many muscles and to be effective must be exact and
under perfect control, much practice is necessary, though "much"
should have reference rather to the clearness of the mind in reference
to what is to be attained and the means of accomplishing it, rather
than to the amount of time spent over the actual performance. We may
confidently assert that technique or the physical side of putting the
ideas into execution, which is simply making certain movements, is
successful largely in proportion to the perfection of the psychic
processes involved. A clear head should precede the moving hand, or
functioning vocal organs. The student should think technique before
and after its actual execution. This is even yet, in spite of a great
advance in recent years, the weakest part of the student's method of
work. All that we know of science as well as the results of all
rightly directed practice emphasizes the importance of this central
truth.

Assuming that the psychic condition is satisfactory for the production
of a definite tone--_i.e._, that it is heard mentally, what follows
before it is actually produced, before it becomes a tone from the
physicist's point of view? What is the chain of physical, somatic,
bodily or anatomical (to use several words that express similar but
slightly different aspects of the same main idea) connections
involved, and what is the nature of the physiological processes; in
other words, what are the parts of the body involved and how do they
act? This will be clearer if we first consider the mechanism concerned
and its functions in a general way.

The instrument which is played upon, which finally gives rise to the
tone, may be spoken of as that connected series of cavities for which
we have no single term but which are generally named the resonance
chambers when regarded from the physicist's point of view. To the
musician they are the instrument, to the physiologist and anatomist a
set of chambers communicating with each other. Plainly all the rest
of the vocal mechanism exists for them, and too much stress cannot be
laid on this fact. However excellent the state of training of the part
below them this is of no avail except in so far as it can affect these
resonance cavities.

How is this instrument played upon and how are these cavities made
actually into resounding chambers? In the answer to this, in the
recognition of the relationship of the three distinct parts of the
vocal apparatus lies the on