THE THROAT AND THE VOICE 



277 



singer can, at will, give the requisite tension for the pro- 

 duction of any particular note. 



The quality of a voice depends chiefly upon the shape 

 of the larynx and of the other air passages above it. In 

 women and children the larynx is 

 smaller, and the vocal cords shorter, 

 than in men ; consequently their voices 

 have a higher pitch. The larger the 

 larynx and the longer the .cords, the 

 deeper the voice. 



Voice may exist without speech, as 

 in many animals. Speech is the voice 

 modified by the throat, teeth, palate, 

 nose, tongue, and lips. 



NOTE. The limitations of a text-book 

 on physiology for elementary schools do not 

 permit so full a description- of the voice as 

 the subject deserves. For additional details 

 the student is referred to more advanced 

 text-books or to some small manual on the 

 subject, as Cohen's The Throat and the 

 Voice, a volume in the American Health 

 Primer Series. 



Experiment 81. Pinch the nostrils and try 

 to pronounce slowly the words " Lincoln," 

 " something," or any other words which re- 

 quire the sound of m, In, ng. 



This will illustrate somewhat crudely the 

 importance of the resonating cavity of the 

 nose in articulation. 



Experiment 82. Take two strips of India 

 rubber and stretch them over the open end 

 of a boy's bean blower, or any kind of tube. 

 Tie them tightly with thread so that a chink 

 will be left between them, as in Fig. 1 76. 



FIG. 175. Arrangement 

 of the Vocal Cords. 



A, epiglottis ; B, section of 

 hyoid bone ; C, false vo- 

 cal cords which have 

 nothing to do with the 

 production of voice; Z>, 

 oblong opening between 

 the false and true vocal 

 cords; E, true vocal 

 cord; F, section of the 

 thyroid cartilage; H, 

 section of anterior por- 

 tion of the cricoid car- 

 tilage; K, trachea; L, 

 section of the posterior 

 portion of the cricoid car- 

 tilage; M, ladle-shaped 

 cartilage. 



