, there are others who press it upward too high;
their _a_ position is a permanent one. Such voices are marked by a
very bright, sharp quality of tone, often like a goat's bleating.

Both are alike wrong and disagreeable. The proper medium between them
must be gained by sensitive training of the ear, and a taste formed by
the teacher through examples drawn from his own singing and that of
others.

If we wish to give a noble expression to the tone and the word, we
must mingle its vocal sound, if it is not so, with _o_ or _oo_. If we
wish to give the word merely an agreeable expression, we mingle it
with _ah_, _[=a]_, and _[=e]_. That is, we must use all the qualities
of tonal resonance, and thus produce colors which shall benefit the
tone and thereby the word and its expression.

Thus a single tone may be taken or sung in many different ways. In
every varying connection, consequently, the singer must be able to
change it according to the expression desired. But as soon as it is a
question of a _musical phrase_, in which several tones or words, or
tones alone, are connected, the law of progression must remain in
force; expression must be sacrificed, partly at least, to the beauty
of the musical passage.

If he is skilful enough, the singer can impart a certain expression of
feeling to even the most superficial phrases and coloratura passages.
Thus, in the coloratura passages of Mozart's arias, I have always
sought to gain expressiveness by _crescendi_, choice of significant
points for breathing, and breaking off of phrases. I have been
especially successful with this in the _Entfuehrung_, introducing a
tone of lament into the first aria, a heroic dignity into the second,
through the coloratura passages. Without exaggerating petty details,
the artist must exploit all the means of expression that he is
justified in using.

SECTION XXIX

AUXILIARY VOWELS

Like the auxiliary verbs "will" and "have," _[=a]_, _[=e]_, and _oo_
are auxiliary vowels, of whose aid we are constantly compelled to
avail ourselves. It will perhaps sound exaggerated when I present an
example of this, but as a matter of fact pronunciation is consummated
in this way; only, it must not become noticeable. The method seems
singular, but its object is to prevent the leaving of any empty
resonance space, and to obviate any interruptions that could affect
the perfection of the tone.

For example, when I wish to sing the word "Fraeulein," I mu