VOWEL SOUNDS. 603 



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 

 vib. 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 I") 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 I' 7 ); and 

 a soprano from V (248 vib. per 1") to g'" (792). 



Vowels are, primarily, compound musical tones (p. 548) 

 produced in the larynx. 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 recogni- 

 zable in good full voices. Certain of these upper partials 

 are reinforced 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 tho cheeks tense; then 

 gradually closing it and protruding the lips, meanwhile 

 tapping 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 66 (moor). When the mouth and throat cham- 

 bers are so arranged that the air in them has a vibratory 

 rate in unison with any partial in the laryngeal tone, 

 it will be set in sympathetic vibration, that partial 

 will be strengthened, and the vowel characterized by it 

 uttered. As the mouth alters its form, although the same 

 note be still sung, the vowel changes. In the above series 

 (a, 6, 66) the tongue is depressed and the cavity forms one 

 chamber; for a this has a wide mouth opening; for 6 it is 



