y, many years of the hardest and most
careful study; and it finally brought me to realize the necessity of
exercising the vocal organs continually, and in the proper way, if I
wished always to be able to rely on them.

Practice, and especially the practice of the great, slow scale, is the
only cure for all injuries, and at the same time the most excellent
means of fortification against all over-exertion. I sing it every day,
often twice, even if I have to sing one of the greatest roles in the
evening. I can rely absolutely on its assistance.

If I had imparted nothing else to my pupils but the ability to sing
this one great exercise well, they would possess a capital fund of
knowledge which must infallibly bring them a rich return on their
voices. I often take fifty minutes to go through it only once, for I
let no tone pass that is lacking in any degree in pitch, power, and
duration, or in a single vibration of the propagation form.

SECTION XXXIII

VELOCITY

Singers, male and female, who are lacking velocity and the power of
trilling, seem to me like horses without tails. Both of these things
belong to the art of song, and are inseparable from it. It is a matter
of indifference whether the singer has to use them or not; he must be
able to. The teacher who neither teaches nor can teach them to his
pupils is a _bad teacher_; the pupil who, notwithstanding the urgent
warnings of his teacher, neglects the exercises that can help him to
acquire them, and fails to perfect himself in them, is a _bungler_.
There is no excuse for it but lack of talent, or laziness; and neither
has any place in the higher walks of art.

To give the voice velocity, practise first slowly, then faster and
faster, figures of five, six, seven, and eight notes, etc., upward
and downward.

If one has well mastered the great, slow scale, with the nasal
connection, skill in singing rapid passages will be developed quite of
itself, because they both rest on the same foundation, and without the
preliminary practice can never be understood.

Put the palate into the nasal position, the larynx upon _oe_; attack
the lowest tone of the figure with the thought of the highest; force
the breath, as it streams very vigorously forth from the larynx,
toward the nose, but allow the head current entire freedom, without
entirely doing away with the nasal quality; and then run up the scale
with great firmness.

In descending, keep the form of the high