till better model of
production. This process of gradual improvement by imitation must be
capable of continuation until the last fault is eliminated. No limit can
be set to the ability of the voice to improve its manner of
tone-production by imitation. It must therefore be concluded that the
perfect vocal action can be acquired by imitation.

In practical Voice Culture, learning to sing by imitation means simply
the cultivation of the sense of hearing and the guidance of the voice by
the ear. In other words, those vocal theorists who insist upon ear
training commit themselves to the theory of imitative Voice Culture.
What necessity is there of mechanical management of the vocal organs if
the voice is to be guided by the ear? Even if mechanical management of
the voice were possible it would be entirely superfluous. The voice
needs no other guidance than the singer's sense of hearing.

Here another striking question is encountered: Why should the vocal
organs be thought to be unable to adjust themselves for the tone quality
demanded by the ear any more than for the pitch? No vocal theorist has
ever thought to formulate rules for securing the tension of the vocal
cords necessary for the desired pitch. This is always left to
instinctive processes. No one would ever undertake to question the
voice's ability to sing by imitation a note of any particular pitch.
What valid reason can be given for denying the corresponding ability
regarding tone quality?

Only one answer can be made to this question. The whole matter of
mechanical vocal management rests on pure assumption. No scientific
proof has ever been sought for the belief that the voice requires
mechanical management. This necessity is always assumed, but the
assumption is utterly illogical. The vocal organs adjust themselves for
the imitation of tone quality by exactly the same psychological
processes as for the imitation of pitch. Neither pitch nor tone quality
can be regulated in any other way than by the guidance of the ear.

Imitation furnishes the only means of acquiring the correct vocal
action. Several authorities on the voice admit the value of imitation,
even though they also make much of the mechanical doctrines of modern
methods. Sieber gives imitation as the best means of curing faults of
production. "The best means to free the student of the three forms of
faulty tone just described is possessed by that teacher who is able to
imitate these faults with his