialization as a laryngologist, when there
+were daily consultations with singers and speakers who had employed
+wrong methods of voice-production; this again led on to the scientific
+investigation of voice problems, with a view of settling certain
+disputed points; then came renewed and deeper study of music, both as
+an art and as a science, with a profound interest in the study of the
+philosophy of musical art and the psychological study of the musical
+artist, all culminating in this attempt to help those who will listen
+to me without prejudice. I do not think I know all that is to be
+known, but I believe I do know how to form and preserve the voice
+according to physiological principles; I at least ask the reader to
+give my teachings and recommendations a fair trial. He shall have
+reasons for what is presented and recommended to him.</p>
+
+<p>Once more let it be said that I do not deny that good practical
+results may follow teaching that is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> not put before the pupil as
+physiology; but what is claimed for physiological teaching is that&#8212;</p>
+
+<p>1. It is more rational. The student sees that things must be thus and
+so, and not otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>2. Faults can be the better recognized and explained.</p>
+
+<p>3. The student can the more surely guide his own development, and meet
+the stress and storm that sooner or later come to every professional
+voice-user.</p>
+
+<p>4. Injured voices can be the more effectively restored.</p>
+
+<p>5. The physical welfare of the student is advanced&#8212;a matter which I
+find is often neglected by teachers of music, though more so in the
+case of instrumental than vocal teachers.</p>
+
+<p>6. The student can much more effectively learn from the performances
+of others, because he sees that singing and speaking are physical
+processes leading to artistic ends. This is perhaps one of the most
+valuable results, and I can testify to the greater readiness with
+which analysis of a performance can be made after even moderate
+advancement. The teacher who is wise will encourage the student to
+hear those who excel, and to analyze the methods which successful
+artists employ. The student can much more readily accomplish this than
+detect the mental movements of the artist, though the two really go
+hand in hand to a large extent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The above are some of the advantages, but by no means all, of a method
+of study of voice-production which I must claim is the only rational
+one&#8212;certainly, the only one that rests on a scientific foundation.</p>
+
+<p>It does not follow that such study, to be scientific, shall be made
+repellent by the use of technical terms the significance of which the
+reader is left to guess at, but finds unexplained. I fear such
+treatment of vocal physiology has brought it into disrepute. The aim
+of the writer will be to give a clear scientific treatment of the
+subject, which shall not be obscured by unexplained technical terms,
+and which shall be <i>practical</i>&#8212;capable of immediate use by student
+and teacher. If he did not believe the latter possible he would not
+think it worth while to attempt the former, especially as this has
+often been done before, he regrets to say, badly enough.</p>
+
+<p>Although the author has not now the tune to give regular lessons in
+voice-production, he is frequently consulted, especially when abroad,
+during his vacations, by speakers and especially singers who are
+anxious to learn how they may increase their efficiency in the
+profession by which they earn their livelihood and make their
+reputation; and the reader may be gratified to learn how, in such
+cases, the writer applies the principles he so strongly recommends to
+others.</p>
+
+<p>Let two or three illustrations suffice:</p>
+
+<p>1. A tenor of world renown consulted him in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> regard to the position of
+the larynx in singing, as he had a suspicion that his practice was not
+correct, inasmuch as his voice seemed to be deteriorating to some
+extent. The answer to his question need not be given here, as this
+subject is discussed adequately in a later chapter.</p>
+
+<p>2. The second was the case of a young lady, an amateur singer, who was
+anxious to know why she failed to get satisfactory results. The author
+heard her in a large room, without any accompaniment (to cover up
+defects, etc.), and standing at first at some distance from her, then
+nearer. Her tones were delightfully pure and beautiful, but her
+performance suggested rather the sound of some instrument than singing
+in the proper sense. It was impossible to learn the ideas to be
+imparted, as the words could not be distinctly made out; there was a
+monotony in the whole performance, though, it must be confessed, a
+beautiful monotony, and there was a total lack of that vigor and
+sureness that both educated and uneducated listeners must be made to
+feel, or there results a sense of dissatisfaction, if not even
+irritation.</p>
+
+<p>The beauty of tone was owing to a production that was to a certain
+extent sound, and this explained why the voice carried well in spite
+of its being small. This young lady was well educated, had heard much
+good music, possessed a sensitive ear and a fine &#230;sthetic taste, and,
+perhaps most important of all, in this case at least, was able to
+think for herself. She was very slight of body,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> with an ill-developed
+chest, and, from her appearance, could not have enjoyed robust health.
+It was at once evident that this was an admirable case by which to
+test the views advocated. Accordingly, the author addressed the young
+lady as follows:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your voice is beautiful in quality, and carries well; you observe the
+registers properly; but your vocalization is feeble, and your singing
+is ineffective. This is due largely to the lack of robustness in your
+voice, but not wholly. You do not tell your story in song so that the
+listener may know what you have to say to him. The imperfections in
+your method of speaking, so common in America&#8212;an imperfect
+articulation and a limp texture of voice&#8212;are evident in your singing;
+you do not phrase well, and you paint all in one color. This is due
+chiefly to your breathing and your attacks. One may observe that at no
+time do you fill your chest completely. You use the lower chest and
+the diaphragm correctly, but you rob yourself of one half of your
+breathing power, and your chest is not at all well developed. You do
+not use the parts above your voice-box with vigor and efficiency, and
+you direct so much attention to the quality of the tone that you
+neglect its quantity and the ideas to be expressed. You have been
+correctly but inadequately instructed. Your teachers have evidently
+understood registers practically, as few do, but they have only half
+taught you breathing and attack. Their fidelity to that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> high ideal of
+quality of tone as the final consideration wins my respect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The writer thought, but did not say, that they must have understood
+little of vocal physiology, or they would not have left this young
+lady so ill-developed physically, at least so far as the chest is
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>I then asked this earnest and intelligent student, as she proved to
+be, to take a full breath. She did not understand this, and was
+absolutely incapable of doing it. She had been taught to begin
+breathing below, to expand from the lower chest upward, and, as a
+natural result, she never filled the upper chest. She was at once
+shown how it was done, when she seemed greatly surprised, and said: &quot;I
+never have done that in my whole life.&quot; &quot;Did you not run and shout as
+a child?&quot; &quot;No, I never did run enough or shout enough to fill up my
+chest.&quot; The latter was small, and flat.</p>
+
+<p>The method of attack was next explained and illustrated, first without
+reference to words, and then to show its importance in conveying
+ideas, and the causes of the defects in speaking were indicated, and
+the corrections named and illustrated. The lady was then asked to sing
+again, making the improvements suggested, with the result that it was
+clear that every principle set forth had been clearly apprehended,
+though of course as yet only imperfectly carried out. The student was
+recommended to take walking exercise, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> to practice filling the
+chest in the manner to be explained later.</p>
+
+<p>After six weeks she again asked to be heard. The change effected was
+wonderful; she was another type of vocalist now. Without any loss in
+quality her voice had a volume and intensity that made it adequate for
+singing in at least a small hall; her attacks were good, though not
+perfect; and at the end of a very large room it could easily be seen
+that her chest was, when necessary, filled full, so that she was able
+to produce a large and prolonged tone. But, best of all, her health
+had greatly improved, and she had gained in size and weight.</p>
+
+<p>It is but fair to point out that, in the present case, the student was
+an unusually intelligent and thoughtful person. Had it been otherwise,
+more consultations would have been necessary, with probably many
+detailed instructions and much practice before the teacher. But the
+case sufficed to convince me afresh that only physiological teaching
+meets the needs of pupil and teacher. I do not claim, of course, that
+it is a panacea. It will not supply the lack of a musical ear or an
+artistic temperament. Vocalization does not make an artist, but there
+can be no artist without sound vocalization.</p>
+
+<p>All the author's experience as a laryngologist tended to convince him
+that most of those evils from which speakers and singers suffer,
+whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> the part of the vocal mechanism affected, arise from faulty
+methods of voice-production, or excess in the use of methods in
+themselves correct. A showman may have a correct method of
+voice-production&#8212;indeed, the writer has often studied the showman
+with admiration&#8212;but if he speak for hours in the open air in all
+sorts of weather, a disordered throat is but the natural consequence;
+and the Wagnerian singer who will shout instead of sing must not
+expect to retain a voice of musical quality, if, indeed, he retain one
+at all.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout this work it will be assumed that the speaker and the
+singer should employ essentially the same vocal methods. The singer
+should be a good speaker, even a good elocutionist, and the speaker
+should be able to produce tones equal in beauty, power, and
+expressiveness to those of the singer, but, of course, within a more
+limited range, and less prolonged, as a rule. To each alike is
+voice-training essential, if artistic results are to follow; neither
+rhetorical training on the one hand nor musical training on the other
+will alone suffice.</p>
+
+<p>So that it may be clear that the same physiological principles apply
+to the vocal mechanism as to all others in the body, a short chapter
+dealing with this subject is introduced, before taking up the
+structure and functions of any part of that apparatus by which the
+speaker or singer produces his results as a specialist.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The laws of health known as hygiene follow so naturally on those of
+physiology that brief references to this subject, from time to time,
+with a chapter at the end of the work bearing specially on the life of
+the voice-user, will probably suffice.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>GENERAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> principle that knowledge consists in a perception of relations
+will now be applied to the structure and functions or uses of the
+different parts of the body.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig01.jpg" width="236" height="346" alt="Fig. 1" title="Fig. 1" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 1. Muscle-fibres from the heart, much magnified,
+showing cross-stripings, nuclei, or the darkly stained central bodies
+very important to the life of the cell, also the divisions and points
+of union. (Sch&#228;fer's <i>Histology</i>.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig02.jpg" width="305" height="404" alt="Fig. 2" title="Fig. 2" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 2. Appearance of a small portion of
+muscle under a moderate magnification. Between the muscle-cells proper a form of
+binding tissue may be seen.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The demonstration that all animals, even all living things, have
+certain properties or functions in common is one of the great results
+of modern science. Man no longer can be rightly viewed apart from
+other animals. In many respects he is in no wise superior to them. The
+most desirable course to pursue is to learn wherein animals resemble
+and wherein they differ, without dwelling at great length on the
+question of relative superiority or inferiority. It may be
+unhesitatingly asserted that all animals live, move, and have their
+being, in every essential respect, in the same way. Whether one
+considers those creatures of microscopic size living in stagnant
+ponds, or man himself, it is found that certain qualities characterize
+them all. That minute mass of jelly-like substance known as
+protoplasm, constituting the one-celled animal am&#339;ba, may be
+described as <i>ingestive</i>, <i>digestive</i>, <i>secretory</i>, <i>excretory</i>,
+<i>assimilative</i>, <i>respiratory</i>, <i>irritable</i>, <i>contractile</i>, and
+<i>reproductive</i>: that is to say, the am&#339;ba must take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> in food;
+must digest it, or change its form; must produce some fluid within
+itself which acts on food; must cast out from itself what is no longer
+of any use; must convert the digested material into its own
+substance&#8212;perhaps the most wonderful property of living things; must
+take up into its own substance oxygen, and expel carbonic acid gas
+(carbon dioxide); and possess the power to respond to a stimulus, or
+cause of change, the property of changing form, and, finally, the
+ability to bring into being others like itself.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig03.jpg" width="117" height="685" alt="Fig. 3" title="Fig. 3" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 3. Muscle-cells isolated from the
+muscular coats of the intestine. Similar cells are found in some part of most of
+the internal organs, including the bronchial tubes. These cells are less ready
+in responding to a stimulus, contract more slowly, and tend to remain longer
+contracted when they pass into this condition than striped muscle cells.
+(Sch�fer.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Before justifying these statements in detail it will be desirable to
+say something of the anatomy or structure of a mammal, and we may
+select man himself, though it is to be remembered that one might apply
+exactly the same treatment to a dog, pig, mouse, or any other member
+of this group of animals. The am&#339;ba and creatures like it live
+immersed in water; man, at the bottom of an ocean of air. Both move in
+their own medium, the am&#339;ba creeping with extreme slowness, man
+moving with a speed incalculably greater. In each case the movements
+are determined by some cause from without which is termed by
+physiologists a <i>stimulus</i>. The slightest movement of the thin
+cover-glass placed over the drop of water in which an am&#339;ba is
+immersed, on a microscopic slide, suffices to act as a stimulus, and
+serves much the same purpose as an electric shock to the muscles of a
+man. In man an elaborate apparatus exists for the process known as
+respiration, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> in this and in all other cases the mechanism is
+composed of what is known technically as <i>cells</i>, the latter being the
+units of structure, the individual bricks of the building, so to
+speak; and just as any edifice is made up of individual pieces some of
+which differ from one another while others do not to any appreciable
+extent, so is it with the body. The individual cells of a muscle are
+alike in structure and function, but they differ widely from those of
+a gland or secreting organ, as the liver. But it is to be ever
+remembered that the statements with which we set out hold: that is,
+that however cells may differ, they have in all animals certain
+properties in common. Of the muscle-cell, the liver-cell, and the
+one-celled animal we may affirm the same properties, but the
+difference is that while all are secretory the liver-cell is eminently
+so, and produces bile, which other cells do not; that while it is but
+feebly contractile, or susceptible of change of form, the muscle-cell
+is characterized by this property above all others.</p>
+
+<p>The lower we descend in the animal scale the more simple are the
+mechanisms by which results are attained. The one-celled animal may be
+said to breathe with its whole body, while the man employs a large
+number of muscles, not to speak, at present, of other arrangements.
+But when a muscle is examined under the microscope, it is found to
+consist of cells, each one of which is physiologically in all
+essentials like an am&#339;ba, so that we may say that a muscle or other
+tissue or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> organ is really a sort of colony of cells of similar
+structure and function, all working in harmony like a happy family. We
+actually do find colonies of unicellular animals much like am&#339;ba,
+so that the muscle-cells and all other cells of the body may be
+compared to am&#339;ba and other one-celled animals.</p>
+
+<p>But while in such unicellular creatures all functions are properties
+of the individual cell, among higher forms <i>systems</i> take the place of
+the protoplasm of the single cell. There is a circulatory system, a
+respiratory system, etc.; but we must once more point out that such
+systems are made up of cells, so that every function of the highest
+animal may be finally reduced to what takes place in the unicellular
+animal. A circulatory system consists of a heart and blood-vessels,
+all filled with blood, which latter is &quot;the life,&quot; as was known from
+the earliest times; yet this same blood is of no more use for the
+nourishment of the body while it is contained in those tubes which
+constitute the blood-vessels than is bread locked up in a pantry to a
+hungry boy. That which really provides the nutriment for the body is a
+fluid derived from the blood, a something like the liquid part of
+blood and known as <i>lymph</i>. This latter is to the cells of any tissue,
+as a muscle, as is the water filled with the food on which an am&#339;ba
+lives. In like manner, in spite of the complicated apparatus which
+supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, the respiratory system,
+respiration is finally the work of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> cell, as in am&#339;ba; a
+muscle-cell respires exactly as does the one-celled animal.</p>
+
+<p>When we consider the marvellous complexity of structure of one of the
+higher animals, and the amazing variety of its functions, the question
+naturally arises as to how all this is brought about without any sort
+of clashing of the interests of one part with those of another. Why is
+it that the stomach has enough and not too much blood? By what means
+has Nature solved the problem of supplying more oxygen to parts in
+action than to those at rest? How is it that one set of muscles acts
+with instead of antagonizing another set, as in any complicated series
+of movements, such as walking?</p>
+
+<p>To bring about this harmonization, or <i>co-ordination</i>, the nervous
+system has been provided. As the nervous and muscular systems are of
+pre&#235;minent importance in voice-production, they will now be considered
+with more detail than it is necessary to give to other systems.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig04.jpg" width="344" height="362" alt="Fig. 4" title="Fig. 4" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 4. Body of a nerve-cell of the spinal cord,
+specially stained so as to show the minute structure. (Sch&#228;fer's
+<i>Histology</i>.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig05.jpg" width="616" height="423" alt="Fig. 5" title="Fig. 5" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 5. A large nerve-cell from the spinal
+cord of the ox, magnified 175 diameters. (Sch�fer.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig06.jpg" width="294" height="442" alt="Fig. 6" title="Fig. 6" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 6. A cell of another form, from the
+superficial or outer part of the greater brain (cortex cerebri). The great
+amount of branching is suggestive of the power to receive and to transmit
+nervous influences (impulses) from various other cells; in other words,
+complexity of structure suggests a corresponding complexity of function.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig07.jpg" width="274" height="483" alt="Fig. 7" title="Fig. 7" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 7. Representation of the manner in which a nerve
+is seen to terminate in a muscle, such ending being one form of
+&quot;nerve-ending&quot; termed a &quot;muscle plate.&quot; It tends to emphasize the
+close relationship existing between muscle and nerve, and to justify
+the expression &quot;neuro-muscular mechanism,&quot; the nervous system being as
+important for movements as the muscles. (Sch&#228;fer's <i>Histology</i>.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Complicated as is the nervous system, modern advances in the sciences
+of anatomy and physiology have made the comprehension of the subject
+easier. It is now known that the nervous system, in spite of its wide
+ramifications, is also made up of cells which are structurally and
+functionally related to each other, and make connection with every
+part of the whole community, the body. A nerve-cell, or <i>neurone</i>, may
+be very complicated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> in its structure because of its many branches
+or extensions from the main body of the cell.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig08.jpg" width="220" height="467" alt="Fig. 8" title="Fig. 8" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 8. Three muscle-fibres lying beside each
+other, with the small blood-vessels (capillaries) around and between them. Such
+are the appearances presented under the microscope by skeletal or striped
+muscles such as those of the larynx. (Sch�fer.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>It may be said, in general terms, that the nervous <i>centres</i>, the
+brain and the spinal cord, which are parts of one anatomical whole,
+are characterized by the presence of the cell-bodies as well as their
+extensions, while nerves consist only of the extensions or arms of the
+cell-bodies. The nerve-cell whose body is in the top of the brain may
+have an extension or arm which may reach practically to the end of the
+spinal cord, and there make communication with another cell whose arm,
+in turn, may reach as far as the toe. Such nerve arms or extensions
+constitute the <i>nerve-fibres</i>, and bundles of these <i>nerves</i>, or
+<i>nerve-trunks</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Usually nerve-fibres make connection with the cells of an organ by a
+special modification of structure known as a <i>nerve-ending</i>. A nervous
+message or influence (<i>nerve-impulse</i>) may pass either to the
+centre&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, toward a cell-body&#8212;or from it; in other words, a
+nervous impulse may originate in the centre or in some organ more or
+less distant from it; a nervous impulse may be <i>central</i> or
+<i>peripheral</i>. Nearly all central impulses, we now know, arise because
+of the peripheral ones. One may illustrate this important relation by
+a telegraph system. The message a railroad operator sends out&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>,
+that which determines whether a train is to be held at a certain
+station or sent on&#8212;might depend wholly on information received from
+another office. The extra flow of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> blood to the stomach when food
+enters it is owing to such a relation of things. The food acts as a
+stimulus to the ends of the nerve-fibres, and, in consequence, there
+is an ingoing (<i>afferent</i>) message or impulse, and, by reason of this,
+an outgoing (<i>efferent</i>) one to the muscle-cells of the small
+blood-vessels, owing to which they contract less strongly and the
+calibre of these vessels is increased; hence more blood reaches the
+smallest vessels of all (<i>capillaries</i>.) Such a physiological relation
+of things is termed <i>reflex action</i>. For such reflex action there are
+required structurally at least two neurones or nerve-cells, and
+functionally a stimulus of a certain strength and quality. Of course,
+if more blood passes to the stomach there must be less somewhere else,
+as the total volume of the blood is limited. The value of the
+knowledge of such a fact is obvious. It must be unwise to exercise
+vigorously immediately after meals, for this determines blood to the
+muscles which would serve a better purpose in the digestive organs.
+For a like reason the singer who would do his best before the public
+will refrain from taking a large meal before appearing.</p>
+
+<p>As this subject of reflex action is of the highest importance, the
+reader is advised to make himself thoroughly familiar with the
+principles involved before perusing the future chapters of this work.
+<a href="#FIG16">Fig. 16</a> shows the structural relations for reflex action. It also
+indicates how such nervous relations may be complicated by other
+connections of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> the nerve-cells involved in the reflex action. It will
+be seen that they make many upward connections with the brain, in
+consequence of which consciousness may be involved. Ordinarily one is
+more or less conscious of reflex action, though the will is not
+involved; in fact, a willed or voluntary action is usually considered
+the reverse of a reflex or involuntary action. But for a reflex action
+the brain is not essential. As is well known, a snake's hinder part
+will move in response to a touch when completely severed from the head
+end; and movements of considerable complexity can be evoked in a
+headless frog.</p>
+
+<p>Herein, then, lies the solution of the problem. This is Nature's way
+of bringing one part into harmonious relations with another. As by a
+telegraphic system the most distant parts of a vast railway system may
+be brought into harmonious working, so is it with the body by means of
+the nervous system. The nerve-centres correspond to the heads of the
+railway system, or, perhaps more correctly, to the various officials
+resident in some large city who from this centre regulate the affairs
+of the whole line.</p>
+
+<p>The muscular system is made up of cells of two kinds, those
+characteristic of the muscles used in ordinary movements, and those
+employed for the movements of the internal organs. The muscles of the
+limbs are made up of striped muscle-cells; those of the stomach, etc.,
+of unstriped cells. These latter are slower to act when stimulated,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+contract more slowly, and cease to function more tardily when the
+stimulus is withdrawn.</p>
+
+<p>The muscular mechanisms used by the singer and speaker are of the
+skeletal variety.</p>
+
+<p>If it be true that the welfare of one part of the body is bound up
+with that of every other, as are the interests of one member of a firm
+with those of another, in a great business, it will at once appear
+that the most perfect results can follow for the voice-user only under
+certain conditions. However perfect by nature the vocal mechanism, the
+result in any case must be largely determined by the character of the
+body as a whole. The man of fine physique generally has naturally more
+to hope for than one with an ill-developed body.</p>
+
+<p>In the natural working of the body the stimulus to a muscle is
+nervous; hence we may appropriately, and often to advantage, speak of
+<i>neuro-muscular</i> mechanism, the nervous element being as important as
+the muscular.</p>
+
+<p>In a later chapter it will be shown that the work of the singer and
+speaker when most successfully carried out must be largely reflex in
+nature&#8212;a fact on which hang weighty considerations with regard to
+many questions, among them methods of practice, the influence of
+example, etc.&#8212;be he ever so much the natural artist. It will be the
+writer's aim, however, to give such warnings and advice as may assist
+each reader in his own best development. Many who began with a
+comparatively poor physical stock in trade have surpassed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+self-satisfied ones who trusted too much to what nature gave them.
+Singers as well as others would do well to believe that <i>Labor omnia
+vincit</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>The same fundamental physiological principles apply to the lowest and
+to the highest animals. To all belong certain properties or qualities.
+As structure is differentiated, or as one animal differs from another
+owing to greater or less complexity of form, there is a corresponding
+differentiation of function, none, however, ever losing the
+fundamental properties of protoplasm. Each organ comes to perform some
+one function better than all others. This is specialization, and
+implies advance among animals as it does in civilization.</p>
+
+<p>The neuro-muscular system is of great moment to the voice-user. He is
+a specialist as regards the neuro-muscular systems of the vocal
+mechanism. But the same laws apply to it as to other neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. It is of great theoretical and practical importance to
+recognize this, and that one part of the body is related to every
+other, which relationship is maintained chiefly by the nervous system,
+and largely through reflex action.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>BREATHING CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">If</span> the old orator was right in considering <i>delivery</i> as the essence
+of public speaking as an art, it may with equal truth be said of
+singing, the term being always so extended in signification as to
+imply what Rossini named as the essential for the singer&#8212;<i>voice</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Looking at it from the physiological point of view, we may say that
+the one absolutely essential thing for singers and speakers is
+breathing. Without methods of breathing that are correct and adequate
+there may be a perfect larynx and admirably formed resonance-chambers
+above the vocal bands, with very unsatisfactory results. The more the
+writer knows of singers and speakers, the more deeply does he become
+convinced that singing and speaking may be resolved into the correct
+use of the breathing apparatus, above all else. Not that this alone
+will suffice, but it is the most important, and determines more than
+any other factor the question of success or failure. Breathing is the
+key-note with which we must begin, and to which we must return again
+and again.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig09a.jpg" width="317" height="702" alt="Fig. 9 front" title="Fig. 9 front" /></td>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig09b.jpg" width="319" height="695" alt="Fig. 9 back" title="Fig. 9 back" /></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 9. A front view of parts of the
+    respiratory apparatus. (Halliburton's Physiology.)</b></td>
+    <td><b><span title="Transcriber's Note: numbered thus in original."><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 9.</span>
+    A back view of the parts represented in Fig. 9. (Halliburton's Physiology.)</b></td>
+  </tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The extent to which this subject has been misunderstood,
+misrepresented, and obscured in works on the voice, and its neglect by
+so large a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> number of those who profess to understand how to teach
+singing and public speaking, are truly amazing. That many should fail
+to fully appreciate its importance in attaining artistic results is
+not so surprising as that the process itself should have been so ill
+understood, especially as it is open to any one to observe in himself,
+or in our domestic animals, Nature's method of getting air into and
+out of the body.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG10">
+<img src="images/fig10.jpg" width="442" height="367" alt="Fig. 10" title="Fig. 10" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 10 (Spalteholz). A view of the lower part
+of the trachea, dividing into the main bronchial tubes, which again branch into
+a tree-like form. The air-cells are built up around the terminations of the
+finest bronchial tubes, of which they are a sort of membranous extension.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig11.jpg" width="532" height="398" alt="Fig. 11" title="Fig. 11" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 11 (Spalteholz). Shows well the relations
+of heart, lungs, and diaphragm. The lungs have been drawn back, otherwise the
+heart would be covered almost wholly by them. It will be noted that the
+heart-covering is attached to the diaphragm. The fact that the stomach and other
+important organs of the abdomen lie immediately beneath the diaphragm is a
+significant one for the voice-user. Manifestly, a full stomach and free,
+vigorous breathing are incompatible.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>This misapprehension is in all probability to be traced to the
+dependence of the student and teacher on tradition rather than
+observation&#8212;on authority rather than rational judgment. If a great
+teacher or singer makes any announcement whatever in regard to the
+technique of his art, it is natural that it should be considered with
+attention, but it may prove a great misfortune for the individual to
+accept it without thoughtful consideration. The author will
+illustrate, from time to time, the truth of the above.</p>
+
+<p>In this and all other chapters of this work the student, by which term
+I mean every one who is seriously interested in the use of the voice,
+is recommended to give attention, before reading on any subject, to
+the illustrations employed, perusing very carefully the explanatory
+remarks beneath them.</p>
+
+<p>The author considers the summaries at the conclusion of the chapters
+of much importance. They not only furnish exact and condensed
+statements of the main facts and principles involved, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> afford the
+reader a test of the extent to which the foregoing chapter has been
+comprehended. As the author has a horror of what is termed &quot;cramming,&quot;
+he expresses the hope that no student will use these synopses, which
+have been prepared with much care, for so great a misuse of the mind
+as cramming implies.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing is essential for life. The oxygen of the air is, of all
+food-stuffs, the most important. Without it a mammal will perish in
+less than three minutes; hence there is no need of the body so urgent
+as that of oxygen. It is also of great moment that the waste&#8212;the
+carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid gas&#8212;should be got rid of rapidly;
+nevertheless, it is not this gas which kills when the air-passages are
+closed, though it is highly deleterious. The body is a sort of furnace
+in which combustions are continually going on, and oxygen is as
+essential for these as for the burning of a candle, and the products
+are in each case the same.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the voice-user respires, like others, to maintain the
+functions of the body, or whether he employs the breathing apparatus
+to produce sound, it is to be borne in mind that he uses the same
+physical mechanisms, so that the way is at once clear to consider the
+anatomy and physiology of the breathing organs.</p>
+
+<p>It has been already pointed out that respiration is in all animals, in
+the end, the same process. The one-celled animal and the muscle-cell
+respire in the same way, and with the same results<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>&#8212;oxidation,
+combustion, and resulting waste products. In the animal of complicated
+structure special mechanisms are necessary that the essential oxygen
+be brought to the blood and the useless carbon dioxide removed. The
+respiratory organs or tract include the mouth, nose, larynx, trachea,
+bronchial tubes, and the lung-tissue proper or the air-cells.</p>
+
+<p>The mouth, nose, and larynx, in so far as they are of special
+importance in voice-production, will be considered later.</p>
+
+<p>The air enters the trachea, or windpipe, through a relatively narrow
+slit in the larynx, or voice-box, known as the <i>glottis</i>, or <i>chink of
+the glottis</i>, which is wider when air is being taken in
+(<i>inspiration</i>) than when it is being expelled (<i>expiration</i>). Life
+depends on this chink being kept open. The windpipe is composed of a
+series of cartilaginous or gristly rings connected together by softer
+tissues. These rings are not entire, but are completed behind by soft
+tissues including muscle. It follows that this tube is pliable and
+extensible&#8212;a very important provision, especially when large
+movements of the neck are made, during vigorous exercise, and also in
+singing and speaking.</p>
+
+<p>The bronchial tubes are the tree-like branches of the trachea, and
+extend to the air-cells themselves, which may be considered as built
+up around them in some such fashion as a toy balloon on its wooden
+stem, but with many infoldings, etc. (<a href="#FIG10">Fig. 10</a>). The air-cells are
+composed of a membrane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> which may be compared to the walls of the
+balloon, but we are of course dealing with living tissue supplied by
+countless blood-vessels of the most minute calibre, in which the blood
+is brought very near to the air which passes over them.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout, the respiratory tract is lined with mucous membrane.
+Mucous membranes are so named because they secrete mucus, the fluid
+which moistens the nose, mouth, and all parts of the respiratory
+tract. When one suffers from a cold the mucous membrane, in the early
+stages, may become dry from failure of this natural secretion; hence
+sneezing, coughing, etc., as the air then acts as an irritant.</p>
+
+<p>At no time do we breathe pure oxygen, but &quot;air&quot;&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, a mixture of
+21 parts of the former with 79 parts of an inert gas, nitrogen; and
+there is always in the air more oxygen than the blood actually takes
+from it in the air-cells.</p>
+
+<p>The intaking of air is termed by physiologists <i>inspiration</i>, and its
+expulsion <i>expiration</i>, the whole process being <i>respiration</i>.
+Expiration takes a very little longer than inspiration, and the
+rapidity of respiration depends on the needs of the body. The more
+active the exercise, the more rapidly vital processes go on, the more
+ventilation of the tissues is required and the more is actually
+effected. When one is at rest breathing takes place at the rate of
+from 14 to 18 inspirations and expirations in the minute; but of all
+the processes of the body none is more variable than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> respiration,
+and of necessity, for every modification of action, every movement,
+implies a demand for an increased quantity of oxygen. It is not
+surprising, therefore, that the very exercise of singing tends in
+itself to put one out of breath.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig12.jpg" width="347" height="558" alt="Fig. 12" title="Fig. 12" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 12. In the above, the shaded outlines
+indicate the shape of the bony cage of the chest during inspiration, and the
+lighter ones the same during expiration. The alterations in the position of the
+ribs and in the diameters of the chest, giving rise to its greater capacity
+during inspiration, are evident.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Attention will now be directed to some facts that it is of the utmost
+importance to clearly understand, if one is to know how to breathe and
+the reasons for the method employed. The lungs are contained in a
+cavity the walls of which are made up of a domed muscular (and
+tendinous) structure below, and elsewhere of bony and cartilaginous
+tissues filled in with soft structures, chiefly muscles. This cage is
+lined within by a smooth membrane which is kept constantly moist by
+its own secretion. The lungs are covered by a similar membrane, both
+of these fitting closely like the hand to a glove, so that there are
+two smooth membranes in opposition. It cannot be too well remembered
+that these two, the inner surface of the chest walls and the outer
+surface of the lungs, are in the closest contact. This is so whatever
+the changes that take place in the size and shape of the chest. The
+lungs are concave below, and so fit accurately to the fleshy partition
+between the chest and the abdomen which constitutes the lower boundary
+of the chest, if we may use the term &quot;chest&quot; somewhat loosely. Above,
+suiting the shape of the chest, the lungs are somewhat conical.</p>
+
+<p>The pressure of the air tends of itself to expand the lungs, which are
+highly elastic, even when one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> does not breathe at all. But if more
+air is to enter there must be additional space provided; hence greater
+expansion of the lungs can only follow an enlargement of the chest
+cavity in one or in all directions. These are spoken of as
+<i>diameters</i>. It follows that it is possible to conceive of the chest
+being enlarged in three, and only three, directions; so that it may be
+increased in size in its vertical, its transverse, and its
+antero-posterior diameter, or diameter from before backwards.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig13.jpg" width="303" height="542" alt="Fig. 13" title="Fig. 13" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 13. This figure is intended to indicate,
+in a purely diagrammatic way, by dotted lines, the position of the diaphragm (1)
+when inspiration is moderate, and (2) when very deep. The unbroken curved line
+above the dotted ones indicates the position of the diaphragm (only
+approximately, of course) after expiration.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>This expansion, as in the case of all other movements, can be effected
+only by muscles, or, to speak more accurately, by neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. Exactly what muscles are employed may be learned from the
+accompanying illustrations and by observation. While it is highly
+important to know in a general way which muscles are chiefly
+concerned, or, rather, where they are situated, it cannot be deemed
+essential for every reader to learn their names, attachments, etc.,
+down to the minutest details, as in the case of a student of anatomy
+proper. The author does, however, deem it of the highest importance
+that the student should learn by actual observation on his own person
+that his chest does expand in each of the three directions indicated
+above.</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary to dissect to observe muscles; in fact, they can
+be seen in action only on the living subject. All who would really
+understand breathing should study the chest when divested of all
+clothing and before a sufficiently large mirror.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> He may then observe
+the following during a fairly deep inspiration:</p>
+
+<p>1. The chest is enlarged as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>2. The abdominal walls move outward.</p>
+
+<p>3. The ribs pass from a more oblique to a less oblique position, and
+may become almost horizontal; their upper edges are also turned out
+slightly, though this is not so easy to observe.</p>
+
+<p>4. Again, in the case of a very deep and sudden inspiration, the
+abdomen and the lower ribs also are drawn inward.</p>
+
+<p>The changes above referred to are brought about in this way:</p>
+
+<p>1. The total enlargement is due to the action of many muscles which
+function in harmony with each other.</p>
+
+<p>2. The chief changes are brought about by those muscles attached
+between the ribs (<i>intercostales</i>); but these act more efficiently
+owing to the co&#246;peration of other muscles which steady the ribs and
+chest generally, such as those attached to the shoulder-bones and the
+upper ribs; indeed, the most powerful inspiration possible can only be
+effected when most of the other muscles of the body are brought into
+action. One may observe that even the arms and legs are called into
+requisition when a tenor sings his highest tone as forcibly as
+possible, though this is often overdone in a way to be condemned. Art
+should not be reduced to a gymnastic feat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The most important muscle of inspiration is the <i>diaphragm</i>, or
+midriff, because it produces a greater change in the size of the chest
+than any other single muscle. Some animals can get the oxygen they
+require to maintain life by the action of this large muscle alone,
+when all other respiratory muscles are paralyzed. As it is so
+important, and above all to the voice-user, it merits special
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>In studying the action of a muscle it is necessary to note its <i>points
+of attachment</i> to harder structures, either bone or cartilage. Nearly
+always one such point is more fixed than the other, and from this the
+muscle pulls when it contracts.</p>
+
+<p>The diaphragm is peculiar in that it is somewhat circular in shape and
+is more or less tendinous or sinew-like in the middle. Being attached
+to the spinal column behind and to the lower six or seven ribs, when
+the muscle contracts it becomes less domed in shape&#8212;less convex
+upward&#8212;and of course descends to a variable degree depending on the
+extent of the muscular contraction. As to whether the ribs, and with
+them the abdominal muscles, are drawn in or the reverse, is determined
+wholly by the degree of force with which the contraction takes place
+and the extent to which it is resisted. Throughout the body muscles
+are arranged in sets which may either co&#246;perate with or antagonize
+each other, as required. The forcible bending of one's arm by another
+person may be resisted by one through the use of certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> muscles. In
+this the action of the muscles which bend the arm is imitated by the
+agent seeking to perform this movement for us. The muscles acting in
+opposition to certain others are said to be their <i>antagonists</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Were the diaphragm to contract moderately the ribs would be but little
+drawn in, even if no muscles acted as antagonists. But, as a matter of
+fact, this domed muscle descends at the same time as the ribs ascend,
+because of the action of the muscles attached to them. The diaphragm
+being concave below toward the abdomen, the contents of this cavity
+fit closely to its under surface. There are found the liver, stomach,
+intestines, etc.&#8212;a part of great practical importance, as will be
+shown presently.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, in breathing, the organs of the abdomen, especially those
+above, are pressed down somewhat with the descent of the diaphragm in
+inspiration, and, in turn, push out the abdominal walls. If, however,
+the midriff contract so powerfully that the lower ribs are drawn
+inward, the abdominal walls follow them. Although the actual extent of
+the descent of the diaphragm is small in itself, since the total
+surface is large it effects a very considerable enlargement of the
+chest in the vertical diameter.</p>
+
+<p>The capacity of the lungs for air is a very variable quantity:</p>
+
+<p>1. The quantity of air taken in with a single inspiration in quiet
+breathing (<i>tidal air</i>) is about 20-30 cubic inches.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>2. The quantity taken in with the deepest possible inspiration
+(<i>complemental air</i>) is about 100 cubic inches.</p>
+
+<p>3. The quantity that may be expelled by the most forcible expiration
+(<i>supplemental air</i>) is about 100 cubic inches.</p>
+
+<p>4. The quantity that can under no circumstances be expelled (<i>residual
+air</i>) is about 100 cubic inches.</p>
+
+<p>5. The quantity that can be expelled after the most forcible
+inspiration&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the amount of air that can be moved&#8212;indicates
+the <i>vital capacity</i>. This varies very much with the individual, and
+depends not a little on the elasticity of the chest walls, and so
+diminishes with age. It follows that youth is the best period for the
+development of the chest, and the time to learn that special
+breath-control so essential to good singing and speaking.</p>
+
+<p>When the ribs have been raised by inspiration and the abdominal organs
+pressed down by the diaphragm, the chest, on the cessation of the act,
+tends to resume its former shape, owing to elastic recoil quite apart
+from all muscular action; in other words, inspiration is active,
+expiration largely passive. With the voice-user, especially the
+singer, expiration becomes the more important, and the more difficult
+to control, as will be shown later.</p>
+
+<p>It must now be apparent that such use of the voice as is necessitated
+by speaking for the public, or by singing, still more, perhaps, must
+tend to the general welfare of the body&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the hygiene of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+respiration is evident from the physiology. Actual experience proves
+this to be the case. The author has known the greatest improvement in
+health and vigor follow on the judicious use of the voice, owing
+largely to a more active respiration. It also follows, however, that
+exhaustion may result from the excessive use of the respiratory
+muscles, as with any others, even when the method of chest-expansion
+is quite correct. Before condemning any vocal method one does well to
+inquire in regard to the extent to which it has been employed, as well
+as the circumstances of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> voice-user. A poor clergyman worried with
+the fear of being supplanted by another man, or a singer unable to
+secure employment, possibly from lack of means to advertise himself,
+is not likely to grow fat under any method of vocal exercise, be it
+ever so physiological; while the prima donna who has chanced to please
+the popular taste and become a favorite may &quot;wax fat and kick.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig14.jpg" width="434" height="343" alt="Fig. 14" title="Fig. 14" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Figs</span>. 14, A and B, are to be compared: that on
+the left shows the position of the diaphragm, abdominal walls, etc., during
+expiration; the one on the right, during inspiration. The relative quantities of
+air in the chest in each case are approximately indicated by the shaded areas.</b></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>BREATHING FURTHER CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">When</span> one takes into account the large number of muscles employed in
+respiration, and remembers that these muscles must act in perfect
+harmony with each other if the great end is to be attained, he
+naturally inquires how this complex series of muscular contractions
+has been brought into concerted action so as to result in that
+physiological unity known as breathing.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to conceive of such results being effected except
+through the influence of the nervous system, which acts as a sort of
+regulator throughout the whole economy. All the parts of the
+respiratory tract are supplied with nerves, which are of both
+kinds&#8212;those which carry nervous impulses or messages from and those
+which convey them to the nervous centres concerned; in other words, to
+and from the bodies of the nerve-cells whose extensions are termed
+nerves. These centres are the central offices where the information is
+received and from which orders are issued, so to speak.</p>
+
+<p>The chief respiratory centre&#8212;<i>the</i> centre&#8212;is situated in that
+portion of the brain just above the spinal cord, in its continuation,
+in fact, and is known as the <i>medulla oblongata</i>, or <i>bulb</i>. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+while this is the head centre, at which the ingoing (<i>afferent</i>)
+impulses are received and from which the outgoing (<i>efferent</i>) ones
+proceed, it makes use of many other collections of nerve-cells, or
+subordinate centres&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, those whose nerve-extensions or
+nerve-fibres proceed from the spinal cord to the muscles of
+respiration.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig15.jpg" width="493" height="818" alt="Fig. 15" title="Fig. 15" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 15. The purpose of this diagram is to indicate the
+relation between ingoing (afferent) and outgoing (efferent) nervous
+influences (impulses)&#8212;in other words, to illustrate <i>reflex action</i>.
+The paths of the ingoing impulses are indicated by black lines, and
+those of the outgoing ones by red lines, the point of termination
+being shown by an arrow-tip. The result of an ingoing message may be
+either favorable or unfavorable. The nervous impulse that reaches the
+brain through the eye may be either exhilarating or depressing. The
+experienced singer is usually stimulated by the sight of an audience,
+while the beginner may be rendered nervous, and this may express
+itself in many and widely distant parts of the body. An unfavorable
+message may reach the diaphragm or intercostal muscles, and render
+breathing shallow, irregular, or, in the worst cases, almost gasping.
+The heart or stomach, even the muscles of the larynx, the limbs, etc.,
+may be affected, and trembling be the result. On the other hand, the
+laryngeal and other muscles may be toned up, and the voice rendered
+better than usual, as a result of applause&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, by nervous
+impulses through the ear&#8212;or, again, by the sight of a friend. Even a
+very tight glove or a pinching shoe may suffice to hamper the action
+of the muscles required for singing or speaking. All this is a result
+of reflex action&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, outgoing messages set up by ingoing ones&#8212;the
+&quot;centre&quot; being either the brain or the spinal cord. From all this it is evident
+that the singer or speaker must guard against everything unfavorable, to an
+extent that an ordinary person need not. The stomach, as the diagram is also
+meant to show, may express itself on the brain, and give rise, as in fact it
+often does, owing to indiscretion in eating, to unpleasant outward effects on
+the muscles required in singing or speaking. Of course, no attempt has been made
+in the above figure to express anatomical forms and relations exactly.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>When all the ingoing impulses from the lungs, etc., are cut off, if
+respiration does not actually cease, it is carried out in a way so
+ineffective that life cannot be long sustained. It follows that as the
+muscular contractions necessary for the chest and other respiratory
+movements are dependent on the impulses passing in from the lungs,
+etc., breathing belongs to the class of movements known as
+reflex&#8212;chiefly so, at all events. It will thus be seen that
+respiration is a sort of self-regulative process, the movements being
+in proportion to the needs of the body. The greater the need for
+oxygen, the more are the nerve-terminals in the lungs and the centre
+itself stimulated, with, as a result, corresponding outgoing impulses
+to muscles.</p>
+
+<p>As the respiratory centre is readily reached by impulses from every
+part of the body, like one who keeps open house, there are many
+different sorts of visitors, not all desirable. If, for example, a
+drop of a fluid that produces no special effect when on the tongue
+gets into the larynx, trachea, or lungs, the most violent coughing
+follows. This is one illustration of the <i>protective</i> character of
+many reflexes. This violent action of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> the respiratory apparatus is
+not in itself a desirable thing, because it disturbs if it does not
+exhaust, but it is preferable to the inflammation that might result if
+the fluid, a bread-crumb, etc., were to pass into the lungs.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner, the deep breath and the &quot;Oh!&quot; that follow a
+fear-inspiring sight, a very loud noise, or a severe pinch of the
+skin, are examples of reflex action. They are quite independent of the
+will, though in some cases they may be prevented by it.</p>
+
+<p>This reflex nature of breathing throws much light on many matters of
+great interest to the speaker and singer, some of which, as the
+formation of good habits of breathing, will be considered later.
+Unfortunately for the nervous d&#233;butant, his breathing is anything but
+what he could wish it. The pale face and almost gasping respiration,
+in the worst cases, are not unknown to the experienced observer. In
+such cases the preventive (<i>inhibitory</i>) influence of certain ingoing
+impulses is but too obvious. Such undesirable messages may pass in
+through the eyes when the young singer looks out on the throng that
+may either approve or condemn; or they may originate within, and pass
+from the higher part of the brain to the lower breathing centre. The
+beginner may have high ideals of art, and fear that they will be but
+ill realized in his performance. His ideals in this instance do not
+help but hinder, for they interfere with the regular action of the
+breathing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> centre. A few deep breaths after the platform has been
+reached greatly help under such circumstances. It is also wise for the
+singer to avoid those songs that begin softly and require long breaths
+and very evenly sustained tones. It is much better to begin with a
+selection that brings the breathing organs into fairly active exercise
+at once. One feeble, hesitating, or otherwise ineffective tone is in
+itself a stimulus of the wrong kind, sending in unfavorable messages
+which are only too apt to reach the breathing and other centres
+concerned in voice-production; but of this subject of nervousness
+again.</p>
+
+<p>It is important to realize that sounds, whether musical or the
+reverse, are produced by the outgoing stream of breath, by an
+expiratory effort. Breath is taken in by the voice-producer in order
+to be converted into that expiratory force which, playing on the vocal
+bands, causes them to vibrate or pass into the rapid movements which
+give rise to similar movements of the air in the cavities above the
+larynx, the resonance-chambers, and on which the final result as
+regards sound is dependent. Important as is inspiration to the speaker
+and singer, expiration is much more so. Many persons fill the lungs
+well, but do not understand how to husband their resources, and so
+waste breath instead of converting every particle into sound, so to
+speak. After the larynx has been studied the importance of the
+expiratory blast will be better understood.</p>
+
+<p>For the voice-user, it cannot be too soon rea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>lized that <i>all breath
+that does not become sound is wasted</i>, or, to express the same truth
+otherwise, the sole purpose of breathing is to cause effective
+vibrations of the vocal bands. In these two words, <i>effective
+vibrations</i>, lies the whole secret of voice production, the whole
+purpose of training, the key to the highest technical results, the
+cause of success or failure for those who speak or sing.</p>
+
+<p>Before the larynx, the apparatus that produces sound-vibrations, can
+be effectively employed, the source of power, the bellows, must be
+developed. To some Nature has been generous&#8212;they have large chests;
+to others she has given a smaller wind-chest, but has perhaps
+compensated by providing an especially fine voice-box. Happy are they
+who have both, and thrice happy those who have all three requirements:
+a fine chest, a well-constructed larynx, and beautifully formed
+resonance-chambers. If with all these there are the musical ear and
+the artistic temperament, we have the singer who is born great. These
+are the very few. To most it must be&#8212;if greatness at all&#8212;greatness
+thrust upon them, greatness the result of long and patient effort to
+attain perfect development. Indeed, even those with the most complete
+natural outfit can only reach the highest results of which they are
+capable by long and patient application. Those who do not believe in
+attainment only through labor would do well to abandon an art career,
+as there is already a great deal too much poor speaking and bad
+singing.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first great requisite for a voice-user is a well-developed chest;
+the next, complete control of it, or, to put it otherwise, the art of
+breathing, as briefly explained above.</p>
+
+<p>The chest may be large enough, yet not be, in the physiological sense,
+developed. The voice-user is a sort of athlete, a specialist whose
+chest muscles must be strong and not covered up by very much
+superfluous tissue in the form of fat, etc. Whatever the public may
+think of the goodly form, the singer must remember that fat is
+practically of no use to any one in voice-production, and may prove a
+great hindrance, possibly in some cases being a co&#246;perative cause of
+that <i>tremolo</i> so fatal to good singing.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><a name="FIG16"><img src="images/fig16.jpg" width="288" height="432" alt="Fig. 16" title="Fig. 16" /></a></td>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig17.jpg" width="270" height="441" alt="Fig. 17" title="Fig. 17" /></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 16. The appearance of a
+    well-developed, healthy person, with special reference to the chest.</b></td>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 17. The appearance of the chest
+    after undue compression, as with corsets.</b></td>
+  </tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The voice-user should eschew ease and take plenty of exercise, but
+most of all must he use those forms of exercise which develop the
+breathing apparatus and tend to keep it in the best condition.
+Walking, running, and hill climbing are all excellent, but do not in
+themselves suffice to develop the chest to the utmost.</p>
+
+<p>To the beginner the following exercises are strongly recommended. They
+are highly important for all, whether beginners or not, who would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+have the best development of the breathing apparatus.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig18.jpg" width="283" height="449" alt="Fig. 18" title="Fig. 18" /></td>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig19.jpg" width="271" height="468" alt="Fig. 19" title="Fig. 19" /></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 18. In this figure, the dark curved
+    line in the middle is meant to represent the position, etc., of the
+    diaphragm, beneath which, and fitting closely to it, are the liver, stomach,
+    and other abdominal organs, in this case not pressed upon or injured in any
+    way. This represents the normal human being.</b></td>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 19. A condition the reverse of that
+    represented in the preceding. The vital organs are pressed upon, with
+    results some of which are obvious; others equally serious are not such as
+    appear to the eye.<br />
+&nbsp;</b></td>
+  </tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Deep breathing, such a use of the respiratory organs as leads to the
+greatest possible expansion of the chest, should be learned and
+practised, if not absolutely before vocal exercises are attempted, at
+all events as soon after as possible. As in all cases where muscles
+are employed, the exercise should be <i>graduated</i>. It may be even
+harmful to attempt to fill the chest to its utmost capacity at once.
+It is better to breathe very moderately for several days. Any such
+symptoms as dizziness or headache accompanying or following the
+exercises indicate that they have been too vigorous, too long
+continued, or carried out under unsuitable conditions. Above all must
+the air be pure, and the body absolutely unhampered&#8212;most of all, the
+chest&#8212;by any form of clothing. Last century most ladies and some men
+applied to the chest a form of apparatus known as corsets, under the
+mistaken belief that they were for women a necessary support and
+improved the figure. They no doubt were responsible for much lack of
+development, and feeble health, and, as has been proved by examination
+of the body after death, led to compression of the liver and other
+organs. No voice-user should use such an effective means of preventing
+the very thing he should most desire, a full and free use of the
+breathing apparatus.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before carrying out the exercises suggested or others equally good,
+the student is recommended to be weighed, and especially to have the
+chest carefully <i>measured</i>. This can be done with sufficient accuracy
+by the use of a tape-measure. It will be well to take the
+circumference a few inches above and below a certain point, so that it
+may be ascertained that the chest expands in every region. The
+measurements should be taken under the following conditions:</p>
+
+<p>1. The chest should be almost or wholly divested of clothing.</p>
+
+<p>2. Its circumference is to be ascertained&#8212;(<i>a</i>) when the breath has
+been allowed to pass out gently, and before a new breath is taken;
+(<i>b</i>) with the deepest possible inspiration; (<i>c</i>) after the deepest
+possible expiration, which has been preceded by a similar inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>After about three weeks the individual should be again measured, by
+the same person, in exactly the same way, in order to learn whether
+there has been development or not, and, if so, how much. It is
+important that the measurements should be made at exactly the same
+horizontal planes, and with this end in view it is desirable to put a
+small mark of some kind on the chest, which may remain till the next
+measurements are made.</p>
+
+<p>The method of breathing recommended is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>1. Inhale very slowly through the nostrils, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> closed mouth,
+counting mentally one, two, three, four, etc., with regularity.</p>
+
+<p>2. Hold the breath thus taken, but only for a short time, counting in
+the same manner as before.</p>
+
+<p>3. Exhale slowly, still counting.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments' rest the exercise may be again carried out in the
+same way. These exercises may be in series, several times a day.</p>
+
+<p>The following warnings are especially to be observed:</p>
+
+<p>1. Never continue any exercise when there is a sense of discomfort of
+any kind whatever. Such usually indicates that it is being carried out
+too vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>2. Increase the depth of the inspirations daily, but not very rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>3. The inspirations and expirations should both be carried out very
+slowly at first.</p>
+
+<p>4. Cease the exercise before any sense of fatigue is experienced.
+Fatigue is Nature's warning, and should be always obeyed. It indicates
+that the waste products which result from the use of the muscles are
+accumulating and proving harmful.</p>
+
+<p>After a week of such exercises the following modification of them is
+recommended:</p>
+
+<p>1. Inhale with the lips slightly apart.</p>
+
+<p>2. Gradually increase the length of the time the breath is held, but
+let it never exceed a few seconds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>3. Through open lips allow the breath to pass out, but with extreme
+slowness. The student should try to increase this last, somewhat,
+daily, as it is above all what is required in singing, and also in
+speaking, though to a somewhat less degree&#8212;a slow, regulated
+expulsion of the breath.</p>
+
+<p>If when the chest is full of air the subject gently raises the arms
+over the head, or directs them backward, he will experience a sense of
+pressure on the chest. If this be carefully done, its effect is to
+strengthen, and it is especially valuable for those inclined to stoop.
+The recommendation to inspire through the open lips applies only when
+one is in a room, or in the open air when it is warm enough and free
+from dust. But the student should learn to inspire through the
+slightly open mouth, as to breathe through the nose in speaking, and
+especially in singing, is objectionable for several reasons which can
+be better explained later; so that the rule is to <i>breathe through the
+nose when not using the voice, and through the mouth when one does</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Though all the exercises thus far referred to tend to develop the
+diaphragm and abdominal muscles, these may be strengthened by special
+exercises. The diaphragm is the soft floor of the chest, and must at
+once bear the strain of the air that acts on the approximated vocal
+bands, and assist in applying that pressure with just the amount of
+force required, and no more; hence it is important that this muscle be
+both strong and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> under perfect control. This large central muscle is
+probably not only the most generally effective of all the respiratory
+muscles, but has an action more precise and often more delicate, more
+nicely controlled, than that of any other. It is possible to make very
+powerful movements of this muscle, and an exercise that will cause it
+to descend deeply and remain in a tense condition is valuable. To
+effect this, one pushes it down as far as possible, and holds it there
+for a few seconds, then permits it to relax gradually. The extent to
+which this is successful can be inferred from the degree to which the
+abdominal wall bulges forward.</p>
+
+<p>The sudden though slight movements required in those forms of
+vocalization that bear more or less resemblance to what vocalists term
+<i>staccato</i>, and which are so effective in dramatic speaking and
+singing, can be prepared for by larger but sudden movements of the
+diaphragm, as when one taking a full breath imitates coughing
+movements, but in a regular and measured way, the throat being used
+but little. At the same time, or separately, the abdominal muscles may
+be effectively exercised by being drawn in and thrust out with
+considerable force.</p>
+
+<p>None of these movements are elegant&#8212;they scarcely put one in an
+artistic light; but they are highly effective in strengthening parts
+every voice-user must employ.</p>
+
+<p>To furnish adequate support for the diaphragm and chest in a very
+vigorous use of the voice, as in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> the most trying passages a tragic
+actor has to speak or a vocalist to sing, the abdominal muscles must
+remain more or less tense, and to do so effectually they must have
+strength beyond that possessed by the corresponding muscles in
+ordinary persons; hence the desirability of employing special
+exercises to increase their vigor. Hill climbing and bicycling also
+tend to this end, but the latter is for many reasons not a form of
+exercise to be recommended to one who wishes to attain the highest
+results with the voice. Wind, dust, a stooping position, excessive
+heat of the body, etc., are all among the many factors of risk for the
+delicate vocal mechanism.</p>
+
+<p>As the expiratory blast is so important in voice-production, the
+exercises above recommended should be followed by others in which this
+principle is specially recognized.</p>
+
+<p>1. Inspire so as to fill the chest to the fullest with considerable
+rapidity; then allow the breath-stream to pass out with the utmost
+slowness.</p>
+
+<p>2. Fill the chest with special reference to its lower or its upper
+part, as desired, and very rapidly, letting the breath flow out
+slowly.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>The primary purpose of respiration in all animals is the same&#8212;namely,
+to furnish oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (carbonic acid). The
+lowest animals, as the am&#339;ba, breathe by the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> surface of the
+body. In all vertebrates the anatomical mechanism is essentially the
+same: a membrane (covered with flat cells) in which the blood is
+distributed in the minutest blood-vessels (capillaries). Respiration
+is finally effected in the tissues (cells) of the body. The more
+active the animal, or the higher in the scale, the more need of
+frequent interchange between the air, the blood, and the tissues.</p>
+
+<p>The respiratory organs in mammals are the mouth, nose, larynx,
+trachea, bronchial tubes, and lung-tissue or air-cells proper. The
+windpipe is made up of cartilaginous rings completed by membrane,
+muscle, etc. (behind). The bronchial tubes are the continuation of the
+windpipe, and branch tree-like until they become very fine. The
+air-cells are built round these latter. The lung-tissue is highly
+elastic. The lungs are made up of an elastic membrane, covered with
+flat cells, and very abundantly supplied with a mesh-work of the
+finest blood-vessels. The whole of the respiratory tract as far as the
+air-cells is lined by mucous membrane.</p>
+
+<p>The air consists essentially of 21 parts of oxygen and 79 parts of
+nitrogen, with a variable quantity of watery vapor. Only a small
+portion of the total oxygen of the air is removed before it is
+exhaled. The respiratory act consists of (1) inspiration, and (2)
+expiration; the latter is of a little longer duration than the former.
+The rate of breathing in man is from 14 to 18 per minute, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> the
+resting state, or about one respiration to three or four heart-beats.
+The quantity of air inspired depends on (1) the size of the thorax,
+and (2) the extent of its movements. These are effected solely by
+muscular contractions, and give rise to an increase in all the
+diameters of the thorax. The lungs are closely applied (but not
+attached) to the inside of the chest wall, and remain so under all
+circumstances. When the chest cavity is enlarged by inspiration, the
+air, pressing down into the elastic lungs, expands them as much as
+possible, that is, as much as the chest walls will allow; but the
+lungs are never at any time either filled with or emptied of air to
+their utmost capacity. At most, the amount of expansion is very
+moderate.</p>
+
+
+<p><b><i>The Quantity of Air in the Lungs.</i></b></p>
+
+<p>1. The quantity of air inspired in quiet breathing is about 20-30
+cubic inches.</p>
+
+<p>2. The quantity that can be added to this by a deep inspiration is
+about 100 cubic inches.</p>
+
+<p>3. The quantity that can be expelled by a forcible expiration is about
+100 cubic inches.</p>
+
+<p>4. The quantity that cannot be expelled at all is about 100 cubic
+inches.</p>
+
+<p>The above are named: (1) The tidal air; (2) complemental air; (3)
+supplemental air; (4) residual air. The quantity that can be expelled
+by the most forcible expiration after the most forcible inspiration,
+that is, the air that can be moved,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> indicating the &quot;vital capacity,&quot;
+is about 225-250 inches.</p>
+
+<p>The chest is enlarged by the muscles of inspiration, the principal of
+which is the diaphragm or midriff. This muscle (tendinous in the
+centre) is attached to the spinal column (behind) and to the last six
+or seven ribs. When it contracts it becomes less domed upward, and is
+pressed down more or less on the contents of the abdomen; hence the
+walls of the latter move outward. During ordinary inspiration the
+lower ribs are steadied by other muscles, so that no indrawing of
+these ribs takes place, but a very forcible expiration makes such
+indrawing very noticeable. In addition to the enlargement of the chest
+by the descent of the diaphragm, the ribs are elevated and everted by
+the muscles attached to them, with the total result that the chest
+cavity is enlarged in all its three diameters during inspiration. The
+first rib is fixed by muscles from above. During extremely forced
+inspiration a large proportion of all the muscles of the body may act.
+Ordinary expiration is the result largely of the elastic recoil of the
+chest walls, only a few muscles taking part. The diaphragm ascends and
+becomes more domed. During forced expiration many other muscles are
+called into action. It is of importance for the singer and speaker to
+note: (1) That the chest cavity should be increased in all its
+directions; (2) that the muscular action should be easy and under
+perfect control, but also vigorous when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> required; (3) that the breath
+be taken through the nostrils when the individual is not actually
+vocalizing or about to do so; (4) that the breath be kept in or let
+out in the proportion required.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing is a reflex or involuntary act. The respiratory centre,
+consisting of an expiratory and inspiratory division, is situated in
+the bulb, or medulla oblongata, the portion of the brain just above
+the spinal cord. All the ingoing nervous impulses affect respiration
+through the outgoing impulses that pass along the nerves to the
+muscles; that is, the ingoing impulses pass up by the nerves from the
+lungs to the centre, and thence along other nerves to the respiratory
+muscles. The condition of the blood determines the activity of the
+respiratory centre, but the incoming impulses regulate this activity.
+The respiratory centre can be approached from every part of the body.</p>
+
+
+<p><b><i>Hygiene.</i></b></p>
+
+<p>Every thing that favors the full and free expansion of the chest in a
+pure atmosphere is favorable, and the reverse unfavorable. Corsets are
+against the laws of beauty, are unnecessary for support, and may by
+compression injure and displace important organs, as the liver,
+stomach, etc.; and must interfere with the fullest expansion of the
+chest. They have militated against the physical, and indirectly the
+moral and mental advancement of the race.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><b><i>Practical Exercises.</i></b></p>
+
+<p>I. Measurements of the chest.</p>
+
+<p>II. Exercises to strengthen muscles, promote complete expansion,
+regulate inflow and outflow of air, etc.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>
+1. <span style="margin-left: .5em;">(<i>a</i>) Inspiring slowly, with counting.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(<i>b</i>) Holding.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">(<i>c</i>) Expiring slowly, with counting.</span><br />
+<br />
+2. The same, holding longer.<br />
+<br />
+3. The same, with shorter inspiration and longer expiration. Gradually diminish
+first and lengthen last.<br />
+<br />
+4. Breathing through open lips.<br />
+<br />
+5. Exercises to strengthen diaphragm.<br />
+<br />
+6. Exercises to improve shape of chest and strengthen muscles.<br />
+<br />
+7. Exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles.<br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SPECIAL VOICE-PRODUCING MECHANISM, THE LARYNX.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> larynx, or voice-box, is not the sole voice-producing apparatus,
+as is often supposed, but it is of great, possibly the greatest,
+importance. In describing the parts of this portion of the vocal
+mechanism the author deems it wiser to use the terms commonly employed
+by anatomists and physiologists, as others are awkward and inadequate.
+Moreover, there is this great advantage in learning the technical
+names of structures, that should the reader desire to consult a
+special work on anatomy in reference to this or other important
+organs, he will find in use the same terms as he has himself already
+learned. Such are, as a matter of fact, not difficult to learn or
+remember if one knows their derivation or other reason for their
+employment. All the muscles of the larynx have names which are not
+arbitrary but based on the names of the structures to which they are
+attached, so that one has but to know their connections and the names
+of the solid structures, which are few, to have a key to the whole
+nomenclature.</p>
+
+<p>When one is not using the voice the larynx is simply a part of the
+respiratory apparatus, but when one phonates this organ assumes a
+special<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> function for which specific structures are essential. As
+sound is caused by vibrations of the air, and these may be set up by
+vibrations of the vocal cords, it may with absolute correctness be
+said that the whole larynx exists for the vocal bands so far as
+voice-production is concerned. Such a view renders the study of the
+larynx much more interesting and rational; one is then engaged in
+working out that solution of a problem which Nature has accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>The vocal cords, we can conceive, might be either relaxed or
+tightened, and lengthened or shortened, or both, and beyond that we
+can scarcely understand how they might have been modified so as to be
+effective in the production of sounds of different pitch. As a matter
+of fact, these are the methods Nature has employed to accomplish her
+purpose. For each vocal cord one fixed point, and only one, is
+required. We know of only one method in use by Nature to cause
+movement in living structures&#8212;viz., contraction, and muscle is the
+tissue which above all others has that property; hence the movements
+of the vocal cords are brought about by muscles. But both for the
+attachment of the muscles and the vocal cords themselves solid,
+relatively hard structures are required. Bone would prove too
+unyielding, but cartilage, or gristle, meets the case exactly. The
+entire framework of the larynx&#8212;its skeleton, so to speak&#8212;is made up
+of a series of cartilages united<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> together so as to ensure sufficient
+firmness with pliability.</p>
+
+<p>The cartilages have been named from their shape, as that appealed to
+the original observers, and the terms employed are of Greek origin.
+The largest and strongest is the <i>thyroid</i> (<i>thureos</i>, a shield)
+cartilage, which resembles somewhat two shields put together in front
+without any visible joint, and open behind but presenting a strongly
+convex surface externally, in front and laterally. &quot;Front&quot; (anterior)
+and &quot;back&quot; (posterior) always refer in anatomy to the subject
+described, and not to the observer's position. In observing another's
+larynx the subject observed and the observer naturally stand front to
+front, and it is impossible to see or touch the back of the larynx as
+it is covered behind by the other structures of the neck.</p>
+
+<p>This thyroid, the largest of the cartilages, is attached to the hyoid
+or tongue bone above by a membrane, so that the whole larynx hangs
+suspended from this bone by a membrane, though not by it alone, for
+muscles are attached to it which also serve for its support. It is of
+practical importance to remember that the larynx is free to a very
+considerable extent, otherwise it would go ill with the voice-producer
+in the vigorous use of the voice, not to mention the advantages of
+mobility as well as pliability in the movements of the neck
+generally.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig20.jpg" width="209" height="254" alt="Fig. 20" title="Fig. 20" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 20 (Spalteholz). Shows the thyroid
+cartilage above and the cricoid below both viewed from the side. The anterior
+surface is turned toward the right.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig21.jpg" width="490" height="264" alt="Fig. 21" title="Fig. 21" /></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 21 (Spalteholz). A front view of <span class="smcap">Fig</span>.
+20.</b></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig22.jpg" width="134" height="127" alt="Fig. 22" title="Fig. 22" /></td>
+    <td style="text-align: center"><img src="images/fig23.jpg" width="133" height="113" alt="Fig. 23" title="Fig. 23" /></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 22 (Spalteholz). The back or signet surface<br />
+    of the cricoid or ring cartilage, to which several<br />
+    muscles are attached.<br />&nbsp;</b></td>
+    <td><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 23 (Spalteholz). The cricoid cartilage, seen<br />
+    from the side, and showing behind and laterally the<br />
+    articular or joint surfaces by which it connects with<br />
+    the thyroid below and the arytenoid cartilage above.</b></td>
+  </tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig24.jpg" width="362" height="190" alt="Fig. 24" title="Fig. 24" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 24 (Spalteholz). Shows the arytenoid
+cartilages, the most important of all the cartilages of the larynx, inasmuch as
+to the part termed &quot;vocal process&quot; the vocal band is attached on each side. The
+movements of the vocal bands are nearly all determined by the movements of these
+cartilages, which have a swivel-like action. In the above the front surfaces are
+turned toward each other.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The <i>cricoid</i> (<i>krikos</i>, a signet-ring) is the cartilage next in size.
+It is situated below the thyroid cartilage, with which it is connected
+by a membrane, the crico-thyroid. The wider part of this signet-ring
+is situated behind, where it affords attachment to large muscles. It
+also furnishes a base of support for two very important structures,
+the <i>arytenoid</i> (<i>arutaina</i>, a ladle) cartilages. As the vocal bands
+are attached behind to them, and as they have a large degree of
+mobility, they are from a physiological point of view the most
+important of all the solid structures of the larynx.</p>
+
+<p>There are two pairs of small bodies, the <i>cartilages of Santorini</i>, or
+<i>cornicula laryngis</i>, surmounting the arytenoids, and the <i>cuneiform</i>,
+or <i>cartilages of Wrisberg</i>, situated in the folds of mucous membrane
+on each side of the arytenoids; but these structures are of little
+importance.</p>
+
+<p>The whole of the inner surface of the larynx is lined with mucous
+membrane, though that covering over the true vocal bands is very thin,
+and so does not cause them to appear red like the false vocal bands,
+which are merely folds of the mucous membrane. However, the true vocal
+bands may become red and thickened when inflamed, because of this same
+mucous membrane, which, though ordinarily not visible to the eye,
+becomes so when the condition referred to is present; for inflammation
+is always attended by excess in the blood supply, with a prominence of
+the small blood-vessels resulting in a corresponding redness. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+same thing happens, in fact, as in inflammation of the eyes or the
+nose, both of which are more open to observation. Bearing this in mind
+one can readily understand why in such a condition, which is often
+approached if not actually present in the case of &quot;a cold,&quot; the voice
+becomes so changed. Such vocal bands are clumsy in movement, as the
+arms or any other part would be if thus swollen. The plain remedy is
+rest, cessation of function&#8212;no speaking, much less attempts at
+singing. Like the nose the larynx, and especially the vocal bands, may
+be catarrhal, and such a condition may call for medical treatment
+before the speaker or singer can do the most effective vocal work.</p>
+
+<p>While the <i>false vocal bands</i> have little or nothing to do with
+phonation directly, they do serve a good purpose as protectors to the
+more exalted true vocal bands. When coughing, swallowing, vomiting,
+holding the breath tightly, etc., these folds of mucous membrane close
+over the true bands, often completely, and thus shut up for the moment
+the whole of that space between the bands known as the glottis, or
+glottic chink, to which reference was made in a previous chapter as
+the space through which the air finally gains access to the lungs.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig25.jpg" width="418" height="529" alt="Fig. 25" title="Fig. 25" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 25 (Spalteholz). A view of the larynx
+from behind. Several of the muscles are well shown, of which the two indicated
+above are of the most importance. The arytenoideus proprius tends to bring the
+cartilages from which it is named, and therefore the vocal bands, toward each
+other; while the posterior crico-thyroid, from its attachments and line of pull,
+tends to separate these and lengthen the vocal bands.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG26">
+<img src="images/fig26.jpg" width="502" height="417" alt="Fig. 26" title="Fig. 26" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 26 (Spalteholz). Showing structures as
+indicated above. The mucous membrane, that naturally covers all parts within the
+vocal mechanism, has been dissected away to show the muscles.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig27.jpg" width="538" height="440" alt="Fig. 27" title="Fig. 27" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 27 (Spalteholz). Showing the parts
+indicated above; and of these the crico-thyroid muscle is to be especially
+observed. The oblique (especially so in the posterior part) direction of its
+fibres is evident, so that when it contracts, it must pull up the ring cartilage
+in front, and so tilt back its hinder portion and with it the arytenoid
+cartilages, and so lengthen and tense the vocal bands, as in the utterance of
+low tones.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The true vocal cords (which, because of having some breadth and being
+rather flat, are better termed vocal bands) are composed largely of
+<i>elastic tissue</i>. The reader may be familiar with this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> structure,
+which is often to be found in the portions of the neck of the ox that
+the butcher sells as soup beef. It is yellow in color, and stretching
+it has furnished many a boy with amusement. It is so unmanageable when
+raw that when it falls to the dog he usually bolts it, the case being
+otherwise hopeless. Such elastic tissue is, however, the very material
+for the construction of vocal bands, as they require to be firm yet
+elastic.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG28">
+<img src="images/fig28.jpg" width="516" height="551" alt="Fig. 28" title="Fig. 28" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 28 (Spalteholz). A back (posterior) view
+of the larynx, etc. Note how the arytenoid cartilages rest on the cricoid; how
+the epiglottis overhangs, as its name implies, the glottis; and that the
+posterior part of the windpipe is closed in by soft structures, including
+(unstriped) muscle.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>It is important to remember the relative position of parts and to bear
+in mind that most of the laryngeal structures are in pairs. To this
+last statement the thyroid and cricoid cartilages and the epiglottis
+are exceptions, being single.</p>
+
+<p>Of the <i>epiglottis</i>, a flexible cartilage, it is necessary to say
+little, as its function in voice-production, if it have any, has never
+been determined. It hangs as a flexible protective lid over the
+glottis, and food in being swallowed passes over and about it. It no
+doubt acts to keep food and drink out of the larynx, yet in its
+absence, in some cases, owing to disease, no very great difficulty was
+experienced, probably because certain muscles acted more vigorously
+than usual and tended to close up the glottic chink.</p>
+
+<p>The following simple diagram will, it is hoped, make the relative
+position of parts plain so far as the anterior (front) attachments of
+parts to the thyroid cartilage are concerned. It will be understood
+that the inner anterior surface is meant, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> that by &quot;middle line&quot;
+is intended the middle line of the body, the imaginary vertical
+diameter passing like a plumb-line from the middle plane of the head,
+let us suppose, downward just in front of the larynx.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG29">
+<img src="images/fig29.jpg" width="531" height="220" alt="Fig. 29" title="Fig. 29" /></a></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b><span class="smcap">Fig.</span> 29.</b>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The angle made above and in front where the two wings of the thyroid
+cartilage meet is termed <i>Adam's apple</i> (<i>Pomum Adami</i>), and in some
+cases, mostly males, is very prominent. Adam's apple has in itself,
+however, no special significance in voice-production.</p>
+
+<p>The little concavity between the false vocal bands above and the true
+vocal bands below is termed the <i>ventricle of the larynx</i>. It allows
+of more space for the free movements of the bands, especially those
+more important in voice-production.</p>
+
+<p>The vocal bands are attached behind to the projecting angle of the
+base of the arytenoid cartilage, which is itself somewhat triangular
+in shape, the base of the triangle being downward and rest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>ing on the
+upper and posterior (back) surface of the cricoid cartilage, with
+which it makes a free joint, so that it can move swivel-like in all
+directions. This is most important, because through it is explained
+the fact that the vocal bands may be either tensed and lengthened or
+relaxed and shortened.</p>
+
+<p><i>The muscles act on these movable cartilages, and nearly all the
+changes in the vocal bands are brought about through the alterations
+in position of the arytenoid cartilages, to which they are attached
+behind.</i></p>
+
+<p>Before describing the muscles of the larynx, the reader is reminded of
+the order of structures from above downward, in front, which is as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>
+The hyoid bone.<br />
+The thyro-hyoid membrane.<br />
+The thyroid cartilage.<br />
+The crico-thyroid membrane.<br />
+The cricoid cartilage.<br />
+The trachea.<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The latter is connected with the cricoid cartilage by its membrane.</p>
+
+<p>All the above structures can be felt in one's own person, the more
+readily if he be thin and have a long neck. The hyoid bone, or
+tongue-bone, is that hard structure just above the cricoid cartilage,
+and which one may easily demonstrate to be much more movable than the
+larynx itself. The tongue muscles are attached to it above, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> from
+it, below, the larynx is suspended, as already explained.</p>
+
+<p>The muscles of the larynx are best understood if the principle of
+antagonistic action already referred to be remembered. Speaking
+generally, the muscles are arranged <i>in pairs</i> which have an opposite
+or antagonistic action&#8212;viz.: (1) Those that open and close the
+glottis; (2) those that regulate the tension, or degree of tightness,
+of the vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>1. The muscles whose action tends to approximate the vocal bands&#8212;the
+<i>adductors</i>&#8212;are the <i>arytenoid&#275;us proprius</i> and the
+<i>thyro-arytenoid&#275;us</i>. The former is attached to the posterior or
+back surface of both arytenoid cartilages; the latter, as its name
+indicates, to the anterior and inner surface of the thyroid and the
+anterior lower surface or angle (<i>vocal process</i>) of the arytenoid.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig30.jpg" width="566" height="319" alt="Fig. 30" title="Fig. 30" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 30 (Chapman). Diagram showing action of
+crico-thyroid muscle, stretching of the vocal cords, and lengthening of them.
+The dotted lines indicate the position assumed when the muscle has contracted.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The opening or widening of the glottis is effected on each side (one
+muscle of the pair and its action being alone described in this
+and other cases) by the antagonist of these muscles, the
+<i>crico-arytenoid&#275;us posticus</i>, whose attachments are exactly as
+indicated by the names&#8212;viz., to the posterior part of the two
+cartilages named. When reading the description of these or other
+muscles it is absolutely necessary to have a pictorial illustration or
+the real object before one. The pull of this muscle is from the more
+fixed point, as in all other cases; hence the force is applied in a
+direction from below and outward, with the result that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> the
+arytenoid cartilage is tilted outward, and with it the vocal band is
+moved from the middle line.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig31.jpg" width="527" height="389" alt="Fig. 31" title="Fig. 31" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 31 (Spalteholz). View of the larynx as
+looked at from above. The illustration shows particularly well both the true and
+the false vocal bands. The true vocal bands are placed much as they are when a
+barytone is singing a very low tone. The part of the figure lowest on the page
+represents the back part of the larynx.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig32.jpg" width="536" height="218" alt="Fig. 32" title="Fig. 32" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 32 (Spalteholz). A cross-section
+transverse to the larynx, such as can be readily made with a strong knife.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The <i>crico-thyroid</i> also tends to open the glottis. Just as the
+diaphragm is the most important muscle of breathing, so is the
+crico-thyroid the most important in ordinary speaking and in singing
+in the lower register. It is a relatively large and strong muscle with
+an oblique direction in the main, though it is composed in reality of
+several sets of fibres some of which are much more oblique in
+direction than others (<a href="#FIG28">Fig. 28</a>). As its name indicates, its points of
+attachment are to the thyroid and the cricoid cartilages, but the most
+fixed point (<i>origin</i>) is its point of attachment to the larger
+cartilage; hence its direction of pull is from the thyroid, with the
+result that the anterior part of the cricoid is drawn up, the
+posterior part down, and the arytenoid cartilage, resting on the upper
+part of the cricoid, backward, so that the vocal band is rendered
+longer and more tense (see especially <a href="#FIG29">Fig. 29</a>). It is important to
+note that this is the muscle most used in singing the lower tones of
+the scale, and that its action must necessarily cease, to a great
+extent, when a certain point in the pitch is reached, as there is a
+limit to the degree of contraction of all muscles; and, besides, the
+crico-thyroid space is of very moderate size, and the cricoid
+cartilage can ascend only within the limits thus determined. It thus
+follows that Nature has provided in the change of mechanism for a new
+register, which is nothing else than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> a change of mechanism with a
+corresponding change of function. It will be at once apparent that the
+claim that registers are an invention of men, and without foundation
+in nature, is without support in anatomy and physiology. The
+crico-thyroid is probably, however, of much more importance to tragic
+actors and barytones than to tenors or sopranos. This, however, is no
+excuse for the neglect of its development by the latter class, as
+often happens, for without it the best tones of the lower register are
+impossible. On the other hand, the elocutionists who prescribe for
+students practices that involve the excessive use of this muscle, with
+a cramped position of the vocal organs, the larynx being greatly drawn
+down, with the view of producing disproportionately heavy lower tones,
+must take no comfort from the above anatomical and physiological
+facts. Art implies proportion, and it was one of the ambitions of all
+the best actors in the golden age of histrionic art to have an &quot;even
+voice&quot;&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, one equally good through the whole range required. The
+tragic actor, elocutionist, and public speaker, and the singer,
+whether soprano or bass, should neglect no muscle, though they may be
+justified in developing some in excess of others, but ever with a
+watchful eye on the weakest part.</p>
+
+<p>2. The muscles which regulate the tension of the vocal bands are the
+following:</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) The <i>thyro-arytenoid&#275;us</i> (pair), which by tilting the
+arytenoid cartilages forward relaxes the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> tension of the vocal bands.
+When they act with the adductors&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, the arytenoid&#275;us
+proprius&#8212;the result must be relaxation and approximation behind,
+which implies a greater or less degree of shortening, as usually
+happens when a certain point in an ascending scale is reached in
+persons whose methods of voice-production have not been in some way
+modified, and a new register begins, which in most female voices is
+marked by a more or less distinct and abrupt alteration of the quality
+of the tone.</p>
+
+<p>The crico-thyroids are the antagonists of the above-named muscles, and
+they may act either very much alone or, to some extent, in co&#246;peration
+with the above, to regulate or steady their action; for in movements
+so complicated as those required for voice-production it is highly
+probable that we are inclined to reduce our explanations of muscular
+action to a simplicity that is excessive, and to appreciate but
+inadequately the delicacy and complexity of the mechanism and the
+processes involved. It is quite certain that in the production of the
+highest tones of a tenor or soprano several muscles co&#246;perate, and
+one, especially, seems to be of great importance in the formation of
+such tones, most of all, perhaps, in high sopranos. The muscle
+referred to is the thyro-arytenoid already described. It is not only
+attached to the two cartilages indicated by its name, but also along
+the whole of the external or outer surface of the vocal band. It will
+be remembered that practically all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> the muscles are arranged in pairs,
+one on each side of the middle line. The muscle now under
+consideration, more, perhaps, than any other, is complex in its
+action. Apparently a very few of its fibres may act more or less
+independently of all the others at a particular moment and with a
+specific and very delicate result, a very slight change in pitch.
+Exactly how this is attained no one has as yet adequately explained;
+but it is doubtful whether any singer who does not possess a perfect
+control over this muscle can produce the highest tones of the soprano
+with ease and effectiveness. It is especially the muscle of the human
+birds of the higher flights.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) To these thyro-arytenoids, which for most singers and all
+speakers are probably chiefly relaxing in action, must be added as
+aiding in this function another pair, the <i>lateral crico-arytenoids</i>.
+They are situated between the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, and
+the direction of action is obliquely from below and forward, upward,
+and backward, so that the arytenoids are brought forward and also
+approximated more or less, which involves relaxed tension, at least,
+possibly also shortening of the vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig33.jpg" width="406" height="430" alt="Fig. 33" title="Fig. 33" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 33 (Spalteholz). Shows various
+structures, and especially well the false and the true vocal bands, with the
+space between them (ventricle of Morgagni), but which has no special function in
+phonation, unless it acts as a small resonance-chamber, which is possible. This
+space is a natural result of the existence of two pairs of vocal bands in such
+close proximity.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>When a tenor or soprano singer reaches the upper tones, say about
+<img src="images/image03.jpg" width="99" height="43" alt="e'' f'' g''" title="e'' f'' g''" />, or higher, there is considerable closing
+up in the larynx, much in the way in which the parts of the month are
+brought together in sucking. This is termed <i>sphincter action</i>, the
+mouth and the eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> being closed by such action, of which they are
+the most easily observed examples. As a result of this squeezing there
+is in some cases that reddening of the face and that tightness which
+is often felt uncomfortably, and which is <i>straining</i>, because when
+present in more than a very slight degree it is injurious, owing to
+congestion or accumulation of blood in the blood-vessels, with all the
+bad consequences of such a state of things. When the tightening does
+not go beyond a certain point it is normal&#8212;indeed, such sphincter
+action is inevitable; but it is the excess which is so common in
+tenors and others who strain for undue power, and to produce tones too
+high in pitch for their development or their method, which is so
+disastrous to the throat and to the best art also.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig34.jpg" width="485" height="498" alt="Fig. 34" title="Fig. 34" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b> <span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 34 (Spalteholz). Parts have been cut away
+to expose to view the whole of the inner surface of the larynx (lined with
+mucous membrane). An excellent view of the vocal bands and of the &quot;ventricle&quot; of
+the larynx, between them, is afforded.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>When the vocal bands are in action their vibrations are accompanied by
+corresponding vibrations of the cartilages of the larynx&#8212;a fact of
+which any one may convince himself by laying his fingers on the upper
+part of the thyroid, especially when a low and powerful tone is
+produced. This vibration is not confined to the larynx, but extends to
+other parts&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, the chest itself, for when one speaks or sings a
+distinct vibration of the chest walls can be felt, though the extent
+to which this is present is very variable in different persons. As an
+ascending scale is sung the larynx can be felt (by the fingers) to
+rise, and the reverse as the pitch is lowered. This is due partly to
+the action of those muscles attached to the larynx<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> which are not
+connected with the movements of the vocal bands, and partly to the
+influence of the expiratory air-blast. The glottis, partially closed
+as it must be in phonation, presents considerable resistance to the
+outgoing stream of air, hence the upward movement of the larynx when
+it is left free, and not held down by muscular action.</p>
+
+<p>In singing and speaking the larynx should be steadied, otherwise the
+&quot;attack,&quot; or application of the air-blast to the vocal bands, cannot
+be perfect. On the other hand, it is obviously incorrect to attempt to
+hold the larynx always in the same position. Holding down this organ
+by main force, as in the production of the so-called &quot;straw bass,&quot; is
+one of the surest methods of producing congestion and consequent
+disorders of the vocal organs; and the author wishes to warn all
+voice-producers against such unnatural practices. Students of
+elocution and young actors often sin in a similar way, and
+&quot;clergyman's sore throat&quot; is almost always due to this or some similar
+misuse of the vocal organs. One's own sensations and common sense
+should never be disregarded, however eminent the teacher who
+recommends unphysiological methods.</p>
+
+
+<h3>PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.</h3>
+
+<p>When the student has read the above description of the structure and
+functions of the larynx, and studied the illustrations well, he will
+be prepared to deal with the subject in a practical man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>ner, and
+without that it is feared his ideas will remain somewhat hazy.</p>
+
+<p>First of all, he should try to find the parts mentioned in his own
+person, following this up by examinations of others, for which purpose
+children make good subjects, as they have usually necks that are not
+too deeply padded with fat, and they may be easily led to take the
+examinations as a sort of fun.</p>
+
+<p>From above downward one feels in the middle line the parts in the
+order previously mentioned, beginning with the hyoid bone. One may
+learn that the larynx is movable and yielding, a hard structure
+covered with softer tissues, but what these are, and much more, can
+only be learned by examination of the larynx after it has been removed
+from some animal. Every butcher can provide the material for getting a
+sound, practical knowledge of the respiratory apparatus. He may be
+asked to supply the following:</p>
+
+<p>1. A pig's &quot;pluck&quot;&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the &quot;lights,&quot; or lungs, with the windpipe
+attached. The liver, heart, etc., are not required, though to observe
+the relations of the circulatory system&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the heart and large
+blood-vessels&#8212;to the respiratory system will be time well spent.
+Unless special instructions are given, the larynx, which the butcher
+may term the &quot;weezend,&quot; may be lacking or mutilated. It should be
+explained that this organ, with a part of the windpipe and the extreme
+back part of the tongue, and all below it, are required. For one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+sitting this single &quot;pluck&quot; will suffice, as it will serve for a
+general examination. The lungs may be dilated by inserting a tube into
+the windpipe, tying it in position, and blowing into it with greater
+or less force. It should be especially observed how suddenly the lungs
+collapse when the breath force is removed, as this illustrates well
+their <i>elasticity</i>. By cutting through the windpipe lengthwise and
+following it downward one learns how numerous are the branches of the
+bronchial tree, etc.</p>
+
+<p>For a second sitting one should secure at least two specimens of the
+larynx of the pig or sheep, though the former is more like the human,
+and so the better on the whole. A case of dissecting instruments is
+not essential; a sharp pocket-knife will serve the purpose. In order
+that the student may have a clear idea of the cartilages, all the soft
+tissues must be cut or scraped away. It is necessary to exercise great
+care, or the membranes connecting the cartilages together will be cut
+through; and on the other hand, unless the work in the neighborhood of
+the arytenoids be cautiously done, these cartilages may be injured,
+and it is most important that their swivel-like action and their
+relations to the true vocal bands be observed. The glottic chink can
+be seen from above or below, and should be observed from both
+view-points. Its margins are formed by the true vocal bands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then, with the figures before him, the student should endeavor to
+isolate each of the muscles described. The muscles can always be
+recognized by their red color, but it is to be remembered that those
+on the inner surface of the larynx, such as the crico-arytenoid, are
+covered with mucous membrane, which after death is very pale. This can
+by careful dissection be removed, and if in doing this a small pair of
+forceps be employed, the work will be greatly facilitated. One must be
+very skilful indeed if he would get all the muscles &quot;out,&quot; or well
+exposed to view as individuals, on a single specimen. Likely several
+will be required before entirely satisfactory results are reached, but
+these are well worth all the time and labor required. The action of
+the muscles can in some measure be demonstrated by pulling on them in
+the direction of their loosest attachment, though it must be confessed
+this is much more difficult in the case of most of the muscles of the
+larynx than in those of other parts of the body.</p>
+
+<p>Should the specimens be very successfully dissected, it may be worth
+while to keep them for future observation, in rather weak alcohol (40
+per cent.), in, say, a preserve jar.</p>
+
+<p>All examinations of the vocal bands may leave the observer
+disappointed; he may fail to realize, most likely, how such wonderful
+results can be accomplished by structures so simple as those he sees
+before him. But when the laryngoscope is brought into use, then comes
+a revelation. This instrument will be described in the next chapter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>HYGIENE.</h3>
+
+<p>Some of the hygienic principles involved have already been referred to
+and illustrated, and others follow from the facts already set forth.
+It is very important for the voice-user to bear in mind that his
+larynx is a part of the respiratory tract, and that the whole of this
+region and the entire digestive tract, part of which is common to
+both, are lined with mucous membrane. If the nose be affected with
+catarrh, the throat does not usually long escape; and if the back of
+the mouth cavity (<i>pharynx</i>) be disordered, the vocal bands and other
+parts of the larynx are almost sure to be involved more or less.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of the stomach is reflexly, if not by direct continuity
+through the mucous membrane, expressed in the throat generally; hence
+as experience shows, the voice-user cannot exercise too great care as
+to what and how much he eats, especially before a public appearance.
+He must know himself what best suits him, in this regard, to a degree
+that is necessary for few others.</p>
+
+<p>When singing, more blood is sent to the organs used, hence the great
+danger of that excess of blood being retained in the parts too long,
+as might easily happen from pressure about the neck, etc. It is
+scarcely necessary to point out that draughts, cold rooms, etc., will
+also determine the blood from the skin inward, and set up that
+complicated condition of multiform evils known as &quot;a cold.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> The
+obvious principle of prevention lies in keeping the body, and
+especially the neck, shoulders, and chest, warm after using the vocal
+organs in any way in public. To hand the singer a wrap after leaving
+the platform is always wise, and the judicious friend will see that
+conversation is not allowed, much less forced on the possibly
+breathless and wearied voice-user&#8212;a precaution that is probably more
+honored in the breach than in the observance, for in this as in other
+cases one's friends are sometimes his worst enemies.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>The larynx is the most important organ in voice-production, and
+consists of cartilages, muscles, the vocal bands, true and false,
+membranes and ligaments, folds of mucous membrane, etc. It is situated
+between the hyoid (tongue) bone above and the trachea below. The
+cartilages are the (1) epiglottis, (2) thyroid, cricoid, arytenoid,
+the two small, unimportant cornicula laryngis, or cartilages of
+Santorini, surmounting the arytenoids, and the two cuneiform, or
+cartilages of Wrisberg, in the folds of mucous membrane on each side
+of the arytenoids.</p>
+
+<p>The muscles are attached to the main cartilages. In addition to the
+muscles that are concerned with the movements of the vocal bands,
+others that hold the larynx in place or raise and lower it are
+attached <i>externally</i> to these, especially to the large thyroid
+cartilage. The epiglottis, the false vocal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> cords, the true vocal
+cords, and the thyro-arytenoid muscles are attached to the interior
+anterior surface of the thyroid in this order from above down.</p>
+
+<p>The false vocal bands have no direct function in phonation. <i>The whole
+larynx, so far as phonation is concerned, may be said to exist for the
+true vocal bands.</i> They are attached close together to the internal
+and anterior surface of the thyroid in front and to the lower anterior
+angles (vocal processes) of the arytenoids behind. Between the false
+vocal bands above and the true vocal bands below there is a cavity
+(the ventricle of Morgagni). The false vocal bands are protective, and
+approximate closely during coughing, swallowing, etc.</p>
+
+<p>It is very important to note that the arytenoid cartilages move freely
+on their base, swivel-like, so that nearly all the changes effected in
+the movements and tension of the vocal bands are brought about through
+alterations in the position of these cartilages; and this implies that
+all the muscles concerned are attached to them. From above down, in
+front, the order of structures is as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>
+Hyoid bone.<br />
+Membrane.<br />
+Thyroid cartilage.<br />
+Membrane.<br />
+Cricoid cartilage.<br />
+Trachea.<br /></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The hyoid bone is not a part of the larynx, but from it the larynx is
+suspended. The bone itself gives attachment to the muscles of the
+tongue. The glottis is the chink between the true vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>The muscles of the larynx may be divided into the following: (1) Those
+that open and those that close the glottis; (2) those which regulate
+the tension of the vocal bands. The latter include the (<i>a</i>)
+crico-thyroids, which tense and elongate them, (<i>b</i>) thyro-arytenoids,
+which relax and shorten them. The crico-thyroid may be considered the
+most important muscle of phonation, because it is so much used and so
+effective. By its action the cricoid is pulled up in front and down
+behind, so that the arytenoids are drawn back, and thus the vocal
+bands tensed and lengthened. The lateral crico-arytenoids and the
+thyro-arytenoids have the opposite effect&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, they relax and
+shorten the vocal bands; hence when they come into play a new register
+begins. The thyro-arytenoids, attached along the whole length of the
+vocal bands externally, have a very important but not well-understood
+action in the production of the higher tones, and probably also of the
+falsetto.</p>
+
+<p>The whole larynx is lined with mucous membrane, that covering the true
+vocal bands being very thin. The false vocal bands are made up chiefly
+of mucous membrane; the true vocal bands abound in elastic tissue. The
+larynx rises during the production of high tones, and during
+phona<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>tion its vibrations may be felt, as also those of the chest.</p>
+
+
+<p><b><i>Practical.</i></b></p>
+
+<p>1. Feel in your own person the parts of the larynx, etc., from above
+down.</p>
+
+<p>2. Note the vibration of the larynx when a vowel is spoken or sung. A
+similar vibration of the chest walls may be felt by the hands laid
+over them.</p>
+
+<p>3. Note the change of position of the larynx in singing a scale.</p>
+
+<p>4. Dissect a pig's or sheep's pluck and some specimens of the larynx.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig35.jpg" width="437" height="1043" alt="Fig. 35" title="Fig. 35" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 35. These three figures illustrate perhaps more
+clearly the <i>action</i> of the muscles indicated <span class="smcap">Figs</span>.
+  <a href="#FIG26">26</a>-34.</b></p>
+
+<p><b>The arrows show the direction of the pull of the muscles. The result
+of this action is the new position of the cartilages and vocal bands,
+which is shown by red outlines. The muscle is also depicted in red.
+The heavier outer rim is to indicate the thyroid cartilage. By
+comparing the upper and the lowest figure it will be seen that they
+are opposites. Of course, in phonation the vocal bands are never so
+much separated as shown in the illustrations. Rather does the lower
+figure indicate a case of extreme separation due to a very deep
+inspiration. However, these illustrations are merely diagrams meant to
+indicate in a general way the manner of the working of parts. For
+exact pictures of the vocal bands and related parts, see <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chapter
+VII</a>.</b></p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOUND&#8212;THE LARYNGOSCOPE&#8212;THE LARYNX RECONSIDERED.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> discussing our subject further it is desirable that some
+attention be given to a few of the fundamental principles of that
+department of physics termed <i>acoustics</i>, and which deals with the
+subject of sound. If the student has the opportunity to study this
+subject theoretically and practically, as it is set forth in some good
+work on physics, he will have no reason to regret the time spent. A
+deep knowledge of the laws of sound is not absolutely essential, or
+even highly necessary, for a sufficient understanding of the
+principles involved in voice-production. It is, however, all-important
+that a few facts and principles be thoroughly grasped.</p>
+
+<p>For those who feel that they have the time for a study of acoustics,
+the author would especially recommend Tyndall's work on sound, in
+which the subject is treated with wonderful clearness and charm. What
+we endeavor now to bring before the reader we have found sufficient
+for nearly all the purposes of the voice-user.</p>
+
+<p>An observer on the street, looking at a military band, notices certain
+movements of one member of the organization which result in what he
+termed the sound of the drum; but a deaf man by his side,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> though he
+sees the movements, hears nothing. This, being analyzed, means that
+the movements of the drummer's arm, conveyed through the drumstick to
+the membrane of the drum, give rise to movements in it which set up
+corresponding movements of the air within the drum, which again cause
+movements of the body of the instrument, the whole causing movements
+of the external air; and here the purely physical process ends. The
+movements other than muscular ones are not readily observed, but
+experiments not only prove that they exist, but demonstrate their
+nature, even to their exact rate of occurrence, their size, etc. These
+movements are termed <i>vibrations</i>, and, as has been indicated
+previously, they are the sole physical cause of sound. But that the
+latter is not due wholly to a physical origin is evident from the fact
+that sound for the deaf does not exist. It must, therefore, be a
+personal, a subjective experience, and as the sleeping, unconscious
+person does not necessarily hear a sound, the process is not wholly a
+corporeal or physiological process; it is finally an experience of the
+mind, the consciousness, and so is psychological as well as
+physiological.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that sound has a physical basis in the vibrations of bodies,
+either solid, liquid, or gaseous, may be brought home to one in
+various ways. Concussion or shaking of some kind is essential to start
+these vibrations. The air is made up of its particles, and one being
+moved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> sets up, inevitably, movements in neighboring particles on all
+sides, hence vibrations travel in all directions; which explains why a
+sound in the street may be heard by those in every part of the street
+not too distant, and also in the upper rooms of the houses and below
+in the basements. This is an important fact for the singer or speaker
+to bear in mind. His purpose must be to set up vibrations that will
+travel with great perfection and rapidity in all directions.</p>
+
+<p>The following experiments of a simple kind will serve to convince
+those who may not have given much attention to the subject that sound
+is due to movements of some object, which we term the sounding body,
+strictly that which starts the vibrations by its own movements or
+vibrations.</p>
+
+<p>If a sufficiently flexible band of metal or a stiff piece of whalebone
+be fixed at one end in a vice, and then sharply pulled to one side and
+suddenly let go, a sound results. The same effect is produced when a
+tight cord or small rope is plucked at and then suddenly released. In
+each of these cases, if actual movements are not seen, a certain haze
+which seems to surround the object may be observed. The same can be
+seen when a tuning-fork is set into action by a bow, a blow, etc. In
+the case of the fork a graphic tracing (<a href="#FIG36">Fig. 36</a>) can be readily taken
+on smoked paper, thus demonstrating to the eye that vibrations exist,
+that they occur with perfect regularity and with a frequency that can
+be measured.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG36">
+<img src="images/fig36.jpg" width="460" height="132" alt="Fig. 36" title="Fig. 36" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 36 (Tyndall). Illustrates how the vibrations of a
+tuning-fork are registered on a blackened (smoked) glass. In order
+that the movements of the fork shall be traced in the form of regular
+curves, the surface must be kept moving at a definite regular rate.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>A similar observation can be made in the case of stringed instruments.
+If pieces of paper be laid on the strings of a violin, and the bow
+then drawn across them, the bits of paper will fly off owing to the
+movements&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the vibrations&#8212;of the strings.</p>
+
+<p>That a force applied at one end of several objects in a line or series
+causes an obvious effect at the other end, can be well illustrated in
+a simple way. If a number of individuals stand one behind another in a
+line, each with his hands laid firmly on the shoulders of the one next
+to him, and the person at the end be pushed, the force will be
+conveyed through all the intermediate individuals, and cause the
+unsupported person at the distant end to move. So is it with the
+particles of which the air is composed. The movements begun in the
+drum set up by contact corresponding movements or vibrations in the
+adjacent air, which ultimately reach the hearing subject's ear,
+thereby<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> affect his brain, and are accompanied by that change in
+consciousness which he terms &quot;hearing.&quot; It will be observed that these
+events constitute a chain, and a break anywhere will prevent a sound
+being heard; there is then, in fact, no sound.</p>
+
+<p>Sounds are characterized by <i>pitch</i>, <i>volume</i>, and <i>quality</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>pitch</i> is determined by the number of vibrations that reach the
+ear within a certain time; the more numerous the sound-waves
+(vibrations) in a second, the higher the pitch.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig37.jpg" width="555" height="175" alt="Fig. 37" title="Fig. 37" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 37 (Tyndall). Meant to illustrate
+vibrations. The impulse communicated by the ball pushed from the hand to all the
+intervening ones causes only the last to actually move bodily.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Animals differ a good deal as to the limits of hearing. Cats hear very
+high-pitched sounds, as of mice, that human beings may not notice, and
+it is likely that insects hear sounds altogether beyond the limit of
+the human ear. But it is wonderful how much human beings differ among
+themselves in regard to this matter. It has surprised the author to
+find that many persons cannot hear the high-pitched note of certain
+birds, as the wax-wing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The lower limit, speaking generally, is for most persons 16
+vibrations, and the highest 38000 vibrations a second, according to
+Helmholtz, hence the entire range of the human ear would be fully 11
+octaves; but the practical range of musical sounds is within 40 and
+4000 vibrations a second&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, about 7 octaves&#8212;and, as is well
+known, even this range is beyond the appreciation of most persons,
+though as to this much depends on cultivation&#8212;attention to the
+subject extending over a considerable period of time.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>volume</i>, or loudness, of a sound depends on the size of the
+vibrations, just as one feels a blow from a large object, other things
+being equal, more than from a small one. The ear drum-head is in the
+case of a large sound beaten, as it were, more powerfully. The singers
+that give us bigness of sound instead of quality belabor our ears, so
+to speak; they treat us as persons of mean understanding&#8212;dull
+intellects; the thing is essentially vulgar.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>quality</i> of a sound is determined by the form of the vibrations.
+A sound of good quality is to the ear what a beautiful statue or
+picture is to the eye. As will be explained later, the form or quality
+depends largely on the shape, etc., of the resonance-chambers above
+the vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>Much discussion has taken place from time to time as to the nature of
+the larynx as a musical instrument, some being inclined to regard it
+as most closely allied to a stringed instrument, others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> to a
+wind-instrument. It has obviously points of resemblance to both, but
+the most recent researches make it clearer than ever that it is
+neither one nor the other, strictly speaking, but that it stands in a
+class by itself. It is, however, helpful, in considering many
+questions, to bear in mind its resemblances to both wind and stringed
+instruments. The vocal bands are not wholly free throughout their
+length, like the strings of a violin, nor do they bear any great
+resemblance to the reed of such an instrument as the clarinet, but as
+in the latter the force causing the vibrations is a blast of air. We
+have already pointed out that the vocal bands are set into vibration
+solely by the <i>expiratory</i> blast of air.</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE LARYNGOSCOPE.</h3>
+
+<p>The distinguished physiologist Johannes M&#252;ller demonstrated the
+working of the larynx by special experiments. He fixed into the
+windpipe a bellows, and showed, in the dead larynx, of course, that
+the blast from this source could cause the vocal bands to vibrate and
+thus produce sounds, which by varying the strength of the force, etc.,
+were made to vary in pitch.</p>
+
+<p>While such experiments indicate the essential principles of a possible
+voice-production, as the conditions in life were not and could not be
+fully met these results were rather suggestive than demonstrative of
+Nature's methods. These inves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>tigations served a good purpose, but
+they were manifestly inadequate, and this was felt by one thoughtful
+vocal teacher so keenly that he pondered much on the subject, in the
+hope of finding a method of observing the larynx during actual
+phonation. To this distinguished teacher, Manuel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> Garcia, belongs the
+honor of inventing the means of observing the vocal bands in action.
+This was accomplished in 1854, and, soon after, Garcia read an account
+of his observations to the Royal Society of London; and though much in
+this paper required correction by subsequent observations, it remains
+to this day the foundation of our knowledge of the action of the
+larynx in voice-production.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG38">
+<img src="images/fig38.jpg" width="642" height="409" alt="Fig. 38" title="Fig. 38" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 38 (Bosworth). Intended to illustrate the
+optical principles involved and the practical method of carrying out
+laryngoscopic examination. The dotted lines show the paths of the light-rays.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>As usually employed, the laryngoscope consists of two mirrors, the
+head-mirror, so called because it is usually attached to the forehead
+by an elastic band, and the throat-mirror, which is placed in the back
+part of the mouth cavity. The purpose of the head-mirror is to reflect
+the light that reaches it from a lamp or other source of illumination
+into the mouth cavity so perfectly that not only the back of the
+mouth, etc., but the larynx itself may be well lighted up; but
+inasmuch as this illumination may be accomplished, under favorable
+circumstances, by direct sunlight, the head-mirror is, though mostly
+indispensable, not an absolutely essential part of the laryngoscope.
+There is, indeed, one advantage in the use of direct sunlight, in that
+the color of the parts seen remains more nearly normal. Lamplight
+tends, because of its yellow color, to make parts seem rather of a
+deeper red than they actually are; but this to the practised observer,
+always using the same source of illumination, is not a serious
+matter&#8212;his standards of comparison remain the same. Moreover,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> this
+objection does not apply equally to electric light, now so much used.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig39.jpg" width="515" height="283" alt="Fig. 39" title="Fig. 39" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 39. This illustration is meant to show
+more especially the relative position of observer and observed. The observer, on
+the right, is wearing the head-mirror, while two throat-mirrors seem to be in
+position&#8212;in reality, the same mirror in two different positions. One is placed
+so as to reflect the picture of the nasal chambers, especially their hinder
+portion. The walls of the nose, etc., may for the purposes of this illustration
+be considered transparent, so that the scroll (turbinated) bones, etc., come
+into view. The tongue is protruded. The light, not seen in this figure, is
+usually placed on the left of the subject, as in <a href="#FIG38">Fig. 38</a>.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>It being a fundamental law of light that the angle of reflection and
+the angle of incidence correspond&#8212;are, in fact, the same&#8212;it was
+necessary that the throat-mirror should be set at an angle to its
+stem, so that the light passing up by reflection from the larynx
+should, when striking on the surface of this plane throat-mirror, be
+reflected outward in a straight line to the eye, which must be in the
+same horizontal plane with it. This and all the other facts and
+principles involved can only be understood by a careful inspection of
+the accompanying figures, which it is hoped will make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> the subject
+plain. The throat-mirror is none other than the mouth-mirror of the
+dentists, and in use by them before Garcia discovered how it might be
+employed to throw light on the larynx, in a double sense.</p>
+
+<p>The essentials, then, for a view of the interior of the larynx are: A
+source of illumination; a mirror to reflect the light reaching it from
+this source into the back of the throat and larynx; and a second
+mirror to reflect the light outward which is, in the first instance,
+reflected from below, from the interior of the larynx. The principles
+involved are few and simple, but their application to any particular
+case is not easy, and is sometimes well-nigh impossible.</p>
+
+<p>The throat-mirror should be placed against that curtain suspended in
+the back of the mouth cavity known as the soft palate, so that it must
+be pushed back out of the line of view. But many persons find such a
+foreign object in the throat a sufficient cause of unpleasant
+sensations so that retching may be the result. Generally there is a
+tendency to raise the tongue behind in a way fatal to a view of the
+mirror and the picture reflected from it. These difficulties, however,
+can be overcome by a deft hand using the mirror brought to &quot;blood
+heat&quot; by placing it in warm water or holding it over some source of
+heat, as a small lamp, and directing the subject observed to breathe
+freely and <i>through the mouth</i>. This latter tends to quiet that unruly
+member, the tongue,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> and lead it to assume the flat position so
+important to an unobstructed view. It is for the same reason the
+author urges mouth breathing during speaking and singing. No other
+tends so well to put the tongue in the correct position.</p>
+
+<p>The extent to which one feels the annoyance of a small mirror held
+gently in the throat depends really on the amount of attention
+directed to it, and the degree of determination with which he resolves
+to exercise self-control. The author has examined an entire class of
+students of voice-production and found only one person who did not
+succeed in at once giving him a view of the larynx. But it must be at
+once said that of all persons examined by the author during his
+experience as an investigator of voice-production and in special
+medical practice, none have been able to show their throats, the
+larynx included, so well as speakers and, above all, singers; which in
+itself indicates that speaking and singing do give control of the
+throat&#8212;that all its parts respond to the will of the observed person.
+The author must further, however, remark that he has found this
+control associated not so much with vocal power as with intelligent
+study. Intelligence tells in music a good deal more than many people
+have yet learned to believe; but on this point the reader will long
+since have learned the author's views&#8212;in fact, so deep are his
+convictions on this subject that he hopes he may be pardoned for
+frequent reference to them, in one form or another.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One anatomical fact may be so invincible that a view of the glottis
+cannot be obtained at all: the epiglottis may so overhang the opening
+to the larynx that a good view of its interior is absolutely
+impossible, in other cases only occasionally and under very favorable
+circumstances. Such cases are, however, of the rarest occurrence,
+while there are not a few persons in whom one may even see down the
+windpipe as far as its division into the two main bronchial tubes, and
+inflammation may thus often be traced from the vocal bands far down
+the mucous membrane common to the larynx, windpipe, etc.</p>
+
+<p>As has been remarked previously, it is only by the use of the
+laryngoscope that one can see the vocal mechanism of the larynx in
+action, so that for investigation laryngoscopy is essential.
+Auto-laryngoscopy, or the use of the laryngoscope by the subject to
+observe his own larynx, has its special difficulties and advantages,
+the greatest of the latter being, perhaps, that the observer may use
+himself as often and as long as he will, while he would hesitate to
+make observations on others at great length or with frequent
+repetition. There are no new principles involved in auto-laryngoscopy.
+The observer must simply see that a good light is reflected into his
+own throat, and that the picture in his throat-mirror is reflected
+into another into which he may gaze, an ordinary small hand-glass
+usually sufficing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Only rarely is the individual met who can himself so control his
+tongue that assistance from the observing laryngologist is
+unnecessary. In by far the greater number of instances the tongue,
+after being protruded, must be gently held by the left hand of the
+observer, a small napkin covering the tip of the organ. The
+auto-laryngologist must, of course, control his own tongue, and better
+if without any hand contact.</p>
+
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to say that before placing the mirror in the
+mouth its temperature must be tested by touching it for a moment
+against the back of the hand.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all the facts of importance in phonation, several of which have
+already been referred to, or will be mentioned in the &quot;Summary and
+Review&quot; below, could only have been discovered by the use of the
+laryngoscope. The difference in the larynx in the two sexes and in
+different types of singers and speakers, though open to ordinary
+observation, dissection, etc., are still better brought out by the use
+of the instrument now under consideration.</p>
+
+<p>One naturally expects any organ to be larger and heavier in the male
+than in the female, and to this the larynx is no exception; and
+individual differences are equally pronounced. There may be almost if
+not quite as much difference between the larynx of a barytone and of a
+tenor as between that of an ordinary man who is not a public
+voice-user and the larynx of the ordinary woman. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> larynx of the
+contralto may in its size and general development remind one of the
+same organ in the male. The vocal bands of the bass singer may be to
+those of a soprano as are the strings of a violoncello to those of a
+violin&#8212;using these examples, it will be understood, merely as rough
+illustrations.</p>
+
+<p>The change in the size of the larynx produced by even a few months'
+judicious practice may be astonishing. As already hinted, it is
+important that in bringing about this development exclusive attention
+should not be given, as is sometimes done, especially in the case of
+speakers, to the lower tones, though it is not so important for them
+as for singers to have an even development up to the highest range.</p>
+
+<p>But again the author would urge the voice-user to aim at attaining
+that delicate control of muscles (neuro-muscular mechanisms, to speak
+more scientifically) so important for the finest vocal effects, rather
+than be satisfied with mere power. The vocalist and speaker must
+indeed be athletic specialists, but they should not aim at being like
+the ordinary athlete, much less mere strong men of the circus.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that Madame Mara within her range of three octaves could
+effect 2100 changes of pitch, or 100 between each two tones of the
+twenty-one in her compass, which would represent a successive change
+in the length of the vocal bands of a small fraction, possibly not
+more than 1/17000 of an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> inch&#8212;something unapproachable in nicety in
+the use of any other instrument. Even if we make large deductions from
+the above, the performances of those who have reached the highest
+laryngeal control must remain marvellous, all the more when it is
+remembered that this control over the larynx, to be efficient for
+musical purposes, must be accompanied by a corresponding mastery of
+the art of breathing. Is it necessary to point out that such wonderful
+development and control can only be attained after years of steady
+work by the best methods?</p>
+
+<p>At one period in the life of the individual changes of such importance
+take place in the entire nature, physical, mental, and moral, that he
+becomes almost a new being. This epoch is known as the period of
+puberty or adolescence, and may be considered that of the gravest
+moment during one's whole life; for then, for better or worse, great
+changes inevitably occur. It is incomparably the period of greatest
+development, and, unfortunately, there may also spring into being,
+with striking suddenness, physical and psychic traits which cause the
+greatest anxiety. In any case, the thoughtful must then regard the
+youth or maiden with feelings of the deepest interest, if not anxiety;
+and in the case of the voice-user, especially the singer, this period
+may come laden with the destinies of the future.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG40">
+<img src="images/fig40.jpg" width="441" height="271" alt="Fig. 40" title="Fig. 40" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 40 (Gr&#252;nwald). If this be compared with the next
+illustration (<a href="#FIG41"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 41</a>), some of the differences between the larynx of
+the male and that of the female may be noted. The vocal bands in <span class="smcap">Fig</span>.
+40, being those of a male, are heavier and wider. They are more
+covered by the epiglottis than in the other case&#8212;that of a female
+(<a href="#FIG41"><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 41</a>). The false vocal bands are well seen in
+both cases, and by their redness (dark in the figures) contrast with the
+whiteness of the true vocal bands. In both illustrations the bands are in the
+inspiration position.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG41">
+<img src="images/fig41.jpg" width="525" height="243" alt="Fig. 41" title="Fig. 41" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 41 (Gr&#252;nwald). Laryngoscopic picture of the female
+larynx&#8212;to be contrasted with that of a male, shown in <a href="#FIG40"> <span class="smcap">Fig</span>.
+40</a>.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The vocal organs, especially in males, undergo very marked changes in
+relative proportions and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> actual growth. So marked is this that the
+boy soprano may actually become a barytone, or, unfortunately, no
+longer have a singing voice at all.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig42.jpg" width="241" height="179" alt="Fig. 42" title="Fig. 42" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 42 (Gr�nwald). In this case, owing to the
+subject having a cold, it is with difficulty that the true can be distinguished
+from the false vocal bands, so reddened (dark, in the figure) were the former,
+with corresponding changes in the character of the voice. This view was obtained
+as the subject was phonating, so that the vocal bands are approximated somewhat
+closely.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig43.jpg" width="424" height="218" alt="Fig. 43" title="Fig. 43" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 43 (Gr&#252;nwald). Shows the larynx as it may be seen
+only by the use of the laryngoscope. The above is an example of the
+appearance of the vocal bands during a deep inspiration, and in this
+subject, as in those illustrated by <span class="smcap">Figs</span>.
+  <a href="#FIG40">40</a>, <a href="#FIG41">41</a>, the circumstances
+were so favorable that the observer could see even the trachea, the
+rings of which are indicated in the picture. The reader will bear in
+mind that in this and all laryngoscopic pictures, while right remains
+right, front becomes back, and back front, so that the back of the
+larynx appears toward the observer&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, is lowest on the page.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>So far as the larynx is concerned the changes are less pronounced,
+usually, in the girl; nevertheless, the period is one of such change
+for the female that the greatest care should be exercised at this
+time, especially in the case of city girls. The body requires all its
+available resources for the growth and development which is so
+characteristic of this biological and psychological epoch; hence it
+may be ruinous for the future of the girl if at this time the same
+strain is put upon her as on the adult, whether in the direction of
+study, physical exertion, or social excitement, and of course the
+voice must suffer with all the rest. The farmer who would attempt to
+work the colt of a year or two old as he does the horse of four or
+five would be regarded as either grossly ignorant of his business or
+utterly reckless as to his own interests, if not positively cruel. Do
+our modern usages not show a neglect of facts of vital moment still
+more marked? Unfortunately, the woman all her life must live, to a
+greater or less extent, on a sort of periodic up-curve or down-curve
+of vitality; and that this fact is so generally ignored by society and
+educators is one of those peculiarities of our age at which, in spite
+of its great advancement in so many directions, a future generation
+must wonder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To use the voice when the health is even slightly disordered is not
+without risk to the vocal organs, and it is the clear duty of every
+teacher of vocal culture, at all events, to allow no practice and to
+give no lessons that imply the actual use of the vocal organs at these
+times. Nor is this a great loss, rightly considered, for the
+intellectual side of the subject, which requires so much attention,
+may readily be made to take the place of the vocal for a few days.</p>
+
+<p>The so-called &quot;breaking&quot; of the voice is largely confined to males,
+because the growth changes, etc., as already said, are most marked in
+boys. At this time, also, there is frequently an excess of blood
+supplied to the larynx, with possibly some degree of stagnation or
+congestion, which results in a thickening of the vocal bands, unequal
+action of muscles, etc., which must involve imperfections in the
+voice. In all such cases common sense and physiology alike plainly
+indicate that rest is desirable. All shouting, singing, etc., should
+be refrained from, and even ordinary speech, as much as possible, in
+very marked cases, especially when the individual is even slightly
+indisposed or weary.</p>
+
+<p>In other cases the changes are so gradual and so little marked that it
+is not at all necessary to discontinue vocal practice, if carried out
+with care and under the guidance of an intelligent friend or teacher;
+but because of the possibility of the voice changing in quality, there
+is no time when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> advice of an experienced and enlightened teacher
+or laryngologist is more necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The condition present in the vocal bands and larynx generally of the
+boy at puberty is more or less akin to that found in fatigue,
+ill-health, hoarseness, etc., as well as in old age, when muscular
+action is very uncertain, so that in the weak larynx, as elsewhere,
+the old man may approach the undeveloped youth, and for much the same
+reason&#8212;lack of co-ordinated or harmonious control of parts.</p>
+
+<p>These remarks imply, of course, that the youth has already begun
+studies in voice-production, and that raises another important
+question, viz.: When should the individual who is sufficiently endowed
+musically begin to sing, or study public utterance practically in some
+of its forms?</p>
+
+<p>No faculty develops earlier than the musical, and this is a strong
+argument in itself for the early study of music, apart altogether from
+other considerations about which there is room for more difference of
+opinion. Should the child get his musical development through the use
+of his own musical instrument or another? If he shows natural ability
+for the use of the voice, should he be trained very early?</p>
+
+<p>Against early training may be urged the facts above referred to&#8212;the
+liability of great changes taking place in the larynx at puberty,
+especially in the boy. But marked are the changes that take place in
+other parts of the body also, and this is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> not urged against exercises
+for general development, for the boy. It is a remarkable fact that
+many of the great composers sang as boys, and possibly this has had
+something to do with their writing music for the voice, later, when
+they were most of them by no means fine singers; but on this too much
+stress should not be laid.</p>
+
+<p>The question at issue is to be sharply marked off from another&#8212;the
+public appearance of children as soloists, reciters, etc. In this case
+the question is more complicated, and cannot be settled by
+physiological considerations alone. Our problem is also to be kept
+apart from another very important question&#8212;the singing of children,
+or, indeed, adults, in classes, choirs, etc.</p>
+
+<p>If a child shows himself a desire to sing, and especially if he has
+musical ability above the average and a voice that is of fair range
+and quality, one can scarcely see why he should not be encouraged, and
+placed under a wise teacher; for it is doubtful if there be any better
+way of developing the ear and musical nature, even if in future the
+child shows that he will accomplish more as an instrumentalist. Such
+vocal training tends to development of the larynx, and that can
+scarcely be wholly lost, no matter what changes puberty may bring
+about. At the same time, one must take care not to be too hopeful in
+regard to child singers. Nature gives us some surprises, and not
+always pleasant ones.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But as to the cultivation of the vocal organs with the view of
+producing a beautiful speaking voice by processes akin to those used
+for the singer, as the teaching of this work constantly implies, there
+can be no doubt. Unless the individual acquires a respect for the
+beautiful in the speaking voice when young, it is feared he may never
+get it, as the existing state of things only too clearly shows.</p>
+
+<p>It is hoped that enough has been said on this subject to indicate the
+principles, at all events so far as physiology is concerned, on which
+the decisions regarding some weighty questions must be made.</p>
+
+<p>The question of singing with others, as usually carried out in
+schools, seems to the author a very doubtful procedure, to say the
+least, as for those with fine throats it may prove injurious, and for
+those who have feeble musical endowments it does little; but of this
+subject and concerted singing generally again.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BREATHING, LARYNGEAL ADJUSTMENT, ETC.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Experience</span> proves that breathing, for the speaker and singer, is one
+of those subjects that may be very inadequately comprehended by the
+student, and, the author regrets to say, may be positively
+misrepresented by teachers and writers.</p>
+
+<p>Some&#8212;indeed, a great many&#8212;teachers direct their students to employ
+&quot;abdominal&quot; or &quot;diaphragmatic&quot; breathing, others &quot;clavicular&quot;
+respiration. A little consideration must convince those who have read
+the chapters on breathing that such distinctions, in which one part of
+an entire process is treated as if it were the whole, cannot be
+justified. By &quot;clavicular&quot; breathing some mean upper chest breathing,
+and others a form of respiration in which the shoulders (clavicles, or
+key-bones) are raised with inspiration in an objectionable manner. The
+latter is, of course, to be condemned; yet, very exceptionally, a
+tenor of excellent training may feel that he can, under the
+circumstances of the hour, reach a certain tone very high in his range
+only by the utmost exertion. We all know how a singer's reputation may
+be more or less ruined should he fail to reach such a high note&#8212;one,
+indeed, by which he may, owing to the vitiated taste of the public,
+have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> acquired a reputation beyond his artistic merits. Under these
+circumstances such a singer might be justified in a momentary use of
+every resource of what physiologists term <i>forced respiration</i>,
+including clavicular breathing; but in general any raising of the
+shoulders should be absolutely avoided.</p>
+
+<p>When &quot;clavicular&quot; breathing is used in the sense of upper chest
+breathing, it is correct as far as it goes, but the term is not a
+happy one to employ in this sense, and it has led to error in theory
+and practice.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way, &quot;diaphragmatic&quot; breathing is perfectly correct, but
+its exclusive use cannot be justified, for Nature teaches us
+otherwise. It is true that the lower part of the chest, which always
+should expand with the descent of the diaphragm, is wider than the
+upper; it is true that by a very well-developed diaphragmatic
+breathing a singer or speaker is fairly well provided with breath
+power; but why teach this method exclusively, when thereby the
+voice-user is being robbed of possibly from one quarter to one third
+of his total breathing efficiency?</p>
+
+<p>It is likely that teachers have insisted on diaphragmatic breathing,
+especially in the case of females, because, unfortunately, prevalent
+modes of dress so restrict the lower chest, etc., that individuals
+instinctively seek relief in upper chest or clavicular breathing, in
+which case it may be observed that the actual breath power of the
+singer is very small. It cannot be denied that few people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> ever
+adequately fill the chest&#8212;least of all, few women&#8212;and if admonitions
+as to diaphragmatic breathing accomplish this purpose, the practice
+must be commended. But another remedy should obviously precede this
+one: the respiratory prisoner should first be released.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt, in the most vigorous singing and speaking the lower part of
+the chest, with the diaphragm, is of the greatest importance, but
+often both the speaker and the singer, as in a short, rapid passage,
+require to take breath, and the only way in which they can really meet
+the case is by a short, more or less superficial action of the
+respiratory apparatus, in which the upper chest must play the chief
+part. There is no opportunity to fill the whole chest, so that any
+admonition in regard to abdominal breathing is then quite out of
+place.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, the voice-user should have control of his whole breathing
+mechanism, and use one part more or less than another, or all parts
+equally and to the fullest extent, as the circumstances require; and
+if the student has not already learned such control, the author
+recommends his practising breathing with special attention first to
+filling the upper chest completely, and then the lower. It must be
+remembered that for a long time breathing, for the voice-user, must be
+a voluntary process, which, as has been pointed out, is not the usual
+and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> natural one for the individual when not phonating, which latter
+is essentially reflex or involuntary. The voice-user, in other words,
+must, with a definite purpose in view, take charge of himself. In
+time, breathing for him too will become reflex&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, correct
+breathing for the purposes of his art will become a habit. It must be
+pointed out that the breathing for any particular composition,
+literary or musical, should be carefully studied out, for this is
+nothing else than determining how this part of the voice-user's
+mechanism can be employed with the best artistic result. This,
+fortunately, is now recognized by a large number of teachers, for the
+fact is, the artistic is at present much better understood and
+appreciated than the technical; were it not so, such erratic
+literature on the subject of breathing could never have appeared.</p>
+
+<p>On another aspect of the subject there is room for much greater
+difference of opinion. Among even eminent singers and teachers there
+is lack of agreement in regard to the part the diaphragm and abdomen
+should play in the most vigorous (<i>fortissimo</i>) singing.</p>
+
+<p>Singers of renown practise what may be termed a sort of &quot;forced&quot;
+abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing. The breath is so taken that the
+whole chest is filled, the diaphragm brought well down, and the
+abdominal walls drawn in (retracted), which gives the singer, in all
+parts above and below, a bellows with tense walls in all parts, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+the great advantage that such breathing permits of a firmness
+otherwise unattainable, and he is enabled to exert his breath force
+with great certainty and power, and, as some maintain, with all the
+control necessary for even delicate effects.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG44">
+<img src="images/fig44.jpg" width="163" height="370" alt="Fig. 44" title="Fig. 44" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 44. Intended to express to the eye the two views
+of respiration discussed in the body of the work (p. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-117).
+The dotted lines indicate the form of the chest and abdomen advocated by some as
+the best for the singing or speaking of long and vigorous passages.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Against this it has been urged that it is unnatural, not according to
+what is found in man and other animals in nature. It is perhaps
+forgotten that when we make a great effort, as in lifting, we put the
+breathing apparatus into just this state; we gird up our loins&#8212;or the
+equivalent of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> process&#8212;so that this method cannot be said to be
+contrary to nature. The only question seems to be as to whether it is
+necessary and advantageous, or wasteful of energy. For ordinary
+efforts it does not seem to be necessary, though the chest must in
+singing and speaking always be <i>held</i> more or less full, not by any
+deliberate and painful effort, but in a quiet, unobtrusive way.</p>
+
+<p>The diagram (<a href="#FIG44">Fig. 44</a>) will make the difference in the theories
+referred to clear.</p>
+
+<p>Up to the present the student has been urged to fill his chest, after
+days of less vigorous practice, to the fullest, retain the mechanism
+in this condition for a short time, and then in the slowest and most
+regular fashion relax it, the purpose being development and control.
+In actual speaking and singing such breathing is not usually either
+possible or desirable.</p>
+
+<p>Nature herself always works with the least possible expenditure of
+energy and with power in reserve. These must be the voice-user's
+principles, to be deliberately and persistently applied. To fill the
+chest to the fullest on all occasions is to use up energy to no
+purpose and to induce fatigue. Art is ever economical. Effort, obvious
+effort, detracts from the listener's enjoyment. Ease in the executant
+corresponds with enjoyment in the listener, or, at all events, if
+nothing more, it puts him in such a frame of mind, that the more
+positive qualities of the performance find him in an undisturbed,
+receptive state.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The singer or speaker must breathe easily and adequately, but not so
+as to waste his energies. Prior to the execution of his task, he
+should consider what respiratory efficiency calls for in the case of
+any particular phrase, and meet this without waste&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, fully, but
+with something to spare. For the best art, as well as the soundest
+technique, there should always be in the executant enough and to
+spare. Let the last word be so uttered or sung that the listener may
+feel, however vigorous the passage, that more could have been done had
+it been required; in other words, <i>speak or sing the last word feeling
+that several others might follow did one so choose</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When this principle of reserve force is not observed, the voice-user
+may distress himself or his audience in a variety of ways, among
+others by a bad habit known as &quot;pumping&quot;&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, endeavoring to
+produce sound when the breath power is really spent. It is only
+necessary to refer to it for a moment that its unwisdom and
+physiological unrighteousness may be apparent.</p>
+
+<p>Another term, <i>coup de glotte</i> (blow or shock of the glottis), has led
+to so much confusion and misunderstanding, which unfortunately, has
+been followed by erroneous practice, that it would be well if its
+further employment were abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing, so far as voice-production is concerned, is for the sole
+purpose of causing the vocal bands to vibrate; and at this stage we
+may say that the perfection of any vocal result depends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> wholly on the
+efficiency with which these vibrations are produced, so that breathing
+and tone are brought together, so to speak, by the mediation of these
+little bands, the vocal cords; and this is the justification for
+speaking of the larynx as <i>the</i> vocal organ. This usage, however, is
+objectionable, as it tends to narrowness and to divert the mind from
+other highly important parts of the vocal mechanism. In one sense, the
+respiratory organs and the resonance-chambers are each as important as
+the larynx.</p>
+
+<p>The term <i>coup de glotte</i> has been sometimes employed as the
+equivalent of &quot;attack,&quot; and again as the synonym of nearly all that is
+bad in voice-production. As to this latter, all depends on the sense
+in which the term is employed.</p>
+
+<p>Before the vocal bands can be set into suitable vibrations the
+expiratory breath-stream must be directed against them in a special
+manner, and they themselves must be adapted to the blast. It is a case
+of complex and beautiful adaptation. The clarinet or flute player must
+learn to &quot;blow,&quot; and equally must the singer learn to use his breath.
+The processes each employs, though not identical, are closely related;
+both use the breath to cause vibrations, and there can be none that
+are effective, in either case, except a certain relation of adaptation
+of breath-stream to instrument be effected&#8212;with the clarinet-player,
+adjustment of breath to reed, and with the voice-user, of breath to
+vocal bands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Exactly what changes are made in the larynx, and by what means, have
+already been described, and will be again considered in more than one
+part of this volume. The main fact is that owing to a multitude of
+neuro-muscular mechanisms the different parts of the respiratory and
+laryngeal apparatus are brought to work in harmony for the production
+of tones.</p>
+
+<p>The nature of the vibrations of the vocal bands, and, therefore, the
+character of the sounds produced, depend in no small measure on one
+thing, to which attention cannot be too carefully given. To a large
+extent the pitch, the volume, the quality, the carrying power, etc.,
+of a tone depend on the adjustment now referred to&#8212;one of the facts
+which were, if not physiologically, at least practically recognized by
+the old Italian masters. Teachers everywhere felt the need of some
+technical term to express the adjustment we are considering, hence the
+expression <i>coup de glotte</i>, which is not in itself necessarily either
+incorrect or for other reason to be condemned. All depends on the
+sense in which it is used, as we have already said. It must, however,
+be admitted that it does; to most persons, convey the idea of
+something that is more or less violent as well as sudden, so that
+there seems to lurk in this term a tendency to mislead, to say the
+least.</p>
+
+<p>There really should never be a blow or shock of the glottis; the vocal
+bands should never strike together violently, or, indeed, strike
+together at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> all, in the ordinary sense of the term. They should,
+however, be approximated with considerable rapidity and with a perfect
+adjustment to the breath-stream, and this must be associated with a
+like perfect adaptation of the breath-stream to them through the
+harmonious working of the many muscles (neuro-muscular mechanisms)
+which constitute the most important part of the respiratory mechanism.
+In brief, the adjustment of the breathing and laryngeal mechanisms
+resulting in the adequate and suitable approximation of the vocal
+bands for tone-production constitutes the <i>coup de glotte</i>, or, as the
+author prefers to term it, the &quot;attack.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>To get this perfect should be one of the aims of teachers and one of
+the ambitions of students. Without a good attack the singer or speaker
+fails to do himself justice, and the listener is left unsatisfied. The
+good attack suggests physiological and technical perfection, so far as
+it goes; artistically, it implies power and sureness, and for the
+listener satisfaction, a feeling that what has been attempted has been
+accomplished; and the best of it is that the auditor at the end of a
+large hall experiences this sense of satisfaction quite as fully as
+the persons sitting in the first row of seats. Without good attacks
+there can be no intellectual singing or speaking, no broad phrasing,
+and much more that all should aim at who come before the public, and
+which listeners have, indeed, a right to expect. But just because many
+persons feel this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> to be true, they make serious errors in attempting
+to attain the result; they substitute main force for the correct
+method. Impatience and eagerness may defeat the voice-user's purpose.
+In this and all other cases the action should be performed with but
+moderate force, or even, at first, softly, and with gradual increase
+in vigor, and always in relation to the quality of the sound produced;
+quality must always be the first if not also the last consideration.</p>
+
+<p>If the method be correct, power can be attained with patience; if
+wrong, the throat and voice may be absolutely ruined. This point will
+be considered later, but we must at once express the opinion that a
+bungling attack in which main force is substituted for the proper
+method is one of the most dangerous, as it is one of the most serious
+errors in the technique of modern singing, and the same may often be
+charged against our public speaking.</p>
+
+<p>Another of the worst faults of singing, the <i>tremolo</i>, is due to
+unsteadiness in attack and in maintaining the proper relations between
+the breathing and the laryngeal mechanism. If the voice-user fails to
+get a tone of good quality easily and without escape of breath to any
+appreciable extent, he must consider that his method is incorrect.
+There must be no wasted breath in the best vocal technique. This leads
+to ineffectiveness in the voice-producer and lack of satisfaction in
+the listener. Breath must, for a perfect technique, mean tone&#8212;all
+tone&#8212;and this must be produced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> so that the singer is not aware, by
+any unpleasant feelings, that he has vocal bands or a larynx at all;
+in a perfect technique one must only be distinctly aware of certain
+sensations in the parts above the larynx, in his mouth cavity, etc.
+His consciousness is concerned with tone&#8212;the result. But, to attain
+this, the method must be physiological&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, natural, and not only
+that, but carried out with an approach to perfection in the details of
+the process which takes time and calls for infinite patience and care,
+all permeated by sound and clear ideas of what is being aimed at by
+the voice-user. Nothing should be attempted till the method and the
+end are understood thoroughly; to do otherwise is to waste time,
+defeat the purpose, and court failure and disappointment; and the more
+the student can think for himself, and the less dependent he is on his
+teacher, the better will it be for both and for art itself.</p>
+
+<p>From all that has been hitherto said it will be inferred that one of
+the best tests of a good attack, or any other feature in
+voice-production, is the absence of escape of breath, as such, from
+the mouth. Many persons begin wrongly; they attempt to produce tones
+by forcing the breath out in such a way that all their resources in
+breathing are at once spent, instead of being husbanded with the care
+of a miser. As time is the most precious possession of man, as man, so
+is breath for the singer or speaker. It is his hoard. Nothing must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> be
+paid out of this always limited capital for which the best value is
+not obtained.</p>
+
+<p>The test for perfect economy of breath known to older generations of
+actors still remains the best. They were accustomed to hold a candle a
+few inches from the mouth when speaking. If the flame did not flicker,
+it was clear that breath was not being uselessly expelled.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of feeling that the breath passes out, the voice-producer
+should rather feel, when phonating, as if it passed in&#8212;an illusion,
+it is true, but still a safe one. It will be found that holding a
+mirror or the hand with the back turned toward the mouth, and a few
+inches (four to six) from it, will serve fairly well to indicate
+whether the breath is escaping or not, though in sensitiveness and
+convincing power this is not equal to the flame test.</p>
+
+<p>We would again urge that in every instance of phonation in either
+speaker or singer, the breath be taken through the open mouth. Only in
+this way can enough breath be inhaled in the mere moment available for
+this purpose. Often the singer or actor must take breath with
+absolutely the greatest rapidity possible, and the narrow passages of
+the nose do not suffice to admit enough air within the time for
+action.</p>
+
+<p>But even more important, perhaps, is the fact that when breath is
+taken through the nostrils the singer may find that on opening his
+mouth to sing the tongue and soft palate are in an unfavorable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+position for good tone-production; his sounds may be muffled, throaty;
+but if breath be inhaled through the open mouth, and not through the
+nose at all, the tongue tends to lie flat, and this organ and other
+parts assume the correct position for good intonation.</p>
+
+<p>Mouth breathing, for the purposes of tone-production, is the only
+method which has physiological justification. Many singers especially
+complain of having trouble with the tongue; some believe it too large,
+others that it is beyond their control. These so-called large tongues
+have one advantage&#8212;they may exercise a great influence on the quality
+of the tone; and correct breathing brings them to good behavior. The
+author has time and again, by explaining the influence of mouth
+respiration, brought sudden joy to the heart of the singer who had
+been all his life troubled with the tongue, and worried by the
+consciousness that his tones lacked in clearness, carrying power, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Nose breathing is of course to be used exclusively when the subject is
+not phonating. During the latter many opportunities occur to close the
+mouth; and the idea that drying of the mucous membrane of the mouth,
+etc., will occur by reason of mouth breathing in speaking and singing
+is purely imaginary.</p>
+
+
+<h3>EXERCISES.</h3>
+
+<p>The student, whatever his degree of advancement, will find the
+exercises about to be recom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>mended, or others closely resembling them,
+of great value.</p>
+
+<p>It cannot be too well borne in mind, obvious though it is, that all
+speaking and singing, whatever else they be, are tone-production;
+hence the first thing for every one to ascertain regarding himself is
+the extent to which he can form and hold tones of good quality&#8212;in
+other words, the success with which he can establish the essential
+co-ordinations or harmonious actions of the breathing and laryngeal
+mechanisms, and maintain them for a considerable length of time.</p>
+
+<p>Many singers can produce a fairly good and powerful tone, but it is a
+sort of vocal explosion rather than a tone, which will continue to do
+the singer's bidding for as long as he will. The correctly produced
+and sustained tone is the foundation of all that is best in
+voice-production; all the rest is but a series of variations on this.
+Hence the author recommends the following practice to all, whatever
+else they may do or have done. It is to be a test of inspiration,
+attack, economy of breath, adjustment of the vocal bands, the
+resonance-chambers, etc.</p>
+
+<p>1. Inhale slowly through the somewhat open mouth, filling the chest
+moderately full, and at once attack so as to produce a tone of but
+moderate force, but of the best quality possible.</p>
+
+<p>2. Continue to hold this tone as long as the breath is easily
+sufficient, taking care that the tone be on no account sustained after
+there is the slight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>est difficulty in maintaining it of the same
+quality and power as before. Steadiness and perfection in quality are
+to be the chief considerations.</p>
+
+<p>3. The student is advised, after a few days' practice in this manner,
+to note with a watch the time during which he can hold a tone under
+the restrictions above referred to, and to endeavor to increase the
+holding power daily by a little. It will, of course, be necessary to
+fill the chest more completely day by day.</p>
+
+<p>4. It will also be well for the voice-producer to practise taking very
+deep and rapid inspirations, followed by the most prolonged
+expirations.</p>
+
+<p>5. This method of breathing may then be put to the actual test in
+intonation.</p>
+
+<p>Another exercise very valuable in giving breath-control is the
+following:</p>
+
+<p>Produce a tone exactly as before, but every now and then, at regular
+intervals at first, then at irregular ones, cut the tone off short by
+suddenly arresting the breath, and, after a very short pause, continue
+again in exactly the same way <i>without</i> taking a fresh breath; and, as
+in the above and all other exercises, frequently apply the hand and,
+when more practised, the more exacting flame test.</p>
+
+<p>The first of the above exercises may be represented to the eye by a
+continuous straight line; the second by straight lines with short
+spaces between them.</p>
+
+<p>In all these exercises there must never be any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> sort of <i>push</i>
+anywhere, neither in the chest nor throat. Such methods are absolutely
+wrong, because so wasteful of energy. The tone should come as
+spontaneously and inevitably as the gas from a soda-water bottle when
+the cork is slightly loosened, or, if this illustration be too strong
+(it is employed because gas, air, is concerned in each case), let us
+say, as water from the pipe of a waterworks' system when the tap is
+turned. <i>The tone should come, the breath must tarry.</i></p>
+
+<p>If the student does not feel ease, certainty, and inevitableness in
+result, he has not made a good attack. If he cannot sustain the tone
+for a few seconds, he should conclude that his method of using his
+breath is wasteful. In time a tone should be easily held for at least
+ten seconds.</p>
+
+<p>The purpose of the second exercise is to give still more fully
+breath-control, and to lead the voice-user to realize how important is
+breathing for intonation.</p>
+
+<p>The student may ask: &quot;Why not begin, as is often done, by the singing
+of scales?&quot; Really useful scales are too complex; they imply the use
+of a series of tones formed according to the principles insisted upon
+above. The first thing is to get one perfect tone&#8212;to use the vocal
+mechanism under simple conditions; and <i>that tone should be chosen
+which the voice-user can produce of best quality and with greatest
+ease, with least expenditure of energy</i>. It should never be selected
+from the extremes of the subject's range. From the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> favorite or best
+tone he should work down and up the scale. After this the scale comes
+easy, and all actual singing is scale singing&#8212;the use of
+intervals&#8212;and all speaking the same thing; so that, from every point
+of view, this exercise should be the first in intonation, and the
+student will do well not to leave it till the conditions above
+prescribed can be fully met. Some singers have continued such
+exercises throughout a long artistic career.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be understood always that the exercises, etc., recommended in
+this work are intended for all voice-users, whether they are singers
+or speakers. It is easy for a speaker to pass from such prolonged
+tones to the shorter ones required in speaking, but after such
+exercises he can do so with a feeling of ease, mastery of himself,
+improved ear, and purity of speech not otherwise attainable.</p>
+
+<p>The author would also insist, in the most emphatic manner, on the
+great importance of making all such exercises musical. Every tone
+should be the best then possible to the voice-user, and power must on
+no account be aimed at for some time. Thus are developed and go hand
+in hand, as they always should, a sound technique with the artistic
+conscience and perceptions.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY AND REVIEW.</h3>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>The Principles of Physics, etc., Involved.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sound (tone) is a mental result having its origin in certain changes
+in the ear and the brain, owing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> to vibrations of the air. Tones have
+<i>pitch</i>, depending on the number of vibrations in a second, <i>volume</i>
+(power), depending on the size of the waves or vibrations, and
+<i>quality</i> (<i>timbre</i>), determined by the shape of the waves. Pitch is
+determined by the vocal bands, volume by the same, in great part, and
+quality by the shape of the resonance-chambers above the vocal bands.
+The resonance-chambers influence volume also. A tone is augmented by
+resonance.</p>
+
+<p>The larynx bears certain resemblances to both stringed and wind
+instruments, but it is really unique (<i>sui generis</i>). The vibrations
+of the vocal bands are caused solely by the expiratory current of air,
+which is more or less held back by the cords, owing to their
+approximation, so that the greater the obstruction the stronger must
+the blast of air be, other things being equal, and the result increase
+in pitch. The problem Nature had to solve is very complex.</p>
+
+<p>The laryngoscope was invented in 1854 by a teacher of singing, Manuel
+Garcia, who soon after gave an account of it to the Royal Society of
+England. The instrument consists essentially of two mirrors, the
+external, or &quot;head-mirror,&quot; which is concave and reflects into the
+larynx, and the internal, or &quot;mouth-mirror,&quot; which reflects the
+picture outward to the eye. The latter mirror is plane, and set at an
+angle. The picture may show, under the most favorable circumstances,
+all the upper parts of the larynx, including the vocal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> bands, but
+sometimes, also, the windpipe as far down as its division into the two
+main bronchial tubes. The difficulties commonly met with in the use of
+the instrument are a constrained action of the throat and mouth parts
+of the subject, unnatural breathing, an unruly tongue, etc. The
+epiglottis may, also, naturally so overhang the glottis that a good
+view of the vocal cords is impossible. It is difficult to see more
+than one-half to two-thirds of the length of the vocal bands. The
+picture seen is that of the parts of the larynx reversed&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>,
+while right remains right, posterior becomes anterior. The
+laryngoscope shows that (1) in singing an ascending scale the vocal
+bands are for a certain time in action (vibration) throughout their
+whole length; that (2) there may be observed a rather sudden change
+when the vocal bands are relaxed and shortened, and that this process
+of shortening goes on, the bands approaching more and more, both
+behind and in front, till (3) in the highest tones of a soprano of
+great range there is only a small portion of each vocal cord toward
+the centre that is not approximated somewhat closely.</p>
+
+<p>With certain qualifications, it may be said that the action of the
+vocal bands is alike for all voices. In all cases a certain degree of
+approximation of the vocal bands is absolutely necessary for
+phonation, and the mechanism is generally similar in males and females
+till the highest tones, above alluded to, are reached. This is in
+harmony with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> the following facts: (1) The crico-thyroids are the
+muscles most in use in ordinary speech and in singing the lower tones.
+(2) Several muscles combine in relaxing and shortening the vocal
+bands. (3) The peculiar mechanism of the highest tones in a soprano
+voice of great compass is only to be explained by a combined action of
+several muscles, and a very delicate and precise use of the internal
+thyro-arytenoids attached along the whole length of the outer surface
+of the vocal bands. The larynx of the male differs from that of the
+female chiefly in its greater size, weight, etc. The vocal bands in
+the male may measure from three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when
+relaxed, and from four-fifths to one inch when tense; in the female,
+from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch when relaxed, and from
+three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when tense. There are
+structural differences corresponding to and determining the kind of
+voice, as to range and power more especially. The bass singer has, as
+a rule, the largest larynx and the longest and heaviest vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig45.jpg" width="198" height="250" alt="Fig. 45" title="Fig. 45" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 45. Represents what the author has
+frequently seen, by the use of the laryngoscope, when a soprano is producing a
+very high head-tone, say C, D, or E in alt. It will be observed that the vocal
+bands approximate in front and behind (&quot;stopped&quot;), so that the only parts of the
+bands capable of vibration are those short portions which form the margins of
+the oval opening shown in the illustration. Only a very limited number of
+singers are capable of the delicate adjustments required.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>At puberty the changes that take place in the body generally are
+associated with corresponding alterations in the larynx. The larynx
+grows, changes its proportions, etc., often somewhat rapidly, and the
+result may be a corresponding alteration in voice, as regards range,
+power, and quality. The voice, because of imperfect anatomical and
+physiological adjustment, may &quot;break,&quot; to a greater or less extent.
+The same may take place,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> owing to similar imperfect adjustment, in
+old age, and temporarily, owing to disease, weakness, nervousness,
+fatigue, faulty production, etc. These facts indicate that under such
+circumstances the voice should be used with great care, not at all, or
+in a whisper, when the vocal bands are practically not in action.</p>
+
+<p>In a singer highly endowed by nature and perfected by long training
+based on the soundest principles, the action of the muscles of the
+larynx may reach a degree of perfection only to be compared with that
+of the eye and ear.</p>
+
+<p>Consideration of the <i>coup de glotte</i>, the attack, or adjustment of
+mechanisms to produce tone that begins correctly; breathing, with open
+mouth, with effectiveness and economy of energy; singing for children,
+in choirs, etc., have been discussed.</p>
+
+<p>Practical exercises should be related to the principles underlying
+them. Musical and &#230;sthetic principles are always to be associated with
+a sound technique. The artistic and technical or physiological
+conscience should be associated.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">When</span> it is borne in mind that the vocal bands have little or nothing
+to do with the quality of tones, the importance of those parts of the
+vocal apparatus which determine quality, and the error of speaking of
+the larynx as if it alone were the sole vocal organ, become apparent.</p>
+
+<p>It may be strictly said that the vocal bands serve the purpose of
+making the resonance mechanism available. What one hears may be said
+to be vibrations of this resonance apparatus, and not, strictly, those
+of the vocal bands, though this expression would also be correct, but
+would not indicate the final link in the series of vibrations.</p>
+
+<p>The tone caused by the vibration of two such small bands as the vocal
+cords must, in the nature of the case, be very feeble. It becomes
+important for the reader to convince himself of the importance of
+resonance in sounding bodies and musical instruments.</p>
+
+<p>When the stem of a tuning-fork so small that it can be scarcely heard
+when in vibration, except by, the person holding it, is laid against a
+solid body, as a table, its sound is at once so increased that it can
+be heard in the most distant part of a large room. When the same fork
+is held over an empty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> jar of suitable size and shape, a similar but
+much, less marked increase of its tone is to be observed.</p>
+
+<p>If a cord of but moderate thickness be fastened at each end to a thin
+piece of wood, say a split shingle, and a little block of wood, in
+imitation of the bridge of a violin, be placed under the cord so as to
+render it tense, we have the essentials of a stringed instrument, the
+pitch of which can be made to vary by moving the block about and thus
+varying the tightness of the cord. But the sound of such an improvised
+instrument, produced by drawing a bow across the cord, is ridiculously
+feeble.</p>
+
+<p>In the actual violin the volume of sound, as well as its quality,
+depends on the size, shape, and weight of the instrument. The strings
+serve the purpose of causing the body of the instrument, the air
+within it, and, in consequence, the air without, between it and the
+ear of the auditor, to vibrate or move in a specific manner.</p>
+
+<p>Similarly, the imposing size of the grand piano is associated
+inevitably with loudness, as compared with a smaller instrument. A
+violoncello must produce a larger tone than a violin, though not
+necessarily one more intense.</p>
+
+<p>These principles of resonance apply in the case of the singer and the
+speaker. The bass and barytone produce tones of larger volume (as well
+as different quality) than those of the tenor, because their resonance
+apparatus is different in size and shape. It is true, their vocal
+bands, their wind-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>power, and the laryngeal muscles are different&#8212;they
+are not of the same size, etc.&#8212;and, in a more remote sense, this is
+the cause of the differences in the tones they produce; but the
+immediate cause is to be sought in the resonance mechanism, and, above
+all, in the resonance-chambers.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that when one speaks or sings, the chest, windpipe, and
+larynx may be felt to vibrate, but the essential vibrations are
+<i>supra-glottic</i>&#8212;above the vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>These resonance-chambers are the <i>mouth cavity</i>, in the widest sense,
+and the <i>nasal chambers</i>. It is highly probable that the vibrations of
+the chest walls and of the bones of the head may to some degree modify
+the vibrations of the air within the resonance-chambers, chiefly in
+the direction of intensification; but the idea that the hollow spaces
+in certain of the bones of the head have any appreciable influence on
+the tones of the speaker or singer, can at best not be considered as
+demonstrated, and it serves no practical purpose to take into account
+this possibility.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig46.jpg" width="316" height="416" alt="Fig. 46" title="Fig. 46" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 46 (Tyndall). Representing water being
+poured into the vessel A B, till the air-space is just sufficient to respond to
+the vibrations of the tuning-fork. The air thus becomes a resonator of the fork.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The great facts, the facts which are so plain that they may be
+demonstrated to a child, are these: that the quality of any
+tone&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, a vowel&#8212;is absolutely determined by the shape of these
+cavities, the mouth and nasal chambers. This subject will be treated
+further when the tones, etc., of speech are considered, but inasmuch
+as no one can sing, in the proper sense of the term, without the use
+of vowels, at least, and as we produce diff<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>erent vowels with
+ease, one may at once demonstrate to himself that this is done by
+altering the shape of his mouth cavity, and chiefly by the agency of
+the tongue and soft palate.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig47.jpg" width="489" height="448" alt="Fig. 47" title="Fig. 47" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 47 (Spalteholz). The mouth is extremely
+widely opened. The soft palate is seen terminating in the uvula, and on each
+side, extending from it, are the pillars of the fauces, a pair of folds between
+which the tonsil is seen to lie.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig48.jpg" width="540" height="313" alt="Fig. 48" title="Fig. 48" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 48. View of the nose, etc., from behind,
+showing the parts enumerated above. It is not hard to understand that any
+considerable amount of swelling of the lining mucous membrane might give rise to
+difficulty in breathing through the nose, and even compel mouth-breathing.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig49.jpg" width="489" height="304" alt="Fig. 49" title="Fig. 49" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 49 (Spalteholz). Showing well the scroll
+(turbinated) bones of the nose, which break up the space and make it more
+cavernous. It can be seen that there is free communication behind, between the
+mouth and the nasal cavities, and that if the soft palate and the tongue
+approximate, the breath-stream must pass into and through the nose, giving rise
+to nasality in utterance.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>A short description of a part to which many voice-users remain
+strangers all their lives will now be given. These resonance-chambers
+remain, for many, an apparatus used daily and absolutely essential,
+yet never examined. Fortunately, a few illustrations, which should be
+followed by an examination of the student's own resonance-chambers and
+their various parts as they may be seen in a mirror, will remove all
+difficulty in the understanding of them, and prepare for that detailed
+study to be recommended in a subsequent chapter.</p>
+
+<p>Passing from before backward, one meets the <i>lips</i>, the <i>teeth</i> and
+<i>gums</i>, the <i>hard palate</i>, which is a continuation of the gums; then,
+suspended from the hard palate, behind, is the <i>soft palate</i>, back of
+which lies the <i>pharynx</i> (often termed &quot;the throat&quot;), and above it and
+constituting its continuation, the <i>naso-pharynx</i>; and lying on the
+floor of the mouth there is the <i>tongue</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Certain of these parts, as the teeth, gums, hard palate, nasal bones,
+etc., constitute fixed structures, and though they determine in no
+small measure the shape of the resonance-chambers, and so to a degree
+the quality of the voice, so movable are the lips, soft palate, and,
+above all, the tongue, that there is the widest scope for varying the
+quality and even the volume of the voice; so that it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> is a good thing,
+practically, for every one to believe that so far as quality, at all
+events, is concerned, he is the master of his own destinies.</p>
+
+<p>Though we are accustomed to believe that the mouth and nose are,
+though neighbors, quite separate and independent of each other, such
+is not the case. Indeed, in the pre-natal condition these are not two,
+but one; and in some instances they remain imperfectly separated,
+owing to the failure of the hard palate to develop to the full&#8212;a
+condition known as &quot;cleft palate,&quot; and giving rise to a peculiar nasal
+intonation, to be explained presently.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>nasal chambers</i> are divided into two by a vertical partition, as
+one can readily demonstrate by the use of his fingers, and are still
+further broken up by certain bones, the scroll-shaped or <i>turbinated</i>
+bones, so that the nasal chambers are of very limited size, and much
+divided up by bony outgrowths from their walls. The <i>vertical septum</i>,
+while bony above, is cartilaginous and flexible below.</p>
+
+<p>Without the aid of instruments and a good light the nose can be but
+indifferently examined from the front, while it requires the greatest
+skill on the part of a laryngologist to see it well from behind.
+However, the whole difficulty can be got over by visiting a butcher
+and securing a sheep's head split through from before back. In a few
+moments one can learn all the essential facts, including that one of
+great practical importance&#8212;viz.:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> that every part of the
+resonance-chambers is lined by the same mucous membrane which is also
+continued downward into the larynx and the gullet.</p>
+
+<p>It will be thus observed that the throat and nose communicate in the
+freest manner behind, and that the only way of closing off the mouth
+cavity from the nasal chambers is by means of the tongue and the soft
+palate working together. As in the proper use of the tongue and soft
+palate lie many of the secrets of the art of the speaker and singer,
+special attention must be given to these parts.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>tongue</i>, which completely fills the floor of the mouth, is made
+up of several muscles of different attachments, which explains why
+this organ is so movable. To say that it can with the greatest ease
+and rapidity be turned toward every one of the thirty-two points
+marked on a mariner's compass, is but to feebly express its capacity
+for movements. What we are most concerned with now is its power to
+alter the shape of the mouth cavity in every part.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>soft palate</i> is suspended like a curtain from the hard palate,
+behind. It is composed of muscles arranged in pairs, and is continued
+into a conical tip below known as the <i>uvula</i>, and on each side into
+folds, the <i>pillars of the fauces</i>, between which lie the <i>tonsils</i>,
+which are in shape like very small almond nuts. When quite normal
+these should not protrude much, if at all, beyond the cavity made by
+the folds referred to above.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Both the tonsils and the uvula may become so enlarged as to be a
+source of awkwardness or more serious evil to the voice-user. They
+may, in fact, require operative interference. So serious, however, is
+the decision to operate, or the reverse, for the voice-user, that the
+author recommends that such operations be entrusted only to
+laryngologists who have some knowledge of their influence on
+voice-production.</p>
+
+<p>It is of the greatest moment to observe that the quality of tones can
+be made to vary in the highest degree by the joint use of the tongue
+and soft palate. When in vocalizing the tongue is raised behind and
+the soft palate made to approach it, or actually to meet it, the tone
+assumes a more or less nasal character. The reason of this is that the
+cavity of the mouth proper, or &quot;mouth&quot; in the narrower sense, the
+forward part, is shut off from the hinder part, or the pharynx, so
+that the breath is then directed upward and passes chiefly through the
+nose, producing a nasal tone or twang&#8212;always a fault, and one
+fearfully common in America.</p>
+
+<p>When the tongue alone is raised behind, or drawn back unduly, tones
+become muffled&#8212;indistinct, etc. This is also a very common fault, but
+is found in England and Germany also. English speech is often hard and
+guttural, German unduly guttural, if not so hard, and American
+slovenly and horribly nasal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But what may in a certain degree be disagreeable and a vocal error, is
+in another a positive excellence; so, in this case, the use of the
+tongue and soft palate in the proper degree and at the right moment
+gives us emotional expression. This subject will, however, be
+considered again later; in the meantime, the student is advised to do
+a little experimenting in the use of his tongue and soft palate, with
+a view of noting how the quality of tone may be thus made to vary. He
+is also advised to use a hand-glass with the object of observing the
+parts mentioned in this chapter, and if he can also find a friend
+willing to lend his mouth for observation, so much the better.</p>
+
+<p>The sooner any voice-user comes to feel that his vocal destinies lie
+in his own hands, the better. &quot;Know thyself&quot; is as necessary an
+admonition for the speaker and singer as for any other artist, but
+with that must go another, &quot;Believe in thyself&quot;&#8212;that thou canst
+produce tones of beautiful and expressive quality if thou wilt; it may
+be only after much wisely directed work, but yet it is possible.</p>
+
+<p>Allusion must be made to the danger of those engaged in mathematical
+and physical investigations applying their conclusions in too rigid a
+manner to the animal body. It was held till recently that the pitch of
+a vocal tone was determined solely by the number of vibrations of the
+vocal bands, as if they acted like the strings of a violin or the reed
+of a clarinet, while the reso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>nance-chambers were thought to simply
+take up these vibrations and determine nothing but the quality of
+tone; they were believed not to have any influence on pitch. Against
+this view the author long ago demurred. To Prof. Scripture, however,
+belongs the credit of demonstrating that the resonance-chambers
+determine pitch also. It seems probable that the vocal bands so beat
+the air within the resonance-chambers as to determine the rate of
+vibration of the air of these cavities, and so the pitch of the tone
+produced. These chambers not having rigid walls, one can the better
+understand that the tension of these parts may not only be different
+in individuals, but vary in the same person from time to time,
+according to the condition of his health, etc. Herein we find another
+source of explanation of variations in the voice. All these
+considerations make the resonance-chambers more important than ever,
+so that there is greater objection to speaking of the larynx as <i>the</i>
+vocal organ than we were aware of before these investigations were
+undertaken.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>Without a resonator, which may be solid or hollow, the sound made by a
+reed or tense string is feeble. That the mouth can act as a resonator
+may be proved by holding a vibrating tuning-fork of suitable pitch
+before this chamber when open.</p>
+
+<p>The resonating chambers of importance are supra-glottic. Of these the
+&quot;mouth&quot; including<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> all as far back as the pharynx and the nasal
+chambers are the principal. These two main cavities are separated from
+each other by the hard palate, which is a bony floor, covered with
+mucous membrane, as are all the parts of the resonance-chambers. The
+hard palate extends horizontally from the gums backward, and is
+continued as the soft palate. The latter is a muscular and therefore
+movable curtain that divides, with varying degrees of completeness,
+the mouth (in the narrower sense) from the pharynx and
+naso-pharynx&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the space back of the soft palate and the
+posterior nares (back nostrils) respectively. By the elevation of the
+back of the tongue and the lowering of the soft palate as when one
+speaks nasally, the mouth proper is largely shut off from the nasal
+chambers, so that the breath must be directed through the nose. &quot;Cleft
+palate&quot; also connects undesirably the mouth and nasal chambers. The
+tonsils lie between two folds, the pillars of the fauces, connected
+with the soft palate. When normal in size the tonsils should scarcely
+extend beyond these folds. The uvula is the central lower tip of the
+soft palate. The nasal chambers are divided by a central bony and
+cartilaginous partition, the septum nasi, but are further encroached
+upon, on each side, by three scroll-like (turbinated) bones. The
+tongue is composed of several muscles, which explains why its
+movements may be so complicated and delicate. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> mouth cavity is
+bounded in front by the gums, teeth, and lips.</p>
+
+<p>The form and, to some extent, possibly; the size of the
+resonance-chambers determine the quality of the tone produced in
+speaking and singing. The shape and size of the mouth can be made to
+vary by the soft palate and lips, but chiefly by the tongue, so that
+the movements of the latter, especially, cannot be too well studied.</p>
+
+<p>It was formerly considered that pitch was determined solely by the
+rate of vibration of the vocal bands; though the author opposed this
+view as rigidly applied. Very recently Prof. Scripture, by the use of
+new methods, has shown that the supra-glottic chambers cannot be
+correctly likened to a resonator with rigid walls. It is held that the
+vocal bands give a number of sudden shocks to the air in the
+resonators, so that, in a sense, the resonance-chambers determine both
+the pitch and the quality of the tone; and as the tension of the
+resonators varies with both the physical and psychical condition of
+the individual, variations in tone-production, more especially as to
+quality, can now be the better understood. According to this view
+these chambers are not properly resonators but sounding cavities.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 35%;" />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The reader's attention is particularly drawn to the new
+views of the method of action of the vocal bands, etc.,
+referred to on this page. Since the above was written, such
+views have become more widely known, and it is hoped that as
+they are very radical they may be established by other
+methods.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">About</span> no subject in the whole range of voice-production has there been
+so much confusion, difference of opinion, and controversy as that of
+registers; so that it is important at the very outset to define
+register, and throughout to aim at the utmost precision and clearness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A register is a series of consecutive and homogeneous sounds rising
+from the grave to the acute, produced by the development of the same
+mechanical principle, the nature of which essentially differs from any
+other series of sounds equally consecutive and homogeneous, produced
+by another mechanical principle&quot; (Manuel Garcia).</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A register consists of a series of tones which are produced by the
+same mechanism&quot; (Behnke).</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A register is the series of tones of like quality producible by a
+particular adjustment of the vocal cords&quot; (Mackenzie).</p>
+
+<p>From a consideration of the above proposed definitions it will be seen
+that for the successful or, at all events, complete or ideal
+investigation of a subject so many-sided and difficult, many
+qualifications are desirable, if not absolutely essential. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> is not
+too much to say that the ideal investigator of the registers should
+have a practical knowledge of general anatomy and physiology, together
+with a detailed and exact knowledge of the vocal organs; be versed in
+the laws of sound; have an adequate knowledge of music; be capable of
+examining himself with the laryngoscope (auto-laryngoscopy) as well as
+others (laryngoscopy); possess an acute ear for the pitch and quality
+of tones; be himself able to use his voice at least fairly well in
+singing and speaking; be provided with the all-important ballast of
+common sense, and an impartial mind longing above all things to learn
+the truth.</p>
+
+<p>As few can hope to unite all these qualities in themselves in even a
+moderate degree, openness of mind, temperance in the expression of
+opinion, and common sense with experience, must be largely relied on
+to furnish working conclusions.</p>
+
+<p>A discussion of a subject so difficult and complicated is not easy to
+follow. It is but just to other investigators, and fair to the reader,
+to present the views of those who have possessed special
+qualifications for dealing with the questions involved. The author
+will endeavor to present the grounds on which others have taken their
+stand, in a few words and clearly, if the reader will patiently
+follow. There will at first seem, possibly, to be little agreement,
+but it will be shown that on some of the most essential points there
+is substantial unity of opinion; and the subject is of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> such vital
+moment, as the author will endeavor to make clear, that it is hoped
+that the most patient examination will be given to the questions that
+arise, from the beginning to the end of the discussion. For the author
+to express a dogmatic opinion, and simply state his disagreement or
+agreement with others, would be contrary to the whole spirit of this
+work, and leave the subject where it once was&#8212;in the realm of
+hopeless disagreement and controversy. If the problem of the registers
+is to be solved to the satisfaction of the rational thinker, it must
+be by evidence, and not the mere opinions of any teacher or writer,
+however eminent. To lay this evidence before the reader is now the
+author's task.</p>
+
+<p>One of those most eminently equipped, by a great variety of qualities,
+for the investigation of this subject, or any other question of the
+voice, was Madame Seiler. Whenever the author is obliged to differ
+from this really great investigator, he does so with the sense of the
+highest respect for her opinions generally, because she always sought
+for scientific grounds for such opinions. Her views may be thus
+briefly presented:</p>
+
+<p>She recognized three registers, chest, falsetto, and head, with their
+subdivisions.</p>
+
+<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+  <tbody>
+  <tr>
+    <td>(1) The first chest register extends to
+    <img src="images/image04.jpg" width="77" height="47" alt="a b-flat" title="a b-flat" /> in men, and to
+    <img src="images/image05.jpg" width="75" height="44" alt="c' c-sharp'" title="c' c-sharp'" /> in women.</td>
+    <td>(1) The whole glottis (vocal bands) is moved in loose vibrations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td>(2) The second chest register extends to
+      <img src="images/image06.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="f' f-sharp'" title="f' f-sharp'" /> in both sexes.</td>
+      <td>(2) The vocal ligaments (or ligamentous glottis) alone are in action.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td>(3) The first falsetto extends in females to
+      <img src="images/image07.jpg" width="76" height="43" alt="c'' c-sharp''" title="c'' c-sharp''" /> and in males to
+      <img src="images/image08.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="e'' e-flat''" title="e'' e-flat''" />.</td>
+      <td>(3) The edges alone of the vocal bands vibrate, but the whole glottis is in action.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td>(4) The second falsetto in the <span title="Transcriber's Note: Should probably be 'male'.">female</span> extends to
+      <img src="images/image09.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="f'' f-sharp''" title="f'' f-sharp''" /> and to
+      <img src="images/image10.jpg" width="45" height="42" alt="g''" title="g''" /> in women.</td>
+      <td>(4) The edges only of the vocal bands are used, and the vocal ligaments alone are in action.</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+      <td>(5) Above this point head tones begin.<br />
+&nbsp;</td>
+      <td>(5) Edges only of the vocal bands in vibration; partial closure of the ligaments posteriorly (behind).</td>
+    </tr>
+  </tbody>
+  </table>
+
+<p>It will be noted that Madame Seiler spoke of the vocal bands (cords)
+proper as the &quot;ligamentous glottis,&quot; and included in the &quot;glottis&quot; the
+arytenoid cartilages themselves, or, at all events, that part of them,
+their lower anterior angles, known as the vocal processes (or
+extensions), to which the vocal bands proper are attached.</p>
+
+<p>The above tabular statement shows (1) that Madame Seiler recognized
+five registers for both male and female voices; (2) that she used the
+term &quot;falsetto&quot; in a sense different from its ordinary one. Usually
+this term is not applied at all to the female voice, but only to that
+special modification of the male voice seldom employed now, and almost
+never except by tenors. With<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> this writer, &quot;falsetto&quot; as applied to
+female voices replaces &quot;middle,&quot; in the commoner usage.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig50.jpg" width="666" height="394" alt="Fig. 50" title="Fig. 50" /></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b> <span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 50. Tabular
+representation of Madame Seiler's division of the register.</b></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><a href="music/menscale.mid">Listen to man's voice scale</a></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><a href="music/womenscale.mid">Listen to woman's
+voice scale</a></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Garcia, also, recognized five registers. Behnke, a teacher of singing,
+who practised laryngoscopy and auto-laryngoscopy in the investigation
+of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> registers, used &quot;lower thick,&quot; &quot;upper thick,&quot; &quot;lower thin,&quot;
+&quot;upper thin,&quot; and &quot;small,&quot; as answering to the &quot;first chest,&quot; &quot;second
+chest,&quot; etc., of Madame Seiler and others.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all writers have used the term &quot;break&quot; to indicate the point at
+which a new register begins. Behnke held that the break between the
+thick and the thin register occurred in <i>both</i> sexes at about
+<img src="images/image06.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="f' f-sharp'" title="f' f-sharp'" />. The vocal bands in this part of the scale
+vibrate in their entire breadth, and the series of tones above the
+point just referred to is produced by a new mechanism, but one which
+is the same for all voices and both sexes&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, only the inner
+edges of the vocal bands vibrate.</p>
+
+<p>According to Behnke, the male voice has but two registers, the thick
+and the thin, but the female voice three, the thick, the thin, and the
+small. These terms were not original with Behnke, but had been used
+earlier by Curwen.</p>
+
+<p>Behnke was emphatic on one point, to which we would call special
+attention, in his own words: &quot;If there is <i>straining</i> anywhere, it is
+during the attempt to carry the mechanism of the upper thick beyond
+its natural limit.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mackenzie (afterwards Sir Morell Mackenzie) held that &quot;It is certain
+that however over-refined musicians may multiply the 'registers' of
+the voice, physiologically there are but two&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, 'chest' and
+'head,' the falsetto of the man answering to the head production of
+women.&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>According to the same author, &quot;The essential factor in chest
+production is the long reed, whilst the essential factor in head
+delivery is the short reed.&quot; The terms &quot;long reed&quot; and &quot;short reed&quot;
+were the equivalents of Madame Seiler's &quot;glottis&quot; and &quot;ligamentous
+glottis&quot; respectively. Mackenzie held that the cartilaginous
+(inter-arytenoid) glottis is generally open in the lower and gently
+closed in the upper tones of the chest register, while a segment of
+the ligamentous glottis (vocal bands proper) is tightly closed in the
+head voice.</p>
+
+<p>As the result of the examination of 50 persons gifted with fine
+voices, 42 of whom were &quot;trained&quot; singers and 8 &quot;natural&quot; singers,
+Mackenzie formulated his conclusions as follows:</p>
+
+<p>1. In tenor voices the whole glottis may be open to
+<img src="images/image11.jpg" width="98" height="51" alt="g a b" title="g a b" /> and not unfrequently to
+<img src="images/image12.jpg" width="45" height="42" alt="g'" title="g'" />. Beyond this point there
+is closure of the cartilaginous glottis. Sometimes the whole glottis
+is open throughout.</p>
+
+<p>2. In barytone voices the whole glottis is often open to
+<img src="images/image13.jpg" width="77" height="46" alt="a b" title="a b" />, and occasionally to
+<img src="images/image14.jpg" width="45" height="42" alt="c'" title="c'" />. Beyond
+this point the cartilaginous glottis is closed, except in rare cases.</p>
+
+<p>3. In bass voices the whole glottis is sometimes open to
+<img src="images/image15.jpg" width="76" height="49" alt="g b" title="g b" />. Beyond this point, except in a few instances, the
+cartilaginous glottis is gradually closed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>4. In sopranos and mezzo-sopranos the whole glottis is sometimes open
+to <img src="images/image16.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="f' g'" title="f' g'" />, often to
+<img src="images/image17.jpg" width="45" height="42" alt="c''" title="c''" />, beyond which
+the cartilaginous glottis is usually closed. The glottis is sometimes
+closed throughout the scale, and in one case it was open throughout.</p>
+
+<p>5. In contralto voices the whole of the glottis is often open to
+<img src="images/image16.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="f' g'" title="f' g'" />, beyond which the cartilaginous portion is
+closed.</p>
+
+<p>6. In the head voice of women and the falsetto voice of men
+&quot;stop-closure&quot; (<i>i.e.</i>, closure so tight that the cords in this region
+do not vibrate) always takes place in the posterior portion of the
+ligamentous glottis, and sometimes at the anterior part also.</p>
+
+<p>This writer also held that &quot;Boys who sing alto always use the chest
+register.&quot; He was of opinion that &quot;The quality of the voice generally,
+but not always, indicates which mechanism is being used.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The views of the author, published at a former period, and based on
+the special examination of a large number of persons with the
+laryngoscope, etc., and on auto-laryngoscopy, may be briefly stated as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>A nomenclature for the registers involving no theory would be best,
+such, for example, as <i>lower</i>, <i>middle</i>, and <i>upper</i> registers. Mandl,
+who recognized only two registers, spoke of them as &quot;lower&quot; and
+&quot;upper,&quot; equivalent to &quot;chest&quot; and &quot;head,&quot; as commonly used.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The author examined with the laryngoscope 50 persons, who might (with
+Gr&#252;tzner) be divided into &quot;trained singers,&quot; &quot;natural singers,&quot; and
+&quot;non-singers.&quot; The whole glottis was found to be open in all voices in
+the lowest tones of the chest register, and this condition obtained up
+to about <img src="images/image18.jpg" width="76" height="42" alt="f-sharp' g'" title="f-sharp' g'" />, beyond which another mechanism
+came into play, except in rare cases.</p>
+
+<p>The high falsetto of men and the head voice of women are produced by a
+similar mechanism and method.</p>
+
+<p>In the investigation of registers more attention should be given to
+the use of the breathing organs than has hitherto been done by those
+writing on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>As Madame Marchesi, of Paris, has taught with pre&#235;minent success, and
+with the greatest practical consideration for the preservation of the
+voice and the vocal organs in an unimpaired condition, and as the
+author has had, through her kindness, the opportunity to become
+acquainted with her methods by observation, her views on the registers
+are here presented. It is to be understood that as she teaches only
+ladies, her views are considered, so far as she is concerned, as
+applying only to female voices. These views are further presented
+because Madame Marchesi was herself taught by Garcia, who was in the
+direct line of the old Italian masters, though it will be observed
+that the pupil has retained only the essentials of the master's views
+on the registers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>1. There are three registers in female voices: chest, middle, and
+head.</p>
+
+<p>2. While there are small differences in voices and individuals as
+regards the registers, the following principles apply to all of them:</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) The chest register must never be carried above
+<img src="images/image19.jpg" width="52" height="42" alt="f-sharp'" title="f-sharp'" />.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) <img src="images/image20.jpg" width="75" height="43" alt="e' f'" title="e' f'" />
+should be &quot;covered&quot; or modified chest tones.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) In all cases <img src="images/image21.jpg" width="52" height="42" alt="f-sharp''" title="f-sharp''" />
+must be a head tone.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>) In quick passages chest should not be carried beyond
+<img src="images/image22.jpg" width="50" height="42" alt="d-flat'" title="d-flat'" />&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>,
+<img src="images/image23.jpg" width="98" height="42" alt="d' e' f'" title="d' e' f'" /> are middle
+in quick passages.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> will, it is hoped, be apparent to the reader that the subject now
+under treatment may be considered either theoretically or practically.
+If science be exact, systematized, and, when complete, unified
+knowledge, then every source of information must be employed in the
+investigation of so difficult a subject as the registers. There may be
+differences of opinion as to the relative importance of some of these
+means of investigation&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, auto-laryngoscopy, but that it should
+be utilized, there can be no question. The value of photography of the
+larynx, as carried out up to the present, may be questioned; but there
+can be no doubt that if this method of studying the action of the
+vocal bands could be pushed to a certain point, much light might be
+thrown on the questions at issue.</p>
+
+<p>Merely to assume that a method of treating the registers which has
+given, apparently, good practical results in the hands of one teacher
+is sound, and rests on a scientific basis, is unwarranted. It may be
+simply a little better or a little worse than some other. How is the
+student to distinguish, in his choice, between Mr. A and Mr. B, in the
+case of two successful teachers, both of whom recognize<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> registers? A
+physiologist may be sound as far as he goes, yet lack that practical
+knowledge of the voice which the vocal teacher properly considers
+requisite in determining how a pupil shall use the registers. Among
+those who are most dogmatic on this and other questions there is often
+a plentiful lack of knowledge of the vocal organs; and some clever
+laryngologists must have learned, when they were carried into the
+discussion of this subject, that some knowledge of music and singing
+is absolutely indispensable, and that enough cannot be picked up, even
+by an able man, in a few minutes devoted to interrogating singers,
+especially when these vocalists have been trained by widely different
+methods, and have, as is too often the case, given but little real
+<i>thought</i> to the scientific, or, indeed, any other side of their art.</p>
+
+<p>We find &quot;break&quot; confounded with &quot;register,&quot; and the meaning attached
+to the latter, at best, one-sided or inadequate in some respects. The
+truth is, such a subject cannot be settled by the physiologist, even
+when a laryngologist, as such; nor can the solution to a scientific
+question of this kind be given by a singer, as a singer. Such a
+problem can only be settled, as we have throughout insisted, by those
+possessing many qualifications, and even when the investigator unites
+in himself every intellectual qualification, something will depend on
+his temperament and spirit. An atmosphere of controversy is not
+favorable to scientific investigation, and among the dangers that ever
+lie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> in the path of the teacher are pride and prejudice. The
+assumption that one is prepared to teach is too often associated with
+views and feelings that prevent the guide from remaining himself a
+student and being ready to learn even from the very beginner, as he
+must if he have the true spirit. Unfortunately, several of the most
+highly qualified writers on this subject have formulated their views
+under conditions unfavorable to the attainment of the whole truth.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be borne in mind always that a register implies (1) a series
+of tones of a characteristic clang, <i>timbre</i>, color, or quality; (2)
+that this is due to the employment of a special mechanism of the
+larynx in a particular manner. It follows that in thinking of
+registers scientifically, one must take into account both the tones
+and the mechanisms by which they are produced.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, with most untrained people the passage from one register to
+another is associated with a suddenness of change which is unpleasant,
+and which is termed the <i>break</i>. It is often suggestive of weakness,
+uncertainty, etc., and to an ear at once sensitive and exacting
+through training is intolerable when very pronounced. Often this break
+is very marked in contraltos, and is invariably so pronounced in the
+male voice when it passes to the upper falsetto that even the dullest
+ear does not fail to notice the change.</p>
+
+<p>It is, therefore, not surprising that teachers should have sought to
+lessen the unpleasant sur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>prise for the listener caused by the break.
+Some have looked on registers as almost an invention of the Evil One,
+and forbidden the use of the term to their students; but such
+ostrich-like treatment of the subject&#8212;such burying of the head in the
+sand&#8212;does not do away with a difficulty, much less can such a plain
+fact as the existence of registers be ignored without the most
+detrimental results, as we shall endeavor to make plain. Some, feeling
+that the break was an artistic abomination, have proceeded to teach
+the student to reduce all tones to the same quality, which is about as
+rational as asking a painter to give us pictures, by the use of but
+one pigment.</p>
+
+<p>To attempt to abolish registers would be like leaving but one string
+to the violin; which instrument, in its present form, has a register
+for each string; and the player endeavors to avoid the breaks that
+naturally occur in passing from string to string, and to get a smooth
+series of tones just as the intelligent vocalist does.</p>
+
+<p>The registers may be represented to the eye by the method illustrated
+in <a href="#FIG52">figure 52</a>.</p>
+
+<p>The wise instructor recognizes registers; they are a fact in nature,
+and one to be valued. The more colors, the greater the range of the
+artist's powers, other things being equal, whether the artist paint
+with pigments or tones; but just as the painter uses intermediate
+tones of color to prevent rude transitions or breaks, so must the
+singer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> modify or &quot;cover&quot; the tones between the registers&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, use
+to some extent the mechanism of both neighboring registers.</p>
+
+<p>The reader who has perused the previous chapter thoughtfully may
+naturally ask: &quot;With such difference of opinion among eminent authors
+like those quoted, how am I to know which one to follow, and what to
+believe on this subject?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The answer to that question we propose now to give. It will be wise to
+endeavor to show just wherein the writers quoted differ and on what
+they agree. A careful examination will show that there is substantial
+agreement on the most important points:</p>
+
+<p>1. All agree that there are registers, or natural changes of quality
+of tone, corresponding to changes of mechanism or method.</p>
+
+<p>2. All, with the exception of Madame Seiler, agree that the most
+important changes take place at or near
+<img src="images/image24.jpg" width="52" height="42" alt="a'" title="a'" /> in female
+voices, and the majority consider that this applies to both sexes
+equally.</p>
+
+<p>3. Often in males there is some laryngeal change lower than this.</p>
+
+<p>4. All agree that the high falsetto of tenors is of a special quality,
+and produced by a mechanism of its own&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, all consider it a
+separate register&#8212;and often, at least, it begins naturally about
+<img src="images/image19.jpg" width="52" height="42" alt="f-sharp'" title="f-sharp'" />, which is usually, however, written an octave
+higher, though really sung as given above.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig51.jpg" width="529" height="292" alt="Fig. 51" title="Fig. 51" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 51. A photographic representation of the
+appearances of the vocal bands when the subject is sounding first E
+and then F sharp, in which latter case &quot;the vibratory portions of the
+vocal bands are shortened about one-sixteenth inch,&quot; according to Dr.
+French, who has been eminently successful in photographing the larynx.
+It will be noted that this is the point in the scale at which the
+change of register usually takes place&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, there is a change of
+mechanism corresponding to the change in quality. (French-Raymond.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The point of greatest strain is generally, for both sexes, about this
+point, and many persons cannot sing higher than this&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, about
+<img src="images/image19.jpg" width="52" height="42" alt="f-sharp'" title="f-sharp'" /> for males, and its octave for females.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be remembered, as Madame Seiler has pointed out, that at the
+period of greatest perfection in vocal training, some hundred and
+fifty years or more ago, concert pitch was very much lower than it is
+to-day; so that to teach tenors to sing in one register up to
+<img src="images/image25.jpg" width="45" height="43" alt="a''" title="a''" /> then, was quite a different matter from what that
+would be to-day. The old Italian masters were accustomed to train
+singers to the use of the falsetto, and whatever views may be held as
+to the desirability of the tenor using this register, so far as art is
+concerned, there can be no question whatever that physiologically it
+is easy, and one of the means by which relief may be sought from the
+high tension caused by carrying up the lower register.</p>
+
+<p>The author, after a special investigation of this and other questions
+connected with the registers, came to the conclusion that the falsetto
+in males and the head voice in females are produced by a similar
+mechanism. In the high falsetto the vocal bands do not vibrate
+throughout their whole breadth, and there must be, for a successful
+result, in every case a feeling of ease, due to the relaxation of
+certain mechanisms in use up to that point and the employment of new
+ones.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a name="FIG52">
+<img src="images/fig52.jpg" width="301" height="411" alt="Fig. 52" title="Fig. 52" /></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Figs</span>. 52. These figures are meant to convey through the
+eye some of the main truths regarding the nature of registers and
+breaks. The figure on the left applies to the case of one with three
+registers in the voice, and with the breaks only very moderately
+marked; the illustration on the right applies to the same person after
+training, when the breaks have become indistinct, almost
+imperceptible. For teaching purposes the author is accustomed to use a
+similar diagram, but in shades of the same color, the difference being
+rendered less obvious by intermediate shades <i>between</i> the register shades
+in the right-hand figure.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The author now offers, with all respect, but confidence, a few
+criticisms on the eminent investigators whose conclusions and methods
+he has been discussing.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Seiler was the writer who, as has been already said, brought
+more numerous and higher qualifications of a scientific and practical
+kind to the investigation of this subject than any other person.
+However, the study of physics, involving as it does the use of methods
+of extreme precision, tends to beget habits of mind which are not in
+all respects the best for the consideration of biological problems.
+Madame Seiler and her master, the physicist Helmholtz, regarded the
+vocal mechanism very much in the same light as they did their
+laboratory apparatus. Only in this way can the author explain some of
+Madame Seiler's positions; but on this assumption one can understand
+why she should make five registers, and consider them all, apparently,
+of equal importance. This latter, together with the tendency generally
+to present her views in too rigid a form, was, we think, her great
+error.</p>
+
+<p>Behnke admitted that all five registers might be heard, especially in
+contraltos, but he did not attach equal importance to each of these
+registers.</p>
+
+<p>Mackenzie the author conceives to have been misled by the very method
+that he considered a special virtue in his investigations&#8212;the
+examination of trained singers. Surely, if one would learn what is
+Nature's teaching on this subject, he must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> not draw conclusions from
+trained vocalists alone! By training one may learn to walk well on his
+hands, but this does not prove such a method the natural one, nor
+would it be good reasoning to draw this conclusion, even if a few
+individuals were found who could thus walk more rapidly than in the
+usual way.</p>
+
+<p>The diversity that Mackenzie found in singers does not, in the
+author's opinion, exist in nature; much if not most of it was due to
+training, and all that can be said is that several people may sing in
+different ways with not greatly different &#230;sthetic results; but such
+methods of investigation may, as in this case, lead to conclusions
+that are dangerously liberal.</p>
+
+<p>The author holds to-day, as he did when he published his results many
+years ago, that &quot;Impressions from general laryngoscopic observations
+or conclusions drawn from single cases will not settle these
+questions. Very likely differences such as these writers allude to may
+exist to a slight degree; but if they do, I question whether they are
+sufficiently open to observation ever to be capable of definition; nor
+is it likely that they interfere with methods of voice-production
+which are alike operative in all persons.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Holding these views, not only can the author not agree with those who
+believe that the change in a register occurs in different persons of
+the same voice (<i>e.g.</i>, soprano) at appreciably different levels in
+the scale, and even varies naturally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> from day to day, but he holds
+that to believe this in theory and embody it in practice is to pursue
+a course not only detrimental to the best artistic results, but
+contrary to the plain teachings of physiology in general and that of
+the vocal organs in particular.</p>
+
+<p>The change in a register should be placed <i>low</i> enough in the scale to
+suit all of the same sex. <i>It is safe to carry a higher register down,
+but it is always risky, and may be injurious to the throat, to carry a
+lower up beyond a certain point.</i> The latter leads not only to a
+limitation of resources in tone coloring, but also to straining, to
+which we have before alluded. Though this process may not be at once
+obviously injurious, it <i>invariably</i> becomes so as time passes, and no
+vocalist who hopes to sing much and to last can ignore registers, much
+less make the change at a point to any appreciable extent removed from
+those that scientific investigation and equally sound practice teach
+us are the correct ones at which to make the changes.</p>
+
+<p>Why is it that some artists of world-wide reputation sing as well
+to-day as twenty years ago, while others have broken down or have
+become hopelessly defective in their vocal results in a few years?
+There is but one answer in a large proportion of these cases: correct
+methods in the former and wrong methods in the latter class of
+singers&#8212;and &quot;correct&quot; in no small degree refers to a strict
+observance of registers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The author has known a professional soprano to sing every tone in the
+trying &quot;Hear, O Israel&quot; (<i>Elijah</i>) in the chest register. How can such
+a singer hope to retain either voice or a sound throat? But so long as
+audiences will applaud exhibitions of mere lung-power and brute force
+the teachings of physiology and healthy art will be violated. But,
+surely, all artists themselves and all enlightened teachers should
+unite in condemning such violations of Nature's plain teachings!</p>
+
+<p>The question of the registers is generally considered now a somewhat
+simpler one for males than for females. Basses and barytones sing in
+the chest register only; tenors are usually taught to sing in the
+chest register; but few teachers believe that the high falsetto is
+worth the expenditure of the time and energy necessary to attain
+facility in its use.</p>
+
+<p>Probably in many male voices there are the distinctions of register
+Madame Seiler alludes to&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, first chest and second chest, or
+some change analogous to the middle of females; but, from one cause
+and another, this seems to readily disappear. Whether it would not be
+worth maintaining is a question that the author suggests as at least
+worth consideration. Certain it is that, speaking generally, there is
+no change in males equally pronounced with the passage from the lowest
+to the next higher (chest to middle) register in females.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, are the views that the author believes so well grounded,
+in regard to the registers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> that they may be made, in all confidence,
+the basis of teaching?</p>
+
+<p>Without hesitation, he recommends that arrangement of the registers
+set forth in the last chapter. It is not the exclusive invention nor
+the basis of practice of any one person, but it may fittingly enough
+be associated with the name of a woman who for over fifty years has
+taught singing with so much regard for true art and for Nature's
+teachings&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, for physiological as well as artistic principles.</p>
+
+<p>Such a method for female voices is wholly consistent with the best
+scientific teaching known to the author; it is in harmony with the
+laws of vocal hygiene; it gives the singer beautiful tones, and leaves
+her with improved, and not injured, vocal organs. Such an arrangement
+of the registers is not marred by the rigidity of Madame Seiler's nor
+the laxity of Mackenzie's, but combines flexibility with sufficiently
+definite limitations.</p>
+
+<p>As to just how much a teacher of singing should say to the pupil on
+the subject of registers, and especially in a physiological way, must
+depend on circumstances. About the wisdom of teachers of singing (and
+elocution) understanding the vocal mechanism, and carefully weighing
+the matter of registers from every point of view, the reader of this
+book will have no doubt, by this time, the author ventures to hope.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of course, one may object that for every tone, as it differs slightly
+in quality from its neighbor in the scale, there should be a new
+register&#8212;a new mechanism. Such an objection, though theoretically
+sound, is of no practical weight. What students wish to know and
+instructors to teach is how to attain to good singing&#8212;the kind that
+gives genuinely artistic results, and leaves the throat and entire
+body of the vocalist the better for his effort. The teaching of this
+work in regard to the registers and other subjects is intended to
+accomplish this, and not to occupy the attention of readers with vocal
+or physiological refinements of no practical importance.</p>
+
+<p>The author has always been of opinion that those who have investigated
+and written on this subject have devoted insufficient attention to one
+point&#8212;viz., the manner of using the breath. The breathing in the use
+of the high falsetto, for example, is as different as are the
+laryngeal processes; and this is a point of practical importance, for
+the voice-user must ever consider economy in breathing. It is
+expenditure in this direction that most taxes all singers, even the
+best trained and the most highly endowed.</p>
+
+<p>But the student, deeply impressed with the importance of the subject
+of registers, may ask: &quot;How am I to distinguish between one register
+and another? How am I to know when I am singing with chest, middle, or
+head voice?&quot; The answer is: &quot;By sensations&quot;&#8212;chiefly by hearing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> but
+also by certain sensations (less properly termed &quot;feelings&quot;) in the
+resonance-chambers and to a certain extent in the larynx. Of course,
+before one can thus identify any register, he must have heard a singer
+of fairly good voice form the tones of this particular register. One
+who has never heard sounds of a particular color or quality cannot, of
+course, learn to recognize them from mere description, though by this
+means he is often <i>prepared</i> to hear, and to associate clear ideas
+with that hearing.</p>
+
+<p>As the registers are of such great practical importance, especially
+for the female voice, there is no period when it is of so much value
+to have a lady teacher as just when the voice is being &quot;placed&quot;&#8212;which
+should mean the recognition of its main quality, and the teaching of
+registers by imitation as well as description. The student should be
+made to understand, by practical examples, the subject of &quot;covering,&quot;
+or modification. Certainly, the training of a vocalist cannot be
+adequately undertaken by even the most learned musician, however good
+an instrumentalist, if he has paid no attention to the voice
+practically. Much of the teaching done by those ignorant of
+voice-production, however well meant, may be a positive drawback, and
+leave the would-be singer with faults that may never be wholly
+eradicated.</p>
+
+<p>The author would recommend all students who have begun a serious
+practical study of the registers to hear, if possible, some singer of
+eminence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> who observes register formation strictly. In this way more
+can often be done in getting a clear notion of their characteristic
+qualities, in a single evening, than by listening to an ordinary
+amateur, or to such a voice as an otherwise excellent vocal teacher
+can bring to her work, on many occasions; better one hour listening to
+a Melba, with her observance of registers, covering, etc., as set
+forth by the author in this chapter, than a score of vocalists of
+indifferent, even if not incorrect production. One then has before her
+an individual who, after long and careful training, attains results
+not, indeed, within the reach of all, but such as may be approached if
+the same methods are pursued long enough; and in Madame Melba, and
+others that might be named, the student has examples of how those
+using correct methods, and not worshipping at the shrine of mere vocal
+power, may retain the vocal organs uninjured and the voice unimpaired
+after the lapse of well-nigh a score of years of exacting public
+singing. Teachers will do well to encourage their pupils to hear the
+best singers; for do not students need inspiration as well as
+discipline?</p>
+
+<p>Granted that the ear can at once determine what register the pupil
+herself or another singer may be using, what other guide has she?</p>
+
+<p>There are certain sensations, as already said, felt within the
+resonance-chambers and larynx, which are sure guides. In a person who
+had learned to recognize the correct register formation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> by the help
+of the ear and those sensations now referred to, the latter would
+suffice to be a partial guide, at least, even had he become deaf.
+While these sensations are absolutely characteristic, it is difficult
+to describe them; they must be experienced to be understood. To
+attempt to describe the taste of a peach to one who knew that of an
+apple but had never eaten a peach would be, perhaps, not absolutely
+useless, but would certainly serve little purpose. The sensation must
+accompany the correct formation of the tone. The term &quot;straining&quot;
+carries with it the idea of unpleasant sensations; all understand
+practically what this term means; yet the sensation of strain in a
+tenor carrying his chest register too high is no more marked than the
+sensation of relief when he changes to the falsetto.</p>
+
+<p>When once the voice has been well placed, little attention need be, or
+is usually, paid <i>consciously</i> to the sensations associated of
+necessity with all changes in the vocal organs. When one becomes
+unduly conscious of any of the normal sensations of the body, he is no
+longer a perfectly healthy person. At the same time, as we have
+pointed out in <a href="#CHAPTER_II">Chapter II.</a>, and shall do more at length shortly,
+sensations are absolutely essential guides for all muscular and other
+processes of the body; but they should enter just so much into
+consciousness, and no more.</p>
+
+<p>It is practically helpful to the voice-producer and the teacher to
+think of the resonance-chambers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> and the ear as bearing a close
+relationship to the movements essential to tone-production. The
+sensations from these parts are of importance above all others in
+voice-production. They are the chief guides, and the attention may to
+advantage be concentrated on them.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the question of registers for the speaker must be considered,
+but this can be done to greater advantage in a later chapter.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>All good definitions of a register must recognize two things: change
+of quality in the voice, and change of mechanism in the vocal
+apparatus. A break is not a register, but occurs because of the
+existence of registers. The abrupt transition, or break, is to be
+avoided by covering, or modification of the upper tones of the lower
+(at least) register.</p>
+
+<p>For an adequate scientific examination of the question of registers,
+many qualifications are required in the investigator; and the student,
+when not an investigator, should endeavor to weigh the evidence
+presented so as to choose with caution from among conflicting
+opinions. He should be suspicious of those who scout the value of
+scientific study of this or any other subject, and also of those who
+claim that experience is of no importance in settling such a question.</p>
+
+<p>Though several well-qualified persons who have written on the subject
+differ in some respects, they are in agreement as to many of the more
+impor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>tant points. They are practically all convinced that there is
+commonly a change of register for all voices, at or near one point in
+the scale (F), and that if this be practically disregarded, dangerous
+straining may result.</p>
+
+<p>Conclusions drawn from trained singers, alone, may be misleading. All
+classes of persons should be examined with the laryngoscope, if
+correct and far-reaching generalizations are to be safely made.</p>
+
+<p>The precision and rigidity of physics and mathematics cannot be
+introduced with safety into a subject of this character; otherwise the
+division and limits of registers will be fixed with a narrowness of
+margin that does not comport with Nature's methods.</p>
+
+<p>In all questions of register, the method of breathing&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the
+nature of the application of the expiratory blast&#8212;must be duly
+considered.</p>
+
+<p>With male voices, the subject is usually considered much simpler than
+in the case of female voices. Men sing mostly in the chest register;
+basses and barytones wholly so, with the rarest exceptions. Tenors are
+taught to do so. Whether there might not be a subdivision of this
+register made to advantage in training, the author leaves as an open
+question; but about straining, in the case of tenors and all others,
+and as to the importance of recognizing three registers for female
+voices, there is in his mind no question. The fact that some may not
+be able to produce head tones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> does not justify carrying up the chest
+register to any appreciable extent, even by altos.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as in past times, the high falsetto for males, if good, the
+result of proper training, has the warrant of both art and sound
+physiology.</p>
+
+<p>In the use of registers, sensations are infallible guides. Of these,
+the most important are those associated with the organs of hearing,
+but those arising in the vocal organs are also valuable.</p>
+
+<p>Those only should expect to sing artistically, and to preserve their
+voices unimpaired for a long period, who wisely observe Nature's
+teachings in regard to registers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING VOICE-PRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is highly important for the speaker or singer to realize early in
+his career that all forms of artistic expression can be carried out
+only through movements&#8212;muscular movements; in other words, technique
+or execution implies the use of neuro-muscular mechanisms. However
+beautiful the conception in the mind of the painter, it can only
+become an artistic thing when it assumes material form&#8212;when it is put
+on canvas. The most beautiful melody is no possession of the world
+while it is in the mind of the composer alone; till it is <i>expressed</i>,
+it is as good as non-existent.</p>
+
+<p>Even poetry can only affect us when it exists in the form of words
+produced by lip or pen. Between the glowing thought of the poet and
+the corresponding emotion produced in ourselves there must intervene
+some form of technique&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, some application of neuro-muscular
+action. This latter term is a convenient one, and has been already
+explained. It is a condensed expression for that use of the nervous
+and muscular systems that results in movements, simple or complex.</p>
+
+<p>Without nerve-cells and muscles movements are impossible, speaking
+generally, and for a willed or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> voluntary movement there must be
+something more, an idea or concept. Before one can make a movement
+resulting in a simple line or even dot on a piece of paper, he must
+have the idea of that line or dot in mind. In like manner, before one
+plays or sings a single note, he must have the idea of that note in
+mind; in other words, the idea is the antecedent to the movement, and
+absolutely essential. To have such an idea, memory is necessary. It is
+impossible to sing a tone after another, as an imitative effort,
+unless one has the power to retain that tone in memory for at least a
+brief period of time; and before this same tone can be reproduced on
+sight of it as represented by a written note, the memory of the sound
+to which it answers must first be recalled; and not only so, but other
+memories&#8212;indeed, memories of all the sensations associated with the
+bodily mechanism used in producing it.</p>
+
+<p>This applies to all movements, of whatever kind, that we at any time
+execute. Without the past&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, without memories&#8212;no present. Some
+of the memories associated with an act may be lost, and others,
+sufficient for its performance in some fashion, remain. A man may
+forget, after the lapse of months or years, how to tie his necktie in
+a certain way, as he stands before a mirror; yet on turning away he
+may succeed at once. In this case the visual memories, those that come
+through the eyes, were lost, but others, those associated with
+muscular movements, remain. The muscular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> sense may prove an adequate
+guide when the visual is ineffective.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way, one may call up a melody by moving the fingers over
+the piano keys, when it cannot otherwise be recovered, or one rescues
+an air from oblivion by humming a few of its tones; all of which is
+explained by the revival of muscular and similar memories.</p>
+
+<p>All voluntary movements are at first accomplished relatively slowly
+and with difficulty. They soon weary us. A child learns to walk with
+the greatest difficulty, and only after numberless failures or errors.
+The first tones of the would-be pianist or violinist are produced but
+slowly and with great difficulty, in spite of the most determined
+effort. If the attempts to vocalize are any more successful, it is
+because one has already learned to talk&#8212;a process that in the first
+instance (in infancy) was even more laborious than that of walking.</p>
+
+<p>The degree to which any one succeeds in his earliest efforts to sing a
+scale will depend on the readiness with which he can use a variety of
+neuro-muscular mechanisms&#8212;indeed, all those associated with the
+respiratory, laryngeal, and resonance apparatus. Fortunately for the
+voice-user, this apparatus has all been in use in ordinary speaking.
+But when this latter process is analyzed, it is found that it is not
+essentially different from singing. In each the same mechanism is
+used, and in much the same way; but every one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> knows that not all who
+can talk are able to sing, and it is usual to say that those who
+cannot have no &quot;ear&quot; for music; and this expresses a part of the
+truth, though not in a scientific way. What is really the truth is
+found to be, on analysis, that certain guiding sensations, chiefly
+those from the hearing apparatus (ear, nerves, brain), are
+insufficient, owing either to natural defect or lack of training; but
+that this is not the only explanation is plain from the fact that many
+composers with the most vivid musical imagination, the most perfect
+auditory memory, and the most acute ear, cannot sing in any but the
+most imperfect manner. As we have said before, the speaker of great
+power to affect his fellows through tones, or the artistic singer,
+must be a sort of vocal athlete. In the athlete there is a very
+perfect association into one whole of certain sensations from eye,
+skin, muscles, etc., and certain movements. These exist in all men,
+but in very unequal degree. The singer is a tone specialist in whom
+the perception of the pitch and the quality of sounds may not be more
+acute than in the composer, possibly less so, but he can do what the
+composer of music often cannot&#8212;viz., associate these sensations with
+muscular movements of a highly perfect character; in different words,
+he has the technique which others have not in an equal degree.</p>
+
+<p>In the singer and speaker there is a very close association between
+the sensations of the resonance-chambers, the larynx, and other parts
+of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> vocal mechanism, and those from the ear. So perfect does this
+become from training that the necessary technique at last becomes
+easy. But it is of the greatest importance that the exact nature of
+this process be realized by both students and teachers, for weighty
+considerations grow out of it.</p>
+
+<p>We wish to impress the fact that the nature of all neuro-muscular
+processes is essentially the same. Learning to sing is like learning
+to talk, and the latter is not radically different from learning to
+walk. This last is at first slow, imperfect, laborious, and largely a
+voluntary or willed process, or, more strictly, a series of processes.
+As progress is made, there is less of the voluntary and more that is
+involuntary, or what physiologists term reflex. When ideas, feelings,
+etc., enter into a process which is carried out reflexly, a <i>habit</i> is
+formed.</p>
+
+<p>One may say that talking implies a series of associated reflexes, the
+parts associated being the respiratory, the laryngeal, and the
+resonance apparatus. Singing only approaches this condition of reflex
+action and habit after practice, and yet no air is perfectly sung
+except when the result is the outcome of a sort of new habit. Every
+song involves, the learning of new vocal habits. One forms a new habit
+of an athletic character all the more readily because of previous
+ones. A man learns to play one game of ball the better, usually, if he
+have already played at another, the reason being that he has only to
+modify the action<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> of neuro-muscular mechanisms, not associate new
+mechanisms together to the same extent as in the formation of a habit
+of a widely different kind, as rowing a boat. At the same time, one
+must always unlearn something&#8212;break up old habits, to some extent. An
+opera singer often makes a failure of oratorio at first. The sets of
+reflexes or the habits, bodily and mental, which he has found valuable
+for the one form of art do not suit the other perfectly; nevertheless,
+the same materials are used, the reflexes are in the main the same. He
+must use preventions, or <i>inhibitions</i>, as the physiologists term
+them. Rather is it that he must avoid doing certain things&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>,
+modify his neuro-muscular processes or reflexes, than form wholly new
+ones.</p>
+
+<p>Were it not for reflexes and habits, learning would be so slow one
+lifetime would not suffice to make an artist. It must be apparent that
+habits and reflexes are Nature's ways of economizing energy. As the
+best have but a limited amount of energy, it should be the aim of
+every one who will not be a mere reckless spendthrift to economize, to
+make the most of what Nature has given him; hence the purpose of
+practice is not only to render success more certain and more perfect,
+but to make efforts tell to the fullest extent with as little
+expenditure of energy to the speaker or singer as possible. <i>He sings
+or speaks best who attains the end with the least expenditure of
+energy.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It may with scientific accuracy be said that the object of the student
+should be to attain to the formation of correct habits in singing and
+speaking, and of the teacher to guide in this process. It follows that
+all practice by the beginner should be carried out only in the
+presence of one who knows the correct methods and can teach the
+student how to form his habits wisely. Practice alone may not only do
+little good, but, by the formation of wrong habits of production, be
+positively mischievous; yet a trainer of athletes often lays more
+restrictions on his ward as to when and how he shall practise, and
+exercises more supervision over it, than do some teachers of singing,
+in spite of the fact that the apparatus the singer or speaker uses is
+much more delicate, and wrong habits much more injurious.</p>
+
+<p>The admonition &quot;Practise, practise,&quot; is greatly overdone. The best
+results cannot be obtained in either singing, speaking, or playing,
+with the lengthy and necessarily more or less imperfect if not
+careless practice in which many students of music indulge. Better ten
+minutes with the whole attention of a fresh and interested mind given
+intelligently to a subject than ten hours of mere mechanical movement.
+It is a mistake to suppose that the acquirement of a sound technique
+is a purely mechanical process. We have shown that for all successful
+effort there must be the idea, and as soon as that fades, from
+weariness, etc., the practice should be discontinued. Students<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> are
+not treated fairly when given exercises the meaning or purpose of
+which is not explained to them.</p>
+
+<p>There is now more need than ever that the teacher of music or
+elocution should be intellectual and not mechanical in his methods.
+Technique is mechanism, but it should be mechanism subordinated to
+ideas. Technique is essential to art, but it is not art. Art is the
+soul, technique the body. The soul will be unknown to the world
+without technique; hence the author strives in this book to teach the
+principles on which a sound vocal technique rests, but only that what
+is best in the soul be not hidden, that the one noble or poetic
+thought shall be multiplied a thousand times&#8212;indeed, that if it be
+sufficiently worthy, it shall, like Tennyson's Brook, &quot;go on forever.&quot;
+To believe, on the one hand, that the highest art can be attained with
+a very mediocre technique, and, on the other, that a perfect technique
+is the main object of musical training, are alike great and
+mischievous errors.</p>
+
+<p>The author has been asked frequently such questions as the following:
+&quot;When is the best time to practise? How long should a singer practise
+at one time, and for how long during a single day? Should one practise
+softly (<i>piano</i>) or vigorously (<i>forte</i>)?&quot;&#8212;etc.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig53.jpg" width="497" height="802" alt="Fig. 53" title="Fig. 53" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 53. By this diagram the author has attempted to
+give the reader some idea of the nature of the chain of processes
+involved in singing a single tone, from the time the eye looks on the
+note till the muscles concerned have given it utterance as a tone. The
+various nervous centres concerned are all in the brain (though the
+spinal cord supplies some subordinate centres). There are sensory
+centres, or those for the eye and the ear, and motor centres, or those
+sending the commands to the muscles involved. Further, these must be
+<i>connected</i> by paths not shown in detail, but represented by one
+centre spoken of as an &quot;association&quot; centre, which may also, possibly,
+have much to do with emotions, etc. But, at all events, the dependence
+of movements on ingoing messages or sensations is emphasized. The deaf
+cannot speak or sing, and the blind cannot read (ordinary) music. The
+defect may not be in either senses or muscles, but in the relating
+nervous mechanism between them. As explained in the body of the work,
+execution depends on at least two factors, sensations, or ingoing
+messages, and movements determined by these. Now the <i>connection</i> between
+the ingoing and the outgoing impulses is the most important and the least
+understood part, but the above diagram will at least serve to emphasize the fact
+that such connections exist, and that in a general way the result, performance,
+can be explained. No attempt has been made to trace the path of other sensory
+impulses than those from eye and ear, as this would make the diagram too
+complicated.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Often the student is puzzled by contradictory opinions on this
+subject. One celebrated prima donna states that she never practises
+more than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> one hour a day; another, equally distinguished, that she
+has often spent several hours in almost continuous strenuous practice.
+What is the student to believe, and whom to follow? No one, for no two
+persons are alike. All the above questions can be safely and surely
+answered in the light of science and experience combined, but such
+questions cannot be settled by the dictum of any singer, teacher, or
+writer, nor does the experience, in itself, of any one person furnish
+an adequate guide for others.</p>
+
+<p>Investigation has shown that the use of muscles tends to the
+accumulation of the waste products of vital activity; that such
+accumulation is associated with the experience in consciousness of
+what we term &quot;fatigue,&quot; and which is preceded by &quot;weariness.&quot; The
+latter is a warning that the more serious condition is approaching,
+but is to be distinguished from another feeling not necessary to name,
+often present in unwilling youthful students, and for which various
+forms of treatment are sometimes tried so unsuccessfully that it is as
+well to discontinue study altogether.</p>
+
+<p>1. The time at which, as a rule, any work can best be carried out is
+during the early hours of the day, so that if it is possible, practice
+should be begun early, and after some preliminary exercise for the
+good of the body generally&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, a short walk, during which the
+lungs may be filled with pure air. As the muscles of the chest, etc.,
+are to be used in voice-production, such a walk or other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> form of
+general exercise should not be lengthy. Energy should be reserved for
+the muscular activities involved in vocal practice.</p>
+
+<p>2. The principle that guides in all use of the muscles, all exercise,
+is that it be taken under the most favorable circumstances and short
+of fatigue, even of weariness; hence the question whether the student
+should practise five minutes or one hour is one that he himself, and
+he alone, can determine, provided he is old enough and observant
+enough to know when he begins to feel weary in his vocal mechanism,
+whether it be in the respiratory organs, the larynx, or the
+resonance-chambers. With some there is a weak spot, and this settles
+the question for all other parts. As a rule, beginners will do well
+not to practice, at first, for longer at one time than five minutes,
+not only because of the possible weariness, but because at the outset
+it is difficult to keep the attention fixed. The ear and brain tire as
+well as the muscles.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, the condition of the student at the time has much to do
+with the length of a practice, but all things are determined by the
+sensible application of that principle which science and experience
+alike show to be a safe guide.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig54.jpg" width="356" height="441" alt="Fig. 54" title="Fig. 54" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 54. The above is a diagrammatic
+representation of a highly magnified section (or very thin slice) through the
+outermost or most superficial part of the great brain (cortex cerebri), and is
+inserted to help the reader to form some idea of the complexity of structure of
+the most important part of the brain so far as the highest mental processes are
+concerned. This complexity is greater in man than in other animals.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, as in other exercises, the duration of an exercise may be
+gradually lengthened with experience. One singer may find an hour a
+day sufficient, if she be already perfectly trained in every
+respect&#8212;be &quot;in good form,&quot; or &quot;fit,&quot; as the athletes say&#8212;and have
+only light or <i>coloratura</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> parts to sing; but would this suffice to
+form a singer to sustain the heaviest dramatic parts for hours
+together before a large public audience? The training of a
+hundred-yards sprinter should not be the same as that prescribed for a
+long-distance runner or a wrestler.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig55.jpg" width="281" height="718" alt="Fig. 55" title="Fig. 55" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 55. A nerve-cell from the outer rind of
+the great brain (cortex cerebri), much magnified. (Sch�fer.)</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>3. In all practice it is ever to be borne in mind that the end, even
+in an exercise, is artistic. Tones of that quality only which is the
+best possible to the singer at the time are to be produced, and
+everything else must yield to this.</p>
+
+<p>4. No wise trainer ever allows his charges to go on a racing track and
+at once run a hundred yards at the highest possible speed. Such a
+course would be against all sound knowledge and all the best
+experience. Hence the question of <i>piano</i> and <i>forte</i> practice answers
+itself; the singer should never begin any exercise <i>forte</i>, but either
+<i>piano</i> or <i>moderato</i>&#8212;as to which depends on the individual. Some
+persons can only after long study produce really good tones <i>piano</i>;
+such if not most persons should, of course, begin practising with
+moderate force.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly, the voice-user should, in order to gain volume, gradually
+increase the vigor of his practice, but exactly how to do this, and to
+what extent daily, are questions in which the advice of a sensible and
+experienced teacher is of great value, though the principle on which
+that opinion should be founded is clear enough.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>5. The questions as to the total amount of time to be devoted to
+practice in a single day, and as to whether practice should be
+continued day after day for weeks and months without interruption,
+must be decided by the condition of the student, and not by any
+arbitrary opinion. Some individuals and some racers have a capacity
+for steady work not possessed by others, and happy are they; but there
+are others who go on by spurts, and such natures are often capable of
+reaching lofty artistic heights, if they be wisely managed. They need
+much the same sort of care as a very fleet but uncertain race-horse,
+and they are often a source of disgust to themselves and of worry to
+their teachers; but they in some cases get far beyond what the more
+steady ones can attain to, while others are so unsteady without being
+talented that they are a trial, and a trial only, to all concerned.
+Such people should, even when clever, not be encouraged in their
+vagaries, but brought gradually and tactfully under a stricter
+discipline.</p>
+
+<p>6. &quot;Hasten slowly&quot; applies to all musical practice, that of the voice
+included, and there never was a time in the history of the world,
+unfortunately, when people believed in it less. The author would
+especially warn the student against attempting to force progress by
+violent or unduly long-continued practices, for if the vocal apparatus
+be strained, it may remain impaired for months or even for life.
+&quot;Little and often&quot; is a good maxim for vocal practice, all the more as
+the dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>continuation, for the time, of voice-production need not imply
+that the mind must cease to act. An artist is not formed by
+vocalization alone, but by processes of education that are many and
+complicated, into which we might be tempted to enter did they not lie
+beyond the range of the present work.</p>
+
+<p>If the principles set forth in this chapter are scientifically
+reliable, and we believe they will not be questioned, certain
+practical considerations are well worthy of special attention. If
+practice, repetition, leads to the formation of habits more or less
+fixed, then there can be no surer way to ruin a speaker or vocalist
+than to permit him to practise by a wrong method; the more he
+practises, the more he stamps in what is bad. It follows that the most
+hopeless cases eminent teachers have to deal with are to be found
+among those vocalists who come to them after years of professional
+life before the public. One must look on some of these people as on a
+building spoiled by a bad architectural design. In some cases there is
+nothing to do but to take the whole structure apart and put it
+together afresh. It may be humiliating to the vocalist, and it is a
+severe condemnation of certain methods of teaching, but there is often
+no other course open, the only question being as to whether the
+material is good enough to warrant such a radical proceeding. Every
+eminent teacher can recall such cases, and might fill volumes with
+their histories. If more of these were published as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> warnings to
+students and teachers, a good purpose would be served. It is truly sad
+to find that the prospects of one who might have been formed into a
+fine artist have been hopelessly ruined by years of practice based on
+principles that are radically unsound.</p>
+
+<p>In the next chapter some specific applications of the principles
+discussed in the foregoing pages will be considered.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>All forms of artistic and other expression imply movements. For a
+willed or voluntary movement there are required (1) an idea, (2) a
+neuro-muscular mechanism. Such movements may be relatively simple or
+highly complex. They all tend, when frequently carried out, to become
+reflex, and to some extent unconscious or subconscious. Combinations
+of reflexes when associated with consciousness become habits.
+Movements only attain their highest perfection when they reach this
+stage. It follows that the purpose of all musical practice should be
+to establish those reflexes which attain the end, the ideal, and to
+form correct habits. A poem properly recited or a song satisfactorily
+sung implies a combination of certain reflexes or habits. Some of
+these are in their main features common to all speech and song, but
+many are peculiar to each example.</p>
+
+<p>As phonation implies the use of the muscles (neuro-muscular
+mechanisms) of the (1) respira<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>tory organs, (2) vocal bands, (3)
+resonance-chambers, and as these must all work in harmony, or be
+&quot;co-ordinated,&quot; it will be seen that speaking and singing are
+physiologically highly complex. When, in addition, ideas and feelings
+are associated, and determine the exact form of these co-ordinations,
+the whole matter is seen to be still more complex. The emission of a
+single tone implies (1) an idea&#8212;the nature of the sound as to pitch
+and quality, (2) such an arrangement of all the parts of the mechanism
+as will produce it. The former involves memory of the tone; the
+latter, memories of former movements. Then, partly as a series of
+voluntary acts and partly reflexly, according as the student is more
+or less advanced, or the particular tone new or old in experience, do
+the various neuro-muscular arrangements pass into orderly action. In
+this process the ear is the chief guide, always in relation to
+memories. When one uses the printed page, the eyes also guide&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>,
+the nervous impulses that pass in through these avenues determine the
+outgoing ones that bring the muscles into action. In doing so they
+rouse many others (associated nervous connections) which are highly
+important when an artistic result is to be reached.</p>
+
+<p>To consider a single case: Assume that the note
+<img src="images/image24.jpg" width="52" height="42" alt="a'" title="a'" /> is
+to be sung. The following are required: (1) Memory of this tone. (2)
+Adaptation through eye and ear of all the neuro-muscular mechanisms
+required for (<i>a</i>)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> bringing the vocal bands into the correct position
+and degree of tension; (<i>b</i>) the proper shape, tension, etc., of the
+resonance-chambers; (<i>c</i>) that use of the breathing apparatus suitable
+to cause the proper vibrations of the vocal bands. All use of the
+voice implies this much, but in most instances there are <i>associated</i>
+nervous mechanisms and ideas that are highly important in determining
+the exact volume, quality, etc., of the tone as related to expression
+of ideas and feelings according to conventional usage.</p>
+
+<p>The breath-stream must in all cases be so employed that there shall be
+economy of energy&#8212;no waste. Waste occurs whenever air escapes to any
+appreciable extent through the glottis chink, as that implies an
+imperfect adjustment of the vocal bands and the expiratory current.
+From this and other points of view it may be said that <i>he is the best
+singer who gets the most perfect result with the least expenditure of
+energy</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is of the highest importance that during every practice, and every
+moment of each practice, attention be given to as perfect a result as
+possible, and that the same method be invariably employed.</p>
+
+<p>All questions as to methods of practising can be decided on well-known
+scientific principles which harmonize with experience, and need not be
+left in that loose and unsatisfactory condition when the dictum of
+some individual is substituted for principles capable of actual
+experimental demonstration.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>CHIEFLY AN APPLICATION TO VOICE PRODUCTION OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES
+PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Certain</span> sounds may be made without the use of words or syllables, even
+without the employment of vowels or consonants, but intonation proper
+cannot be carried out without vowels, at least.</p>
+
+<p>The exact nature of vowels and consonants will be considered in the
+next chapter, but in the meantime it may be pointed out that a vowel
+is a free and open sound requiring for its production a certain form
+of the resonance-chambers. Neither vowels nor consonants are
+absolutely pure&#8212;that is, entirely free from foreign elements, from
+noise; but for all practical purposes a vowel is a pure sound, a
+consonant a sound accompanied inevitably by much noise. This noise is
+largely due to the difficulties of sounding consonants, the breath
+breaking against the vocal organs, especially the teeth, lips, etc.,
+much as the waves of the sea against a rocky beach. So far then as
+musical quality is concerned, a consonant is an unmitigated nuisance.
+On the other hand, none but the most elemental communication by sounds
+could be carried out by the use of vowels alone. The consonants stop
+the breath-current, separate the vowels, and thus lay the foundation
+for the expression of ideas. Ideas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> imply differences; a new idea is
+conveyed by a new word, which in its simplest form is a syllable.</p>
+
+<p>When a consonant is introduced after a vowel sound, a momentary arrest
+is produced in the breath-flow, and this has its corresponding effect
+on the mind. It is, in fact, equivalent to a pause&#8212;say a comma or a
+period. If introduced before a vowel, it is marked off in a more
+definite way. The effect of this is to enable the ear the better to
+grasp the sounds. There is the principle of differentiation and the
+principle of rest, both highly important in all sensory and other
+psychic or mental processes.</p>
+
+<p>Consider the sentence &quot;He is a man&quot;&#8212;composed purely of monosyllables.
+Remove the consonants, and we have the following: &quot;e i a a.&quot; Their
+ineffectiveness in conveying ideas is at once plain, for though &quot;a
+man&quot; conveys two ideas, such are not expressed by the vowels, which
+are identical, while &quot;e&quot; and &quot;i&quot; are common to too many words of one
+syllable to serve any useful purpose, alone, in the conveyance of
+<i>definite</i> ideas. The consonants at once mark off the limitations;
+they fence around the ideas, so to speak. For the communication of
+ideas they are indispensable; nevertheless, being largely noises, they
+are musically abominable.</p>
+
+<p>It follows that voice-production should begin with vowel sounds, and
+not words&#8212;not even syllables. For successful intonation, the first
+steps should be made as simple as possible, as we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> already
+endeavored to show, hence no such complication as a consonantal noise
+should be introduced. Upon this point there is room for no difference
+of opinion, though as to which vowel sound is best suited for the
+beginner, and for more advanced voice-production, there has been great
+diversity in teaching&#8212;a diversity which we propose to show, in the
+next chapter, need not exist to any appreciable extent.</p>
+
+<p>Certain vowel sounds may be said to be common to most of the languages
+used by civilized peoples. These are <i>u</i> (<i>oo</i>), <i>&#333;</i>, <i>a</i> (<i>ah</i>),
+<i>&#257;</i>, <i>i</i> (<i>ei</i>), and <i>&#275;</i>. There is, fortunately, among teachers
+considerable agreement as to the question of the best vowel sound with
+which to begin intonation, or the process of forming musical tones.
+There can be no question that <i>a</i> (ah) is for general purposes the
+best, the reason for which will appear later. Unfortunately, there is
+not in the minds of students or teachers generally a sufficiently deep
+conviction of the importance of forming the voice by long-continued
+practice with vowels only, for which lack the spirit of the times is
+largely responsible. Until a student of either speaking or singing can
+form every vowel perfectly, which implies the recognition of these
+sounds as pure and perfect, and the ability to sing them as the tones
+of a musical scale, he should not take a single step in any other
+direction. To do so is to waste tune and to lower artistic ideals.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When words are to be used, the question as to which language should be
+employed is for the singer, at least, a very important one. The ideal
+vocalist who will bring before the ideal public the best in vocal
+music must sing in Italian, French, German, and English, at least.
+Each of these languages produces its own effects through the voice,
+and each presents its own advantages and difficulties; but all
+competent to judge are agreed that Italian, because of the abundance
+of vowels in its words, is the best language in which to sing, or, at
+all events, to begin with as a training. Because of the prevalence of
+consonants, the German and the English languages are relatively
+unmusical. The English abounds in hissing sounds, which are a trial to
+the singer with an exacting ear and perfect taste, and produce most
+unwelcome effects on the refined listener who really puts music first
+and the conveyance of ideas second in a vocal composition. It should,
+of course, be the aim of the student to overcome these difficulties,
+as German and English, the languages of Goethe, Schiller, and
+Shakespeare, are for dramatic and some other purposes not equalled by
+any other languages.</p>
+
+<p>But the artist, and above all the musical artist, must be a citizen of
+the world. He deals with those forms of emotion common to all mankind,
+and not with the peculiar little combinations of ideas that grow up in
+a province, city, or village; though of course he will not neglect
+local coloring, so well illustrated in the folk-songs or popular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+melodies that have survived for ages in different countries.</p>
+
+<p>Though a vowel can be produced pure only when the resonance-chambers
+assume a certain form, this is, of course, only one link in the chain
+of production. The breathing apparatus and the larynx are also
+concerned, and we are again brought back, as ever, to the triple
+combination of the three sets of mechanisms so often alluded to, yet,
+we venture to think, very inadequately linked in the minds of
+learners, if not also of teachers.</p>
+
+<p>In producing a vowel sound the end aimed at is, on the one hand,
+purity, on the other, as a result, the easy and effective use of
+mechanisms&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the technique. In every case the breath must be
+used without waste&#8212;just enough, and no more; the laryngeal apparatus,
+the vocal bands, must be so adapted as to set the air of the
+resonance-chambers into perfect vibration, which only occurs when the
+expiratory blast is applied in the correct way and at the right moment
+to the properly adjusted vocal bands. This latter we have defined as
+the attack. It implies giving a good start to the tone. It is not all,
+but it is a large half, in the artist and for the auditor.</p>
+
+
+<h3>RECONSIDERATION OF THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS</h3>
+
+<p>We shall now give further attention to some of the more important
+parts of the resonance-chambers, in so far as they bear directly on
+voice-production.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In singing and speaking, the larynx should be <i>steadied</i>, but not held
+rigidly fixed in any one position. It will be remembered that to this
+part of the vocal mechanism are attached, below, the trachea, and
+above, the tongue, indirectly through the hyoid bone and the
+thyro-hyoid membrane, as well as certain muscles which influence the
+relative position of these various parts, so that to maintain the
+larynx in the same position, absolutely, must be against Nature's
+methods. The tongue alone must in its movements tend to alter the
+position of the larynx, as we have before pointed out. At the same
+time, the laxness and lack of control which some singers permit in
+their vocal organs, under the mistaken idea that all the parts of the
+&quot;throat&quot; cannot be too free, prevents them from getting the effects
+they desire, with that vigor and certainty the public so much admires,
+and rightly so. The golden mean should be observed; between undue
+tension, which implies inability to control, whether it be in the
+larynx or the breathing apparatus, and a looseness inconsistent with
+neat and certain results, the voice-producer must choose, with that
+common sense so indispensable to success in all undertakings, but
+which will never be adequately encouraged till students look more
+frequently for the reasons of the procedures recommended to them, and
+teachers strive to gain influence with their pupils by showing them
+that what they recommend lies beyond their own minds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>&#8212;that it, in
+fact, has its foundation in the laws of Nature.</p>
+
+<p>Of the tongue, soft palate, and lips, which are the principal
+modifiers of the shape of the mouth cavity, the tongue has by far the
+most influence. When the tongue lies flat in the mouth, it may be
+considered to be in its primary position, and it is important that in
+singing and speaking the student learn to begin his voice-production
+with this organ in that position, or a slight modification of it, for
+it is only when it is thus placed that a tone at once round, full, and
+pure can be produced.</p>
+
+<p>In order to secure this result, the vocalist or speaker must begin by
+taking breath through the mouth, as we have already insisted, and at
+once, before there is time for any stiffening of parts, commence to
+intonate&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, as soon as enough air has been inhaled for the
+purpose intended. The correct position is facilitated when one taking
+breath through the mouth acts as if about to <i>yawn</i>. If this act be
+well imitated, the student will find, on looking into a hand-glass,
+that the tongue is more or less furrowed behind in the middle&#8212;in
+other words, it forms a sort of trough; and the deeper the trough the
+student learns to form at will, the better, for there are times in
+actual singing and speaking when this must be as deep as possible. It
+is clear that in this way the central convexity above, formed by the
+hard palate, forms with the corresponding concavity in the tongue a
+sort of trumpet-shaped organ admira<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>bly adapted for the production of
+the desired tone.</p>
+
+<p>The tongue is important in the highest degree not only in the
+formation of vowels, as will be shown more fully in the next chapter,
+but also in shaping consonants.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes important to move the tongue from one position to
+another with great rapidity. Such a composition as Figaro's song
+(cavatina) in Rossini's &quot;Barber of Seville&quot; could not be properly sung
+by any one not possessing great control over the tongue. Indeed, this
+composition may be considered a perfect test of the extent to which
+the singer is a master of mouth gymnastics; and this is only one of
+many such works. In like manner, many passages in Shakespeare and
+others of the best writers in all languages can only be spoken with
+effect by those with a mastery over the tongue, lips, soft palate,
+etc., but above all, the tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Important as are the lips, many persons tend to use them too much, and
+the tongue too little, in speaking and singing. They attempt to make
+up for a mouth almost closed in front by the teeth, by excessive
+movements of the lips.</p>
+
+<p>Special tongue and lip practice should be carried out before a mirror.
+The lips should be kept rather close to the gums, and moved away as
+little as possible (<i>i.e.</i>, the lips), as to do so serves no good
+purpose, and is unpleasant to the eye of the observer. Teeth and lips
+must be regarded, so far as musical sounds are concerned, as danger
+re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>gions&#8212;rocks on the shore, against which the singer or speaker may
+shipwreck his tones. His object should be to use them adequately to
+form vowels and consonants&#8212;in other words, in the formation, not the
+spoiling, of words, as is so often the case.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot too much insist on both speaker and singer attending to
+forming a connection between his ear and his mouth cavity. He is to
+hear, that he may produce good tones, and the tones cannot be
+correctly formed if they be not well observed. To listen to one's self
+carefully and constantly is a most valuable but little practised art.
+The student should listen as an inexorable critic, accepting only the
+best from himself.</p>
+
+<p>This leads to the consideration of the question of the open mouth. The
+expression &quot;open mouth&quot; means, no doubt, to most people, the open lips
+rather than the open mouth cavity&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, open in front, the teeth
+well separated. In voice-production, by &quot;open mouth&quot; both open cavity
+and open lips must be understood.</p>
+
+<p>There is a special tendency in many, perhaps in most persons, to close
+the mouth cavity unduly in singing a descending scale. This is often
+accompanied by a bad use of the breath, and a general relaxation of
+the vocal apparatus, which is possibly more frequent in sopranos and
+tenors, whose chief effects are often produced by their high tones.
+But to-day, more than ever, when refined intellectual and emotional
+effects are demanded,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> is it important that the lower tones, so
+effective in producing emotional states, should not be neglected by
+any singer of whatever voice; while for speakers high tones are really
+comparatively little used.</p>
+
+<p>Much more attention is paid by teachers and students to the open mouth
+at the present time than formerly; in fact, like some other good
+things, it is often overdone. The individuality of the singer and
+speaker must always be borne in mind. If some are obliged to open the
+mouth as much as others, the result will not be happy. Any one may
+demonstrate to himself that the quality of a tone may be at once
+changed by unduly opening or closing the mouth. One may say that <i>the
+mouth should be sufficiently opened to produce the best possible
+effect</i>. We have never seen the mouth opened to such an extent that it
+was positively unsightly&#8212;reminding one of the rhinoceros at a
+zoo&#8212;without feeling that the tone had suffered thereby.</p>
+
+<p>If all would remember that the mouth is best opened by simply
+<i>dropping the lower jaw</i>, passively, in the easiest manner possible,
+the difficulties some students experience would disappear. Many act as
+if the process were chiefly an active one, while the reverse is the
+case, as one may observe in the sleeper when the muscles become unduly
+relaxed&#8212;a condition that is often accompanied by snoring, which is
+produced by a mouth-breathing that gives rise to vibrations of the
+soft<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> palate. We mean to say that the lower jaw drops when muscles
+relax, and that opening the mouth is largely a passive thing, while
+closing the mouth is an active process.</p>
+
+<p>The position of the head in its influence on tone-production is an
+insufficiently considered subject. It is impossible that the head be
+much raised or lowered without changes being produced in the vocal
+apparatus, especially the larynx, and if the tone is not to suffer in
+consequence, special care must be taken to make compensatory changes
+in the parts affected. It is only necessary to sing any vowel, and
+then raise the chin greatly, to observe a distinct change in the
+quality of the tone, with corresponding sensations in the vocal
+organs.</p>
+
+<p>To speak or sing with the head turned to one side is plainly
+unfavorable to the well-being of the parts used, because it leads to
+compression, which gives rise to that congestion before referred to as
+the source of so many evils in voice-users. To sit at a piano and sing
+is an unphysiological proceeding, because it implies that the head is
+bent in reading the music on a page much lower than the eyes, and
+when, with this, the head is turned to one side to allow of reading
+the music on the distant side of the page, furthest from the middle
+line of the head, the case is still worse. If all who thus use the
+vocal organs do not give evidence of the truth of the above by
+hoarseness, etc., it is simply because in young and vigorous organs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+there may be considerable power of resisting unfavorable influences.
+The student is recommended to use his voice in the standing position
+only, when possible, as all others are more or less unnatural.</p>
+
+<p>One often has the opportunity to observe how the effect is lost when a
+reader bends his head downward to look at his book or manuscript; and
+he himself, if the process is long-continued, will almost certainly
+feel the injurious influence of this acting on his vocal organs.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOME SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF PRINCIPLES IN TONE PRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is no doubt valuable, indeed for most singers essential, to employ
+a series of elaborate exercises, or <i>vocalises</i>, which in some cases
+differ from each other only by slight gradations; but it is to be
+borne in mind that all the actual principles involved can be expressed
+practically in a very few exercises. These are: (1) The single
+sustained tone; (2) the tones of a scale sung so as to be smoothly
+linked together; (3) the same, sung somewhat more independently of
+each other; (4) the same, but each tone beginning and ending very
+suddenly. If the execution of any vocal musical composition be
+analyzed, it will be found that these four methods cover substantially
+the whole ground. As one other is very extensively used in giving
+expression in the form of shading, it is worthy of special
+mention&#8212;viz., (5) the swell. All others are modifications of the
+above.</p>
+
+<p>As these methods of tone-production are of so much importance, it will
+be worth while to analyze them. It will be found that in each there is
+a characteristic use of the breathing mechanism. The larynx and the
+resonance-chambers are of course intermediate, as usual, between the
+breath-stream and the result, the tone; without them there could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> be
+no tones. But if the student have clearly in mind the memory of the
+tone he wishes to produce, including its various properties of pitch,
+volume, quality, etc., it will be found that the point requiring
+strict attention, in production, is the breathing, especially the
+manner of using the expiratory current.</p>
+
+<p>1. The sustained tone requires an amount of breath proportional to its
+length, and the great aim in its production should be to convert, so
+to speak, all the breath into tone, as we explained in a previous
+chapter. This sustained tone, which may be practised with advantage on
+every one of the notes of a scale, is, in the nature of things, the
+very foundation of all good singing and speaking.</p>
+
+<p>2. In the second and third exercises the differences in the method lie
+in the attack and the manner of using the breath. The smoothly linked
+tones are the more difficult for most people, since they require
+special control over the laryngeal mechanism and the breathing
+apparatus. Between the singing of a scale in this manner (<i>legato</i>),
+and as it is frequently done, there is the same difference as in
+walking up-stairs as does a perfectly trained ballet-dancer, and this
+act as carried out by a rough countryman, used only to ploughed
+fields, etc. For a perfect execution, the attack, while decisive
+enough, must be most carefully regulated, and the breathing, which is
+always to be considered in a good attack, must be of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> most even
+character; the outflow requires the most perfectly controlled
+movements of the respiratory apparatus. In the other form of exercise
+(detached tones) there is often, at least, a little more emphasis on
+the attack, and the breathing is perhaps not always so even, but in
+some passages, in actual singing, the method employed for these less
+closely linked tones is in most respects the same as the last.</p>
+
+<p>3. Very different from all the preceding is the mode of production usually designated by
+musicians <i>staccato</i>, <i>marcato</i>, etc. The tone is attacked suddenly,
+and as suddenly dropped, which, expressed physiologically, means that
+the entire vocal mechanism is rapidly adjusted, one part to another,
+and as suddenly relaxed; and the one seems to be about as difficult as
+the other. In this a certain sudden tension of the vocal apparatus is
+essential. The whole respiratory apparatus, after the breath is taken,
+is held more or less tense. In executing these abrupt (staccato)
+effects the diaphragm is the chief agent, and operates against the
+column of air in the lungs, the chest and abdominal walls being kept
+more or less tense.</p>
+
+<p>Though this is the case, the voice-producer will succeed best if he
+gives attention to the resonance-chambers, after having put the
+breathing mechanism into the right condition. There should be as
+little movement of the chest walls, diaphragm, larynx, etc., as
+possible. The whole is a question<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> of tension, but not rigidity, and
+the reason the staccato effect is so difficult for most persons is
+that they attempt to accomplish it by <i>excessive movements</i> of the
+breathing apparatus or larynx.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>mind</i> must be relieved of any feeling of undue tension, and the
+result attained by the establishment of a close connection between the
+ear and the resonance-chambers. The first interrupted effects should
+be of very brief duration and as <i>piano</i> as possible, but the attempt
+to produce the real staccato may to great advantage be preceded by an
+exercise recommended in <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Chapter VIII.</a>,&#8212;viz., singing a tone of some
+duration, then suddenly interrupting it, and, with the same breath,
+beginning the tone again as suddenly as it was interrupted. In fact,
+till this can be done with ease the staccato proper should not be
+attempted, for though the principles involved are the same, the
+execution requires far more skill than the exercise recommended for an
+earlier stage, and which it is well to continue throughout.</p>
+
+<p>Simple as these exercises seem from mere description, or as carried
+out with a certain degree of success, perfection in them is not to be
+attained short of years of the most diligent study. How many singers
+living can sing an ascending and a descending scale, in succession,
+with a perfect staccato, to mention no other effect? Yet among all the
+resources of dramatic singing and speaking none is more important than
+this one. What so eloquent as the silence after a perfect stop&#8212;a
+com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>plete and satisfactory arrest of the tone? How many modern actors
+are capable of it? How many singers? Instead of the perfect arrest,
+the listener is conscious, not of the rounded and complete tone, but
+of an edge more or less ragged. There is some noise with the actual
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>The above exercises, when carried out to a perfect result, give us
+<i>bel canto</i> singing, for which the old Italian school was so noted,
+and which is now largely a lost art, not so much because the methods
+are not known to teachers, as because students will not do the work
+necessary to attain to this <i>bel canto</i>. We seek for short cuts, and
+we get corresponding results.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>bel canto</i> is, simply, beautiful singing, the result of perfect
+technique, and is opposed to effects which are not truly artistic,
+though no doubt often highly expressive to the unmusical and the
+inartistic. They may appeal to us as feats, but they are not artistic
+results, and, as we have before insisted, they are injurious in many
+cases to the vocal organs, while good voice-production strengthens
+them.</p>
+
+<p>5. The swell is simply a modification of the sustained tone. When a
+tone is perfectly sustained, without any change in volume, etc., we
+have a most valuable effect, and one very difficult to achieve,
+because it implies such a steady application of the breath power and
+such nice adjustments of all the parts concerned. To produce a tone
+with variations in it is easy enough, and that is what is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> usually
+given us instead of the perfectly even tone, reminding us of a
+straight line.</p>
+
+<p>In the swell, as the name suggests, the tone should rise gradually in
+volume or loudness, and as gradually decline. If this can be done
+readily, and continued for several seconds, it will be easy to produce
+other effects, as the sudden swell, but such effects should come
+after, not before, the slower ones. A critical observer soon realizes
+the defects of modern technique when he listens to a singer's tones
+when attempting slow effects, as in a softly sustained melody. Only
+the well-trained vocalist can hope to sing such a melody, especially
+if long sustained, in a way to meet the demands of an exacting ear and
+advanced musical taste. It will be apparent that the swell is the
+basis of shading, a quality that is so highly appreciated in this
+refined age. He who can manage the swell perfectly has the secret of
+this effect in his possession as have none others.</p>
+
+<p>Although we have referred more to the singer than to the speaker, in
+this chapter, it is to be understood that these and all other
+exercises suggested are of great value in forming the voice for public
+speaking. It is not so important, it must be admitted, for the speaker
+as for the singer that his tones be musically perfect, as he relies
+more on ideas than on tones, still, with every idea employed by the
+public speaker there is the inseparable feeling, or &quot;feeling-tone;&quot; so
+that the speaker, as well as the singer, is to some extent dependent
+on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> tone painting&#8212;indeed, must be, if he will be no mere man of wood,
+a &quot;dry stick,&quot; to some extent, in spite of the use of appropriate
+language, gestures, etc. There are many avenues to the heart, and that
+by tones cannot with impunity be neglected by the speaker, though for
+his purpose the singing of tones need occupy only weeks or months,
+while for singers, in the case of all who would attain to a high
+degree of excellence, it must extend over years.</p>
+
+
+<h3>&quot;FORWARD,&quot; &quot;BACKWARD,&quot; ETC., PRODUCTION.</h3>
+
+<p>Certain expressions are in common use by teachers and singers, such as
+&quot;to direct the breath forward,&quot; &quot;forward production,&quot; &quot;backward
+production,&quot; etc. No doubt such terms may serve a practical purpose,
+though they are often used with lamentable vagueness, but it must be
+understood that they do not answer to any clearly demonstrated
+physiological principles. There is, for example, no clear evidence
+that the breath can be directed toward the hard palate in the
+neighborhood of the teeth, as the drawings sometimes published would
+indicate.</p>
+
+<p>It has already been many times urged that when breathing is
+satisfactory, breath does not escape to any considerable extent into
+the mouth cavity, but that the expiratory blast is used to set the air
+of the resonance-chambers into vibration. The changes that must be
+made in these cavities, to lead to certain effects, are accompanied by
+char<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>acteristic sensations, and these, and not the direction of the
+breath, are largely responsible for the ideas on which the above
+expressions rest.</p>
+
+<p>As before shown, the soft palate is constantly being used more or
+less, and when it and the tongue unite in action so as to cut off the
+mouth cavity, or, more strictly, the anterior portion of it, from the
+nasal chambers, a very pronounced modification in the tone results,
+and, of necessity, such actual escape of breath as occurs takes place
+through the nose. In reality, there is a special modification of the
+shape of the resonance-chambers for every tone produced, and
+especially when the color or quality is changed, as well as the pitch.
+There is, therefore, not only &quot;forward&quot; and &quot;backward&quot; but also middle
+production, though, in reality, these terms at best but imperfectly
+describe, even for practical purposes, what happens.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be feared that with some teachers of both singing and
+speaking &quot;forward production&quot; has become a sort of panacea for all
+vocal ills; but it is not, and just the reverse teaching is required
+in certain cases. If a voice be brilliant, yet hard, it will be
+improved by a more backward production, judiciously employed, and in
+this way the French language is often to be recommended to such
+singers, as it favors this backward production, with such use of the
+nasal resonance as mellows the tones. The tenor who has not learned
+the use of the nasal resonance, to give richness to the tones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> of his
+middle and upper range, has missed a valuable principle. On the other
+hand, for voices that are too soft, lack brightness, and fail in
+carrying-power, a more forward production will often improve the
+quality of the voice greatly. But a little consideration must convince
+the student that if he is to be master of his voice-production
+throughout, if he is to produce tones of every shade of quality, he
+must be able to shift that voice about in every quarter as occasion
+demands; in other words, <i>all the changes possible in the
+resonance-chambers must be at his command</i>. Such is the case in the
+very greatest singers of both sexes; and, of course, this applies
+equally, if not still more, to speakers.</p>
+
+<p>When the voice-producer has learned to intonate surely, when the voice
+is &quot;placed,&quot; and the secrets of the registers are known to him, he
+will do well to experiment a little, cautiously, with his own
+resonance-chambers, so as to widen his practical knowledge of the
+principles underlying the modification of tones. Why should the
+student of the voice remain a mere imitator, when the one who works in
+any other direction is, or should be, encouraged to be an original
+investigator? The inability of students to judge of either the grounds
+for or the value of the exercises and methods recommended to them by
+their teachers seems to the author to indicate a regrettable state of
+things, which teachers of every form of vocal culture should endeavor
+to remedy. Some teachers do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> not use the terms &quot;backward&quot; and
+&quot;forward,&quot; but &quot;darkening&quot; and &quot;brightening&quot; the voice; and, of
+course, the result of a certain use of the tongue and soft palate is
+to darken or veil the quality of the voice. But the attentive reader
+will scarcely mistake the author's meaning in the above and other
+references to this subject.</p>
+
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to point out that in what has been said no
+encouragement is intended to be given to the nasal twang, or any thing
+resembling it&#8212;and it is easy to so use the nasal resonance that it
+becomes a defect; but the value of a judicious use of the nose in
+singing and speaking is, we are convinced, not as well known in vocal
+teaching as it deserves to be.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>The relation of vowels and consonants to singing and speaking.
+Intonation should be by vowels only, at first. Consonants are a
+necessary evil in singing, but all-important in the formation of
+words&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, in imparting ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Every language has its own special merits and defects for the purposes
+of song and speech. That language which abounds in vowels is the best
+adapted for vocal exercises, etc.</p>
+
+<p>It is a cardinal error to begin a course in speaking and especially
+singing with exercises based on words. Vowel sounds should be
+exclusively employed at first. In the formation of vowels and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+consonants the resonance-chambers are especially involved.</p>
+
+<p>The tongue, soft palate, and lips are the most movable parts, and so
+have the largest share in giving color and meaning to sounds&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>,
+they are the organs most important in the formation of the elements of
+words.</p>
+
+<p>The &quot;open mouth&quot; should mean open mouth cavity and duly separated
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>It is important that there be control of all parts of the
+resonance-chambers, and always in relation to other parts of the vocal
+apparatus.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> subject treated in this chapter may be made dry enough; but if the
+student will, while reading the descriptions given, endeavor to form
+the sounds described, observing at the same time his own
+resonance-chambers (mouth parts) carefully in a hand-glass, and then
+follow up the applications made, the reader's experience will be, in
+all probability, like the author's: the more the subject is studied
+the more interesting does it become, especially if one experiments
+with his own resonance apparatus.</p>
+
+<p>Vowels and consonants are the elements of syllables, and words are
+composed of the latter. However pure a vowel is, it is accompanied in
+its utterance by some noise; a consonant, by relatively a great deal
+of noise.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>noise</i>, in distinction to a musical tone, is characterized by
+irregularity as regards the vibrations that reach the ear, while in
+the case of a tone a definite number of vibrations strikes against the
+drum-head of the ear within a given time; so that so far as syllables
+and words, even vowels, are concerned, we are not dealing with pure
+tones.</p>
+
+<p>For the formation of each vowel a definite form of the
+resonance-chambers is essential. In utter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>ing, either for the purposes
+of speech or song, the vowel <i>u</i> (<i>oo</i>), the mouth cavity has the form
+of a large flask such as chemists use for their manipulations, but the
+neck in this case is short. The whole resonance cavity is elongated,
+and the lips are protruded; the larynx is depressed, and the root of
+the tongue and the fauces (folds from the soft palate, usually spoken
+of as the &quot;pillars of the fauces&quot;) approach. The pitch of this vowel
+is very low.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig56.jpg" width="466" height="310" alt="Fig. 56" title="Fig. 56" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 56 (Beaunis). Shows the position of parts in
+sounding the vowel <i>a</i>. By comparing this illustration with those
+following, the relatively greater size of the cavity of the mouth in this case
+will be evident. The reader is recommended to at once test the correctness of
+these representations by sounding the vowels, and observing the parts of his own
+vocal mechanism with a hand-mirror.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>In <i>&#333;</i> the lips are nearer to the teeth, and the neck of the flask
+is shorter and wider; the larynx is somewhat more elevated than in the
+last case, and the pitch of the sound is higher.</p>
+
+<p>When sounding <i>a</i> (as in <i>father</i>) the mouth cav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>ity has the shape of
+a funnel, wide in front; the tongue lies rather flat on the floor of
+the mouth, the lips are wide apart, and the soft palate is somewhat
+raised.</p>
+
+<p>In <i>&#257;</i> (as in <i>fate</i>) there is some modification of the last, the
+tongue and larynx being more raised. The pitch of this vowel is higher
+than is that of the more open <i>a</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of <i>&#275;</i> (as in <i>me</i>) the flask is relatively small, and
+the neck is long and narrow, the larynx much raised, the lips drawn
+back against the teeth, and the tongue greatly elevated, so as to form
+the narrow neck of the flask. The pitch of this vowel is high.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig57.jpg" width="209" height="310" alt="Fig. 57" title="Fig. 57" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 57 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of parts
+in sounding <i>I</i>. In sounding <i>E</i> the position is a good deal like that
+for <i>I</i>.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>When sounding <i>&#299;</i> (as in <i>mine</i>) the cavity of the mouth behind
+resembles a small-bellied flask with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> long, narrow neck, the larynx
+is at its highest, and the lips assume a position much as in the case
+of <i>&#275;</i>; between the hard palate and the back of the tongue there is
+only a narrow passage&#8212;a mere furrow. The pitch of this vowel is also
+high.</p>
+
+<p>It is thus seen that every vowel has its characteristic quality and
+pitch, the order as regards the latter being from below upward, <i>u</i>,
+<i>o</i>, <i>a</i>, <i>&#257;</i>, <i>e</i>, <i>i</i>.</p>
+
+<p>That the mouth cavity really can act as a resonance-chamber can be
+easily demonstrated by holding a small vibrating tuning-fork before
+the open mouth, and varying the shape and size of the cavity till the
+sound of the fork is observed to be suddenly increased in volume. The
+cavity then is a resonance-chamber for the fork, and thus intensifies
+its sound; in other words, the air in the mouth cavity vibrates in
+harmony with the tuning-fork.</p>
+
+<p>To demonstrate in a simple manner that each vowel has its own pitch,
+the mouth cavity is put into the form usual in sounding the vowel, and
+the finger is filliped against the cheek, when a tone answering in
+pitch to that of the vowel in question results. The demonstration is
+easier with the lower-pitched, broader vowels, but the correctness of
+the order of the pitch mentioned above can thus be shown to be
+established.</p>
+
+<p>Some very important principles for the speaker and singer hinge upon
+the above-mentioned facts. It follows, for example, that it is
+impossible to give a vowel its <i>perfect</i> sound in any but one
+posi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>tion of the mouth parts, so that for a singer to utter a word
+containing the vowel <i>&#363;</i> (<i>oo</i>) at a high pitch is a practical
+impossibility. The listener may know what syllable is meant, and
+overlook the defect either from habit or from an uncritical attitude,
+but composers of vocal music should bear such facts in mind and not
+impose impossibilities on singers. At the same time, the vocalist, in
+order to satisfy a modern audience, is obliged to sound every word and
+every syllable as correctly as possible, even if the tone suffer
+somewhat thereby. It is wonderful how fully the best poets have, with
+the insight of genius, adapted their words (vowels) to the ideas they
+wish to convey, and had all composers of vocal music done the same,
+the path of the singer would not have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> strewn with so many
+thorns. The difficulties in the case of the speaker are similar, but
+less marked, as his range is so much more limited as regards pitch.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig58.jpg" width="215" height="306" alt="Fig. 58" title="Fig. 58" /></p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center"><b> <span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 58 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of the
+parts in sounding <i>OU</i>.</b></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>This subject has also most important bearings on the learning of
+languages. One is born with tendencies toward certain mouth positions,
+etc., and from infancy he is constantly using the resonance-chambers
+in certain characteristic ways. In the course of years these
+positions, etc., become such fixed habits that it is difficult to
+change them, so that for this as well as many other reasons the
+learning of languages by persons beyond a certain age is a difficult
+matter. But to all students of a foreign tongue it is really essential
+to explain the physical mechanism by which the various sounds are
+made. The author has known an adult to struggle for months with French
+and German pronunciation, and get into a state of discouragement,
+fearing that he never would be able to learn the languages in which he
+wished to speak and sing, when a few moments spent in explaining just
+what we have written above for vowels, and what we have earlier and
+shall now more fully set forth in this chapter as regards consonants,
+have been followed by the lifting of the cloud from the mind and of a
+load of heaviness from the heart.</p>
+
+<p>The learner should (1) hear the sound (elemental&#8212;a vowel, say) from
+the lips of the teacher, and actually perceive just what that sound
+is&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, he must really hear it; (2) observe the shape of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> the
+resonance-chambers; (3) try to produce the same shape of his own, and
+under the guidance of his ear and his eye (watching the mouth of the
+teacher) so utter the sound correctly. This sound should be fixed in
+the mind, and the ear trained by comparing it with other sounds, as
+the wise teacher will do, and require imitations. Any language can be
+pronounced correctly in a short time, if this method be followed. It
+is, indeed, the only one that rests on science and common sense. The
+student when away from the teacher, after he has once learned to form
+the vowels correctly, should practise with a hand-glass before him for
+some time, at least.</p>
+
+<p>The learning of a new language is the acquiring of a new mouth, or, at
+all events, entirely new methods of using the old one. In reality,
+however, this is not so fully the case as it at first seems. In all
+the languages one wishes to acquire, the same vowels occur, and for
+the learner it is often a question of lower or higher pitch, or
+greater or less breadth, though all this involves the formation of new
+habits and the fighting of old ones, and often in the case of the
+adult the struggle is a long-continued and severe one. Some nations
+speak at a lower pitch than others, and if a foreigner enunciate ever
+so well, yet at the pitch of his own and not that of the new language,
+his utterance may seem foreign. The Germans speak at a much lower
+pitch than Americans, and their tongue, even when grammatically spoken
+by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> latter, is apt to have a sort of foreign flavor. It slightly
+disturbs the listener, who is not accustomed to hear his mother-tongue
+transposed into another key, so to speak.</p>
+
+<p>We have known a learner to derive great benefit from having it pointed
+out to him that certain of his vowel sounds would at once cease to be
+incorrect if their pitch were altered. Of course, in doing this, there
+were at once many changes made in the resonance-chambers, in order to
+get the changed pitch. Pitch, accent, and duration of the sound throw
+much light on the subject of dialect, as a little analysis of Irish or
+Scotch will show.</p>
+
+<p>Consonants are, as we have already said, noisy nuisances for the
+singer, but indispensable for word-formation, and so for human
+intercourse. Each has also its own pitch, and investigators have come
+to a measurable degree of agreement on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>To illustrate: Madame Seiler found that <i>r</i> and <i>s</i> are separated from
+each other by an interval of many octaves:
+<img src="images/image26.jpg" width="65" height="38" alt="C" title="C" />, <i>r</i>;
+<img src="images/image27.jpg" width="55" height="70" alt="b-flat'''" title="b-flat'''" />, <i>s</i>. The latter, <i>s</i>, cannot be sounded
+without more or less of a hissing sound, suggesting escape of air,
+which is very unpleasant to the ear, and, unfortunately, these hissing
+sounds are very common in English, so that the speaker or singer is
+called upon to use all his art to overcome this disagreeable effect.
+This is also prominent in <i>whispering</i>&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> escape of breath,
+with its corresponding effect on the ear. Whispering is effected
+chiefly, if not solely, by the resonance-chambers, the vocal bands
+taking only the slightest part, if any at all.</p>
+
+<p>The physiologist Br&#252;cke, treating of the utterance of consonants,
+considered that they were formed by the more or less complete closure
+of certain doors in the course of the outgoing blast of air, and we
+have already referred to a consonant as an unpleasant interrupter,
+musically considered. Perhaps we should be disposed to compare them to
+the people that talk during the performance at a concert, did we not
+wish to avoid bringing such useful members of the speech community
+into undeserved disrepute.</p>
+
+<p>Consonants, like vowels, have their own mouth positions. This follows
+from their having pitch, but, in addition, they require the use of the
+tongue, lips, etc., in a special way. The principal articulation
+positions are the following: (1) Between the lips; (2) between the
+tongue and the hard palate; (3) between the tongue and the soft
+palate; (4) between the vocal bands.</p>
+
+<p>To indicate this, certain terms have been employed, and as they are in
+common use by those who treat of this subject, it will be well to
+explain them.</p>
+
+<p><i>Explosives</i> are consonants in uttering which there is complete
+closure with a sudden opening of the resonance-chambers in front, as
+in <i>b</i> and <i>p</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig59.jpg" width="485" height="803" alt="Fig. 59" title="Fig. 59" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 59 (Beaunis). Representation of the
+relative position of the parts and the resulting shape of the sounding chamber
+when the consonants indicated are formed vocally. Verification of the
+truthfulness of the illustrations will prove profitable.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Vibratives</i> call for an almost complete closure of the door and a
+vibration of its margin, as in <i>r</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Aspirates</i> partly close the opening, which is at once suddenly opened
+again, as in <i>f</i>, <i>v</i>, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Resonants</i> close the mouth, so the sound must find its way out
+through the nose, as in <i>m</i>, <i>n</i>, <i>ng</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The above may be put in tabular form as follows:</p>
+
+<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tbody>
+<tr><td style="text-align: center"><b>Articulation Positions.</b></td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <b>Explosives.</b></td><td style="text-align: center"><b>Aspirates.</b></td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <b>Vibrates.</b></td><td style="text-align: center"><b>Resonants.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: center">1</td><td style="text-align: center"><i>b, p</i></td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>f, v, w</i></td><td style="text-align: center">&#160;</td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>m</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: center">2</td><td style="text-align: center"><i>t, d</i></td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>s, z, l, sch, th</i></td><td style="text-align: center">&#160;</td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>n</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: center">3</td><td style="text-align: center"><i>k, g</i></td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>j, ch</i></td><td style="text-align: center">Palatal <i>r</i></td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>ng</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td style="text-align: center">4</td><td style="text-align: center">&#160;</td><td style="text-align: center">
+  <i>h</i></td><td style="text-align: center">&#160;</td><td style="text-align: center">&#160;</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>Of course the above is only one of many possible classifications, and
+expresses only a part of the whole truth, for the formation of a
+single consonant is a very complicated process, the exact nature of
+which can only be very imperfectly analyzed and expressed in words.</p>
+
+<p>In complexity of action the resonance-chambers are wonderful beyond
+any instrument devised by man, and the more one studies the subject,
+the greater the wonder becomes at the amount and complexity of the
+work done in a single day's speaking. It is also easy to understand
+how difficult it is to attain to absolutely perfect results. To enable
+one's fellow-creatures to understand him in even his mother-tongue
+involves an amount of effort and energy, a complexity and facility in
+function, that can only be reached after months of practice in
+infancy; but to attain to that degree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> of perfection that makes an
+artist in speaking, how much greater is the expenditure in vital
+capital! Is not the result when attained worth the best efforts of the
+most talented individual?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>FURTHER THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION OF VOWELS AND
+CONSONANTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> reader will now be prepared to consider the answer to be given to
+the question as to the <i>vowels</i> most suitable for practice in
+intonation. Plainly, <i>a</i> (<i>ah</i>) puts the resonance-chambers into the
+easiest and best position to form a good pure tone. The pitch of the
+vowel is intermediate&#8212;not very low and not high in the scale. For the
+higher tones, evidently, <i>&#257;</i>, <i>e</i>, and <i>i</i> are better than <i>a</i>
+(<i>ah</i>), much less <i>o</i> and <i>u</i>, which are quite out of the question,
+comparatively speaking.</p>
+
+<p>However, as music must be sung with vowels in every position, it is
+plainly necessary to learn to sound all the vowels well throughout the
+scale. In fact, one might wisely, after preliminary practice on <i>a</i>,
+begin a scale below with <i>u</i>, then go on to <i>o</i>, <i>a</i>, <i>&#257;</i>, <i>e</i>, and
+<i>i</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Some have recommended that the vocalist begin his scale practices with
+<i>a</i>, and when the higher middle tones are reached, that he use <i>&#257;</i>,
+and for head tones <i>&#257;</i> and <i>e</i>, an advice which is obviously sound,
+as it is based on scientific principles.</p>
+
+<p>Sounds that are very expressive in public utterance, whether in speech
+or song, are <i>l</i> and especially <i>r</i>. In ordinary speech most persons
+use<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> only the guttural <i>r</i>, in the formation of which the soft palate
+takes a prominent part; but for the speaker and the singer the lingual
+<i>r</i> is often much more effective. It is produced by the vibration of
+the tip of the tongue, and can only be formed well, in most cases,
+after long-continued and persevering practice.</p>
+
+<p>Certain consonants tend to nasality. These are <i>m</i>, <i>n</i>, <i>ng</i>, and of
+these all persons who are disposed to this production to the point of
+excess must especially beware. These letters, with such people, should
+be given a rapid and forward production, while singers with hard and
+metallic voices will do well to sing syllables beginning with these
+consonants, such as <i>maw</i>, <i>naw</i>, <i>ang</i>, <i>eng</i>, etc.</p>
+
+<p>According to the teachings of physics, the quality of a tone is
+determined largely by the number and variety of the <i>overtones</i>
+accompanying the fundamental tone. Practically all musical tones,
+whether vocal or instrumental, are made up of the ground tone and
+certain others less loud and prominent, and the latter are the
+overtones. These may be very numerous, and some are favorable and
+others unfavorable to excellence in quality. It has been thought, as
+the result of scientific investigation, that when the first octave of
+the fundamental tone and its fifth interval are prominent, the voice
+is soft, and with the fifth and seventh well in evidence, the voice is
+bright and clear.</p>
+
+<p>It might be said that the voice-user should endeavor to keep out of
+his voice certain overtones,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> especially those which are not within
+the range of our modern harmonies. A harsh voice is one in which such
+unharmonic intervals preponderate.</p>
+
+<p>The most beautiful quality of tone is produced by keeping intensity
+within limits, and by a sudden, elastic attack, a point on which we
+dwelt at some length before; but this only emphasizes the importance
+of all who use the voice employing, not only when beginners, but
+throughout their career, exercises with vowels alone. Only in this way
+will the association between the hearing of pure tones and their
+production be established.</p>
+
+<p>Such exercises are also necessary to give good carrying power to the
+voice. If more attention were given to this point, and less to the
+production of mere volume of sound, it would be well for the best
+musical art. Naturally, the higher the pitch of tones, within certain
+limits, the greater their carrying power, and the reverse, of course,
+with the lower tones; so that it is very important that the speaker
+and singer use all reasonable means to produce these lower tones well,
+else they are muffled, and the words associated with them are not
+heard. This principle should be borne in mind especially by tenors and
+light sopranos, in whom the lower tones are not usually the best, or
+the easiest to produce; so that a good attack and careful and neat
+syllable-formation, with all attention to both vowels and consonants,
+should be especially studied, and, above all, in tones below about G
+on the treble clef. The tendency to close the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> mouth, especially in a
+descending scale, below this point, and to confound blurring with soft
+(<i>piano</i>) singing, is common. A <i>piano</i> tone should be formed with
+especial care as to attack, open mouth, etc., and all words associated
+with the duller, lower-pitched vowels be spoken with the greatest
+distinctness, both in singing and speaking. At the same time, the
+barytone and contralto should not boast themselves over the tenor or
+soprano, if they are more successful with lower tones and the words
+associated with them, for the latter class of singers can often revel
+like birds in regions not approachable by the deeper-voiced singers.
+Each in its own order!</p>
+
+<p>It follows that if the organs of speech are used so as to produce
+vowels, consonants, and their combinations, with unusual and, for
+practical purposes, unnecessary distinctness, the actual performance,
+as demanded by a critical ear, will be easier. One that can run two
+hundred yards as readily as another can one hundred is in a better
+position for the shorter sprint than the other man; hence the wisdom
+of the singer and speaker practising first with unusual and indeed
+unnecessary distinctness, so far as the listener is concerned, in
+order that he may satisfy even the critical with <i>ease</i>&#8212;that
+all-important principle in art.</p>
+
+<p>All persons must, of necessity, speak in some register, and even an
+ear but little cultivated can recognize that the pitch and quality of
+the tones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> of adult males, adult females, and children differ greatly
+from each other.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Seiler has thus expressed herself on this subject:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Women use mostly tones of the second chest and first falsetto
+registers, sometimes also those of the first chest register. Men speak
+an octave lower than women, and use mostly the upper half of the chest
+register. In public speaking, as well as on the stage, the second
+chest register is used by men, and sometimes also the lowest tones of
+the voice. The second falsetto and head registers are used only by
+little children.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that Madame Seiler's &quot;second chest&quot; corresponds
+to the upper chest tones of some writers, and that &quot;falsetto&quot; is
+equivalent to &quot;middle,&quot; as generally employed.</p>
+
+<p>Ordinary speech is economical, and a range of very few tones, usually
+not more than two to four intervals of the scale, suffices, but on the
+stage, and by some of our best public speakers, twice this range may
+be exceeded. In nature, the cat, under the excitement of a heated
+interview with a fellow-vocalist, may pass through an entire octave.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>The shape of the resonance-chambers varies in the formation of vowels
+and consonants, which may be classified accordingly, or according to
+their pitch.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Practical implications for singing and speaking, the learning of
+foreign languages, the study of dialects, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The importance of special attention to those words containing the
+low-pitched and dark vowels, especially when low in the scale, and
+when sung <i>piano</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Overtones, and their bearing on the quality of the voice.</p>
+
+<p>The carrying power of the voice, determined by the method of its
+production, is more important than its volume.</p>
+
+<p>The value of practice with the use of a mirror, and of the formation
+of the sounds in practice with a distinctness in excess of the actual
+needs of the listener. Ease is essential to art.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE HEARING APPARATUS AND HEARING IN MUSIC.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">So</span> important are the ingoing sensory messages (impulses) that
+originate in the ear, as a guide not only in the appreciation of
+musical sounds but in those movements on which all musical execution,
+all vocal effects, whether of song or speech, depend, that we think
+the reader will welcome a chapter on the ear, even though it be no
+part of the vocal apparatus proper.</p>
+
+<p>The essential mechanism used by Nature to give us the sensation of
+sound consists of (1) a complicated form of nerve-ending; (2) an
+auditory nerve leading from, and a continuation, in a certain sense,
+of, the latter; (3) nerve tracts and hearing centres in the brain. The
+whole constitutes a very complicated mechanism, but the principles on
+which it is constructed may be reduced to a few. Mechanical or
+physical principles, as well as physiological ones, are involved.</p>
+
+<p>The entire apparatus has for its purpose the conversion of the
+vibrations of the air into the vibrations of a fluid, which thus
+stimulates the end-organ, and brings about those changes in the nerve
+which result in corresponding changes in the brain, that are
+associated, in some way we cannot explain, to that state of
+consciousness we term hearing. Complicated as is the auditory
+apparatus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> it can be readily enough comprehended, if the reader
+accompany the perusal of the text by an examination of the figures
+introduced.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig60.jpg" width="517" height="433" alt="Fig. 60" title="Fig. 60" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 60. (Beaunis). In this illustration parts
+are exposed to view by the removal of others. The whole of the inner ear lies
+within bone, which in this figure is cut away. The drum-head (membrana tympani);
+the Eustachian tube, extending from the back of the throat, and opening into the
+middle ear; the semicircular canals (which are not concerned with hearing, but
+with the maintenance of equilibrium); the cochlea, (snail-shell), which contains
+the various parts most essential to hearing, as the &quot;hair-cells,&quot; the terminals
+of the auditory nerve, the latter nerve itself, and several other parts&#8212;are well
+shown. Should the Eustachian tube be closed owing to swelling of its lining
+mucous membrane, a certain amount of temporary deafness may result, because, the
+air within the middle ear (drum) being absorbed, and fresh air not being
+admitted, the outer air presses against the drum-head uncounteracted, and
+renders the conducting mechanism too rigid.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>Anatomists speak of (1) an outer or external ear, (2) a middle ear,
+drum, or tympanum, and (3) an inner ear, or labyrinth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig61.jpg" width="444" height="419" alt="Fig. 61" title="Fig. 61" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 61 (Beaunis). Diagrammatic representation
+of the auditory apparatus. The external, middle, and internal ear are separated
+by dotted lines. A, the external; B, the middle; C, the internal ear; 1,
+auricle; 2, external auditory meatus; 3, tympanum (middle ear), with its chain
+of bones, 7, 8, 9. Into it opens 5, Eustachian tube, leading from back of
+throat; 4, membrana tympani or drum-head, closing the middle ear off from the
+external ear. The most important part of the inner ear is 13, the cochlear
+canal, in which the &quot;hair-cells&quot; are found, around which latter the final
+branches of the auditory nerve end. Above it is the scala vestibuli and below it
+the scala tympani, passages filled with fluid. The openings to these canals are
+closed with membrane. Attached to the membrane of the oval opening is the stapes
+(stirrup). It is thus seen that vibrations communicated to the chain of bones
+from the tympanic membrane are passed on to the fluid filling the passages
+(scal�) of the cochlea, and thus affect the hair-cells, and so the nerve of
+hearing, and through it the brain. The parts indicated by 12 and 16 are
+important in the maintenance of equilibrium, but are not concerned in hearing.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The purpose of the <i>outer ear</i> is to collect the air vibrations and
+convey them to the middle ear, which passes them on to the inner ear,
+where they produce the vibrations in the fluid therein contained and
+which affect the end-organ and nerve-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>endings, and thus initiate the
+essential physiological processes in the nerve of hearing. It follows
+that we have an instance of the conversion of one kind of vibrations,
+those of the air, into another kind, those of fluid, which latter
+furnish a sufficiently delicate stimulus or excitation of the fine
+hair-like extensions (<i>processes</i>) of the cells known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> as
+<i>hair-cells</i>, about which the nerves in their final smallest branches
+wrap themselves.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig62.jpg" width="492" height="555" alt="Fig. 62" title="Fig. 62" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 62 (Beaunis). Two of the bones of the ear
+(the malleus or hammer and the incus or anvil) enlarged. These small ear-bones
+have joints like larger ones. The line of conveyance of vibrations is indicated
+by B A.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>When we ourselves hear sounds when under water, we are affected
+directly by the vibrations of that water; in this case we, in our
+whole body, represent the hair-cells which are stimulated by the fluid
+(<i>endolymph</i>) which surrounds them.</p>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<img src="images/fig63.jpg" width="135" height="275" alt="Fig. 63" title="Fig. 63" /></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b><span class="smcap">Fig</span>. 63 (Beaunis). The complete chain of
+bones. The arrows indicate in a general way the direction of the line of
+transmission of vibrations from the tympanic membrane on to the fluid within the
+passages of the inner ear.</b></p></div>
+
+<p>&#160;</p>
+
+<p>The external ear, well developed in many of the lower animals, being
+often highly movable, is practically immovable in man, and is wholly
+wanting in some animals, as the frog. The circular plate one sees
+behind the eye of the frog is the drum-head of the middle ear.</p>
+
+<p>From the <i>drum-head</i>, or <i>tympanic membrane</i>, the vibrations, which
+are now those of a solid, are communicated by a series of very small
+bones,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> most beautifully linked together by perfect joints, to another
+membrane, which closes a small hole in the outer wall of the inner
+ear.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>middle ear</i>, it will be seen, is a drum with its stretched
+membrane like any other drum, and it too has a communication with the
+exterior air through a tube, the <i>Eustachian tube</i>, which leads from
+the drum into the back part of the throat. When one has a cold, the
+mucous membrane which lines this tube may become swollen or even
+catarrhal, and be so closed that no air can enter from the throat; the
+air already within the drum being absorbed, the outer air presses
+unduly against the drum-head, with the result that the whole
+conducting apparatus is put more or less out of condition, and a
+certain degree of deafness naturally results. The tension of the
+drum-head is regulated by a muscle attached to the bone which is
+connected with the inner part of this membrane.</p>
+
+<p>It is now easy to understand how any unfavorable condition of the
+throat may affect the ear, or that of the ear influence the throat.</p>
+
+<p>In the hearing mechanism of man, the <i>inner ear</i>, or <i>labyrinth</i>, well
+so named because of its complexity, is really situated in the inner
+hardest portion of the &quot;temporal&quot; bone. It consists of a membrane and
+a bony portion, the former containing the essential mechanism of
+hearing, the latter being chiefly protective to it. The membranous
+portion consists of a series of canals communicating with some
+similarly membranous sacs, the whole being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> surrounded by and filled
+with fluid. These latter communicate with an extension termed the
+<i>cochlea</i>, which contains a central canal in which that collection of
+cells is found which constitutes the <i>end-organ</i>, among them the
+hair-cells, about which the nerve ends.</p>
+
+<p>This end-organ in the cochlea may be compared very fitly to the
+telephone which receives the message, and that portion of the brain
+where the auditory tract ends, to the telephone at the distant end of
+the path, the listener there representing consciousness. The auditory
+path within the brain is long and complicated, there being, in fact,
+many way-stations through which the message passes before it reaches
+the final one.</p>
+
+<p>The auditory nerve proceeds first to the lowest or hindermost portion
+of the brain, known as the <i>bulb</i>, or <i>medulla oblongata</i>; thence a
+continuation of the nerve tract passes forward to a central region,
+the <i>posterior corpora quadrigemina</i>, then, by a new relay of
+nerve-fibres, to the highest and most important part of the brain,
+that most closely associated with consciousness, the <i>cortex of the
+temporal lobe</i>, where there is situated the most important of all the
+centres of hearing.</p>
+
+<p>It will be apparent, on consideration, that &quot;hearing&quot; is a very
+elaborate result, the outcome of many physiological processes
+(initiated by physical ones), the initial and final being better
+understood than the intermediate ones.</p>
+
+<p>One asks, with natural curiosity and interest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> &quot;Is the auditory
+apparatus of the highly endowed musician different from and superior
+to that of the individual with little talent for music?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It is not easy to give a short and definite answer to this question.
+No special examinations of the essential parts of the ears of eminent
+musicians have been made, so far as we are aware, and as yet few of
+the brains of this class of men. It is, however, practically certain
+that there is a brain development peculiar to the born musician, and
+that this, whatever else it may be, involves a special excellence of
+the auditory path within the brain, rather than any unusual
+development of the essential parts of the ear. The individual who is a
+musical prodigy has, without question, <i>a more perfect connection</i>
+established between his auditory apparatus, in the widest sense of the
+word, and those muscular mechanisms employed in the execution of
+music, whether vocal or instrumental, than is the case with the
+average man. Usually, with this goes a wide series of brain
+associations or connections, we may presume, between the auditory
+tracts and other regions, for without this it is difficult to explain
+temperament and artistic perception. That they are not necessarily
+associated, however, is clear from the fact that some have a high
+degree of executive ability and little real artistic development.</p>
+
+<p>It must never be forgotten, however, that whatever else music may be,
+it is essentially and primarily a sensuous experience. The one who
+enjoys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> music must feel its sensuous charm, and the artist who
+furnishes that which is enjoyed addresses himself primarily to our
+auditory mechanism. Executing music is hearing music, and enjoying
+music is hearing music, though both may involve much more than this,
+and herein individuals must differ greatly, owing to education, past
+experience, etc.; but all who have the power to really appreciate
+music must be capable of the sensuous enjoyment of tones. In this all
+everywhere find something in common; often that which we enjoy is of
+the most varied nature.</p>
+
+<p>One thing is certain: those connections between the hearing and the
+motor processes we term singing or playing should be made early in
+life, if they are to reach that degree of facility and general
+excellence essential to success. We think there is good reason to
+begin voice-production early, as well as the practice of an
+instrument, though we do not maintain that the argument is as strong
+in the one case as in the other.</p>
+
+<p>That the &quot;ear for music&quot; may be well developed, in the sense that one
+may know perfectly what is correct in time and tune, without the power
+to execute well, there can be no doubt, as witness the case of many
+composers, but the reverse does not hold. There can be no doubt that
+<i>the nervous impulses that pass from the ear to the brain are of all
+sensory messages the most important guides for the outgoing ones that
+determine the necessary movements</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The author would advise every serious student of music to believe in
+the unlimited capacity of his own ear for improvement. The lack of
+&quot;ear&quot; of many people is due largely, if not solely, to inattention.
+Indeed, an excess of temperament may be a positive hindrance to
+musical development, both as regards appreciation and execution, for
+it may be accompanied by inattentive listening and consequent
+inadequate hearing. On the other hand, no one should, because he has a
+good faculty for time and tune and the memorizing of airs, conclude
+that he is an artist. The one faculty may exist altogether apart from
+the capacity for the highest art. It is a matter of history that
+several vocalists now before the public, and who rank in the highest
+class of musical artists, displayed at one period of their career a
+lack of perception as to pitch or rhythm that was, to say the least,
+very discouraging, and which, but for their force of character, would
+have kept them from ever being eminent.</p>
+
+<p>If one have neither ear, temperament, nor artistic perception, he
+should not waste his energies on musical study&#8212;at least, not extended
+efforts; but if he have the two last, and but a moderate ear, he will
+do well to try to improve the lower for the sake of the higher
+qualities.</p>
+
+<p>In children the difficulty often is due wholly to inattention.</p>
+
+<p>Those who would cultivate the speaking voice are frequently
+discouraged from lack of &quot;ear,&quot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> and when urged to follow such
+exercises as have been recommended in this work, complain that they
+have not the &quot;ear&quot; to do so. To such the author would say, &quot;Persevere;
+believe in your ear; learn to listen&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, to attend to sounds
+having musical qualities.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Besides, it must not be forgotten that in addition to the
+&quot;ear&quot;&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, the ability to appreciate relative pitch, tune, and
+rhythm&#8212;there is also the entirely distinct faculty that appreciates
+the <i>quality</i> of sounds. The latter is really more important for the
+speaker, who can succeed with a very moderate development of the
+faculty for time and tune, but to whom the power to appreciate the
+<i>quality</i> of sounds is essential.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the first and fundamental qualities in the make-up of a
+musician are the capacities to appreciate pitch and rhythm, but no
+result worthy the term &quot;artistic&quot; can be produced in which attention
+is not given to the quality of sounds, hence the technical and
+artistic should be developed together. The lack of attention on the
+part of a certain class of vocal teachers to the quality of the tones
+produced is one of the special defects in the instruction of the day.</p>
+
+<p>In the early weeks of vocal training, when the student should intone
+only before his teacher, the former need not be left without musical
+culture, and it is for each teacher to give the pupil that training,
+at this time, which will forestall disgust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> and impatience at the
+apparent slowness of his progress. At this time much can be done to
+cultivate the ear in all its various powers.</p>
+
+<p>And the author would like to put in a plea for the development of the
+<i>appreciation of music</i>. Whatever difference of opinion there may be
+as to choral singing, singing in schools, etc., there can be no
+question that time spent in developing the appreciation of musical art
+is well spent, and makes for the development and provides for the
+innocent and elevating sources of enjoyment of a people. If some of
+the time spent in bad piano-playing were devoted to the development of
+the power to appreciate and delight in really good music, including
+the sweet sounds of speech and song, the world would thereby be
+greatly the gainer.</p>
+
+<p>The author would impress on all students of music, and of the voice as
+used in both singing and speaking, the paramount importance of
+learning early to listen most attentively to others when executing
+music; and, above all, to listen with the greatest care to themselves,
+and never to accept any musical tone that does not fully satisfy the
+ear. When one considers how much harshness is passed as singing or
+speaking, by the student, even by those who pose as public singers and
+speakers, one must often wonder where they keep their ears. As a
+matter of fact, the ideal listeners are rare, and the critical ear,
+like a sentinel on guard, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> among students, really seldom to be met
+with, if one extend the term &quot;listening&quot; to mean giving attention
+equally and in the most critical way, not only to pitch and rhythm,
+but also to the quality of sounds, the effects of pauses, shading,
+etc., all of which are perceived through the ear.</p>
+
+<p>If such listening requires, as it does, the closest attention, it must
+give rise to fatigue, so that it is clear that the lengthy practices
+some undertake are against the plainest laws of physiology and
+psychology, even if the hearing processes alone be considered; but as
+we have before shown, there are other reasons why such long-continued
+exercises as some attempt are in every way unwise; in fact, in the
+author's opinion, they are in the musical world a great evil under the
+sun.</p>
+
+
+<h3>SUMMARY.</h3>
+
+<p>Hearing is finally a psychological or mental condition, a state of
+consciousness, but is always associated with certain physiological
+processes, which are initiated by a physical stimulus in the form of
+waves in a fluid surrounding the hair-cells of the auditory end-organ;
+which waves may again be traced to the movements of the bones of the
+middle ear, caused by the swinging to and fro of the drum-head, owing
+to vibrations of the air produced by a sounding body.</p>
+
+<p>The ear is anatomically divisible into external, middle (tympanum or
+drum), and internal (laby<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>rinth). The outer ear collects the
+vibrations, the middle ear conducts them, and the internal converts
+them into a special physiological condition of the hair-cells and the
+auditory nerve. This condition is communicated to the other links in
+the anatomical hearing chain, until the highest part of the brain, or
+cortex, is reached. Hearing, from the physiological point of view, is
+the outcome of a series of processes having their development in a
+corresponding series of centres, or collections of nerve-cells.</p>
+
+<p>The perceptions associated with the ear, in the mind of the musician,
+are those of the pitch, rhythm (and time), and quality of tones. The
+loudness of a tone is, of course, recognized by the ear also, but this
+is hardly a musical quality proper. In reality, like all that belongs
+to hearing, these perceptions are the result of a series of
+physiological processes, in which the ear takes an important but not
+the sole or even the chief part, which is to be referred to the brain.</p>
+
+<p>It is practically important to recognize that these various qualities
+are distinct perceptions, and that the &quot;ear&quot; for relative pitch may
+exist well developed and the color, clang, or quality of a tone be
+imperfectly recognized, and the reverse.</p>
+
+<p>The most comprehensive ear-training involves attention to each of the
+above characters of tones, and then uniting them in a musically
+perfect result. Lack of &quot;ear&quot; is often simply want of attention to the
+characters of sounds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The auditory messages are the most important of all the nervous
+impulses that reach the brain, for the musician, whether appreciation
+or execution be considered. They are the chief guides for the outgoing
+nervous impulses to the muscles.</p>
+
+<p>The good executant must, above all, be a good listener.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL HYGIENE AND RELATED SUBJECTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hygiene</span> deals with the laws by the observance of which health is to be
+maintained and disease prevented; but as such laws must be based on
+physiological principles, hygiene follows from physiology.
+Accordingly, throughout this work our method has been to point out the
+correct way as soon as the physiological principle has been laid down,
+so that the reason for the recommendation made would be obvious.
+However, it may be well if now some of the more important tendencies,
+errors, bad habits, and dangers to be guarded against by the singer
+and speaker be pointed out afresh, briefly, with some additional
+observations that experience has shown to be of practical importance.</p>
+
+<p>Hygiene, for all persons, should, in the widest sense, refer to the
+whole man, his body, intellect, feelings, and will, though the term
+has usually been restricted to the preservation of bodily health. But,
+fortunately, it is being more and more recognized that man is a whole,
+and that one part of him cannot suffer without the others
+participating, so we shall pursue the broader course, and consider the
+general welfare of the voice-user as properly coming under
+consideration.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He, being a human being like his fellows, must, of course, observe the
+same laws for the preservation of his general health as they, but just
+because he comes before the public, his case is peculiar, and he must,
+in addition, take special precautions to avoid every form of temporary
+or permanent disability.</p>
+
+<p>There is, of course, much in the life of a public speaker or singer
+that conduces to health of body and mind, such as the vigorous use of
+the breathing apparatus, the favorable effect of praise expressed in
+one way and another, etc., but even with the most successful, all this
+may be more than counter-balanced by other unfavorable factors. When
+one considers the necessary travelling, often including night
+journeys, the late hours, the concentrated efforts essential to
+success, the uncertainty of the public taste, the rivalries,
+jealousies, exhaustion, etc., often associated with a public career,
+it must be clear that no one should embark upon it without counting
+well the cost. For one with mediocre ability, imperfect training,
+voice of very limited range, power, and quality, feeble will, an
+imperfectly developed body, and indifferent health, to enter on a
+public career is practically to court failure and to ensure
+disappointment and unhappiness.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be remembered that never was the world so exacting of the
+artist, and never were there so many aspirants to popular favor, so
+that the competition in the ranks of the actors and singers, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+least, is very keen. At the same time, there is room for a certain
+class of persons&#8212;viz., those with good health, excellent physique,
+first-rate ability, self-control, sound moral principles,
+perseverance, industry, musical feeling, and artistic insight, with
+vocal organs trained like the muscles of the athlete, and, in the case
+of singers, sound musical knowledge and an exacting and reliable ear.</p>
+
+<p>Considering that the actor, often the public speaker, and the singer
+are constantly being put under excessive strain, it follows that (1)
+such persons should begin with an unusually good physical
+organization&#8212;others can scarcely hope to get into the first class,
+even with the best abilities; and (2) because there is a tendency to
+exhaustion of the body and mind through emotional and other
+expenditure, the public voice-user must take precautions, on the one
+hand, to prevent this, and, on the other, to make good his outlay by
+special means. He needs more sleep and rest generally than others, and
+he should counteract the influence of unhealthy conditions on the
+stage or platform by some quiet hours in the open air, all the better
+if with some congenial friend, sympathetic with his aims, yet
+belonging, preferably perhaps, to another profession, and who will
+speak of topics other than those that are ever recurring in the life
+of an artist. The uninterrupted pursuit of one thing, without the mind
+and spirit being fed from other springs, can be good for no human
+being. The specialist who is only a specialist will never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> reach the
+very highest point. The artist must seek sources of inspiration and
+mental nutriment outside of his own line of thought, or he will suffer
+professionally and in his own spirit.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will by this time understand why the author considers that
+for one who would be an artist to enter on his public career without
+the fullest mental equipment and vocal training is an exceedingly
+unwise course. Technique should be acquired before an aspirant to
+success steps on a public stage or platform, and this is exactly what
+is so seldom done in these days, and why we have so few singers,
+actors, and public speakers of the highest rank. Many, very many, know
+what they wish to express, and, in a sense, how to express it, but
+they have neither the formed voice nor the control of that voice by
+which their ideas are to be embodied. Let no one delude himself into
+the belief that technique will be learned in public; such is rarely,
+if ever, the case. Expression, style, etc., may come to the vocalist
+or speaker all the more readily if he occasionally goes before the
+public; but that such may be so, he must first have voice and
+technique. It is because of the neglect of this training for the
+acquirement of technique that so many naturally good voices are of
+little practical use for the public, and this explains why the ranks
+of the professions are crowded with inferior artists, if, indeed,
+artists they may be called.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>isolation</i> of the dramatic and musical artist from his fellows
+generally is a great evil. Much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> that society complains of in the
+lives of artists would never exist but for this isolation, in spite of
+the fact that the artistic temperament is so moody and so impulsive,
+so little regardful of ordinary conventionalities. That it is so is
+partly the fault of society. It is quite true that because of
+journeying, rehearsals, etc., the travelling artist has little time to
+meet the members of the community in private life; but this state of
+things could be mitigated were society and the artists themselves
+convinced that for any class of people to live in little hives, wholly
+separated from their fellows, must be unfortunate for them and
+society. Artists as men and women are practically unknown to the
+world, though their false selves as represented by sensational
+paragraphs in newspapers are only too familiar to us. It may truly be
+said of the artist: &quot;Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou
+shalt not escape calumny.&quot; It is within the power of society to alter
+this, and it should do so.</p>
+
+<p>Why is it that actors and singers do not prepare themselves by as
+prolonged and thorough a vocal training as in a past time?</p>
+
+<p>Considering that there never was a period when there was the same
+scope for art, never a time when the public was so eager to hear and
+so able to pay for art, as now, never a period of such widespread
+intelligence on all subjects, music included, the question is a very
+pertinent one. We believe there are many factors underlying the
+technical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> decadence we must regret. The orchestra has greatly
+developed, choral singing is common in all countries, and the spirit
+of the times has changed. So analytical, so refined is our age, that
+singing sometimes becomes a sort of musical declamation, but,
+unfortunately, without that power to declaim possessed by the actors
+and often the opera-singers of a former period. A singer often
+attempts now to make up by an expressive reading of a song, for
+technical defects. We must all commend every evidence of
+intellectuality in music, but this does not imply that we should
+accept good intentions for execution&#8212;performance. Let us have every
+possible development of orchestral music; let every village have, if
+possible, its choral society, but let none enter it who have not been
+trained vocally.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the author's own experience he could a tale unfold of the evil
+done to the vocal organs by those who have sung in choirs without
+adequate vocal training. Choristers are tempted to reach high tones by
+a process of their own, without any regard to registers, and with
+corresponding effects on their throats, some of which imply also
+lasting injury to the voice itself.</p>
+
+<p>In choral singing there is the tendency to lean on certain singers who
+are natural leaders, with the result that there is little independent
+listening and individual culture, even if the singer could hear his
+own voice well, which is not usually the case. The same objections and
+others apply to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> class singing in schools, which does little for
+music, and tends to make slovenly singers. If some of the time given
+to school singing were taken up in illustrating why certain musical
+selections are good, and others mere rubbish&#8212;in other words, in
+forming the taste of the nation in the children&#8212;a valuable work would
+be done; but school class singing, as commonly carried out, tends
+rather to injure than develop voices and good musical taste.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot honestly pass by the subject of Wagner's music and some of
+its tendencies. Wagner was an intellectual giant among men, and his
+works are amazingly grand, yet they unfortunately are, in a certain
+sense, responsible for much bad singing and not a little injury to
+fine voices.</p>
+
+<p>First of all, Wagner's operas are, in their present form, too long. To
+sing these compositions night after night is beyond human powers, even
+in the case of those of the most perfect musical and technical
+training. If they were divided into two, and one half sung on one
+evening and the other on the next, it would be a gain for the public
+and the artists. It is impossible for even the musically cultivated to
+absorb and assimilate the whole of such an opera as &quot;Siegfried&quot; or
+&quot;Tristan and Isolde&quot; in one evening, and it is too much to expect any
+artist to sing them through without a rest.</p>
+
+<p>Again, they call for such strong accents, such deep and strenuous
+breathing, that the artist im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>personating a hero or a god or goddess
+is put to a degree of exertion that is too great for human powers when
+continued for more than a very moderate period; besides, there is a
+temptation to a wrong use of the larynx&#8212;a forcible <i>coup de glotte</i>,
+or attack&#8212;that is exceedingly dangerous, and has injured many voices
+and ruined others. The man or woman who would sing Wagner's greater
+music dramas should, in addition to a strong physique, be master of a
+wonderfully perfect technique. These operas should never be attempted
+by very young singers of either sex, and especially not by very young
+women. They are for the powerful, the mature, the perfectly trained,
+the experienced.</p>
+
+<p>Turning to some special faults, we would warn against the &quot;scoop,&quot; the
+excessive use of the <i>portamento</i>, or glide, so common a fault at the
+present time, and the <i>vibrato</i> and <i>tremolo</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The two former are musical faults, so we pass them by without further
+consideration. Otherwise is it with the last two faults; they both
+result from a wrong use of the vocal organs. They are both due to some
+unsteadiness and lack of control, and, unfortunately, when once
+acquired, are very difficult to remedy. The unsteadiness may be almost
+anywhere in the vocal organs, but is usually referable to the
+respiratory apparatus or to the larynx.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>vibrato</i> is the milder form of the evil, and is encouraged, we
+regret to say, by some teachers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> while the <i>tremolo</i> is due to an
+extreme unsteadiness, and, so far as we are aware, is universally
+condemned. It is about the worst fault any singer can have. It is
+evident in some cases only when the vocalist sings <i>piano</i>, but mostly
+in vigorous singing, and often arises from straining, disregard of
+registers, etc. It may be due to the singer trying to control too
+large a supply of air, or from bringing a blast to bear on the vocal
+bands too strong for them. In every case there is lack of adjustment
+between the vocal bands and the respiratory organs. The remedy must be
+adapted to the case, but usually the singer must for a time give up
+the use of the voice in <i>forte</i> singing altogether, and gradually
+again learn to control his vocal mechanism.</p>
+
+<p>Associated sometimes with this fault is another, which, indeed, often
+gives rise to the former&#8212;viz., &quot;pumping,&quot; or attempting to vocalize
+after the breath power is exhausted. One should always have enough air
+in reserve to sing at least two tones more than what is required.</p>
+
+<p>It will be observed that good singing and speaking are always
+physiological&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, they depend on the observance of well-known
+physiological principles; we wish we could add, principles clearly
+recognized by singers and teachers generally. It is to those who do
+that we would recommend the student of the vocal art to go at the
+outset of his career, otherwise much time may be lost and possibly
+much injury done. We distin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>guish, of course, between the teacher who
+recognizes physiological principles only practically and the one who
+does so consciously. The former may be an excellent and safe teacher,
+though, we think, not so good, other things being equal, as one of the
+latter type,&#8212;as yet somewhat rare.</p>
+
+<p>At an earlier period we referred to the important matter of
+classifying the voice. It often happens that one who is a tenor is
+trained as a barytone, or a contralto as a soprano, and the reverse,
+only to discover later that a mistake has been made. If it could
+become the custom to have vocal consultations among teachers, as
+medical ones among doctors, the author is convinced it would be well.
+Often a patient is sent a long distance to consult a medical man, and
+to return to his own physician for treatment based on the diagnosis
+made. In these instances the doctor consulted is expected to write his
+views privately to the patient's doctor, and to recommend treatment.
+Why should the same not occur in the vocal teacher's profession? It is
+considered scandalous in the medical profession to &quot;steal&quot; another
+physician's patient, and why should not a similar etiquette prevail in
+the profession now under consideration? The teacher in doubt about a
+voice might thus obtain the views of another member of his profession,
+of longer experience, on such a vital point as the classification of a
+voice, and with satisfaction alike to himself and to his pupil. If the
+teacher or pupil were not satisfied with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> diagnosis, another
+eminent vocal teacher might be consulted, which would only be
+following custom in the medical profession.</p>
+
+<p>We would again remind the reader that voices are to be <i>classified by
+quality</i>, and not by range, at least not to any appreciable extent.</p>
+
+<p>Of all persons, the singer should know himself. He must learn his
+limitations, and the sooner the better. At the outset of his career he
+may be able to take certain liberties with himself with apparent
+impunity, but sooner or later he will pay the penalty; so that we
+recommend him to live with all the care of an athlete in training.
+However it may be with other men, spirits in every form, tobacco,
+etc., are not for him. Both tend to irritate and relax if not to
+inflame the throat, not to mention their bad effects on the general
+health, both psychical and physical. This advice is all the more
+necessary when one considers the exacting nature of the professional
+life of the artist. Strenuous exertion tends to fatigue and
+exhaustion, with a natural desire to relieve them by some special
+means, such as alcohol. To do so is often but to make a beginning of
+the end. How many bright lights in the dramatic and musical
+professions have been prematurely quenched through indulgence in the
+delusive draught! If tonics, sedatives, etc., are to be taken, which
+should not be a habitual practice, they should be used only under the
+direction of a medical man, and not self-prescribed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As the speaker and singer must often practise their art in an
+atmosphere that is far from pure, they will do well to carry out in a
+routine way some sort of mouth toilet on their return home and the
+next morning. Various simple mouth and throat washes may be used, such
+as (1) water with a little common salt dissolved in it; (2) water
+containing a few drops of carbolic acid&#8212;just enough to be distinctly
+tasted; (3) water containing listerine; (4) either of the last two
+with the addition of a pinch of bicarbonate of sodium to a teacupful
+of the fluid, when there is a tendency to catarrh.</p>
+
+<p>The use of lozenges in a routine way is not to be commended, and those
+containing morphia, cocaine, etc., should be employed only under the
+supervision of a medical practitioner. Sometimes, especially in the
+case of nervousness, a licorice pellet or a particle of gum arabic
+serves a good purpose in aiding in keeping the mouth moist.</p>
+
+<p>For one with a healthy throat the sipping of water is unnecessary, and
+the habit is one on no account to be learned, for the most admirable
+effect may be spoiled through the speaker stopping to sip water; there
+is the fatal and rapid descent from the lofty to the little.</p>
+
+<p>It is much more important to avoid eating certain things which
+interfere with the voice than to take anything to improve it before
+singing or speaking. Each individual should learn just what he can or
+cannot with safety eat. Certain kinds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> of fruit, cheese, fat meat,
+pastry, nuts, occasionally even butter, not to mention puddings, etc.,
+must be put on the list of what singers and speakers had better not
+partake of before a public appearance. But the quantity is quite as
+important as the quality of the food taken. About one half the usual
+quantity, at most, and of very simple but nourishing food, is enough
+for any one who would do himself justice before the public. If blood
+and energy be drawn off to the stomach by a large meal, it cannot be
+available for the uses of the artist. Moreover, a full stomach
+pressing up under the diaphragm greatly hampers the movements of this,
+the most important of all the muscles of breathing. Of course, the
+public singer or speaker should eat after his work is done, of what
+and how much he can best learn by experience.</p>
+
+<p>As the author has felt called upon to condemn the use of alcohol in
+every form, he should, perhaps, point out that to take a cup of such a
+mild stimulant as tea or coffee during an interval, in the case of
+those who feel weary, is generally an unobjectionable, indeed, often a
+useful, procedure; but the less the artist coddles himself, especially
+while still young, the better.</p>
+
+<p>We would again call attention to one anatomical fact of great
+importance for the explanation of certain facts of experience&#8212;viz.:
+that the whole respiratory tract, the larynx included, is lined with a
+<i>mucous membrane</i>, which is continuous with that covering the inner
+surface of the digestive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> organs. That is to say, the nose, the mouth,
+the back of the throat, the larynx, the windpipe, the bronchial tubes,
+the gullet, the stomach and intestines are all brought into structural
+connection by this common lining membrane. Moreover, these parts have
+to some extent the same nerve supply, and are, in fact, so related
+that derangement in one region must affect sooner or later, and to a
+variable degree according to the resisting power of each individual,
+other related parts. Thus it is that a disordered stomach affects the
+voice, that a cold may affect digestion, that a catarrh of the nose
+will eventually reach the vocal bands, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Another principle of wide-reaching importance is that all sorts of
+<i>compression</i> must, of necessity, be attended by functional disorders,
+which, if long continued, will result in organic or structural changes
+implying deterioration of a kind that must be more or less permanent.
+Whatever the cause of compression of the chest or neck, the result is
+the same: a retention of blood in parts for too long a period&#8212;a
+condition of things which must inevitably be injurious.</p>
+
+<p>The tissues are made up of cells, which are the individuals of the
+bodily community. Around these cells are found the smallest of the
+blood-vessels, the capillaries, between which and the tissues a sort
+of physiological barter is continually going on, the capillaries
+handing over oxygen and food supplies from the blood, and receiving
+waste materials in return, as the blood creeps along at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> very slow
+rate. If, however, in consequence of pressure on a part, the blood be
+kept back in these minute vessels too long, there is naturally a
+double evil: first, the food and oxygen supplies fail&#8212;they have been
+used up already&#8212;and, secondly, the waste products accumulate in the
+tissue cells, so that there is a combination of starvation and
+poisoning&#8212;a sort of physiological slum life, with corresponding
+degradation; so that it is not at all difficult to understand why
+tight collars, neckbands, corsets, etc., must be unmixed evils, apart
+altogether from the fact that they so greatly hamper the very
+movements the voice-user most requires for the successful execution of
+his task.</p>
+
+<p>All sorts of straining or forcing also involve this same evil, known
+to medical men as <i>congestion</i>. The sore throats so common with those
+who force, owing to methods essentially wrong, or simply to the too
+vigorous use of methods correct in themselves, are to be traced to the
+above&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, to this congestion, which is bad, and bad only.</p>
+
+<p>If one who had a naturally sound throat at the outset finds that after
+vocal exercise he experiences either a soreness or an undue weariness
+of parts, he should conclude, if he is living under healthy
+conditions, that the methods he is employing are incorrect, and seek
+the natural remedy. Proper vocal exercise should, in those with
+healthy vocal organs, always improve them and the condition of the
+whole man. The author has met those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> who have been ruined vocally for
+life by the use of certain methods recommended by would-be
+professional guides. Why should not all who assume the responsibility
+of guiding speakers and especially singers be required by the state to
+show that they have not only a knowledge of music and vocal technique,
+but also at least a moderate amount of practical knowledge of the
+anatomy and physiology of the vocal organs, with some elementary
+information on general physiology? If the injury done by incompetent
+teachers were realized, we feel certain that the above proposition
+would not be questioned.</p>
+
+<p>A common cause of congestion of the digestive organs, with which, of
+course, other parts sympathize physiologically, is <i>constipation</i>,
+very often the result of insufficient exercise, and injurious in many
+ways. Speakers and singers very generally ride to and from their
+engagements, so that there is special reason why they should see to it
+that some time is set aside for general exercise, as walking in the
+open air, which would of itself work against that tendency to grow fat
+which is the physical curse that seems to fall on artists above most
+others.</p>
+
+<p>It seems scarcely necessary to point out how important it is for those
+who propose to take up the life of the stage or the platform to look
+to hardening themselves against catching cold, by friction of the
+skin, cold bathing, etc. The use of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> sponge-bath of cold salt and
+water to the upper parts of the body, especially the neck and chest,
+will prove valuable in many cases, but the enervating effects of hot
+water should be avoided by all.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 35%;" />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The remarks made in regard to Wagner's music on
+  <a href="#Page_257">page 257</a>
+have been among the very few to which exception has been
+taken by my reviewers.</p>
+
+<p>To those who disagree with me on the merits of the case I
+have nothing to say, but some have assumed that the writer
+was speaking out of pure theory, in real ignorance of
+Wagner's works. I wish to set that class of critics right.</p>
+
+<p>I have spent a great many seasons in Germany, and have heard
+Wagner's works under a great variety of circumstances, and
+have heard them also in several other countries. I have also
+had the opportunity of getting behind the scenes in a way
+that falls to the lot of few, so I think I am entitled to
+speak with rather more than the usual authority.</p>
+
+<p>My convictions as expressed in the foregoing chapter have in
+the interval rather strengthened than weakened. I am firmly
+convinced that it would be in the interests of art, the
+singer, and the auditor alike, either to shorten these
+operas, or to produce them in some way which will relieve
+the continuous strain. It must not be forgotten, either,
+that the poor overworked and greatly underpaid orchestral
+player often suffers severely in his nervous system from
+long continued Wagner playing.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>FURTHER TREATMENT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HYGIENE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><i>Stammering</i> and <i>stuttering</i> are allied but not identical defects.
+They require special treatment, the earlier the better. Much can be
+done by the exercise of a little patience and kind consideration, to
+make the subject of these infirmities feel at ease, and so manifest
+the defects as little as possible. It is, of course, as a general
+rule, very unwise to take any notice whatever of such imperfections,
+as they are thereby made worse. As a rule, they are best treated
+practically by those who have made this branch a specialty.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have been badly taught, or who have overworked the vocal
+organs and, in consequence, may have broken down, are among the most
+discouraging if they be not the very worst cases that come under the
+treatment of the physician or vocal teacher. If the throat be out of
+order, a specialist should be consulted. He will likely enjoin
+complete rest of the vocal organs, and his advice should be implicitly
+followed. But usually the time comes when some sort of vocal exercises
+may be resumed. When this is the case, the choice of a teacher becomes
+of the utmost importance, more so than in ordinary cases, for further
+injudicious treatment may lead to the utter ruin of the voice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+Assuming that medical treatment is no longer or not at all required,
+we recommend: (1) That all practices be only <i>piano</i>, or, at most,
+<i>moderato</i>, for some time; (2) that they be of very brief duration at
+any one period, so as to avoid fatigue; (3) that they be well within
+the range of the singer. The same principles apply to speakers who
+have broken down, whether owing to bad methods or to over-use of the
+voice. It is most important that strength and facility be gradually
+gained, and that weariness, not to say fatigue, be strictly avoided.
+If the general health be good, time, patience, and the utmost care in
+the application of the above principles, under the direction of an
+enlightened teacher, will in a large proportion of cases restore the
+voice for efficient use in at least moderate efforts. Of course, much
+depends on the age, general health, intelligence, etc., of the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>On the question of the extent to which a singer's range can be safely
+increased, the greatest difference of opinion exists, and very extreme
+views have been held. On the one hand are those who almost ridicule
+the idea of &quot;making&quot; tones, and on the other, those who maintain that
+the range of all young singers can be increased by proper training.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, there are many singers before the public to-day
+whose range, either upward or downward, has been increased by many
+tones, in some cases almost an octave, and these singers are
+successful artists and sound vocalists; while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> others have sought to
+add but two or three tones to their range, and in vain. This is quite
+intelligible. As a rule, those of the former class have fallen into
+the hands of very good teachers, while yet young, have had excellent
+health and well-formed vocal organs, and been patient and attentive
+students. The acquisition has been gradual, and never forced. We have
+before said that if a pupil felt his throat the worse for a lesson in
+vocal culture, there was something wrong: either the method was
+incorrect in itself, or the practice was continued too long or carried
+out too vigorously. Of course, it is always assumed that the vocal
+organs are in a normal condition, and the student's health good not
+only generally but on the day of the practice.</p>
+
+<p>It is in every case for the student himself to determine, from his own
+feelings, whether the attempt to reach a certain tone produces
+straining, and for the teacher to judge whether this be so, from the
+appearance of the face of the pupil, the character of the tone, etc.
+One thing is certain: harm, and harm only, is done by any form of
+forcing or straining. At the same time, as the athlete increases the
+height to which he can jump, or the speed with which he can run, even
+during a single season, it seems illogical to conclude that in no case
+can a singer safely reach tones that are not originally in his
+voice&#8212;meaning thereby that he is unable to sing them at the outset of
+his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> career. This is one of those subjects on which common sense and
+science unite in admonishing us to test cautiously and to progress
+gradually, if the purpose is to be achieved with good results for the
+individual and for art.</p>
+
+<p>It is also unwise for a singer to attempt those selections in public
+the range of which taxes him to the very utmost. They lead to undue
+anxiety as to success, violate the principle of reserve force, to
+which reference has several times been made, and may lead to vocal
+failure, if not to injury to the throat. Though it is true that
+occasionally a song suffers by transposition to a lower key, if the
+vocalist is determined to sing a composition even slightly beyond his
+easy range, it is better to resort to it than to risk the
+possibilities mentioned above and other undesirable ones.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone who purposes to follow the arduous career of the vocal or
+dramatic artist would do well to realize early the importance of
+learning the art of conserving energy, or making the most of all that
+Nature has given him. When a man or woman is small, and has less
+breath power than some others, it becomes more important that they
+observe the laws of contrast, rest, etc., in their public efforts. A
+<i>forte</i> has much the same effect, if it be preceded by darker, quieter
+tones, as if it were really louder. In like manner, a pause may often
+serve a very good purpose in preparing the ear of the listener for an
+effect that should be tell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>ing, yet a difficult one for a person of
+limited physical powers.</p>
+
+<p>In reality, all the best art recognizes, mostly unconsciously, the
+peculiarities of our physical and mental nature. A continuous <i>forte</i>,
+for example, ceases to be a <i>forte</i>, in reality, since the ear and the
+mind weary under it, and all the effect of contrast is lost. As we
+have more than once said, good art is physiological&#8212;in harmony with
+the laws of the body, as well as of the mind. It follows that each one
+should study especially how to make the wisest, the most effective,
+use of his powers, for what is best for one may not be so for another.</p>
+
+<p>A singer or speaker, by reason of a voice somewhat small in volume,
+may seem to be shut out from certain buildings. This need rarely be
+the case. The artist must simply the more carefully consider how he
+shall vary his effects, how so use his powers that they shall suffice.
+A loud voice may be a very bad one for the hearer, and may annoy and
+weary rather than please. When a building is large, nearly all effects
+should be increased&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>, all pauses lengthened, the <i>tempo</i> taken
+a little slower, the contrasts made stronger, etc.,&#8212;rather than the
+volume of tone increased. The method of attack becomes of the utmost
+importance; all low or soft passages should be sung or uttered with
+the greatest distinctness, all final letters most perfectly finished.
+It is especially im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>portant for a speaker to be aware of his
+favorite&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, most easy and natural&#8212;pitch, and also that pitch
+which best adapts his voice to a certain building. Many forget that
+sound does not, in reality, travel very rapidly, and that allowance
+must be made for this, so that one tone shall not break on the ear
+before another has had time to be attended to&#8212;one idea to be grasped
+before another is presented.</p>
+
+<p>Of all things pauses are of the greatest importance, to the listener,
+that he may apprehend the ideas presented, and to the speaker, that he
+may have time to take breath and a brief rest, and also seize the
+opportunity to readdress himself, so to speak, to his auditors, by the
+use of another accent, pitch of tone, or whatever he deems most apt to
+his purpose. Speakers who make suitable pauses with intention (not
+from lack of ideas), or from an artistic instinct, give pleasure, as
+well as effect their intellectual purpose, for the listener also gets
+his moments for rest, perceives readily what is meant, and enjoys the
+purely sensuous in the art far more than when the speaker's utterance
+rushes on like a torrent. All this applies to a certain extent to the
+singer, though it is but very inadequately observed&#8212;we must say,
+however, much better than at a former period, when &quot;ranting,&quot; on the
+stage especially, was a very common fault.</p>
+
+<p>In an earlier chapter attention was given to the precautions to be
+taken before a public appear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>ance, especially by those who are
+inexperienced; and we would again emphasize the fact that those who
+have the best training, and have made the most perfect special
+preparation for the coming event, are least likely to suffer from that
+great disturber, nervousness; and when they are somewhat tense, the
+well-disciplined often recover rapidly, and frequently astonish their
+friends by the success of their first appearance. We strongly
+recommend all who can to take rest on the day preceding and following
+a hard evening's work, and preferably, in summer, in the open air. A
+quiet walk in a park, where one may think or observe or not, as he
+feels inclined, is an excellent thing to do, either before or after a
+strenuous artistic effort. If the battery is to be well charged, it
+must not be discharged even partially before the right moment.
+Amateurs and the inexperienced are particularly apt to neglect such
+precaution for success, and to fritter away their energies by
+attention to details, possibly trivial ones, up to the last moment.</p>
+
+<p>Happy is he who, well prepared for his task, free from worries,
+unmoved by envy, jealousy, or undue ambition, can step before the
+public resolved to do his best for art, and who, having done it, can
+rest in the satisfaction that he has contributed something to the
+innocent and ennobling enjoyment of his fellows, and so has helped to
+advance those of his own generation; caring little for either the
+flatteries of admirers or a criticism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> that may be ignorant, unjust,
+or malignant, but feeling that the best reward is the approval of his
+own conscience, knowing that &quot;Art is long, and life short.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>REVIEW AND REVISION.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">All</span> the most important truths of any subject may be stated in a brief
+space. The Author proposes to make this final chapter one of a
+restatement of the essentials of the subject in the light of our
+present-day knowledge, and with a distinct relation to practice.</p>
+
+<p>The object of the speaker or singer is to produce certain sounds which
+shall as easily as possible convey to the listener his own state of
+mind. It follows that he must have a clear idea of these sounds, that
+he must hear them mentally prior to their utterance; in other words,
+the psychological must precede the physiological. Voice production for
+the purpose of speaking and singing implies a co&#246;peration of the
+psychic and the physiological, a co-ordination of processes that are
+psychic, and physical, somatic or physiological.</p>
+
+<p>It is well to regard the subject from as many points of view as
+possible, and to consider the various ways in which the same truth may
+be stated.</p>
+
+<p>Stress must be laid on the idea of co-ordination, for processes may be
+independently satisfactory yet fail to lead to the desired result if
+they are not connected, harmonised or co-ordi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>nated. The latter is the
+better term because it suggests a certain order of progress. As a
+matter of fact, first the psychic, then the physiological. The idea
+may be clear, yet from a physical defect, as in stammering, the result
+does not follow, though this physiological imperfection in movement
+may itself be the result of a psychic condition and generally is so. A
+clearer case is that of paralysis of the vocal organs. The ideas to be
+expressed may be perfectly clear in the mind yet impossible of
+expression. The defect is at the distal end of the combination&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>,
+in the physical, somatic or bodily part of the process to express the
+same idea by the use of different terms. The consideration of
+conditions of defect or pathological states may make normal
+psychological and physiological ones clearer, as has been shown by the
+above illustrations. The practical importance of the co-ordination of
+processes is very great. It is not possible for one born deaf to speak
+because the necessary mental or psychic conditions for co-ordination
+do not exist&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, there is no sound in the mind to be
+expressed&#8212;not because there is any serious anatomical defect. In like
+manner the student of singing will produce no better tone than he has
+in mind no matter how much he practices vocalization. It follows,
+therefore, that the psychic state of the student should be kept in
+advance of his actual powers of execution. This he will most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+successfully do by listening to the best artists either directly or if
+this be impossible by hearing their gramophone records&#8212;all this in
+addition to the best the teacher can do for him by the correction of
+faults, giving him illustrations of better tone by his own efforts,
+etc. If the student has the opportunity of hearing himself by means of
+a phonographic record, he should not fail to do so. No one ever hears
+himself as others hear him.</p>
+
+<p>As the mind and the brain are always associated in thought and
+feeling; in other words, in psychic processes, and these latter find
+expression chiefly through movements, in one sense a study of
+vocalization may be considered a study of movements. These are always
+brought about by the use of several muscles which act together for a
+definite end&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, they are co-ordinated. As such movements
+generally involve many muscles and to be effective must be exact and
+under perfect control, much practice is necessary, though &quot;much&quot;
+should have reference rather to the clearness of the mind in reference
+to what is to be attained and the means of accomplishing it, rather
+than to the amount of time spent over the actual performance. We may
+confidently assert that technique or the physical side of putting the
+ideas into execution, which is simply making certain movements, is
+successful largely in proportion to the perfection of the psychic
+processes involved. A clear head should precede the moving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> hand, or
+functioning vocal organs. The student should think technique before
+and after its actual execution. This is even yet, in spite of a great
+advance in recent years, the weakest part of the student's method of
+work. All that we know of science as well as the results of all
+rightly directed practice emphasizes the importance of this central
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>Assuming that the psychic condition is satisfactory for the production
+of a definite tone&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, that it is heard mentally, what follows
+before it is actually produced, before it becomes a tone from the
+physicist's point of view? What is the chain of physical, somatic,
+bodily or anatomical (to use several words that express similar but
+slightly different aspects of the same main idea) connections
+involved, and what is the nature of the physiological processes; in
+other words, what are the parts of the body involved and how do they
+act? This will be clearer if we first consider the mechanism concerned
+and its functions in a general way.</p>
+
+<p>The instrument which is played upon, which finally gives rise to the
+tone, may be spoken of as that connected series of cavities for which
+we have no single term but which are generally named the resonance
+chambers when regarded from the physicist's point of view. To the
+musician they are the instrument, to the physiologist and anatomist a
+set of chambers communicating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> with each other. Plainly all the rest
+of the vocal mechanism exists for them, and too much stress cannot be
+laid on this fact. However excellent the state of training of the part
+below them this is of no avail except in so far as it can affect these
+resonance cavities.</p>
+
+<p>How is this instrument played upon and how are these cavities made
+actually into resounding chambers? In the answer to this, in the
+recognition of the relationship of the three distinct parts of the
+vocal apparatus lies the one great fundamental conception of the
+manner in which tone is produced. To understand this clearly is to
+comprehend in its main outlines the whole subject of voice production
+in a scientific way.</p>
+
+<p>Before a tone is heard vibrations of the atmospheric air must reach
+the ear. These are set up by the vibration of the air within the
+resonance chambers, and this again is effected by the mechanism below
+them&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, by the movements of the vocal bands of the larynx which
+are due to the blast of air emanating from the lungs, this itself
+being brought into being by the movements of the chest, using the term
+in the widest sense, thus including the diaphragm, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing has for its object so far as phonation is concerned no other
+purpose than to so affect the vocal bands, that the resonance chambers
+really do resound. The question is how is this breathing best
+accomplished so that the in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>strument shall be most efficiently played
+upon? We cannot alter the anatomical structure of the instrument
+appreciably, but we can improve the functioning of the several parts
+of the whole apparatus. Breathing can be improved as regards power and
+control. More can be done with less expenditure of energy than
+originally if there be judicious training. How shall we train? As the
+outgoing stream of air alone affects the vocal bands, it is clear that
+we must aim to so apply and regulate this outflow that the desired
+result shall follow from the least possible expenditure of energy. How
+the air is got in is important only in relation to its expenditure.
+But the easier the supply is furnished the better. This law of the
+conservation of energy is one of the greatest importance, for all
+beings have but a limited supply of energy and our problem must ever
+be how best to husband this as a wise man should study how best to
+spend his limited income. One must not only consider what is called
+for in ordinary conversational speaking, or in singing in a small
+room, but also when the greatest possible efforts are demanded. In all
+cases when movements are concerned, indeed whenever activity of any
+kind psychic or physiological is involved the <i>law of habit</i> should be
+borne in mind&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, one should so think and do that a habit may be
+established, for a habit implies, when a good one, that there is
+economy of both mental and bodily energy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The aim of all training is to establish good habits&#8212;ways of doing
+things which will leave the subject with more capital to invest so to
+speak, as he wastes less. It follows that the same methods should
+always be used in trying to attain the same end. There are few
+subjects of equal importance so little considered by students of music
+in a conscious intelligent way. A clear conviction as to the
+foundation for close adherence to certain methods of doing things is
+an invaluable mental asset for any student.</p>
+
+<p>The whole subject of breathing has been so fully considered in
+previous chapters&#8212;indeed more or less in all parts of this work&#8212;that
+it is not necessary to go into much detail now. The investigations of
+physiologists in the internal have only emphasised the author's
+teaching on this subject. The present position of the subject may be
+stated thus: (1) In inspiration the whole chest is enlarged, this
+involving the descent of the diaphragm. (2) The amount of mobility is
+much greater in the lower half of the chest. (3) This lower half of
+the chest and the diaphragm act together, constituting a special
+mechanism of great importance. (4) The abdominal muscles discharge a
+co&#246;perative function. It follows that the advice of a present day
+famous tenor to &quot;breathe low&quot; is sound. Nevertheless, it must not be
+forgotten that inspiration begins above and that the upper chest has
+its functions also. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> not merely a region of support for the
+lower mechanism, important as this function is. The terms &quot;abdominal&quot;
+and &quot;diaphragmatic&quot; respiration have led to misunderstanding. Neither
+the abdominal muscles nor the diaphragm ever act alone in normal
+respiration, though they are important co&#246;perative factors.</p>
+
+<p>Breathing exercises should be based on broad views of the subject, and
+no part of the respiratory mechanism should be neglected.</p>
+
+<p>Small an organ as is the larynx it is through it the energy of the
+expiratory act is transmitted effectively or the reverse to the
+all-important resonance chambers. This should be so done that there is
+no waste; in other words, that there be perfect co-ordination between
+the breathing and the laryngeal mechanism. The vocal bands must be so
+related in function to the expiratory mechanism that the outgoing
+blast of air shall be as effective as possible. There must be no waste
+of power&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, of the expiratory blast through escape of air that
+accomplishes no purpose. The blast must be so applied to the vocal
+bands, or, in other words, they must be so adapted to the blast that
+there is no waste of energy. If the bands approximate a little too
+late there is waste of breath power. The bands must further so beat
+the air of the resonance chambers as to get the greatest possible
+result with the least possible expenditure of energy. As all these
+co-ordina<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>tions imply the action of many muscles in a related way, it
+is plain that intelligent and prolonged training is necessary; and if
+our scientific knowledge had no other result than to establish such a
+conviction on a sure basis it would be well worth while; but it is a
+light unto the feet of the student and teacher at every step, only it
+must be a clear light, not one seen through a mental haze. If there be
+failure the fault must not be set down to science but to ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>It is ever to be borne in mind that when anything is done in the right
+way not only is there no pain, unpleasant feeling or evil
+after-effects, but when real skill has been attained through training,
+the result is accomplished with a sense of ease and all the
+accompanying feelings are agreeable. The singer need not know that he
+has a throat by any disagreeable reminder. At the same time a function
+may be correctly discharged but continued too long, so that weariness
+or positive fatigue with some evil consequences may follow. Fatigue
+always implies more or less poisoning of the system.</p>
+
+<p>Of the resonance chambers, the mouth cavity, the pharyngeal cavity and
+the naso-pharynx, which may both be regarded as a part of the mouth
+cavity, and the nasal chambers, the latter may be considered the least
+variable in shape; nevertheless they can, by means of the soft
+palate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> be to a large extent shut off from the other parts of this
+series of chambers.</p>
+
+<p>The means by which the size and shape of the resonance chambers can be
+varied are chiefly the soft palate and the tongue, the latter being of
+the greatest importance. The changes in the shape of the mouth cavity
+necessary for the formation of vowels are due chiefly to the movements
+of the tongue, and the tongue is more largely concerned in the
+utterance of consonants than any other moveable part of the upper
+voice mechanism.</p>
+
+<p>For practical ends it is important to realize that one speaks with the
+tongue; and if one believed that everything depended on this organ,
+other parts&#8212;including the outer mouth or lips merely to be kept out
+of the way&#8212;the result would on the whole likely be gain.</p>
+
+<p>In the formation of vowels the result may be good when the lips take
+but the slightest active part, and the student is advised to practice
+vowel formation without the use of the lips. He is likely to use them
+enough in any case provided he ensures the formation of pure vowel
+sounds, and people seem to have an extraordinary facility for
+over-doing the use of lip movements, for getting the teeth in the way
+and thus spoiling tone, that was begun well, before it has escaped
+from the mouth. It may be observed that those who get their living on
+the streets by the use of the voice,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> and who use the voice much and
+often speak rapidly, and in spite of this are heard well, so construct
+their words that the lips are not seen to move to any appreciable
+extent except as the lower jaw moves. The lips seem to be always
+apart. It is not the amount of movement that is important but the kind
+of movement, especially its rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>Muscular efforts for the production of consonants should be neat,
+decisive, sharp, rather than held ones, which tend to spoil the word
+as a whole. As a rule, one is safe in holding the vowel as long as
+possible and in making the time dwelt on the consonant as short as
+possible&#8212;<i>i.e.</i>, consistent with distinct and musical utterance.</p>
+
+<p>The same applies to singing with even greater force. In speaking
+especially short pauses not printed in the text may be made to great
+advantage, and this is often better than dwelling on consonants. The
+mouth of the speaker and still more that of the singer should not
+attract the attention of the listener, so the less movement of the
+lips of a kind readily open to observation, the better. Besides such
+movements being unnecessary are a waste of muscular and nervous
+energy.</p>
+
+<p>Singers are not warranted in departing to any appreciable extent from
+the pronunciation of words laid down as standard for speakers&#8212;<i>e.g.</i>,
+&quot;shall&quot; should not be sung as &quot;sholl,&quot; and in such a word as &quot;motion,&quot;
+the final syllable should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> not be made equally important with the
+first one. Singers should observe the laws of a good elocution; in
+other words, such treatment of the language of the song as an approved
+reader would employ. The author would go so far as to say that no
+singer should appear in public till he can utter every syllable as he
+sings so that it is readily recognised by the listener. At present
+such is rarely the case even with the best vocalists. All prospective
+vocalists should study utterance by the speaking voice first and
+continue it when the study of singing has been begun. The words of
+every song, etc., should be mastered in all respects before they are
+sung.</p>
+
+<p>As the degree of success in singing or speaking depends so far as
+technique is concerned on a series of co-ordinations the condition of
+both the psychic and bodily mechanism as determined by training and
+the general health of the individual is of great importance; and it is
+not to be forgotten that the mind as well as the body is to be
+considered in all questions of hygiene.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<b>A<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Abdominal muscles, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br />
+<br />
+Acoustics, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br />
+<br />
+Adam's apple, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Adductors, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br />
+Air, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">complemental, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quantity of, in lungs, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">residual, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supplemental, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tidal, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Amateurs, <a href="#Page_274">274</a><br />
+<br />
+American speech, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+<br />
+Americans, pitch of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br />
+<br />
+Antagonists, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Anatomy, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<br />
+Art, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br />
+<br />
+Artist, isolation of, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br />
+<br />
+Artistic, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perception, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temperament, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Arytenoid cartilages, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br />
+<br />
+Aspirates, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br />
+<br />
+Attack, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">best tests of a good, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Auditory messages, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br />
+<br />
+Auto-laryngoscopy, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>B<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+&quot;Backward&quot; production, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br />
+<br />
+Bel Canto, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br />
+<br />
+Break, <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br />
+<br />
+Breath, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercise for, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in phonation, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manner of using, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stream, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Breathing, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-73, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abdominal, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clavicular, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deep, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">diaphragmatic, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exercises, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mechanism, control of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">method of, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nose, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>C<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Cartilage of Santorini, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wrisberg, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Cells, <a href="#Page_36">36</a><br />
+<br />
+Chest, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cavity of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">complete control of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of, in singing, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in speaking, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Children, public appearance of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">register of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Choral singing, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br />
+<br />
+Choristers, <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br />
+<br />
+Circulatory system, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<br />
+Clergyman's sore-throat, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br />
+<br />
+Cold, a, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prevention of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Color, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<br />
+Composers, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br />
+<br />
+Consonant, a, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br />
+<br />
+Consonants, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-235<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mouth positions of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-228</span><br />
+<br />
+Corsets, evil effects of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br />
+<br />
+Coup de glotte, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-127, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br />
+<br />
+Cramming, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+<br />
+Cricoid cartilage, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thyroid, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">membrane, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Curwen, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>D<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Dialects, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br />
+<br />
+Diameters, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br />
+<br />
+Diaphragm, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>E<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Ear, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection with mouth cavity, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drum-head of, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">external, purpose of, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for music, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">lack of, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inner, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">middle, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musical, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outer, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">purpose of, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ease, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br />
+<br />
+English, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Epiglottis, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Eustachian tube, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br />
+<br />
+Execution, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br />
+<br />
+Exercises, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-135, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practical, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Expiration, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br />
+<br />
+Expiratory blast, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">current, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Explosives, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br />
+<br />
+Expression, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>F<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Falsetto, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">high, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in males, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br />
+<br />
+&quot;Feeling-tone&quot;, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br />
+<br />
+Food, <a href="#Page_263">263</a><br />
+<br />
+&quot;Forward&quot; production, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br />
+<br />
+Fundamental principles, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-194<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">application of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>-206</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tone, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>G<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Garcia, Manuel, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br />
+<br />
+German language, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Germans, pitch of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br />
+<br />
+Glide, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br />
+<br />
+Glottis, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in barytone voices, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bass voices, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contralto voices, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mezzo-soprano voices, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tenor voices, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ligamentous, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>H<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Head, position of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br />
+<br />
+Hearing, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-250<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference in animals, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">highest limit of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lower limit of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>Helmholtz, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br />
+<br />
+Hygiene, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-275<br />
+<br />
+Hyoid bone, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>I<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Illustration of principles, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Impulses, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br />
+<br />
+Inhibitions, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br />
+<br />
+Inspiration, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<br />
+Intonation, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correct position for good, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Italian language, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>K<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Knowledge, principle of, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>L<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Larynx, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-96, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anatomy of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as a musical instrument, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change in size of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control over, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difference in size, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in action, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in singing and speaking, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">muscles of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the male <a href="#Page_138">138</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">photography of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physiology of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ventricle of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vibrations of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">whole, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Laryngoscope, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br />
+<br />
+Ligamentous glottis, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br />
+<br />
+Lips, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br />
+<br />
+Lungs, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br />
+<br />
+Lymph, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>M<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Mackenzie, Sir Morell, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br />
+<br />
+Mara, Madame, range of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Marcato production, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br />
+<br />
+Marchesi, Madame, teaching of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br />
+<br />
+Men, register of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br />
+<br />
+Messages, Auditory, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br />
+<br />
+Methods, correct, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">faulty, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Middle production, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<br />
+Midriff, see diaphragm<br />
+<br />
+Mind, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br />
+<br />
+Mirror, use of, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br />
+<br />
+Mouth, as a resonance chamber, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resonator, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cavity, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">respiration, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">toilet of, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Movements, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br />
+<br />
+Muscles, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abdominal, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Muscular action, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mechanism, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">movements, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Music, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appreciation of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intellectuality in, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intelligence in, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interpretation of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Musical artist, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ear, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prodigy, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">faculty develops early, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">faults, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sounds, practical range of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">tones, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Musician, fundamental qualities of, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>N<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Nasal chambers, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<br />
+Nasality, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br />
+<br />
+Nerve-cells, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br />
+<br />
+Nervous centres, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impulses, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">system, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Nervousness, <a href="#Page_274">274</a><br />
+<br />
+Neuro-muscular mechanisms, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">processes, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">system, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></span><br />
+<br />
+New language, learning of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br />
+<br />
+Noise, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>O<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Open mouth, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a><br />
+<br />
+Ordinary speech, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br />
+<br />
+Overtones, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>P<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Palate, cleft, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hard, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">soft, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Phonation, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breath in, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">example of, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Physics, principles of involved, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br />
+<br />
+Physiological considerations, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-43<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">teachings, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Piano production, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br />
+<br />
+Pillars of the fauces, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br />
+<br />
+Pitch, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favorite, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Portamento production, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br />
+<br />
+Practical considerations, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br />
+<br />
+Practice, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-192<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">best time to, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by wrong method, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for sustained tone, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">methods of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Puberty, at, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in boys, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in girls, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Public singing, age to begin, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaking, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pumping, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>Q<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Quality, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>R<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+R and s, interval between, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br />
+<br />
+Reed, long, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">short, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Reflex action, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br />
+<br />
+Reflexes, associated, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protective character of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sets of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Register, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change in, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chest, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">definition of, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in female voices, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of basses and barytones, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of tenors, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Registers, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-178<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behnke on, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Garcia on, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mackenzie on, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Seiler on, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mandl on, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Resonance chambers, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-150, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in sounding bodies, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of musical instruments, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Resonants, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br />
+<br />
+Resonator, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<br />
+Respiration, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forced, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hygiene of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mouth, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Respiratory centre, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efficiency, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organs, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">system, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tract, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>S<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Science, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br />
+<br />
+Scripture, Prof. <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<br />
+Seiler, Madame, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br />
+<br />
+Selections in public, <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br />
+<br />
+Sensations, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br />
+<br />
+Septum nasi, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br />
+<br />
+Singer, purpose of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">range of, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Singing, choral, <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">class, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortissimo, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in schools, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Song, elements of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-229<br />
+<br />
+Soprano, highest tones of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">light, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Sound, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-103, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tyndall on, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">volume of, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Sounding body, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<br />
+Speaker, purpose of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<br />
+Speaking, good, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br />
+<br />
+Speech, elements of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-229<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organs of, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purity of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Sphincter action, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br />
+<br />
+Staccato production, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br />
+<br />
+Stammering, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br />
+<br />
+Stop-closure, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+<br />
+Straining, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br />
+<br />
+Straw bass, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br />
+<br />
+Stuttering, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br />
+<br />
+Style, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br />
+<br />
+Swell, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>T<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Technique, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br />
+<br />
+Teeth, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br />
+<br />
+Temperament, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br />
+<br />
+Tenors, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br />
+<br />
+Throat mirror, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sore, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Thyro-arytenoideus, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hyoid membrane, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Thyroid cartilage, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Timbre, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br />
+<br />
+Tone, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carrying power of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">color of, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ground, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">piano, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pitch of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">production, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-217</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the sustained, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">volume of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Tones, <a href="#Page_189">189</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">head, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">highest, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lower, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">timbre of, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">upper, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Tongue, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control of, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Tonsils, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br />
+<br />
+Trachea, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Tremolo, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br />
+<br />
+Tuning fork, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>U<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Uvula, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>V<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Vibrations, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br />
+<br />
+Vibratives, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br />
+<br />
+Vibrato, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br />
+<br />
+Vital capacity, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<br />
+Vocal athlete, <a href="#Page_182">182</a><br />
+<br />
+Vocal bands, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">action of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">false, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">true, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">vibrations of, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cords, false, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Madame Seiler on, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">true, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">methods, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physiology, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-32</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">training, early weeks of, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Vocalises, <a href="#Page_207">207</a><br />
+<br />
+Vocalist, ideal, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br />
+<br />
+Vocalization, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br />
+<br />
+Voice, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaking of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brightening the, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carrying power of, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">darkening the, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">even, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">harsh, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head, in females, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in ill health, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loud, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">placed, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in use of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">production, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">small in volume, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">user, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">exercises for, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">well placed, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Voices, classification of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">injured, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Vowel, a, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purity of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sounds, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Vowels, adaptation of, to ideas, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and consonants, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dark, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formation of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-221</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">low-pitched, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mouth positions of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perfect sound of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pitch of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<b>W<br />
+</b>
+<br />
+Wagner, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br />
+<br />
+Whispering, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br />
+<br />
+Women, register of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The chapters on the Registers of the Singing Voice may be
+omitted by readers whose practical interest is confined to the
+Speaking Voice.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Voice Production in Singing and
+Speaking, by Wesley Mills
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOICE PRODUCTION IN SINGING ***
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+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg's Voice Production in Singing and Speaking, by Wesley Mills
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Voice Production in Singing and Speaking
+       Based on Scientific Principles (Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged)
+
+Author: Wesley Mills
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2006 [EBook #19880]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOICE PRODUCTION IN SINGING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Newman, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOICE PRODUCTION
+
+IN
+
+SINGING AND SPEAKING
+
+BASED ON
+
+SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES
+
+BY
+
+WESLEY MILLS, M.A., M.D., F.R.S.C.
+
+EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY IN McGILL UNIVERSITY, AND LECTURER ON
+VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE IN THE McGILL UNIVERSITY CONSERVATORIUM
+OF MUSIC, MONTREAL, CANADA
+
+_FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED_
+
+[Illustration: publisher logo]
+
+PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1906,
+BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+The Rights of Translation and all other Rights Reserved
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1913,
+BY J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+Electrotyped and Printed by
+J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
+
+[Transcriber's Notes: In this e-text, illustrations of music notation
+have been rendered using standard text notation, e.g.: C = C two
+octaves below middle C; c = C one octave below middle C; c' = middle
+C; c'' = C one octave above middle C, etc.
+
+Macrons are indicated thus: [=a], [=e], [=i], [=o], [=u].]
+
+[Illustration: Illustrations of the appearance of the larynx during
+phonation in two special cases. (Gruenwald.)]
+
+EXPLANATION OF THE COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+They contrast with each other in that the one (upper) is too red; the
+other, too pale. The upper represents appearances such as one gets
+with the laryngoscope when the subject has a very severe cold, or even
+inflammation of the larynx, including the central vocal bands. In this
+particular case, a young woman of twenty-five years of age, there was
+inflammation with a certain amount of weakness of the internal
+thyro-arytenoid muscles. Speaking was almost impossible, and such
+voice as was produced was of a very rough character. In the lower
+illustration we have the appearances presented in a man affected with
+tuberculosis of the lungs and larynx. The pallor of the larynx is
+characteristic. There is weakness of the internal thyro-arytenoid
+muscle on the right side, which results in imperfect tension of the
+vocal band on that side, so that the voice is uncertain and harsh.
+Such illustrations are introduced to impress the normal by contrast.
+The reader is strongly advised to compare these figures with others in
+the body of the work, especially those of Chapter VII.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FOURTH REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION.
+
+
+In addition to certain emendations, etc., introduced throughout the
+work, I have thought it well to add a chapter in which the whole
+subject is treated in a broad and comprehensive way in the light of
+the latest scientific knowledge.
+
+In this review the psychological aspects of the subject have not been
+neglected, and the whole has been related to practice to as great an
+extent as the character of the book permits.
+
+It is significant that on both sides of the Atlantic there is a
+growing conviction that the foundations for speaking and singing as an
+art must be made as scientific as the state of our knowledge will
+permit.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+January, 1913.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
+
+
+No preface to the Second Edition was written, so few were the changes
+that were made in the work, and the same might apply to this Third
+Edition. However, the fact that within a period of less than two
+years, a Second English and a Third American Edition have been called
+for, seems to the Author to be so conclusive an endorsement of the
+application of science to vocal art, that he may be entitled at least
+to express his gratification at the progress the cause, to which he
+has devoted his pen, is making. It would seem that the better portion
+at least of that public that is interested in the progress of vocal
+art has made up its mind that the time has come when sense and science
+must replace tradition and empiricism.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+MONTREAL, September, 1908.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The present work is based on a life study of the voice, and has grown
+out of the conviction that all teaching and learning in voice-culture,
+whether for the purposes of singing or speaking, should as far as
+possible rest on a scientific foundation.
+
+The author, believing that practice and principles have been too much
+separated, has endeavored to combine them in this book. His purpose
+has not been to write an exhaustive work on vocal physiology, with
+references at every step to the views of various authors; rather has
+he tried always to keep in mind the real needs of the practical
+voice-user, and to give him a sure foundation for the principles that
+must underlie sound practice. A perusal of the first chapter of the
+work will give the reader a clearer idea of the author's purpose as
+briefly expressed above.
+
+The writer bespeaks an unprejudiced hearing, being convinced that in
+art as in all else there is but one ultimate court of appeal: to the
+scientific, the demonstrable--to what lies at the very foundations of
+human nature.
+
+In conclusion, the author desires to thank those publishers and
+authors who have kindly permitted the use of their illustrations.
+
+THE AUTHOR.
+
+MCGILL UNIVERSITY, Montreal, October, 1906.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE CLAIMS AND IMPORTANCE OF VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY.
+
+Science and art--The engineer, architect, physician, nurse, and
+others, compared with the vocal teacher and learner--Unfavorable
+tendencies--The old masters--The great elocutionists--Causes of
+failure--The lack of an adequate technique--Correct methods are
+physiological--Summary of the advantages of teaching and learning
+based on scientific principles--Illustrations of the application of
+physiological principles to actual cases--The evils from which
+speakers and singers suffer owing to wrong methods--Speaking and
+singing based on the same principles--Relation of hygiene to
+physiology 17
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GENERAL PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES.
+
+Relations of animals to each other--Common properties of living
+matter--Explanation of these--The mammal and man--The stimulus and its
+results--The one-celled animal--Various "systems"necessary--Complexity
+of structure and function--Harmony through the nervous system--The
+rule of nervous centres--Means by which they are influenced, and by
+which they influence--Reflex action--Muscular mechanisms and
+neuro-muscular mechanisms--Work of the singer and speaker largely
+reflex in character--Summary 34
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BREATHING CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+Breathing the great essential--Misconceptions--Purpose of breathing as
+a vital process--The respiratory organs--Their nature--Relations of
+the lungs to the chest-wall--Expansion of the chest--Its
+diameters--The muscles of respiration--Personal observation--The
+diaphragm--Varying quantities of air breathed--Breathing when properly
+carried out by the singer or speaker is healthful 44
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+BREATHING FURTHER CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+Relations of the nervous system to breathing--The respiratory
+centre--Reflex action in breathing--Methods of preventing
+nervousness--Tones produced by the outgoing breath--Waste of
+breath--The happy combination for good singing or speaking 57
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+The well-developed chest--The voice-user a kind of athlete--The
+tremolo--Exercises recommended for the development of the chest--Forms
+of dress that hamper breathing--Weighing and measuring,
+re-measurement, etc.--Specific directions for methods to develop the
+chest--Warnings--Additional exercises--Breathing through the nose and
+through the mouth--Exercises for the development of the diaphragm and
+abdominal muscles--Relation of the diaphragm to the staccato
+effect--Forms of general exercise for the voice-user--Summary 62
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SPECIAL VOICE-PRODUCING MECHANISM, THE LARYNX.
+
+Not the only voice-producing apparatus--Specific structures of the
+larynx in use when the subject phonates--Muscles and their
+attachments--The cartilages of the larynx--The lining mucous
+membrane--Changes in it when one has a "cold"--The vocal
+bands--Functions of the epiglottis--The "middle line" and relative
+position of parts--Adam's apple--Ventricle of the larynx--The
+importance of the arytenoid cartilages--Muscles of the larynx in
+detail--Sphincter action--Straining--Position of the larynx--Practical
+considerations--Dissection of a "pluck" and especially of the
+larynx--Hygiene--How disorder of one part may affect another--Summary
+74
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SOUND--THE LARYNGOSCOPE--THE LARYNX RECONSIDERED.
+
+Some study of physics desirable--Sound and vibrations--The sounding
+body--Experiments to illustrate the principles of sound--Qualities of
+sound--Animals and perception of sound--The range of hearing in
+man--The larynx as a musical instrument--Experiments of Johannes
+Mueller--Discovery of the laryngoscope by Garcia--Description
+of the instrument--Method of using the laryngoscope--The
+difficulties--Auto-laryngoscopy--The importance of both laryngoscopy
+and auto-laryngoscopy--Change in size of the larynx due to
+use--Delicate changes in the laryngeal mechanism--Changes in the
+larynx during adolescence--Warnings--The "breaking" of the
+voice--Analogies with fatigue, etc.--When should singing be
+begun?--Singing with others--Choral singing 97
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BREATHING, LARYNGEAL ADJUSTMENT, ETC.
+
+Various kinds of breathing, as "abdominal," "clavicular," etc.,
+discussed--Control of the whole of the breathing mechanism
+urged--Correct breathing as a habit--Breathing in the most vigorous
+speaking and singing--Different views expressed by a diagram--Economy
+of energy in art--Reserve energy in breathing--"Pumping"--_Coup de
+glotte_--"Attack"--Breath-adjustment--Quality of sound the prime
+consideration in tone-production--Tremolo and other faults--Tests of
+good breathing--Mouth-breathing--Exercises--Singing of a single
+tone--Its relation to scale-singing--Summary and review 118
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.
+
+Vocal bands and resonance-chambers compared--Improvised mechanism to
+illustrate resonance--Musical instruments as resonance-bodies--A vowel
+in relation to the resonance-chambers--Description of the
+resonance-chambers--How the quality of tones may be made to vary--New
+views as to the sounding-chambers--Summary 140
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.
+
+A controverted subject--Definitions of a register--Qualifications for
+dealing with this subject--Madame Seiler--Tabular statement of her
+views--Garcia's and Behnke's divisions of registers--Sir Morell
+Mackenzie's views in detail--The author's earlier investigations--Madame
+Marchesi's views and practice 151
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.
+
+Auto-laryngoscopy and photography of the larynx--Dogmatism and
+science--Confusion and controversy--The break--Ignoring
+registers--Modification of tones, or "covering"--Points of agreement
+between different writers on the subject--The falsetto for
+males--Madame Seiler's special qualifications--Behnke's and
+Mackenzie's views--The author's conclusions--Rule for the extension of
+a register--Why certain artists deteriorate while others do
+not---Males and females compared as to registers--The division of the
+registers for female voices recommended by the author--Teacher and
+pupil as regards registers--Objection to registers answered--The
+manner of using the breath and registers--How to distinguish
+registers--The teacher's part--Hearing singers of eminence is
+recommended--Madame Melba--Guiding sensations--Summary 161
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING VOICE-PRODUCTION.
+
+Artistic expression only through movements--Emotions and
+technique--Relation of ideas to movements--Memories and
+movements--Guiding sensations essential for movements--The principles
+underlying all movements the same--Associated reflexes and habits--How
+habits are formed--inhibitions and their importance--Early practices
+only before the teacher--Careful practice with concentration of energy
+the best--Queries as to practice--Fatigue a warning--Practice in the
+early hours of the day, and short of fatigue--Quality to be aimed at
+rather than quantity--The total amount of time to be devoted to
+practice--"Hasten slowly;" "Little and often"--The treatment of the
+voice ruined by wrong methods--Summary 179
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CHIEFLY AN APPLICATION TO VOICE-PRODUCTION OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES
+PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED.
+
+Vowels, consonants, noise--Consonants and pauses--Voice-production and
+vowels--Certain vowel sounds common to most languages--Why German and
+English are relatively unmusical--The needs of the musical artist--The
+mechanism required for the production of a vowel sound--Reconsideration
+of the resonance-chambers--The larynx to be steadied but not held
+rigidly immovable--The principal modifiers of the shape of the
+mouth-cavity--Breath to be taken through the mouth--The lips--Tongue
+and lip practice before a mirror--Importance of the connection between
+the ear and the mouth parts, etc--"Open mouth"--The mouth in singing a
+descending scale--Undue opening of the mouth--Proper method of opening
+the mouth--Causes of compression and the consequences 195
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+SOME SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF PRINCIPLES IN TONE-PRODUCTION.
+
+Principles and their expression in a few exercises--Analysis of the
+methods of tone-production--The sustained tone--Smoothly linked
+tones--The legato--The staccato and kindred effects--The mechanisms
+concerned--Perfection requires years of careful practice--The
+bel canto and the swell--The same exercises for singer and
+speaker--"Forward," "backward," etc., production--Escape of
+breath--The action of the soft palate--When to use "forward" and when
+"backward" production--Voice-placement--Nasal resonance, not nasal
+twang--Summary 207
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.
+
+The subject may be made dry or the reverse--Vowels, consonants,
+noise--The position of the lips and the shape of the mouth-cavity in
+sounding the various vowels--How to demonstrate that the mouth-cavity
+is a resonance-chamber--Practical considerations growing out of the
+above--Speaker, vocalist, and composer--Bearing of these facts on the
+learning of languages--Consonants as musical nuisances--Their great
+variation in pitch--Bruecke's division of consonants--Tabulation of the
+same 218
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+FURTHER THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION OF VOWELS AND
+CONSONANTS.
+
+The best vowel to use in practice--Necessary to practise all--The
+guttural _r_ and the lingual _r_--Consonants that favor nasality of
+tone--Overtones and fundamental tones--Relation of intensity and
+quality--The carrying power of a tone--Unusual distinctness in
+practice as related to ease--The registers of the speaking voice
+according to Madame Seiler--The range in speaking--Summary 230
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE HEARING APPARATUS AND HEARING IN MUSIC.
+
+Why this chapter is introduced--The essential mechanism of
+hearing--The part played by waves and vibrations--Divisions of the
+ear--The external ear in lower animals--The drum-head or tympanic
+membrane--The middle ear and its connections--Relation of the throat
+and the ear--The inner ear or labyrinth--The end-organ and its
+relations--The connection of the ear and various parts of the
+brain--The musician's ear--Relation of music and hearing--Lack of ear
+and inattention--The artist and the musician--The ear and the speaking
+voice--General musical training in relation to intonation, etc--The
+appreciation of music, and training to that end--The art of listening
+with close attention--Summary 236
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL HYGIENE AND RELATED SUBJECTS.
+
+Hygienic as related to physiological principles--Hygiene in the
+widest sense--Unfavorable conditions in the public life of an
+artist--Qualifications for success--Technique and a public career--The
+isolation of the artist and its dangers--The need for greater
+preparation now than ever--Choral singing and its possible
+dangers--The tendencies of the Wagner music-drama--Special faults, as
+the "scoop," "_vibrato_," "_tremolo_," "pumping"--Desirability of
+consultations by teachers of the use of the voice--Things the
+voice-user should avoid--Mouth-toilets--Lozenges--The sipping of
+water--What one should and should not eat--Tea and Coffee--The whole
+subject of congestion from compression, straining, etc., of the utmost
+importance--A sore throat when frequent should give rise to inquiry as
+to methods--Constipation--Exercise--Bathing 251
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+FURTHER TREATMENT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HYGIENE.
+
+Stammering and stuttering--Those who have broken down--The increase of
+the range of a voice--The part the student plays in settling such
+questions--Selections to be avoided--Conservation of energy--Change
+and contrast--The voice as related to the building in which it is
+produced--The listener and pauses--Nervousness, and how to ward it
+off--General conclusion 268
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+REVIEW AND REVISION.
+
+The object of the speaker or singer--The idea of co-ordination--The
+study of vocalization may be considered a study of movements--The
+psychic condition--The instrument which is played upon--How is this
+instrument played upon?--Vibration of the air--Breathing--The aim of
+all training--The whole subject of breathing--Breathing exercises--The
+resonance chambers--The formation of vowels--Muscular efforts for the
+production of consonants--The pronunciation of words--General health
+of great importance 276
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+FIG.                                                             PAGE
+
+Appearance of the larynx during phonation in two
+special cases (in colors)                               _Frontispiece_
+
+ 1. Muscle-fibres from the heart, much magnified                   34
+ 2. Small portion of muscle, moderately magnified                  34
+ 3. Muscle-cells from coats of intestine                           35
+ 4. Body of a nerve-cell of the spinal cord                        38
+ 5. Large nerve-cell from spinal cord of an ox                     38
+ 6. Cell from the cortex cerebri                                38-39
+ 7. Nerve terminating in a muscle                               38-39
+ 8. Muscle-fibres with capillaries around and between them         39
+ 9. Parts of the respiratory apparatus                             44
+10. Trachea and bronchial tubes                                    45
+11. Heart, lungs, and diaphragm                                    45
+12. Diagram showing changes in shape of chest during inspiration   49
+13. Diagram showing depression of the diaphragm during
+    inspiration                                                    50
+14. Position of diaphragm, abdominal walls, etc., during
+    expiration                                                     55
+15. Diagram illustrating reflex action                             58
+16. A well-developed, healthy chest                                62
+17. A chest deformed by corsets                                    62
+18. Normal position of diaphragm and vital organs                  63
+19. Vital organs misplaced by compression of the chest             63
+20. Thyroid and cricoid cartilages, side view                      76
+21. Thyroid and cricoid cartilages, front view                     76
+22. Back surface of cricoid cartilage                              77
+23. Cricoid cartilage, side view.                                  77
+24. Arytenoid cartilages                                           77
+25. A view of the larynx from behind                               78
+26. Epiglottis, thyroid and cricoid cartilages, etc.            78-79
+27. Hyoid bone, crico-thyroid muscle, etc.                      78-79
+28. Posterior view of the larynx                                   79
+29. Diagram showing relation of parts to the thyroid cartilage     80
+30. Diagram showing the action of crico-thyroid muscle             82
+31. View of larynx from above                                      83
+32. Transverse section of larynx                                   83
+33. False and true vocal bands, etc.                               86
+34. Inner surface of the larynx                                    87
+35. Diagram to show the action of the laryngeal muscles            96
+36. Registering the vibrations of a tuning-fork                   100
+37. Illustrating the transmission of vibrations                   101
+38. Illustrating the theory and practice of laryngoscopic
+    examination                                                   104
+39. Illustrating the practice of laryngoscopic examination        106
+40. Laryngoscopic picture of male larynx                          112
+41. Laryngoscopic picture of female larynx                        112
+42. Larynx during an attack of a common "cold"                    113
+43. The vocal bands as seen with laryngoscope during deep
+    inspiration                                                   113
+44. Diagram showing form of chest and abdomen in forced
+    abdominal breathing                                           122
+45. The vocal bands during the production of a high-pitched tone  138
+46. Water being poured into a tube until the remaining air-space
+    becomes a resonator of a tuning-fork                          142
+47. Soft palate, fauces, and tonsils                          142-143
+48. Nares and soft palate, from behind                        142-143
+49. Turbinated bones of the nose                                  143
+50. Madame Seiler's division of the registers                     155
+51. Appearance of the vocal bands when sounding first E and
+    then F sharp                                                  164
+52. Diagram to show the nature of registers and breaks            166
+53. Diagram of the processes involved in singing                  186
+54. Highly magnified diagramatic representation of a section
+    through the superficial part of the great brain               188
+55. Nerve-cell from the outer rind of the great brain, much
+    magnified                                                     189
+56. Position of parts in sounding the vowel A                     219
+57. Position of the parts in sounding I                           220
+58. Position of the parts in sounding OU                          222
+59. Position of the parts in sounding T, K, F, R, N, and P        227
+60. Vertical section of the auditory apparatus                    237
+61. Diagram of the auditory apparatus                             238
+62. Two of the ear-bones (malleus and incus), enlarged            239
+63. The complete chain of auditory ossicles                       240
+
+
+
+
+VOICE PRODUCTION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE CLAIMS AND IMPORTANCE OF VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY.
+
+
+To know consciously and to do with special reference to guiding
+principles are to be distinguished from carrying out some process
+without bearing in mind the why or wherefore. Science is exact and
+related knowledge, facts bound together by principles. Art is
+execution, doing, and has not necessarily any conscious reference to
+principles.
+
+While every art has its corresponding science, their relation is in
+some cases of much greater practical importance than in others. While
+a painter may be the better for knowing the laws of light, there can
+be no question that he may do very good work without any knowledge
+whatever of the science of optics. He is at least in no danger of
+injuring any part of his person.
+
+Entirely otherwise is it with the voice-user. He employs a delicate
+and easily injured vital apparatus. His results depend on the most
+accurate adjustment of certain neuro-muscular mechanisms, and one
+might suppose that it would be obvious to all who are concerned with
+this art that a knowledge of the structure and functions of these
+delicate arrangements of Nature would be at least of great if not of
+essential importance. The engineer knows the structure and uses of
+each part of his engine, and does not trust to unintelligent
+observation of the mere working of mechanisms which others have
+constructed. The architect studies not only the principles of design,
+etc., but also the nature and relative value of materials. In his own
+way he is a kind of anatomist and physiologist.
+
+We do not trust the care of our bodies to those who have picked up a
+few methods of treatment by experience or the imitation of others. The
+doctor must have, we all believe, a knowledge of the structure and
+working of the animal body; he must understand the action of drugs and
+other healing agents. We expect him not only to diagnose the
+disease--to tell us exactly what is the matter--but also to be able to
+predict with, some degree of certainty the course of the malady. Even
+the nurse of the day must show some grasp of the principles underlying
+her art.
+
+In connection with all the largest and best equipped universities in
+America there are officials to plan and direct the courses in physical
+culture. This matter is no longer entrusted to a "trainer," who has
+only his experience and observation to rely upon. It is realized that
+the building up of the mechanism which they are supposed to train in
+an intelligent manner rests upon well-established principles.
+
+It would be just as reasonable for an engineer to point to the fact
+that his engine works well, as evidence of his ability, as for the
+teacher of voice-production to make the same claim in regard to the
+vocal mechanism. In each case there is a certain amount of
+justification for the claim, but such teaching cannot be called
+scientific. Is it even enlightened? It is just as rational to follow
+in medicine methods that seem to lead to good results, without any
+reference to the reason why, as to train for results in speaking and
+singing by methods which have for the student and teacher no conscious
+basis in scientific knowledge. The physician to-day who treats disease
+without reference to anatomy and physiology is, at best, but a sort of
+respectable charlatan. Why should students and teachers of
+voice-production be content to remain, in the advanced present, where
+they were hundreds of years ago?
+
+Indeed, there is much more reason now than formerly why the vocalist,
+speaker, and teacher should have a theoretical and practical
+knowledge of the structure and workings of the mechanism employed.
+Many tendencies of the present day work against successful
+voice-training--worst of all, perhaps, the spirit of haste, the desire
+to reach ends by short cuts, the aim to substitute tricky for
+straightforward vocalization, and much more which I shall refer to
+again and again. They hurt this cause; and I am deeply impressed with
+the conviction that, if we are to attain the best results in singing
+and speaking, we must betake ourselves in practice to the methods in
+vogue at a time which may be justly characterized as the golden age of
+voice-production.
+
+We have advanced, musically, in many respects since the days of the
+old Italian masters, but just as we must turn to the Greeks to learn
+what constitutes the highest and best in sculpture, so must we sit at
+the feet of these old masters. Consciously or unconsciously they
+taught on sound physiological principles, and they insisted on the
+voice-training absolutely necessary to the attainment of the best art.
+
+However talented any individual may be, he can only produce the best
+results as a singer, actor, or speaker, when the mechanisms by which
+he hopes to influence his listeners are adequately trained. Why do we
+look in vain to-day for elocutionists such as Vandenhoff, Bell, and
+others? Why are there not actors with the voices of Garrick, Kean,
+Kemble, or Mrs. Siddons, or singers with the vocal powers of a score
+of celebrities of a former time? It is not that voices are rarer, or
+talent less widely bestowed by nature. It is because _we do not to-day
+pursue right methods for a sufficient length of time_; because our
+methods rest frequently on a foundation less physiological, and
+therefore less sound. Take a single instance, breath-control. In this
+alone singers to-day are far behind those of the old Italian period,
+not always because they do not know how to breathe, but because often
+they are unwilling to give the time necessary for the full development
+of adequate breathing power and control.
+
+There was probably never a time when so much attention was paid to the
+interpretation of music, yet the results are often unsatisfactory
+because of inadequate technique. People seem to hope to impress us, on
+the stage, with voices that from a technical point of view are crude
+and undeveloped, and accordingly lack beauty and expressiveness.
+Speakers to-day have often every qualification except voice--a voice
+that can arrest attention, charm with its music, or carry conviction
+by the adequate expression of the idea or emotion intended.
+
+Is it not strange that a student of the piano or violin is willing to
+devote perhaps ten years to the study of the technique of his
+instrument, while the voice-user expects to succeed with a period of
+vocal practice extending over a year or two, possibly even only a few
+months?
+
+When the anatomy and physiology of the larynx are considered, it will
+be seen that the muscular mechanisms concerned in voice-production are
+of a delicacy unequalled anywhere in the body except possibly in the
+eye and the ear. And when it is further considered that these
+elaborate and sensitive mechanisms of the larynx are of little use
+except when adequately put into action by the breath-stream, which
+again involves hosts of other muscular movements, and the whole in
+relation to the parts of the vocal apparatus above the larynx, the
+mouth, nose, etc., it becomes clear that only long, patient, and
+_intelligent_ study will lead to the highest results.
+
+It should also be remembered that such an apparatus can easily acquire
+habits which may last for life, for good or ill, artistically
+considered. Such delicate mechanisms can also be easily injured or
+hopelessly ruined; and, as a matter of fact, this is being done daily.
+A great musical periodical has made the statement that thousands of
+voices are being ruined annually, in America alone, by incompetent
+teaching. My experience when a practising laryngologist made me
+acquainted with the extent of the ruin that may be brought about by
+incorrect methods of using the voice, both as regards the throat and
+the voice itself; and contact with teachers and students has so
+impressed me with the importance of placing voice-production on a
+sound foundation, not only artistic but physiological, that I have
+felt constrained to tell others who may be willing to hear me what I
+have learned as to correct methods, with some reference also to wrong
+ones, though the latter are so numerous that I shall not be able to
+find the space to deal at length with them.
+
+The correct methods of singing and speaking are always, of necessity,
+physiological. Others may satisfy a vitiated or undeveloped public
+taste, but what is artistically sound is also physiological. None have
+ever sung with more ease than those taught by the correct methods of
+the old Italian masters; as none run so easily as the wisely trained
+athlete, and none endure so well. People in singing and speaking will,
+as in other cases, get what they work for, but have no right to expect
+to sing or speak effectively by inspiration, any more than the athlete
+to win a race because he is born naturally fleet of foot or with a
+quick intelligence. In each case the ideas are converted into
+performance, the results attained, by the exercise of neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. I am most anxious that it shall be perceived that this is
+the case, that the same laws apply to voice-production as to running
+or any other exercise. The difference is one of delicacy and
+complexity so far as the body is concerned.
+
+It will be understood that I speak only of the technique. For art
+there must be more than technique, but there is no art without good
+methods of execution, which constitute technique. The latter is
+nothing more than method--manner of performance. Behind these methods
+of performance, or the simplest part of them, there must be some idea.
+The more intelligent the student, speaker or singer, as to his art and
+generally, the better for the teacher who instructs scientifically,
+though such intelligence is largely lost to the teacher who depends on
+tradition and pure imitation. In the present work I shall be so
+concerned with the physical that I shall be able only to refer briefly
+to the part that intelligence and feeling play in the result.
+
+The qualifications for the successful treatment of vocal
+physiology--that is, such a discussion of the subject as shall lead to
+a clear comprehension of the nature of the principles involved, and
+place them on a practical foundation, make them at once usable in
+actual study and in teaching--such qualifications are many, and, in
+their totality and in an adequate degree, difficult to attain. After
+more than twenty years of the best study I could give to this subject
+in both a theoretical and a practical manner, I feel that I have
+something to say which may be useful to a large class, and, so far as
+I know, that is my reason for writing this book.
+
+For myself music is indispensable. The one instrument we all possess
+is a voice-mechanism. I am one of those who regret that so little
+attention is paid, especially in America, to pleasing and expressive
+use of the voice in ordinary conversation. Yet how much pleasure
+cannot a beautiful speaking voice convey! The college undergraduate
+rarely finds vocal study among the requirements, in spite of the fact
+that the voice is an instrument that he will use much more than the
+pen. The truth is, the home methods of voice-production are those we
+are most likely to carry with us through life, and, unfortunately,
+little attention is given to the subject.
+
+Sometimes a love of sweet sounds may be a hidden cause for much that
+would otherwise be inexplicable in an entire career, as in my own
+case. It led to an early study of singers and actors and their
+performances; it gave rise to an effort to form a voice that would
+meet the requirements of an unusually sensitive ear; it led to the
+practice and teaching of elocution, and, later, to much communion with
+voice-users, both singers and speakers. In the meantime came medical
+practice, with speedy specialization as a laryngologist, when there
+were daily consultations with singers and speakers who had employed
+wrong methods of voice-production; this again led on to the scientific
+investigation of voice problems, with a view of settling certain
+disputed points; then came renewed and deeper study of music, both as
+an art and as a science, with a profound interest in the study of the
+philosophy of musical art and the psychological study of the musical
+artist, all culminating in this attempt to help those who will listen
+to me without prejudice. I do not think I know all that is to be
+known, but I believe I do know how to form and preserve the voice
+according to physiological principles; I at least ask the reader to
+give my teachings and recommendations a fair trial. He shall have
+reasons for what is presented and recommended to him.
+
+Once more let it be said that I do not deny that good practical
+results may follow teaching that is not put before the pupil as
+physiology; but what is claimed for physiological teaching is that--
+
+1. It is more rational. The student sees that things must be thus and
+so, and not otherwise.
+
+2. Faults can be the better recognized and explained.
+
+3. The student can the more surely guide his own development, and meet
+the stress and storm that sooner or later come to every professional
+voice-user.
+
+4. Injured voices can be the more effectively restored.
+
+5. The physical welfare of the student is advanced--a matter which I
+find is often neglected by teachers of music, though more so in the
+case of instrumental than vocal teachers.
+
+6. The student can much more effectively learn from the performances
+of others, because he sees that singing and speaking are physical
+processes leading to artistic ends. This is perhaps one of the most
+valuable results, and I can testify to the greater readiness with
+which analysis of a performance can be made after even moderate
+advancement. The teacher who is wise will encourage the student to
+hear those who excel, and to analyze the methods which successful
+artists employ. The student can much more readily accomplish this than
+detect the mental movements of the artist, though the two really go
+hand in hand to a large extent.
+
+The above are some of the advantages, but by no means all, of a method
+of study of voice-production which I must claim is the only rational
+one--certainly, the only one that rests on a scientific foundation.
+
+It does not follow that such study, to be scientific, shall be made
+repellent by the use of technical terms the significance of which the
+reader is left to guess at, but finds unexplained. I fear such
+treatment of vocal physiology has brought it into disrepute. The aim
+of the writer will be to give a clear scientific treatment of the
+subject, which shall not be obscured by unexplained technical terms,
+and which shall be _practical_--capable of immediate use by student
+and teacher. If he did not believe the latter possible he would not
+think it worth while to attempt the former, especially as this has
+often been done before, he regrets to say, badly enough.
+
+Although the author has not now the tune to give regular lessons in
+voice-production, he is frequently consulted, especially when abroad,
+during his vacations, by speakers and especially singers who are
+anxious to learn how they may increase their efficiency in the
+profession by which they earn their livelihood and make their
+reputation; and the reader may be gratified to learn how, in such
+cases, the writer applies the principles he so strongly recommends to
+others.
+
+Let two or three illustrations suffice:
+
+1. A tenor of world renown consulted him in regard to the position of
+the larynx in singing, as he had a suspicion that his practice was not
+correct, inasmuch as his voice seemed to be deteriorating to some
+extent. The answer to his question need not be given here, as this
+subject is discussed adequately in a later chapter.
+
+2. The second was the case of a young lady, an amateur singer, who was
+anxious to know why she failed to get satisfactory results. The author
+heard her in a large room, without any accompaniment (to cover up
+defects, etc.), and standing at first at some distance from her, then
+nearer. Her tones were delightfully pure and beautiful, but her
+performance suggested rather the sound of some instrument than singing
+in the proper sense. It was impossible to learn the ideas to be
+imparted, as the words could not be distinctly made out; there was a
+monotony in the whole performance, though, it must be confessed, a
+beautiful monotony, and there was a total lack of that vigor and
+sureness that both educated and uneducated listeners must be made to
+feel, or there results a sense of dissatisfaction, if not even
+irritation.
+
+The beauty of tone was owing to a production that was to a certain
+extent sound, and this explained why the voice carried well in spite
+of its being small. This young lady was well educated, had heard much
+good music, possessed a sensitive ear and a fine aesthetic taste, and,
+perhaps most important of all, in this case at least, was able to
+think for herself. She was very slight of body, with an ill-developed
+chest, and, from her appearance, could not have enjoyed robust health.
+It was at once evident that this was an admirable case by which to
+test the views advocated. Accordingly, the author addressed the young
+lady as follows:
+
+"Your voice is beautiful in quality, and carries well; you observe the
+registers properly; but your vocalization is feeble, and your singing
+is ineffective. This is due largely to the lack of robustness in your
+voice, but not wholly. You do not tell your story in song so that the
+listener may know what you have to say to him. The imperfections in
+your method of speaking, so common in America--an imperfect
+articulation and a limp texture of voice--are evident in your singing;
+you do not phrase well, and you paint all in one color. This is due
+chiefly to your breathing and your attacks. One may observe that at no
+time do you fill your chest completely. You use the lower chest and
+the diaphragm correctly, but you rob yourself of one half of your
+breathing power, and your chest is not at all well developed. You do
+not use the parts above your voice-box with vigor and efficiency, and
+you direct so much attention to the quality of the tone that you
+neglect its quantity and the ideas to be expressed. You have been
+correctly but inadequately instructed. Your teachers have evidently
+understood registers practically, as few do, but they have only half
+taught you breathing and attack. Their fidelity to that high ideal of
+quality of tone as the final consideration wins my respect."
+
+The writer thought, but did not say, that they must have understood
+little of vocal physiology, or they would not have left this young
+lady so ill-developed physically, at least so far as the chest is
+concerned.
+
+I then asked this earnest and intelligent student, as she proved to
+be, to take a full breath. She did not understand this, and was
+absolutely incapable of doing it. She had been taught to begin
+breathing below, to expand from the lower chest upward, and, as a
+natural result, she never filled the upper chest. She was at once
+shown how it was done, when she seemed greatly surprised, and said: "I
+never have done that in my whole life." "Did you not run and shout as
+a child?" "No, I never did run enough or shout enough to fill up my
+chest." The latter was small, and flat.
+
+The method of attack was next explained and illustrated, first without
+reference to words, and then to show its importance in conveying
+ideas, and the causes of the defects in speaking were indicated, and
+the corrections named and illustrated. The lady was then asked to sing
+again, making the improvements suggested, with the result that it was
+clear that every principle set forth had been clearly apprehended,
+though of course as yet only imperfectly carried out. The student was
+recommended to take walking exercise, and to practice filling the
+chest in the manner to be explained later.
+
+After six weeks she again asked to be heard. The change effected was
+wonderful; she was another type of vocalist now. Without any loss in
+quality her voice had a volume and intensity that made it adequate for
+singing in at least a small hall; her attacks were good, though not
+perfect; and at the end of a very large room it could easily be seen
+that her chest was, when necessary, filled full, so that she was able
+to produce a large and prolonged tone. But, best of all, her health
+had greatly improved, and she had gained in size and weight.
+
+It is but fair to point out that, in the present case, the student was
+an unusually intelligent and thoughtful person. Had it been otherwise,
+more consultations would have been necessary, with probably many
+detailed instructions and much practice before the teacher. But the
+case sufficed to convince me afresh that only physiological teaching
+meets the needs of pupil and teacher. I do not claim, of course, that
+it is a panacea. It will not supply the lack of a musical ear or an
+artistic temperament. Vocalization does not make an artist, but there
+can be no artist without sound vocalization.
+
+All the author's experience as a laryngologist tended to convince him
+that most of those evils from which speakers and singers suffer,
+whatever the part of the vocal mechanism affected, arise from faulty
+methods of voice-production, or excess in the use of methods in
+themselves correct. A showman may have a correct method of
+voice-production--indeed, the writer has often studied the showman
+with admiration--but if he speak for hours in the open air in all
+sorts of weather, a disordered throat is but the natural consequence;
+and the Wagnerian singer who will shout instead of sing must not
+expect to retain a voice of musical quality, if, indeed, he retain one
+at all.
+
+Throughout this work it will be assumed that the speaker and the
+singer should employ essentially the same vocal methods. The singer
+should be a good speaker, even a good elocutionist, and the speaker
+should be able to produce tones equal in beauty, power, and
+expressiveness to those of the singer, but, of course, within a more
+limited range, and less prolonged, as a rule. To each alike is
+voice-training essential, if artistic results are to follow; neither
+rhetorical training on the one hand nor musical training on the other
+will alone suffice.
+
+So that it may be clear that the same physiological principles apply
+to the vocal mechanism as to all others in the body, a short chapter
+dealing with this subject is introduced, before taking up the
+structure and functions of any part of that apparatus by which the
+speaker or singer produces his results as a specialist.
+
+The laws of health known as hygiene follow so naturally on those of
+physiology that brief references to this subject, from time to time,
+with a chapter at the end of the work bearing specially on the life of
+the voice-user, will probably suffice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GENERAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+
+The principle that knowledge consists in a perception of relations
+will now be applied to the structure and functions or uses of the
+different parts of the body.
+
+The demonstration that all animals, even all living things, have
+certain properties or functions in common is one of the great results
+of modern science. Man no longer can be rightly viewed apart from
+other animals. In many respects he is in no wise superior to them. The
+most desirable course to pursue is to learn wherein animals resemble
+and wherein they differ, without dwelling at great length on the
+question of relative superiority or inferiority. It may be
+unhesitatingly asserted that all animals live, move, and have their
+being, in every essential respect, in the same way. Whether one
+considers those creatures of microscopic size living in stagnant
+ponds, or man himself, it is found that certain qualities characterize
+them all. That minute mass of jelly-like substance known as
+protoplasm, constituting the one-celled animal amoeba, may be
+described as _ingestive_, _digestive_, _secretory_, _excretory_,
+_assimilative_, _respiratory_, _irritable_, _contractile_, and
+_reproductive_: that is to say, the amoeba must take in food;
+must digest it, or change its form; must produce some fluid within
+itself which acts on food; must cast out from itself what is no longer
+of any use; must convert the digested material into its own
+substance--perhaps the most wonderful property of living things; must
+take up into its own substance oxygen, and expel carbonic acid gas
+(carbon dioxide); and possess the power to respond to a stimulus, or
+cause of change, the property of changing form, and, finally, the
+ability to bring into being others like itself.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. Muscle-fibres from the heart, much magnified,
+showing cross-stripings, nuclei, or the darkly stained central bodies
+very important to the life of the cell, also the divisions and points
+of union. (Schaefer's _Histology_.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2. Appearance of a small portion of muscle under a
+moderate magnification. Between the muscle-cells proper a form of
+binding tissue may be seen.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3. Muscle-cells isolated from the muscular coats
+of the intestine. Similar cells are found in some part of most of the
+internal organs, including the bronchial tubes. These cells are less
+ready in responding to a stimulus, contract more slowly, and tend to
+remain longer contracted when they pass into this condition than
+striped muscle cells. (Schaefer.)]
+
+Before justifying these statements in detail it will be desirable to
+say something of the anatomy or structure of a mammal, and we may
+select man himself, though it is to be remembered that one might apply
+exactly the same treatment to a dog, pig, mouse, or any other member
+of this group of animals. The amoeba and creatures like it live
+immersed in water; man, at the bottom of an ocean of air. Both move in
+their own medium, the amoeba creeping with extreme slowness, man
+moving with a speed incalculably greater. In each case the movements
+are determined by some cause from without which is termed by
+physiologists a _stimulus_. The slightest movement of the thin
+cover-glass placed over the drop of water in which an amoeba is
+immersed, on a microscopic slide, suffices to act as a stimulus, and
+serves much the same purpose as an electric shock to the muscles of a
+man. In man an elaborate apparatus exists for the process known as
+respiration, but in this and in all other cases the mechanism is
+composed of what is known technically as _cells_, the latter being the
+units of structure, the individual bricks of the building, so to
+speak; and just as any edifice is made up of individual pieces some of
+which differ from one another while others do not to any appreciable
+extent, so is it with the body. The individual cells of a muscle are
+alike in structure and function, but they differ widely from those of
+a gland or secreting organ, as the liver. But it is to be ever
+remembered that the statements with which we set out hold: that is,
+that however cells may differ, they have in all animals certain
+properties in common. Of the muscle-cell, the liver-cell, and the
+one-celled animal we may affirm the same properties, but the
+difference is that while all are secretory the liver-cell is eminently
+so, and produces bile, which other cells do not; that while it is but
+feebly contractile, or susceptible of change of form, the muscle-cell
+is characterized by this property above all others.
+
+The lower we descend in the animal scale the more simple are the
+mechanisms by which results are attained. The one-celled animal may be
+said to breathe with its whole body, while the man employs a large
+number of muscles, not to speak, at present, of other arrangements.
+But when a muscle is examined under the microscope, it is found to
+consist of cells, each one of which is physiologically in all
+essentials like an amoeba, so that we may say that a muscle or other
+tissue or organ is really a sort of colony of cells of similar
+structure and function, all working in harmony like a happy family. We
+actually do find colonies of unicellular animals much like amoeba,
+so that the muscle-cells and all other cells of the body may be
+compared to amoeba and other one-celled animals.
+
+But while in such unicellular creatures all functions are properties
+of the individual cell, among higher forms _systems_ take the place of
+the protoplasm of the single cell. There is a circulatory system, a
+respiratory system, etc.; but we must once more point out that such
+systems are made up of cells, so that every function of the highest
+animal may be finally reduced to what takes place in the unicellular
+animal. A circulatory system consists of a heart and blood-vessels,
+all filled with blood, which latter is "the life," as was known from
+the earliest times; yet this same blood is of no more use for the
+nourishment of the body while it is contained in those tubes which
+constitute the blood-vessels than is bread locked up in a pantry to a
+hungry boy. That which really provides the nutriment for the body is a
+fluid derived from the blood, a something like the liquid part of
+blood and known as _lymph_. This latter is to the cells of any tissue,
+as a muscle, as is the water filled with the food on which an amoeba
+lives. In like manner, in spite of the complicated apparatus which
+supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, the respiratory system,
+respiration is finally the work of the cell, as in amoeba; a
+muscle-cell respires exactly as does the one-celled animal.
+
+When we consider the marvellous complexity of structure of one of the
+higher animals, and the amazing variety of its functions, the question
+naturally arises as to how all this is brought about without any sort
+of clashing of the interests of one part with those of another. Why is
+it that the stomach has enough and not too much blood? By what means
+has Nature solved the problem of supplying more oxygen to parts in
+action than to those at rest? How is it that one set of muscles acts
+with instead of antagonizing another set, as in any complicated series
+of movements, such as walking?
+
+To bring about this harmonization, or _co-ordination_, the nervous
+system has been provided. As the nervous and muscular systems are of
+preeminent importance in voice-production, they will now be considered
+with more detail than it is necessary to give to other systems.
+
+Complicated as is the nervous system, modern advances in the sciences
+of anatomy and physiology have made the comprehension of the subject
+easier. It is now known that the nervous system, in spite of its wide
+ramifications, is also made up of cells which are structurally and
+functionally related to each other, and make connection with every
+part of the whole community, the body. A nerve-cell, or _neurone_, may
+be very complicated in its structure because of its many branches
+or extensions from the main body of the cell.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4. Body of a nerve-cell of the spinal cord,
+specially stained so as to show the minute structure. (Schaefer's
+_Histology_.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5. A large nerve-cell from the spinal cord of the
+ox, magnified 175 diameters. (Schaefer.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6. A cell of another form, from the superficial or
+outer part of the greater brain (cortex cerebri). The great amount of
+branching is suggestive of the power to receive and to transmit
+nervous influences (impulses) from various other cells; in other
+words, complexity of structure suggests a corresponding complexity of
+function.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7. Representation of the manner in which a nerve
+is seen to terminate in a muscle, such ending being one form of
+"nerve-ending" termed a "muscle plate." It tends to emphasize the
+close relationship existing between muscle and nerve, and to justify
+the expression "neuro-muscular mechanism," the nervous system being as
+important for movements as the muscles. (Schaefer's _Histology_.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 8. Three muscle-fibres lying beside each other,
+with the small blood-vessels (capillaries) around and between them.
+Such are the appearances presented under the microscope by skeletal or
+striped muscles such as those of the larynx. (Schaefer.)]
+
+It may be said, in general terms, that the nervous _centres_, the
+brain and the spinal cord, which are parts of one anatomical whole,
+are characterized by the presence of the cell-bodies as well as their
+extensions, while nerves consist only of the extensions or arms of the
+cell-bodies. The nerve-cell whose body is in the top of the brain may
+have an extension or arm which may reach practically to the end of the
+spinal cord, and there make communication with another cell whose arm,
+in turn, may reach as far as the toe. Such nerve arms or extensions
+constitute the _nerve-fibres_, and bundles of these _nerves_, or
+_nerve-trunks_.
+
+Usually nerve-fibres make connection with the cells of an organ by a
+special modification of structure known as a _nerve-ending_. A nervous
+message or influence (_nerve-impulse_) may pass either to the
+centre--_i.e._, toward a cell-body--or from it; in other words, a
+nervous impulse may originate in the centre or in some organ more or
+less distant from it; a nervous impulse may be _central_ or
+_peripheral_. Nearly all central impulses, we now know, arise because
+of the peripheral ones. One may illustrate this important relation by
+a telegraph system. The message a railroad operator sends out--_e.g._,
+that which determines whether a train is to be held at a certain
+station or sent on--might depend wholly on information received from
+another office. The extra flow of blood to the stomach when food
+enters it is owing to such a relation of things. The food acts as a
+stimulus to the ends of the nerve-fibres, and, in consequence, there
+is an ingoing (_afferent_) message or impulse, and, by reason of this,
+an outgoing (_efferent_) one to the muscle-cells of the small
+blood-vessels, owing to which they contract less strongly and the
+calibre of these vessels is increased; hence more blood reaches the
+smallest vessels of all (_capillaries_.) Such a physiological relation
+of things is termed _reflex action_. For such reflex action there are
+required structurally at least two neurones or nerve-cells, and
+functionally a stimulus of a certain strength and quality. Of course,
+if more blood passes to the stomach there must be less somewhere else,
+as the total volume of the blood is limited. The value of the
+knowledge of such a fact is obvious. It must be unwise to exercise
+vigorously immediately after meals, for this determines blood to the
+muscles which would serve a better purpose in the digestive organs.
+For a like reason the singer who would do his best before the public
+will refrain from taking a large meal before appearing.
+
+As this subject of reflex action is of the highest importance, the
+reader is advised to make himself thoroughly familiar with the
+principles involved before perusing the future chapters of this work.
+Fig. 16 shows the structural relations for reflex action. It also
+indicates how such nervous relations may be complicated by other
+connections of the nerve-cells involved in the reflex action. It will
+be seen that they make many upward connections with the brain, in
+consequence of which consciousness may be involved. Ordinarily one is
+more or less conscious of reflex action, though the will is not
+involved; in fact, a willed or voluntary action is usually considered
+the reverse of a reflex or involuntary action. But for a reflex action
+the brain is not essential. As is well known, a snake's hinder part
+will move in response to a touch when completely severed from the head
+end; and movements of considerable complexity can be evoked in a
+headless frog.
+
+Herein, then, lies the solution of the problem. This is Nature's way
+of bringing one part into harmonious relations with another. As by a
+telegraphic system the most distant parts of a vast railway system may
+be brought into harmonious working, so is it with the body by means of
+the nervous system. The nerve-centres correspond to the heads of the
+railway system, or, perhaps more correctly, to the various officials
+resident in some large city who from this centre regulate the affairs
+of the whole line.
+
+The muscular system is made up of cells of two kinds, those
+characteristic of the muscles used in ordinary movements, and those
+employed for the movements of the internal organs. The muscles of the
+limbs are made up of striped muscle-cells; those of the stomach, etc.,
+of unstriped cells. These latter are slower to act when stimulated,
+contract more slowly, and cease to function more tardily when the
+stimulus is withdrawn.
+
+The muscular mechanisms used by the singer and speaker are of the
+skeletal variety.
+
+If it be true that the welfare of one part of the body is bound up
+with that of every other, as are the interests of one member of a firm
+with those of another, in a great business, it will at once appear
+that the most perfect results can follow for the voice-user only under
+certain conditions. However perfect by nature the vocal mechanism, the
+result in any case must be largely determined by the character of the
+body as a whole. The man of fine physique generally has naturally more
+to hope for than one with an ill-developed body.
+
+In the natural working of the body the stimulus to a muscle is
+nervous; hence we may appropriately, and often to advantage, speak of
+_neuro-muscular_ mechanism, the nervous element being as important as
+the muscular.
+
+In a later chapter it will be shown that the work of the singer and
+speaker when most successfully carried out must be largely reflex in
+nature--a fact on which hang weighty considerations with regard to
+many questions, among them methods of practice, the influence of
+example, etc.--be he ever so much the natural artist. It will be the
+writer's aim, however, to give such warnings and advice as may assist
+each reader in his own best development. Many who began with a
+comparatively poor physical stock in trade have surpassed the
+self-satisfied ones who trusted too much to what nature gave them.
+Singers as well as others would do well to believe that _Labor omnia
+vincit_.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The same fundamental physiological principles apply to the lowest and
+to the highest animals. To all belong certain properties or qualities.
+As structure is differentiated, or as one animal differs from another
+owing to greater or less complexity of form, there is a corresponding
+differentiation of function, none, however, ever losing the
+fundamental properties of protoplasm. Each organ comes to perform some
+one function better than all others. This is specialization, and
+implies advance among animals as it does in civilization.
+
+The neuro-muscular system is of great moment to the voice-user. He is
+a specialist as regards the neuro-muscular systems of the vocal
+mechanism. But the same laws apply to it as to other neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. It is of great theoretical and practical importance to
+recognize this, and that one part of the body is related to every
+other, which relationship is maintained chiefly by the nervous system,
+and largely through reflex action.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BREATHING CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+
+If the old orator was right in considering _delivery_ as the essence
+of public speaking as an art, it may with equal truth be said of
+singing, the term being always so extended in signification as to
+imply what Rossini named as the essential for the singer--_voice_.
+
+Looking at it from the physiological point of view, we may say that
+the one absolutely essential thing for singers and speakers is
+breathing. Without methods of breathing that are correct and adequate
+there may be a perfect larynx and admirably formed resonance-chambers
+above the vocal bands, with very unsatisfactory results. The more the
+writer knows of singers and speakers, the more deeply does he become
+convinced that singing and speaking may be resolved into the correct
+use of the breathing apparatus, above all else. Not that this alone
+will suffice, but it is the most important, and determines more than
+any other factor the question of success or failure. Breathing is the
+key-note with which we must begin, and to which we must return again
+and again.
+
+The extent to which this subject has been misunderstood,
+misrepresented, and obscured in works on the voice, and its neglect by
+so large a number of those who profess to understand how to teach
+singing and public speaking, are truly amazing. That many should fail
+to fully appreciate its importance in attaining artistic results is
+not so surprising as that the process itself should have been so ill
+understood, especially as it is open to any one to observe in himself,
+or in our domestic animals, Nature's method of getting air into and
+out of the body.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9. A front view of parts of the respiratory
+apparatus. (Halliburton's Physiology.)]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9. A back view of the parts represented in Fig. 9.
+(Halliburton's Physiology.)] [Transcriber's Note: numbered thus in
+original.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 10 (Spalteholz). A view of the lower part of the
+trachea, dividing into the main bronchial tubes, which again branch
+into a tree-like form. The air-cells are built up around the
+terminations of the finest bronchial tubes, of which they are a sort
+of membranous extension.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 11 (Spalteholz). Shows well the relations of
+heart, lungs, and diaphragm. The lungs have been drawn back, otherwise
+the heart would be covered almost wholly by them. It will be noted
+that the heart-covering is attached to the diaphragm. The fact that
+the stomach and other important organs of the abdomen lie immediately
+beneath the diaphragm is a significant one for the voice-user.
+Manifestly, a full stomach and free, vigorous breathing are
+incompatible.]
+
+This misapprehension is in all probability to be traced to the
+dependence of the student and teacher on tradition rather than
+observation--on authority rather than rational judgment. If a great
+teacher or singer makes any announcement whatever in regard to the
+technique of his art, it is natural that it should be considered with
+attention, but it may prove a great misfortune for the individual to
+accept it without thoughtful consideration. The author will
+illustrate, from time to time, the truth of the above.
+
+In this and all other chapters of this work the student, by which term
+I mean every one who is seriously interested in the use of the voice,
+is recommended to give attention, before reading on any subject, to
+the illustrations employed, perusing very carefully the explanatory
+remarks beneath them.
+
+The author considers the summaries at the conclusion of the chapters
+of much importance. They not only furnish exact and condensed
+statements of the main facts and principles involved, but afford the
+reader a test of the extent to which the foregoing chapter has been
+comprehended. As the author has a horror of what is termed "cramming,"
+he expresses the hope that no student will use these synopses, which
+have been prepared with much care, for so great a misuse of the mind
+as cramming implies.
+
+Breathing is essential for life. The oxygen of the air is, of all
+food-stuffs, the most important. Without it a mammal will perish in
+less than three minutes; hence there is no need of the body so urgent
+as that of oxygen. It is also of great moment that the waste--the
+carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid gas--should be got rid of rapidly;
+nevertheless, it is not this gas which kills when the air-passages are
+closed, though it is highly deleterious. The body is a sort of furnace
+in which combustions are continually going on, and oxygen is as
+essential for these as for the burning of a candle, and the products
+are in each case the same.
+
+Whether the voice-user respires, like others, to maintain the
+functions of the body, or whether he employs the breathing apparatus
+to produce sound, it is to be borne in mind that he uses the same
+physical mechanisms, so that the way is at once clear to consider the
+anatomy and physiology of the breathing organs.
+
+It has been already pointed out that respiration is in all animals, in
+the end, the same process. The one-celled animal and the muscle-cell
+respire in the same way, and with the same results--oxidation,
+combustion, and resulting waste products. In the animal of complicated
+structure special mechanisms are necessary that the essential oxygen
+be brought to the blood and the useless carbon dioxide removed. The
+respiratory organs or tract include the mouth, nose, larynx, trachea,
+bronchial tubes, and the lung-tissue proper or the air-cells.
+
+The mouth, nose, and larynx, in so far as they are of special
+importance in voice-production, will be considered later.
+
+The air enters the trachea, or windpipe, through a relatively narrow
+slit in the larynx, or voice-box, known as the _glottis_, or _chink of
+the glottis_, which is wider when air is being taken in
+(_inspiration_) than when it is being expelled (_expiration_). Life
+depends on this chink being kept open. The windpipe is composed of a
+series of cartilaginous or gristly rings connected together by softer
+tissues. These rings are not entire, but are completed behind by soft
+tissues including muscle. It follows that this tube is pliable and
+extensible--a very important provision, especially when large
+movements of the neck are made, during vigorous exercise, and also in
+singing and speaking.
+
+The bronchial tubes are the tree-like branches of the trachea, and
+extend to the air-cells themselves, which may be considered as built
+up around them in some such fashion as a toy balloon on its wooden
+stem, but with many infoldings, etc. (Fig. 10). The air-cells are
+composed of a membrane which may be compared to the walls of the
+balloon, but we are of course dealing with living tissue supplied by
+countless blood-vessels of the most minute calibre, in which the blood
+is brought very near to the air which passes over them.
+
+Throughout, the respiratory tract is lined with mucous membrane.
+Mucous membranes are so named because they secrete mucus, the fluid
+which moistens the nose, mouth, and all parts of the respiratory
+tract. When one suffers from a cold the mucous membrane, in the early
+stages, may become dry from failure of this natural secretion; hence
+sneezing, coughing, etc., as the air then acts as an irritant.
+
+At no time do we breathe pure oxygen, but "air"--_i.e._, a mixture of
+21 parts of the former with 79 parts of an inert gas, nitrogen; and
+there is always in the air more oxygen than the blood actually takes
+from it in the air-cells.
+
+The intaking of air is termed by physiologists _inspiration_, and its
+expulsion _expiration_, the whole process being _respiration_.
+Expiration takes a very little longer than inspiration, and the
+rapidity of respiration depends on the needs of the body. The more
+active the exercise, the more rapidly vital processes go on, the more
+ventilation of the tissues is required and the more is actually
+effected. When one is at rest breathing takes place at the rate of
+from 14 to 18 inspirations and expirations in the minute; but of all
+the processes of the body none is more variable than respiration,
+and of necessity, for every modification of action, every movement,
+implies a demand for an increased quantity of oxygen. It is not
+surprising, therefore, that the very exercise of singing tends in
+itself to put one out of breath.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 12. In the above, the shaded outlines indicate the
+shape of the bony cage of the chest during inspiration, and the
+lighter ones the same during expiration. The alterations in the
+position of the ribs and in the diameters of the chest, giving rise to
+its greater capacity during inspiration, are evident.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 13. This figure is intended to indicate, in a
+purely diagrammatic way, by dotted lines, the position of the
+diaphragm (1) when inspiration is moderate, and (2) when very deep.
+The unbroken curved line above the dotted ones indicates the position
+of the diaphragm (only approximately, of course) after expiration.]
+
+Attention will now be directed to some facts that it is of the utmost
+importance to clearly understand, if one is to know how to breathe and
+the reasons for the method employed. The lungs are contained in a
+cavity the walls of which are made up of a domed muscular (and
+tendinous) structure below, and elsewhere of bony and cartilaginous
+tissues filled in with soft structures, chiefly muscles. This cage is
+lined within by a smooth membrane which is kept constantly moist by
+its own secretion. The lungs are covered by a similar membrane, both
+of these fitting closely like the hand to a glove, so that there are
+two smooth membranes in opposition. It cannot be too well remembered
+that these two, the inner surface of the chest walls and the outer
+surface of the lungs, are in the closest contact. This is so whatever
+the changes that take place in the size and shape of the chest. The
+lungs are concave below, and so fit accurately to the fleshy partition
+between the chest and the abdomen which constitutes the lower boundary
+of the chest, if we may use the term "chest" somewhat loosely. Above,
+suiting the shape of the chest, the lungs are somewhat conical.
+
+The pressure of the air tends of itself to expand the lungs, which are
+highly elastic, even when one does not breathe at all. But if more
+air is to enter there must be additional space provided; hence greater
+expansion of the lungs can only follow an enlargement of the chest
+cavity in one or in all directions. These are spoken of as
+_diameters_. It follows that it is possible to conceive of the chest
+being enlarged in three, and only three, directions; so that it may be
+increased in size in its vertical, its transverse, and its
+antero-posterior diameter, or diameter from before backwards.
+
+This expansion, as in the case of all other movements, can be effected
+only by muscles, or, to speak more accurately, by neuro-muscular
+mechanisms. Exactly what muscles are employed may be learned from the
+accompanying illustrations and by observation. While it is highly
+important to know in a general way which muscles are chiefly
+concerned, or, rather, where they are situated, it cannot be deemed
+essential for every reader to learn their names, attachments, etc.,
+down to the minutest details, as in the case of a student of anatomy
+proper. The author does, however, deem it of the highest importance
+that the student should learn by actual observation on his own person
+that his chest does expand in each of the three directions indicated
+above.
+
+It is not necessary to dissect to observe muscles; in fact, they can
+be seen in action only on the living subject. All who would really
+understand breathing should study the chest when divested of all
+clothing and before a sufficiently large mirror. He may then observe
+the following during a fairly deep inspiration:
+
+1. The chest is enlarged as a whole.
+
+2. The abdominal walls move outward.
+
+3. The ribs pass from a more oblique to a less oblique position, and
+may become almost horizontal; their upper edges are also turned out
+slightly, though this is not so easy to observe.
+
+4. Again, in the case of a very deep and sudden inspiration, the
+abdomen and the lower ribs also are drawn inward.
+
+The changes above referred to are brought about in this way:
+
+1. The total enlargement is due to the action of many muscles which
+function in harmony with each other.
+
+2. The chief changes are brought about by those muscles attached
+between the ribs (_intercostales_); but these act more efficiently
+owing to the cooeperation of other muscles which steady the ribs and
+chest generally, such as those attached to the shoulder-bones and the
+upper ribs; indeed, the most powerful inspiration possible can only be
+effected when most of the other muscles of the body are brought into
+action. One may observe that even the arms and legs are called into
+requisition when a tenor sings his highest tone as forcibly as
+possible, though this is often overdone in a way to be condemned. Art
+should not be reduced to a gymnastic feat.
+
+The most important muscle of inspiration is the _diaphragm_, or
+midriff, because it produces a greater change in the size of the chest
+than any other single muscle. Some animals can get the oxygen they
+require to maintain life by the action of this large muscle alone,
+when all other respiratory muscles are paralyzed. As it is so
+important, and above all to the voice-user, it merits special
+consideration.
+
+In studying the action of a muscle it is necessary to note its _points
+of attachment_ to harder structures, either bone or cartilage. Nearly
+always one such point is more fixed than the other, and from this the
+muscle pulls when it contracts.
+
+The diaphragm is peculiar in that it is somewhat circular in shape and
+is more or less tendinous or sinew-like in the middle. Being attached
+to the spinal column behind and to the lower six or seven ribs, when
+the muscle contracts it becomes less domed in shape--less convex
+upward--and of course descends to a variable degree depending on the
+extent of the muscular contraction. As to whether the ribs, and with
+them the abdominal muscles, are drawn in or the reverse, is determined
+wholly by the degree of force with which the contraction takes place
+and the extent to which it is resisted. Throughout the body muscles
+are arranged in sets which may either cooeperate with or antagonize
+each other, as required. The forcible bending of one's arm by another
+person may be resisted by one through the use of certain muscles. In
+this the action of the muscles which bend the arm is imitated by the
+agent seeking to perform this movement for us. The muscles acting in
+opposition to certain others are said to be their _antagonists_.
+
+Were the diaphragm to contract moderately the ribs would be but little
+drawn in, even if no muscles acted as antagonists. But, as a matter of
+fact, this domed muscle descends at the same time as the ribs ascend,
+because of the action of the muscles attached to them. The diaphragm
+being concave below toward the abdomen, the contents of this cavity
+fit closely to its under surface. There are found the liver, stomach,
+intestines, etc.--a part of great practical importance, as will be
+shown presently.
+
+Naturally, in breathing, the organs of the abdomen, especially those
+above, are pressed down somewhat with the descent of the diaphragm in
+inspiration, and, in turn, push out the abdominal walls. If, however,
+the midriff contract so powerfully that the lower ribs are drawn
+inward, the abdominal walls follow them. Although the actual extent of
+the descent of the diaphragm is small in itself, since the total
+surface is large it effects a very considerable enlargement of the
+chest in the vertical diameter.
+
+The capacity of the lungs for air is a very variable quantity:
+
+1. The quantity of air taken in with a single inspiration in quiet
+breathing (_tidal air_) is about 20-30 cubic inches.
+
+2. The quantity taken in with the deepest possible inspiration
+(_complemental air_) is about 100 cubic inches.
+
+3. The quantity that may be expelled by the most forcible expiration
+(_supplemental air_) is about 100 cubic inches.
+
+4. The quantity that can under no circumstances be expelled (_residual
+air_) is about 100 cubic inches.
+
+5. The quantity that can be expelled after the most forcible
+inspiration--_i.e._, the amount of air that can be moved--indicates
+the _vital capacity_. This varies very much with the individual, and
+depends not a little on the elasticity of the chest walls, and so
+diminishes with age. It follows that youth is the best period for the
+development of the chest, and the time to learn that special
+breath-control so essential to good singing and speaking.
+
+When the ribs have been raised by inspiration and the abdominal organs
+pressed down by the diaphragm, the chest, on the cessation of the act,
+tends to resume its former shape, owing to elastic recoil quite apart
+from all muscular action; in other words, inspiration is active,
+expiration largely passive. With the voice-user, especially the
+singer, expiration becomes the more important, and the more difficult
+to control, as will be shown later.
+
+It must now be apparent that such use of the voice as is necessitated
+by speaking for the public, or by singing, still more, perhaps, must
+tend to the general welfare of the body--_i.e._, the hygiene of
+respiration is evident from the physiology. Actual experience proves
+this to be the case. The author has known the greatest improvement in
+health and vigor follow on the judicious use of the voice, owing
+largely to a more active respiration. It also follows, however, that
+exhaustion may result from the excessive use of the respiratory
+muscles, as with any others, even when the method of chest-expansion
+is quite correct. Before condemning any vocal method one does well to
+inquire in regard to the extent to which it has been employed, as well
+as the circumstances of the voice-user. A poor clergyman worried with
+the fear of being supplanted by another man, or a singer unable to
+secure employment, possibly from lack of means to advertise himself,
+is not likely to grow fat under any method of vocal exercise, be it
+ever so physiological; while the prima donna who has chanced to please
+the popular taste and become a favorite may "wax fat and kick."
+
+[Illustration: FIGS. 14, A and B, are to be compared: that on the left
+shows the position of the diaphragm, abdominal walls, etc., during
+expiration; the one on the right, during inspiration. The relative
+quantities of air in the chest in each case are approximately
+indicated by the shaded areas.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+BREATHING FURTHER CONSIDERED THEORETICALLY AND PRACTICALLY.
+
+
+When one takes into account the large number of muscles employed in
+respiration, and remembers that these muscles must act in perfect
+harmony with each other if the great end is to be attained, he
+naturally inquires how this complex series of muscular contractions
+has been brought into concerted action so as to result in that
+physiological unity known as breathing.
+
+It is impossible to conceive of such results being effected except
+through the influence of the nervous system, which acts as a sort of
+regulator throughout the whole economy. All the parts of the
+respiratory tract are supplied with nerves, which are of both
+kinds--those which carry nervous impulses or messages from and those
+which convey them to the nervous centres concerned; in other words, to
+and from the bodies of the nerve-cells whose extensions are termed
+nerves. These centres are the central offices where the information is
+received and from which orders are issued, so to speak.
+
+The chief respiratory centre--_the_ centre--is situated in that
+portion of the brain just above the spinal cord, in its continuation,
+in fact, and is known as the _medulla oblongata_, or _bulb_. But
+while this is the head centre, at which the ingoing (_afferent_)
+impulses are received and from which the outgoing (_efferent_) ones
+proceed, it makes use of many other collections of nerve-cells, or
+subordinate centres--_e.g._, those whose nerve-extensions or
+nerve-fibres proceed from the spinal cord to the muscles of
+respiration.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 15. The purpose of this diagram is to indicate the
+relation between ingoing (afferent) and outgoing (efferent) nervous
+influences (impulses)--in other words, to illustrate _reflex action_.
+The paths of the ingoing impulses are indicated by black lines, and
+those of the outgoing ones by red lines, the point of termination
+being shown by an arrow-tip. The result of an ingoing message may be
+either favorable or unfavorable. The nervous impulse that reaches the
+brain through the eye may be either exhilarating or depressing. The
+experienced singer is usually stimulated by the sight of an audience,
+while the beginner may be rendered nervous, and this may express
+itself in many and widely distant parts of the body. An unfavorable
+message may reach the diaphragm or intercostal muscles, and render
+breathing shallow, irregular, or, in the worst cases, almost gasping.
+The heart or stomach, even the muscles of the larynx, the limbs, etc.,
+may be affected, and trembling be the result. On the other hand, the
+laryngeal and other muscles may be toned up, and the voice rendered
+better than usual, as a result of applause--_i.e._, by nervous
+impulses through the ear--or, again, by the sight of a friend. Even a
+very tight glove or a pinching shoe may suffice to hamper the action
+of the muscles required for singing or speaking. All this is a result
+of reflex action--_i.e._, outgoing messages set up by ingoing
+ones--the "centre" being either the brain or the spinal cord. From all
+this it is evident that the singer or speaker must guard against
+everything unfavorable, to an extent that an ordinary person need not.
+The stomach, as the diagram is also meant to show, may express itself
+on the brain, and give rise, as in fact it often does, owing to
+indiscretion in eating, to unpleasant outward effects on the muscles
+required in singing or speaking. Of course, no attempt has been made
+in the above figure to express anatomical forms and relations
+exactly.]
+
+When all the ingoing impulses from the lungs, etc., are cut off, if
+respiration does not actually cease, it is carried out in a way so
+ineffective that life cannot be long sustained. It follows that as the
+muscular contractions necessary for the chest and other respiratory
+movements are dependent on the impulses passing in from the lungs,
+etc., breathing belongs to the class of movements known as
+reflex--chiefly so, at all events. It will thus be seen that
+respiration is a sort of self-regulative process, the movements being
+in proportion to the needs of the body. The greater the need for
+oxygen, the more are the nerve-terminals in the lungs and the centre
+itself stimulated, with, as a result, corresponding outgoing impulses
+to muscles.
+
+As the respiratory centre is readily reached by impulses from every
+part of the body, like one who keeps open house, there are many
+different sorts of visitors, not all desirable. If, for example, a
+drop of a fluid that produces no special effect when on the tongue
+gets into the larynx, trachea, or lungs, the most violent coughing
+follows. This is one illustration of the _protective_ character of
+many reflexes. This violent action of the respiratory apparatus is
+not in itself a desirable thing, because it disturbs if it does not
+exhaust, but it is preferable to the inflammation that might result if
+the fluid, a bread-crumb, etc., were to pass into the lungs.
+
+In like manner, the deep breath and the "Oh!" that follow a
+fear-inspiring sight, a very loud noise, or a severe pinch of the
+skin, are examples of reflex action. They are quite independent of the
+will, though in some cases they may be prevented by it.
+
+This reflex nature of breathing throws much light on many matters of
+great interest to the speaker and singer, some of which, as the
+formation of good habits of breathing, will be considered later.
+Unfortunately for the nervous debutant, his breathing is anything but
+what he could wish it. The pale face and almost gasping respiration,
+in the worst cases, are not unknown to the experienced observer. In
+such cases the preventive (_inhibitory_) influence of certain ingoing
+impulses is but too obvious. Such undesirable messages may pass in
+through the eyes when the young singer looks out on the throng that
+may either approve or condemn; or they may originate within, and pass
+from the higher part of the brain to the lower breathing centre. The
+beginner may have high ideals of art, and fear that they will be but
+ill realized in his performance. His ideals in this instance do not
+help but hinder, for they interfere with the regular action of the
+breathing centre. A few deep breaths after the platform has been
+reached greatly help under such circumstances. It is also wise for the
+singer to avoid those songs that begin softly and require long breaths
+and very evenly sustained tones. It is much better to begin with a
+selection that brings the breathing organs into fairly active exercise
+at once. One feeble, hesitating, or otherwise ineffective tone is in
+itself a stimulus of the wrong kind, sending in unfavorable messages
+which are only too apt to reach the breathing and other centres
+concerned in voice-production; but of this subject of nervousness
+again.
+
+It is important to realize that sounds, whether musical or the
+reverse, are produced by the outgoing stream of breath, by an
+expiratory effort. Breath is taken in by the voice-producer in order
+to be converted into that expiratory force which, playing on the vocal
+bands, causes them to vibrate or pass into the rapid movements which
+give rise to similar movements of the air in the cavities above the
+larynx, the resonance-chambers, and on which the final result as
+regards sound is dependent. Important as is inspiration to the speaker
+and singer, expiration is much more so. Many persons fill the lungs
+well, but do not understand how to husband their resources, and so
+waste breath instead of converting every particle into sound, so to
+speak. After the larynx has been studied the importance of the
+expiratory blast will be better understood.
+
+For the voice-user, it cannot be too soon realized that _all breath
+that does not become sound is wasted_, or, to express the same truth
+otherwise, the sole purpose of breathing is to cause effective
+vibrations of the vocal bands. In these two words, _effective
+vibrations_, lies the whole secret of voice production, the whole
+purpose of training, the key to the highest technical results, the
+cause of success or failure for those who speak or sing.
+
+Before the larynx, the apparatus that produces sound-vibrations, can
+be effectively employed, the source of power, the bellows, must be
+developed. To some Nature has been generous--they have large chests;
+to others she has given a smaller wind-chest, but has perhaps
+compensated by providing an especially fine voice-box. Happy are they
+who have both, and thrice happy those who have all three requirements:
+a fine chest, a well-constructed larynx, and beautifully formed
+resonance-chambers. If with all these there are the musical ear and
+the artistic temperament, we have the singer who is born great. These
+are the very few. To most it must be--if greatness at all--greatness
+thrust upon them, greatness the result of long and patient effort to
+attain perfect development. Indeed, even those with the most complete
+natural outfit can only reach the highest results of which they are
+capable by long and patient application. Those who do not believe in
+attainment only through labor would do well to abandon an art career,
+as there is already a great deal too much poor speaking and bad
+singing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BREATHING WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+
+The first great requisite for a voice-user is a well-developed chest;
+the next, complete control of it, or, to put it otherwise, the art of
+breathing, as briefly explained above.
+
+The chest may be large enough, yet not be, in the physiological sense,
+developed. The voice-user is a sort of athlete, a specialist whose
+chest muscles must be strong and not covered up by very much
+superfluous tissue in the form of fat, etc. Whatever the public may
+think of the goodly form, the singer must remember that fat is
+practically of no use to any one in voice-production, and may prove a
+great hindrance, possibly in some cases being a cooeperative cause of
+that _tremolo_ so fatal to good singing.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 16. The appearance of a well-developed, healthy
+person, with special reference to the chest.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 17. The appearance of the chest after undue
+compression, as with corsets.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 18. In this figure, the dark curved line in the
+middle is meant to represent the position, etc., of the diaphragm,
+beneath which, and fitting closely to it, are the liver, stomach, and
+other abdominal organs, in this case not pressed upon or injured in
+any way. This represents the normal human being.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 19. A condition the reverse of that represented in
+the preceding. The vital organs are pressed upon, with results some of
+which are obvious; others equally serious are not such as appear to
+the eye.]
+
+The voice-user should eschew ease and take plenty of exercise, but
+most of all must he use those forms of exercise which develop the
+breathing apparatus and tend to keep it in the best condition.
+Walking, running, and hill climbing are all excellent, but do not in
+themselves suffice to develop the chest to the utmost.
+
+To the beginner the following exercises are strongly recommended. They
+are highly important for all, whether beginners or not, who would
+have the best development of the breathing apparatus.
+
+Deep breathing, such a use of the respiratory organs as leads to the
+greatest possible expansion of the chest, should be learned and
+practised, if not absolutely before vocal exercises are attempted, at
+all events as soon after as possible. As in all cases where muscles
+are employed, the exercise should be _graduated_. It may be even
+harmful to attempt to fill the chest to its utmost capacity at once.
+It is better to breathe very moderately for several days. Any such
+symptoms as dizziness or headache accompanying or following the
+exercises indicate that they have been too vigorous, too long
+continued, or carried out under unsuitable conditions. Above all must
+the air be pure, and the body absolutely unhampered--most of all, the
+chest--by any form of clothing. Last century most ladies and some men
+applied to the chest a form of apparatus known as corsets, under the
+mistaken belief that they were for women a necessary support and
+improved the figure. They no doubt were responsible for much lack of
+development, and feeble health, and, as has been proved by examination
+of the body after death, led to compression of the liver and other
+organs. No voice-user should use such an effective means of preventing
+the very thing he should most desire, a full and free use of the
+breathing apparatus.
+
+Before carrying out the exercises suggested or others equally good,
+the student is recommended to be weighed, and especially to have the
+chest carefully _measured_. This can be done with sufficient accuracy
+by the use of a tape-measure. It will be well to take the
+circumference a few inches above and below a certain point, so that it
+may be ascertained that the chest expands in every region. The
+measurements should be taken under the following conditions:
+
+1. The chest should be almost or wholly divested of clothing.
+
+2. Its circumference is to be ascertained--(_a_) when the breath has
+been allowed to pass out gently, and before a new breath is taken;
+(_b_) with the deepest possible inspiration; (_c_) after the deepest
+possible expiration, which has been preceded by a similar inspiration.
+
+After about three weeks the individual should be again measured, by
+the same person, in exactly the same way, in order to learn whether
+there has been development or not, and, if so, how much. It is
+important that the measurements should be made at exactly the same
+horizontal planes, and with this end in view it is desirable to put a
+small mark of some kind on the chest, which may remain till the next
+measurements are made.
+
+The method of breathing recommended is as follows:
+
+1. Inhale very slowly through the nostrils, with closed mouth,
+counting mentally one, two, three, four, etc., with regularity.
+
+2. Hold the breath thus taken, but only for a short time, counting in
+the same manner as before.
+
+3. Exhale slowly, still counting.
+
+After a few moments' rest the exercise may be again carried out in the
+same way. These exercises may be in series, several times a day.
+
+The following warnings are especially to be observed:
+
+1. Never continue any exercise when there is a sense of discomfort of
+any kind whatever. Such usually indicates that it is being carried out
+too vigorously.
+
+2. Increase the depth of the inspirations daily, but not very rapidly.
+
+3. The inspirations and expirations should both be carried out very
+slowly at first.
+
+4. Cease the exercise before any sense of fatigue is experienced.
+Fatigue is Nature's warning, and should be always obeyed. It indicates
+that the waste products which result from the use of the muscles are
+accumulating and proving harmful.
+
+After a week of such exercises the following modification of them is
+recommended:
+
+1. Inhale with the lips slightly apart.
+
+2. Gradually increase the length of the time the breath is held, but
+let it never exceed a few seconds.
+
+3. Through open lips allow the breath to pass out, but with extreme
+slowness. The student should try to increase this last, somewhat,
+daily, as it is above all what is required in singing, and also in
+speaking, though to a somewhat less degree--a slow, regulated
+expulsion of the breath.
+
+If when the chest is full of air the subject gently raises the arms
+over the head, or directs them backward, he will experience a sense of
+pressure on the chest. If this be carefully done, its effect is to
+strengthen, and it is especially valuable for those inclined to stoop.
+The recommendation to inspire through the open lips applies only when
+one is in a room, or in the open air when it is warm enough and free
+from dust. But the student should learn to inspire through the
+slightly open mouth, as to breathe through the nose in speaking, and
+especially in singing, is objectionable for several reasons which can
+be better explained later; so that the rule is to _breathe through the
+nose when not using the voice, and through the mouth when one does_.
+
+Though all the exercises thus far referred to tend to develop the
+diaphragm and abdominal muscles, these may be strengthened by special
+exercises. The diaphragm is the soft floor of the chest, and must at
+once bear the strain of the air that acts on the approximated vocal
+bands, and assist in applying that pressure with just the amount of
+force required, and no more; hence it is important that this muscle be
+both strong and under perfect control. This large central muscle is
+probably not only the most generally effective of all the respiratory
+muscles, but has an action more precise and often more delicate, more
+nicely controlled, than that of any other. It is possible to make very
+powerful movements of this muscle, and an exercise that will cause it
+to descend deeply and remain in a tense condition is valuable. To
+effect this, one pushes it down as far as possible, and holds it there
+for a few seconds, then permits it to relax gradually. The extent to
+which this is successful can be inferred from the degree to which the
+abdominal wall bulges forward.
+
+The sudden though slight movements required in those forms of
+vocalization that bear more or less resemblance to what vocalists term
+_staccato_, and which are so effective in dramatic speaking and
+singing, can be prepared for by larger but sudden movements of the
+diaphragm, as when one taking a full breath imitates coughing
+movements, but in a regular and measured way, the throat being used
+but little. At the same time, or separately, the abdominal muscles may
+be effectively exercised by being drawn in and thrust out with
+considerable force.
+
+None of these movements are elegant--they scarcely put one in an
+artistic light; but they are highly effective in strengthening parts
+every voice-user must employ.
+
+To furnish adequate support for the diaphragm and chest in a very
+vigorous use of the voice, as in the most trying passages a tragic
+actor has to speak or a vocalist to sing, the abdominal muscles must
+remain more or less tense, and to do so effectually they must have
+strength beyond that possessed by the corresponding muscles in
+ordinary persons; hence the desirability of employing special
+exercises to increase their vigor. Hill climbing and bicycling also
+tend to this end, but the latter is for many reasons not a form of
+exercise to be recommended to one who wishes to attain the highest
+results with the voice. Wind, dust, a stooping position, excessive
+heat of the body, etc., are all among the many factors of risk for the
+delicate vocal mechanism.
+
+As the expiratory blast is so important in voice-production, the
+exercises above recommended should be followed by others in which this
+principle is specially recognized.
+
+1. Inspire so as to fill the chest to the fullest with considerable
+rapidity; then allow the breath-stream to pass out with the utmost
+slowness.
+
+2. Fill the chest with special reference to its lower or its upper
+part, as desired, and very rapidly, letting the breath flow out
+slowly.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The primary purpose of respiration in all animals is the same--namely,
+to furnish oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (carbonic acid). The
+lowest animals, as the amoeba, breathe by the whole surface of the
+body. In all vertebrates the anatomical mechanism is essentially the
+same: a membrane (covered with flat cells) in which the blood is
+distributed in the minutest blood-vessels (capillaries). Respiration
+is finally effected in the tissues (cells) of the body. The more
+active the animal, or the higher in the scale, the more need of
+frequent interchange between the air, the blood, and the tissues.
+
+The respiratory organs in mammals are the mouth, nose, larynx,
+trachea, bronchial tubes, and lung-tissue or air-cells proper. The
+windpipe is made up of cartilaginous rings completed by membrane,
+muscle, etc. (behind). The bronchial tubes are the continuation of the
+windpipe, and branch tree-like until they become very fine. The
+air-cells are built round these latter. The lung-tissue is highly
+elastic. The lungs are made up of an elastic membrane, covered with
+flat cells, and very abundantly supplied with a mesh-work of the
+finest blood-vessels. The whole of the respiratory tract as far as the
+air-cells is lined by mucous membrane.
+
+The air consists essentially of 21 parts of oxygen and 79 parts of
+nitrogen, with a variable quantity of watery vapor. Only a small
+portion of the total oxygen of the air is removed before it is
+exhaled. The respiratory act consists of (1) inspiration, and (2)
+expiration; the latter is of a little longer duration than the former.
+The rate of breathing in man is from 14 to 18 per minute, in the
+resting state, or about one respiration to three or four heart-beats.
+The quantity of air inspired depends on (1) the size of the thorax,
+and (2) the extent of its movements. These are effected solely by
+muscular contractions, and give rise to an increase in all the
+diameters of the thorax. The lungs are closely applied (but not
+attached) to the inside of the chest wall, and remain so under all
+circumstances. When the chest cavity is enlarged by inspiration, the
+air, pressing down into the elastic lungs, expands them as much as
+possible, that is, as much as the chest walls will allow; but the
+lungs are never at any time either filled with or emptied of air to
+their utmost capacity. At most, the amount of expansion is very
+moderate.
+
+
+_The Quantity of Air in the Lungs._
+
+1. The quantity of air inspired in quiet breathing is about 20-30
+cubic inches.
+
+2. The quantity that can be added to this by a deep inspiration is
+about 100 cubic inches.
+
+3. The quantity that can be expelled by a forcible expiration is about
+100 cubic inches.
+
+4. The quantity that cannot be expelled at all is about 100 cubic
+inches.
+
+The above are named: (1) The tidal air; (2) complemental air; (3)
+supplemental air; (4) residual air. The quantity that can be expelled
+by the most forcible expiration after the most forcible inspiration,
+that is, the air that can be moved, indicating the "vital capacity,"
+is about 225-250 inches.
+
+The chest is enlarged by the muscles of inspiration, the principal of
+which is the diaphragm or midriff. This muscle (tendinous in the
+centre) is attached to the spinal column (behind) and to the last six
+or seven ribs. When it contracts it becomes less domed upward, and is
+pressed down more or less on the contents of the abdomen; hence the
+walls of the latter move outward. During ordinary inspiration the
+lower ribs are steadied by other muscles, so that no indrawing of
+these ribs takes place, but a very forcible expiration makes such
+indrawing very noticeable. In addition to the enlargement of the chest
+by the descent of the diaphragm, the ribs are elevated and everted by
+the muscles attached to them, with the total result that the chest
+cavity is enlarged in all its three diameters during inspiration. The
+first rib is fixed by muscles from above. During extremely forced
+inspiration a large proportion of all the muscles of the body may act.
+Ordinary expiration is the result largely of the elastic recoil of the
+chest walls, only a few muscles taking part. The diaphragm ascends and
+becomes more domed. During forced expiration many other muscles are
+called into action. It is of importance for the singer and speaker to
+note: (1) That the chest cavity should be increased in all its
+directions; (2) that the muscular action should be easy and under
+perfect control, but also vigorous when required; (3) that the breath
+be taken through the nostrils when the individual is not actually
+vocalizing or about to do so; (4) that the breath be kept in or let
+out in the proportion required.
+
+Breathing is a reflex or involuntary act. The respiratory centre,
+consisting of an expiratory and inspiratory division, is situated in
+the bulb, or medulla oblongata, the portion of the brain just above
+the spinal cord. All the ingoing nervous impulses affect respiration
+through the outgoing impulses that pass along the nerves to the
+muscles; that is, the ingoing impulses pass up by the nerves from the
+lungs to the centre, and thence along other nerves to the respiratory
+muscles. The condition of the blood determines the activity of the
+respiratory centre, but the incoming impulses regulate this activity.
+The respiratory centre can be approached from every part of the body.
+
+
+_Hygiene._
+
+Every thing that favors the full and free expansion of the chest in a
+pure atmosphere is favorable, and the reverse unfavorable. Corsets are
+against the laws of beauty, are unnecessary for support, and may by
+compression injure and displace important organs, as the liver,
+stomach, etc.; and must interfere with the fullest expansion of the
+chest. They have militated against the physical, and indirectly the
+moral and mental advancement of the race.
+
+
+_Practical Exercises._
+
+I. Measurements of the chest.
+
+II. Exercises to strengthen muscles, promote complete expansion,
+regulate inflow and outflow of air, etc.
+
+1. (_a_) Inspiring slowly, with counting.
+   (_b_) Holding.
+   (_c_) Expiring slowly, with counting.
+
+2. The same, holding longer.
+
+3. The same, with shorter inspiration and longer expiration. Gradually
+diminish first and lengthen last.
+
+4. Breathing through open lips.
+
+5. Exercises to strengthen diaphragm.
+
+6. Exercises to improve shape of chest and strengthen muscles.
+
+7. Exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SPECIAL VOICE-PRODUCING MECHANISM, THE LARYNX.
+
+
+The larynx, or voice-box, is not the sole voice-producing apparatus,
+as is often supposed, but it is of great, possibly the greatest,
+importance. In describing the parts of this portion of the vocal
+mechanism the author deems it wiser to use the terms commonly employed
+by anatomists and physiologists, as others are awkward and inadequate.
+Moreover, there is this great advantage in learning the technical
+names of structures, that should the reader desire to consult a
+special work on anatomy in reference to this or other important
+organs, he will find in use the same terms as he has himself already
+learned. Such are, as a matter of fact, not difficult to learn or
+remember if one knows their derivation or other reason for their
+employment. All the muscles of the larynx have names which are not
+arbitrary but based on the names of the structures to which they are
+attached, so that one has but to know their connections and the names
+of the solid structures, which are few, to have a key to the whole
+nomenclature.
+
+When one is not using the voice the larynx is simply a part of the
+respiratory apparatus, but when one phonates this organ assumes a
+special function for which specific structures are essential. As
+sound is caused by vibrations of the air, and these may be set up by
+vibrations of the vocal cords, it may with absolute correctness be
+said that the whole larynx exists for the vocal bands so far as
+voice-production is concerned. Such a view renders the study of the
+larynx much more interesting and rational; one is then engaged in
+working out that solution of a problem which Nature has accomplished.
+
+The vocal cords, we can conceive, might be either relaxed or
+tightened, and lengthened or shortened, or both, and beyond that we
+can scarcely understand how they might have been modified so as to be
+effective in the production of sounds of different pitch. As a matter
+of fact, these are the methods Nature has employed to accomplish her
+purpose. For each vocal cord one fixed point, and only one, is
+required. We know of only one method in use by Nature to cause
+movement in living structures--viz., contraction, and muscle is the
+tissue which above all others has that property; hence the movements
+of the vocal cords are brought about by muscles. But both for the
+attachment of the muscles and the vocal cords themselves solid,
+relatively hard structures are required. Bone would prove too
+unyielding, but cartilage, or gristle, meets the case exactly. The
+entire framework of the larynx--its skeleton, so to speak--is made up
+of a series of cartilages united together so as to ensure sufficient
+firmness with pliability.
+
+The cartilages have been named from their shape, as that appealed to
+the original observers, and the terms employed are of Greek origin.
+The largest and strongest is the _thyroid_ (_thureos_, a shield)
+cartilage, which resembles somewhat two shields put together in front
+without any visible joint, and open behind but presenting a strongly
+convex surface externally, in front and laterally. "Front" (anterior)
+and "back" (posterior) always refer in anatomy to the subject
+described, and not to the observer's position. In observing another's
+larynx the subject observed and the observer naturally stand front to
+front, and it is impossible to see or touch the back of the larynx as
+it is covered behind by the other structures of the neck.
+
+This thyroid, the largest of the cartilages, is attached to the hyoid
+or tongue bone above by a membrane, so that the whole larynx hangs
+suspended from this bone by a membrane, though not by it alone, for
+muscles are attached to it which also serve for its support. It is of
+practical importance to remember that the larynx is free to a very
+considerable extent, otherwise it would go ill with the voice-producer
+in the vigorous use of the voice, not to mention the advantages of
+mobility as well as pliability in the movements of the neck
+generally.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 20 (Spalteholz). Shows the thyroid cartilage above
+and the cricoid below both viewed from the side. The anterior surface
+is turned toward the right.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 21 (Spalteholz). A front view of FIG. 20.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 22 (Spalteholz). The back or signet surface of the
+cricoid or ring cartilage, to which several muscles are attached.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 23 (Spalteholz). The cricoid cartilage, seen from
+the side, and showing behind and laterally the articular or joint
+surfaces by which it connects with the thyroid below and the arytenoid
+cartilage above.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 24 (Spalteholz). Shows the arytenoid cartilages,
+the most important of all the cartilages of the larynx, inasmuch as to
+the part termed "vocal process" the vocal band is attached on each
+side. The movements of the vocal bands are nearly all determined by
+the movements of these cartilages, which have a swivel-like action. In
+the above the front surfaces are turned toward each other.]
+
+The _cricoid_ (_krikos_, a signet-ring) is the cartilage next in size.
+It is situated below the thyroid cartilage, with which it is connected
+by a membrane, the crico-thyroid. The wider part of this signet-ring
+is situated behind, where it affords attachment to large muscles. It
+also furnishes a base of support for two very important structures,
+the _arytenoid_ (_arutaina_, a ladle) cartilages. As the vocal bands
+are attached behind to them, and as they have a large degree of
+mobility, they are from a physiological point of view the most
+important of all the solid structures of the larynx.
+
+There are two pairs of small bodies, the _cartilages of Santorini_, or
+_cornicula laryngis_, surmounting the arytenoids, and the _cuneiform_,
+or _cartilages of Wrisberg_, situated in the folds of mucous membrane
+on each side of the arytenoids; but these structures are of little
+importance.
+
+The whole of the inner surface of the larynx is lined with mucous
+membrane, though that covering over the true vocal bands is very thin,
+and so does not cause them to appear red like the false vocal bands,
+which are merely folds of the mucous membrane. However, the true vocal
+bands may become red and thickened when inflamed, because of this same
+mucous membrane, which, though ordinarily not visible to the eye,
+becomes so when the condition referred to is present; for inflammation
+is always attended by excess in the blood supply, with a prominence of
+the small blood-vessels resulting in a corresponding redness. The
+same thing happens, in fact, as in inflammation of the eyes or the
+nose, both of which are more open to observation. Bearing this in mind
+one can readily understand why in such a condition, which is often
+approached if not actually present in the case of "a cold," the voice
+becomes so changed. Such vocal bands are clumsy in movement, as the
+arms or any other part would be if thus swollen. The plain remedy is
+rest, cessation of function--no speaking, much less attempts at
+singing. Like the nose the larynx, and especially the vocal bands, may
+be catarrhal, and such a condition may call for medical treatment
+before the speaker or singer can do the most effective vocal work.
+
+While the _false vocal bands_ have little or nothing to do with
+phonation directly, they do serve a good purpose as protectors to the
+more exalted true vocal bands. When coughing, swallowing, vomiting,
+holding the breath tightly, etc., these folds of mucous membrane close
+over the true bands, often completely, and thus shut up for the moment
+the whole of that space between the bands known as the glottis, or
+glottic chink, to which reference was made in a previous chapter as
+the space through which the air finally gains access to the lungs.
+
+The true vocal cords (which, because of having some breadth and being
+rather flat, are better termed vocal bands) are composed largely of
+_elastic tissue_. The reader may be familiar with this structure,
+which is often to be found in the portions of the neck of the ox that
+the butcher sells as soup beef. It is yellow in color, and stretching
+it has furnished many a boy with amusement. It is so unmanageable when
+raw that when it falls to the dog he usually bolts it, the case being
+otherwise hopeless. Such elastic tissue is, however, the very material
+for the construction of vocal bands, as they require to be firm yet
+elastic.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 25 (Spalteholz). A view of the larynx from behind.
+Several of the muscles are well shown, of which the two indicated
+above are of the most importance. The arytenoideus proprius tends to
+bring the cartilages from which it is named, and therefore the vocal
+bands, toward each other; while the posterior crico-thyroid, from its
+attachments and line of pull, tends to separate these and lengthen the
+vocal bands.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 26 (Spalteholz). Showing structures as indicated
+above. The mucous membrane, that naturally covers all parts within the
+vocal mechanism, has been dissected away to show the muscles.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 27 (Spalteholz). Showing the parts indicated
+above; and of these the crico-thyroid muscle is to be especially
+observed. The oblique (especially so in the posterior part) direction
+of its fibres is evident, so that when it contracts, it must pull up
+the ring cartilage in front, and so tilt back its hinder portion and
+with it the arytenoid cartilages, and so lengthen and tense the vocal
+bands, as in the utterance of low tones.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 28 (Spalteholz). A back (posterior) view of the
+larynx, etc. Note how the arytenoid cartilages rest on the cricoid;
+how the epiglottis overhangs, as its name implies, the glottis; and
+that the posterior part of the windpipe is closed in by soft
+structures, including (unstriped) muscle.]
+
+It is important to remember the relative position of parts and to bear
+in mind that most of the laryngeal structures are in pairs. To this
+last statement the thyroid and cricoid cartilages and the epiglottis
+are exceptions, being single.
+
+Of the _epiglottis_, a flexible cartilage, it is necessary to say
+little, as its function in voice-production, if it have any, has never
+been determined. It hangs as a flexible protective lid over the
+glottis, and food in being swallowed passes over and about it. It no
+doubt acts to keep food and drink out of the larynx, yet in its
+absence, in some cases, owing to disease, no very great difficulty was
+experienced, probably because certain muscles acted more vigorously
+than usual and tended to close up the glottic chink.
+
+The following simple diagram will, it is hoped, make the relative
+position of parts plain so far as the anterior (front) attachments of
+parts to the thyroid cartilage are concerned. It will be understood
+that the inner anterior surface is meant, and that by "middle line"
+is intended the middle line of the body, the imaginary vertical
+diameter passing like a plumb-line from the middle plane of the head,
+let us suppose, downward just in front of the larynx.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
+
+The angle made above and in front where the two wings of the thyroid
+cartilage meet is termed _Adam's apple_ (_Pomum Adami_), and in some
+cases, mostly males, is very prominent. Adam's apple has in itself,
+however, no special significance in voice-production.
+
+The little concavity between the false vocal bands above and the true
+vocal bands below is termed the _ventricle of the larynx_. It allows
+of more space for the free movements of the bands, especially those
+more important in voice-production.
+
+The vocal bands are attached behind to the projecting angle of the
+base of the arytenoid cartilage, which is itself somewhat triangular
+in shape, the base of the triangle being downward and resting on the
+upper and posterior (back) surface of the cricoid cartilage, with
+which it makes a free joint, so that it can move swivel-like in all
+directions. This is most important, because through it is explained
+the fact that the vocal bands may be either tensed and lengthened or
+relaxed and shortened.
+
+_The muscles act on these movable cartilages, and nearly all the
+changes in the vocal bands are brought about through the alterations
+in position of the arytenoid cartilages, to which they are attached
+behind._
+
+Before describing the muscles of the larynx, the reader is reminded of
+the order of structures from above downward, in front, which is as
+follows:
+
+     The hyoid bone.
+     The thyro-hyoid membrane.
+     The thyroid cartilage.
+     The crico-thyroid membrane.
+     The cricoid cartilage.
+     The trachea.
+
+The latter is connected with the cricoid cartilage by its membrane.
+
+All the above structures can be felt in one's own person, the more
+readily if he be thin and have a long neck. The hyoid bone, or
+tongue-bone, is that hard structure just above the cricoid cartilage,
+and which one may easily demonstrate to be much more movable than the
+larynx itself. The tongue muscles are attached to it above, and from
+it, below, the larynx is suspended, as already explained.
+
+The muscles of the larynx are best understood if the principle of
+antagonistic action already referred to be remembered. Speaking
+generally, the muscles are arranged _in pairs_ which have an opposite
+or antagonistic action--viz.: (1) Those that open and close the
+glottis; (2) those that regulate the tension, or degree of tightness,
+of the vocal bands.
+
+1. The muscles whose action tends to approximate the vocal bands--the
+_adductors_--are the _arytenoid[=e]us proprius_ and the
+_thyro-arytenoid[=e]us_. The former is attached to the posterior or
+back surface of both arytenoid cartilages; the latter, as its name
+indicates, to the anterior and inner surface of the thyroid and the
+anterior lower surface or angle (_vocal process_) of the arytenoid.
+
+The opening or widening of the glottis is effected on each side (one
+muscle of the pair and its action being alone described in this
+and other cases) by the antagonist of these muscles, the
+_crico-arytenoid[=e]us posticus_, whose attachments are exactly as
+indicated by the names--viz., to the posterior part of the two
+cartilages named. When reading the description of these or other
+muscles it is absolutely necessary to have a pictorial illustration or
+the real object before one. The pull of this muscle is from the more
+fixed point, as in all other cases; hence the force is applied in a
+direction from below and outward, with the result that the
+arytenoid cartilage is tilted outward, and with it the vocal band is
+moved from the middle line.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 30 (Chapman). Diagram showing action of
+crico-thyroid muscle, stretching of the vocal cords, and lengthening
+of them. The dotted lines indicate the position assumed when the
+muscle has contracted.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 31 (Spalteholz). View of the larynx as looked at
+from above. The illustration shows particularly well both the true and
+the false vocal bands. The true vocal bands are placed much as they
+are when a barytone is singing a very low tone. The part of the figure
+lowest on the page represents the back part of the larynx.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 32 (Spalteholz). A cross-section transverse to the
+larynx, such as can be readily made with a strong knife.]
+
+The _crico-thyroid_ also tends to open the glottis. Just as the
+diaphragm is the most important muscle of breathing, so is the
+crico-thyroid the most important in ordinary speaking and in singing
+in the lower register. It is a relatively large and strong muscle with
+an oblique direction in the main, though it is composed in reality of
+several sets of fibres some of which are much more oblique in
+direction than others (Fig. 28). As its name indicates, its points of
+attachment are to the thyroid and the cricoid cartilages, but the most
+fixed point (_origin_) is its point of attachment to the larger
+cartilage; hence its direction of pull is from the thyroid, with the
+result that the anterior part of the cricoid is drawn up, the
+posterior part down, and the arytenoid cartilage, resting on the upper
+part of the cricoid, backward, so that the vocal band is rendered
+longer and more tense (see especially Fig. 29). It is important to
+note that this is the muscle most used in singing the lower tones of
+the scale, and that its action must necessarily cease, to a great
+extent, when a certain point in the pitch is reached, as there is a
+limit to the degree of contraction of all muscles; and, besides, the
+crico-thyroid space is of very moderate size, and the cricoid
+cartilage can ascend only within the limits thus determined. It thus
+follows that Nature has provided in the change of mechanism for a new
+register, which is nothing else than a change of mechanism with a
+corresponding change of function. It will be at once apparent that the
+claim that registers are an invention of men, and without foundation
+in nature, is without support in anatomy and physiology. The
+crico-thyroid is probably, however, of much more importance to tragic
+actors and barytones than to tenors or sopranos. This, however, is no
+excuse for the neglect of its development by the latter class, as
+often happens, for without it the best tones of the lower register are
+impossible. On the other hand, the elocutionists who prescribe for
+students practices that involve the excessive use of this muscle, with
+a cramped position of the vocal organs, the larynx being greatly drawn
+down, with the view of producing disproportionately heavy lower tones,
+must take no comfort from the above anatomical and physiological
+facts. Art implies proportion, and it was one of the ambitions of all
+the best actors in the golden age of histrionic art to have an "even
+voice"--_i.e._, one equally good through the whole range required. The
+tragic actor, elocutionist, and public speaker, and the singer,
+whether soprano or bass, should neglect no muscle, though they may be
+justified in developing some in excess of others, but ever with a
+watchful eye on the weakest part.
+
+2. The muscles which regulate the tension of the vocal bands are the
+following:
+
+(_a_) The _thyro-arytenoid[=e]us_ (pair), which by tilting the
+arytenoid cartilages forward relaxes the tension of the vocal bands.
+When they act with the adductors--_e.g._, the arytenoid[=e]us
+proprius--the result must be relaxation and approximation behind,
+which implies a greater or less degree of shortening, as usually
+happens when a certain point in an ascending scale is reached in
+persons whose methods of voice-production have not been in some way
+modified, and a new register begins, which in most female voices is
+marked by a more or less distinct and abrupt alteration of the quality
+of the tone.
+
+The crico-thyroids are the antagonists of the above-named muscles, and
+they may act either very much alone or, to some extent, in cooeperation
+with the above, to regulate or steady their action; for in movements
+so complicated as those required for voice-production it is highly
+probable that we are inclined to reduce our explanations of muscular
+action to a simplicity that is excessive, and to appreciate but
+inadequately the delicacy and complexity of the mechanism and the
+processes involved. It is quite certain that in the production of the
+highest tones of a tenor or soprano several muscles cooeperate, and
+one, especially, seems to be of great importance in the formation of
+such tones, most of all, perhaps, in high sopranos. The muscle
+referred to is the thyro-arytenoid already described. It is not only
+attached to the two cartilages indicated by its name, but also along
+the whole of the external or outer surface of the vocal band. It will
+be remembered that practically all the muscles are arranged in pairs,
+one on each side of the middle line. The muscle now under
+consideration, more, perhaps, than any other, is complex in its
+action. Apparently a very few of its fibres may act more or less
+independently of all the others at a particular moment and with a
+specific and very delicate result, a very slight change in pitch.
+Exactly how this is attained no one has as yet adequately explained;
+but it is doubtful whether any singer who does not possess a perfect
+control over this muscle can produce the highest tones of the soprano
+with ease and effectiveness. It is especially the muscle of the human
+birds of the higher flights.
+
+(_b_) To these thyro-arytenoids, which for most singers and all
+speakers are probably chiefly relaxing in action, must be added as
+aiding in this function another pair, the _lateral crico-arytenoids_.
+They are situated between the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, and
+the direction of action is obliquely from below and forward, upward,
+and backward, so that the arytenoids are brought forward and also
+approximated more or less, which involves relaxed tension, at least,
+possibly also shortening of the vocal bands.
+
+When a tenor or soprano singer reaches the upper tones, say about
+[Illustration: e'' f'' g''], or higher, there is considerable closing
+up in the larynx, much in the way in which the parts of the month are
+brought together in sucking. This is termed _sphincter action_, the
+mouth and the eyes being closed by such action, of which they are
+the most easily observed examples. As a result of this squeezing there
+is in some cases that reddening of the face and that tightness which
+is often felt uncomfortably, and which is _straining_, because when
+present in more than a very slight degree it is injurious, owing to
+congestion or accumulation of blood in the blood-vessels, with all the
+bad consequences of such a state of things. When the tightening does
+not go beyond a certain point it is normal--indeed, such sphincter
+action is inevitable; but it is the excess which is so common in
+tenors and others who strain for undue power, and to produce tones too
+high in pitch for their development or their method, which is so
+disastrous to the throat and to the best art also.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 33 (Spalteholz). Shows various structures, and
+especially well the false and the true vocal bands, with the space
+between them (ventricle of Morgagni), but which has no special
+function in phonation, unless it acts as a small resonance-chamber,
+which is possible. This space is a natural result of the existence of
+two pairs of vocal bands in such close proximity.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 34 (Spalteholz). Parts have been cut away to
+expose to view the whole of the inner surface of the larynx (lined
+with mucous membrane). An excellent view of the vocal bands and of the
+"ventricle" of the larynx, between them, is afforded.]
+
+When the vocal bands are in action their vibrations are accompanied by
+corresponding vibrations of the cartilages of the larynx--a fact of
+which any one may convince himself by laying his fingers on the upper
+part of the thyroid, especially when a low and powerful tone is
+produced. This vibration is not confined to the larynx, but extends to
+other parts--_e.g._, the chest itself, for when one speaks or sings a
+distinct vibration of the chest walls can be felt, though the extent
+to which this is present is very variable in different persons. As an
+ascending scale is sung the larynx can be felt (by the fingers) to
+rise, and the reverse as the pitch is lowered. This is due partly to
+the action of those muscles attached to the larynx which are not
+connected with the movements of the vocal bands, and partly to the
+influence of the expiratory air-blast. The glottis, partially closed
+as it must be in phonation, presents considerable resistance to the
+outgoing stream of air, hence the upward movement of the larynx when
+it is left free, and not held down by muscular action.
+
+In singing and speaking the larynx should be steadied, otherwise the
+"attack," or application of the air-blast to the vocal bands, cannot
+be perfect. On the other hand, it is obviously incorrect to attempt to
+hold the larynx always in the same position. Holding down this organ
+by main force, as in the production of the so-called "straw bass," is
+one of the surest methods of producing congestion and consequent
+disorders of the vocal organs; and the author wishes to warn all
+voice-producers against such unnatural practices. Students of
+elocution and young actors often sin in a similar way, and
+"clergyman's sore throat" is almost always due to this or some similar
+misuse of the vocal organs. One's own sensations and common sense
+should never be disregarded, however eminent the teacher who
+recommends unphysiological methods.
+
+
+PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+
+When the student has read the above description of the structure and
+functions of the larynx, and studied the illustrations well, he will
+be prepared to deal with the subject in a practical manner, and
+without that it is feared his ideas will remain somewhat hazy.
+
+First of all, he should try to find the parts mentioned in his own
+person, following this up by examinations of others, for which purpose
+children make good subjects, as they have usually necks that are not
+too deeply padded with fat, and they may be easily led to take the
+examinations as a sort of fun.
+
+From above downward one feels in the middle line the parts in the
+order previously mentioned, beginning with the hyoid bone. One may
+learn that the larynx is movable and yielding, a hard structure
+covered with softer tissues, but what these are, and much more, can
+only be learned by examination of the larynx after it has been removed
+from some animal. Every butcher can provide the material for getting a
+sound, practical knowledge of the respiratory apparatus. He may be
+asked to supply the following:
+
+1. A pig's "pluck"--_i.e._, the "lights," or lungs, with the windpipe
+attached. The liver, heart, etc., are not required, though to observe
+the relations of the circulatory system--_i.e._, the heart and large
+blood-vessels--to the respiratory system will be time well spent.
+Unless special instructions are given, the larynx, which the butcher
+may term the "weezend," may be lacking or mutilated. It should be
+explained that this organ, with a part of the windpipe and the extreme
+back part of the tongue, and all below it, are required. For one
+sitting this single "pluck" will suffice, as it will serve for a
+general examination. The lungs may be dilated by inserting a tube into
+the windpipe, tying it in position, and blowing into it with greater
+or less force. It should be especially observed how suddenly the lungs
+collapse when the breath force is removed, as this illustrates well
+their _elasticity_. By cutting through the windpipe lengthwise and
+following it downward one learns how numerous are the branches of the
+bronchial tree, etc.
+
+For a second sitting one should secure at least two specimens of the
+larynx of the pig or sheep, though the former is more like the human,
+and so the better on the whole. A case of dissecting instruments is
+not essential; a sharp pocket-knife will serve the purpose. In order
+that the student may have a clear idea of the cartilages, all the soft
+tissues must be cut or scraped away. It is necessary to exercise great
+care, or the membranes connecting the cartilages together will be cut
+through; and on the other hand, unless the work in the neighborhood of
+the arytenoids be cautiously done, these cartilages may be injured,
+and it is most important that their swivel-like action and their
+relations to the true vocal bands be observed. The glottic chink can
+be seen from above or below, and should be observed from both
+view-points. Its margins are formed by the true vocal bands.
+
+Then, with the figures before him, the student should endeavor to
+isolate each of the muscles described. The muscles can always be
+recognized by their red color, but it is to be remembered that those
+on the inner surface of the larynx, such as the crico-arytenoid, are
+covered with mucous membrane, which after death is very pale. This can
+by careful dissection be removed, and if in doing this a small pair of
+forceps be employed, the work will be greatly facilitated. One must be
+very skilful indeed if he would get all the muscles "out," or well
+exposed to view as individuals, on a single specimen. Likely several
+will be required before entirely satisfactory results are reached, but
+these are well worth all the time and labor required. The action of
+the muscles can in some measure be demonstrated by pulling on them in
+the direction of their loosest attachment, though it must be confessed
+this is much more difficult in the case of most of the muscles of the
+larynx than in those of other parts of the body.
+
+Should the specimens be very successfully dissected, it may be worth
+while to keep them for future observation, in rather weak alcohol (40
+per cent.), in, say, a preserve jar.
+
+All examinations of the vocal bands may leave the observer
+disappointed; he may fail to realize, most likely, how such wonderful
+results can be accomplished by structures so simple as those he sees
+before him. But when the laryngoscope is brought into use, then comes
+a revelation. This instrument will be described in the next chapter.
+
+
+HYGIENE.
+
+Some of the hygienic principles involved have already been referred to
+and illustrated, and others follow from the facts already set forth.
+It is very important for the voice-user to bear in mind that his
+larynx is a part of the respiratory tract, and that the whole of this
+region and the entire digestive tract, part of which is common to
+both, are lined with mucous membrane. If the nose be affected with
+catarrh, the throat does not usually long escape; and if the back of
+the mouth cavity (_pharynx_) be disordered, the vocal bands and other
+parts of the larynx are almost sure to be involved more or less.
+
+The condition of the stomach is reflexly, if not by direct continuity
+through the mucous membrane, expressed in the throat generally; hence
+as experience shows, the voice-user cannot exercise too great care as
+to what and how much he eats, especially before a public appearance.
+He must know himself what best suits him, in this regard, to a degree
+that is necessary for few others.
+
+When singing, more blood is sent to the organs used, hence the great
+danger of that excess of blood being retained in the parts too long,
+as might easily happen from pressure about the neck, etc. It is
+scarcely necessary to point out that draughts, cold rooms, etc., will
+also determine the blood from the skin inward, and set up that
+complicated condition of multiform evils known as "a cold." The
+obvious principle of prevention lies in keeping the body, and
+especially the neck, shoulders, and chest, warm after using the vocal
+organs in any way in public. To hand the singer a wrap after leaving
+the platform is always wise, and the judicious friend will see that
+conversation is not allowed, much less forced on the possibly
+breathless and wearied voice-user--a precaution that is probably more
+honored in the breach than in the observance, for in this as in other
+cases one's friends are sometimes his worst enemies.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The larynx is the most important organ in voice-production, and
+consists of cartilages, muscles, the vocal bands, true and false,
+membranes and ligaments, folds of mucous membrane, etc. It is situated
+between the hyoid (tongue) bone above and the trachea below. The
+cartilages are the (1) epiglottis, (2) thyroid, cricoid, arytenoid,
+the two small, unimportant cornicula laryngis, or cartilages of
+Santorini, surmounting the arytenoids, and the two cuneiform, or
+cartilages of Wrisberg, in the folds of mucous membrane on each side
+of the arytenoids.
+
+The muscles are attached to the main cartilages. In addition to the
+muscles that are concerned with the movements of the vocal bands,
+others that hold the larynx in place or raise and lower it are
+attached _externally_ to these, especially to the large thyroid
+cartilage. The epiglottis, the false vocal cords, the true vocal
+cords, and the thyro-arytenoid muscles are attached to the interior
+anterior surface of the thyroid in this order from above down.
+
+The false vocal bands have no direct function in phonation. _The whole
+larynx, so far as phonation is concerned, may be said to exist for the
+true vocal bands._ They are attached close together to the internal
+and anterior surface of the thyroid in front and to the lower anterior
+angles (vocal processes) of the arytenoids behind. Between the false
+vocal bands above and the true vocal bands below there is a cavity
+(the ventricle of Morgagni). The false vocal bands are protective, and
+approximate closely during coughing, swallowing, etc.
+
+It is very important to note that the arytenoid cartilages move freely
+on their base, swivel-like, so that nearly all the changes effected in
+the movements and tension of the vocal bands are brought about through
+alterations in the position of these cartilages; and this implies that
+all the muscles concerned are attached to them. From above down, in
+front, the order of structures is as follows:
+
+     Hyoid bone.
+     Membrane.
+     Thyroid cartilage.
+     Membrane.
+     Cricoid cartilage.
+     Trachea.
+
+The hyoid bone is not a part of the larynx, but from it the larynx is
+suspended. The bone itself gives attachment to the muscles of the
+tongue. The glottis is the chink between the true vocal bands.
+
+The muscles of the larynx may be divided into the following: (1) Those
+that open and those that close the glottis; (2) those which regulate
+the tension of the vocal bands. The latter include the (_a_)
+crico-thyroids, which tense and elongate them, (_b_) thyro-arytenoids,
+which relax and shorten them. The crico-thyroid may be considered the
+most important muscle of phonation, because it is so much used and so
+effective. By its action the cricoid is pulled up in front and down
+behind, so that the arytenoids are drawn back, and thus the vocal
+bands tensed and lengthened. The lateral crico-arytenoids and the
+thyro-arytenoids have the opposite effect--_i.e._, they relax and
+shorten the vocal bands; hence when they come into play a new register
+begins. The thyro-arytenoids, attached along the whole length of the
+vocal bands externally, have a very important but not well-understood
+action in the production of the higher tones, and probably also of the
+falsetto.
+
+The whole larynx is lined with mucous membrane, that covering the true
+vocal bands being very thin. The false vocal bands are made up chiefly
+of mucous membrane; the true vocal bands abound in elastic tissue. The
+larynx rises during the production of high tones, and during
+phonation its vibrations may be felt, as also those of the chest.
+
+
+_Practical._
+
+1. Feel in your own person the parts of the larynx, etc., from above
+down.
+
+2. Note the vibration of the larynx when a vowel is spoken or sung. A
+similar vibration of the chest walls may be felt by the hands laid
+over them.
+
+3. Note the change of position of the larynx in singing a scale.
+
+4. Dissect a pig's or sheep's pluck and some specimens of the larynx.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 35. These three figures illustrate perhaps more
+clearly the _action_ of the muscles indicated FIGS. 26-34.
+
+The arrows show the direction of the pull of the muscles. The result
+of this action is the new position of the cartilages and vocal bands,
+which is shown by red outlines. The muscle is also depicted in red.
+The heavier outer rim is to indicate the thyroid cartilage. By
+comparing the upper and the lowest figure it will be seen that they
+are opposites. Of course, in phonation the vocal bands are never so
+much separated as shown in the illustrations. Rather does the lower
+figure indicate a case of extreme separation due to a very deep
+inspiration. However, these illustrations are merely diagrams meant to
+indicate in a general way the manner of the working of parts. For
+exact pictures of the vocal bands and related parts, see Chapter
+VII.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SOUND--THE LARYNGOSCOPE--THE LARYNX RECONSIDERED.
+
+
+Before discussing our subject further it is desirable that some
+attention be given to a few of the fundamental principles of that
+department of physics termed _acoustics_, and which deals with the
+subject of sound. If the student has the opportunity to study this
+subject theoretically and practically, as it is set forth in some good
+work on physics, he will have no reason to regret the time spent. A
+deep knowledge of the laws of sound is not absolutely essential, or
+even highly necessary, for a sufficient understanding of the
+principles involved in voice-production. It is, however, all-important
+that a few facts and principles be thoroughly grasped.
+
+For those who feel that they have the time for a study of acoustics,
+the author would especially recommend Tyndall's work on sound, in
+which the subject is treated with wonderful clearness and charm. What
+we endeavor now to bring before the reader we have found sufficient
+for nearly all the purposes of the voice-user.
+
+An observer on the street, looking at a military band, notices certain
+movements of one member of the organization which result in what he
+termed the sound of the drum; but a deaf man by his side, though he
+sees the movements, hears nothing. This, being analyzed, means that
+the movements of the drummer's arm, conveyed through the drumstick to
+the membrane of the drum, give rise to movements in it which set up
+corresponding movements of the air within the drum, which again cause
+movements of the body of the instrument, the whole causing movements
+of the external air; and here the purely physical process ends. The
+movements other than muscular ones are not readily observed, but
+experiments not only prove that they exist, but demonstrate their
+nature, even to their exact rate of occurrence, their size, etc. These
+movements are termed _vibrations_, and, as has been indicated
+previously, they are the sole physical cause of sound. But that the
+latter is not due wholly to a physical origin is evident from the fact
+that sound for the deaf does not exist. It must, therefore, be a
+personal, a subjective experience, and as the sleeping, unconscious
+person does not necessarily hear a sound, the process is not wholly a
+corporeal or physiological process; it is finally an experience of the
+mind, the consciousness, and so is psychological as well as
+physiological.
+
+The fact that sound has a physical basis in the vibrations of bodies,
+either solid, liquid, or gaseous, may be brought home to one in
+various ways. Concussion or shaking of some kind is essential to start
+these vibrations. The air is made up of its particles, and one being
+moved sets up, inevitably, movements in neighboring particles on all
+sides, hence vibrations travel in all directions; which explains why a
+sound in the street may be heard by those in every part of the street
+not too distant, and also in the upper rooms of the houses and below
+in the basements. This is an important fact for the singer or speaker
+to bear in mind. His purpose must be to set up vibrations that will
+travel with great perfection and rapidity in all directions.
+
+The following experiments of a simple kind will serve to convince
+those who may not have given much attention to the subject that sound
+is due to movements of some object, which we term the sounding body,
+strictly that which starts the vibrations by its own movements or
+vibrations.
+
+If a sufficiently flexible band of metal or a stiff piece of whalebone
+be fixed at one end in a vice, and then sharply pulled to one side and
+suddenly let go, a sound results. The same effect is produced when a
+tight cord or small rope is plucked at and then suddenly released. In
+each of these cases, if actual movements are not seen, a certain haze
+which seems to surround the object may be observed. The same can be
+seen when a tuning-fork is set into action by a bow, a blow, etc. In
+the case of the fork a graphic tracing (Fig. 36) can be readily taken
+on smoked paper, thus demonstrating to the eye that vibrations exist,
+that they occur with perfect regularity and with a frequency that can
+be measured.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 36 (Tyndall). Illustrates how the vibrations of a
+tuning-fork are registered on a blackened (smoked) glass. In order
+that the movements of the fork shall be traced in the form of regular
+curves, the surface must be kept moving at a definite regular rate.]
+
+A similar observation can be made in the case of stringed instruments.
+If pieces of paper be laid on the strings of a violin, and the bow
+then drawn across them, the bits of paper will fly off owing to the
+movements--_i.e._, the vibrations--of the strings.
+
+That a force applied at one end of several objects in a line or series
+causes an obvious effect at the other end, can be well illustrated in
+a simple way. If a number of individuals stand one behind another in a
+line, each with his hands laid firmly on the shoulders of the one next
+to him, and the person at the end be pushed, the force will be
+conveyed through all the intermediate individuals, and cause the
+unsupported person at the distant end to move. So is it with the
+particles of which the air is composed. The movements begun in the
+drum set up by contact corresponding movements or vibrations in the
+adjacent air, which ultimately reach the hearing subject's ear,
+thereby affect his brain, and are accompanied by that change in
+consciousness which he terms "hearing." It will be observed that these
+events constitute a chain, and a break anywhere will prevent a sound
+being heard; there is then, in fact, no sound.
+
+Sounds are characterized by _pitch_, _volume_, and _quality_.
+
+The _pitch_ is determined by the number of vibrations that reach the
+ear within a certain time; the more numerous the sound-waves
+(vibrations) in a second, the higher the pitch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 37 (Tyndall). Meant to illustrate vibrations. The
+impulse communicated by the ball pushed from the hand to all the
+intervening ones causes only the last to actually move bodily.]
+
+Animals differ a good deal as to the limits of hearing. Cats hear very
+high-pitched sounds, as of mice, that human beings may not notice, and
+it is likely that insects hear sounds altogether beyond the limit of
+the human ear. But it is wonderful how much human beings differ among
+themselves in regard to this matter. It has surprised the author to
+find that many persons cannot hear the high-pitched note of certain
+birds, as the wax-wing.
+
+The lower limit, speaking generally, is for most persons 16
+vibrations, and the highest 38000 vibrations a second, according to
+Helmholtz, hence the entire range of the human ear would be fully 11
+octaves; but the practical range of musical sounds is within 40 and
+4000 vibrations a second--_i.e._, about 7 octaves--and, as is well
+known, even this range is beyond the appreciation of most persons,
+though as to this much depends on cultivation--attention to the
+subject extending over a considerable period of time.
+
+The _volume_, or loudness, of a sound depends on the size of the
+vibrations, just as one feels a blow from a large object, other things
+being equal, more than from a small one. The ear drum-head is in the
+case of a large sound beaten, as it were, more powerfully. The singers
+that give us bigness of sound instead of quality belabor our ears, so
+to speak; they treat us as persons of mean understanding--dull
+intellects; the thing is essentially vulgar.
+
+The _quality_ of a sound is determined by the form of the vibrations.
+A sound of good quality is to the ear what a beautiful statue or
+picture is to the eye. As will be explained later, the form or quality
+depends largely on the shape, etc., of the resonance-chambers above
+the vocal bands.
+
+Much discussion has taken place from time to time as to the nature of
+the larynx as a musical instrument, some being inclined to regard it
+as most closely allied to a stringed instrument, others to a
+wind-instrument. It has obviously points of resemblance to both, but
+the most recent researches make it clearer than ever that it is
+neither one nor the other, strictly speaking, but that it stands in a
+class by itself. It is, however, helpful, in considering many
+questions, to bear in mind its resemblances to both wind and stringed
+instruments. The vocal bands are not wholly free throughout their
+length, like the strings of a violin, nor do they bear any great
+resemblance to the reed of such an instrument as the clarinet, but as
+in the latter the force causing the vibrations is a blast of air. We
+have already pointed out that the vocal bands are set into vibration
+solely by the _expiratory_ blast of air.
+
+
+THE LARYNGOSCOPE.
+
+The distinguished physiologist Johannes Mueller demonstrated the
+working of the larynx by special experiments. He fixed into the
+windpipe a bellows, and showed, in the dead larynx, of course, that
+the blast from this source could cause the vocal bands to vibrate and
+thus produce sounds, which by varying the strength of the force, etc.,
+were made to vary in pitch.
+
+While such experiments indicate the essential principles of a possible
+voice-production, as the conditions in life were not and could not be
+fully met these results were rather suggestive than demonstrative of
+Nature's methods. These investigations served a good purpose, but
+they were manifestly inadequate, and this was felt by one thoughtful
+vocal teacher so keenly that he pondered much on the subject, in the
+hope of finding a method of observing the larynx during actual
+phonation. To this distinguished teacher, Manuel Garcia, belongs the
+honor of inventing the means of observing the vocal bands in action.
+This was accomplished in 1854, and, soon after, Garcia read an account
+of his observations to the Royal Society of London; and though much in
+this paper required correction by subsequent observations, it remains
+to this day the foundation of our knowledge of the action of the
+larynx in voice-production.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 38 (Bosworth). Intended to illustrate the optical
+principles involved and the practical method of carrying out
+laryngoscopic examination. The dotted lines show the paths of the
+light-rays.]
+
+As usually employed, the laryngoscope consists of two mirrors, the
+head-mirror, so called because it is usually attached to the forehead
+by an elastic band, and the throat-mirror, which is placed in the back
+part of the mouth cavity. The purpose of the head-mirror is to reflect
+the light that reaches it from a lamp or other source of illumination
+into the mouth cavity so perfectly that not only the back of the
+mouth, etc., but the larynx itself may be well lighted up; but
+inasmuch as this illumination may be accomplished, under favorable
+circumstances, by direct sunlight, the head-mirror is, though mostly
+indispensable, not an absolutely essential part of the laryngoscope.
+There is, indeed, one advantage in the use of direct sunlight, in that
+the color of the parts seen remains more nearly normal. Lamplight
+tends, because of its yellow color, to make parts seem rather of a
+deeper red than they actually are; but this to the practised observer,
+always using the same source of illumination, is not a serious
+matter--his standards of comparison remain the same. Moreover, this
+objection does not apply equally to electric light, now so much used.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 39. This illustration is meant to show more
+especially the relative position of observer and observed. The
+observer, on the right, is wearing the head-mirror, while two
+throat-mirrors seem to be in position--in reality, the same mirror in
+two different positions. One is placed so as to reflect the picture of
+the nasal chambers, especially their hinder portion. The walls of the
+nose, etc., may for the purposes of this illustration be considered
+transparent, so that the scroll (turbinated) bones, etc., come into
+view. The tongue is protruded. The light, not seen in this figure, is
+usually placed on the left of the subject, as in Fig. 38.]
+
+It being a fundamental law of light that the angle of reflection and
+the angle of incidence correspond--are, in fact, the same--it was
+necessary that the throat-mirror should be set at an angle to its
+stem, so that the light passing up by reflection from the larynx
+should, when striking on the surface of this plane throat-mirror, be
+reflected outward in a straight line to the eye, which must be in the
+same horizontal plane with it. This and all the other facts and
+principles involved can only be understood by a careful inspection of
+the accompanying figures, which it is hoped will make the subject
+plain. The throat-mirror is none other than the mouth-mirror of the
+dentists, and in use by them before Garcia discovered how it might be
+employed to throw light on the larynx, in a double sense.
+
+The essentials, then, for a view of the interior of the larynx are: A
+source of illumination; a mirror to reflect the light reaching it from
+this source into the back of the throat and larynx; and a second
+mirror to reflect the light outward which is, in the first instance,
+reflected from below, from the interior of the larynx. The principles
+involved are few and simple, but their application to any particular
+case is not easy, and is sometimes well-nigh impossible.
+
+The throat-mirror should be placed against that curtain suspended in
+the back of the mouth cavity known as the soft palate, so that it must
+be pushed back out of the line of view. But many persons find such a
+foreign object in the throat a sufficient cause of unpleasant
+sensations so that retching may be the result. Generally there is a
+tendency to raise the tongue behind in a way fatal to a view of the
+mirror and the picture reflected from it. These difficulties, however,
+can be overcome by a deft hand using the mirror brought to "blood
+heat" by placing it in warm water or holding it over some source of
+heat, as a small lamp, and directing the subject observed to breathe
+freely and _through the mouth_. This latter tends to quiet that unruly
+member, the tongue, and lead it to assume the flat position so
+important to an unobstructed view. It is for the same reason the
+author urges mouth breathing during speaking and singing. No other
+tends so well to put the tongue in the correct position.
+
+The extent to which one feels the annoyance of a small mirror held
+gently in the throat depends really on the amount of attention
+directed to it, and the degree of determination with which he resolves
+to exercise self-control. The author has examined an entire class of
+students of voice-production and found only one person who did not
+succeed in at once giving him a view of the larynx. But it must be at
+once said that of all persons examined by the author during his
+experience as an investigator of voice-production and in special
+medical practice, none have been able to show their throats, the
+larynx included, so well as speakers and, above all, singers; which in
+itself indicates that speaking and singing do give control of the
+throat--that all its parts respond to the will of the observed person.
+The author must further, however, remark that he has found this
+control associated not so much with vocal power as with intelligent
+study. Intelligence tells in music a good deal more than many people
+have yet learned to believe; but on this point the reader will long
+since have learned the author's views--in fact, so deep are his
+convictions on this subject that he hopes he may be pardoned for
+frequent reference to them, in one form or another.
+
+One anatomical fact may be so invincible that a view of the glottis
+cannot be obtained at all: the epiglottis may so overhang the opening
+to the larynx that a good view of its interior is absolutely
+impossible, in other cases only occasionally and under very favorable
+circumstances. Such cases are, however, of the rarest occurrence,
+while there are not a few persons in whom one may even see down the
+windpipe as far as its division into the two main bronchial tubes, and
+inflammation may thus often be traced from the vocal bands far down
+the mucous membrane common to the larynx, windpipe, etc.
+
+As has been remarked previously, it is only by the use of the
+laryngoscope that one can see the vocal mechanism of the larynx in
+action, so that for investigation laryngoscopy is essential.
+Auto-laryngoscopy, or the use of the laryngoscope by the subject to
+observe his own larynx, has its special difficulties and advantages,
+the greatest of the latter being, perhaps, that the observer may use
+himself as often and as long as he will, while he would hesitate to
+make observations on others at great length or with frequent
+repetition. There are no new principles involved in auto-laryngoscopy.
+The observer must simply see that a good light is reflected into his
+own throat, and that the picture in his throat-mirror is reflected
+into another into which he may gaze, an ordinary small hand-glass
+usually sufficing.
+
+Only rarely is the individual met who can himself so control his
+tongue that assistance from the observing laryngologist is
+unnecessary. In by far the greater number of instances the tongue,
+after being protruded, must be gently held by the left hand of the
+observer, a small napkin covering the tip of the organ. The
+auto-laryngologist must, of course, control his own tongue, and better
+if without any hand contact.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that before placing the mirror in the
+mouth its temperature must be tested by touching it for a moment
+against the back of the hand.
+
+Nearly all the facts of importance in phonation, several of which have
+already been referred to, or will be mentioned in the "Summary and
+Review" below, could only have been discovered by the use of the
+laryngoscope. The difference in the larynx in the two sexes and in
+different types of singers and speakers, though open to ordinary
+observation, dissection, etc., are still better brought out by the use
+of the instrument now under consideration.
+
+One naturally expects any organ to be larger and heavier in the male
+than in the female, and to this the larynx is no exception; and
+individual differences are equally pronounced. There may be almost if
+not quite as much difference between the larynx of a barytone and of a
+tenor as between that of an ordinary man who is not a public
+voice-user and the larynx of the ordinary woman. The larynx of the
+contralto may in its size and general development remind one of the
+same organ in the male. The vocal bands of the bass singer may be to
+those of a soprano as are the strings of a violoncello to those of a
+violin--using these examples, it will be understood, merely as rough
+illustrations.
+
+The change in the size of the larynx produced by even a few months'
+judicious practice may be astonishing. As already hinted, it is
+important that in bringing about this development exclusive attention
+should not be given, as is sometimes done, especially in the case of
+speakers, to the lower tones, though it is not so important for them
+as for singers to have an even development up to the highest range.
+
+But again the author would urge the voice-user to aim at attaining
+that delicate control of muscles (neuro-muscular mechanisms, to speak
+more scientifically) so important for the finest vocal effects, rather
+than be satisfied with mere power. The vocalist and speaker must
+indeed be athletic specialists, but they should not aim at being like
+the ordinary athlete, much less mere strong men of the circus.
+
+It is said that Madame Mara within her range of three octaves could
+effect 2100 changes of pitch, or 100 between each two tones of the
+twenty-one in her compass, which would represent a successive change
+in the length of the vocal bands of a small fraction, possibly not
+more than 1/17000 of an inch--something unapproachable in nicety in
+the use of any other instrument. Even if we make large deductions from
+the above, the performances of those who have reached the highest
+laryngeal control must remain marvellous, all the more when it is
+remembered that this control over the larynx, to be efficient for
+musical purposes, must be accompanied by a corresponding mastery of
+the art of breathing. Is it necessary to point out that such wonderful
+development and control can only be attained after years of steady
+work by the best methods?
+
+At one period in the life of the individual changes of such importance
+take place in the entire nature, physical, mental, and moral, that he
+becomes almost a new being. This epoch is known as the period of
+puberty or adolescence, and may be considered that of the gravest
+moment during one's whole life; for then, for better or worse, great
+changes inevitably occur. It is incomparably the period of greatest
+development, and, unfortunately, there may also spring into being,
+with striking suddenness, physical and psychic traits which cause the
+greatest anxiety. In any case, the thoughtful must then regard the
+youth or maiden with feelings of the deepest interest, if not anxiety;
+and in the case of the voice-user, especially the singer, this period
+may come laden with the destinies of the future.
+
+The vocal organs, especially in males, undergo very marked changes in
+relative proportions and actual growth. So marked is this that the
+boy soprano may actually become a barytone, or, unfortunately, no
+longer have a singing voice at all.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 40 (Gruenwald). If this be compared with the next
+illustration (FIG. 41), some of the differences between the larynx of
+the male and that of the female may be noted. The vocal bands in FIG.
+40, being those of a male, are heavier and wider. They are more
+covered by the epiglottis than in the other case--that of a female
+(FIG. 41). The false vocal bands are well seen in both cases, and by
+their redness (dark in the figures) contrast with the whiteness of the
+true vocal bands. In both illustrations the bands are in the
+inspiration position.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 41 (Gruenwald). Laryngoscopic picture of the female
+larynx--to be contrasted with that of a male, shown in FIG. 40.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 42 (Gruenwald). In this case, owing to the subject
+having a cold, it is with difficulty that the true can be
+distinguished from the false vocal bands, so reddened (dark, in the
+figure) were the former, with corresponding changes in the character
+of the voice. This view was obtained as the subject was phonating, so
+that the vocal bands are approximated somewhat closely.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 43 (Gruenwald). Shows the larynx as it may be seen
+only by the use of the laryngoscope. The above is an example of the
+appearance of the vocal bands during a deep inspiration, and in this
+subject, as in those illustrated by FIGS. 40, 41, the circumstances
+were so favorable that the observer could see even the trachea, the
+rings of which are indicated in the picture. The reader will bear in
+mind that in this and all laryngoscopic pictures, while right remains
+right, front becomes back, and back front, so that the back of the
+larynx appears toward the observer--_i.e._, is lowest on the page.]
+
+So far as the larynx is concerned the changes are less pronounced,
+usually, in the girl; nevertheless, the period is one of such change
+for the female that the greatest care should be exercised at this
+time, especially in the case of city girls. The body requires all its
+available resources for the growth and development which is so
+characteristic of this biological and psychological epoch; hence it
+may be ruinous for the future of the girl if at this time the same
+strain is put upon her as on the adult, whether in the direction of
+study, physical exertion, or social excitement, and of course the
+voice must suffer with all the rest. The farmer who would attempt to
+work the colt of a year or two old as he does the horse of four or
+five would be regarded as either grossly ignorant of his business or
+utterly reckless as to his own interests, if not positively cruel. Do
+our modern usages not show a neglect of facts of vital moment still
+more marked? Unfortunately, the woman all her life must live, to a
+greater or less extent, on a sort of periodic up-curve or down-curve
+of vitality; and that this fact is so generally ignored by society and
+educators is one of those peculiarities of our age at which, in spite
+of its great advancement in so many directions, a future generation
+must wonder.
+
+To use the voice when the health is even slightly disordered is not
+without risk to the vocal organs, and it is the clear duty of every
+teacher of vocal culture, at all events, to allow no practice and to
+give no lessons that imply the actual use of the vocal organs at these
+times. Nor is this a great loss, rightly considered, for the
+intellectual side of the subject, which requires so much attention,
+may readily be made to take the place of the vocal for a few days.
+
+The so-called "breaking" of the voice is largely confined to males,
+because the growth changes, etc., as already said, are most marked in
+boys. At this time, also, there is frequently an excess of blood
+supplied to the larynx, with possibly some degree of stagnation or
+congestion, which results in a thickening of the vocal bands, unequal
+action of muscles, etc., which must involve imperfections in the
+voice. In all such cases common sense and physiology alike plainly
+indicate that rest is desirable. All shouting, singing, etc., should
+be refrained from, and even ordinary speech, as much as possible, in
+very marked cases, especially when the individual is even slightly
+indisposed or weary.
+
+In other cases the changes are so gradual and so little marked that it
+is not at all necessary to discontinue vocal practice, if carried out
+with care and under the guidance of an intelligent friend or teacher;
+but because of the possibility of the voice changing in quality, there
+is no time when the advice of an experienced and enlightened teacher
+or laryngologist is more necessary.
+
+The condition present in the vocal bands and larynx generally of the
+boy at puberty is more or less akin to that found in fatigue,
+ill-health, hoarseness, etc., as well as in old age, when muscular
+action is very uncertain, so that in the weak larynx, as elsewhere,
+the old man may approach the undeveloped youth, and for much the same
+reason--lack of co-ordinated or harmonious control of parts.
+
+These remarks imply, of course, that the youth has already begun
+studies in voice-production, and that raises another important
+question, viz.: When should the individual who is sufficiently endowed
+musically begin to sing, or study public utterance practically in some
+of its forms?
+
+No faculty develops earlier than the musical, and this is a strong
+argument in itself for the early study of music, apart altogether from
+other considerations about which there is room for more difference of
+opinion. Should the child get his musical development through the use
+of his own musical instrument or another? If he shows natural ability
+for the use of the voice, should he be trained very early?
+
+Against early training may be urged the facts above referred to--the
+liability of great changes taking place in the larynx at puberty,
+especially in the boy. But marked are the changes that take place in
+other parts of the body also, and this is not urged against exercises
+for general development, for the boy. It is a remarkable fact that
+many of the great composers sang as boys, and possibly this has had
+something to do with their writing music for the voice, later, when
+they were most of them by no means fine singers; but on this too much
+stress should not be laid.
+
+The question at issue is to be sharply marked off from another--the
+public appearance of children as soloists, reciters, etc. In this case
+the question is more complicated, and cannot be settled by
+physiological considerations alone. Our problem is also to be kept
+apart from another very important question--the singing of children,
+or, indeed, adults, in classes, choirs, etc.
+
+If a child shows himself a desire to sing, and especially if he has
+musical ability above the average and a voice that is of fair range
+and quality, one can scarcely see why he should not be encouraged, and
+placed under a wise teacher; for it is doubtful if there be any better
+way of developing the ear and musical nature, even if in future the
+child shows that he will accomplish more as an instrumentalist. Such
+vocal training tends to development of the larynx, and that can
+scarcely be wholly lost, no matter what changes puberty may bring
+about. At the same time, one must take care not to be too hopeful in
+regard to child singers. Nature gives us some surprises, and not
+always pleasant ones.
+
+But as to the cultivation of the vocal organs with the view of
+producing a beautiful speaking voice by processes akin to those used
+for the singer, as the teaching of this work constantly implies, there
+can be no doubt. Unless the individual acquires a respect for the
+beautiful in the speaking voice when young, it is feared he may never
+get it, as the existing state of things only too clearly shows.
+
+It is hoped that enough has been said on this subject to indicate the
+principles, at all events so far as physiology is concerned, on which
+the decisions regarding some weighty questions must be made.
+
+The question of singing with others, as usually carried out in
+schools, seems to the author a very doubtful procedure, to say the
+least, as for those with fine throats it may prove injurious, and for
+those who have feeble musical endowments it does little; but of this
+subject and concerted singing generally again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BREATHING, LARYNGEAL ADJUSTMENT, ETC.
+
+
+Experience proves that breathing, for the speaker and singer, is one
+of those subjects that may be very inadequately comprehended by the
+student, and, the author regrets to say, may be positively
+misrepresented by teachers and writers.
+
+Some--indeed, a great many--teachers direct their students to employ
+"abdominal" or "diaphragmatic" breathing, others "clavicular"
+respiration. A little consideration must convince those who have read
+the chapters on breathing that such distinctions, in which one part of
+an entire process is treated as if it were the whole, cannot be
+justified. By "clavicular" breathing some mean upper chest breathing,
+and others a form of respiration in which the shoulders (clavicles, or
+key-bones) are raised with inspiration in an objectionable manner. The
+latter is, of course, to be condemned; yet, very exceptionally, a
+tenor of excellent training may feel that he can, under the
+circumstances of the hour, reach a certain tone very high in his range
+only by the utmost exertion. We all know how a singer's reputation may
+be more or less ruined should he fail to reach such a high note--one,
+indeed, by which he may, owing to the vitiated taste of the public,
+have acquired a reputation beyond his artistic merits. Under these
+circumstances such a singer might be justified in a momentary use of
+every resource of what physiologists term _forced respiration_,
+including clavicular breathing; but in general any raising of the
+shoulders should be absolutely avoided.
+
+When "clavicular" breathing is used in the sense of upper chest
+breathing, it is correct as far as it goes, but the term is not a
+happy one to employ in this sense, and it has led to error in theory
+and practice.
+
+In the same way, "diaphragmatic" breathing is perfectly correct, but
+its exclusive use cannot be justified, for Nature teaches us
+otherwise. It is true that the lower part of the chest, which always
+should expand with the descent of the diaphragm, is wider than the
+upper; it is true that by a very well-developed diaphragmatic
+breathing a singer or speaker is fairly well provided with breath
+power; but why teach this method exclusively, when thereby the
+voice-user is being robbed of possibly from one quarter to one third
+of his total breathing efficiency?
+
+It is likely that teachers have insisted on diaphragmatic breathing,
+especially in the case of females, because, unfortunately, prevalent
+modes of dress so restrict the lower chest, etc., that individuals
+instinctively seek relief in upper chest or clavicular breathing, in
+which case it may be observed that the actual breath power of the
+singer is very small. It cannot be denied that few people ever
+adequately fill the chest--least of all, few women--and if admonitions
+as to diaphragmatic breathing accomplish this purpose, the practice
+must be commended. But another remedy should obviously precede this
+one: the respiratory prisoner should first be released.
+
+No doubt, in the most vigorous singing and speaking the lower part of
+the chest, with the diaphragm, is of the greatest importance, but
+often both the speaker and the singer, as in a short, rapid passage,
+require to take breath, and the only way in which they can really meet
+the case is by a short, more or less superficial action of the
+respiratory apparatus, in which the upper chest must play the chief
+part. There is no opportunity to fill the whole chest, so that any
+admonition in regard to abdominal breathing is then quite out of
+place.
+
+The fact is, the voice-user should have control of his whole breathing
+mechanism, and use one part more or less than another, or all parts
+equally and to the fullest extent, as the circumstances require; and
+if the student has not already learned such control, the author
+recommends his practising breathing with special attention first to
+filling the upper chest completely, and then the lower. It must be
+remembered that for a long time breathing, for the voice-user, must be
+a voluntary process, which, as has been pointed out, is not the usual
+and natural one for the individual when not phonating, which latter
+is essentially reflex or involuntary. The voice-user, in other words,
+must, with a definite purpose in view, take charge of himself. In
+time, breathing for him too will become reflex--_i.e._, correct
+breathing for the purposes of his art will become a habit. It must be
+pointed out that the breathing for any particular composition,
+literary or musical, should be carefully studied out, for this is
+nothing else than determining how this part of the voice-user's
+mechanism can be employed with the best artistic result. This,
+fortunately, is now recognized by a large number of teachers, for the
+fact is, the artistic is at present much better understood and
+appreciated than the technical; were it not so, such erratic
+literature on the subject of breathing could never have appeared.
+
+On another aspect of the subject there is room for much greater
+difference of opinion. Among even eminent singers and teachers there
+is lack of agreement in regard to the part the diaphragm and abdomen
+should play in the most vigorous (_fortissimo_) singing.
+
+Singers of renown practise what may be termed a sort of "forced"
+abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing. The breath is so taken that the
+whole chest is filled, the diaphragm brought well down, and the
+abdominal walls drawn in (retracted), which gives the singer, in all
+parts above and below, a bellows with tense walls in all parts, with
+the great advantage that such breathing permits of a firmness
+otherwise unattainable, and he is enabled to exert his breath force
+with great certainty and power, and, as some maintain, with all the
+control necessary for even delicate effects.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 44. Intended to express to the eye the two views
+of respiration discussed in the body of the work (p. 113-117). The
+dotted lines indicate the form of the chest and abdomen advocated by
+some as the best for the singing or speaking of long and vigorous
+passages.]
+
+Against this it has been urged that it is unnatural, not according to
+what is found in man and other animals in nature. It is perhaps
+forgotten that when we make a great effort, as in lifting, we put the
+breathing apparatus into just this state; we gird up our loins--or the
+equivalent of that process--so that this method cannot be said to be
+contrary to nature. The only question seems to be as to whether it is
+necessary and advantageous, or wasteful of energy. For ordinary
+efforts it does not seem to be necessary, though the chest must in
+singing and speaking always be _held_ more or less full, not by any
+deliberate and painful effort, but in a quiet, unobtrusive way.
+
+The diagram (Fig. 44) will make the difference in the theories
+referred to clear.
+
+Up to the present the student has been urged to fill his chest, after
+days of less vigorous practice, to the fullest, retain the mechanism
+in this condition for a short time, and then in the slowest and most
+regular fashion relax it, the purpose being development and control.
+In actual speaking and singing such breathing is not usually either
+possible or desirable.
+
+Nature herself always works with the least possible expenditure of
+energy and with power in reserve. These must be the voice-user's
+principles, to be deliberately and persistently applied. To fill the
+chest to the fullest on all occasions is to use up energy to no
+purpose and to induce fatigue. Art is ever economical. Effort, obvious
+effort, detracts from the listener's enjoyment. Ease in the executant
+corresponds with enjoyment in the listener, or, at all events, if
+nothing more, it puts him in such a frame of mind, that the more
+positive qualities of the performance find him in an undisturbed,
+receptive state.
+
+The singer or speaker must breathe easily and adequately, but not so
+as to waste his energies. Prior to the execution of his task, he
+should consider what respiratory efficiency calls for in the case of
+any particular phrase, and meet this without waste--_i.e._, fully, but
+with something to spare. For the best art, as well as the soundest
+technique, there should always be in the executant enough and to
+spare. Let the last word be so uttered or sung that the listener may
+feel, however vigorous the passage, that more could have been done had
+it been required; in other words, _speak or sing the last word feeling
+that several others might follow did one so choose_.
+
+When this principle of reserve force is not observed, the voice-user
+may distress himself or his audience in a variety of ways, among
+others by a bad habit known as "pumping"--_i.e._, endeavoring to
+produce sound when the breath power is really spent. It is only
+necessary to refer to it for a moment that its unwisdom and
+physiological unrighteousness may be apparent.
+
+Another term, _coup de glotte_ (blow or shock of the glottis), has led
+to so much confusion and misunderstanding, which unfortunately, has
+been followed by erroneous practice, that it would be well if its
+further employment were abandoned.
+
+Breathing, so far as voice-production is concerned, is for the sole
+purpose of causing the vocal bands to vibrate; and at this stage we
+may say that the perfection of any vocal result depends wholly on the
+efficiency with which these vibrations are produced, so that breathing
+and tone are brought together, so to speak, by the mediation of these
+little bands, the vocal cords; and this is the justification for
+speaking of the larynx as _the_ vocal organ. This usage, however, is
+objectionable, as it tends to narrowness and to divert the mind from
+other highly important parts of the vocal mechanism. In one sense, the
+respiratory organs and the resonance-chambers are each as important as
+the larynx.
+
+The term _coup de glotte_ has been sometimes employed as the
+equivalent of "attack," and again as the synonym of nearly all that is
+bad in voice-production. As to this latter, all depends on the sense
+in which the term is employed.
+
+Before the vocal bands can be set into suitable vibrations the
+expiratory breath-stream must be directed against them in a special
+manner, and they themselves must be adapted to the blast. It is a case
+of complex and beautiful adaptation. The clarinet or flute player must
+learn to "blow," and equally must the singer learn to use his breath.
+The processes each employs, though not identical, are closely related;
+both use the breath to cause vibrations, and there can be none that
+are effective, in either case, except a certain relation of adaptation
+of breath-stream to instrument be effected--with the clarinet-player,
+adjustment of breath to reed, and with the voice-user, of breath to
+vocal bands.
+
+Exactly what changes are made in the larynx, and by what means, have
+already been described, and will be again considered in more than one
+part of this volume. The main fact is that owing to a multitude of
+neuro-muscular mechanisms the different parts of the respiratory and
+laryngeal apparatus are brought to work in harmony for the production
+of tones.
+
+The nature of the vibrations of the vocal bands, and, therefore, the
+character of the sounds produced, depend in no small measure on one
+thing, to which attention cannot be too carefully given. To a large
+extent the pitch, the volume, the quality, the carrying power, etc.,
+of a tone depend on the adjustment now referred to--one of the facts
+which were, if not physiologically, at least practically recognized by
+the old Italian masters. Teachers everywhere felt the need of some
+technical term to express the adjustment we are considering, hence the
+expression _coup de glotte_, which is not in itself necessarily either
+incorrect or for other reason to be condemned. All depends on the
+sense in which it is used, as we have already said. It must, however,
+be admitted that it does; to most persons, convey the idea of
+something that is more or less violent as well as sudden, so that
+there seems to lurk in this term a tendency to mislead, to say the
+least.
+
+There really should never be a blow or shock of the glottis; the vocal
+bands should never strike together violently, or, indeed, strike
+together at all, in the ordinary sense of the term. They should,
+however, be approximated with considerable rapidity and with a perfect
+adjustment to the breath-stream, and this must be associated with a
+like perfect adaptation of the breath-stream to them through the
+harmonious working of the many muscles (neuro-muscular mechanisms)
+which constitute the most important part of the respiratory mechanism.
+In brief, the adjustment of the breathing and laryngeal mechanisms
+resulting in the adequate and suitable approximation of the vocal
+bands for tone-production constitutes the _coup de glotte_, or, as the
+author prefers to term it, the "attack."
+
+To get this perfect should be one of the aims of teachers and one of
+the ambitions of students. Without a good attack the singer or speaker
+fails to do himself justice, and the listener is left unsatisfied. The
+good attack suggests physiological and technical perfection, so far as
+it goes; artistically, it implies power and sureness, and for the
+listener satisfaction, a feeling that what has been attempted has been
+accomplished; and the best of it is that the auditor at the end of a
+large hall experiences this sense of satisfaction quite as fully as
+the persons sitting in the first row of seats. Without good attacks
+there can be no intellectual singing or speaking, no broad phrasing,
+and much more that all should aim at who come before the public, and
+which listeners have, indeed, a right to expect. But just because many
+persons feel this to be true, they make serious errors in attempting
+to attain the result; they substitute main force for the correct
+method. Impatience and eagerness may defeat the voice-user's purpose.
+In this and all other cases the action should be performed with but
+moderate force, or even, at first, softly, and with gradual increase
+in vigor, and always in relation to the quality of the sound produced;
+quality must always be the first if not also the last consideration.
+
+If the method be correct, power can be attained with patience; if
+wrong, the throat and voice may be absolutely ruined. This point will
+be considered later, but we must at once express the opinion that a
+bungling attack in which main force is substituted for the proper
+method is one of the most dangerous, as it is one of the most serious
+errors in the technique of modern singing, and the same may often be
+charged against our public speaking.
+
+Another of the worst faults of singing, the _tremolo_, is due to
+unsteadiness in attack and in maintaining the proper relations between
+the breathing and the laryngeal mechanism. If the voice-user fails to
+get a tone of good quality easily and without escape of breath to any
+appreciable extent, he must consider that his method is incorrect.
+There must be no wasted breath in the best vocal technique. This leads
+to ineffectiveness in the voice-producer and lack of satisfaction in
+the listener. Breath must, for a perfect technique, mean tone--all
+tone--and this must be produced so that the singer is not aware, by
+any unpleasant feelings, that he has vocal bands or a larynx at all;
+in a perfect technique one must only be distinctly aware of certain
+sensations in the parts above the larynx, in his mouth cavity, etc.
+His consciousness is concerned with tone--the result. But, to attain
+this, the method must be physiological--_i.e._, natural, and not only
+that, but carried out with an approach to perfection in the details of
+the process which takes time and calls for infinite patience and care,
+all permeated by sound and clear ideas of what is being aimed at by
+the voice-user. Nothing should be attempted till the method and the
+end are understood thoroughly; to do otherwise is to waste time,
+defeat the purpose, and court failure and disappointment; and the more
+the student can think for himself, and the less dependent he is on his
+teacher, the better will it be for both and for art itself.
+
+From all that has been hitherto said it will be inferred that one of
+the best tests of a good attack, or any other feature in
+voice-production, is the absence of escape of breath, as such, from
+the mouth. Many persons begin wrongly; they attempt to produce tones
+by forcing the breath out in such a way that all their resources in
+breathing are at once spent, instead of being husbanded with the care
+of a miser. As time is the most precious possession of man, as man, so
+is breath for the singer or speaker. It is his hoard. Nothing must be
+paid out of this always limited capital for which the best value is
+not obtained.
+
+The test for perfect economy of breath known to older generations of
+actors still remains the best. They were accustomed to hold a candle a
+few inches from the mouth when speaking. If the flame did not flicker,
+it was clear that breath was not being uselessly expelled.
+
+Instead of feeling that the breath passes out, the voice-producer
+should rather feel, when phonating, as if it passed in--an illusion,
+it is true, but still a safe one. It will be found that holding a
+mirror or the hand with the back turned toward the mouth, and a few
+inches (four to six) from it, will serve fairly well to indicate
+whether the breath is escaping or not, though in sensitiveness and
+convincing power this is not equal to the flame test.
+
+We would again urge that in every instance of phonation in either
+speaker or singer, the breath be taken through the open mouth. Only in
+this way can enough breath be inhaled in the mere moment available for
+this purpose. Often the singer or actor must take breath with
+absolutely the greatest rapidity possible, and the narrow passages of
+the nose do not suffice to admit enough air within the time for
+action.
+
+But even more important, perhaps, is the fact that when breath is
+taken through the nostrils the singer may find that on opening his
+mouth to sing the tongue and soft palate are in an unfavorable
+position for good tone-production; his sounds may be muffled, throaty;
+but if breath be inhaled through the open mouth, and not through the
+nose at all, the tongue tends to lie flat, and this organ and other
+parts assume the correct position for good intonation.
+
+Mouth breathing, for the purposes of tone-production, is the only
+method which has physiological justification. Many singers especially
+complain of having trouble with the tongue; some believe it too large,
+others that it is beyond their control. These so-called large tongues
+have one advantage--they may exercise a great influence on the quality
+of the tone; and correct breathing brings them to good behavior. The
+author has time and again, by explaining the influence of mouth
+respiration, brought sudden joy to the heart of the singer who had
+been all his life troubled with the tongue, and worried by the
+consciousness that his tones lacked in clearness, carrying power, etc.
+
+Nose breathing is of course to be used exclusively when the subject is
+not phonating. During the latter many opportunities occur to close the
+mouth; and the idea that drying of the mucous membrane of the mouth,
+etc., will occur by reason of mouth breathing in speaking and singing
+is purely imaginary.
+
+
+EXERCISES.
+
+The student, whatever his degree of advancement, will find the
+exercises about to be recommended, or others closely resembling them,
+of great value.
+
+It cannot be too well borne in mind, obvious though it is, that all
+speaking and singing, whatever else they be, are tone-production;
+hence the first thing for every one to ascertain regarding himself is
+the extent to which he can form and hold tones of good quality--in
+other words, the success with which he can establish the essential
+co-ordinations or harmonious actions of the breathing and laryngeal
+mechanisms, and maintain them for a considerable length of time.
+
+Many singers can produce a fairly good and powerful tone, but it is a
+sort of vocal explosion rather than a tone, which will continue to do
+the singer's bidding for as long as he will. The correctly produced
+and sustained tone is the foundation of all that is best in
+voice-production; all the rest is but a series of variations on this.
+Hence the author recommends the following practice to all, whatever
+else they may do or have done. It is to be a test of inspiration,
+attack, economy of breath, adjustment of the vocal bands, the
+resonance-chambers, etc.
+
+1. Inhale slowly through the somewhat open mouth, filling the chest
+moderately full, and at once attack so as to produce a tone of but
+moderate force, but of the best quality possible.
+
+2. Continue to hold this tone as long as the breath is easily
+sufficient, taking care that the tone be on no account sustained after
+there is the slightest difficulty in maintaining it of the same
+quality and power as before. Steadiness and perfection in quality are
+to be the chief considerations.
+
+3. The student is advised, after a few days' practice in this manner,
+to note with a watch the time during which he can hold a tone under
+the restrictions above referred to, and to endeavor to increase the
+holding power daily by a little. It will, of course, be necessary to
+fill the chest more completely day by day.
+
+4. It will also be well for the voice-producer to practise taking very
+deep and rapid inspirations, followed by the most prolonged
+expirations.
+
+5. This method of breathing may then be put to the actual test in
+intonation.
+
+Another exercise very valuable in giving breath-control is the
+following:
+
+Produce a tone exactly as before, but every now and then, at regular
+intervals at first, then at irregular ones, cut the tone off short by
+suddenly arresting the breath, and, after a very short pause, continue
+again in exactly the same way _without_ taking a fresh breath; and, as
+in the above and all other exercises, frequently apply the hand and,
+when more practised, the more exacting flame test.
+
+The first of the above exercises may be represented to the eye by a
+continuous straight line; the second by straight lines with short
+spaces between them.
+
+In all these exercises there must never be any sort of _push_
+anywhere, neither in the chest nor throat. Such methods are absolutely
+wrong, because so wasteful of energy. The tone should come as
+spontaneously and inevitably as the gas from a soda-water bottle when
+the cork is slightly loosened, or, if this illustration be too strong
+(it is employed because gas, air, is concerned in each case), let us
+say, as water from the pipe of a waterworks' system when the tap is
+turned. _The tone should come, the breath must tarry._
+
+If the student does not feel ease, certainty, and inevitableness in
+result, he has not made a good attack. If he cannot sustain the tone
+for a few seconds, he should conclude that his method of using his
+breath is wasteful. In time a tone should be easily held for at least
+ten seconds.
+
+The purpose of the second exercise is to give still more fully
+breath-control, and to lead the voice-user to realize how important is
+breathing for intonation.
+
+The student may ask: "Why not begin, as is often done, by the singing
+of scales?" Really useful scales are too complex; they imply the use
+of a series of tones formed according to the principles insisted upon
+above. The first thing is to get one perfect tone--to use the vocal
+mechanism under simple conditions; and _that tone should be chosen
+which the voice-user can produce of best quality and with greatest
+ease, with least expenditure of energy_. It should never be selected
+from the extremes of the subject's range. From the favorite or best
+tone he should work down and up the scale. After this the scale comes
+easy, and all actual singing is scale singing--the use of
+intervals--and all speaking the same thing; so that, from every point
+of view, this exercise should be the first in intonation, and the
+student will do well not to leave it till the conditions above
+prescribed can be fully met. Some singers have continued such
+exercises throughout a long artistic career.
+
+It is to be understood always that the exercises, etc., recommended in
+this work are intended for all voice-users, whether they are singers
+or speakers. It is easy for a speaker to pass from such prolonged
+tones to the shorter ones required in speaking, but after such
+exercises he can do so with a feeling of ease, mastery of himself,
+improved ear, and purity of speech not otherwise attainable.
+
+The author would also insist, in the most emphatic manner, on the
+great importance of making all such exercises musical. Every tone
+should be the best then possible to the voice-user, and power must on
+no account be aimed at for some time. Thus are developed and go hand
+in hand, as they always should, a sound technique with the artistic
+conscience and perceptions.
+
+
+SUMMARY AND REVIEW.
+
+_The Principles of Physics, etc., Involved._
+
+Sound (tone) is a mental result having its origin in certain changes
+in the ear and the brain, owing to vibrations of the air. Tones have
+_pitch_, depending on the number of vibrations in a second, _volume_
+(power), depending on the size of the waves or vibrations, and
+_quality_ (_timbre_), determined by the shape of the waves. Pitch is
+determined by the vocal bands, volume by the same, in great part, and
+quality by the shape of the resonance-chambers above the vocal bands.
+The resonance-chambers influence volume also. A tone is augmented by
+resonance.
+
+The larynx bears certain resemblances to both stringed and wind
+instruments, but it is really unique (_sui generis_). The vibrations
+of the vocal bands are caused solely by the expiratory current of air,
+which is more or less held back by the cords, owing to their
+approximation, so that the greater the obstruction the stronger must
+the blast of air be, other things being equal, and the result increase
+in pitch. The problem Nature had to solve is very complex.
+
+The laryngoscope was invented in 1854 by a teacher of singing, Manuel
+Garcia, who soon after gave an account of it to the Royal Society of
+England. The instrument consists essentially of two mirrors, the
+external, or "head-mirror," which is concave and reflects into the
+larynx, and the internal, or "mouth-mirror," which reflects the
+picture outward to the eye. The latter mirror is plane, and set at an
+angle. The picture may show, under the most favorable circumstances,
+all the upper parts of the larynx, including the vocal bands, but
+sometimes, also, the windpipe as far down as its division into the two
+main bronchial tubes. The difficulties commonly met with in the use of
+the instrument are a constrained action of the throat and mouth parts
+of the subject, unnatural breathing, an unruly tongue, etc. The
+epiglottis may, also, naturally so overhang the glottis that a good
+view of the vocal cords is impossible. It is difficult to see more
+than one-half to two-thirds of the length of the vocal bands. The
+picture seen is that of the parts of the larynx reversed--_i.e._,
+while right remains right, posterior becomes anterior. The
+laryngoscope shows that (1) in singing an ascending scale the vocal
+bands are for a certain time in action (vibration) throughout their
+whole length; that (2) there may be observed a rather sudden change
+when the vocal bands are relaxed and shortened, and that this process
+of shortening goes on, the bands approaching more and more, both
+behind and in front, till (3) in the highest tones of a soprano of
+great range there is only a small portion of each vocal cord toward
+the centre that is not approximated somewhat closely.
+
+With certain qualifications, it may be said that the action of the
+vocal bands is alike for all voices. In all cases a certain degree of
+approximation of the vocal bands is absolutely necessary for
+phonation, and the mechanism is generally similar in males and females
+till the highest tones, above alluded to, are reached. This is in
+harmony with the following facts: (1) The crico-thyroids are the
+muscles most in use in ordinary speech and in singing the lower tones.
+(2) Several muscles combine in relaxing and shortening the vocal
+bands. (3) The peculiar mechanism of the highest tones in a soprano
+voice of great compass is only to be explained by a combined action of
+several muscles, and a very delicate and precise use of the internal
+thyro-arytenoids attached along the whole length of the outer surface
+of the vocal bands. The larynx of the male differs from that of the
+female chiefly in its greater size, weight, etc. The vocal bands in
+the male may measure from three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when
+relaxed, and from four-fifths to one inch when tense; in the female,
+from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch when relaxed, and from
+three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when tense. There are
+structural differences corresponding to and determining the kind of
+voice, as to range and power more especially. The bass singer has, as
+a rule, the largest larynx and the longest and heaviest vocal bands.
+
+At puberty the changes that take place in the body generally are
+associated with corresponding alterations in the larynx. The larynx
+grows, changes its proportions, etc., often somewhat rapidly, and the
+result may be a corresponding alteration in voice, as regards range,
+power, and quality. The voice, because of imperfect anatomical and
+physiological adjustment, may "break," to a greater or less extent.
+The same may take place, owing to similar imperfect adjustment, in
+old age, and temporarily, owing to disease, weakness, nervousness,
+fatigue, faulty production, etc. These facts indicate that under such
+circumstances the voice should be used with great care, not at all, or
+in a whisper, when the vocal bands are practically not in action.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 45. Represents what the author has frequently
+seen, by the use of the laryngoscope, when a soprano is producing a
+very high head-tone, say C, D, or E in alt. It will be observed that
+the vocal bands approximate in front and behind ("stopped"), so that
+the only parts of the bands capable of vibration are those short
+portions which form the margins of the oval opening shown in the
+illustration. Only a very limited number of singers are capable of the
+delicate adjustments required.]
+
+In a singer highly endowed by nature and perfected by long training
+based on the soundest principles, the action of the muscles of the
+larynx may reach a degree of perfection only to be compared with that
+of the eye and ear.
+
+Consideration of the _coup de glotte_, the attack, or adjustment of
+mechanisms to produce tone that begins correctly; breathing, with open
+mouth, with effectiveness and economy of energy; singing for children,
+in choirs, etc., have been discussed.
+
+Practical exercises should be related to the principles underlying
+them. Musical and aesthetic principles are always to be associated with
+a sound technique. The artistic and technical or physiological
+conscience should be associated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.
+
+
+When it is borne in mind that the vocal bands have little or nothing
+to do with the quality of tones, the importance of those parts of the
+vocal apparatus which determine quality, and the error of speaking of
+the larynx as if it alone were the sole vocal organ, become apparent.
+
+It may be strictly said that the vocal bands serve the purpose of
+making the resonance mechanism available. What one hears may be said
+to be vibrations of this resonance apparatus, and not, strictly, those
+of the vocal bands, though this expression would also be correct, but
+would not indicate the final link in the series of vibrations.
+
+The tone caused by the vibration of two such small bands as the vocal
+cords must, in the nature of the case, be very feeble. It becomes
+important for the reader to convince himself of the importance of
+resonance in sounding bodies and musical instruments.
+
+When the stem of a tuning-fork so small that it can be scarcely heard
+when in vibration, except by, the person holding it, is laid against a
+solid body, as a table, its sound is at once so increased that it can
+be heard in the most distant part of a large room. When the same fork
+is held over an empty jar of suitable size and shape, a similar but
+much, less marked increase of its tone is to be observed.
+
+If a cord of but moderate thickness be fastened at each end to a thin
+piece of wood, say a split shingle, and a little block of wood, in
+imitation of the bridge of a violin, be placed under the cord so as to
+render it tense, we have the essentials of a stringed instrument, the
+pitch of which can be made to vary by moving the block about and thus
+varying the tightness of the cord. But the sound of such an improvised
+instrument, produced by drawing a bow across the cord, is ridiculously
+feeble.
+
+In the actual violin the volume of sound, as well as its quality,
+depends on the size, shape, and weight of the instrument. The strings
+serve the purpose of causing the body of the instrument, the air
+within it, and, in consequence, the air without, between it and the
+ear of the auditor, to vibrate or move in a specific manner.
+
+Similarly, the imposing size of the grand piano is associated
+inevitably with loudness, as compared with a smaller instrument. A
+violoncello must produce a larger tone than a violin, though not
+necessarily one more intense.
+
+These principles of resonance apply in the case of the singer and the
+speaker. The bass and barytone produce tones of larger volume (as well
+as different quality) than those of the tenor, because their resonance
+apparatus is different in size and shape. It is true, their vocal
+bands, their wind-power, and the laryngeal muscles are different--they
+are not of the same size, etc.--and, in a more remote sense, this is
+the cause of the differences in the tones they produce; but the
+immediate cause is to be sought in the resonance mechanism, and, above
+all, in the resonance-chambers.
+
+It is true that when one speaks or sings, the chest, windpipe, and
+larynx may be felt to vibrate, but the essential vibrations are
+_supra-glottic_--above the vocal bands.
+
+These resonance-chambers are the _mouth cavity_, in the widest sense,
+and the _nasal chambers_. It is highly probable that the vibrations of
+the chest walls and of the bones of the head may to some degree modify
+the vibrations of the air within the resonance-chambers, chiefly in
+the direction of intensification; but the idea that the hollow spaces
+in certain of the bones of the head have any appreciable influence on
+the tones of the speaker or singer, can at best not be considered as
+demonstrated, and it serves no practical purpose to take into account
+this possibility.
+
+The great facts, the facts which are so plain that they may be
+demonstrated to a child, are these: that the quality of any
+tone--_e.g._, a vowel--is absolutely determined by the shape of these
+cavities, the mouth and nasal chambers. This subject will be treated
+further when the tones, etc., of speech are considered, but inasmuch
+as no one can sing, in the proper sense of the term, without the use
+of vowels, at least, and as we produce different vowels with
+ease, one may at once demonstrate to himself that this is done by
+altering the shape of his mouth cavity, and chiefly by the agency of
+the tongue and soft palate.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 46 (Tyndall). Representing water being poured into
+the vessel A B, till the air-space is just sufficient to respond to
+the vibrations of the tuning-fork. The air thus becomes a resonator of
+the fork.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 47 (Spalteholz). The mouth is extremely widely
+opened. The soft palate is seen terminating in the uvula, and on each
+side, extending from it, are the pillars of the fauces, a pair of
+folds between which the tonsil is seen to lie.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 48. View of the nose, etc., from behind, showing
+the parts enumerated above. It is not hard to understand that any
+considerable amount of swelling of the lining mucous membrane might
+give rise to difficulty in breathing through the nose, and even compel
+mouth-breathing.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 49 (Spalteholz). Showing well the scroll
+(turbinated) bones of the nose, which break up the space and make it
+more cavernous. It can be seen that there is free communication
+behind, between the mouth and the nasal cavities, and that if the soft
+palate and the tongue approximate, the breath-stream must pass into
+and through the nose, giving rise to nasality in utterance.]
+
+A short description of a part to which many voice-users remain
+strangers all their lives will now be given. These resonance-chambers
+remain, for many, an apparatus used daily and absolutely essential,
+yet never examined. Fortunately, a few illustrations, which should be
+followed by an examination of the student's own resonance-chambers and
+their various parts as they may be seen in a mirror, will remove all
+difficulty in the understanding of them, and prepare for that detailed
+study to be recommended in a subsequent chapter.
+
+Passing from before backward, one meets the _lips_, the _teeth_ and
+_gums_, the _hard palate_, which is a continuation of the gums; then,
+suspended from the hard palate, behind, is the _soft palate_, back of
+which lies the _pharynx_ (often termed "the throat"), and above it and
+constituting its continuation, the _naso-pharynx_; and lying on the
+floor of the mouth there is the _tongue_.
+
+Certain of these parts, as the teeth, gums, hard palate, nasal bones,
+etc., constitute fixed structures, and though they determine in no
+small measure the shape of the resonance-chambers, and so to a degree
+the quality of the voice, so movable are the lips, soft palate, and,
+above all, the tongue, that there is the widest scope for varying the
+quality and even the volume of the voice; so that it is a good thing,
+practically, for every one to believe that so far as quality, at all
+events, is concerned, he is the master of his own destinies.
+
+Though we are accustomed to believe that the mouth and nose are,
+though neighbors, quite separate and independent of each other, such
+is not the case. Indeed, in the pre-natal condition these are not two,
+but one; and in some instances they remain imperfectly separated,
+owing to the failure of the hard palate to develop to the full--a
+condition known as "cleft palate," and giving rise to a peculiar nasal
+intonation, to be explained presently.
+
+The _nasal chambers_ are divided into two by a vertical partition, as
+one can readily demonstrate by the use of his fingers, and are still
+further broken up by certain bones, the scroll-shaped or _turbinated_
+bones, so that the nasal chambers are of very limited size, and much
+divided up by bony outgrowths from their walls. The _vertical septum_,
+while bony above, is cartilaginous and flexible below.
+
+Without the aid of instruments and a good light the nose can be but
+indifferently examined from the front, while it requires the greatest
+skill on the part of a laryngologist to see it well from behind.
+However, the whole difficulty can be got over by visiting a butcher
+and securing a sheep's head split through from before back. In a few
+moments one can learn all the essential facts, including that one of
+great practical importance--viz.: that every part of the
+resonance-chambers is lined by the same mucous membrane which is also
+continued downward into the larynx and the gullet.
+
+It will be thus observed that the throat and nose communicate in the
+freest manner behind, and that the only way of closing off the mouth
+cavity from the nasal chambers is by means of the tongue and the soft
+palate working together. As in the proper use of the tongue and soft
+palate lie many of the secrets of the art of the speaker and singer,
+special attention must be given to these parts.
+
+The _tongue_, which completely fills the floor of the mouth, is made
+up of several muscles of different attachments, which explains why
+this organ is so movable. To say that it can with the greatest ease
+and rapidity be turned toward every one of the thirty-two points
+marked on a mariner's compass, is but to feebly express its capacity
+for movements. What we are most concerned with now is its power to
+alter the shape of the mouth cavity in every part.
+
+The _soft palate_ is suspended like a curtain from the hard palate,
+behind. It is composed of muscles arranged in pairs, and is continued
+into a conical tip below known as the _uvula_, and on each side into
+folds, the _pillars of the fauces_, between which lie the _tonsils_,
+which are in shape like very small almond nuts. When quite normal
+these should not protrude much, if at all, beyond the cavity made by
+the folds referred to above.
+
+Both the tonsils and the uvula may become so enlarged as to be a
+source of awkwardness or more serious evil to the voice-user. They
+may, in fact, require operative interference. So serious, however, is
+the decision to operate, or the reverse, for the voice-user, that the
+author recommends that such operations be entrusted only to
+laryngologists who have some knowledge of their influence on
+voice-production.
+
+It is of the greatest moment to observe that the quality of tones can
+be made to vary in the highest degree by the joint use of the tongue
+and soft palate. When in vocalizing the tongue is raised behind and
+the soft palate made to approach it, or actually to meet it, the tone
+assumes a more or less nasal character. The reason of this is that the
+cavity of the mouth proper, or "mouth" in the narrower sense, the
+forward part, is shut off from the hinder part, or the pharynx, so
+that the breath is then directed upward and passes chiefly through the
+nose, producing a nasal tone or twang--always a fault, and one
+fearfully common in America.
+
+When the tongue alone is raised behind, or drawn back unduly, tones
+become muffled--indistinct, etc. This is also a very common fault, but
+is found in England and Germany also. English speech is often hard and
+guttural, German unduly guttural, if not so hard, and American
+slovenly and horribly nasal.
+
+But what may in a certain degree be disagreeable and a vocal error, is
+in another a positive excellence; so, in this case, the use of the
+tongue and soft palate in the proper degree and at the right moment
+gives us emotional expression. This subject will, however, be
+considered again later; in the meantime, the student is advised to do
+a little experimenting in the use of his tongue and soft palate, with
+a view of noting how the quality of tone may be thus made to vary. He
+is also advised to use a hand-glass with the object of observing the
+parts mentioned in this chapter, and if he can also find a friend
+willing to lend his mouth for observation, so much the better.
+
+The sooner any voice-user comes to feel that his vocal destinies lie
+in his own hands, the better. "Know thyself" is as necessary an
+admonition for the speaker and singer as for any other artist, but
+with that must go another, "Believe in thyself"--that thou canst
+produce tones of beautiful and expressive quality if thou wilt; it may
+be only after much wisely directed work, but yet it is possible.
+
+Allusion must be made to the danger of those engaged in mathematical
+and physical investigations applying their conclusions in too rigid a
+manner to the animal body. It was held till recently that the pitch of
+a vocal tone was determined solely by the number of vibrations of the
+vocal bands, as if they acted like the strings of a violin or the reed
+of a clarinet, while the resonance-chambers were thought to simply
+take up these vibrations and determine nothing but the quality of
+tone; they were believed not to have any influence on pitch. Against
+this view the author long ago demurred. To Prof. Scripture, however,
+belongs the credit of demonstrating that the resonance-chambers
+determine pitch also. It seems probable that the vocal bands so beat
+the air within the resonance-chambers as to determine the rate of
+vibration of the air of these cavities, and so the pitch of the tone
+produced. These chambers not having rigid walls, one can the better
+understand that the tension of these parts may not only be different
+in individuals, but vary in the same person from time to time,
+according to the condition of his health, etc. Herein we find another
+source of explanation of variations in the voice. All these
+considerations make the resonance-chambers more important than ever,
+so that there is greater objection to speaking of the larynx as _the_
+vocal organ than we were aware of before these investigations were
+undertaken.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+Without a resonator, which may be solid or hollow, the sound made by a
+reed or tense string is feeble. That the mouth can act as a resonator
+may be proved by holding a vibrating tuning-fork of suitable pitch
+before this chamber when open.
+
+The resonating chambers of importance are supra-glottic. Of these the
+"mouth" including all as far back as the pharynx and the nasal
+chambers are the principal. These two main cavities are separated from
+each other by the hard palate, which is a bony floor, covered with
+mucous membrane, as are all the parts of the resonance-chambers. The
+hard palate extends horizontally from the gums backward, and
+is continued as the soft palate. The latter is a muscular and
+therefore movable curtain that divides, with varying degrees of
+completeness, the mouth (in the narrower sense) from the pharynx and
+naso-pharynx--_i.e._, the space back of the soft palate and the
+posterior nares (back nostrils) respectively. By the elevation of the
+back of the tongue and the lowering of the soft palate as when one
+speaks nasally, the mouth proper is largely shut off from the nasal
+chambers, so that the breath must be directed through the nose. "Cleft
+palate" also connects undesirably the mouth and nasal chambers. The
+tonsils lie between two folds, the pillars of the fauces, connected
+with the soft palate. When normal in size the tonsils should scarcely
+extend beyond these folds. The uvula is the central lower tip of the
+soft palate. The nasal chambers are divided by a central bony and
+cartilaginous partition, the septum nasi, but are further encroached
+upon, on each side, by three scroll-like (turbinated) bones. The
+tongue is composed of several muscles, which explains why its
+movements may be so complicated and delicate. The mouth cavity is
+bounded in front by the gums, teeth, and lips.
+
+The form and, to some extent, possibly; the size of the
+resonance-chambers determine the quality of the tone produced in
+speaking and singing. The shape and size of the mouth can be made to
+vary by the soft palate and lips, but chiefly by the tongue, so that
+the movements of the latter, especially, cannot be too well studied.
+
+It was formerly considered that pitch was determined solely by the
+rate of vibration of the vocal bands; though the author opposed this
+view as rigidly applied. Very recently Prof. Scripture, by the use of
+new methods, has shown that the supra-glottic chambers cannot be
+correctly likened to a resonator with rigid walls. It is held that the
+vocal bands give a number of sudden shocks to the air in the
+resonators, so that, in a sense, the resonance-chambers determine both
+the pitch and the quality of the tone; and as the tension of the
+resonators varies with both the physical and psychical condition of
+the individual, variations in tone-production, more especially as to
+quality, can now be the better understood. According to this view
+these chambers are not properly resonators but sounding cavities.
+
+     The reader's attention is particularly drawn to the new
+     views of the method of action of the vocal bands, etc.,
+     referred to on this page. Since the above was written, such
+     views have become more widely known, and it is hoped that as
+     they are very radical they may be established by other
+     methods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The chapters on the Registers of the Singing Voice may be
+omitted by readers whose practical interest is confined to the
+Speaking Voice.]
+
+
+About no subject in the whole range of voice-production has there been
+so much confusion, difference of opinion, and controversy as that of
+registers; so that it is important at the very outset to define
+register, and throughout to aim at the utmost precision and clearness.
+
+"A register is a series of consecutive and homogeneous sounds rising
+from the grave to the acute, produced by the development of the same
+mechanical principle, the nature of which essentially differs from any
+other series of sounds equally consecutive and homogeneous, produced
+by another mechanical principle" (Manuel Garcia).
+
+"A register consists of a series of tones which are produced by the
+same mechanism" (Behnke).
+
+"A register is the series of tones of like quality producible by a
+particular adjustment of the vocal cords" (Mackenzie).
+
+From a consideration of the above proposed definitions it will be seen
+that for the successful or, at all events, complete or ideal
+investigation of a subject so many-sided and difficult, many
+qualifications are desirable, if not absolutely essential. It is not
+too much to say that the ideal investigator of the registers should
+have a practical knowledge of general anatomy and physiology, together
+with a detailed and exact knowledge of the vocal organs; be versed in
+the laws of sound; have an adequate knowledge of music; be capable of
+examining himself with the laryngoscope (auto-laryngoscopy) as well as
+others (laryngoscopy); possess an acute ear for the pitch and quality
+of tones; be himself able to use his voice at least fairly well in
+singing and speaking; be provided with the all-important ballast of
+common sense, and an impartial mind longing above all things to learn
+the truth.
+
+As few can hope to unite all these qualities in themselves in even a
+moderate degree, openness of mind, temperance in the expression of
+opinion, and common sense with experience, must be largely relied on
+to furnish working conclusions.
+
+A discussion of a subject so difficult and complicated is not easy to
+follow. It is but just to other investigators, and fair to the reader,
+to present the views of those who have possessed special
+qualifications for dealing with the questions involved. The author
+will endeavor to present the grounds on which others have taken their
+stand, in a few words and clearly, if the reader will patiently
+follow. There will at first seem, possibly, to be little agreement,
+but it will be shown that on some of the most essential points there
+is substantial unity of opinion; and the subject is of such vital
+moment, as the author will endeavor to make clear, that it is hoped
+that the most patient examination will be given to the questions that
+arise, from the beginning to the end of the discussion. For the author
+to express a dogmatic opinion, and simply state his disagreement or
+agreement with others, would be contrary to the whole spirit of this
+work, and leave the subject where it once was--in the realm of
+hopeless disagreement and controversy. If the problem of the registers
+is to be solved to the satisfaction of the rational thinker, it must
+be by evidence, and not the mere opinions of any teacher or writer,
+however eminent. To lay this evidence before the reader is now the
+author's task.
+
+One of those most eminently equipped, by a great variety of qualities,
+for the investigation of this subject, or any other question of the
+voice, was Madame Seiler. Whenever the author is obliged to differ
+from this really great investigator, he does so with the sense of the
+highest respect for her opinions generally, because she always sought
+for scientific grounds for such opinions. Her views may be thus
+briefly presented:
+
+She recognized three registers, chest, falsetto, and head, with their
+subdivisions.
+
+(1) The first chest register extends          (1) The whole glottis (vocal
+to [Illustration: a b-flat] in men,           bands) is moved in loose
+and to [Illustration: c' c-sharp']            vibrations.
+in women.
+
+(2) The second chest register extends         (2) The vocal ligaments (or
+to [Illustration: f' f-sharp'] in both        ligamentous glottis) alone
+sexes.                                        are in action.
+
+(3) The first falsetto extends in             (3) The edges alone of the
+females to [Illustration: c'' c-sharp'']      vocal bands vibrate, but the
+and in males to [Illustration: e''            whole glottis is in action.
+e-flat''].
+
+(4) The second falsetto in the                (4) The edges only of the
+female extends to [Illustration:              vocal bands are used, and the
+f'' f-sharp''] and to [Illustration: g'']     vocal ligaments alone are in
+in women.                                     action.
+[Transcriber's Note: So in original;
+"female" should probably be "male."]
+
+(5) Above this point head tones               (5) Edges only of the vocal
+begin.                                        bands in vibration; partial
+                                              closure of the ligaments
+                                              posteriorly (behind).
+
+It will be noted that Madame Seiler spoke of the vocal bands (cords)
+proper as the "ligamentous glottis," and included in the "glottis" the
+arytenoid cartilages themselves, or, at all events, that part of them,
+their lower anterior angles, known as the vocal processes (or
+extensions), to which the vocal bands proper are attached.
+
+The above tabular statement shows (1) that Madame Seiler recognized
+five registers for both male and female voices; (2) that she used the
+term "falsetto" in a sense different from its ordinary one. Usually
+this term is not applied at all to the female voice, but only to that
+special modification of the male voice seldom employed now, and almost
+never except by tenors. With this writer, "falsetto" as applied to
+female voices replaces "middle," in the commoner usage.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 50. Tabular representation of Madame Seiler's
+division of the register.]
+
+Garcia, also, recognized five registers. Behnke, a teacher of singing,
+who practised laryngoscopy and auto-laryngoscopy in the investigation
+of the registers, used "lower thick," "upper thick," "lower thin,"
+"upper thin," and "small," as answering to the "first chest," "second
+chest," etc., of Madame Seiler and others.
+
+Nearly all writers have used the term "break" to indicate the point at
+which a new register begins. Behnke held that the break between the
+thick and the thin register occurred in _both_ sexes at about
+[Illustration: f' f-sharp']. The vocal bands in this part of the scale
+vibrate in their entire breadth, and the series of tones above the
+point just referred to is produced by a new mechanism, but one which
+is the same for all voices and both sexes--_i.e._, only the inner
+edges of the vocal bands vibrate.
+
+According to Behnke, the male voice has but two registers, the thick
+and the thin, but the female voice three, the thick, the thin, and the
+small. These terms were not original with Behnke, but had been used
+earlier by Curwen.
+
+Behnke was emphatic on one point, to which we would call special
+attention, in his own words: "If there is _straining_ anywhere, it is
+during the attempt to carry the mechanism of the upper thick beyond
+its natural limit."
+
+Mackenzie (afterwards Sir Morell Mackenzie) held that "It is certain
+that however over-refined musicians may multiply the 'registers' of
+the voice, physiologically there are but two--_i.e._, 'chest' and
+'head,' the falsetto of the man answering to the head production of
+women."
+
+According to the same author, "The essential factor in chest
+production is the long reed, whilst the essential factor in head
+delivery is the short reed." The terms "long reed" and "short reed"
+were the equivalents of Madame Seiler's "glottis" and "ligamentous
+glottis" respectively. Mackenzie held that the cartilaginous
+(inter-arytenoid) glottis is generally open in the lower and gently
+closed in the upper tones of the chest register, while a segment of
+the ligamentous glottis (vocal bands proper) is tightly closed in the
+head voice.
+
+As the result of the examination of 50 persons gifted with fine
+voices, 42 of whom were "trained" singers and 8 "natural" singers,
+Mackenzie formulated his conclusions as follows:
+
+1. In tenor voices the whole glottis may be open to [Illustration: g a
+b] and not unfrequently to [Illustration: g']. Beyond this point there
+is closure of the cartilaginous glottis. Sometimes the whole glottis
+is open throughout.
+
+2. In barytone voices the whole glottis is often open to
+[Illustration: a b], and occasionally to [Illustration: c']. Beyond
+this point the cartilaginous glottis is closed, except in rare cases.
+
+3. In bass voices the whole glottis is sometimes open to
+[Illustration: g b]. Beyond this point, except in a few instances, the
+cartilaginous glottis is gradually closed.
+
+4. In sopranos and mezzo-sopranos the whole glottis is sometimes open
+to [Illustration: f' g'], often to [Illustration: c''], beyond which
+the cartilaginous glottis is usually closed. The glottis is sometimes
+closed throughout the scale, and in one case it was open throughout.
+
+5. In contralto voices the whole of the glottis is often open to
+[Illustration: f' g'], beyond which the cartilaginous portion is
+closed.
+
+6. In the head voice of women and the falsetto voice of men
+"stop-closure" (_i.e._, closure so tight that the cords in this region
+do not vibrate) always takes place in the posterior portion of the
+ligamentous glottis, and sometimes at the anterior part also.
+
+This writer also held that "Boys who sing alto always use the chest
+register." He was of opinion that "The quality of the voice generally,
+but not always, indicates which mechanism is being used."
+
+The views of the author, published at a former period, and based on
+the special examination of a large number of persons with the
+laryngoscope, etc., and on auto-laryngoscopy, may be briefly stated as
+follows:
+
+A nomenclature for the registers involving no theory would be best,
+such, for example, as _lower_, _middle_, and _upper_ registers. Mandl,
+who recognized only two registers, spoke of them as "lower" and
+"upper," equivalent to "chest" and "head," as commonly used.
+
+The author examined with the laryngoscope 50 persons, who might (with
+Gruetzner) be divided into "trained singers," "natural singers," and
+"non-singers." The whole glottis was found to be open in all voices in
+the lowest tones of the chest register, and this condition obtained up
+to about [Illustration: f-sharp' g'], beyond which another mechanism
+came into play, except in rare cases.
+
+The high falsetto of men and the head voice of women are produced by a
+similar mechanism and method.
+
+In the investigation of registers more attention should be given to
+the use of the breathing organs than has hitherto been done by those
+writing on this subject.
+
+As Madame Marchesi, of Paris, has taught with preeminent success, and
+with the greatest practical consideration for the preservation of the
+voice and the vocal organs in an unimpaired condition, and as the
+author has had, through her kindness, the opportunity to become
+acquainted with her methods by observation, her views on the registers
+are here presented. It is to be understood that as she teaches only
+ladies, her views are considered, so far as she is concerned, as
+applying only to female voices. These views are further presented
+because Madame Marchesi was herself taught by Garcia, who was in the
+direct line of the old Italian masters, though it will be observed
+that the pupil has retained only the essentials of the master's views
+on the registers.
+
+1. There are three registers in female voices: chest, middle, and
+head.
+
+2. While there are small differences in voices and individuals as
+regards the registers, the following principles apply to all of them:
+
+(_a_) The chest register must never be carried above [Illustration:
+f-sharp'].
+
+(_b_) [Illustration: e' f'] should be "covered" or modified chest
+tones.
+
+(_c_) In all cases [Illustration: f-sharp''] must be a head tone.
+
+(_d_) In quick passages chest should not be carried beyond
+[Illustration: d-flat']--_i.e._, [Illustration: d' e' f'] are middle
+in quick passages.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.
+
+
+It will, it is hoped, be apparent to the reader that the subject now
+under treatment may be considered either theoretically or practically.
+If science be exact, systematized, and, when complete, unified
+knowledge, then every source of information must be employed in the
+investigation of so difficult a subject as the registers. There may be
+differences of opinion as to the relative importance of some of these
+means of investigation--_e.g._, auto-laryngoscopy, but that it should
+be utilized, there can be no question. The value of photography of the
+larynx, as carried out up to the present, may be questioned; but there
+can be no doubt that if this method of studying the action of the
+vocal bands could be pushed to a certain point, much light might be
+thrown on the questions at issue.
+
+Merely to assume that a method of treating the registers which has
+given, apparently, good practical results in the hands of one teacher
+is sound, and rests on a scientific basis, is unwarranted. It may be
+simply a little better or a little worse than some other. How is the
+student to distinguish, in his choice, between Mr. A and Mr. B, in the
+case of two successful teachers, both of whom recognize registers? A
+physiologist may be sound as far as he goes, yet lack that practical
+knowledge of the voice which the vocal teacher properly considers
+requisite in determining how a pupil shall use the registers. Among
+those who are most dogmatic on this and other questions there is often
+a plentiful lack of knowledge of the vocal organs; and some clever
+laryngologists must have learned, when they were carried into the
+discussion of this subject, that some knowledge of music and singing
+is absolutely indispensable, and that enough cannot be picked up, even
+by an able man, in a few minutes devoted to interrogating singers,
+especially when these vocalists have been trained by widely different
+methods, and have, as is too often the case, given but little real
+_thought_ to the scientific, or, indeed, any other side of their art.
+
+We find "break" confounded with "register," and the meaning attached
+to the latter, at best, one-sided or inadequate in some respects. The
+truth is, such a subject cannot be settled by the physiologist, even
+when a laryngologist, as such; nor can the solution to a scientific
+question of this kind be given by a singer, as a singer. Such a
+problem can only be settled, as we have throughout insisted, by those
+possessing many qualifications, and even when the investigator unites
+in himself every intellectual qualification, something will depend on
+his temperament and spirit. An atmosphere of controversy is not
+favorable to scientific investigation, and among the dangers that ever
+lie in the path of the teacher are pride and prejudice. The
+assumption that one is prepared to teach is too often associated with
+views and feelings that prevent the guide from remaining himself a
+student and being ready to learn even from the very beginner, as he
+must if he have the true spirit. Unfortunately, several of the most
+highly qualified writers on this subject have formulated their views
+under conditions unfavorable to the attainment of the whole truth.
+
+It is to be borne in mind always that a register implies (1) a series
+of tones of a characteristic clang, _timbre_, color, or quality; (2)
+that this is due to the employment of a special mechanism of the
+larynx in a particular manner. It follows that in thinking of
+registers scientifically, one must take into account both the tones
+and the mechanisms by which they are produced.
+
+Naturally, with most untrained people the passage from one register to
+another is associated with a suddenness of change which is unpleasant,
+and which is termed the _break_. It is often suggestive of weakness,
+uncertainty, etc., and to an ear at once sensitive and exacting
+through training is intolerable when very pronounced. Often this break
+is very marked in contraltos, and is invariably so pronounced in the
+male voice when it passes to the upper falsetto that even the dullest
+ear does not fail to notice the change.
+
+It is, therefore, not surprising that teachers should have sought to
+lessen the unpleasant surprise for the listener caused by the break.
+Some have looked on registers as almost an invention of the Evil One,
+and forbidden the use of the term to their students; but such
+ostrich-like treatment of the subject--such burying of the head in the
+sand--does not do away with a difficulty, much less can such a plain
+fact as the existence of registers be ignored without the most
+detrimental results, as we shall endeavor to make plain. Some, feeling
+that the break was an artistic abomination, have proceeded to teach
+the student to reduce all tones to the same quality, which is about as
+rational as asking a painter to give us pictures, by the use of but
+one pigment.
+
+To attempt to abolish registers would be like leaving but one string
+to the violin; which instrument, in its present form, has a register
+for each string; and the player endeavors to avoid the breaks that
+naturally occur in passing from string to string, and to get a smooth
+series of tones just as the intelligent vocalist does.
+
+The registers may be represented to the eye by the method illustrated
+in figure 52.
+
+The wise instructor recognizes registers; they are a fact in nature,
+and one to be valued. The more colors, the greater the range of the
+artist's powers, other things being equal, whether the artist paint
+with pigments or tones; but just as the painter uses intermediate
+tones of color to prevent rude transitions or breaks, so must the
+singer modify or "cover" the tones between the registers--_i.e._, use
+to some extent the mechanism of both neighboring registers.
+
+The reader who has perused the previous chapter thoughtfully may
+naturally ask: "With such difference of opinion among eminent authors
+like those quoted, how am I to know which one to follow, and what to
+believe on this subject?"
+
+The answer to that question we propose now to give. It will be wise to
+endeavor to show just wherein the writers quoted differ and on what
+they agree. A careful examination will show that there is substantial
+agreement on the most important points:
+
+1. All agree that there are registers, or natural changes of quality
+of tone, corresponding to changes of mechanism or method.
+
+2. All, with the exception of Madame Seiler, agree that the most
+important changes take place at or near [Illustration: a'] in female
+voices, and the majority consider that this applies to both sexes
+equally.
+
+3. Often in males there is some laryngeal change lower than this.
+
+4. All agree that the high falsetto of tenors is of a special quality,
+and produced by a mechanism of its own--_i.e._, all consider it a
+separate register--and often, at least, it begins naturally about
+[Illustration: f-sharp'], which is usually, however, written an octave
+higher, though really sung as given above.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 51. A photographic representation of the
+appearances of the vocal bands when the subject is sounding first E
+and then F sharp, in which latter case "the vibratory portions of the
+vocal bands are shortened about one-sixteenth inch," according to Dr.
+French, who has been eminently successful in photographing the larynx.
+It will be noted that this is the point in the scale at which the
+change of register usually takes place--_i.e._, there is a change of
+mechanism corresponding to the change in quality. (French-Raymond.)]
+
+The point of greatest strain is generally, for both sexes, about this
+point, and many persons cannot sing higher than this--_i.e._, about
+[Illustration: f-sharp'] for males, and its octave for females.
+
+It is to be remembered, as Madame Seiler has pointed out, that at the
+period of greatest perfection in vocal training, some hundred and
+fifty years or more ago, concert pitch was very much lower than it is
+to-day; so that to teach tenors to sing in one register up to
+[Illustration: a''] then, was quite a different matter from what that
+would be to-day. The old Italian masters were accustomed to train
+singers to the use of the falsetto, and whatever views may be held as
+to the desirability of the tenor using this register, so far as art is
+concerned, there can be no question whatever that physiologically it
+is easy, and one of the means by which relief may be sought from the
+high tension caused by carrying up the lower register.
+
+The author, after a special investigation of this and other questions
+connected with the registers, came to the conclusion that the falsetto
+in males and the head voice in females are produced by a similar
+mechanism. In the high falsetto the vocal bands do not vibrate
+throughout their whole breadth, and there must be, for a successful
+result, in every case a feeling of ease, due to the relaxation of
+certain mechanisms in use up to that point and the employment of new
+ones.
+
+[Illustration: FIGS. 52. These figures are meant to convey through the
+eye some of the main truths regarding the nature of registers and
+breaks. The figure on the left applies to the case of one with three
+registers in the voice, and with the breaks only very moderately
+marked; the illustration on the right applies to the same person after
+training, when the breaks have become indistinct, almost
+imperceptible. For teaching purposes the author is accustomed to use a
+similar diagram, but in shades of the same color, the difference being
+rendered less obvious by intermediate shades _between_ the register
+shades in the right-hand figure.]
+
+The author now offers, with all respect, but confidence, a few
+criticisms on the eminent investigators whose conclusions and methods
+he has been discussing.
+
+Madame Seiler was the writer who, as has been already said, brought
+more numerous and higher qualifications of a scientific and practical
+kind to the investigation of this subject than any other person.
+However, the study of physics, involving as it does the use of methods
+of extreme precision, tends to beget habits of mind which are not in
+all respects the best for the consideration of biological problems.
+Madame Seiler and her master, the physicist Helmholtz, regarded the
+vocal mechanism very much in the same light as they did their
+laboratory apparatus. Only in this way can the author explain some of
+Madame Seiler's positions; but on this assumption one can understand
+why she should make five registers, and consider them all, apparently,
+of equal importance. This latter, together with the tendency generally
+to present her views in too rigid a form, was, we think, her great
+error.
+
+Behnke admitted that all five registers might be heard, especially in
+contraltos, but he did not attach equal importance to each of these
+registers.
+
+Mackenzie the author conceives to have been misled by the very method
+that he considered a special virtue in his investigations--the
+examination of trained singers. Surely, if one would learn what is
+Nature's teaching on this subject, he must not draw conclusions from
+trained vocalists alone! By training one may learn to walk well on his
+hands, but this does not prove such a method the natural one, nor
+would it be good reasoning to draw this conclusion, even if a few
+individuals were found who could thus walk more rapidly than in the
+usual way.
+
+The diversity that Mackenzie found in singers does not, in the
+author's opinion, exist in nature; much if not most of it was due to
+training, and all that can be said is that several people may sing in
+different ways with not greatly different aesthetic results; but such
+methods of investigation may, as in this case, lead to conclusions
+that are dangerously liberal.
+
+The author holds to-day, as he did when he published his results many
+years ago, that "Impressions from general laryngoscopic observations
+or conclusions drawn from single cases will not settle these
+questions. Very likely differences such as these writers allude to may
+exist to a slight degree; but if they do, I question whether they are
+sufficiently open to observation ever to be capable of definition; nor
+is it likely that they interfere with methods of voice-production
+which are alike operative in all persons."
+
+Holding these views, not only can the author not agree with those who
+believe that the change in a register occurs in different persons of
+the same voice (_e.g._, soprano) at appreciably different levels in
+the scale, and even varies naturally from day to day, but he holds
+that to believe this in theory and embody it in practice is to pursue
+a course not only detrimental to the best artistic results, but
+contrary to the plain teachings of physiology in general and that of
+the vocal organs in particular.
+
+The change in a register should be placed _low_ enough in the scale to
+suit all of the same sex. _It is safe to carry a higher register down,
+but it is always risky, and may be injurious to the throat, to carry a
+lower up beyond a certain point._ The latter leads not only to a
+limitation of resources in tone coloring, but also to straining, to
+which we have before alluded. Though this process may not be at once
+obviously injurious, it _invariably_ becomes so as time passes, and no
+vocalist who hopes to sing much and to last can ignore registers, much
+less make the change at a point to any appreciable extent removed from
+those that scientific investigation and equally sound practice teach
+us are the correct ones at which to make the changes.
+
+Why is it that some artists of world-wide reputation sing as well
+to-day as twenty years ago, while others have broken down or have
+become hopelessly defective in their vocal results in a few years?
+There is but one answer in a large proportion of these cases: correct
+methods in the former and wrong methods in the latter class of
+singers--and "correct" in no small degree refers to a strict
+observance of registers.
+
+The author has known a professional soprano to sing every tone in the
+trying "Hear, O Israel" (_Elijah_) in the chest register. How can such
+a singer hope to retain either voice or a sound throat? But so long as
+audiences will applaud exhibitions of mere lung-power and brute force
+the teachings of physiology and healthy art will be violated. But,
+surely, all artists themselves and all enlightened teachers should
+unite in condemning such violations of Nature's plain teachings!
+
+The question of the registers is generally considered now a somewhat
+simpler one for males than for females. Basses and barytones sing in
+the chest register only; tenors are usually taught to sing in the
+chest register; but few teachers believe that the high falsetto is
+worth the expenditure of the time and energy necessary to attain
+facility in its use.
+
+Probably in many male voices there are the distinctions of register
+Madame Seiler alludes to--_i.e._, first chest and second chest, or
+some change analogous to the middle of females; but, from one cause
+and another, this seems to readily disappear. Whether it would not be
+worth maintaining is a question that the author suggests as at least
+worth consideration. Certain it is that, speaking generally, there is
+no change in males equally pronounced with the passage from the lowest
+to the next higher (chest to middle) register in females.
+
+What, then, are the views that the author believes so well grounded,
+in regard to the registers, that they may be made, in all confidence,
+the basis of teaching?
+
+Without hesitation, he recommends that arrangement of the registers
+set forth in the last chapter. It is not the exclusive invention nor
+the basis of practice of any one person, but it may fittingly enough
+be associated with the name of a woman who for over fifty years has
+taught singing with so much regard for true art and for Nature's
+teachings--_i.e._, for physiological as well as artistic principles.
+
+Such a method for female voices is wholly consistent with the best
+scientific teaching known to the author; it is in harmony with the
+laws of vocal hygiene; it gives the singer beautiful tones, and leaves
+her with improved, and not injured, vocal organs. Such an arrangement
+of the registers is not marred by the rigidity of Madame Seiler's nor
+the laxity of Mackenzie's, but combines flexibility with sufficiently
+definite limitations.
+
+As to just how much a teacher of singing should say to the pupil on
+the subject of registers, and especially in a physiological way, must
+depend on circumstances. About the wisdom of teachers of singing (and
+elocution) understanding the vocal mechanism, and carefully weighing
+the matter of registers from every point of view, the reader of this
+book will have no doubt, by this time, the author ventures to hope.
+
+Of course, one may object that for every tone, as it differs slightly
+in quality from its neighbor in the scale, there should be a new
+register--a new mechanism. Such an objection, though theoretically
+sound, is of no practical weight. What students wish to know and
+instructors to teach is how to attain to good singing--the kind that
+gives genuinely artistic results, and leaves the throat and entire
+body of the vocalist the better for his effort. The teaching of this
+work in regard to the registers and other subjects is intended to
+accomplish this, and not to occupy the attention of readers with vocal
+or physiological refinements of no practical importance.
+
+The author has always been of opinion that those who have investigated
+and written on this subject have devoted insufficient attention to one
+point--viz., the manner of using the breath. The breathing in the use
+of the high falsetto, for example, is as different as are the
+laryngeal processes; and this is a point of practical importance, for
+the voice-user must ever consider economy in breathing. It is
+expenditure in this direction that most taxes all singers, even the
+best trained and the most highly endowed.
+
+But the student, deeply impressed with the importance of the subject
+of registers, may ask: "How am I to distinguish between one register
+and another? How am I to know when I am singing with chest, middle, or
+head voice?" The answer is: "By sensations"--chiefly by hearing, but
+also by certain sensations (less properly termed "feelings") in the
+resonance-chambers and to a certain extent in the larynx. Of course,
+before one can thus identify any register, he must have heard a singer
+of fairly good voice form the tones of this particular register. One
+who has never heard sounds of a particular color or quality cannot, of
+course, learn to recognize them from mere description, though by this
+means he is often _prepared_ to hear, and to associate clear ideas
+with that hearing.
+
+As the registers are of such great practical importance, especially
+for the female voice, there is no period when it is of so much value
+to have a lady teacher as just when the voice is being "placed"--which
+should mean the recognition of its main quality, and the teaching of
+registers by imitation as well as description. The student should be
+made to understand, by practical examples, the subject of "covering,"
+or modification. Certainly, the training of a vocalist cannot be
+adequately undertaken by even the most learned musician, however good
+an instrumentalist, if he has paid no attention to the voice
+practically. Much of the teaching done by those ignorant of
+voice-production, however well meant, may be a positive drawback, and
+leave the would-be singer with faults that may never be wholly
+eradicated.
+
+The author would recommend all students who have begun a serious
+practical study of the registers to hear, if possible, some singer of
+eminence who observes register formation strictly. In this way more
+can often be done in getting a clear notion of their characteristic
+qualities, in a single evening, than by listening to an ordinary
+amateur, or to such a voice as an otherwise excellent vocal teacher
+can bring to her work, on many occasions; better one hour listening to
+a Melba, with her observance of registers, covering, etc., as set
+forth by the author in this chapter, than a score of vocalists of
+indifferent, even if not incorrect production. One then has before her
+an individual who, after long and careful training, attains results
+not, indeed, within the reach of all, but such as may be approached if
+the same methods are pursued long enough; and in Madame Melba, and
+others that might be named, the student has examples of how those
+using correct methods, and not worshipping at the shrine of mere vocal
+power, may retain the vocal organs uninjured and the voice unimpaired
+after the lapse of well-nigh a score of years of exacting public
+singing. Teachers will do well to encourage their pupils to hear the
+best singers; for do not students need inspiration as well as
+discipline?
+
+Granted that the ear can at once determine what register the pupil
+herself or another singer may be using, what other guide has she?
+
+There are certain sensations, as already said, felt within the
+resonance-chambers and larynx, which are sure guides. In a person who
+had learned to recognize the correct register formation by the help
+of the ear and those sensations now referred to, the latter would
+suffice to be a partial guide, at least, even had he become deaf.
+While these sensations are absolutely characteristic, it is difficult
+to describe them; they must be experienced to be understood. To
+attempt to describe the taste of a peach to one who knew that of an
+apple but had never eaten a peach would be, perhaps, not absolutely
+useless, but would certainly serve little purpose. The sensation must
+accompany the correct formation of the tone. The term "straining"
+carries with it the idea of unpleasant sensations; all understand
+practically what this term means; yet the sensation of strain in a
+tenor carrying his chest register too high is no more marked than the
+sensation of relief when he changes to the falsetto.
+
+When once the voice has been well placed, little attention need be, or
+is usually, paid _consciously_ to the sensations associated of
+necessity with all changes in the vocal organs. When one becomes
+unduly conscious of any of the normal sensations of the body, he is no
+longer a perfectly healthy person. At the same time, as we have
+pointed out in Chapter II., and shall do more at length shortly,
+sensations are absolutely essential guides for all muscular and other
+processes of the body; but they should enter just so much into
+consciousness, and no more.
+
+It is practically helpful to the voice-producer and the teacher to
+think of the resonance-chambers and the ear as bearing a close
+relationship to the movements essential to tone-production. The
+sensations from these parts are of importance above all others in
+voice-production. They are the chief guides, and the attention may to
+advantage be concentrated on them.
+
+No doubt the question of registers for the speaker must be considered,
+but this can be done to greater advantage in a later chapter.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+All good definitions of a register must recognize two things: change
+of quality in the voice, and change of mechanism in the vocal
+apparatus. A break is not a register, but occurs because of the
+existence of registers. The abrupt transition, or break, is to be
+avoided by covering, or modification of the upper tones of the lower
+(at least) register.
+
+For an adequate scientific examination of the question of registers,
+many qualifications are required in the investigator; and the student,
+when not an investigator, should endeavor to weigh the evidence
+presented so as to choose with caution from among conflicting
+opinions. He should be suspicious of those who scout the value of
+scientific study of this or any other subject, and also of those who
+claim that experience is of no importance in settling such a question.
+
+Though several well-qualified persons who have written on the subject
+differ in some respects, they are in agreement as to many of the more
+important points. They are practically all convinced that there is
+commonly a change of register for all voices, at or near one point in
+the scale (F), and that if this be practically disregarded, dangerous
+straining may result.
+
+Conclusions drawn from trained singers, alone, may be misleading. All
+classes of persons should be examined with the laryngoscope, if
+correct and far-reaching generalizations are to be safely made.
+
+The precision and rigidity of physics and mathematics cannot be
+introduced with safety into a subject of this character; otherwise the
+division and limits of registers will be fixed with a narrowness of
+margin that does not comport with Nature's methods.
+
+In all questions of register, the method of breathing--_i.e._, the
+nature of the application of the expiratory blast--must be duly
+considered.
+
+With male voices, the subject is usually considered much simpler than
+in the case of female voices. Men sing mostly in the chest register;
+basses and barytones wholly so, with the rarest exceptions. Tenors are
+taught to do so. Whether there might not be a subdivision of this
+register made to advantage in training, the author leaves as an open
+question; but about straining, in the case of tenors and all others,
+and as to the importance of recognizing three registers for female
+voices, there is in his mind no question. The fact that some may not
+be able to produce head tones does not justify carrying up the chest
+register to any appreciable extent, even by altos.
+
+Now, as in past times, the high falsetto for males, if good, the
+result of proper training, has the warrant of both art and sound
+physiology.
+
+In the use of registers, sensations are infallible guides. Of these,
+the most important are those associated with the organs of hearing,
+but those arising in the vocal organs are also valuable.
+
+Those only should expect to sing artistically, and to preserve their
+voices unimpaired for a long period, who wisely observe Nature's
+teachings in regard to registers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING VOICE-PRODUCTION.
+
+
+It is highly important for the speaker or singer to realize early in
+his career that all forms of artistic expression can be carried out
+only through movements--muscular movements; in other words, technique
+or execution implies the use of neuro-muscular mechanisms. However
+beautiful the conception in the mind of the painter, it can only
+become an artistic thing when it assumes material form--when it is put
+on canvas. The most beautiful melody is no possession of the world
+while it is in the mind of the composer alone; till it is _expressed_,
+it is as good as non-existent.
+
+Even poetry can only affect us when it exists in the form of words
+produced by lip or pen. Between the glowing thought of the poet and
+the corresponding emotion produced in ourselves there must intervene
+some form of technique--_i.e._, some application of neuro-muscular
+action. This latter term is a convenient one, and has been already
+explained. It is a condensed expression for that use of the nervous
+and muscular systems that results in movements, simple or complex.
+
+Without nerve-cells and muscles movements are impossible, speaking
+generally, and for a willed or voluntary movement there must be
+something more, an idea or concept. Before one can make a movement
+resulting in a simple line or even dot on a piece of paper, he must
+have the idea of that line or dot in mind. In like manner, before one
+plays or sings a single note, he must have the idea of that note in
+mind; in other words, the idea is the antecedent to the movement, and
+absolutely essential. To have such an idea, memory is necessary. It is
+impossible to sing a tone after another, as an imitative effort,
+unless one has the power to retain that tone in memory for at least a
+brief period of time; and before this same tone can be reproduced on
+sight of it as represented by a written note, the memory of the sound
+to which it answers must first be recalled; and not only so, but other
+memories--indeed, memories of all the sensations associated with the
+bodily mechanism used in producing it.
+
+This applies to all movements, of whatever kind, that we at any time
+execute. Without the past--_i.e._, without memories--no present. Some
+of the memories associated with an act may be lost, and others,
+sufficient for its performance in some fashion, remain. A man may
+forget, after the lapse of months or years, how to tie his necktie in
+a certain way, as he stands before a mirror; yet on turning away he
+may succeed at once. In this case the visual memories, those that come
+through the eyes, were lost, but others, those associated with
+muscular movements, remain. The muscular sense may prove an adequate
+guide when the visual is ineffective.
+
+In the same way, one may call up a melody by moving the fingers over
+the piano keys, when it cannot otherwise be recovered, or one rescues
+an air from oblivion by humming a few of its tones; all of which is
+explained by the revival of muscular and similar memories.
+
+All voluntary movements are at first accomplished relatively slowly
+and with difficulty. They soon weary us. A child learns to walk with
+the greatest difficulty, and only after numberless failures or errors.
+The first tones of the would-be pianist or violinist are produced but
+slowly and with great difficulty, in spite of the most determined
+effort. If the attempts to vocalize are any more successful, it is
+because one has already learned to talk--a process that in the first
+instance (in infancy) was even more laborious than that of walking.
+
+The degree to which any one succeeds in his earliest efforts to sing a
+scale will depend on the readiness with which he can use a variety of
+neuro-muscular mechanisms--indeed, all those associated with the
+respiratory, laryngeal, and resonance apparatus. Fortunately for the
+voice-user, this apparatus has all been in use in ordinary speaking.
+But when this latter process is analyzed, it is found that it is not
+essentially different from singing. In each the same mechanism is
+used, and in much the same way; but every one knows that not all who
+can talk are able to sing, and it is usual to say that those who
+cannot have no "ear" for music; and this expresses a part of the
+truth, though not in a scientific way. What is really the truth is
+found to be, on analysis, that certain guiding sensations, chiefly
+those from the hearing apparatus (ear, nerves, brain), are
+insufficient, owing either to natural defect or lack of training; but
+that this is not the only explanation is plain from the fact that many
+composers with the most vivid musical imagination, the most perfect
+auditory memory, and the most acute ear, cannot sing in any but the
+most imperfect manner. As we have said before, the speaker of great
+power to affect his fellows through tones, or the artistic singer,
+must be a sort of vocal athlete. In the athlete there is a very
+perfect association into one whole of certain sensations from eye,
+skin, muscles, etc., and certain movements. These exist in all men,
+but in very unequal degree. The singer is a tone specialist in whom
+the perception of the pitch and the quality of sounds may not be more
+acute than in the composer, possibly less so, but he can do what the
+composer of music often cannot--viz., associate these sensations with
+muscular movements of a highly perfect character; in different words,
+he has the technique which others have not in an equal degree.
+
+In the singer and speaker there is a very close association between
+the sensations of the resonance-chambers, the larynx, and other parts
+of the vocal mechanism, and those from the ear. So perfect does this
+become from training that the necessary technique at last becomes
+easy. But it is of the greatest importance that the exact nature of
+this process be realized by both students and teachers, for weighty
+considerations grow out of it.
+
+We wish to impress the fact that the nature of all neuro-muscular
+processes is essentially the same. Learning to sing is like learning
+to talk, and the latter is not radically different from learning to
+walk. This last is at first slow, imperfect, laborious, and largely a
+voluntary or willed process, or, more strictly, a series of processes.
+As progress is made, there is less of the voluntary and more that is
+involuntary, or what physiologists term reflex. When ideas, feelings,
+etc., enter into a process which is carried out reflexly, a _habit_ is
+formed.
+
+One may say that talking implies a series of associated reflexes, the
+parts associated being the respiratory, the laryngeal, and the
+resonance apparatus. Singing only approaches this condition of reflex
+action and habit after practice, and yet no air is perfectly sung
+except when the result is the outcome of a sort of new habit. Every
+song involves, the learning of new vocal habits. One forms a new habit
+of an athletic character all the more readily because of previous
+ones. A man learns to play one game of ball the better, usually, if he
+have already played at another, the reason being that he has only to
+modify the action of neuro-muscular mechanisms, not associate new
+mechanisms together to the same extent as in the formation of a habit
+of a widely different kind, as rowing a boat. At the same time, one
+must always unlearn something--break up old habits, to some extent. An
+opera singer often makes a failure of oratorio at first. The sets of
+reflexes or the habits, bodily and mental, which he has found valuable
+for the one form of art do not suit the other perfectly; nevertheless,
+the same materials are used, the reflexes are in the main the same. He
+must use preventions, or _inhibitions_, as the physiologists term
+them. Rather is it that he must avoid doing certain things--_i.e._,
+modify his neuro-muscular processes or reflexes, than form wholly new
+ones.
+
+Were it not for reflexes and habits, learning would be so slow one
+lifetime would not suffice to make an artist. It must be apparent that
+habits and reflexes are Nature's ways of economizing energy. As the
+best have but a limited amount of energy, it should be the aim of
+every one who will not be a mere reckless spendthrift to economize, to
+make the most of what Nature has given him; hence the purpose of
+practice is not only to render success more certain and more perfect,
+but to make efforts tell to the fullest extent with as little
+expenditure of energy to the speaker or singer as possible. _He sings
+or speaks best who attains the end with the least expenditure of
+energy._
+
+It may with scientific accuracy be said that the object of the student
+should be to attain to the formation of correct habits in singing and
+speaking, and of the teacher to guide in this process. It follows that
+all practice by the beginner should be carried out only in the
+presence of one who knows the correct methods and can teach the
+student how to form his habits wisely. Practice alone may not only do
+little good, but, by the formation of wrong habits of production, be
+positively mischievous; yet a trainer of athletes often lays more
+restrictions on his ward as to when and how he shall practise, and
+exercises more supervision over it, than do some teachers of singing,
+in spite of the fact that the apparatus the singer or speaker uses is
+much more delicate, and wrong habits much more injurious.
+
+The admonition "Practise, practise," is greatly overdone. The best
+results cannot be obtained in either singing, speaking, or playing,
+with the lengthy and necessarily more or less imperfect if not
+careless practice in which many students of music indulge. Better ten
+minutes with the whole attention of a fresh and interested mind given
+intelligently to a subject than ten hours of mere mechanical movement.
+It is a mistake to suppose that the acquirement of a sound technique
+is a purely mechanical process. We have shown that for all successful
+effort there must be the idea, and as soon as that fades, from
+weariness, etc., the practice should be discontinued. Students are
+not treated fairly when given exercises the meaning or purpose of
+which is not explained to them.
+
+There is now more need than ever that the teacher of music or
+elocution should be intellectual and not mechanical in his methods.
+Technique is mechanism, but it should be mechanism subordinated to
+ideas. Technique is essential to art, but it is not art. Art is the
+soul, technique the body. The soul will be unknown to the world
+without technique; hence the author strives in this book to teach the
+principles on which a sound vocal technique rests, but only that what
+is best in the soul be not hidden, that the one noble or poetic
+thought shall be multiplied a thousand times--indeed, that if it be
+sufficiently worthy, it shall, like Tennyson's Brook, "go on forever."
+To believe, on the one hand, that the highest art can be attained with
+a very mediocre technique, and, on the other, that a perfect technique
+is the main object of musical training, are alike great and
+mischievous errors.
+
+The author has been asked frequently such questions as the following:
+"When is the best time to practise? How long should a singer practise
+at one time, and for how long during a single day? Should one practise
+softly (_piano_) or vigorously (_forte_)?"--etc.
+
+Often the student is puzzled by contradictory opinions on this
+subject. One celebrated prima donna states that she never practises
+more than one hour a day; another, equally distinguished, that she
+has often spent several hours in almost continuous strenuous practice.
+What is the student to believe, and whom to follow? No one, for no two
+persons are alike. All the above questions can be safely and surely
+answered in the light of science and experience combined, but such
+questions cannot be settled by the dictum of any singer, teacher, or
+writer, nor does the experience, in itself, of any one person furnish
+an adequate guide for others.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 53. By this diagram the author has attempted to
+give the reader some idea of the nature of the chain of processes
+involved in singing a single tone, from the time the eye looks on the
+note till the muscles concerned have given it utterance as a tone. The
+various nervous centres concerned are all in the brain (though the
+spinal cord supplies some subordinate centres). There are sensory
+centres, or those for the eye and the ear, and motor centres, or those
+sending the commands to the muscles involved. Further, these must be
+_connected_ by paths not shown in detail, but represented by one
+centre spoken of as an "association" centre, which may also, possibly,
+have much to do with emotions, etc. But, at all events, the dependence
+of movements on ingoing messages or sensations is emphasized. The deaf
+cannot speak or sing, and the blind cannot read (ordinary) music. The
+defect may not be in either senses or muscles, but in the relating
+nervous mechanism between them. As explained in the body of the work,
+execution depends on at least two factors, sensations, or ingoing
+messages, and movements determined by these. Now the _connection_
+between the ingoing and the outgoing impulses is the most important
+and the least understood part, but the above diagram will at least
+serve to emphasize the fact that such connections exist, and that in a
+general way the result, performance, can be explained. No attempt has
+been made to trace the path of other sensory impulses than those from
+eye and ear, as this would make the diagram too complicated.]
+
+Investigation has shown that the use of muscles tends to the
+accumulation of the waste products of vital activity; that such
+accumulation is associated with the experience in consciousness of
+what we term "fatigue," and which is preceded by "weariness." The
+latter is a warning that the more serious condition is approaching,
+but is to be distinguished from another feeling not necessary to name,
+often present in unwilling youthful students, and for which various
+forms of treatment are sometimes tried so unsuccessfully that it is as
+well to discontinue study altogether.
+
+1. The time at which, as a rule, any work can best be carried out is
+during the early hours of the day, so that if it is possible, practice
+should be begun early, and after some preliminary exercise for the
+good of the body generally--_e.g._, a short walk, during which the
+lungs may be filled with pure air. As the muscles of the chest, etc.,
+are to be used in voice-production, such a walk or other form of
+general exercise should not be lengthy. Energy should be reserved for
+the muscular activities involved in vocal practice.
+
+2. The principle that guides in all use of the muscles, all exercise,
+is that it be taken under the most favorable circumstances and short
+of fatigue, even of weariness; hence the question whether the student
+should practise five minutes or one hour is one that he himself, and
+he alone, can determine, provided he is old enough and observant
+enough to know when he begins to feel weary in his vocal mechanism,
+whether it be in the respiratory organs, the larynx, or the
+resonance-chambers. With some there is a weak spot, and this settles
+the question for all other parts. As a rule, beginners will do well
+not to practice, at first, for longer at one time than five minutes,
+not only because of the possible weariness, but because at the outset
+it is difficult to keep the attention fixed. The ear and brain tire as
+well as the muscles.
+
+Naturally, the condition of the student at the time has much to do
+with the length of a practice, but all things are determined by the
+sensible application of that principle which science and experience
+alike show to be a safe guide.
+
+Naturally, as in other exercises, the duration of an exercise may be
+gradually lengthened with experience. One singer may find an hour a
+day sufficient, if she be already perfectly trained in every
+respect--be "in good form," or "fit," as the athletes say--and have
+only light or _coloratura_ parts to sing; but would this suffice to
+form a singer to sustain the heaviest dramatic parts for hours
+together before a large public audience? The training of a
+hundred-yards sprinter should not be the same as that prescribed for a
+long-distance runner or a wrestler.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 54. The above is a diagrammatic representation of
+a highly magnified section (or very thin slice) through the outermost
+or most superficial part of the great brain (cortex cerebri), and is
+inserted to help the reader to form some idea of the complexity of
+structure of the most important part of the brain so far as the
+highest mental processes are concerned. This complexity is greater in
+man than in other animals.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 55. A nerve-cell from the outer rind of the great
+brain (cortex cerebri), much magnified. (Schaefer.)]
+
+3. In all practice it is ever to be borne in mind that the end, even
+in an exercise, is artistic. Tones of that quality only which is the
+best possible to the singer at the time are to be produced, and
+everything else must yield to this.
+
+4. No wise trainer ever allows his charges to go on a racing track and
+at once run a hundred yards at the highest possible speed. Such a
+course would be against all sound knowledge and all the best
+experience. Hence the question of _piano_ and _forte_ practice answers
+itself; the singer should never begin any exercise _forte_, but either
+_piano_ or _moderato_--as to which depends on the individual. Some
+persons can only after long study produce really good tones _piano_;
+such if not most persons should, of course, begin practising with
+moderate force.
+
+Certainly, the voice-user should, in order to gain volume, gradually
+increase the vigor of his practice, but exactly how to do this, and to
+what extent daily, are questions in which the advice of a sensible and
+experienced teacher is of great value, though the principle on which
+that opinion should be founded is clear enough.
+
+5. The questions as to the total amount of time to be devoted to
+practice in a single day, and as to whether practice should be
+continued day after day for weeks and months without interruption,
+must be decided by the condition of the student, and not by any
+arbitrary opinion. Some individuals and some racers have a capacity
+for steady work not possessed by others, and happy are they; but there
+are others who go on by spurts, and such natures are often capable of
+reaching lofty artistic heights, if they be wisely managed. They need
+much the same sort of care as a very fleet but uncertain race-horse,
+and they are often a source of disgust to themselves and of worry to
+their teachers; but they in some cases get far beyond what the more
+steady ones can attain to, while others are so unsteady without being
+talented that they are a trial, and a trial only, to all concerned.
+Such people should, even when clever, not be encouraged in their
+vagaries, but brought gradually and tactfully under a stricter
+discipline.
+
+6. "Hasten slowly" applies to all musical practice, that of the voice
+included, and there never was a time in the history of the world,
+unfortunately, when people believed in it less. The author would
+especially warn the student against attempting to force progress by
+violent or unduly long-continued practices, for if the vocal apparatus
+be strained, it may remain impaired for months or even for life.
+"Little and often" is a good maxim for vocal practice, all the more as
+the discontinuation, for the time, of voice-production need not imply
+that the mind must cease to act. An artist is not formed by
+vocalization alone, but by processes of education that are many and
+complicated, into which we might be tempted to enter did they not lie
+beyond the range of the present work.
+
+If the principles set forth in this chapter are scientifically
+reliable, and we believe they will not be questioned, certain
+practical considerations are well worthy of special attention. If
+practice, repetition, leads to the formation of habits more or less
+fixed, then there can be no surer way to ruin a speaker or vocalist
+than to permit him to practise by a wrong method; the more he
+practises, the more he stamps in what is bad. It follows that the most
+hopeless cases eminent teachers have to deal with are to be found
+among those vocalists who come to them after years of professional
+life before the public. One must look on some of these people as on a
+building spoiled by a bad architectural design. In some cases there is
+nothing to do but to take the whole structure apart and put it
+together afresh. It may be humiliating to the vocalist, and it is a
+severe condemnation of certain methods of teaching, but there is often
+no other course open, the only question being as to whether the
+material is good enough to warrant such a radical proceeding. Every
+eminent teacher can recall such cases, and might fill volumes with
+their histories. If more of these were published as warnings to
+students and teachers, a good purpose would be served. It is truly sad
+to find that the prospects of one who might have been formed into a
+fine artist have been hopelessly ruined by years of practice based on
+principles that are radically unsound.
+
+In the next chapter some specific applications of the principles
+discussed in the foregoing pages will be considered.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+All forms of artistic and other expression imply movements. For a
+willed or voluntary movement there are required (1) an idea, (2) a
+neuro-muscular mechanism. Such movements may be relatively simple or
+highly complex. They all tend, when frequently carried out, to become
+reflex, and to some extent unconscious or subconscious. Combinations
+of reflexes when associated with consciousness become habits.
+Movements only attain their highest perfection when they reach this
+stage. It follows that the purpose of all musical practice should be
+to establish those reflexes which attain the end, the ideal, and to
+form correct habits. A poem properly recited or a song satisfactorily
+sung implies a combination of certain reflexes or habits. Some of
+these are in their main features common to all speech and song, but
+many are peculiar to each example.
+
+As phonation implies the use of the muscles (neuro-muscular
+mechanisms) of the (1) respiratory organs, (2) vocal bands, (3)
+resonance-chambers, and as these must all work in harmony, or be
+"co-ordinated," it will be seen that speaking and singing are
+physiologically highly complex. When, in addition, ideas and feelings
+are associated, and determine the exact form of these co-ordinations,
+the whole matter is seen to be still more complex. The emission of a
+single tone implies (1) an idea--the nature of the sound as to pitch
+and quality, (2) such an arrangement of all the parts of the mechanism
+as will produce it. The former involves memory of the tone; the
+latter, memories of former movements. Then, partly as a series of
+voluntary acts and partly reflexly, according as the student is more
+or less advanced, or the particular tone new or old in experience, do
+the various neuro-muscular arrangements pass into orderly action. In
+this process the ear is the chief guide, always in relation to
+memories. When one uses the printed page, the eyes also guide--_i.e._,
+the nervous impulses that pass in through these avenues determine the
+outgoing ones that bring the muscles into action. In doing so they
+rouse many others (associated nervous connections) which are highly
+important when an artistic result is to be reached.
+
+To consider a single case: Assume that the note [Illustration: a'] is
+to be sung. The following are required: (1) Memory of this tone. (2)
+Adaptation through eye and ear of all the neuro-muscular mechanisms
+required for (_a_) bringing the vocal bands into the correct position
+and degree of tension; (_b_) the proper shape, tension, etc., of the
+resonance-chambers; (_c_) that use of the breathing apparatus suitable
+to cause the proper vibrations of the vocal bands. All use of the
+voice implies this much, but in most instances there are _associated_
+nervous mechanisms and ideas that are highly important in determining
+the exact volume, quality, etc., of the tone as related to expression
+of ideas and feelings according to conventional usage.
+
+The breath-stream must in all cases be so employed that there shall be
+economy of energy--no waste. Waste occurs whenever air escapes to any
+appreciable extent through the glottis chink, as that implies an
+imperfect adjustment of the vocal bands and the expiratory current.
+From this and other points of view it may be said that _he is the best
+singer who gets the most perfect result with the least expenditure of
+energy_.
+
+It is of the highest importance that during every practice, and every
+moment of each practice, attention be given to as perfect a result as
+possible, and that the same method be invariably employed.
+
+All questions as to methods of practising can be decided on well-known
+scientific principles which harmonize with experience, and need not be
+left in that loose and unsatisfactory condition when the dictum of
+some individual is substituted for principles capable of actual
+experimental demonstration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CHIEFLY AN APPLICATION TO VOICE PRODUCTION OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES
+PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED.
+
+
+Certain sounds may be made without the use of words or syllables, even
+without the employment of vowels or consonants, but intonation proper
+cannot be carried out without vowels, at least.
+
+The exact nature of vowels and consonants will be considered in the
+next chapter, but in the meantime it may be pointed out that a vowel
+is a free and open sound requiring for its production a certain form
+of the resonance-chambers. Neither vowels nor consonants are
+absolutely pure--that is, entirely free from foreign elements, from
+noise; but for all practical purposes a vowel is a pure sound, a
+consonant a sound accompanied inevitably by much noise. This noise is
+largely due to the difficulties of sounding consonants, the breath
+breaking against the vocal organs, especially the teeth, lips, etc.,
+much as the waves of the sea against a rocky beach. So far then as
+musical quality is concerned, a consonant is an unmitigated nuisance.
+On the other hand, none but the most elemental communication by sounds
+could be carried out by the use of vowels alone. The consonants stop
+the breath-current, separate the vowels, and thus lay the foundation
+for the expression of ideas. Ideas imply differences; a new idea is
+conveyed by a new word, which in its simplest form is a syllable.
+
+When a consonant is introduced after a vowel sound, a momentary arrest
+is produced in the breath-flow, and this has its corresponding effect
+on the mind. It is, in fact, equivalent to a pause--say a comma or a
+period. If introduced before a vowel, it is marked off in a more
+definite way. The effect of this is to enable the ear the better to
+grasp the sounds. There is the principle of differentiation and the
+principle of rest, both highly important in all sensory and other
+psychic or mental processes.
+
+Consider the sentence "He is a man"--composed purely of monosyllables.
+Remove the consonants, and we have the following: "e i a a." Their
+ineffectiveness in conveying ideas is at once plain, for though "a
+man" conveys two ideas, such are not expressed by the vowels, which
+are identical, while "e" and "i" are common to too many words of one
+syllable to serve any useful purpose, alone, in the conveyance of
+_definite_ ideas. The consonants at once mark off the limitations;
+they fence around the ideas, so to speak. For the communication of
+ideas they are indispensable; nevertheless, being largely noises, they
+are musically abominable.
+
+It follows that voice-production should begin with vowel sounds, and
+not words--not even syllables. For successful intonation, the first
+steps should be made as simple as possible, as we have already
+endeavored to show, hence no such complication as a consonantal noise
+should be introduced. Upon this point there is room for no difference
+of opinion, though as to which vowel sound is best suited for the
+beginner, and for more advanced voice-production, there has been great
+diversity in teaching--a diversity which we propose to show, in the
+next chapter, need not exist to any appreciable extent.
+
+Certain vowel sounds may be said to be common to most of the languages
+used by civilized peoples. These are _u_ (_oo_), _[=o]_, _a_ (_ah_),
+_[=a]_, _i_ (_ei_), and _[=e]_. There is, fortunately, among teachers
+considerable agreement as to the question of the best vowel sound with
+which to begin intonation, or the process of forming musical tones.
+There can be no question that _a_ (ah) is for general purposes the
+best, the reason for which will appear later. Unfortunately, there is
+not in the minds of students or teachers generally a sufficiently deep
+conviction of the importance of forming the voice by long-continued
+practice with vowels only, for which lack the spirit of the times is
+largely responsible. Until a student of either speaking or singing can
+form every vowel perfectly, which implies the recognition of these
+sounds as pure and perfect, and the ability to sing them as the tones
+of a musical scale, he should not take a single step in any other
+direction. To do so is to waste tune and to lower artistic ideals.
+
+When words are to be used, the question as to which language should be
+employed is for the singer, at least, a very important one. The ideal
+vocalist who will bring before the ideal public the best in vocal
+music must sing in Italian, French, German, and English, at least.
+Each of these languages produces its own effects through the voice,
+and each presents its own advantages and difficulties; but all
+competent to judge are agreed that Italian, because of the abundance
+of vowels in its words, is the best language in which to sing, or, at
+all events, to begin with as a training. Because of the prevalence of
+consonants, the German and the English languages are relatively
+unmusical. The English abounds in hissing sounds, which are a trial to
+the singer with an exacting ear and perfect taste, and produce most
+unwelcome effects on the refined listener who really puts music first
+and the conveyance of ideas second in a vocal composition. It should,
+of course, be the aim of the student to overcome these difficulties,
+as German and English, the languages of Goethe, Schiller, and
+Shakespeare, are for dramatic and some other purposes not equalled by
+any other languages.
+
+But the artist, and above all the musical artist, must be a citizen of
+the world. He deals with those forms of emotion common to all mankind,
+and not with the peculiar little combinations of ideas that grow up in
+a province, city, or village; though of course he will not neglect
+local coloring, so well illustrated in the folk-songs or popular
+melodies that have survived for ages in different countries.
+
+Though a vowel can be produced pure only when the resonance-chambers
+assume a certain form, this is, of course, only one link in the chain
+of production. The breathing apparatus and the larynx are also
+concerned, and we are again brought back, as ever, to the triple
+combination of the three sets of mechanisms so often alluded to, yet,
+we venture to think, very inadequately linked in the minds of
+learners, if not also of teachers.
+
+In producing a vowel sound the end aimed at is, on the one hand,
+purity, on the other, as a result, the easy and effective use of
+mechanisms--_i.e._, the technique. In every case the breath must be
+used without waste--just enough, and no more; the laryngeal apparatus,
+the vocal bands, must be so adapted as to set the air of the
+resonance-chambers into perfect vibration, which only occurs when the
+expiratory blast is applied in the correct way and at the right moment
+to the properly adjusted vocal bands. This latter we have defined as
+the attack. It implies giving a good start to the tone. It is not all,
+but it is a large half, in the artist and for the auditor.
+
+
+RECONSIDERATION OF THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS
+
+We shall now give further attention to some of the more important
+parts of the resonance-chambers, in so far as they bear directly on
+voice-production.
+
+In singing and speaking, the larynx should be _steadied_, but not held
+rigidly fixed in any one position. It will be remembered that to this
+part of the vocal mechanism are attached, below, the trachea, and
+above, the tongue, indirectly through the hyoid bone and the
+thyro-hyoid membrane, as well as certain muscles which influence the
+relative position of these various parts, so that to maintain the
+larynx in the same position, absolutely, must be against Nature's
+methods. The tongue alone must in its movements tend to alter the
+position of the larynx, as we have before pointed out. At the same
+time, the laxness and lack of control which some singers permit in
+their vocal organs, under the mistaken idea that all the parts of the
+"throat" cannot be too free, prevents them from getting the effects
+they desire, with that vigor and certainty the public so much admires,
+and rightly so. The golden mean should be observed; between undue
+tension, which implies inability to control, whether it be in the
+larynx or the breathing apparatus, and a looseness inconsistent with
+neat and certain results, the voice-producer must choose, with that
+common sense so indispensable to success in all undertakings, but
+which will never be adequately encouraged till students look more
+frequently for the reasons of the procedures recommended to them, and
+teachers strive to gain influence with their pupils by showing them
+that what they recommend lies beyond their own minds--that it, in
+fact, has its foundation in the laws of Nature.
+
+Of the tongue, soft palate, and lips, which are the principal
+modifiers of the shape of the mouth cavity, the tongue has by far the
+most influence. When the tongue lies flat in the mouth, it may be
+considered to be in its primary position, and it is important that in
+singing and speaking the student learn to begin his voice-production
+with this organ in that position, or a slight modification of it, for
+it is only when it is thus placed that a tone at once round, full, and
+pure can be produced.
+
+In order to secure this result, the vocalist or speaker must begin by
+taking breath through the mouth, as we have already insisted, and at
+once, before there is time for any stiffening of parts, commence to
+intonate--_i.e._, as soon as enough air has been inhaled for the
+purpose intended. The correct position is facilitated when one taking
+breath through the mouth acts as if about to _yawn_. If this act be
+well imitated, the student will find, on looking into a hand-glass,
+that the tongue is more or less furrowed behind in the middle--in
+other words, it forms a sort of trough; and the deeper the trough the
+student learns to form at will, the better, for there are times in
+actual singing and speaking when this must be as deep as possible. It
+is clear that in this way the central convexity above, formed by the
+hard palate, forms with the corresponding concavity in the tongue a
+sort of trumpet-shaped organ admirably adapted for the production of
+the desired tone.
+
+The tongue is important in the highest degree not only in the
+formation of vowels, as will be shown more fully in the next chapter,
+but also in shaping consonants.
+
+It is sometimes important to move the tongue from one position to
+another with great rapidity. Such a composition as Figaro's song
+(cavatina) in Rossini's "Barber of Seville" could not be properly sung
+by any one not possessing great control over the tongue. Indeed, this
+composition may be considered a perfect test of the extent to which
+the singer is a master of mouth gymnastics; and this is only one of
+many such works. In like manner, many passages in Shakespeare and
+others of the best writers in all languages can only be spoken with
+effect by those with a mastery over the tongue, lips, soft palate,
+etc., but above all, the tongue.
+
+Important as are the lips, many persons tend to use them too much, and
+the tongue too little, in speaking and singing. They attempt to make
+up for a mouth almost closed in front by the teeth, by excessive
+movements of the lips.
+
+Special tongue and lip practice should be carried out before a mirror.
+The lips should be kept rather close to the gums, and moved away as
+little as possible (_i.e._, the lips), as to do so serves no good
+purpose, and is unpleasant to the eye of the observer. Teeth and lips
+must be regarded, so far as musical sounds are concerned, as danger
+regions--rocks on the shore, against which the singer or speaker may
+shipwreck his tones. His object should be to use them adequately to
+form vowels and consonants--in other words, in the formation, not the
+spoiling, of words, as is so often the case.
+
+We cannot too much insist on both speaker and singer attending to
+forming a connection between his ear and his mouth cavity. He is to
+hear, that he may produce good tones, and the tones cannot be
+correctly formed if they be not well observed. To listen to one's self
+carefully and constantly is a most valuable but little practised art.
+The student should listen as an inexorable critic, accepting only the
+best from himself.
+
+This leads to the consideration of the question of the open mouth. The
+expression "open mouth" means, no doubt, to most people, the open lips
+rather than the open mouth cavity--_i.e._, open in front, the teeth
+well separated. In voice-production, by "open mouth" both open cavity
+and open lips must be understood.
+
+There is a special tendency in many, perhaps in most persons, to close
+the mouth cavity unduly in singing a descending scale. This is often
+accompanied by a bad use of the breath, and a general relaxation of
+the vocal apparatus, which is possibly more frequent in sopranos and
+tenors, whose chief effects are often produced by their high tones.
+But to-day, more than ever, when refined intellectual and emotional
+effects are demanded, is it important that the lower tones, so
+effective in producing emotional states, should not be neglected by
+any singer of whatever voice; while for speakers high tones are really
+comparatively little used.
+
+Much more attention is paid by teachers and students to the open mouth
+at the present time than formerly; in fact, like some other good
+things, it is often overdone. The individuality of the singer and
+speaker must always be borne in mind. If some are obliged to open the
+mouth as much as others, the result will not be happy. Any one may
+demonstrate to himself that the quality of a tone may be at once
+changed by unduly opening or closing the mouth. One may say that _the
+mouth should be sufficiently opened to produce the best possible
+effect_. We have never seen the mouth opened to such an extent that it
+was positively unsightly--reminding one of the rhinoceros at a
+zoo--without feeling that the tone had suffered thereby.
+
+If all would remember that the mouth is best opened by simply
+_dropping the lower jaw_, passively, in the easiest manner possible,
+the difficulties some students experience would disappear. Many act as
+if the process were chiefly an active one, while the reverse is the
+case, as one may observe in the sleeper when the muscles become unduly
+relaxed--a condition that is often accompanied by snoring, which is
+produced by a mouth-breathing that gives rise to vibrations of the
+soft palate. We mean to say that the lower jaw drops when muscles
+relax, and that opening the mouth is largely a passive thing, while
+closing the mouth is an active process.
+
+The position of the head in its influence on tone-production is an
+insufficiently considered subject. It is impossible that the head be
+much raised or lowered without changes being produced in the vocal
+apparatus, especially the larynx, and if the tone is not to suffer in
+consequence, special care must be taken to make compensatory changes
+in the parts affected. It is only necessary to sing any vowel, and
+then raise the chin greatly, to observe a distinct change in the
+quality of the tone, with corresponding sensations in the vocal
+organs.
+
+To speak or sing with the head turned to one side is plainly
+unfavorable to the well-being of the parts used, because it leads to
+compression, which gives rise to that congestion before referred to as
+the source of so many evils in voice-users. To sit at a piano and sing
+is an unphysiological proceeding, because it implies that the head is
+bent in reading the music on a page much lower than the eyes, and
+when, with this, the head is turned to one side to allow of reading
+the music on the distant side of the page, furthest from the middle
+line of the head, the case is still worse. If all who thus use the
+vocal organs do not give evidence of the truth of the above by
+hoarseness, etc., it is simply because in young and vigorous organs
+there may be considerable power of resisting unfavorable influences.
+The student is recommended to use his voice in the standing position
+only, when possible, as all others are more or less unnatural.
+
+One often has the opportunity to observe how the effect is lost when a
+reader bends his head downward to look at his book or manuscript; and
+he himself, if the process is long-continued, will almost certainly
+feel the injurious influence of this acting on his vocal organs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+SOME SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS OF PRINCIPLES IN TONE PRODUCTION.
+
+
+It is no doubt valuable, indeed for most singers essential, to employ
+a series of elaborate exercises, or _vocalises_, which in some cases
+differ from each other only by slight gradations; but it is to be
+borne in mind that all the actual principles involved can be expressed
+practically in a very few exercises. These are: (1) The single
+sustained tone; (2) the tones of a scale sung so as to be smoothly
+linked together; (3) the same, sung somewhat more independently of
+each other; (4) the same, but each tone beginning and ending very
+suddenly. If the execution of any vocal musical composition be
+analyzed, it will be found that these four methods cover substantially
+the whole ground. As one other is very extensively used in giving
+expression in the form of shading, it is worthy of special
+mention--viz., (5) the swell. All others are modifications of the
+above.
+
+As these methods of tone-production are of so much importance, it will
+be worth while to analyze them. It will be found that in each there is
+a characteristic use of the breathing mechanism. The larynx and the
+resonance-chambers are of course intermediate, as usual, between the
+breath-stream and the result, the tone; without them there could be
+no tones. But if the student have clearly in mind the memory of the
+tone he wishes to produce, including its various properties of pitch,
+volume, quality, etc., it will be found that the point requiring
+strict attention, in production, is the breathing, especially the
+manner of using the expiratory current.
+
+1. The sustained tone requires an amount of breath proportional to its
+length, and the great aim in its production should be to convert, so
+to speak, all the breath into tone, as we explained in a previous
+chapter. This sustained tone, which may be practised with advantage on
+every one of the notes of a scale, is, in the nature of things, the
+very foundation of all good singing and speaking.
+
+2. In the second and third exercises the differences in the method lie
+in the attack and the manner of using the breath. The smoothly linked
+tones are the more difficult for most people, since they require
+special control over the laryngeal mechanism and the breathing
+apparatus. Between the singing of a scale in this manner (_legato_),
+and as it is frequently done, there is the same difference as in
+walking up-stairs as does a perfectly trained ballet-dancer, and this
+act as carried out by a rough countryman, used only to ploughed
+fields, etc. For a perfect execution, the attack, while decisive
+enough, must be most carefully regulated, and the breathing, which is
+always to be considered in a good attack, must be of the most even
+character; the outflow requires the most perfectly controlled
+movements of the respiratory apparatus. In the other form of exercise
+(detached tones) there is often, at least, a little more emphasis on
+the attack, and the breathing is perhaps not always so even, but in
+some passages, in actual singing, the method employed for these less
+closely linked tones is in most respects the same as the last.
+
+3. Very different from all the preceding is the mode of production
+usually designated by musicians _staccato_, _marcato_, etc. The tone
+is attacked suddenly, and as suddenly dropped, which, expressed
+physiologically, means that the entire vocal mechanism is rapidly
+adjusted, one part to another, and as suddenly relaxed; and the one
+seems to be about as difficult as the other. In this a certain sudden
+tension of the vocal apparatus is essential. The whole respiratory
+apparatus, after the breath is taken, is held more or less tense. In
+executing these abrupt (staccato) effects the diaphragm is the chief
+agent, and operates against the column of air in the lungs, the chest
+and abdominal walls being kept more or less tense.
+
+Though this is the case, the voice-producer will succeed best if he
+gives attention to the resonance-chambers, after having put the
+breathing mechanism into the right condition. There should be as
+little movement of the chest walls, diaphragm, larynx, etc., as
+possible. The whole is a question of tension, but not rigidity, and
+the reason the staccato effect is so difficult for most persons is
+that they attempt to accomplish it by _excessive movements_ of the
+breathing apparatus or larynx.
+
+The _mind_ must be relieved of any feeling of undue tension, and the
+result attained by the establishment of a close connection between the
+ear and the resonance-chambers. The first interrupted effects should
+be of very brief duration and as _piano_ as possible, but the attempt
+to produce the real staccato may to great advantage be preceded by an
+exercise recommended in Chapter VIII.,--viz., singing a tone of some
+duration, then suddenly interrupting it, and, with the same breath,
+beginning the tone again as suddenly as it was interrupted. In fact,
+till this can be done with ease the staccato proper should not be
+attempted, for though the principles involved are the same, the
+execution requires far more skill than the exercise recommended for an
+earlier stage, and which it is well to continue throughout.
+
+Simple as these exercises seem from mere description, or as carried
+out with a certain degree of success, perfection in them is not to be
+attained short of years of the most diligent study. How many singers
+living can sing an ascending and a descending scale, in succession,
+with a perfect staccato, to mention no other effect? Yet among all the
+resources of dramatic singing and speaking none is more important than
+this one. What so eloquent as the silence after a perfect stop--a
+complete and satisfactory arrest of the tone? How many modern actors
+are capable of it? How many singers? Instead of the perfect arrest,
+the listener is conscious, not of the rounded and complete tone, but
+of an edge more or less ragged. There is some noise with the actual
+tone.
+
+The above exercises, when carried out to a perfect result, give us
+_bel canto_ singing, for which the old Italian school was so noted,
+and which is now largely a lost art, not so much because the methods
+are not known to teachers, as because students will not do the work
+necessary to attain to this _bel canto_. We seek for short cuts, and
+we get corresponding results.
+
+The _bel canto_ is, simply, beautiful singing, the result of perfect
+technique, and is opposed to effects which are not truly artistic,
+though no doubt often highly expressive to the unmusical and the
+inartistic. They may appeal to us as feats, but they are not artistic
+results, and, as we have before insisted, they are injurious in many
+cases to the vocal organs, while good voice-production strengthens
+them.
+
+5. The swell is simply a modification of the sustained tone. When a
+tone is perfectly sustained, without any change in volume, etc., we
+have a most valuable effect, and one very difficult to achieve,
+because it implies such a steady application of the breath power and
+such nice adjustments of all the parts concerned. To produce a tone
+with variations in it is easy enough, and that is what is usually
+given us instead of the perfectly even tone, reminding us of a
+straight line.
+
+In the swell, as the name suggests, the tone should rise gradually in
+volume or loudness, and as gradually decline. If this can be done
+readily, and continued for several seconds, it will be easy to produce
+other effects, as the sudden swell, but such effects should come
+after, not before, the slower ones. A critical observer soon realizes
+the defects of modern technique when he listens to a singer's tones
+when attempting slow effects, as in a softly sustained melody. Only
+the well-trained vocalist can hope to sing such a melody, especially
+if long sustained, in a way to meet the demands of an exacting ear and
+advanced musical taste. It will be apparent that the swell is the
+basis of shading, a quality that is so highly appreciated in this
+refined age. He who can manage the swell perfectly has the secret of
+this effect in his possession as have none others.
+
+Although we have referred more to the singer than to the speaker, in
+this chapter, it is to be understood that these and all other
+exercises suggested are of great value in forming the voice for public
+speaking. It is not so important, it must be admitted, for the speaker
+as for the singer that his tones be musically perfect, as he relies
+more on ideas than on tones, still, with every idea employed by the
+public speaker there is the inseparable feeling, or "feeling-tone;" so
+that the speaker, as well as the singer, is to some extent dependent
+on tone painting--indeed, must be, if he will be no mere man of wood,
+a "dry stick," to some extent, in spite of the use of appropriate
+language, gestures, etc. There are many avenues to the heart, and that
+by tones cannot with impunity be neglected by the speaker, though for
+his purpose the singing of tones need occupy only weeks or months,
+while for singers, in the case of all who would attain to a high
+degree of excellence, it must extend over years.
+
+
+"FORWARD," "BACKWARD," ETC., PRODUCTION.
+
+Certain expressions are in common use by teachers and singers, such as
+"to direct the breath forward," "forward production," "backward
+production," etc. No doubt such terms may serve a practical purpose,
+though they are often used with lamentable vagueness, but it must be
+understood that they do not answer to any clearly demonstrated
+physiological principles. There is, for example, no clear evidence
+that the breath can be directed toward the hard palate in the
+neighborhood of the teeth, as the drawings sometimes published would
+indicate.
+
+It has already been many times urged that when breathing is
+satisfactory, breath does not escape to any considerable extent into
+the mouth cavity, but that the expiratory blast is used to set the air
+of the resonance-chambers into vibration. The changes that must be
+made in these cavities, to lead to certain effects, are accompanied by
+characteristic sensations, and these, and not the direction of the
+breath, are largely responsible for the ideas on which the above
+expressions rest.
+
+As before shown, the soft palate is constantly being used more or
+less, and when it and the tongue unite in action so as to cut off the
+mouth cavity, or, more strictly, the anterior portion of it, from the
+nasal chambers, a very pronounced modification in the tone results,
+and, of necessity, such actual escape of breath as occurs takes place
+through the nose. In reality, there is a special modification of the
+shape of the resonance-chambers for every tone produced, and
+especially when the color or quality is changed, as well as the pitch.
+There is, therefore, not only "forward" and "backward" but also middle
+production, though, in reality, these terms at best but imperfectly
+describe, even for practical purposes, what happens.
+
+It is to be feared that with some teachers of both singing and
+speaking "forward production" has become a sort of panacea for all
+vocal ills; but it is not, and just the reverse teaching is required
+in certain cases. If a voice be brilliant, yet hard, it will be
+improved by a more backward production, judiciously employed, and in
+this way the French language is often to be recommended to such
+singers, as it favors this backward production, with such use of the
+nasal resonance as mellows the tones. The tenor who has not learned
+the use of the nasal resonance, to give richness to the tones of his
+middle and upper range, has missed a valuable principle. On the other
+hand, for voices that are too soft, lack brightness, and fail in
+carrying-power, a more forward production will often improve the
+quality of the voice greatly. But a little consideration must convince
+the student that if he is to be master of his voice-production
+throughout, if he is to produce tones of every shade of quality, he
+must be able to shift that voice about in every quarter as occasion
+demands; in other words, _all the changes possible in the
+resonance-chambers must be at his command_. Such is the case in the
+very greatest singers of both sexes; and, of course, this applies
+equally, if not still more, to speakers.
+
+When the voice-producer has learned to intonate surely, when the voice
+is "placed," and the secrets of the registers are known to him, he
+will do well to experiment a little, cautiously, with his own
+resonance-chambers, so as to widen his practical knowledge of the
+principles underlying the modification of tones. Why should the
+student of the voice remain a mere imitator, when the one who works in
+any other direction is, or should be, encouraged to be an original
+investigator? The inability of students to judge of either the grounds
+for or the value of the exercises and methods recommended to them by
+their teachers seems to the author to indicate a regrettable state of
+things, which teachers of every form of vocal culture should endeavor
+to remedy. Some teachers do not use the terms "backward" and
+"forward," but "darkening" and "brightening" the voice; and, of
+course, the result of a certain use of the tongue and soft palate is
+to darken or veil the quality of the voice. But the attentive reader
+will scarcely mistake the author's meaning in the above and other
+references to this subject.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to point out that in what has been said no
+encouragement is intended to be given to the nasal twang, or any thing
+resembling it--and it is easy to so use the nasal resonance that it
+becomes a defect; but the value of a judicious use of the nose in
+singing and speaking is, we are convinced, not as well known in vocal
+teaching as it deserves to be.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The relation of vowels and consonants to singing and speaking.
+Intonation should be by vowels only, at first. Consonants are a
+necessary evil in singing, but all-important in the formation of
+words--_i.e._, in imparting ideas.
+
+Every language has its own special merits and defects for the purposes
+of song and speech. That language which abounds in vowels is the best
+adapted for vocal exercises, etc.
+
+It is a cardinal error to begin a course in speaking and especially
+singing with exercises based on words. Vowel sounds should be
+exclusively employed at first. In the formation of vowels and
+consonants the resonance-chambers are especially involved.
+
+The tongue, soft palate, and lips are the most movable parts, and so
+have the largest share in giving color and meaning to sounds--_i.e._,
+they are the organs most important in the formation of the elements of
+words.
+
+The "open mouth" should mean open mouth cavity and duly separated
+lips.
+
+It is important that there be control of all parts of the
+resonance-chambers, and always in relation to other parts of the vocal
+apparatus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.
+
+
+The subject treated in this chapter may be made dry enough; but if the
+student will, while reading the descriptions given, endeavor to form
+the sounds described, observing at the same time his own
+resonance-chambers (mouth parts) carefully in a hand-glass, and then
+follow up the applications made, the reader's experience will be, in
+all probability, like the author's: the more the subject is studied
+the more interesting does it become, especially if one experiments
+with his own resonance apparatus.
+
+Vowels and consonants are the elements of syllables, and words are
+composed of the latter. However pure a vowel is, it is accompanied in
+its utterance by some noise; a consonant, by relatively a great deal
+of noise.
+
+A _noise_, in distinction to a musical tone, is characterized by
+irregularity as regards the vibrations that reach the ear, while in
+the case of a tone a definite number of vibrations strikes against the
+drum-head of the ear within a given time; so that so far as syllables
+and words, even vowels, are concerned, we are not dealing with pure
+tones.
+
+For the formation of each vowel a definite form of the
+resonance-chambers is essential. In uttering, either for the purposes
+of speech or song, the vowel _u_ (_oo_), the mouth cavity has the form
+of a large flask such as chemists use for their manipulations, but the
+neck in this case is short. The whole resonance cavity is elongated,
+and the lips are protruded; the larynx is depressed, and the root of
+the tongue and the fauces (folds from the soft palate, usually spoken
+of as the "pillars of the fauces") approach. The pitch of this vowel
+is very low.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 56 (Beaunis). Shows the position of parts in
+sounding the vowel _a_. By comparing this illustration with those
+following, the relatively greater size of the cavity of the mouth in
+this case will be evident. The reader is recommended to at once test
+the correctness of these representations by sounding the vowels, and
+observing the parts of his own vocal mechanism with a hand-mirror.]
+
+In _[=o]_ the lips are nearer to the teeth, and the neck of the flask
+is shorter and wider; the larynx is somewhat more elevated than in the
+last case, and the pitch of the sound is higher.
+
+When sounding _a_ (as in _father_) the mouth cavity has the shape of
+a funnel, wide in front; the tongue lies rather flat on the floor of
+the mouth, the lips are wide apart, and the soft palate is somewhat
+raised.
+
+In _[=a]_ (as in _fate_) there is some modification of the last, the
+tongue and larynx being more raised. The pitch of this vowel is higher
+than is that of the more open _a_.
+
+In the case of _[=e]_ (as in _me_) the flask is relatively small, and
+the neck is long and narrow, the larynx much raised, the lips drawn
+back against the teeth, and the tongue greatly elevated, so as to form
+the narrow neck of the flask. The pitch of this vowel is high.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 57 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of parts
+in sounding _I_. In sounding _E_ the position is a good deal like that
+for _I_.]
+
+When sounding _[=i]_ (as in _mine_) the cavity of the mouth behind
+resembles a small-bellied flask with a long, narrow neck, the larynx
+is at its highest, and the lips assume a position much as in the case
+of _[=e]_; between the hard palate and the back of the tongue there is
+only a narrow passage--a mere furrow. The pitch of this vowel is also
+high.
+
+It is thus seen that every vowel has its characteristic quality and
+pitch, the order as regards the latter being from below upward, _u_,
+_o_, _a_, _[=a]_, _e_, _i_.
+
+That the mouth cavity really can act as a resonance-chamber can be
+easily demonstrated by holding a small vibrating tuning-fork before
+the open mouth, and varying the shape and size of the cavity till the
+sound of the fork is observed to be suddenly increased in volume. The
+cavity then is a resonance-chamber for the fork, and thus intensifies
+its sound; in other words, the air in the mouth cavity vibrates in
+harmony with the tuning-fork.
+
+To demonstrate in a simple manner that each vowel has its own pitch,
+the mouth cavity is put into the form usual in sounding the vowel, and
+the finger is filliped against the cheek, when a tone answering in
+pitch to that of the vowel in question results. The demonstration is
+easier with the lower-pitched, broader vowels, but the correctness of
+the order of the pitch mentioned above can thus be shown to be
+established.
+
+Some very important principles for the speaker and singer hinge upon
+the above-mentioned facts. It follows, for example, that it is
+impossible to give a vowel its _perfect_ sound in any but one
+position of the mouth parts, so that for a singer to utter a word
+containing the vowel _[=u]_ (_oo_) at a high pitch is a practical
+impossibility. The listener may know what syllable is meant, and
+overlook the defect either from habit or from an uncritical attitude,
+but composers of vocal music should bear such facts in mind and not
+impose impossibilities on singers. At the same time, the vocalist, in
+order to satisfy a modern audience, is obliged to sound every word and
+every syllable as correctly as possible, even if the tone suffer
+somewhat thereby. It is wonderful how fully the best poets have, with
+the insight of genius, adapted their words (vowels) to the ideas they
+wish to convey, and had all composers of vocal music done the same,
+the path of the singer would not have been strewn with so many
+thorns. The difficulties in the case of the speaker are similar, but
+less marked, as his range is so much more limited as regards pitch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 58 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of the
+parts in sounding _OU_.]
+
+This subject has also most important bearings on the learning of
+languages. One is born with tendencies toward certain mouth positions,
+etc., and from infancy he is constantly using the resonance-chambers
+in certain characteristic ways. In the course of years these
+positions, etc., become such fixed habits that it is difficult to
+change them, so that for this as well as many other reasons the
+learning of languages by persons beyond a certain age is a difficult
+matter. But to all students of a foreign tongue it is really essential
+to explain the physical mechanism by which the various sounds are
+made. The author has known an adult to struggle for months with French
+and German pronunciation, and get into a state of discouragement,
+fearing that he never would be able to learn the languages in which he
+wished to speak and sing, when a few moments spent in explaining just
+what we have written above for vowels, and what we have earlier and
+shall now more fully set forth in this chapter as regards consonants,
+have been followed by the lifting of the cloud from the mind and of a
+load of heaviness from the heart.
+
+The learner should (1) hear the sound (elemental--a vowel, say) from
+the lips of the teacher, and actually perceive just what that sound
+is--_i.e._, he must really hear it; (2) observe the shape of the
+resonance-chambers; (3) try to produce the same shape of his own, and
+under the guidance of his ear and his eye (watching the mouth of the
+teacher) so utter the sound correctly. This sound should be fixed in
+the mind, and the ear trained by comparing it with other sounds, as
+the wise teacher will do, and require imitations. Any language can be
+pronounced correctly in a short time, if this method be followed. It
+is, indeed, the only one that rests on science and common sense. The
+student when away from the teacher, after he has once learned to form
+the vowels correctly, should practise with a hand-glass before him for
+some time, at least.
+
+The learning of a new language is the acquiring of a new mouth, or, at
+all events, entirely new methods of using the old one. In reality,
+however, this is not so fully the case as it at first seems. In all
+the languages one wishes to acquire, the same vowels occur, and for
+the learner it is often a question of lower or higher pitch, or
+greater or less breadth, though all this involves the formation of new
+habits and the fighting of old ones, and often in the case of the
+adult the struggle is a long-continued and severe one. Some nations
+speak at a lower pitch than others, and if a foreigner enunciate ever
+so well, yet at the pitch of his own and not that of the new language,
+his utterance may seem foreign. The Germans speak at a much lower
+pitch than Americans, and their tongue, even when grammatically spoken
+by the latter, is apt to have a sort of foreign flavor. It slightly
+disturbs the listener, who is not accustomed to hear his mother-tongue
+transposed into another key, so to speak.
+
+We have known a learner to derive great benefit from having it pointed
+out to him that certain of his vowel sounds would at once cease to be
+incorrect if their pitch were altered. Of course, in doing this, there
+were at once many changes made in the resonance-chambers, in order to
+get the changed pitch. Pitch, accent, and duration of the sound throw
+much light on the subject of dialect, as a little analysis of Irish or
+Scotch will show.
+
+Consonants are, as we have already said, noisy nuisances for the
+singer, but indispensable for word-formation, and so for human
+intercourse. Each has also its own pitch, and investigators have come
+to a measurable degree of agreement on this subject.
+
+To illustrate: Madame Seiler found that _r_ and _s_ are separated from
+each other by an interval of many octaves: [Illustration: C], _r_;
+[Illustration: b-flat'''], _s_. The latter, _s_, cannot be sounded
+without more or less of a hissing sound, suggesting escape of air,
+which is very unpleasant to the ear, and, unfortunately, these hissing
+sounds are very common in English, so that the speaker or singer is
+called upon to use all his art to overcome this disagreeable effect.
+This is also prominent in _whispering_--_i.e._, the escape of breath,
+with its corresponding effect on the ear. Whispering is effected
+chiefly, if not solely, by the resonance-chambers, the vocal bands
+taking only the slightest part, if any at all.
+
+The physiologist Bruecke, treating of the utterance of consonants,
+considered that they were formed by the more or less complete closure
+of certain doors in the course of the outgoing blast of air, and we
+have already referred to a consonant as an unpleasant interrupter,
+musically considered. Perhaps we should be disposed to compare them to
+the people that talk during the performance at a concert, did we not
+wish to avoid bringing such useful members of the speech community
+into undeserved disrepute.
+
+Consonants, like vowels, have their own mouth positions. This follows
+from their having pitch, but, in addition, they require the use of the
+tongue, lips, etc., in a special way. The principal articulation
+positions are the following: (1) Between the lips; (2) between the
+tongue and the hard palate; (3) between the tongue and the soft
+palate; (4) between the vocal bands.
+
+To indicate this, certain terms have been employed, and as they are in
+common use by those who treat of this subject, it will be well to
+explain them.
+
+_Explosives_ are consonants in uttering which there is complete
+closure with a sudden opening of the resonance-chambers in front, as
+in _b_ and _p_.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 59 (Beaunis). Representation of the relative
+position of the parts and the resulting shape of the sounding chamber
+when the consonants indicated are formed vocally. Verification of the
+truthfulness of the illustrations will prove profitable.]
+
+_Vibratives_ call for an almost complete closure of the door and a
+vibration of its margin, as in _r_.
+
+_Aspirates_ partly close the opening, which is at once suddenly opened
+again, as in _f_, _v_, etc.
+
+_Resonants_ close the mouth, so the sound must find its way out
+through the nose, as in _m_, _n_, _ng_.
+
+The above may be put in tabular form as follows:
+
+Articulation
+Positions.     Explosives.   Aspirates.          Vibrates.     Resonants.
+
+1              _b, p_        _f, v, w_                         _m_
+2              _t, d_        _s, z, l, sch, th_                _n_
+3              _k, g_        _j, ch_             Palatal _r_   _ng_
+4                            _h_
+
+Of course the above is only one of many possible classifications, and
+expresses only a part of the whole truth, for the formation of a
+single consonant is a very complicated process, the exact nature of
+which can only be very imperfectly analyzed and expressed in words.
+
+In complexity of action the resonance-chambers are wonderful beyond
+any instrument devised by man, and the more one studies the subject,
+the greater the wonder becomes at the amount and complexity of the
+work done in a single day's speaking. It is also easy to understand
+how difficult it is to attain to absolutely perfect results. To enable
+one's fellow-creatures to understand him in even his mother-tongue
+involves an amount of effort and energy, a complexity and facility in
+function, that can only be reached after months of practice in
+infancy; but to attain to that degree of perfection that makes an
+artist in speaking, how much greater is the expenditure in vital
+capital! Is not the result when attained worth the best efforts of the
+most talented individual?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+FURTHER THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION OF VOWELS AND
+CONSONANTS.
+
+
+The reader will now be prepared to consider the answer to be given to
+the question as to the _vowels_ most suitable for practice in
+intonation. Plainly, _a_ (_ah_) puts the resonance-chambers into the
+easiest and best position to form a good pure tone. The pitch of the
+vowel is intermediate--not very low and not high in the scale. For the
+higher tones, evidently, _[=a]_, _e_, and _i_ are better than _a_
+(_ah_), much less _o_ and _u_, which are quite out of the question,
+comparatively speaking.
+
+However, as music must be sung with vowels in every position, it is
+plainly necessary to learn to sound all the vowels well throughout the
+scale. In fact, one might wisely, after preliminary practice on _a_,
+begin a scale below with _u_, then go on to _o_, _a_, _[=a]_, _e_, and
+_i_.
+
+Some have recommended that the vocalist begin his scale practices with
+_a_, and when the higher middle tones are reached, that he use _[=a]_,
+and for head tones _[=a]_ and _e_, an advice which is obviously sound,
+as it is based on scientific principles.
+
+Sounds that are very expressive in public utterance, whether in speech
+or song, are _l_ and especially _r_. In ordinary speech most persons
+use only the guttural _r_, in the formation of which the soft palate
+takes a prominent part; but for the speaker and the singer the lingual
+_r_ is often much more effective. It is produced by the vibration of
+the tip of the tongue, and can only be formed well, in most cases,
+after long-continued and persevering practice.
+
+Certain consonants tend to nasality. These are _m_, _n_, _ng_, and of
+these all persons who are disposed to this production to the point of
+excess must especially beware. These letters, with such people, should
+be given a rapid and forward production, while singers with hard and
+metallic voices will do well to sing syllables beginning with these
+consonants, such as _maw_, _naw_, _ang_, _eng_, etc.
+
+According to the teachings of physics, the quality of a tone is
+determined largely by the number and variety of the _overtones_
+accompanying the fundamental tone. Practically all musical tones,
+whether vocal or instrumental, are made up of the ground tone and
+certain others less loud and prominent, and the latter are the
+overtones. These may be very numerous, and some are favorable and
+others unfavorable to excellence in quality. It has been thought, as
+the result of scientific investigation, that when the first octave of
+the fundamental tone and its fifth interval are prominent, the voice
+is soft, and with the fifth and seventh well in evidence, the voice is
+bright and clear.
+
+It might be said that the voice-user should endeavor to keep out of
+his voice certain overtones, especially those which are not within
+the range of our modern harmonies. A harsh voice is one in which such
+unharmonic intervals preponderate.
+
+The most beautiful quality of tone is produced by keeping intensity
+within limits, and by a sudden, elastic attack, a point on which we
+dwelt at some length before; but this only emphasizes the importance
+of all who use the voice employing, not only when beginners, but
+throughout their career, exercises with vowels alone. Only in this way
+will the association between the hearing of pure tones and their
+production be established.
+
+Such exercises are also necessary to give good carrying power to the
+voice. If more attention were given to this point, and less to the
+production of mere volume of sound, it would be well for the best
+musical art. Naturally, the higher the pitch of tones, within certain
+limits, the greater their carrying power, and the reverse, of course,
+with the lower tones; so that it is very important that the speaker
+and singer use all reasonable means to produce these lower tones well,
+else they are muffled, and the words associated with them are not
+heard. This principle should be borne in mind especially by tenors and
+light sopranos, in whom the lower tones are not usually the best, or
+the easiest to produce; so that a good attack and careful and neat
+syllable-formation, with all attention to both vowels and consonants,
+should be especially studied, and, above all, in tones below about G
+on the treble clef. The tendency to close the mouth, especially in a
+descending scale, below this point, and to confound blurring with soft
+(_piano_) singing, is common. A _piano_ tone should be formed with
+especial care as to attack, open mouth, etc., and all words associated
+with the duller, lower-pitched vowels be spoken with the greatest
+distinctness, both in singing and speaking. At the same time, the
+barytone and contralto should not boast themselves over the tenor or
+soprano, if they are more successful with lower tones and the words
+associated with them, for the latter class of singers can often revel
+like birds in regions not approachable by the deeper-voiced singers.
+Each in its own order!
+
+It follows that if the organs of speech are used so as to produce
+vowels, consonants, and their combinations, with unusual and, for
+practical purposes, unnecessary distinctness, the actual performance,
+as demanded by a critical ear, will be easier. One that can run two
+hundred yards as readily as another can one hundred is in a better
+position for the shorter sprint than the other man; hence the wisdom
+of the singer and speaker practising first with unusual and indeed
+unnecessary distinctness, so far as the listener is concerned, in
+order that he may satisfy even the critical with _ease_--that
+all-important principle in art.
+
+All persons must, of necessity, speak in some register, and even an
+ear but little cultivated can recognize that the pitch and quality of
+the tones of adult males, adult females, and children differ greatly
+from each other.
+
+Madame Seiler has thus expressed herself on this subject:
+
+"Women use mostly tones of the second chest and first falsetto
+registers, sometimes also those of the first chest register. Men speak
+an octave lower than women, and use mostly the upper half of the chest
+register. In public speaking, as well as on the stage, the second
+chest register is used by men, and sometimes also the lowest tones of
+the voice. The second falsetto and head registers are used only by
+little children."
+
+It will be remembered that Madame Seiler's "second chest" corresponds
+to the upper chest tones of some writers, and that "falsetto" is
+equivalent to "middle," as generally employed.
+
+Ordinary speech is economical, and a range of very few tones, usually
+not more than two to four intervals of the scale, suffices, but on the
+stage, and by some of our best public speakers, twice this range may
+be exceeded. In nature, the cat, under the excitement of a heated
+interview with a fellow-vocalist, may pass through an entire octave.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+The shape of the resonance-chambers varies in the formation of vowels
+and consonants, which may be classified accordingly, or according to
+their pitch.
+
+Practical implications for singing and speaking, the learning of
+foreign languages, the study of dialects, etc.
+
+The importance of special attention to those words containing the
+low-pitched and dark vowels, especially when low in the scale, and
+when sung _piano_.
+
+Overtones, and their bearing on the quality of the voice.
+
+The carrying power of the voice, determined by the method of its
+production, is more important than its volume.
+
+The value of practice with the use of a mirror, and of the formation
+of the sounds in practice with a distinctness in excess of the actual
+needs of the listener. Ease is essential to art.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE HEARING APPARATUS AND HEARING IN MUSIC.
+
+
+So important are the ingoing sensory messages (impulses) that
+originate in the ear, as a guide not only in the appreciation of
+musical sounds but in those movements on which all musical execution,
+all vocal effects, whether of song or speech, depend, that we think
+the reader will welcome a chapter on the ear, even though it be no
+part of the vocal apparatus proper.
+
+The essential mechanism used by Nature to give us the sensation of
+sound consists of (1) a complicated form of nerve-ending; (2) an
+auditory nerve leading from, and a continuation, in a certain sense,
+of, the latter; (3) nerve tracts and hearing centres in the brain. The
+whole constitutes a very complicated mechanism, but the principles on
+which it is constructed may be reduced to a few. Mechanical or
+physical principles, as well as physiological ones, are involved.
+
+The entire apparatus has for its purpose the conversion of the
+vibrations of the air into the vibrations of a fluid, which thus
+stimulates the end-organ, and brings about those changes in the nerve
+which result in corresponding changes in the brain, that are
+associated, in some way we cannot explain, to that state of
+consciousness we term hearing. Complicated as is the auditory
+apparatus, it can be readily enough comprehended, if the reader
+accompany the perusal of the text by an examination of the figures
+introduced.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 60. (Beaunis). In this illustration parts are
+exposed to view by the removal of others. The whole of the inner ear
+lies within bone, which in this figure is cut away. The drum-head
+(membrana tympani); the Eustachian tube, extending from the back of
+the throat, and opening into the middle ear; the semicircular canals
+(which are not concerned with hearing, but with the maintenance of
+equilibrium); the cochlea, (snail-shell), which contains the various
+parts most essential to hearing, as the "hair-cells," the terminals of
+the auditory nerve, the latter nerve itself, and several other
+parts--are well shown. Should the Eustachian tube be closed owing to
+swelling of its lining mucous membrane, a certain amount of temporary
+deafness may result, because, the air within the middle ear (drum)
+being absorbed, and fresh air not being admitted, the outer air
+presses against the drum-head uncounteracted, and renders the
+conducting mechanism too rigid.]
+
+Anatomists speak of (1) an outer or external ear, (2) a middle ear,
+drum, or tympanum, and (3) an inner ear, or labyrinth.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 61 (Beaunis). Diagrammatic representation of the
+auditory apparatus. The external, middle, and internal ear are
+separated by dotted lines. A, the external; B, the middle; C, the
+internal ear; 1, auricle; 2, external auditory meatus; 3, tympanum
+(middle ear), with its chain of bones, 7, 8, 9. Into it opens 5,
+Eustachian tube, leading from back of throat; 4, membrana tympani or
+drum-head, closing the middle ear off from the external ear. The most
+important part of the inner ear is 13, the cochlear canal, in which
+the "hair-cells" are found, around which latter the final branches of
+the auditory nerve end. Above it is the scala vestibuli and below it
+the scala tympani, passages filled with fluid. The openings to these
+canals are closed with membrane. Attached to the membrane of the oval
+opening is the stapes (stirrup). It is thus seen that vibrations
+communicated to the chain of bones from the tympanic membrane are
+passed on to the fluid filling the passages (scalae) of the cochlea,
+and thus affect the hair-cells, and so the nerve of hearing, and
+through it the brain. The parts indicated by 12 and 16 are important
+in the maintenance of equilibrium, but are not concerned in hearing.]
+
+The purpose of the _outer ear_ is to collect the air vibrations and
+convey them to the middle ear, which passes them on to the inner ear,
+where they produce the vibrations in the fluid therein contained and
+which affect the end-organ and nerve-endings, and thus initiate the
+essential physiological processes in the nerve of hearing. It follows
+that we have an instance of the conversion of one kind of vibrations,
+those of the air, into another kind, those of fluid, which latter
+furnish a sufficiently delicate stimulus or excitation of the fine
+hair-like extensions (_processes_) of the cells known as
+_hair-cells_, about which the nerves in their final smallest branches
+wrap themselves.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 62 (Beaunis). Two of the bones of the ear (the
+malleus or hammer and the incus or anvil) enlarged. These small
+ear-bones have joints like larger ones. The line of conveyance of
+vibrations is indicated by B A.]
+
+When we ourselves hear sounds when under water, we are affected
+directly by the vibrations of that water; in this case we, in our
+whole body, represent the hair-cells which are stimulated by the fluid
+(_endolymph_) which surrounds them.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 63 (Beaunis). The complete chain of bones. The
+arrows indicate in a general way the direction of the line of
+transmission of vibrations from the tympanic membrane on to the fluid
+within the passages of the inner ear.]
+
+The external ear, well developed in many of the lower animals, being
+often highly movable, is practically immovable in man, and is wholly
+wanting in some animals, as the frog. The circular plate one sees
+behind the eye of the frog is the drum-head of the middle ear.
+
+From the _drum-head_, or _tympanic membrane_, the vibrations, which
+are now those of a solid, are communicated by a series of very small
+bones, most beautifully linked together by perfect joints, to another
+membrane, which closes a small hole in the outer wall of the inner
+ear.
+
+The _middle ear_, it will be seen, is a drum with its stretched
+membrane like any other drum, and it too has a communication with the
+exterior air through a tube, the _Eustachian tube_, which leads from
+the drum into the back part of the throat. When one has a cold, the
+mucous membrane which lines this tube may become swollen or even
+catarrhal, and be so closed that no air can enter from the throat; the
+air already within the drum being absorbed, the outer air presses
+unduly against the drum-head, with the result that the whole
+conducting apparatus is put more or less out of condition, and a
+certain degree of deafness naturally results. The tension of the
+drum-head is regulated by a muscle attached to the bone which is
+connected with the inner part of this membrane.
+
+It is now easy to understand how any unfavorable condition of the
+throat may affect the ear, or that of the ear influence the throat.
+
+In the hearing mechanism of man, the _inner ear_, or _labyrinth_, well
+so named because of its complexity, is really situated in the inner
+hardest portion of the "temporal" bone. It consists of a membrane and
+a bony portion, the former containing the essential mechanism of
+hearing, the latter being chiefly protective to it. The membranous
+portion consists of a series of canals communicating with some
+similarly membranous sacs, the whole being surrounded by and filled
+with fluid. These latter communicate with an extension termed the
+_cochlea_, which contains a central canal in which that collection of
+cells is found which constitutes the _end-organ_, among them the
+hair-cells, about which the nerve ends.
+
+This end-organ in the cochlea may be compared very fitly to the
+telephone which receives the message, and that portion of the brain
+where the auditory tract ends, to the telephone at the distant end of
+the path, the listener there representing consciousness. The auditory
+path within the brain is long and complicated, there being, in fact,
+many way-stations through which the message passes before it reaches
+the final one.
+
+The auditory nerve proceeds first to the lowest or hindermost portion
+of the brain, known as the _bulb_, or _medulla oblongata_; thence a
+continuation of the nerve tract passes forward to a central region,
+the _posterior corpora quadrigemina_, then, by a new relay of
+nerve-fibres, to the highest and most important part of the brain,
+that most closely associated with consciousness, the _cortex of the
+temporal lobe_, where there is situated the most important of all the
+centres of hearing.
+
+It will be apparent, on consideration, that "hearing" is a very
+elaborate result, the outcome of many physiological processes
+(initiated by physical ones), the initial and final being better
+understood than the intermediate ones.
+
+One asks, with natural curiosity and interest, "Is the auditory
+apparatus of the highly endowed musician different from and superior
+to that of the individual with little talent for music?"
+
+It is not easy to give a short and definite answer to this question.
+No special examinations of the essential parts of the ears of eminent
+musicians have been made, so far as we are aware, and as yet few of
+the brains of this class of men. It is, however, practically certain
+that there is a brain development peculiar to the born musician, and
+that this, whatever else it may be, involves a special excellence of
+the auditory path within the brain, rather than any unusual
+development of the essential parts of the ear. The individual who is a
+musical prodigy has, without question, _a more perfect connection_
+established between his auditory apparatus, in the widest sense of the
+word, and those muscular mechanisms employed in the execution of
+music, whether vocal or instrumental, than is the case with the
+average man. Usually, with this goes a wide series of brain
+associations or connections, we may presume, between the auditory
+tracts and other regions, for without this it is difficult to explain
+temperament and artistic perception. That they are not necessarily
+associated, however, is clear from the fact that some have a high
+degree of executive ability and little real artistic development.
+
+It must never be forgotten, however, that whatever else music may be,
+it is essentially and primarily a sensuous experience. The one who
+enjoys music must feel its sensuous charm, and the artist who
+furnishes that which is enjoyed addresses himself primarily to our
+auditory mechanism. Executing music is hearing music, and enjoying
+music is hearing music, though both may involve much more than this,
+and herein individuals must differ greatly, owing to education, past
+experience, etc.; but all who have the power to really appreciate
+music must be capable of the sensuous enjoyment of tones. In this all
+everywhere find something in common; often that which we enjoy is of
+the most varied nature.
+
+One thing is certain: those connections between the hearing and the
+motor processes we term singing or playing should be made early in
+life, if they are to reach that degree of facility and general
+excellence essential to success. We think there is good reason to
+begin voice-production early, as well as the practice of an
+instrument, though we do not maintain that the argument is as strong
+in the one case as in the other.
+
+That the "ear for music" may be well developed, in the sense that one
+may know perfectly what is correct in time and tune, without the power
+to execute well, there can be no doubt, as witness the case of many
+composers, but the reverse does not hold. There can be no doubt that
+_the nervous impulses that pass from the ear to the brain are of all
+sensory messages the most important guides for the outgoing ones that
+determine the necessary movements_.
+
+The author would advise every serious student of music to believe in
+the unlimited capacity of his own ear for improvement. The lack of
+"ear" of many people is due largely, if not solely, to inattention.
+Indeed, an excess of temperament may be a positive hindrance to
+musical development, both as regards appreciation and execution, for
+it may be accompanied by inattentive listening and consequent
+inadequate hearing. On the other hand, no one should, because he has a
+good faculty for time and tune and the memorizing of airs, conclude
+that he is an artist. The one faculty may exist altogether apart from
+the capacity for the highest art. It is a matter of history that
+several vocalists now before the public, and who rank in the highest
+class of musical artists, displayed at one period of their career a
+lack of perception as to pitch or rhythm that was, to say the least,
+very discouraging, and which, but for their force of character, would
+have kept them from ever being eminent.
+
+If one have neither ear, temperament, nor artistic perception, he
+should not waste his energies on musical study--at least, not extended
+efforts; but if he have the two last, and but a moderate ear, he will
+do well to try to improve the lower for the sake of the higher
+qualities.
+
+In children the difficulty often is due wholly to inattention.
+
+Those who would cultivate the speaking voice are frequently
+discouraged from lack of "ear," and when urged to follow such
+exercises as have been recommended in this work, complain that they
+have not the "ear" to do so. To such the author would say, "Persevere;
+believe in your ear; learn to listen--_i.e._, to attend to sounds
+having musical qualities."
+
+Besides, it must not be forgotten that in addition to the
+"ear"--_i.e._, the ability to appreciate relative pitch, tune, and
+rhythm--there is also the entirely distinct faculty that appreciates
+the _quality_ of sounds. The latter is really more important for the
+speaker, who can succeed with a very moderate development of the
+faculty for time and tune, but to whom the power to appreciate the
+_quality_ of sounds is essential.
+
+No doubt the first and fundamental qualities in the make-up of a
+musician are the capacities to appreciate pitch and rhythm, but no
+result worthy the term "artistic" can be produced in which attention
+is not given to the quality of sounds, hence the technical and
+artistic should be developed together. The lack of attention on the
+part of a certain class of vocal teachers to the quality of the tones
+produced is one of the special defects in the instruction of the day.
+
+In the early weeks of vocal training, when the student should intone
+only before his teacher, the former need not be left without musical
+culture, and it is for each teacher to give the pupil that training,
+at this time, which will forestall disgust and impatience at the
+apparent slowness of his progress. At this time much can be done to
+cultivate the ear in all its various powers.
+
+And the author would like to put in a plea for the development of the
+_appreciation of music_. Whatever difference of opinion there may be
+as to choral singing, singing in schools, etc., there can be no
+question that time spent in developing the appreciation of musical art
+is well spent, and makes for the development and provides for the
+innocent and elevating sources of enjoyment of a people. If some of
+the time spent in bad piano-playing were devoted to the development of
+the power to appreciate and delight in really good music, including
+the sweet sounds of speech and song, the world would thereby be
+greatly the gainer.
+
+The author would impress on all students of music, and of the voice as
+used in both singing and speaking, the paramount importance of
+learning early to listen most attentively to others when executing
+music; and, above all, to listen with the greatest care to themselves,
+and never to accept any musical tone that does not fully satisfy the
+ear. When one considers how much harshness is passed as singing or
+speaking, by the student, even by those who pose as public singers and
+speakers, one must often wonder where they keep their ears. As a
+matter of fact, the ideal listeners are rare, and the critical ear,
+like a sentinel on guard, is among students, really seldom to be met
+with, if one extend the term "listening" to mean giving attention
+equally and in the most critical way, not only to pitch and rhythm,
+but also to the quality of sounds, the effects of pauses, shading,
+etc., all of which are perceived through the ear.
+
+If such listening requires, as it does, the closest attention, it must
+give rise to fatigue, so that it is clear that the lengthy practices
+some undertake are against the plainest laws of physiology and
+psychology, even if the hearing processes alone be considered; but as
+we have before shown, there are other reasons why such long-continued
+exercises as some attempt are in every way unwise; in fact, in the
+author's opinion, they are in the musical world a great evil under the
+sun.
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+Hearing is finally a psychological or mental condition, a state of
+consciousness, but is always associated with certain physiological
+processes, which are initiated by a physical stimulus in the form of
+waves in a fluid surrounding the hair-cells of the auditory end-organ;
+which waves may again be traced to the movements of the bones of the
+middle ear, caused by the swinging to and fro of the drum-head, owing
+to vibrations of the air produced by a sounding body.
+
+The ear is anatomically divisible into external, middle (tympanum or
+drum), and internal (labyrinth). The outer ear collects the
+vibrations, the middle ear conducts them, and the internal converts
+them into a special physiological condition of the hair-cells and the
+auditory nerve. This condition is communicated to the other links in
+the anatomical hearing chain, until the highest part of the brain, or
+cortex, is reached. Hearing, from the physiological point of view, is
+the outcome of a series of processes having their development in a
+corresponding series of centres, or collections of nerve-cells.
+
+The perceptions associated with the ear, in the mind of the musician,
+are those of the pitch, rhythm (and time), and quality of tones. The
+loudness of a tone is, of course, recognized by the ear also, but this
+is hardly a musical quality proper. In reality, like all that belongs
+to hearing, these perceptions are the result of a series of
+physiological processes, in which the ear takes an important but not
+the sole or even the chief part, which is to be referred to the brain.
+
+It is practically important to recognize that these various qualities
+are distinct perceptions, and that the "ear" for relative pitch may
+exist well developed and the color, clang, or quality of a tone be
+imperfectly recognized, and the reverse.
+
+The most comprehensive ear-training involves attention to each of the
+above characters of tones, and then uniting them in a musically
+perfect result. Lack of "ear" is often simply want of attention to the
+characters of sounds.
+
+The auditory messages are the most important of all the nervous
+impulses that reach the brain, for the musician, whether appreciation
+or execution be considered. They are the chief guides for the outgoing
+nervous impulses to the muscles.
+
+The good executant must, above all, be a good listener.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIAL HYGIENE AND RELATED SUBJECTS.
+
+
+Hygiene deals with the laws by the observance of which health is to be
+maintained and disease prevented; but as such laws must be based on
+physiological principles, hygiene follows from physiology.
+Accordingly, throughout this work our method has been to point out the
+correct way as soon as the physiological principle has been laid down,
+so that the reason for the recommendation made would be obvious.
+However, it may be well if now some of the more important tendencies,
+errors, bad habits, and dangers to be guarded against by the singer
+and speaker be pointed out afresh, briefly, with some additional
+observations that experience has shown to be of practical importance.
+
+Hygiene, for all persons, should, in the widest sense, refer to the
+whole man, his body, intellect, feelings, and will, though the term
+has usually been restricted to the preservation of bodily health. But,
+fortunately, it is being more and more recognized that man is a whole,
+and that one part of him cannot suffer without the others
+participating, so we shall pursue the broader course, and consider the
+general welfare of the voice-user as properly coming under
+consideration.
+
+He, being a human being like his fellows, must, of course, observe the
+same laws for the preservation of his general health as they, but just
+because he comes before the public, his case is peculiar, and he must,
+in addition, take special precautions to avoid every form of temporary
+or permanent disability.
+
+There is, of course, much in the life of a public speaker or singer
+that conduces to health of body and mind, such as the vigorous use of
+the breathing apparatus, the favorable effect of praise expressed in
+one way and another, etc., but even with the most successful, all this
+may be more than counter-balanced by other unfavorable factors. When
+one considers the necessary travelling, often including night
+journeys, the late hours, the concentrated efforts essential to
+success, the uncertainty of the public taste, the rivalries,
+jealousies, exhaustion, etc., often associated with a public career,
+it must be clear that no one should embark upon it without counting
+well the cost. For one with mediocre ability, imperfect training,
+voice of very limited range, power, and quality, feeble will, an
+imperfectly developed body, and indifferent health, to enter on a
+public career is practically to court failure and to ensure
+disappointment and unhappiness.
+
+It is to be remembered that never was the world so exacting of the
+artist, and never were there so many aspirants to popular favor, so
+that the competition in the ranks of the actors and singers, at
+least, is very keen. At the same time, there is room for a certain
+class of persons--viz., those with good health, excellent physique,
+first-rate ability, self-control, sound moral principles,
+perseverance, industry, musical feeling, and artistic insight, with
+vocal organs trained like the muscles of the athlete, and, in the case
+of singers, sound musical knowledge and an exacting and reliable ear.
+
+Considering that the actor, often the public speaker, and the singer
+are constantly being put under excessive strain, it follows that (1)
+such persons should begin with an unusually good physical
+organization--others can scarcely hope to get into the first class,
+even with the best abilities; and (2) because there is a tendency to
+exhaustion of the body and mind through emotional and other
+expenditure, the public voice-user must take precautions, on the one
+hand, to prevent this, and, on the other, to make good his outlay by
+special means. He needs more sleep and rest generally than others, and
+he should counteract the influence of unhealthy conditions on the
+stage or platform by some quiet hours in the open air, all the better
+if with some congenial friend, sympathetic with his aims, yet
+belonging, preferably perhaps, to another profession, and who will
+speak of topics other than those that are ever recurring in the life
+of an artist. The uninterrupted pursuit of one thing, without the mind
+and spirit being fed from other springs, can be good for no human
+being. The specialist who is only a specialist will never reach the
+very highest point. The artist must seek sources of inspiration and
+mental nutriment outside of his own line of thought, or he will suffer
+professionally and in his own spirit.
+
+The reader will by this time understand why the author considers that
+for one who would be an artist to enter on his public career without
+the fullest mental equipment and vocal training is an exceedingly
+unwise course. Technique should be acquired before an aspirant to
+success steps on a public stage or platform, and this is exactly what
+is so seldom done in these days, and why we have so few singers,
+actors, and public speakers of the highest rank. Many, very many, know
+what they wish to express, and, in a sense, how to express it, but
+they have neither the formed voice nor the control of that voice by
+which their ideas are to be embodied. Let no one delude himself into
+the belief that technique will be learned in public; such is rarely,
+if ever, the case. Expression, style, etc., may come to the vocalist
+or speaker all the more readily if he occasionally goes before the
+public; but that such may be so, he must first have voice and
+technique. It is because of the neglect of this training for the
+acquirement of technique that so many naturally good voices are of
+little practical use for the public, and this explains why the ranks
+of the professions are crowded with inferior artists, if, indeed,
+artists they may be called.
+
+The _isolation_ of the dramatic and musical artist from his fellows
+generally is a great evil. Much that society complains of in the
+lives of artists would never exist but for this isolation, in spite of
+the fact that the artistic temperament is so moody and so impulsive,
+so little regardful of ordinary conventionalities. That it is so is
+partly the fault of society. It is quite true that because of
+journeying, rehearsals, etc., the travelling artist has little time to
+meet the members of the community in private life; but this state of
+things could be mitigated were society and the artists themselves
+convinced that for any class of people to live in little hives, wholly
+separated from their fellows, must be unfortunate for them and
+society. Artists as men and women are practically unknown to the
+world, though their false selves as represented by sensational
+paragraphs in newspapers are only too familiar to us. It may truly be
+said of the artist: "Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou
+shalt not escape calumny." It is within the power of society to alter
+this, and it should do so.
+
+Why is it that actors and singers do not prepare themselves by as
+prolonged and thorough a vocal training as in a past time?
+
+Considering that there never was a period when there was the same
+scope for art, never a time when the public was so eager to hear and
+so able to pay for art, as now, never a period of such widespread
+intelligence on all subjects, music included, the question is a very
+pertinent one. We believe there are many factors underlying the
+technical decadence we must regret. The orchestra has greatly
+developed, choral singing is common in all countries, and the spirit
+of the times has changed. So analytical, so refined is our age, that
+singing sometimes becomes a sort of musical declamation, but,
+unfortunately, without that power to declaim possessed by the actors
+and often the opera-singers of a former period. A singer often
+attempts now to make up by an expressive reading of a song, for
+technical defects. We must all commend every evidence of
+intellectuality in music, but this does not imply that we should
+accept good intentions for execution--performance. Let us have every
+possible development of orchestral music; let every village have, if
+possible, its choral society, but let none enter it who have not been
+trained vocally.
+
+Out of the author's own experience he could a tale unfold of the evil
+done to the vocal organs by those who have sung in choirs without
+adequate vocal training. Choristers are tempted to reach high tones by
+a process of their own, without any regard to registers, and with
+corresponding effects on their throats, some of which imply also
+lasting injury to the voice itself.
+
+In choral singing there is the tendency to lean on certain singers who
+are natural leaders, with the result that there is little independent
+listening and individual culture, even if the singer could hear his
+own voice well, which is not usually the case. The same objections and
+others apply to class singing in schools, which does little for
+music, and tends to make slovenly singers. If some of the time given
+to school singing were taken up in illustrating why certain musical
+selections are good, and others mere rubbish--in other words, in
+forming the taste of the nation in the children--a valuable work would
+be done; but school class singing, as commonly carried out, tends
+rather to injure than develop voices and good musical taste.
+
+We cannot honestly pass by the subject of Wagner's music and some of
+its tendencies. Wagner was an intellectual giant among men, and his
+works are amazingly grand, yet they unfortunately are, in a certain
+sense, responsible for much bad singing and not a little injury to
+fine voices.
+
+First of all, Wagner's operas are, in their present form, too long. To
+sing these compositions night after night is beyond human powers, even
+in the case of those of the most perfect musical and technical
+training. If they were divided into two, and one half sung on one
+evening and the other on the next, it would be a gain for the public
+and the artists. It is impossible for even the musically cultivated to
+absorb and assimilate the whole of such an opera as "Siegfried" or
+"Tristan and Isolde" in one evening, and it is too much to expect any
+artist to sing them through without a rest.
+
+Again, they call for such strong accents, such deep and strenuous
+breathing, that the artist impersonating a hero or a god or goddess
+is put to a degree of exertion that is too great for human powers when
+continued for more than a very moderate period; besides, there is a
+temptation to a wrong use of the larynx--a forcible _coup de glotte_,
+or attack--that is exceedingly dangerous, and has injured many voices
+and ruined others. The man or woman who would sing Wagner's greater
+music dramas should, in addition to a strong physique, be master of a
+wonderfully perfect technique. These operas should never be attempted
+by very young singers of either sex, and especially not by very young
+women. They are for the powerful, the mature, the perfectly trained,
+the experienced.
+
+Turning to some special faults, we would warn against the "scoop," the
+excessive use of the _portamento_, or glide, so common a fault at the
+present time, and the _vibrato_ and _tremolo_.
+
+The two former are musical faults, so we pass them by without further
+consideration. Otherwise is it with the last two faults; they both
+result from a wrong use of the vocal organs. They are both due to some
+unsteadiness and lack of control, and, unfortunately, when once
+acquired, are very difficult to remedy. The unsteadiness may be almost
+anywhere in the vocal organs, but is usually referable to the
+respiratory apparatus or to the larynx.
+
+A _vibrato_ is the milder form of the evil, and is encouraged, we
+regret to say, by some teachers, while the _tremolo_ is due to an
+extreme unsteadiness, and, so far as we are aware, is universally
+condemned. It is about the worst fault any singer can have. It is
+evident in some cases only when the vocalist sings _piano_, but mostly
+in vigorous singing, and often arises from straining, disregard of
+registers, etc. It may be due to the singer trying to control too
+large a supply of air, or from bringing a blast to bear on the vocal
+bands too strong for them. In every case there is lack of adjustment
+between the vocal bands and the respiratory organs. The remedy must be
+adapted to the case, but usually the singer must for a time give up
+the use of the voice in _forte_ singing altogether, and gradually
+again learn to control his vocal mechanism.
+
+Associated sometimes with this fault is another, which, indeed, often
+gives rise to the former--viz., "pumping," or attempting to vocalize
+after the breath power is exhausted. One should always have enough air
+in reserve to sing at least two tones more than what is required.
+
+It will be observed that good singing and speaking are always
+physiological--_i.e._, they depend on the observance of well-known
+physiological principles; we wish we could add, principles clearly
+recognized by singers and teachers generally. It is to those who do
+that we would recommend the student of the vocal art to go at the
+outset of his career, otherwise much time may be lost and possibly
+much injury done. We distinguish, of course, between the teacher who
+recognizes physiological principles only practically and the one who
+does so consciously. The former may be an excellent and safe teacher,
+though, we think, not so good, other things being equal, as one of the
+latter type,--as yet somewhat rare.
+
+At an earlier period we referred to the important matter of
+classifying the voice. It often happens that one who is a tenor is
+trained as a barytone, or a contralto as a soprano, and the reverse,
+only to discover later that a mistake has been made. If it could
+become the custom to have vocal consultations among teachers, as
+medical ones among doctors, the author is convinced it would be well.
+Often a patient is sent a long distance to consult a medical man, and
+to return to his own physician for treatment based on the diagnosis
+made. In these instances the doctor consulted is expected to write his
+views privately to the patient's doctor, and to recommend treatment.
+Why should the same not occur in the vocal teacher's profession? It is
+considered scandalous in the medical profession to "steal" another
+physician's patient, and why should not a similar etiquette prevail in
+the profession now under consideration? The teacher in doubt about a
+voice might thus obtain the views of another member of his profession,
+of longer experience, on such a vital point as the classification of a
+voice, and with satisfaction alike to himself and to his pupil. If the
+teacher or pupil were not satisfied with the diagnosis, another
+eminent vocal teacher might be consulted, which would only be
+following custom in the medical profession.
+
+We would again remind the reader that voices are to be _classified by
+quality_, and not by range, at least not to any appreciable extent.
+
+Of all persons, the singer should know himself. He must learn his
+limitations, and the sooner the better. At the outset of his career he
+may be able to take certain liberties with himself with apparent
+impunity, but sooner or later he will pay the penalty; so that we
+recommend him to live with all the care of an athlete in training.
+However it may be with other men, spirits in every form, tobacco,
+etc., are not for him. Both tend to irritate and relax if not to
+inflame the throat, not to mention their bad effects on the general
+health, both psychical and physical. This advice is all the more
+necessary when one considers the exacting nature of the professional
+life of the artist. Strenuous exertion tends to fatigue and
+exhaustion, with a natural desire to relieve them by some special
+means, such as alcohol. To do so is often but to make a beginning of
+the end. How many bright lights in the dramatic and musical
+professions have been prematurely quenched through indulgence in the
+delusive draught! If tonics, sedatives, etc., are to be taken, which
+should not be a habitual practice, they should be used only under the
+direction of a medical man, and not self-prescribed.
+
+As the speaker and singer must often practise their art in an
+atmosphere that is far from pure, they will do well to carry out in a
+routine way some sort of mouth toilet on their return home and the
+next morning. Various simple mouth and throat washes may be used, such
+as (1) water with a little common salt dissolved in it; (2) water
+containing a few drops of carbolic acid--just enough to be distinctly
+tasted; (3) water containing listerine; (4) either of the last two
+with the addition of a pinch of bicarbonate of sodium to a teacupful
+of the fluid, when there is a tendency to catarrh.
+
+The use of lozenges in a routine way is not to be commended, and those
+containing morphia, cocaine, etc., should be employed only under the
+supervision of a medical practitioner. Sometimes, especially in the
+case of nervousness, a licorice pellet or a particle of gum arabic
+serves a good purpose in aiding in keeping the mouth moist.
+
+For one with a healthy throat the sipping of water is unnecessary, and
+the habit is one on no account to be learned, for the most admirable
+effect may be spoiled through the speaker stopping to sip water; there
+is the fatal and rapid descent from the lofty to the little.
+
+It is much more important to avoid eating certain things which
+interfere with the voice than to take anything to improve it before
+singing or speaking. Each individual should learn just what he can or
+cannot with safety eat. Certain kinds of fruit, cheese, fat meat,
+pastry, nuts, occasionally even butter, not to mention puddings, etc.,
+must be put on the list of what singers and speakers had better not
+partake of before a public appearance. But the quantity is quite as
+important as the quality of the food taken. About one half the usual
+quantity, at most, and of very simple but nourishing food, is enough
+for any one who would do himself justice before the public. If blood
+and energy be drawn off to the stomach by a large meal, it cannot be
+available for the uses of the artist. Moreover, a full stomach
+pressing up under the diaphragm greatly hampers the movements of this,
+the most important of all the muscles of breathing. Of course, the
+public singer or speaker should eat after his work is done, of what
+and how much he can best learn by experience.
+
+As the author has felt called upon to condemn the use of alcohol in
+every form, he should, perhaps, point out that to take a cup of such a
+mild stimulant as tea or coffee during an interval, in the case of
+those who feel weary, is generally an unobjectionable, indeed, often a
+useful, procedure; but the less the artist coddles himself, especially
+while still young, the better.
+
+We would again call attention to one anatomical fact of great
+importance for the explanation of certain facts of experience--viz.:
+that the whole respiratory tract, the larynx included, is lined with a
+_mucous membrane_, which is continuous with that covering the inner
+surface of the digestive organs. That is to say, the nose, the mouth,
+the back of the throat, the larynx, the windpipe, the bronchial tubes,
+the gullet, the stomach and intestines are all brought into structural
+connection by this common lining membrane. Moreover, these parts have
+to some extent the same nerve supply, and are, in fact, so related
+that derangement in one region must affect sooner or later, and to a
+variable degree according to the resisting power of each individual,
+other related parts. Thus it is that a disordered stomach affects the
+voice, that a cold may affect digestion, that a catarrh of the nose
+will eventually reach the vocal bands, etc.
+
+Another principle of wide-reaching importance is that all sorts of
+_compression_ must, of necessity, be attended by functional disorders,
+which, if long continued, will result in organic or structural changes
+implying deterioration of a kind that must be more or less permanent.
+Whatever the cause of compression of the chest or neck, the result is
+the same: a retention of blood in parts for too long a period--a
+condition of things which must inevitably be injurious.
+
+The tissues are made up of cells, which are the individuals of the
+bodily community. Around these cells are found the smallest of the
+blood-vessels, the capillaries, between which and the tissues a sort
+of physiological barter is continually going on, the capillaries
+handing over oxygen and food supplies from the blood, and receiving
+waste materials in return, as the blood creeps along at a very slow
+rate. If, however, in consequence of pressure on a part, the blood be
+kept back in these minute vessels too long, there is naturally a
+double evil: first, the food and oxygen supplies fail--they have been
+used up already--and, secondly, the waste products accumulate in the
+tissue cells, so that there is a combination of starvation and
+poisoning--a sort of physiological slum life, with corresponding
+degradation; so that it is not at all difficult to understand why
+tight collars, neckbands, corsets, etc., must be unmixed evils, apart
+altogether from the fact that they so greatly hamper the very
+movements the voice-user most requires for the successful execution of
+his task.
+
+All sorts of straining or forcing also involve this same evil, known
+to medical men as _congestion_. The sore throats so common with those
+who force, owing to methods essentially wrong, or simply to the too
+vigorous use of methods correct in themselves, are to be traced to the
+above--_i.e._, to this congestion, which is bad, and bad only.
+
+If one who had a naturally sound throat at the outset finds that after
+vocal exercise he experiences either a soreness or an undue weariness
+of parts, he should conclude, if he is living under healthy
+conditions, that the methods he is employing are incorrect, and seek
+the natural remedy. Proper vocal exercise should, in those with
+healthy vocal organs, always improve them and the condition of the
+whole man. The author has met those who have been ruined vocally for
+life by the use of certain methods recommended by would-be
+professional guides. Why should not all who assume the responsibility
+of guiding speakers and especially singers be required by the state to
+show that they have not only a knowledge of music and vocal technique,
+but also at least a moderate amount of practical knowledge of the
+anatomy and physiology of the vocal organs, with some elementary
+information on general physiology? If the injury done by incompetent
+teachers were realized, we feel certain that the above proposition
+would not be questioned.
+
+A common cause of congestion of the digestive organs, with which, of
+course, other parts sympathize physiologically, is _constipation_,
+very often the result of insufficient exercise, and injurious in many
+ways. Speakers and singers very generally ride to and from their
+engagements, so that there is special reason why they should see to it
+that some time is set aside for general exercise, as walking in the
+open air, which would of itself work against that tendency to grow fat
+which is the physical curse that seems to fall on artists above most
+others.
+
+It seems scarcely necessary to point out how important it is for those
+who propose to take up the life of the stage or the platform to look
+to hardening themselves against catching cold, by friction of the
+skin, cold bathing, etc. The use of a sponge-bath of cold salt and
+water to the upper parts of the body, especially the neck and chest,
+will prove valuable in many cases, but the enervating effects of hot
+water should be avoided by all.
+
+     The remarks made in regard to Wagner's music on page 257
+     have been among the very few to which exception has been
+     taken by my reviewers.
+
+     To those who disagree with me on the merits of the case I
+     have nothing to say, but some have assumed that the writer
+     was speaking out of pure theory, in real ignorance of
+     Wagner's works. I wish to set that class of critics right.
+
+     I have spent a great many seasons in Germany, and have heard
+     Wagner's works under a great variety of circumstances, and
+     have heard them also in several other countries. I have also
+     had the opportunity of getting behind the scenes in a way
+     that falls to the lot of few, so I think I am entitled to
+     speak with rather more than the usual authority.
+
+     My convictions as expressed in the foregoing chapter have in
+     the interval rather strengthened than weakened. I am firmly
+     convinced that it would be in the interests of art, the
+     singer, and the auditor alike, either to shorten these
+     operas, or to produce them in some way which will relieve
+     the continuous strain. It must not be forgotten, either,
+     that the poor overworked and greatly underpaid orchestral
+     player often suffers severely in his nervous system from
+     long continued Wagner playing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+FURTHER TREATMENT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HYGIENE.
+
+
+_Stammering_ and _stuttering_ are allied but not identical defects.
+They require special treatment, the earlier the better. Much can be
+done by the exercise of a little patience and kind consideration, to
+make the subject of these infirmities feel at ease, and so manifest
+the defects as little as possible. It is, of course, as a general
+rule, very unwise to take any notice whatever of such imperfections,
+as they are thereby made worse. As a rule, they are best treated
+practically by those who have made this branch a specialty.
+
+Those who have been badly taught, or who have overworked the vocal
+organs and, in consequence, may have broken down, are among the most
+discouraging if they be not the very worst cases that come under the
+treatment of the physician or vocal teacher. If the throat be out of
+order, a specialist should be consulted. He will likely enjoin
+complete rest of the vocal organs, and his advice should be implicitly
+followed. But usually the time comes when some sort of vocal exercises
+may be resumed. When this is the case, the choice of a teacher becomes
+of the utmost importance, more so than in ordinary cases, for further
+injudicious treatment may lead to the utter ruin of the voice.
+Assuming that medical treatment is no longer or not at all required,
+we recommend: (1) That all practices be only _piano_, or, at most,
+_moderato_, for some time; (2) that they be of very brief duration at
+any one period, so as to avoid fatigue; (3) that they be well within
+the range of the singer. The same principles apply to speakers who
+have broken down, whether owing to bad methods or to over-use of the
+voice. It is most important that strength and facility be gradually
+gained, and that weariness, not to say fatigue, be strictly avoided.
+If the general health be good, time, patience, and the utmost care in
+the application of the above principles, under the direction of an
+enlightened teacher, will in a large proportion of cases restore the
+voice for efficient use in at least moderate efforts. Of course, much
+depends on the age, general health, intelligence, etc., of the
+subject.
+
+On the question of the extent to which a singer's range can be safely
+increased, the greatest difference of opinion exists, and very extreme
+views have been held. On the one hand are those who almost ridicule
+the idea of "making" tones, and on the other, those who maintain that
+the range of all young singers can be increased by proper training.
+
+As a matter of fact, there are many singers before the public to-day
+whose range, either upward or downward, has been increased by many
+tones, in some cases almost an octave, and these singers are
+successful artists and sound vocalists; while others have sought to
+add but two or three tones to their range, and in vain. This is quite
+intelligible. As a rule, those of the former class have fallen into
+the hands of very good teachers, while yet young, have had excellent
+health and well-formed vocal organs, and been patient and attentive
+students. The acquisition has been gradual, and never forced. We have
+before said that if a pupil felt his throat the worse for a lesson in
+vocal culture, there was something wrong: either the method was
+incorrect in itself, or the practice was continued too long or carried
+out too vigorously. Of course, it is always assumed that the vocal
+organs are in a normal condition, and the student's health good not
+only generally but on the day of the practice.
+
+It is in every case for the student himself to determine, from his own
+feelings, whether the attempt to reach a certain tone produces
+straining, and for the teacher to judge whether this be so, from the
+appearance of the face of the pupil, the character of the tone, etc.
+One thing is certain: harm, and harm only, is done by any form of
+forcing or straining. At the same time, as the athlete increases the
+height to which he can jump, or the speed with which he can run, even
+during a single season, it seems illogical to conclude that in no case
+can a singer safely reach tones that are not originally in his
+voice--meaning thereby that he is unable to sing them at the outset of
+his career. This is one of those subjects on which common sense and
+science unite in admonishing us to test cautiously and to progress
+gradually, if the purpose is to be achieved with good results for the
+individual and for art.
+
+It is also unwise for a singer to attempt those selections in public
+the range of which taxes him to the very utmost. They lead to undue
+anxiety as to success, violate the principle of reserve force, to
+which reference has several times been made, and may lead to vocal
+failure, if not to injury to the throat. Though it is true that
+occasionally a song suffers by transposition to a lower key, if the
+vocalist is determined to sing a composition even slightly beyond his
+easy range, it is better to resort to it than to risk the
+possibilities mentioned above and other undesirable ones.
+
+Everyone who purposes to follow the arduous career of the vocal or
+dramatic artist would do well to realize early the importance of
+learning the art of conserving energy, or making the most of all that
+Nature has given him. When a man or woman is small, and has less
+breath power than some others, it becomes more important that they
+observe the laws of contrast, rest, etc., in their public efforts. A
+_forte_ has much the same effect, if it be preceded by darker, quieter
+tones, as if it were really louder. In like manner, a pause may often
+serve a very good purpose in preparing the ear of the listener for an
+effect that should be telling, yet a difficult one for a person of
+limited physical powers.
+
+In reality, all the best art recognizes, mostly unconsciously, the
+peculiarities of our physical and mental nature. A continuous _forte_,
+for example, ceases to be a _forte_, in reality, since the ear and the
+mind weary under it, and all the effect of contrast is lost. As we
+have more than once said, good art is physiological--in harmony with
+the laws of the body, as well as of the mind. It follows that each one
+should study especially how to make the wisest, the most effective,
+use of his powers, for what is best for one may not be so for another.
+
+A singer or speaker, by reason of a voice somewhat small in volume,
+may seem to be shut out from certain buildings. This need rarely be
+the case. The artist must simply the more carefully consider how he
+shall vary his effects, how so use his powers that they shall suffice.
+A loud voice may be a very bad one for the hearer, and may annoy and
+weary rather than please. When a building is large, nearly all effects
+should be increased--_e.g._, all pauses lengthened, the _tempo_ taken
+a little slower, the contrasts made stronger, etc.,--rather than the
+volume of tone increased. The method of attack becomes of the utmost
+importance; all low or soft passages should be sung or uttered with
+the greatest distinctness, all final letters most perfectly finished.
+It is especially important for a speaker to be aware of his
+favorite--_i.e._, most easy and natural--pitch, and also that pitch
+which best adapts his voice to a certain building. Many forget that
+sound does not, in reality, travel very rapidly, and that allowance
+must be made for this, so that one tone shall not break on the ear
+before another has had time to be attended to--one idea to be grasped
+before another is presented.
+
+Of all things pauses are of the greatest importance, to the listener,
+that he may apprehend the ideas presented, and to the speaker, that he
+may have time to take breath and a brief rest, and also seize the
+opportunity to readdress himself, so to speak, to his auditors, by the
+use of another accent, pitch of tone, or whatever he deems most apt to
+his purpose. Speakers who make suitable pauses with intention (not
+from lack of ideas), or from an artistic instinct, give pleasure, as
+well as effect their intellectual purpose, for the listener also gets
+his moments for rest, perceives readily what is meant, and enjoys the
+purely sensuous in the art far more than when the speaker's utterance
+rushes on like a torrent. All this applies to a certain extent to the
+singer, though it is but very inadequately observed--we must say,
+however, much better than at a former period, when "ranting," on the
+stage especially, was a very common fault.
+
+In an earlier chapter attention was given to the precautions to be
+taken before a public appearance, especially by those who are
+inexperienced; and we would again emphasize the fact that those who
+have the best training, and have made the most perfect special
+preparation for the coming event, are least likely to suffer from that
+great disturber, nervousness; and when they are somewhat tense, the
+well-disciplined often recover rapidly, and frequently astonish their
+friends by the success of their first appearance. We strongly
+recommend all who can to take rest on the day preceding and following
+a hard evening's work, and preferably, in summer, in the open air. A
+quiet walk in a park, where one may think or observe or not, as he
+feels inclined, is an excellent thing to do, either before or after a
+strenuous artistic effort. If the battery is to be well charged, it
+must not be discharged even partially before the right moment.
+Amateurs and the inexperienced are particularly apt to neglect such
+precaution for success, and to fritter away their energies by
+attention to details, possibly trivial ones, up to the last moment.
+
+Happy is he who, well prepared for his task, free from worries,
+unmoved by envy, jealousy, or undue ambition, can step before the
+public resolved to do his best for art, and who, having done it, can
+rest in the satisfaction that he has contributed something to the
+innocent and ennobling enjoyment of his fellows, and so has helped to
+advance those of his own generation; caring little for either the
+flatteries of admirers or a criticism that may be ignorant, unjust,
+or malignant, but feeling that the best reward is the approval of his
+own conscience, knowing that "Art is long, and life short."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+REVIEW AND REVISION.
+
+
+All the most important truths of any subject may be stated in a brief
+space. The Author proposes to make this final chapter one of a
+restatement of the essentials of the subject in the light of our
+present-day knowledge, and with a distinct relation to practice.
+
+The object of the speaker or singer is to produce certain sounds which
+shall as easily as possible convey to the listener his own state of
+mind. It follows that he must have a clear idea of these sounds, that
+he must hear them mentally prior to their utterance; in other words,
+the psychological must precede the physiological. Voice production for
+the purpose of speaking and singing implies a cooeperation of the
+psychic and the physiological, a co-ordination of processes that are
+psychic, and physical, somatic or physiological.
+
+It is well to regard the subject from as many points of view as
+possible, and to consider the various ways in which the same truth may
+be stated.
+
+Stress must be laid on the idea of co-ordination, for processes may be
+independently satisfactory yet fail to lead to the desired result if
+they are not connected, harmonised or co-ordinated. The latter is the
+better term because it suggests a certain order of progress. As a
+matter of fact, first the psychic, then the physiological. The idea
+may be clear, yet from a physical defect, as in stammering, the result
+does not follow, though this physiological imperfection in movement
+may itself be the result of a psychic condition and generally is so. A
+clearer case is that of paralysis of the vocal organs. The ideas to be
+expressed may be perfectly clear in the mind yet impossible of
+expression. The defect is at the distal end of the combination--_i.e._,
+in the physical, somatic or bodily part of the process to express the
+same idea by the use of different terms. The consideration of
+conditions of defect or pathological states may make normal
+psychological and physiological ones clearer, as has been shown by the
+above illustrations. The practical importance of the co-ordination of
+processes is very great. It is not possible for one born deaf to speak
+because the necessary mental or psychic conditions for co-ordination
+do not exist--_i.e._, there is no sound in the mind to be
+expressed--not because there is any serious anatomical defect. In like
+manner the student of singing will produce no better tone than he has
+in mind no matter how much he practices vocalization. It follows,
+therefore, that the psychic state of the student should be kept in
+advance of his actual powers of execution. This he will most
+successfully do by listening to the best artists either directly or if
+this be impossible by hearing their gramophone records--all this in
+addition to the best the teacher can do for him by the correction of
+faults, giving him illustrations of better tone by his own efforts,
+etc. If the student has the opportunity of hearing himself by means of
+a phonographic record, he should not fail to do so. No one ever hears
+himself as others hear him.
+
+As the mind and the brain are always associated in thought and
+feeling; in other words, in psychic processes, and these latter find
+expression chiefly through movements, in one sense a study of
+vocalization may be considered a study of movements. These are always
+brought about by the use of several muscles which act together for a
+definite end--_i.e._, they are co-ordinated. As such movements
+generally involve many muscles and to be effective must be exact and
+under perfect control, much practice is necessary, though "much"
+should have reference rather to the clearness of the mind in reference
+to what is to be attained and the means of accomplishing it, rather
+than to the amount of time spent over the actual performance. We may
+confidently assert that technique or the physical side of putting the
+ideas into execution, which is simply making certain movements, is
+successful largely in proportion to the perfection of the psychic
+processes involved. A clear head should precede the moving hand, or
+functioning vocal organs. The student should think technique before
+and after its actual execution. This is even yet, in spite of a great
+advance in recent years, the weakest part of the student's method of
+work. All that we know of science as well as the results of all
+rightly directed practice emphasizes the importance of this central
+truth.
+
+Assuming that the psychic condition is satisfactory for the production
+of a definite tone--_i.e._, that it is heard mentally, what follows
+before it is actually produced, before it becomes a tone from the
+physicist's point of view? What is the chain of physical, somatic,
+bodily or anatomical (to use several words that express similar but
+slightly different aspects of the same main idea) connections
+involved, and what is the nature of the physiological processes; in
+other words, what are the parts of the body involved and how do they
+act? This will be clearer if we first consider the mechanism concerned
+and its functions in a general way.
+
+The instrument which is played upon, which finally gives rise to the
+tone, may be spoken of as that connected series of cavities for which
+we have no single term but which are generally named the resonance
+chambers when regarded from the physicist's point of view. To the
+musician they are the instrument, to the physiologist and anatomist a
+set of chambers communicating with each other. Plainly all the rest
+of the vocal mechanism exists for them, and too much stress cannot be
+laid on this fact. However excellent the state of training of the part
+below them this is of no avail except in so far as it can affect these
+resonance cavities.
+
+How is this instrument played upon and how are these cavities made
+actually into resounding chambers? In the answer to this, in the
+recognition of the relationship of the three distinct parts of the
+vocal apparatus lies the one great fundamental conception of the
+manner in which tone is produced. To understand this clearly is to
+comprehend in its main outlines the whole subject of voice production
+in a scientific way.
+
+Before a tone is heard vibrations of the atmospheric air must reach
+the ear. These are set up by the vibration of the air within the
+resonance chambers, and this again is effected by the mechanism below
+them--_i.e._, by the movements of the vocal bands of the larynx which
+are due to the blast of air emanating from the lungs, this itself
+being brought into being by the movements of the chest, using the term
+in the widest sense, thus including the diaphragm, etc.
+
+Breathing has for its object so far as phonation is concerned no other
+purpose than to so affect the vocal bands, that the resonance chambers
+really do resound. The question is how is this breathing best
+accomplished so that the instrument shall be most efficiently played
+upon? We cannot alter the anatomical structure of the instrument
+appreciably, but we can improve the functioning of the several parts
+of the whole apparatus. Breathing can be improved as regards power and
+control. More can be done with less expenditure of energy than
+originally if there be judicious training. How shall we train? As the
+outgoing stream of air alone affects the vocal bands, it is clear that
+we must aim to so apply and regulate this outflow that the desired
+result shall follow from the least possible expenditure of energy. How
+the air is got in is important only in relation to its expenditure.
+But the easier the supply is furnished the better. This law of the
+conservation of energy is one of the greatest importance, for all
+beings have but a limited supply of energy and our problem must ever
+be how best to husband this as a wise man should study how best to
+spend his limited income. One must not only consider what is called
+for in ordinary conversational speaking, or in singing in a small
+room, but also when the greatest possible efforts are demanded. In all
+cases when movements are concerned, indeed whenever activity of any
+kind psychic or physiological is involved the _law of habit_ should be
+borne in mind--_i.e._, one should so think and do that a habit may be
+established, for a habit implies, when a good one, that there is
+economy of both mental and bodily energy.
+
+The aim of all training is to establish good habits--ways of doing
+things which will leave the subject with more capital to invest so to
+speak, as he wastes less. It follows that the same methods should
+always be used in trying to attain the same end. There are few
+subjects of equal importance so little considered by students of music
+in a conscious intelligent way. A clear conviction as to the
+foundation for close adherence to certain methods of doing things is
+an invaluable mental asset for any student.
+
+The whole subject of breathing has been so fully considered in
+previous chapters--indeed more or less in all parts of this work--that
+it is not necessary to go into much detail now. The investigations of
+physiologists in the internal have only emphasised the author's
+teaching on this subject. The present position of the subject may be
+stated thus: (1) In inspiration the whole chest is enlarged, this
+involving the descent of the diaphragm. (2) The amount of mobility is
+much greater in the lower half of the chest. (3) This lower half of
+the chest and the diaphragm act together, constituting a special
+mechanism of great importance. (4) The abdominal muscles discharge a
+cooeperative function. It follows that the advice of a present day
+famous tenor to "breathe low" is sound. Nevertheless, it must not be
+forgotten that inspiration begins above and that the upper chest has
+its functions also. It is not merely a region of support for the
+lower mechanism, important as this function is. The terms "abdominal"
+and "diaphragmatic" respiration have led to misunderstanding. Neither
+the abdominal muscles nor the diaphragm ever act alone in normal
+respiration, though they are important cooeperative factors.
+
+Breathing exercises should be based on broad views of the subject, and
+no part of the respiratory mechanism should be neglected.
+
+Small an organ as is the larynx it is through it the energy of the
+expiratory act is transmitted effectively or the reverse to the
+all-important resonance chambers. This should be so done that there is
+no waste; in other words, that there be perfect co-ordination between
+the breathing and the laryngeal mechanism. The vocal bands must be so
+related in function to the expiratory mechanism that the outgoing
+blast of air shall be as effective as possible. There must be no waste
+of power--_i.e._, of the expiratory blast through escape of air that
+accomplishes no purpose. The blast must be so applied to the vocal
+bands, or, in other words, they must be so adapted to the blast that
+there is no waste of energy. If the bands approximate a little too
+late there is waste of breath power. The bands must further so beat
+the air of the resonance chambers as to get the greatest possible
+result with the least possible expenditure of energy. As all these
+co-ordinations imply the action of many muscles in a related way, it
+is plain that intelligent and prolonged training is necessary; and if
+our scientific knowledge had no other result than to establish such a
+conviction on a sure basis it would be well worth while; but it is a
+light unto the feet of the student and teacher at every step, only it
+must be a clear light, not one seen through a mental haze. If there be
+failure the fault must not be set down to science but to ourselves.
+
+It is ever to be borne in mind that when anything is done in the right
+way not only is there no pain, unpleasant feeling or evil
+after-effects, but when real skill has been attained through training,
+the result is accomplished with a sense of ease and all the
+accompanying feelings are agreeable. The singer need not know that he
+has a throat by any disagreeable reminder. At the same time a function
+may be correctly discharged but continued too long, so that weariness
+or positive fatigue with some evil consequences may follow. Fatigue
+always implies more or less poisoning of the system.
+
+Of the resonance chambers, the mouth cavity, the pharyngeal cavity and
+the naso-pharynx, which may both be regarded as a part of the mouth
+cavity, and the nasal chambers, the latter may be considered the least
+variable in shape; nevertheless they can, by means of the soft
+palate, be to a large extent shut off from the other parts of this
+series of chambers.
+
+The means by which the size and shape of the resonance chambers can be
+varied are chiefly the soft palate and the tongue, the latter being of
+the greatest importance. The changes in the shape of the mouth cavity
+necessary for the formation of vowels are due chiefly to the movements
+of the tongue, and the tongue is more largely concerned in the
+utterance of consonants than any other moveable part of the upper
+voice mechanism.
+
+For practical ends it is important to realize that one speaks with the
+tongue; and if one believed that everything depended on this organ,
+other parts--including the outer mouth or lips merely to be kept out
+of the way--the result would on the whole likely be gain.
+
+In the formation of vowels the result may be good when the lips take
+but the slightest active part, and the student is advised to practice
+vowel formation without the use of the lips. He is likely to use them
+enough in any case provided he ensures the formation of pure vowel
+sounds, and people seem to have an extraordinary facility for
+over-doing the use of lip movements, for getting the teeth in the way
+and thus spoiling tone, that was begun well, before it has escaped
+from the mouth. It may be observed that those who get their living on
+the streets by the use of the voice, and who use the voice much and
+often speak rapidly, and in spite of this are heard well, so construct
+their words that the lips are not seen to move to any appreciable
+extent except as the lower jaw moves. The lips seem to be always
+apart. It is not the amount of movement that is important but the kind
+of movement, especially its rapidity.
+
+Muscular efforts for the production of consonants should be neat,
+decisive, sharp, rather than held ones, which tend to spoil the word
+as a whole. As a rule, one is safe in holding the vowel as long as
+possible and in making the time dwelt on the consonant as short as
+possible--_i.e._, consistent with distinct and musical utterance.
+
+The same applies to singing with even greater force. In speaking
+especially short pauses not printed in the text may be made to great
+advantage, and this is often better than dwelling on consonants. The
+mouth of the speaker and still more that of the singer should not
+attract the attention of the listener, so the less movement of the
+lips of a kind readily open to observation, the better. Besides such
+movements being unnecessary are a waste of muscular and nervous
+energy.
+
+Singers are not warranted in departing to any appreciable extent from
+the pronunciation of words laid down as standard for speakers--_e.g._,
+"shall" should not be sung as "sholl," and in such a word as "motion,"
+the final syllable should not be made equally important with the
+first one. Singers should observe the laws of a good elocution; in
+other words, such treatment of the language of the song as an approved
+reader would employ. The author would go so far as to say that no
+singer should appear in public till he can utter every syllable as he
+sings so that it is readily recognised by the listener. At present
+such is rarely the case even with the best vocalists. All prospective
+vocalists should study utterance by the speaking voice first and
+continue it when the study of singing has been begun. The words of
+every song, etc., should be mastered in all respects before they are
+sung.
+
+As the degree of success in singing or speaking depends so far as
+technique is concerned on a series of co-ordinations the condition of
+both the psychic and bodily mechanism as determined by training and
+the general health of the individual is of great importance; and it is
+not to be forgotten that the mind as well as the body is to be
+considered in all questions of hygiene.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+A
+
+Abdominal muscles, 66
+
+Acoustics, 97
+
+Adam's apple, 80
+
+Adductors, 82
+
+Air, 48
+  complemental, 70
+  quantity of, in lungs, 70
+  residual, 70
+  supplemental, 70
+  tidal, 70
+
+Amateurs, 274
+
+American speech, 146
+
+Americans, pitch of, 224
+
+Antagonists, 53
+
+Anatomy, 35
+
+Art, 17, 272
+
+Artist, isolation of, 254
+
+Artistic, 246
+  perception, 245
+  temperament, 31
+
+Arytenoid cartilages, 77
+
+Aspirates, 228
+
+Attack, 30, 125, 127, 208
+  best tests of a good, 129
+  good, 127, 232
+
+Auditory messages, 250
+
+Auto-laryngoscopy, 109, 110, 152, 161
+
+
+B
+
+"Backward" production, 213
+
+Bel Canto, 211
+
+Break, 162
+
+Breath, 60, 72
+  control of, 20, 21
+  exercise for, 133, 134
+  in phonation, 130
+  manner of using, 172, 208
+  stream, 22, 125, 194
+
+Breathing, 44-73, 118, 124
+  abdominal, 118
+  clavicular, 118, 119
+  deep, 63
+  diaphragmatic, 118, 119
+  exercises, 131
+  mechanism, control of, 120
+  method of, 64, 177
+  nose, 131
+
+
+C
+
+Cartilage of Santorini, 77
+  Wrisberg, 77
+
+Cells, 36
+
+Chest, 50, 62, 71
+  cavity of, 71
+  complete control of, 62
+  position of, in singing, 123
+  in speaking, 123
+
+Children, public appearance of, 116
+  register of, 234
+
+Choral singing, 247
+
+Choristers, 256
+
+Circulatory system, 37
+
+Clergyman's sore-throat, 88
+
+Cold, a, 77, 92
+  prevention of, 93
+
+Color, 214
+
+Composers, 116
+
+Consonant, a, 195, 196
+
+Consonants, 223, 225, 226, 230-235
+  mouth positions of, 226-228
+
+Corsets, evil effects of, 72
+
+Coup de glotte, 124-127, 139
+
+Cramming, 46
+
+Cricoid cartilage, 77, 81
+  thyroid, 83, 85
+    membrane, 81
+
+Curwen, 156
+
+
+D
+
+Dialects, 225, 235
+
+Diameters, 50
+
+Diaphragm, 52, 53, 66, 71
+
+
+E
+
+Ear, 182, 236, 245, 248
+  connection with mouth cavity, 203
+  drum-head of, 240
+  external, purpose of, 240
+  for music, 244
+    lack of, 245, 249
+  inner, 237, 241
+  middle, 237, 241
+  musical, 31
+  outer, 237
+    purpose of, 238
+
+Ease, 123, 233
+
+English, 198
+  speech, 146
+
+Epiglottis, 79
+
+Eustachian tube, 241
+
+Execution, 179, 256
+
+Exercises, 131-135, 139
+  practical, 73
+
+Expiration, 49
+
+Expiratory blast, 60, 68, 88, 103, 177
+  current, 136, 208
+
+Explosives, 226
+
+Expression, 254
+
+
+F
+
+Falsetto, 154
+  high, 170, 178
+  in males, 160, 179
+
+"Feeling-tone", 212
+
+Food, 263
+
+"Forward" production, 213
+
+Fundamental principles, 179-194
+  application of, 195-206
+  tone, 231
+
+
+G
+
+Garcia, Manuel, 105, 138, 159
+
+German language, 198
+  speech, 146
+
+Germans, pitch of, 224
+
+Glide, 258
+
+Glottis, 47, 78, 82, 88, 126, 159
+  in barytone voices, 157
+  bass voices, 157
+  contralto voices, 158
+  mezzo-soprano voices, 158
+  tenor voices, 157
+  ligamentous, 157
+
+
+H
+
+Head, position of, 205
+
+Hearing, 101, 236-250
+  difference in animals, 101
+  highest limit of, 102
+  lower limit of, 102
+
+Helmholtz, 167
+
+Hygiene, 33, 72, 92, 93, 251-275
+
+Hyoid bone, 81, 95
+
+
+I
+
+Illustration of principles, 27, 28
+
+Impulses, 236
+
+Inhibitions, 184
+
+Inspiration, 48, 51, 71
+
+Intonation, 195, 196, 230
+  correct position for good, 131
+
+Italian language, 198
+
+
+K
+
+Knowledge, principle of, 34
+
+
+L
+
+Larynx, 60, 74-96, 136, 148, 258
+  anatomy of, 21
+  as a musical instrument, 102
+  change in size of, 111
+  control over, 112
+  difference in size, 110
+  growth of, 138
+  in action, 109
+  in singing and speaking, 198
+  muscles of, 81, 95
+  of the male 138
+  photography of, 161
+  physiology of, 21
+  ventricle of, 80
+  vibrations of, 96
+  whole, 94
+
+Laryngoscope, 91, 103, 136
+
+Ligamentous glottis, 157
+
+Lips, 202
+
+Lungs, 49, 63
+
+Lymph, 37
+
+
+M
+
+Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 156, 167, 168
+
+Mara, Madame, range of, 111
+
+Marcato production, 209
+
+Marchesi, Madame, teaching of, 159
+
+Men, register of, 234
+
+Messages, Auditory, 250
+
+Methods, correct, 22, 23
+  faulty, 32
+
+Middle production, 214
+
+Midriff, see diaphragm
+
+Mind, 210
+
+Mirror, use of, 235
+
+Mouth, as a resonance chamber, 221
+  resonator, 148
+  cavity, 149
+  respiration, 131
+  toilet of, 262
+
+Movements, 192
+
+Muscles, 36, 82
+  abdominal, 66
+
+Muscular action, 71
+  mechanism, 42
+  movements, 179
+
+Music, 243
+  appreciation of, 247
+  intellectuality in, 256
+  intelligence in, 108
+  interpretation of, 21
+
+Musical artist, 198
+  ear, 31
+  prodigy, 243
+  faculty develops early, 115
+  faults, 258
+  sounds, practical range of, 102
+  tones, 231
+
+Musician, fundamental qualities of, 246
+
+
+N
+
+Nasal chambers, 144, 149, 214
+
+Nasality, 231
+
+Nerve-cells, 38
+
+Nervous centres, 39
+  impulses, 244, 250
+  system, 38
+
+Nervousness, 274
+
+Neuro-muscular mechanisms, 17, 42, 181
+  processes, 183
+  system, 43
+
+New language, learning of, 224
+
+Noise, 218
+
+
+O
+
+Open mouth, 203, 204, 217
+
+Ordinary speech, 230
+
+Overtones, 231, 235
+
+
+P
+
+Palate, cleft, 149
+  hard, 149, 213
+  soft, 145, 214, 216, 231
+
+Phonation, 192, 193
+  breath in, 130
+  example of, 193
+
+Physics, principles of involved, 135
+
+Physiological considerations, 34-43
+  teachings, 26, 31
+
+Piano production, 259
+
+Pillars of the fauces, 145
+
+Pitch, 101, 136, 150, 214
+  favorite, 273
+
+Portamento production, 258
+
+Practical considerations, 88
+
+Practice, 132, 185-192
+  best time to, 186, 187
+  by wrong method, 191
+  for sustained tone, 132
+  methods of, 194
+
+Puberty, at, 112, 138
+  in boys, 114, 115
+  in girls, 113
+
+Public singing, age to begin, 115
+  speaking, 212
+
+Pumping, 259
+
+
+Q
+
+Quality, 101, 136, 214
+
+
+R
+
+R and s, interval between, 225
+
+Reed, long, 157
+  short, 157
+
+Reflex action, 40
+
+Reflexes, associated, 183
+  protective character of, 58, 59
+  sets of, 184
+
+Register, 233
+  change in, 169, 177
+  chest, 160
+  definition of, 176
+  in female voices, 160
+  of basses and barytones, 170
+  of tenors, 170
+
+Registers, 151-178
+  Behnke on, 155, 156, 167
+  Garcia on, 155
+  Mackenzie on, 156, 167, 168
+  Madame Seiler on, 153, 165, 170
+  Mandl on, 158
+
+Resonance chambers, 102, 136, 140-150, 175, 182, 198, 213, 223, 224,
+    228, 234
+  in sounding bodies, 140
+  of musical instruments, 140, 141
+
+Resonants, 228
+
+Resonator, 148
+
+Respiration, 46, 48, 68, 69
+  forced, 119
+  hygiene of, 55
+  mouth, 131
+
+Respiratory centre, 57, 58, 172
+  efficiency, 124
+  organs, 47
+  system, 37
+  tract, 26
+
+
+S
+
+Science, 17
+
+Scripture, Prof., 150
+
+Seiler, Madame, 153, 165, 170
+
+Selections in public, 271
+
+Sensations, 172, 174, 175, 178
+
+Septum nasi, 149
+
+Singer, purpose of, 99
+  range of, 269
+
+Singing, choral, 256
+  class, 257
+  fortissimo, 121
+  good, 259
+  in schools, 247
+
+Song, elements of, 218-229
+
+Soprano, highest tones of, 137
+  light, 232
+
+Sound, 60, 97-103, 135, 225
+  quality of, 102, 246
+  Tyndall on, 97
+  volume of, 101, 102, 136
+
+Sounding body, 99
+
+Speaker, purpose of, 99
+
+Speaking, good, 259
+
+Speech, elements of, 218-229
+  organs of, 233
+  purity of, 135
+
+Sphincter action, 86
+
+Staccato production, 209
+
+Stammering, 268
+
+Stop-closure, 158
+
+Straining, 86, 175
+
+Straw bass, 88
+
+Stuttering, 268
+
+Style, 254
+
+Swell, 207, 212
+
+
+T
+
+Technique, 23, 179, 183, 185, 186, 254, 255
+
+Teeth, 202
+
+Temperament, 245
+
+Tenors, 232
+
+Throat mirror, 107
+  sore, 265
+
+Thyro-arytenoideus, 84, 85
+  hyoid membrane, 81
+
+Thyroid cartilage, 76, 81
+
+Timbre, 136
+
+Tone, 132, 135, 136
+  carrying power of, 126
+  color of, 214
+  ground, 231
+  head, 160
+  piano, 233
+  pitch of, 126
+  production, 132, 207-217
+  quality of, 128, 142, 150, 231
+  the sustained, 208
+  volume of, 126
+
+Tones, 189
+  head, 177
+  highest, 137
+  lower, 137
+  quality of, 146
+  timbre of, 136
+  upper, 86
+
+Tongue, 131, 145, 149, 214
+  control of, 202
+  influence of, 201
+
+Tonsils, 145, 149
+
+Trachea, 81
+
+Tremolo, 128, 258, 259
+
+Tuning fork, 99
+
+
+U
+
+Uvula, 145
+
+
+V
+
+Vibrations, 61, 98, 100, 236
+
+Vibratives, 228
+
+Vibrato, 258
+
+Vital capacity, 71
+
+Vocal athlete, 182
+
+Vocal bands, 87, 103, 126
+    action of, 137
+    false, 78
+    true, 77, 78, 80, 94
+    vibrations of, 136
+  cords, false, 95
+    Madame Seiler on, 154
+    true, 95
+  methods, 32
+  physiology, 17-32
+  training, early weeks of, 246
+
+Vocalises, 207
+
+Vocalist, ideal, 198
+
+Vocalization, 19, 31
+
+Voice, 44, 254
+  breaking of, 114
+  brightening the, 216
+  carrying power of, 232
+  darkening the, 216
+  even, 84
+  harsh, 232
+  head, in females, 166
+  in ill health, 114
+  loud, 272
+  placed, 215
+  position in use of, 206
+  production, 22, 244
+  small in volume, 272
+  user, 17, 33, 46
+    exercises for, 135
+  well placed, 175
+
+Voices, classification of, 260, 261
+  injured, 26
+
+Vowel, a, 195
+  purity of, 199
+  sounds, 196, 197, 216
+
+Vowels, adaptation of, to ideas, 222
+  and consonants, 230, 235
+  dark, 235
+  formation of, 218-221
+  low-pitched, 235
+  mouth positions of, 218
+  perfect sound of, 221
+  pitch of, 221, 225, 230
+  quality of, 221
+
+
+W
+
+Wagner, 257
+
+Whispering, 225, 226
+
+Women, register of, 234
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Voice Production in Singing and
+Speaking, by Wesley Mills
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOICE PRODUCTION IN SINGING ***
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