elief is
intimately associated with another equally erroneous, that the only way
to tell whether a tone is good or bad, right or wrong, is by the way it
feels. A tone is something to hear. It makes its appeal to the ear, and
why one should rely on the sense of feeling to tell whether it sounds
right or wrong is something difficult to understand.

Further, explicit directions are given for the action and control of
everything involved in making tone except the mind of the student. The
larynx seems to be particularly vulnerable and is subject to continuous
attack. One says it should be held low throughout the compass. Another
says it should rise as the pitch rises, and still another, that it
should drop as the pitch rises. Instructions of this kind do not
enlighten, they mystify.

If there be any one thing upon which voice teachers theoretically agree
it is "free throat". Even those who argue for a fixed larynx agree to
this, notwithstanding it is a physical impossibility to hold the larynx
in a fixed position throughout the compass without a considerable amount
of rigidity. It is like believing in Infinite Love and eternal
punishment at the same time.

When the larynx is free it will not and should not be in the same
position at all times. It will be a little lower for somber tones than
for bright tones. It will be a little higher for the vowel e than for oo
or o, but the adjustments will be _automatic_, never conscious. It
cannot be too often reiterated that every part of the vocal mechanism
must act automatically, and it is not properly controlled until it does.

The soft palate also comes in for its share of instruction. I was once
taught to raise it until the uvula disappeared. Later I was taught to
relax it. Both of these movements of the soft palate were expected to
result in a beautiful tone. Now if two things which are directly opposed
to each other are equal to the same thing, then there is no use in
bothering our heads further with logic.

Such directions I believe to be of doubtful value, if not irrelevant. We
must learn that _an idea has definite form_, and that when the mechanism
is free, that is, plastic, the idea molds it into a corresponding form
and the expression becomes a perfect picture of the idea. This is what
is meant by indirect control, involuntary, automatic action.

One could write indefinitely on the peculiarities of voice training, the
unique suggestions made, the mechanical instruction