y be at once
changed by unduly opening or closing the mouth. One may say that _the
mouth should be sufficiently opened to produce the best possible
effect_. We have never seen the mouth opened to such an extent that it
was positively unsightly--reminding one of the rhinoceros at a
zoo--without feeling that the tone had suffered thereby.

If all would remember that the mouth is best opened by simply
_dropping the lower jaw_, passively, in the easiest manner possible,
the difficulties some students experience would disappear. Many act as
if the process were chiefly an active one, while the reverse is the
case, as one may observe in the sleeper when the muscles become unduly
relaxed--a condition that is often accompanied by snoring, which is
produced by a mouth-breathing that gives rise to vibrations of the
soft palate. We mean to say that the lower jaw drops when muscles
relax, and that opening the mouth is largely a passive thing, while
closing the mouth is an active process.

The position of the head in its influence on tone-production is an
insufficiently considered subject. It is impossible that the head be
much raised or lowered without changes being produced in the vocal
apparatus, especially the larynx, and if the tone is not to suffer in
consequence, special care must be taken to make compensatory changes
in the parts affected. It is only necessary to sing any vowel, and
then raise the chin greatly, to observe a distinct change in the
quality of the tone, with corresponding sensations in the vocal
organs.

To speak or sing with the head turned to one side is plainly
unfavorable to the well-being of the parts used, because it leads to
compression, which gives rise to that congestion before referred to as
the source of so many evils in voice-users. To sit at a piano and sing
is an unphysiological proceeding, because it implies that the head is
bent in reading the music on a page much lower than the eyes, and
when, with this, the head is turned to one side to allow of reading
the music on the distant side of the page, furthest from the middle
line of the head, the case is still worse. If all who thus use the
vocal organs do not give evidence of the truth of the above by
hoarseness, etc., it is simply because in young and vigorous organs
there may be considerable power of resisting unfavorable influences.
The student is recommended to use his voice in the standing position
only, when possible, as all others are mo