500 MOVEMENTS VOICE AND SPEECH. 



deficient in vibrant quality. They are higher in the female than in the 

 male because the vocal chords are shorter. Laryngoscopic observations dem- 

 onstrating this fact in the female are as accurate and definite as in the male. 

 (See Fig. 171.) 



The reasons why the range of the different vocal registers is limited are 

 the following : Within the limits of each register, the tension of the vocal 

 chords has an exact relation to the pitch of the sound produced. This tension 

 is of course restricted by the limits of power of the muscles acting upon the 

 vocal chords, for high notes, and by the limit of possible regular vibration of 

 chords of a certain length, for low notes. The higher the tension and the 

 greater the rigidity of the chords, the greater is the force of air required to 

 throw them into vibration ; and this, also, has, of course, certain limits. It 

 is never desirable to push any of the lower registers in female voices to their 

 highest limits. All competent singing teachers recognize this fact. The 

 female chest-register may be made to meet the upper medium, particularly 

 in contraltos ; but the singer then has practically two voices, a condition 

 which is musically intolerable. In blending the different registers so as to 

 make a perfectly uniform, single voice, the arytenoid vibrations should be 

 rendered progressively and evenly less and less prominent, until they imper- 

 ceptibly cease when the lower medium is fully reached ; the arytenoid car- 

 tilages should then be progressively and evenly approximated to each other, 

 until they are firmly in contact and the upper medium is fully reached. 

 The female vocal apparatus is then perfect. AVhile single notes of the 

 chest, lower medium and upper medium, contrasted with each other, have 

 different qualities, the voice is even throughout its entire range, and the 

 proper shading called for in musical compositions can be made in any part of 

 the scale. The blending of the male chest-register into the falsetto and of the 

 upper medium into the female falsetto, or true head- voice, is more difficult, 

 but it is not impossible. Theoretically, this must be done by shortening the 

 vocal chords gradually and progressively and not abruptly, unless the latter 

 be required to produce a legitimate effect of contrast. 



Even in singing identical notes, there are distinctly recognizable differ- 

 ences in quality between the bass, barytone and tenor, and between the con- 

 tralto, mezzo and soprano. For the female, these may be compared to the 

 differences in identical notes played on different strings of the violin. For 

 the male, they may be compared to the qualities of the different strings of 

 the violoncello. Falsetto-notes may be compared to harmonics produced on 

 these instruments. 



These ideas with regard to the mechanism of the different vocal registers 

 have resulted from a study of these registers, first from an aesthetic point of 

 view ; endeavoring then to. find explanations of different qualities of sound 

 appreciated by the ear, in laryngoscopic and other scientific observations, and 

 not by reasoning from scientific observations, as to what effects upon the ear 

 should be produced by certain acts performed by the vocal organs. It ma} 

 be stated, in this connection, that the works of Bach, Beethoven and other 

 old masters were composed, exactly in accordance with purely physical laws, 



