the tone must be "started right." As Clara Kathleen
Rogers expresses it, "Attack the tone badly, and nothing can improve it
afterwards." (_The Philosophy of Singing_, New York, 1893.) This
statement is in the practical sense utterly unfounded. A tone may be
"attacked" with a nasal or throaty quality, and then be improved, by
simply eliminating the objectionable quality. Of this fact the reader
may readily convince himself. In short, all the accepted theories of
attack rest on an unscientific basis.

Vocal theorists generally treat the subject of attack as connected in
some way with registers and laryngeal action. But as no rule has ever
been formulated for the mechanical management of the laryngeal action,
it necessarily follows that no intelligible directions are ever given to
the student for preparing to start the laryngeal action correctly.

Three possible ways of attacking a tone are generally recognized. These
are described by Albert B. Bach, in _The Principles of Singing_, second
edition, London, 1897. They are, first, the stroke of the glottis. (This
is advocated by Garcia in most of his published works, although the
testimony of many of his pupils, notably Mme. Marchesi, is that Garcia
used the glottic stroke very little in actual instruction.) Second, the
aspirate (_h_ as in _have_), which is generally condemned. Third, the
approximation of the vocal cords at the precise instant the breath blast
strikes them. This latter mode of attack is advocated by Browne and
Behnke, who call it the "slide of the glottis." It must be observed
that neither the stroke nor the slide of the glottis can be shown to
have any influence in causing the laryngeal muscles to adopt any
particular mode of adjustment.

Turning to practical methods of instruction, little connection can be
traced between the theories of attack and the occasional directions
usually given for starting the tone. The subject of attack is seldom
assigned to any particular period in the course of study. Many teachers
ignore the matter altogether. Others devote a few minutes now and then
to drilling a pupil in the stroke of the glottis, without attaching much
importance to the subject. (The position assigned to this mode of attack
by the "breath-band" theorists has already been mentioned.) On the
whole, the matter of attack is usually treated rather loosely. The pupil
is occasionally interrupted in singing a phrase, and told to "attack the
tone better." Needles