ing passage: "There exists a possible and
a dangerous obstacle to the performance of the natural mission of the
voice. That obstacle is what? It is a superfluous and misdirected mental
activity which is fruitful of a corresponding obstruction on the part of
the body. In the body this obstruction takes the form of superfluous or
unnatural tension." (_The Philosophy of Singing_, N. Y., 1893.) Prof.
Scripture describes in scientific language the results of any attempt
directly to manage the vocal organs. Speaking of the use of the voice
under unfavorable conditions, he says: "The attempt is instinctively
made by the speaker or singer to correct such a fault by voluntary
innervation of the muscles; this cannot succeed perfectly because an
increase of innervation brings about contractions of associated and
antagonist muscles with the result of changed conditions and changed
sounds. Such extra muscular effort is, moreover, very fatiguing." (_The
Elements of Experimental Phonetics_, 1902.)

For the purposes of scientific voice culture this is one of the most
important facts which have been determined. The attempt to manage the
voice, by paying attention to the mechanical operations of the vocal
organs, causes an involuntary contraction of all the throat muscles, and
so interferes with the normal instinctive vocal action. Even the mere
thinking of the throat in singing, and especially in practising, is
enough to induce throat stiffness.

CHAPTER III

THROAT STIFFNESS AND INCORRECT SINGING

It is a lamentable fact that most of the singing heard nowadays gives
evidence of throat stiffness. Perfect singing becomes more rare with
each succeeding year. The younger generation of artists in particular
evince a marked tendency to this fault of production.

Considered as a cause of faulty tone-production in singing, throat
stiffness is due to only one influence, viz., the attempt to manage the
voice by thinking of the vocal organs and their mechanical operations.
Muscular tension due to nervousness, or to the unskilful nature of first
attempts at singing, cannot be looked upon as causing a wrong vocal
action. In the case of nervousness the lack of vocal command faithfully
reflects the psychological condition of the singer; the imperfect
response of the voice is normal to this condition. The stiffness due to
first attempts is also perfectly normal. Moreover, both these forms of
throat stiffness are temporary; they disappear