in each individual case.
This problem has been, since 1865, the one absorbing topic of Voice
Culture. Probably the most unfortunate single fact in the history of
Voice Culture is that scientific study of the voice was from the
beginning confined solely to the mechanical features of tone-production.
Had scientific investigators turned their attention also to the analysis
of the auditory impressions of vocal tones, and to the psychological
aspect of tone-production, scientific instruction in singing would
probably not have been identified with mechanical management of the
voice. All the subsequent difficulties of the vocal profession would
almost certainly have been avoided.

Every attempt at a solution of the problem of tone-production has been
made along strictly mechanical lines. Attention has been devoted solely
to the anatomy and physiology of the vocal organs, and to the acoustic
principles of the vocal action. Since 1865 hardly a year has passed
without some important contribution to the sum of knowledge of the vocal
mechanism. For many years this development of Vocal Science was eagerly
followed by the vocal teachers. Any seemingly authoritative announcement
of a new theory of the voice was sure to bring its reward in an
immediate influx of earnest students. Prominent teachers made it their
practice to spend their vacations in studying with the famous
specialists and investigators. Each new theory of the vocal action was
at once put into practice, or at any rate this attempt was made. Yet
each new attempt brought only a fresh disappointment. The mystery of the
voice was only deepened with each successive failure at solution.

A review in detail of the development of Vocal Science would be of only
academic interest. Very little of practical moment would probably be
added to the outline of modern methods contained in Part I.

Teachers of singing at present evince an attitude of skepticism toward
new theories of the vocal action. Voice Culture has settled along
well-established lines. In the past fifteen years little change can be
noted in the practices of vocal teachers. The mechanical idea is so
firmly established that no question is ever raised as to its scientific
soundness. Under the limitations imposed by this erroneous idea,
teachers do their best to train the voices entrusted to their care.

Vocal Science is of vastly less importance in modern Voice Culture than
the world in general supposes. Only an imag