VOICE. 



VOICK. 



falsetto are by some termed the .*i.riiio, or Bute register, but thU 

 appear* to be an unnecessary subdivision. The following table rxhi I >it. 

 ice* and their 



at a view the voices and I 



Barrio** . 



Trnor 

 Contr-'- 

 Mruo^opnao 

 Soprano . 



::>: . 



r regtotari : 



MCHO-F.IM 

 Mnao-Filw 



\: .1.. -i 

 Mcsso-Filio 



!..' Hi 



}..,:: 

 I.,;-,:;.. 



Flautinn. 



In this musical distribution of the registers of the voices there is no 

 falsetto given to the hismi. The ban and barytone voices however are 

 both capable of extending their compass by running up into a falsetto, 

 and hence they must each have a raezzo-falao register also. The 

 falsetto is commonly adopted by bass singers to imitate a woman's 

 voice in the opera bu'ffa. 



There is also a feigned lower voice by which voices of all kinds are 

 able to descend lower in pitch than in the natural register. The term 

 basso-falsetto has been proposed to designate this voice, but the term 

 lower falsetto is more accurate. 



Tlit Quality of tie Voice. Each person's voice has a distinct quality 

 or tone (timbre of French authors), by which it is recognised, even when 

 singing in unison with others. The terms which are adopted to 

 describe the qualities of the voice are vague : they are descriptive, 

 such as nasal, guttural ; descriptive by comparison with other sounds, 

 as silvery, flute-like, musical ; and metaphorically descriptive, as pure, 

 clear, deep, brilliant, flexible, attractive, mellow, &c. Attempts have 

 been made to connect certain qualities of the voice, aa fulness with the 

 baas, brilliancy with the soprano, &c., but without success. It is 

 however quite true that those who are accustomed to hear much 

 Hinging would mostly recognise any voice to be a bass, tenor, &c., 

 although singing in unison with contraltos or sopranos. The essential 

 distinction however between voices, as the bass and tenor, is not the 

 quality, as stated by some physiological writers ; for a voice is classed 

 among basses or contraltos, as the case may be, solely in consequence 

 of its compass lying within the limits of the bass or contralto scales. 



Each voice has its natural and falsetto qualities, which belong 

 respectively to the natural and falsetto registers. Besides these there 

 is in song an improved quality named pure tone, and in speech a cor- 

 responding improved quality named the oratorical tone. 



Soog-roiet. The song-note is a musical sound of some fixed pitch in 

 the musical scale. When a clear resonant voice produces a song-note, 

 the accompanying harmonic sound may be heard just as it is with the 

 sound of a vibrating string. The song-sounds of the human voice 

 are arranged into the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic scales. 

 [Music.] 



Speech-note. The speech-note is not a true musical sound, because 

 its pitch varies throughout its duration. These notes are termed 

 slides, accents, and inflexions ; and they may be imitated on the violin 

 by sliding a finger up the finger-board while the bow is applied. These 

 notes may have an ascending or descending course in pitch, and some- 

 times they have both on a syllable. The varying pitch of a speech- 

 note will be illustrated if the reader, with an intense feeling of inquiry 

 utter aloud Hamlet's interrogatory " Pale, or red ? " The speech-note 

 on the word " pale " will consist of an upward movement of the voice ; 

 while that on " red " will be a downward movement, and in both words 

 the voice will traverse so wide an interval of pitch as to be con- 

 spicuous to ordinary ears; while the cultivated perception of the 

 musician will detect the voice moving through a less interval of pitch 

 while he is uttering the word " or " of the same sentence. And he 

 who can record in musical notation the sounds which he hears will 

 perceive the musical interval traversed in these vocal movements, and 

 the place also of these speech-notes on the musical staff. 



Speech-notes are of two kinds, namely, simple and compound. The 

 simple consist of a single rising or falling movement of the voice. 

 These movements may be of any extent from a semitone up to an 

 octave. These difference* of extent give eight simple rising speech- 

 notes, namely, semitone, tone, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, 

 octave, and as many simple falling speech-notes, making a total of 

 sixteen distinct simple speech-notes. Mr. Steele accurately repre- 

 sented these notes by diagonal lines on the musical staff. The length 

 of the line indicates the interval or dimension of the note ; and its 

 situation on the staff indicates its local pitch, as in the annexed 

 diagram, Nos. 1 and 2, where the eight notes ascending and descending 

 are in accordance with Mr. Steele's notation. 



No. l. 



No. 1. 



No. 3. 



-1*. 

 J* 



In these notes the sliding movement of the voice is equable, that is> 

 it rtsssn through equal spaces in equal times. The voice however in 



some notes is retarded in some part of its course, so that it passes 

 through unequal spaces in equal times. Mr. Steele noted this retar- 

 dation of the voice by slightly curving the diagonal line at the part, as 

 in the above diagram, No. 8. Now the voice may be retarded at the 

 beginning, at the middle, or at the end of a speech-note. And the 



voice may be accelerated in each of those parts. It will be seen that 

 these modifications of pitch greatly multiply the number of speech- 

 notes. And this number can be again greatly increased by success- 

 ively giving to each note all the various forms of loudness of voice of 

 which it is capable. 



The compound speech-notes consist of both the simple vocal move- 

 ments combined in a variety of circumflexes. They were first noted 

 on the staff by Mr. Steele, from whose ' Prosodia Ratioualia' the 

 following diagram is copied : 



Numerous as are the varieties of circumflexes, they admit of 

 classification, of which the following, partly taken from Dr. liu.-li. i- 

 adopted : 



The number of conititurnl roeal inurement*. 



1. Simple circumflex consists of two movements. 



2. Compound circumflex consists of three movements. 



3. Continuous circumflex consists of more than three movement*. 



The direction of the frit vocal morement. 



1. Direct circumflex has the first an upward movement. 



2. Inverted circumflex has the first a downward movement. 



The dimenrioni of the vocal morttneati. 



1. Equal circumflex, each movement of equal dimension. 



2. Unequal circumflex, each movement of unequal dimension. 



In forming a circumflex speech-note, the voice may be retarded or 

 accelerated in parts, as well aa move equably through its course. The 

 possible varieties of circumflex are almost infinite, and the number in 

 ordinary use is far beyond what would be anticipated. This "ill 

 account for the immense variety of sounds which are heard in limii.ni 

 utterance, and which has been more a subject of declamation than 

 thoughtful inquiry. 



The Compost of the Speech-voice. Several of the rhetoricians of 

 antiquity speak of the changes of pitch of the voice seldom exceeding 

 a fifth on any one syllable. Observations conducted for twenty years 

 on the leading public speakers of the period have convinced the author 

 of this article of the accuracy of this ancient statement. It i-< true 

 that higher intervals are used, even up to the octave, but very spar- 

 ingly, and the fifth itself is of less common occurrence in oratory than 

 the third. 



Speech melodies seldom exceed the limits of an octave and a half. 

 Whatever the speaker's key note may be, he seldom rises more than a 

 fifth above it, or descends more than a fifth below it in pitch. A 

 person's key note is generally somewhat below the middle of his 

 compass, which circumstance enables most speakers to ascend an octave 

 if required for the purpose of expression. The following notation "f 

 Mr. Steele's speaking compass, taken from the ' Prosodia Rationalis,' 

 is interesting : 



'. Height Of COtBILOD ttMSSMh 



II click! of ImpuuoMd ipmh. ^ p 



Common letel . . . . "' E J " 



"? Lownt ott of trtftti 



The voice of song (that is, a song-note) has been described as' con- 

 tinuing throughout its duration on one level line of pitch. This de- 

 scription was necessary at the outset in order to state the essential 

 distinction between song (musical) sounds and speech sounds. 



Close observation however of the song-notes of singers, especially in 

 dramatic music, will show that many of the notes are not of uniform 

 pitch, but that the voice rapidly slides through some interval, com- 

 monly of a tone, and the song-note is produced at its summit. Let 

 the slide be equal to a semiquaver, and the song-note a minim, 

 or rather to a minim minus the semiquaver slide, which is stolen 

 from the quantity of the song-note : many singers reach the seve- 

 ral degrees of the scale by these slides according to the subjoined 

 notation : 



5^3J 



In taking the intervals from a fundamental note, it is not uncommon 

 to hear a rapid slide through the entire interval, producing slide thirds, 

 fourths, &c., and the song-note at the summit of the slide, accor ding 

 to the subjoined notation : 



Similar notes often occur in the passionate intonation of tlu 1 

 intervals of operatic mimic. 



