has fully realized the difficulties of the
art of song, does it really become of value and significance. Not till
then are one's eyes opened to the duty owed not only to one's self
but to the public.

The appreciation of a difficulty makes study doubly attractive; the
laborious ascent of a summit which no one can contest, is the
attainment of a goal.

Voices in which the palatal resonance--and so, power--is the
predominating factor, are the hardest to manage and to preserve. They
are generally called chest voices. Uncommon power and fulness of tone
in the middle ranges are extremely seductive. Only rarely are people
found with sense enough to renounce such an excess of fulness in favor
of the head tones,--that is, the least risky range to exploit and
preserve,--even if this has to be done only temporarily.

Copious vocal resources may with impunity be brought before the public
and thereby submitted to strain, only after long and regular study.

The pure head tone, without admixture of palatal resonance, is feeble
close at hand, but penetrating and of a carrying power equalled by no
other. Palatal resonance without admixture of the resonance of the
head cavities (head tones) makes the tone very powerful when heard
near by, but without vibrancy for a large auditorium. This is the
proof of how greatly _every_ tone needs the proper admixture.

SECTION XVIII

THE HIGHEST HEAD TONES

As we have already seen, there is almost no limit to the height that
can be reached by the pure head tone without admixture of palatal
resonance. Very young voices, especially, can reach such heights, for
without any strain they possess the necessary adaptability and skill
in the adjustment to each other of the larynx, tongue, and pillars of
the fauces. A skill that rests on ignorance of the true nature of the
phenomenon must be called pure chance, and thus its disappearance is
as puzzling to teacher and listener as its appearance had been in the
first place. How often is it paired with a total lack of ability to
produce anything but the highest head tones! As a general rule such
voices have a very short lease of life, because their possessors are
exploited as wonders, before they have any conception of the way to
use them, of tone, right singing, and of cause and effect in general.
An erroneous pressure of the muscles, a wrong movement of the tongue
(raising the tip, for instance, [Illustration]), an attempt to
increase the stre