n mind always that a register implies (1) a series
of tones of a characteristic clang, _timbre_, color, or quality; (2)
that this is due to the employment of a special mechanism of the
larynx in a particular manner. It follows that in thinking of
registers scientifically, one must take into account both the tones
and the mechanisms by which they are produced.

Naturally, with most untrained people the passage from one register to
another is associated with a suddenness of change which is unpleasant,
and which is termed the _break_. It is often suggestive of weakness,
uncertainty, etc., and to an ear at once sensitive and exacting
through training is intolerable when very pronounced. Often this break
is very marked in contraltos, and is invariably so pronounced in the
male voice when it passes to the upper falsetto that even the dullest
ear does not fail to notice the change.

It is, therefore, not surprising that teachers should have sought to
lessen the unpleasant surprise for the listener caused by the break.
Some have looked on registers as almost an invention of the Evil One,
and forbidden the use of the term to their students; but such
ostrich-like treatment of the subject--such burying of the head in the
sand--does not do away with a difficulty, much less can such a plain
fact as the existence of registers be ignored without the most
detrimental results, as we shall endeavor to make plain. Some, feeling
that the break was an artistic abomination, have proceeded to teach
the student to reduce all tones to the same quality, which is about as
rational as asking a painter to give us pictures, by the use of but
one pigment.

To attempt to abolish registers would be like leaving but one string
to the violin; which instrument, in its present form, has a register
for each string; and the player endeavors to avoid the breaks that
naturally occur in passing from string to string, and to get a smooth
series of tones just as the intelligent vocalist does.

The registers may be represented to the eye by the method illustrated
in figure 52.

The wise instructor recognizes registers; they are a fact in nature,
and one to be valued. The more colors, the greater the range of the
artist's powers, other things being equal, whether the artist paint
with pigments or tones; but just as the painter uses intermediate
tones of color to prevent rude transitions or breaks, so must the
singer modify or "cover" the tones between the reg