us now inquire how the tones of the violin will
impress these two hearers; and further, let the inquiry be limited
strictly to the matter of tone, leaving out of consideration all
questions of composition and rendition.

As a matter of course, the tones of the violin will impress these two
listeners in widely different ways. The untrained observer will greatly
enjoy the beautiful tones,--supposing of course that he be gifted with a
natural fondness for music. But so far as musical value is concerned,
all the tones will sound to him practically alike.

For the trained hearer, on the other hand, every note drawn by the
performer from his instrument will have a distinct value. Some of the
tones will be true in pitch and perfect in quality. Some will vary
slightly from the correct pitch; others will perhaps be in perfect
tune, and yet be marred in quality by faults of scratching, thinness,
roughness, etc.

When the two come to compare notes at the end of the performance the
trained critic will be utterly unable to convey to his friend his
impressions of the player's technique. Vividly clear as it is to the
critic, his understanding of tonal values is lodged solely in his
cultivated ear. This understanding cannot be imparted in words; it must
be acquired by experience in actual listening to music.

Let us now imagine this same critic to be listening to a singer, not an
artist of the first rank, but one whose voice is marred by some slight
faults of production. In this case the critic will note exactly the same
sort of differences in tonal value as in the case of the violinist. Some
of the singer's notes will be perfect musical tones, others will be
marred by faults of intonation or of quality. But a great difference
will be noted between faulty tones played on the violin, and faulty
tones sung by the human voice. In addition to their blemishes as musical
tones, the faulty notes of the voice also convey to the critical
listener an idea of the state of the singer's throat in producing them.

Every blemish on the beauty of a vocal tone, every fine shade of quality
which detracts from its perfection, indicates to the critical hearer
some faulty action of the singer's vocal organs. The more faulty the
musical character of the singer's tones the more pronounced is this
impression of faulty production. On the other hand, just so nearly as
the singer's tones approach perfection as musical sounds, so do they
also impress the ea