bit of
cramped contraction; until the overtones again soar as they should,
and are kept soaring long, though quite _piano_. At first this seems
quite impossible, and is indeed very difficult, demanding all the
patient's energy. But it is possible, and he cannot avoid it, for it
is the only way to a thorough cure. The patient has an extremely
disagreeable period to pass through. If he is industrious and careful,
he will soon find it impossible to sing in his old way; but the new
way is for the most part quite unfamiliar to him, because his ear
still hears as it has previously been accustomed to hear. It may be
that years will pass before he can again use the muscles, so long
maltreated. But he should not be dismayed at this prospect. If he can
no longer use his voice in public as a singer, he certainly can as a
teacher--for _a teacher must be able to sing well_. How should he
describe to others sensations in singing which he himself never felt?
Is it not as if he undertook to teach a language that he did not speak
himself? or an instrument that he did not play himself? When he
himself does not hear, how shall he teach others to hear?

The degree of the evil, and the patient's skill, naturally have much
to do with the rapidity of the cure. But one cannot throw off a habit
of years' standing like an old garment; and every new garment, too, is
uncomfortable at first. One cannot expect an immediate cure, either of
himself or of others. If the singer undertakes it with courage and
energy, he learns to use his voice with conscious understanding, as
should have been done in the beginning.

And he must make up his mind to it, that even after a good cure, the
old habits will reappear, like corns in wet weather, whenever he is
not in good form physically. That should not lead to discouragement;
persistence will bring success.

As I have already said, singers with disabled voices like best to try
"magic cures"; and there are teachers and pupils who boast of having
effected such magic cures in a few weeks or hours.

_Of them I give warning!_ and _equally_, of unprincipled physicians
who daub around in the larynx, burn it, cut it, and make everything
worse instead of better.

I cannot comprehend why singers do not unite to brand such people
publicly and put an end to their doings once for all.

There is no other remedy than a slow, very careful study of the
_causes_ of the trouble, which in almost all cases consist in lack of