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suited to every case.

LOUD SINGING.

The practice of always singing loudly is greatly to be deprecated,
leading as it does to undue strain, to coarseness of the voice, and to
utter inability to modulate it into softness and purity of tone. Anyone
can shout and bawl, but not every one can sing softly--therefore always
practise softly until the voice be well formed, when it will be easy to
increase the volume of sound. Constant shouting causes the muscles of
the larynx to lose their contractile power, and a condition is brought
about which is analogous to writer's cramp. Sometimes no voice can be
produced, while at others it is given forth in a series of
uncontrollable jerks. Singers deficient in resonance, and who have not
acquired the best use and control of the various parts of the resonator,
resort to the objectionable practice of forcing their voices, relying
upon power of blast and vigour of shout instead of cultivating
resonance. A loud, big voice, produced with effort, is a manifestation
of a certain amount of physical power; but such voice-production is not
singing, it is mere shouting. Tones so produced will ultimately show
their bad origin by the effect left behind on the misused muscles.

CULTIVATION OF THE RESONATORS.

The resonators of the human voice, about which years ago Emil Behnke
lectured and wrote, are only just beginning to receive the attention
which their important functions deserve. Over some of the resonating
cavities we can obtain no voluntary control; but over the whole of the
mouth, of the buccal cavity, and over part of the pharyngeal we may, by
education, gain as much influence as over the fingers of the hand, and
the results obtained by such training are frequently astonishing. A
student at one of our colleges came to me recently whose first question
was "Can you teach me how not to sing with a 'squeezed' throat?"
"Nothing easier," was my reply. On his singing a few notes to me, the
tone of the voice revealed that owing to want of knowledge of the action
of the resonators, he was closing his throat in such a manner that the
voice sounded as if he were singing through the teeth of a comb. Without
looking in his mouth, I drew on a piece of paper the position in which
were his soft palate, the pillars of the fauces, the uvula, and the
tongue, telling him that was the picture he would see on looking at his
throat while singing. This proved on examination to be the case; and