he throat. If
the nose is to be shut off from the throat the soft palate is _raised_,
and pressed against the back of the pharynx. If the mouth is to be shut
off the soft palate is _lowered_, and rests closely upon the back of the
tongue. This partition plays a most important part in vocalization. In
the formation of all pure vowel sounds it is _raised_, thereby closing
the nasal cavities, and it has been found that the closure is loosest
for "ah" (as in "father") and tightest for "e" (as in "bee"), the
intermediate vowels being "a" (as in "name"), "oh" and "oo" (as in
"food"). This has been clearly shown by Czermak in the following manner.
Lying down on his back, he had the nasal cavities filled with tepid
water. He then uttered the various vowel sounds, and ascertained from
the quantity of water required to force open the closure formed by the
soft palate the degree of tightness for each vowel. He afterwards
constructed a very ingenious little apparatus, by means of which, in one
of his lectures, he demonstrated this fact to his audience. It will be
easily understood from the above explanation that, if the closure of
the nasal cavities is sufficiently imperfect to allow any considerable
amount of air to pass through the nose, the result will be a nasal tone.

I am aware that the very opposite is taught by some. There are
those who maintain that nasal tone arises from the air _not_ being
able to get through the nose. I am even informed that in some parts
of England where nasal tone seems to be a general affliction, it is
the practice of teachers of singing to cause their pupils to bathe
their noses in hot water in order to relax the muscles which are
supposed by their contraction to produce nasal tone. I would,
however, in support of my statement, draw attention to the
following indisputable facts:--(1) It is quite possible to
completely close the nostrils, and yet to produce pure vocal tone.
(2) Persons who are either partly or entirely without the soft
palate can _under no circumstances_ utter a single sound without
the most pronounced nasal quality. It seems to me that these facts
sufficiently speak for themselves; but if any of my readers are not
convinced by them, let them try this experiment: Take a thin mirror
and hold it flat against the upper lip, with the glass upwards. Now
sing a pure vocal tone, and the mirror will remain pe