arrower sense, the
forward part, is shut off from the hinder part, or the pharynx, so
that the breath is then directed upward and passes chiefly through the
nose, producing a nasal tone or twang--always a fault, and one
fearfully common in America.

When the tongue alone is raised behind, or drawn back unduly, tones
become muffled--indistinct, etc. This is also a very common fault, but
is found in England and Germany also. English speech is often hard and
guttural, German unduly guttural, if not so hard, and American
slovenly and horribly nasal.

But what may in a certain degree be disagreeable and a vocal error, is
in another a positive excellence; so, in this case, the use of the
tongue and soft palate in the proper degree and at the right moment
gives us emotional expression. This subject will, however, be
considered again later; in the meantime, the student is advised to do
a little experimenting in the use of his tongue and soft palate, with
a view of noting how the quality of tone may be thus made to vary. He
is also advised to use a hand-glass with the object of observing the
parts mentioned in this chapter, and if he can also find a friend
willing to lend his mouth for observation, so much the better.

The sooner any voice-user comes to feel that his vocal destinies lie
in his own hands, the better. "Know thyself" is as necessary an
admonition for the speaker and singer as for any other artist, but
with that must go another, "Believe in thyself"--that thou canst
produce tones of beautiful and expressive quality if thou wilt; it may
be only after much wisely directed work, but yet it is possible.

Allusion must be made to the danger of those engaged in mathematical
and physical investigations applying their conclusions in too rigid a
manner to the animal body. It was held till recently that the pitch of
a vocal tone was determined solely by the number of vibrations of the
vocal bands, as if they acted like the strings of a violin or the reed
of a clarinet, while the resonance-chambers were thought to simply
take up these vibrations and determine nothing but the quality of
tone; they were believed not to have any influence on pitch. Against
this view the author long ago demurred. To Prof. Scripture, however,
belongs the credit of demonstrating that the resonance-chambers
determine pitch also. It seems probable that the vocal bands so beat
the air within the resonance-chambers as to determine the rate of
vibra