When this is not the case, it is to be attributed only to the singing-teacher.
"Many voices acquire a sharp tone, which is the precursor of decay." _Answer._ All voices are, and will remain, more or less tender, if their culture is correct.
"Only Jenny Lind and Henrietta Sontag were allowed by the public to give out their voices naturally and lightly without straining them, and to sing _piano_ and _pianissimo_, and their celebrity is a justification of this privilege." _Answer._ But how would they have obtained their celebrity, if this were not the true, correct, and pure mode of singing?
"Our singers also try the _piano_ and _pianissimo_; but they can produce no effect on their audiences by it, as you may see every day." _Answer._ Good heavens! I should think so! With such a _piano_, with strained voices, faulty attack, and the use of too much breath,--a _piano_ which only gurgles in the throat, or deeper! That I do not mean: I must refer you again to the three trifles mentioned in my eighth chapter.
"But some voices have no _piano_, and many singers do not take the right course to acquire it." _Answer._ What a wide-spread, groundless excuse! Here we may see the error of our times.

People look for the fault outside of themselves, and not in themselves.

The inventive power of the age is here truly astonishing! When, owing to false management, the voice soon degenerates instead of improving with time, it is the consequence of a faulty formation of the throat, and of the neglect of London throat brushes! If such badly educated voices can no longer produce a _piano_, it is owing to the unskilfulness of nature, and to the false construction of the necessary organs! If the _piano_ is only a wheeze, the reason is found in the deficiency of palate, and excess of muscles! If several times in the month, the worn out, weary voice can only groan and sigh, or cannot emit a sound, it is the result of a change in the weather, or other meteorological conditions! If we complain of unpleasant, shrieking tones, occasioned by the mouth being too widely stretched, then "the rays of sound take an oblique, instead of a direct course"! If the poor, strained medium voice, even with the help of a great deal of breath, can only produce dull, hollow, veiled, and unpleasant tones, that is said to be a necessary crisis, of which cruel Nature requires a great many in the course of her development of the voice! Finally, if from long and forced holding of the chest-tones, they are changed into noises like the bellowing of calves and the quacking of ducks, and the instructor finally perceives it, then again we have a crisis! And, alas! no one thinks of "the three trifles." * * * * * What occasions the want of success of our singing-teachers, many of whom are musical, possess a delicate ear, fine culture and feeling, have studied systems of singing, and exert themselves zealously to teach rightly?
They fail in the culture of the tone, which is not to be learned from books or by one's self, but only from verbal communication.

To learn to produce a clear tone, with a light, free, natural attack; to understand how to draw forth the sound with the use of no unnecessary breath, and to cause the sound to strike against the roof of the mouth above the upper row of teeth; to improve the pronunciation; to adjust the registers,--these, with many other things, may seem very easy; but to teach them all in the shortest time, without wearing out the voice and without falling into errors; to persevere in teaching to the end, even if the pupil already sings correctly; to know what is still wanting and how it is to be attained,--all these one must acquire by long and constant experience.
When Schroeder-Devrient came from Vienna to Dresden, a young but already celebrated singer, though at that time wanting in the proper foundation for singing, she was not a little surprised when Miksch called her attention to this deficiency.

She devoted herself thoroughly to the primary formation of the tone under the instruction of Miksch, and must still remember the old master, and his extraordinary practice in this particular.