ds approximate a little too
late there is waste of breath power. The bands must further so beat
the air of the resonance chambers as to get the greatest possible
result with the least possible expenditure of energy. As all these
co-ordinations imply the action of many muscles in a related way, it
is plain that intelligent and prolonged training is necessary; and if
our scientific knowledge had no other result than to establish such a
conviction on a sure basis it would be well worth while; but it is a
light unto the feet of the student and teacher at every step, only it
must be a clear light, not one seen through a mental haze. If there be
failure the fault must not be set down to science but to ourselves.

It is ever to be borne in mind that when anything is done in the right
way not only is there no pain, unpleasant feeling or evil
after-effects, but when real skill has been attained through training,
the result is accomplished with a sense of ease and all the
accompanying feelings are agreeable. The singer need not know that he
has a throat by any disagreeable reminder. At the same time a function
may be correctly discharged but continued too long, so that weariness
or positive fatigue with some evil consequences may follow. Fatigue
always implies more or less poisoning of the system.

Of the resonance chambers, the mouth cavity, the pharyngeal cavity and
the naso-pharynx, which may both be regarded as a part of the mouth
cavity, and the nasal chambers, the latter may be considered the least
variable in shape; nevertheless they can, by means of the soft
palate, be to a large extent shut off from the other parts of this
series of chambers.

The means by which the size and shape of the resonance chambers can be
varied are chiefly the soft palate and the tongue, the latter being of
the greatest importance. The changes in the shape of the mouth cavity
necessary for the formation of vowels are due chiefly to the movements
of the tongue, and the tongue is more largely concerned in the
utterance of consonants than any other moveable part of the upper
voice mechanism.

For practical ends it is important to realize that one speaks with the
tongue; and if one believed that everything depended on this organ,
other parts--including the outer mouth or lips merely to be kept out
of the way--the result would on the whole likely be gain.

In the formation of vowels the result may be good when the lips take
but the slightest ac