ired as a special effect. That is, when one wishes to
make a transition, _legato_, from a chest tone to a tone in the middle
or head register, as the old Italians used to do, and as I, too,
learned to do, thus:--

[Music illustration]

In this case the chest tone is attacked very nasal, in order that the
connection may remain to the upper note, and the larynx is suddenly
jerked up to the high tone. This was called breaking the tone; it was
very much used, and gave fine effects when it was well done. I use it
to-day, especially in Italian music, where it belongs. It is an
exception to the rule for imperceptible or inaudible change of
position of the organs,--that it should not be made _suddenly_.

The scale proceeds from one semitone to another; each is different;
each, as you go on, requires greater height, wherefore the position of
the organs cannot remain the same for several different tones. But, as
there should never be an abrupt change audible in the way of singing,
so should there never be an abrupt change felt in the sensations of
the singer's throat. Every tone must be imperceptibly prepared in an
elastic channel and must produce an easy feeling in the singer, as
well as an agreeable impression upon the listener.

The small peak indicated in the illustration is enormously extensible
and can be shifted into infinite varieties of position. However
unimportant its raising and lowering may appear, they are nevertheless
of great importance for the tone and the singer. The focal point of
the breath, that forms simultaneously the attack and the body of the
tone, by the operation of the abdominal breath pressure against the
chest, is always firmly placed on, beneath, or behind the nose.
Without body even the finest pianissimo has no significance. The very
highest unmixed head tones are an exception, and they can express
nothing. There can be no body expected in them. Their soaring quality
of sound endures no pressure, and consequently gives no expression,
which is possible only through an admixture of palatal resonance.
Their only significance is gained through their pure euphony.

All vowels, too, must keep their point of resonance uninterruptedly on
the palate. All beauty in the art of song, in cantilena as well as in
all technique, consists chiefly in uninterrupted connection between
the tone and the word, in the flexible connection of the soft palate
with the hard, in the continually elastic adjustment of the f