nging the arpeggio the tones of the
voice must be strictly staccato; but the movement of the hands and body
must be very smooth, even, and continuous--no short, jerky movements.

The movement of the body is very slight, and at no time, in studying these
first exercises, should the hands be raised above the level of the hips or
of the waist line. Of course with beginners these movements may be more or
less exaggerated. When singing songs, however, they do not show, at least
not nearly as much as wrong breathing and wrong effort. They simply give
the singer the appearance of proper dignity, position, and self-assertion.
By all means use the hands in training the movements of the body. You can
train the body by the use of the hands in one-fourth of the time that it is
possible to do it without using them. Be careful, however, not to raise the
hands too high, as is the tendency; when lifted too high the energy is
often put into the hands and arms instead of the body; in this way the body
is not properly aroused and influenced, and of course true conditions are
not secured.

"Practical rules must rest upon theory, and theory upon nature, and nature
is ascertained by observation and experience." Now, if you will practice
this arpeggio with a free, flexible movement of hands and body, getting
under the tone, as it were, and moving to a level of every tone, you will
soon find by practice and experience that these movements are perfectly
natural, that they arouse all the forces which nature gave us for the
production of tone, that they vitalize the singer and give freedom to the
voice. By moving properly to a level of the first tone you secure all true
conditions of tone; and if you have placed yourself properly upon a level
with the high tone, when that is reached you will have maintained those
true conditions--you will have freedom, inflation and vitality instead of
contraction and strain.

By moving with the voice in this flexible manner we bring every part of the
body into action, and apply strength as nature demands it, without effort
or strain. Remember, there is no strength properly applied in singing
without movement. In this way the voice is an outward manifestation of an
inward feeling or emotion. "The voice is your inner or higher self,
expressed not _at_ or _by_ but _through_ the vocal organs,
aided by the whole body as a sound-board."

Our next study will be a simple arpeggio sung with the _la_ sound,
thus:

[I