wledge that the world has to offer is
no preparation for voice training. A knowledge of the art of teaching
begins when the teacher takes his first pupil, not before. Therefore the
aim shall be to present the subject as it appears to the teacher.

We hear much of the value of vocal physiology as a guide to good voice
production. It is also claimed that a knowledge of it will prevent the
singer from misusing his voice and at the same time act as a panacea for
vocal ills. These statements do not possess a single element of truth.
The only way the singer can injure the vocal instrument is by forcing
it. That is, by setting up a resistance in the vocal cords that prevents
their normal action. If this is persevered in it soon becomes a habit
which results in chronic congestion. Singing becomes increasingly
difficult, especially in the upper voice, and in course of time the
singer discovers that he has laryngitis. Will a knowledge of vocal
physiology cure laryngitis? Never. Will it prevent any one from singing
"throaty?" There is no instance of the kind on record. In a majority of
cases laryngitis and other vocal ills are the direct results of bad
voice production and disappear as the singer learns to produce his upper
tones without resistance. These things are effects, not causes, and to
destroy the effect we must remove the cause. This will be found to be a
wrong habit and habits are mental, not physical. When a mental impulse
and its consequent response become simultaneous and automatic the result
is a habit, but it is the mental impulse that has become automatic.

The terms, _tension_, _rigidity_, _interference_, _resistance_, all mean
essentially the same thing. They mean the various forms of contraction
in the vocal instrument which prevents its involuntary action. If we
follow these things back far enough we shall find that they all have
their origin in some degree of fear. This fear, of which anxiety is a
mild form, begins to show itself whenever the singer attempts tones
above the compass of his speaking voice. Here is undeveloped territory.
The tone lacks power, quality and freedom, and as power is what the
untrained singer always seeks first, he begins to force it. In a short
time he has a rigid throat, and the longer he sings the more rigid it
becomes. By the time he decides to go to a teacher his voice is in such
a condition that he must take his upper tones with a thick, throaty
quality or with a light falsetto.