always tuned like an instrument. This must be
in order to have resonance and freedom, and this is done only through
natural or automatic adjustment of all the parts. In singing there are
always two forces in action, pressure and resistance, or motor power and
control. In order to have automatic adjustment these two forces must
prevail. When the organ of sound is automatically adjusted, the breath
bands approximate: This gives the true resisting or controlling force. When
the breath bands approximate we have inflation of the ventricles of the
larynx, the most important of all the resonance cavities, for when this
condition prevails we have freedom of tone, and the inflation of all other
cavities. And not only this; it also enables us to remove all restraint or
interference from the parts above the larynx, and especially from the
intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the throat. This automatic adjustment,
approximation of the breath bands and inflation of the ventricles, gives us
a yet more important condition, namely, automatic breath control; this is
beyond question the most important of all problems solved for the singer
through this system of flexible vitalized movements.
The removal of all interference or direct local control of the parts above
the larynx, gives absolute freedom of form and action; and when the form
and action are free, articulation becomes automatic and spontaneous. When
all restraint is thus removed, the air current comes to the front, and we
secure the important condition of high placing. Furthermore, under these
conditions, when the air current strikes the roof of the mouth freely, it
is reflected into the inflated cavities, and there is heard and felt,
through sympathetic vibration of the air in the cavities, added resonance
or the wonderful reinforcing power of inflation: in this way is secured not
only the added resonance of all other cavities, but especially the
resonance of the chest, the greatest of all resonance or reinforcing
powers.
When the voice is thus freed under true conditions, it is possible to
arouse easily and quickly the mental and emotional power and vitality of
the singer. In this way is aroused that which I have called the singer's
sensation, or, for want of a better name, the third power of the voice.
This power is not a mere fancy. It is not imagination; for it is absolutely
necessary to the complete mental and emotional expression of the singer, to
the development of all h
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