ot naturally convenient for producing
the voice, will consciously direct her notes into the head cavities by
opening up the throat and lifting the soft palate. For instance, in the
role of Violetta the music of the last act is sung lying down. In order
to get proper resonance to some of the high notes I have to start them
in the head cavity by means, of course, of the apoggio, or breath prop,
without which the note would be thin and would have no body to it.

The sensation that I have is of a slight pressure of breath striking
almost into a direct line into the cavity behind the forehead over the
eyes without any obstruction or feeling in the throat at all.

This is the correct attack for the head tone, or a tone taken in the
upper register. Before I explain the registers to you I must tell you
one of the funniest compliments I ever received. A very flattering
person was comparing my voice to that of another high soprano whom I
very much admire.

"Her voice is beautiful, particularly in the upper register," I insisted
when the other lady was being criticized.

"Ah, madame," responded the flattering critic, "but your registers give
out so much more warmth."

I think this joke is too good to lose, also the criticism, while unjust
to the other singer, is interesting to the student, because in the high
register, which includes in some voices all the notes above middle C,
the notes are thin and cold unless supported by the apoggio, the breath
prop, of which I have told you so much. People ask whether there are
such things as vocal registers. Certainly there are. There are three
always and sometimes four in very high voices. The ordinary registers
are the low, the middle, the high voice, or head voice, and sometimes
the second high voice, which has been called the flagellant voice.

A vocal register is a series of tones which are produced by a certain
position of the larynx, tongue and palate. In the woman's voice the
middle register takes in the notes from E on the first line of the staff
about to middle C. The head voice begins at middle C and runs up
sometimes to the end of the voice, sometimes to B flat or C, where it
joins the second head register, which I have heard ascend into a whistle
in phenomenal voices cultivated only in this register and useless for
vocal work.

Though the registers exist and the tones in middle, below and above are
not produced in the same manner, the voice should be so equalized that
th