to work before you can really sing. Today
I'm going to take up the subject of tone emission and the attack.

A great many singers suffer from the defect called "throatiness" of the
emission--that is to say, they attack or start the note in the throat.
Sooner or later this attack will ruin the most beautiful voice. As I
have said before, the attack of the note must come from the apoggio, or
breath prop. But to have the attack pure and perfectly in tune you must
have the throat entirely open, for it is useless to try to sing if the
throat is not sufficiently open to let the sound pass freely. Throaty
tones or pinched tones are tones which are trying to force themselves
through a half-closed throat blocked either by insufficient opening of
the larynx or by stoppage of the throat passage, due to the root of the
tongue being forced down and back too hard or possibly to a low, soft
palate.

In order to have the throat perfectly open it is necessary to have the
jaw absolutely relaxed.

I have found in studying different nationalities that it is fairly easy
for the French and Spanish people to learn this relaxation of jaw and
the opening of the throat, but the English-speaking people generally
talk with the throat half shut and even talk through half-shut teeth.
Sometime, when you are talking rapidly, suddenly put your hand up to
your jaw. You will find that it is stiff; that the muscles beneath it
(tongue muscles) are tight and hard; that the jaw seldom goes down very
far in pronouncing any of the English words, whereas in singing the jaw
should be absolutely relaxed, going down and back just as far as it can
with ease.

The jaw is attached to the skull right beneath the temples in front of
the ears. By placing your two fingers there and dropping the jaw you
will find that a space between the skull and jaw grows as the jaw drops.

In singing this space must be as wide as is possible, for that indicates
that the jaw is dropped down, giving its aid to the opening at the back
of the throat. It will help the beginner sometimes to do simple relaxing
exercises, feeling the jaw drop with the fingers. It must drop down, and
it is not necessary to open the mouth wide, because the jaw is relaxed
to its utmost.

However, for a beginner it is as well to practice opening the mouth
wide, being sure to lower the jaw at the back. Do this many times a day
without emitting any sound merely to get the feeling of what an open
throat is re