mpass.

Unfortunately, stubbornness enters largely into this question, and
often works in opposition to the teacher. Many, for instance, wish to
be altos, either because they are afraid of ruining their voices by
working for a higher compass, or because it is easier for them, even
if their voices are not altos at all.

Nowadays operas are no longer composed for particular singers and the
special characteristics of their voices. Composers and librettists
express what they feel without regard to an alto singer who has no
high C or a soprano who has no low A flat or G. But the _artist_ will
always find what he needs.

Registers exist in the voices of almost all singers, but they ought
not to be heard, ought not, indeed, to exist. Everything should be
sung with a mixed voice in such a way that no tone is forced at the
expense of any other. To avoid monotony the singer should have at his
disposal a wealth of means of expression in all ranges of his voice.
(See the Varieties of Attack and Dynamic Power.) Before all else he
should have knowledge of the advantages in the resonance of certain
tones, and of their connection with each other. The _soul_ must
provide the color; skill and knowledge as to cause and effect,
management of the breath, and perfection of the throat formation must
give the power to produce every dynamic gradation and detail of
expression. Registers are, accordingly, produced when the singer
forces a series of tones, generally ascending, upon one and the same
resonating point, instead of remembering that in a progression of
tones no one tone can be exactly like another, because the position of
the organs must be different for each. The palate must remain elastic
from the front teeth to its hindmost part, mobile and susceptible,
though imperceptibly, to all changes. Very much depends on the
continuous harmony of action of the soft and hard palate, which must
always be in full evidence, the raising and extension of the former
producing changes in the tone. If, as often happens when the registers
are sharply defined, tones fall into a _cul de sac_, escape into
another register is impossible, without a jump, which may lead to
disaster. With every tone that the singer has to sing, he must always
have the feeling that he _can_ go higher, and that the attack for
different tones must not be forced upon one and the same point.

The larynx must not be _suddenly_ pressed down nor jerked up, except
when this is des