This leads me to remark that the soft palate should, as a matter of course, be in a perfectly healthy condition, or it cannot perform the infinite variety of movements required from it. In many cases however, it is in a very different state, the arch being congested, the uvula elongated, and the tonsils greatly enlarged. People with a soft palate like this are handicapped. They might as well try to run a race with a heavy weight on their shoulders as to sing or speak with such impediments in their throats. They should at once put themselves in the hands of a properly qualified medical practitioner, who may probably recommend clipping of the uvula or excision of the tonsils. Either operation is a slight one, and in suitable cases nothing but good can follow from it. Another obstacle to the forward production of tone is often caused by that great movable plug called the tongue. We have it on the highest authority that the tongue is an "unruly member." It is sometimes difficult to keep it under proper control, and with some people it is continually running away altogether. As under ordinary circumstances, so in singing. Instead of peacefully assuming the position necessary for the production of the various vowels, the tongue rises in rebellion; it arches up, stiffens and defies all attempts to keep it in order. The tone is consequently more or less impeded and shut in, with the result of making it guttural or throaty. Here again singing before the mirror as described above will enable the student to master his tongue and to improve his voice to a wonderful extent. All voice trainers, as I have said before, agree that tone should be allowed to come well forward, and the best plan to bring about this desirable end is to sing _oo_, then to allow _oo_ to dwindle into _o_, and finally to allow _o_ to dwindle into _ah_. In some cases these _oo-o-ah_ exercises are insufficient because the throatiness of tone is partly brought about by a stiffening of the throat in general. The _oo-o-ah_ must then be preceded by staccato exercises upon the syllable _Koo_, which have the effect not only of throwing the tone forward, but also of making the throat supple. Make the experiment before a mirror and you will see the reason. I should have pointed out in the course of this chapter that one of the great secrets in the production of fine resonant and far-reaching tone consists in using as little air as possible; and I conclude by advising all those who want to be heard to open their mouths, a thing which, curiously enough, many people in these islands seem to be determined not to do. _APPENDIX TO THE NINTH EDITION_ VOICE FAILURE. A NEW CHAPTER, WRITTEN FOR THE NINTH EDITION, BY MRS. EMIL BEHNKE.