640 THE HUMAN BODY. 



Physics) at that point and shortens the length of vocal cord 

 which vibrates. The shorter string emits a higher note; so 

 the crico- thyroid is relaxed, and then again gradually tight- 

 ened 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; 

 during their emission the free border of the vocal cords 

 alone vibrates. 



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 (1024 vib. per 1"), 

 in female. Great singers of course go beyond this range; 

 basses have been known to take a on the great octave (55 

 yib. per 1") ; and Nilsson in " II Flauto Magico " used to take 

 /on the fourth accented octave (1408 vib. per 1"). Mozart 

 heard at Parma, in 1770, an Italian songstress whose voice 

 had the extraordinary range from g in the first accented 

 octave (198 vib. per 1") to c on the fifth accented octave 

 (2112 vib. per 1"). An ordinary good bass voice has a com- 

 pass from /(88 vib. per 1") to d" (297 vib. per 1"); and a 

 soprano from b f (248 vib. per 1") to g"' (792). 



Vowels are, primarily, compound musical tones produced 

 in the larvnx. Accompanying the primary partial of each, 

 which determines its pitch when said or sung, are a number 

 of upper partials, the first five or six being recognizable in 

 good full voices. Certain of these upper partials are rein- 

 forced in the mouth to produce one vowel, and others for 

 other vowels; so that the various vowel sounds are really 

 musical notes differing from one another in timbre. The 

 mouth and throat cavities form an air-chamber above the 

 larynx, and this has a note of its own which varies with its 

 size and form, as may be observed by opening the mouth ! 

 widely, with the lips retracted and the cheeks tense; then I 

 gradually closing it and protruding the lips, meanwhile tap- \ 

 ping the cheek. As the mouth changes its form the note 

 produced changes, tending in general to pass from a higher 

 to a lower pitch and suggesting to the ear at the same time a ; 

 change from the sound of a (father) through 6 (more) to 06 j 



