have even a better word, "apoggio," which is breath prop. The diaphragm
in English may be called the bellows of the lungs, but the apoggio is
the deep breath regulated by the diaphragm.

The attack of the sound must come from the apoggio, or breath prop. In
attacking the very highest notes it is essential, and no singer can
really get the high notes or vocal flexibility or strength of tone
without the attack coming from this seat of respiration.

In practicing the trill or staccato tones the pressure of the breath
must be felt even before the sound is heard. The beautiful, clear,
bell-like tones that die away into a soft piano are tones struck on the
apoggio and controlled by the steady soft pressure of the breath emitted
through a perfectly open throat, over a low tongue and resounding in the
cavities of the mouth or head.

Never for a moment sing without this apoggio, this breath prop. Its
development and its constant use mean the restoration of sick or
fatigued voices and the prolonging of all one's vocal powers into what
is wrongly called old age.

The Mastery of the Tongue

The tongue is a veritable stumbling block in the path of the singer. The
tongue is an enormous muscle compared with the other parts of the throat
and mouth, and its roots particularly can by a slight movement block the
passage of the throat pressing against the larynx. This accounts for
much of the pinched singing we hear.

When the tongue forms a mountain in the back part of the mouth the
singer produces what you call in English slang "a hot potato tone"--that
is to say, a tone that sounds as if it were having much difficulty to
get through the mouth. In very fact, it is having this difficulty, for
it has to pass over the back of the tongue.

The would-be singer has to learn to control the tongue muscles and,
above all things, to learn to relax the tongue and to govern it at will,
so that it never stiffens and forms that hard lump which can be plainly
felt immediately beneath the chin under the jaw.

It requires a great deal of practice to gain control of the tongue, and
there are many different exercises which purport to be beneficial in
gaining complete mastery over it. One, for instance, is to throw the
tongue out as far forward as possible without stiffening it and then
draw it back slowly. This can be done in front of a mirror by trying to
throw the tongue not only from the tip, but from the root, keeping the
sides of th