This work is of necessity academic in conception and in substance. Its only purpose is to demonstrate the falsity of the idea of mechanical vocal management, and to prove the scientific soundness of instruction by imitation. There is no possibility of a practical manual of instruction in singing being accepted, based on the training of the ear and the musical education of the singer, until the vocal world has been convinced of the error of the mechanical idea. When that has been accomplished this work will have served its purpose. All of the controversial materials, together with much of the theoretical subject matter, will then be superfluous. A concise practical treatise can then be offered, containing all that the vocal teacher and the student of singing need to know about the training and management of the voice. It is in great measure due to the cooperation of my dear friend, Charles Leonard-Stuart, that my theory of voice production is brought into literary form, and presented in this book. To his thorough musicianship, his skill and experience as a writer of English, and especially to his mastery of the bookman's art, I am deeply indebted. True as I know Leonard-Stuart's love to be for the art of pure singing, I yet prefer to ascribe his unselfish interest in this work to his friendship for the author. CONTENTS PART I MODERN METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN SINGING CHAPTER I Tone-Production and Voice Culture CHAPTER II Breathing and Breath-Control CHAPTER III Registers and Laryngeal Action CHAPTER IV Resonance CHAPTER V Empirical Materials of Modern Methods CHAPTER VI A General View of Modern Voice Culture PART II A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MODERN METHODS CHAPTER I Mechanical Vocal Management as the Basis of Voice Culture CHAPTER II The Fallacy of the Doctrine of Breath-Control CHAPTER III The Fallacies of Forward Emission, Chest Resonance, and Nasal Resonance CHAPTER IV The Futility of the Materials of Modern Methods CHAPTER V The Error of the Theory of Mechanical Vocal Management PART III THE BASIS OF A REAL SCIENCE OF VOICE CHAPTER I The Means of Empirical Observation of the Voice CHAPTER II Sympathetic Sensations of Vocal Tone CHAPTER III Empirical Knowledge of the Voice CHAPTER IV The Empirical Precepts of the Old Italian School CHAPTER V Empirical Knowledge in Modern Voice Culture CHAPTER VI Scientific Knowledge of the Voice PART IV VOCAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL VOICE CULTURE CHAPTER I The Correct Vocal Action CHAPTER II The Causes of Throat Stiffness and of Incorrect Vocal Action CHAPTER III Throat Stiffness and Incorrect Singing CHAPTER IV The True Meaning of Vocal Training CHAPTER V Imitation the Rational Basis of Voice Culture CHAPTER VI The Old Italian Method CHAPTER VII The Disappearance of the Old Italian Method and the Development of Mechanical Instruction CHAPTER VIII The Materials of Rational Instruction in Singing CHAPTER IX