336 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



late sounds. The song is the result of a succession of sounds, 

 aach of which has a certain number of vibrations, and in which 

 the number of vibrations of each succeeding note bear the same 

 relative proportions as characterise the notes in the musical 

 scale. The male and female voices differ in pitch that is, they 

 commence and finish at different points in the musical scale 

 and in " timbre " or quality. In each the compass of the trained 

 voice is much the same, and covers usually from two to three 

 octaves. The lowest note of the female is about an octave 

 higher than the lowest note of the male voice, and the highest 

 note of the female voice is also an octave higher than the 

 highest male note. The female and male voices are subdivided, 

 the female into soprano and contralto, the male into bass and 

 tenor. These differ from each other in tone : the bass goes 

 lower down the scale than the tenor, and is stronger in the low 

 notes ; the contralto stands in the same position to the soprano ; 

 the tenor extends higher than the bass, and the soprano higher 

 than the contralto, and each is stronger in the high notes 

 than the bass or contralto. The voices called mezzo-soprano 

 and barytone are intermediate voices, the mezzo-soprano being 

 midway between the soprano and the contralto, and the barytone 

 intervening between the tenor and the bass. This difference in 

 pitch of the male and female voices is dependent on the length 

 of the vocal cords : in the male, the length of the cords when 

 at rest is generally about ^5 of an inch ; and when they are 

 stretched to the greatest extent, about ^ of an inch : in the 

 female the length varies from ^ to ^ of an inch. Thus the 

 difference between the male vocal cords when quite relaxed, 

 and when made tense to the greatest degree, is only the -fifa or 

 g of an inch ; whilst in the female it is still less, being but ^ or 

 a little less than | of an inch. Yet this slight variation in 

 length is enough to account for the difference between the male 

 and female voices. And not only so, but as in producing each 

 note or semitone in the musical voice the vocal cords are re- 

 laxed or made tense to the exact degree necessary, it follows 

 that, as the voice covers two octaves or twenty-four semitones, 

 the performer must have the power of dividing his vocal 

 cords into parts no greater than the -jJgg of an inch, and this in 

 ordinary vocalisation. In some noted singers it was calculated 

 that this power of division was carried as far as the ^^ of an 

 inch. And this appears even more wonderful when we remem- 

 ber the complex arrangement of muscles by which it is effected, 

 and that not one of those muscles is separately under the con- 

 trol of the will. The difference of timbre or quality of the 

 notes depends on the character of the walls of the larynx ; in 

 women and children these are more flexible and smoother than 

 in men. The male voice owes its greater roughness to the 

 greater hardness and firmness of the cartilages of the male 

 larynx, approaching nearly, and in old age often quite, to 

 ossification. The larynx of boys resembles that of women ; 

 but as they approach manhood it assumes a more masculine 

 character, and the voice begins to change, or, in common 

 parlance, "to crack;" and until the change is completed the 

 voice is imperfect, and unfit for singing. 



From what has been said, it is evident that the height of 

 note in the musical voice depends upon two things, the degree 

 of tension of the vocal cords and the width of the glottis. 

 In producing the extremely high notes, the cords are so closely 

 approximate, that they appear actually to touch along their 

 anterior portions. The loudness of the voice is regulated 

 partly by the force with which the air is expelled from the 

 lungs, and partly by the size of some parts of the larynx.. In 

 some of the animals belonging to the class Mammalia, large 

 cavities or pouches exist, opening into tlie larynx, which give 

 great resonance and loudness to the voice. These structures 

 are met with in the ass, but more markedly in the howling apes 

 of America, which, though but of comparatively very small size, 

 are said to make more noise than the roaring of a lion, and to 

 be distinctly audible for a space of two miles. The epiglottis, 

 by being pressed down so as to cover the upper part of the 

 larynx, helps to render the notes deeper in tone. 



All singers, but more markedly men, have the power of pro- 

 ducing two entirely different series of notes one, the notes of 

 tlie natural voice or chest notes, and the other the falsetto 

 notes. The chest notes hare a fuller sound, and produce a 

 stronger sense of vibration than the falsetto ; the lowest notes 

 of the voice can only be produced by the chest, the highest only 

 by the falsetto ; the medium may be sung by either voice. We 



have seen that the natural voice notes are produced by the 

 vibrations of the vocal cords, brought into more or less clooe 

 approximation to each other : the way in which the falsetto 

 notes are produced is much disputed. Some physiologists con- 

 sider that they are not dependent on the vibrations of the vocal 

 cords themselves, but are caused by the vibration of the air 

 rushing through the glottis, which they believe, at this time, 

 assumes the shape of the embouchure ot a flute. Other ob- 

 servers assert that, in the production of falsetto notes, the 

 surfaces of the vocal cords are not approximated, but simply 

 their edges, and that this accounts for the difference between 

 the two kinds of notes. The matter cannot, however, be con- 

 sidered to be satisfactorily settled at present. 



The articulate voice resembles the cry so far as the absence of 

 any sustained musical tone, but differs from it both in quality, 

 and in its being always modified by the will. Man is not the 

 only animal that has the power of uttering articulate sounds ; 

 but he is the only one that is able to attach meanings to the 

 words he utters, and to arrange them after a definite fashion 

 according to the dictates of his understanding, and not from 

 simple imitation of sound, like the parrot or other talking birds 

 he is the only one that can be said to have the power of 

 speech. The special organs of articulation are the pharynx, the 

 nasal fossse, the mouth, and the tongue. The mechanism of the 

 larynx is not essential to the performance of this act, as is 

 shown by the fact that in whispering, though no laryngeal 

 sound is produced, yet we may articulate quite distinctly. The 

 number of sounds capable of being produced by the human 

 voice are of almost infinite variety ; some are so easily uttered 

 as to appear to be made almost spontaneously, whilst others 

 can only be produced by long practice. No language utilises 

 all these sounds, but those easiest to be produced enter into the 

 composition of almost every tongue. The various sounds used 

 in speech are usually divided into two great classes, vowels and 

 consonants. Of these the vowels are, for the most part, the 

 easiest to be sounded : for their production, it is only necessary 

 that the exit of air from the mouth should be as free as possible, 

 and that the parts, when once put in the proper position, should 

 retain that position till the sound is concluded ; they are con- 

 tinuous sounds, modified by the form of the aperture of the 

 mouth. Thus, in sounding ah the mouth is opened to its fullest 

 extent, the tongue is depressed, and the hanging curtain of the 

 palate is drawn up, so that the air escapes from the mouth 

 without any check. In making the sound expressed in English 

 by oo, the same arrangement is carried out, but the aperture 

 of the mouth is narrowed ; in the same way, if the other vowel 

 sounds are tried, it will be found that they are varied by the 

 form of the aperture of the mouth, and that the parts remain 

 fixed during their production. To produce the consonants (so 

 called because most of them cannot be sounded without the aid 

 of a vowel), a certain degree of movement of the parts con- 

 cerned in their production is necessary, and the breath, in con- 

 sequence, suffers a more or less complete interruption in ity 

 passage through the mouth. These have been divided into two 

 main classes : the first called explosives or mutes, which neces- 

 sitate that the breath should be completely stopped at the 

 moment previous to their production ; the second, continuous, 

 in which the breath only receives a partial check, and the sound, 

 like the vowel, is continuous. In pronouncing the consonants 

 contained in the first class, of which b, p, d, t, k may be taken 

 as examples, the posterior orifices of the nose are completely 

 closed, and all the air is driven through the mouth : in pro- 

 nouncing b and p, the air is stopped by the shutting together of 

 the lips ; in pronouncing d and t, by the contact of the tongue 

 with the front part of the roof of the mouth : this latter arrange- 

 ment is also used for pronouncing the hard g and It, the differ- 

 ence consisting in the degree and extent to which the tongue is 

 brought in contact with the roof. In the other class the nose 

 is open, and the air is allowed to pass more or less freely 

 through it, as in m, n, etc. ; but in others, as v, the air is not 

 allowed to enter the nose ; still, in all the consonants included 

 in this class, the sound is capable of being prolonged to an 

 almost indefinite extent. Such, then, are the leading principles 

 upon which articulate sounds are produced. The other simple 

 sounds, and their almost endless modifications, are produced in 

 similar ways ; and out of these combinations, the different 

 nations of the human family have built up each its own par- 

 ticular language. 



