s conditions exert a striking influence on the operations of the
voice. Even when our self-control under trying conditions is complete in
all other respects we are often unable to prevent our voices betraying
our nervous state. Stage fright, an extreme form of nervousness,
sometimes deprives the sufferer entirely of the power of speech. This
temporary loss of vocal command is not due to an inability to innervate
the muscles of the vocal organs; on the contrary, it is caused by
extreme muscular stiffness due to the violent, though involuntary,
contraction of all the muscles of the vocal organs.

Under normal conditions, entirely aside from nervousness, the voice
instinctively reflects every phase of sentiment and emotion. Love and
hate, sorrow and joy, anger, fear, and rage, each is clearly expressed
by the quality of the tones, independent of the meaning of the spoken
words. All these fine shades of tone quality result from muscular
adjustments of the vocal mechanism. In some mysterious manner the
outflow of motor impulses to the throat muscles is governed by the
nervous and emotional states.

This form of muscular contraction is in one sense not involuntary. As
the voice is voluntarily used, all the muscular contractions involved
are voluntary. Yet the minute contractions producing tone qualities
expressive of emotion are distinctly involuntary. More than this, these
contractions cannot usually be inhibited. An angry man cannot make his
voice sound other than angry. Our voices often betray our feelings in
spite of the most earnest efforts at concealment.

While the voice always normally and involuntarily adopts the tone
quality indicative of the emotional state, this action of the vocal
organs may be voluntarily and purposely performed. A perfect command of
these fine shades of tone quality renders the voice a very potent
instrument of expression. For the purposes of dramatic singing this form
of vocal expression might be of great value. It is to be regretted that
dramatic singers of this day pay so little attention to purely tonal
expressiveness. This is probably due in great measure to the prevalence
of throat stiffness, which robs the voice of much of its expressive
power.

_(c) Contractions of the Throat Muscles, caused by Attention to the
Throat_

When a physician attempts to examine a child's throat, the tendency of
the throat muscles to this form of involuntary contractions is apt to be
evidenced. The jaw