Then beside all this, much care and thoughtful attention must be given to the resonant body: the pipes, the stops; how to reinforce and modify all into a harmony pleasing and musical.

We can hardly say too much of the importance of developing the lungs to their fullest capacity. It is surprising how readily the lungs may be expanded, sometimes to double their undeveloped capacity. A great lung capacity without corresponding breath control, especially the outgoing breath, is of no advantage to the voice. Too much wind forced against the reeds of the organ makes the tone wheezy and impure. Too much air from the lungs gives a breathy, labored tone in either speech or song.

VIBRATORY AGENTS OF THE VOICE.

The culture of the Vibratory agents of the voice, the vocal cords, is left largely to the soul that must play upon these mystic strings with thought and feeling, yet teachers of voice attempt to give exercises for tensioning the vocal cords for the stroke of the glottis etc. This particular, delicate work best be taken under the direction of a careful, experienced teacher.

E

The Larynx may be exercised by use of the following – (as in eve.) A- (as in father.) OC- (as in boon.) Larynx may be lowered on

E, A, 00.

oo, A, E.

Larynx may be raised on The drill to develop resonance in the nares, and the drill for dynamic, proper breathing, reward the student's efforts with immediate results indicating a start and growth most encouraging, when the exercises have been faithfully taken. In the efforts to focus the voice in the front of the mouth the student may know and feel the vibrations distinctly. To illustrate and leave no room for blunder, the student is asked to hold lightly the bridge of the nose, closing the nos

trils, pronounce "knee, knee, knee," observe the little vibration or buzz in the nose against the fingers. This kind of tingle, buzz, or ring or vibration of the hard bone just back of the upper, front teeth is what we should aim to secure. The vowel formed farthest front is long E. Repeat "E, E, E, " many times rapidly and note the vibrations in the front of the mouth.

Caution. In working for this quality in the voice, while practicing the following exercises, there are two important points to observe - Do not practice any of this series of voice building exercises forcibly. Gently, gently. Loudness overshoots the mark. Noise is not music. Force tensions the muscles of the throat and pinches off the vibrations and defeats the whole effort.

The second point is more difficult than the first,—

Start the tone with the breath, snuff it through the nose as if gently blowing thistle down or some airy substance through the nose. Whisper the exercise first then make the tone, always as gently as possible.

Exercise L.

VOICE EXERCISES.

Hold the nose, practice up and down the scale, letting go the nose on the seventh note coming down the scale when the tone should ring clear.

Practice "knee, "

Exercise II.

Practice "hng" up and down the scale, letting it ring in the roof of the mouth and the nasal cavity. Let the mouth come well open, wide enough to insert between the teeth the width of the first and second fingers.Let the lower jaw hang lifeless, the throat open as if to yawn. Inhale through the nose, making one breath last as long as possible.

Practice the same as Exercise II. " hng-ah-nah "up and down the scale.

Exercise IV.

Practice up and down the scale with much lip action. "Mnome. "

Exercise V.

Practice with much lip action on three pitches, the voice medium, high and low—

"Most men want poise and more

Say lightly on different scales and pitches, prolonging at the close" ah." "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ah. "

Exercise VII.

Practice saying and singing on different pitches, prolonging "o" and "EN" in "golden, golden, golden, golden."

OPEN THE MOUTH that the tone may come out.

You may as well place the hand over the mouth in producing tone as to keep the mouth closed or the jaws near together. The tone so is muffled and shorn of carrying power.

A device for opening the mouth used by some teachers gives an idea of the position of the jaws for the leading vowels. The ivory wedge to place between the teeth while making a tone is 2 inches long at the base, 13 inches at the long end and inch on the short end with 18 notches on the upper edge. With this wedge we may test ourselves and find what we are able to do, though we should not use it in voice drill as it would cause unnatural action of the muscles. A pronounced as in the word father opens the jaws the widest, as measured by the ivory wedge, 10 to 14 notches. o as in rose from 8 to 12 notches.

A as in pale from 4 to 6 notches.
oo as in coo, from 6 to 8 notches.
E as in see the least open

Order of exercise — A, O, A, 00, E. Sounds as above A as in father is the vowel on which the voice should be most frequently exercised.

Practice also lists of words with the following vowels