, the palate is sunk,
or in its normal position.

With _oo_, _o_, and _ah_ the larynx stands low, the palate is arched.

With _a_, _e_, and _ah_ the lips are drawn back.

With _oo_, _o_, _ue_, and _oe_ they are extended far forward.

The auxiliary sound _y_ connects them all with each other, so that the
transitions are made quite imperceptibly. Since it is pronounced with
the tongue drawn high against the palate, it prevents the base of the
tongue from falling down again.

This should be practised very slowly, that the sensations may be
clearly discerned, and that no vibration that gives the vowel its
pitch and duration may escape attention.

The muscular contraction described comprises the chief functions of
the vocal organs, and is as necessary for singing as the breath is for
the tone. Year in and year out every singer and pupil must practise it
in daily exercises as much as possible, on every tone of the vocal
compass.

In the lowest as well as in the highest range the sharpness of the
_a_ is lost, as well as the clear definition of all single vowels. _A_
should be mingled with _oo_, _ah_, and _e_. In the highest range, the
vowels are merged in each other, because then the principal thing is
not the vowel, but the high sound.

Even the _thought_ of _[=a]_ and _[=e]_, the latter especially, raises
the pitch of the tone. The explanation of this is that _[=a]_ and
_[=e]_ possess sympathetic sounds above the palate that lead the
breath to the resonance of the head cavities.

For this reason tenors often, in high notes, resort to the device of
changing words with dark vowels to words with the bright vowel _e_.
They could attain the same end, without changing the whole word, by
simply _thinking_ of an _e_.

[Illustration: Pronounce in English [=a] [=e] ueoo oah[=e]]

Without over-exertion, the singer can practise the exercises given
above twenty times a day, in periods of ten to fifteen minutes each,
and will soon appreciate the advantage of the muscular strengthening
they give. They make the voice fresh, not weary, as doubtless many
will suppose.

What, then, can be expected of an untrained organ? Nothing!

Without daily vocal gymnastics no power of endurance in the muscles
can be gained. They must be so strong that a great operatic role can
be repeated ten times in succession, in order that the singer may
become able to endure the strain of singing in opera houses, in great
auditoriums, and make himself