552 THE HUMAN BODY 



cricothyroid muscle, the thyro-arytenoid will help to approxi- 

 mate the vocal cords, rotating inwards the vocal processes of the 

 arytenoids. 



The lengthening of the vocal cords when the thyroid cartilage 

 is depressed tends to lower their pitch; the increased tension, how- 

 ever, more than compensates for this and raises it. There seems, 

 however, still another method by which high notes are produced. 

 Beginning at the bottom of his register, a singer can go on up the 

 scale some distance without a break; but, then, to reach his higher 

 notes, must pause, rearrange his larynx, and begin again. What 

 happens is that, at first, the vocal processes are turned in, so as to 

 approximate but not to meet; the whole length of each edge of the 

 glottis then vibrates, and its tension is increased, and the pitch 

 of the note raised, by increasing contraction of the cricothyroid. 

 At last this attains its limit and a new method has to be adopted. 

 The vocal processes are more rolled in, until they touch. This 

 produces a node (see Physics) at that point and shortens the 

 length of vocal cord which vibrates. The shorter string emits a 

 higher note; so the cricothyroid is relaxed, and then again gradu- 

 ally tightened as the notes sung are raised in pitch from the new 

 starting-point. To pass easily and imperceptibly from one such 

 arrangement of the larynx to another is a great art in singing. 

 There is some reason to believe that a second node may, for still 

 higher notes, be produced at a more anterior point on the vocal 

 cords. 



The method of production of falsetto notes is uncertain; dur- 

 ing their emission the free border of the vocal cords alone vi- 

 brates. 



The range of the human voice is about three octaves, from 

 e (80 vib. per 1") on the unaccented octave, in male voices, 

 to c on the thrice-accented octave (1,024 vib. per 1"), in fe- 

 male. Great singers of course go beyond this range; basses 

 have been known to take a on the great octave (55 vib. per 1") ; 

 and Nilsson in "II Flauto Magico" used to take / on the 

 fourth accented octave (1,408 vib. per 1"). Mozart heard at 

 Parma, in 1770, an Italian songstress whose voice had the ex- 

 traordinary range from g in the first accented octave (198 vib. 

 per 1") to c on the fifth accented octave (2,112 vib. per 1"). 

 An ordinary good bass voice has a compass from / (88 vib. 



