y. Yet this important element in Vocal Science is almost
completely neglected.

In order to arrive at an assured basis for the art of Voice Culture, it
is necessary in the first place to apply the strictest rules of
scientific investigation to the study of the voice. A definite plan must
be adopted, to include every available source information. First, the
insight into the operations of the voice, obtained by listening to
voices, must be reviewed and analyzed. Second, the sciences of anatomy,
mechanics, acoustics, and psychology must each contribute its share to
the general fund of information. Third, from all the facts thus brought
together the general laws of vocal control and management must be
deduced.

Before undertaking this exhaustive analysis of the vocal action it is
advisable to review in detail every method of instruction in singing now
in vogue. This may seem a very difficult task. To the casual observer
conditions in the vocal world appear truly chaotic. Almost every
prominent teacher believes himself to possess a method peculiarly his
own; it would not be easy to find two masters who agree on every point,
practical as well as theoretical. But this confusion of methods is only
on the surface. All teachers draw the materials of their methods from
the same sources. An outline of the history of Voice Culture, including
the rise of the old Italian school and the development of Vocal Science,
will render the present situation in the vocal profession sufficiently
clear.

Part I of this work contains a review of modern methods. In Part II a
critical analysis is offered of certain theories of the vocal action
which receive much attention in practical instruction. Several of the
accepted doctrines of Vocal Science, notably those of breath-control,
chest and nasal resonance, and forward placing of the tone, are found on
examination to contain serious fallacies. More important even than the
specific errors involved in these doctrines, the basic principle of
modern Voice Culture is also found to be false. All methods are based on
the theory that the voice requires to be directly and consciously
managed in the performance of its muscular operations. When tested by
the psychological laws of muscular guidance, this theory of mechanical
tone-production is found to be a complete error.

Part III contains a summary of all present knowledge of the voice.
First, the insight into the singer's vocal operations is considered,