e change in registers cannot be heard. And a tone sung with a head
voice and in the low voice should have the same degree of quality,
resonance and power.

As the voice ascends in the scale each note is different, and as one
goes on up the positions of the organ of the throat cannot remain the
same for several different tones. But there should never be an abrupt
change, either audible to the audience or felt in the singer's throat.
Every tone must be imperceptibly prepared, and upon the elasticity of
the vocal organs depends the smoothness of the tone production.
Adjusting the vocal apparatus to the high register should be both
imperceptible and mechanical whenever a high note has to be sung.

In the high register the head voice, or voice which vibrates in the head
cavities, should be used chiefly. The middle register requires palatal
resonance, and the first notes of the head register and the last ones of
the middle require a judicious blending of both. The middle register can
be dragged up to the high notes, but always at the cost first of the
beauty of the voice and then of the voice itself, for no organ can stand
being used wrongly for a long time.

This is only one of the reasons that so many fine big voices go to
pieces long before they should.

In an excess of enthusiasm the young singer attempts to develop the high
notes and make them sound--in her own ears, at all events--as big as the
middle voice. The pure head tone sounds small and feeble to the singer
herself, and she would rather use the chest quality, but the head tone
has the piercing, penetrating quality which makes it tell in a big
hall, while the middle register, unless used in its right place, makes
the voice muffled, heavy and lacking in vibrancy. Though to the singer
the tone may seem immense, in reality it lacks resonance.

A singer must never cease listening to herself intelligently and never
neglect cultivating the head tone or over-tone of the voice, which is
its salvation, for it means vibrancy, carrying power and youth to a
voice. Without it the finest voice soon becomes worn and off pitch. Used
judiciously it will preserve a voice into old age.

Tone Emission and Attack

In my first talk I said a few words, but not half enough, on the subject
of breath control.

My second talk was the physiological aspect of the throat, head and
tongue, for it is necessary to become thoroughly acquainted with the
mechanism with which you are