the resonator.


CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS (AIKIN)

Jaw fully open H, L, K, G
" less " T, D, N, R
" nearly closed, lips closed P, B, M
" " " upper lip on lower teeth F, V
" quite closed S, Z, J, N, Ch, Sh

Aikin, moreover, points out that the English language is so full of
closures that it is difficult to keep the resonator open, and that accounts
for one of the principal difficulties in singing it.

"The converse of this may be said of Italian, in which most words end in
pure vowels which keep the resonator open. In fact, it is this circumstance
which has made the Italian language the basis of every point of voice
culture and the producer of so many wonderful singers." As an example
compare the English word 'voice,' which begins with closure and ends with
closure, and the Italian 'voce,' pronounced _voché_, with its two open
vowel sounds. The vowel sound ah on the note c is the middle tone of the
speaking register, and as we know, can be used all day long without
fatigue; therefore in training the voice the endeavour should be made to
develop the register above and below this middle tone. In speaking there is
always a tendency under emotional excitement, especially if associated with
anger, to raise the pitch of the voice, whereas the tender emotions lead
rather to a lowering of the pitch. Interrogation generally leads to a rise
of the pitch; thus, as Helmholtz pointed out, in the following sentence
there is a decided fall in the pitch--"I have been for a walk"; whereas in