246 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



larynx is wide open, and the vibrating air rushes forth in a full, 

 broad stream of sound. 



Many singing-masters, not content with the great natural di- 

 visions of the voice which have just been indicated, insist that 

 there are five different registers, each with a distinct mechanism 

 of its own. I am not a maestro, and therefore I am willing to admit 

 that, artistically speaking, there ought to be five registers, or, in 

 fact, any number of them that may be thought desirable. But if 

 that is a necessity of art, it is not a necessity of Nature, which 

 does all that is required by the simple process which has been 

 described. The differences of mechanism on which the singing- 

 masters profess to base their division are mostly of so subtle a 

 nature as to be almost invisible to the eye, and sometimes even 

 hardly appreciable by the ordinary intellect. I think, however, 

 there is a way of reconciling their views with mine, diametrically 

 opposed as they at first sight seem to be. As a physiologist, I 

 speak solely of the tone of a note, that is to say, of its place in the 

 musical scale, and I say, That note is delivered by the long reed or 

 short reed adjustment, as the case may be ; as musicians, on the 

 other hand, the maestri, speaking of the quality as well as the 

 tone, say, That note ought to be delivered in such and such a way 

 to make it artistically beautiful. In the one case, in short, the 

 voice is considered purely as it is produced in the larynx ; in the 

 other, as it is delivered by a well-trained singer managing his 

 resonance apparatus to the best advantage. Now, for this result 

 many things are needed besides the correct adjustment of the 

 vocal cords. The supply of breath must be regulated to a nicety, 

 and the position of the tongue, soft palate, cheeks, and lips must 

 be precisely that which is best for the utterance of each particular 

 note. There are rules founded on experience which govern all 

 these things ; these rules are expressed in terms of subjective sen- 

 sations, which are scientifically absurd, but, at the same time, may 

 be practically useful, as indicating the feelings that should accom- 

 pany the right performance of the manoeuvre required. It is on 

 all this complicated mechanism that the five registers of the sing- 

 ing-masters are based ; the more or less fanciful changes in the 

 larynx, to which they attribute the slight, but artistically vital, 

 differences in production which their trained ear enables them to 

 appreciate, have in reality but little share in the result. The dif- 

 ference between artistic and inartistic production of the voice de- 

 pends far more on the management of the resonators than on the 

 adjustment of the vocal cords. 



This point will be better understood if it is borne in mind that, 

 as Helmholtz has shown, every musical sound is " compounded of 

 many simples " ; that is to say, the fundamental tone is re-enforced 

 by a number of secondary sounds or " harmonics " which accom- 



