d in the wood-wind and brass, and brass doubled
by wood-wind are combinations liable to drown the singer. This may be
done even more easily by _tremolando_ in the kettle-drums and other
percussion instruments, which, even by themselves are capable of
overpowering any other orchestral group of instruments. Doubling of
wood-wind and horns, and the use of two clarinets, two oboes or two
horns in unison to form one harmonic part is likewise to be avoided,
as such combinations will have a similar effect on the voice. The
frequent use of long sustained notes in the double basses is another
course unfavourable to the singer; these notes in combination with the
human voice produce a peculiar throbbing effect.

Juxtaposition of strings and wood-wind which overweights _legato_ or
declamatory singing may nevertheless be employed if one of the groups
forms the harmony in sustained notes and the other executes a melodic
design, when, for instance the sustaining instruments are clarinet,
and bassoon, or bassoon and horn, and the melodic design is entrusted
to violins or violas--or in the opposite case, when the harmony is
given to violas and 'cellos _divisi_, and the harmonic [Transcriber's
Note: melodic] figure to the clarinets.

Sustained harmony in the register of the second octave to the middle
of the third does not overpower women's voices, as these develop
_outside_ this range; neither is it too heavy for men's voices, which
although opening out _within_ the range itself sound an octave higher,
as in the case of the tenor voice. As a rule women's voices suffer
more than men's when they come in contact with harmony in a register
similar to their own. Taken separately, and used in moderation, each
group of orchestral instruments may be considered favourable to each
type of voice. But the combination of two or three groups cannot be so
considered unless they each play an independent part and are not
united together at full strength. Incessant four-part harmony is to be
deprecated. Satisfactory results will be obtained when the number of
harmonic parts is gradually decreased, with some of them sustaining
pedal notes, and when the harmony, interspersed with necessary pauses
is confined to the limits of one octave, distributed over several
octaves, or duplicated in the higher register.

These manipulations allow the composer to come to the singer's aid; in
voice-modulations, when the singer passes from the _cantabile_ to the
decla