ged. It is comparatively easy to make a
good tone with some vowels, but extremely difficult with others, and
it is the singer's task so to modify the vowel that is unfavorable as
to make it easier to produce good tone in using it. But while thus
modifying the actual vowel sound, the integrity of the vowel must at
least be sufficiently preserved to enable the listener to understand
what vowel is being sung. All this is particularly difficult in
singing loudly, and it is largely for this reason that the vocal
student is required by his teacher to practise softly so much of the
time. Some vowels have two parts (_e.g._, i = ae + [=e]), and here it
is the singer's task to sustain the part upon which the better tone
can be made, sounding the other part only long enough to produce a
correct total effect.

[Sidenote: CONSONANTS]

As noted above, the consonants are in general merely devices for
cutting off the flow of vowel sound in various ways, and one of the
most difficult problems confronting the singer in his public
performances is to articulate the consonants so skilfully that the
words shall be easy to follow by the audience, and at the same time to
keep the vowel sounds so pure and their flow so uninterrupted that the
singing may be perfect in its tone quality and in its _legato_. It is
because this matter presents great difficulty that the words of the
singer with a good _legato_ can so seldom be understood, while the
declamatory vocalist who presents his words faultlessly is apt to sing
with no _legato_ at all. The problem is not insoluble, but its
solution can only be accomplished through years of study under expert
guidance. Vocal teachers in general will probably disagree with us;
but it is our opinion that in choral performance at least, the _tone_
rather than the _words_ should be sacrificed if one or the other has
to give way, and the choral conductor is therefore advised to study
the use of the consonants most carefully, and to find out how to make
use of every means of securing well enunciated words from his body of
singers.

[Sidenote: RELAXATION]

The next point to be noted is the importance of what vocal teachers
refer to as the "movable lower jaw," this, of course, implying
absolute (but controlled) relaxation of all muscles used in singing.
Without relaxation of this sort, the tone is very likely to be badly
placed, the sound seeming to come from the throat, and the whole
effect being that of tone sq