VARIETIES OF VOCAL TONES. 485 



probably inherent in the tissues of the larynx, and are as in- 

 discernible as the minute differences that characterize men's 

 features ; one often observes, in like manner, hereditary and 

 family peculiarities of voice as well marked as those of the 

 limbs or face. 



Most persons, particularly men, have the power, if at all 

 capable of singing, of modulating their voices through a double 

 series of notes of different character : namely, the notes of the 

 natural voice, or chest-notes, and the falsetto notes. The natural 

 voice, which alone has been hitherto considered, is fuller, and 

 excites a distinct sensation of much stronger vibration and 

 resonance than the falsetto voice, which has more a flute- 

 like character. The deeper notes of the male voice can be 

 produced only with the natural voice, the highest with the 

 falsetto only; the notes of middle pitch can be produced either 

 with the natural or falsetto voice ; the two registers of the 

 voice are therefore not limited in such a manner as that one 

 ends when the other begins, but they run in part side by side. 



The natural, or chest notes, are produced by the ordinary 

 vibrations of the vocal cords. The mode of production of the 

 falsetto notes is still obscure. By Miiller they are thought to 

 be due to vibrations of only the inner borders of the vocal cords. 

 In the opinion of Petrequin and Diday, they do not result from 

 vibrations of the vocal cords at all, but from vibrations of the 

 air passing through the aperture of the glottis, which they be- 

 lieve assumes, at such times, the contour of the embouchure of a 

 flute. Others (considering some degree of similarity which ex- 

 ists between the falsetto notes, and the peculiar tones called 

 harmonic, which are produced when, by touching or stopping 

 a harp-string at a particular point, only a portion of its length 

 is allowed to vibrate) have supposed that, in the falsetto notes, 

 portions of the vocal ligaments are thus isolated, and made to 

 vibrate while the rest are held still. The question cannot yet 

 be settled ; but any one in the habit of singing may assure 

 himself, both by the difficulty of passing smoothly from one 

 set of notes to the other, and by the necessity of exercising 

 himself in both registers, lest he should become very deficient 

 in one, that there must be some great difference in the modes 

 in which their respective notes are produced. 



The strength of the voice depends partly on the degree to 

 which the vocal cords can be made to vibrate ; and partly on 

 the fitness for resonance of the membranes and cartilages of 

 the larynx, of the parietes of the thorax, lungs, and cavities 

 of the mouth, nostrils, and communicating sinuses. It is di- 

 minished by anything which interferes with such capability of 

 vibration. The intensity or loudness of a given note with 



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