mmediately opening very widely during the lowest tones of
the Lower Thin, when the vocal ligaments are quite relaxed. Nothing of
the kind takes place during the change either from the Lower Thin to the
Upper Thin, or from the Lower Thick to the Upper Thick. It appears to me
that Madame Seiler has rather exaggerated the importance of these minor
breaks, while she does not make enough of the great break between the
Upper Thick and the Lower Thin. If there is straining anywhere, it is
during the attempt to carry the mechanism of the Upper Thick beyond its
natural limit. In this case the tension of the vocal ligaments, as
indeed of all surrounding parts, becomes so tremendous that at last the
whole thing looks as though it were literally going to fly to pieces in
every direction. Now change into the Lower Thin, and the relief is
wonderful. Let tenors make a note of this. If they _will_ violate
Nature, they must pay the penalty!

As regards the transition from the Lower Thin to the Upper Thin, I would
suggest the following explanation:--The vocal chink is at first, as
Madame Seiler says, linear, and the gradations of tone are caused by
simple tension of the vocal ligaments, which is proved by the diminution
of the ring-shield aperture. While this goes on we are in the Lower
Thin. Now the laryngoscope reveals another method of still further
raising the pitch, which consists in a gradual shortening of the vocal
chink. This is caused by the shield-pyramid muscles pressing together
the ends of the vocal ligaments, thereby giving the vocal chink a
slightly elliptic shape. When this mechanism comes into play we are in
the Upper Thin.

THE SMALL REGISTER.

"When in the observation of the thin register I had sung upwards to its
highest tones, and then sang still higher, I became aware, with the F[#]
[Illustration: musical notation] of a change in the motions of the
organ of singing, and the tones thus produced had a different _timbre_
from those of the Thin. It required long and patient practice before I
finally succeeded in drawing forward the lid so that I could see the
glottis in its whole length. Not until then was I able to observe the
following: With the F[#] [Illustration: musical notation] the vocal
ligaments suddenly closed firmly together to their middle, with their
fine edges one over the other. This closing appeared as a fine red line
extending, from the pyramids at the back, forward to the middle of the
vocal ligam