HAEMONY IN MUSIC. 97 



The following easy experiment clearly shows that it is 

 indifferent whether the several simple tones contained in 

 a compound tone like a vowel uttered by the human voice 

 come from one source or several. If the dampers of a 

 pianoforte are raised, not only do the sympathetic vibra- 

 tions of the strings furnish tones bf the same jpitch as 

 those uttered beside it ; but if we sing A (« in father) to 

 any note of the piano, we hear an A quite clearly re- 

 turned from the strings ; and if E (a in fare or fate), 

 (o in hole or ore), and U {oo in cool\ be similarly sung to 

 the note, E, 0, and U will also be echoed back. It is 

 only necessary to hit the note of the piano with great 

 exactness.^ Now the sound of the vowel is produced 



Sprache, 1866, p. 109, after citing Helmholtz's experiments as detailed in 

 his Tonempfinduvgen, gives the following as * the pitches of the vowels 

 according to his most recent examination of his own habits of speech, as 

 accurately as he is able to note them.' 



nearly 



' Here the note a applies to the timbre ohscur of A with low larynx, and 

 h to the timbre clair of A with high larynx, and similarly the vowel E may 

 pass from d" to e" by narrowing the channel in the muulh. The interme- 

 diate vowels O, A, have also two different timbres and hence their pitch is 

 not fixed ; the most frequent are consequently written over one another ; 

 the lower note is for the obscure, and the higher for the bright timbre. 

 But the vowel tj seems to be tolerably fixed as a', just as its parents U and 

 I are upon d and a", and it has consequently the pitch of the ordinary a' 

 tuning fork.' — Tb. 



' My own experience shows that if any vowel at any pitch be loudly and 

 sharply sung, or called out, beside a piano, of which the dampers have been 

 raised, that vowel will be echoed back. There is generally a sensible pause 

 before the echo is heard. Before repeating the experiment with a new 

 vowel, whether at the same or a different pitch, damp all the strings and 

 then again raise the dampers. The result can easily be made audible to a 

 hundred persons at once, and it is extremely interesting and instructive. It 

 is peculiarly so, if different vowels be sung to the same pitch, so that they 



