certain conditions, conditions demanded
by Nature and not man's ideas or fancies. These conditions are dependent
upon form and adjustment, or we might better say adjustment and form, as
form is the result of the adjustment of the parts. So far all writers on
the voice, and all teachers, agree; but here comes the parting of the ways.
One man attempts form and adjustment by locally influencing the parts,--the
tongue, the lips, the soft palate, the larynx, etc. This results in
muscular singing and artificiality. We have found that form and adjustment,
to be right, must be automatic. This condition cannot be secured by any
system of direct local effort, but must be the result of flexible,
vitalized bodily movements--movements which arouse and develop all the true
conditions of tone; movements which allow the voice to sing spontaneously.

The fundamental conditions of singing demanded by Nature we find are as
follows:

Natural or automatic adjustment of the organ of sound, and of all the
parts.

Approximation of the breath bands.

Inflation of all the cavities.

Non-interference above the organ of sound.

Automatic breath-control.

Freedom of form and action of all the parts above the larynx.

High placing and low resonance.

Automatic articulation.

Mental and emotional vitality or energy.

Free, flexible, vitalized bodily position and action.

It is not my intention here to enlarge upon these conditions to any extent.
I have already done so in my last book, "Position and Action in Singing." I
know many writers on the voice, and many teachers, do not agree with me on
this subject of conditions; but facts are stubborn things, and "A physical
fact is as sacred as a moral principle." "The sources of all phenomena, the
sources of all life, intelligence and love, are to be sought in the
internal--the spiritual realm; not in the external or material." "A man is
considerably out of date who says he does not believe a thing, simply
because he cannot do that thing or does not understand how the thing is
done. There are three classes of people--the 'wills,' the 'won'ts,' and the
'can'ts': the first accomplish everything, the second oppose everything,
and the third fail in everything." These things [these conditions] can be
understood and fully appreciated by investigation only. There is no
absolute definite knowledge in this world except that gained from
experience.

The voice in correct use is