244 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and musicians have shown a plentiful lack of harmony in discuss- 

 ing it. The inherent difficulties of the subject have been increased 

 by the fantastic terminology which has come down to us from a 

 pre-scientific age, and by the erroneous observations of incompe- 

 tent persons. I can touch only very lightly on the subject here, 

 but those who wish for a full exposition of my views on the mat- 

 ter may be referred to a little work which I published some years 

 ago, and which has been translated into eight languages.* It may 

 be asked, What is a register ? The best definition I can offer is 

 that it is a series of tones of like quality produced by a particular 

 adjustment of the vocal cords to receive the air-blast from the 

 lungs. The question is what the " particular adjustment " is in 

 each case. The first step toward clearing up the subject is to dis- 

 card the terms " chest " and " head " voice, which are meaningless 

 and often misleading. Whatever number of registers there may 

 be, and however they may be produced, it is certain that the 

 change of mechanism takes place only in the larynx. I have sug- 

 gested that the terms " long reed " and " short reed " register should 

 be used to designate the two fundamental divisions of the human 

 voice. In the former, usually called " chest voice/' the vocal cords 

 vibrate in their whole length, and the sounds are re-enforced largely 

 by the cavity of the chest, the walls of which can be felt to vibrate 

 strongly when this register is used. In the latter, " head voice/' or 

 falsetto, only a part of the cord vibrates, and the sound is re-en- 

 forced by the upper resonators, mouth, bony cavities of the skull, 

 etc. It is this which has given rise to the absurd statements of 

 singers that they could feel their head notes coming from the back 

 of the nose, the forehead, etc. In the " long reed " register the 

 pitch is raised by increasing tension of the vibrating element ; in 

 the " short reed " register by gradual shortening of it. This is 

 effected by a curious process, which can be distinctly seen in the 

 living throat with the laryngoscope. The two cords are forced 

 against each other at their hinder part with such force as to stop 

 each other's movement. While the notes of the chest register 

 issue from the natural aperture of the larynx, the head notes come 

 through an artificially diminished orifice, the chink becoming 

 gradually smaller till there is nothing left to vibrate, when the 

 limit of the voice is reached. The two registers generally over- 

 lap for a greater or less extent, a few notes about the middle of 

 the voice being capable of being sung in either. Some voices have 

 no break in their entire compass, the same mechanism being used 

 throughout, but this is very rare. It was the constant aim of the 

 famous old Italian singing-masters to unite the two natural regis- 

 ters so perfectly that no break should be perceptible. 



Till a comparatively recent date the generally received explana- 



*" Hygiene of the Vocal Organs," Macmillan & Co., sixth edition, 1888. 



