I shall be gratified if this outcome of years of experience, constant study, and tested methods shall prove helpful to those who seek mastery of the art of beautiful speaking and singing. [Illustration: [signature] Thomas Fillebrown] CONTENTS PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION 1 I. THE VOCAL INSTRUMENT 6 II. THE SPEAKING VOICE AND PRONUNCIATION 16 III. BREATH CONTROL 23 IV. BREATHING EXERCISES 33 V. REGISTERS 38 VI. RESONANCE IN GENERAL 43 VII. HEAD AND NASAL RESONANCE 51 VIII. PLACING THE VOICE 56 IX. THROAT STIFFNESS 74 X. SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 77 XI. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VOCAL CULTURE 82 BOOKS CONSULTED 86 INDEX 89 RESONANCE IN SINGING AND SPEAKING INTRODUCTION When a youth it was my lot to be surrounded by examples of faulty vocalism, such as prevailed in a country town, and to be subjected to the errors then in vogue, having at the same time small opportunity for training in the application of principles, even as then imperfectly taught. At middle life I had given up all attempt at singing and had difficulty in speaking so as to be heard at any considerable distance or for any considerable length of time. Professional obligations to my patients, however, compelled me later to take up the subject of vocal physiology. This I did, guided by the ideas current on the subject. About 1880 I became satisfied that many of the current ideas were incorrect, and determined to start anew, and to note in detail the action of each organ used in vocalization and articulation. To this end I sought vocal instruction and advice, which, modified by my own observations, have produced the most gratifying results. Up to that time it had been held that the nasal cavities must be cut off from the mouth by the closing of the soft palate against the back of the throat; that the passage of ever so little of the sound above the palate would give a nasal twang, and that the sound was reinforced and developed only in the cavities of the throat and mouth. My practice in Oral Surgery, coupled with my own vocal studies exposed this fallacy and revealed to me the true value of nasal resonance.