Part 11 (1/2)

1. There are three registers in female voices: chest, middle, and head.

2. While there are small differences in voices and individuals as regards the registers, the following principles apply to all of them:

(_a_) The chest register must never be carried above [Ill.u.s.tration: f-sharp'].

(_b_) [Ill.u.s.tration: e' f'] should be ”covered” or modified chest tones.

(_c_) In all cases [Ill.u.s.tration: f-sharp”] must be a head tone.

(_d_) In quick pa.s.sages chest should not be carried beyond [Ill.u.s.tration: d-flat']--_i.e._, [Ill.u.s.tration: d' e' f'] are middle in quick pa.s.sages.

CHAPTER XI.

FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.

It will, it is hoped, be apparent to the reader that the subject now under treatment may be considered either theoretically or practically.

If science be exact, systematized, and, when complete, unified knowledge, then every source of information must be employed in the investigation of so difficult a subject as the registers. There may be differences of opinion as to the relative importance of some of these means of investigation--_e.g._, auto-laryngoscopy, but that it should be utilized, there can be no question. The value of photography of the larynx, as carried out up to the present, may be questioned; but there can be no doubt that if this method of studying the action of the vocal bands could be pushed to a certain point, much light might be thrown on the questions at issue.

Merely to a.s.sume that a method of treating the registers which has given, apparently, good practical results in the hands of one teacher is sound, and rests on a scientific basis, is unwarranted. It may be simply a little better or a little worse than some other. How is the student to distinguish, in his choice, between Mr. A and Mr. B, in the case of two successful teachers, both of whom recognize registers? A physiologist may be sound as far as he goes, yet lack that practical knowledge of the voice which the vocal teacher properly considers requisite in determining how a pupil shall use the registers. Among those who are most dogmatic on this and other questions there is often a plentiful lack of knowledge of the vocal organs; and some clever laryngologists must have learned, when they were carried into the discussion of this subject, that some knowledge of music and singing is absolutely indispensable, and that enough cannot be picked up, even by an able man, in a few minutes devoted to interrogating singers, especially when these vocalists have been trained by widely different methods, and have, as is too often the case, given but little real _thought_ to the scientific, or, indeed, any other side of their art.

We find ”break” confounded with ”register,” and the meaning attached to the latter, at best, one-sided or inadequate in some respects. The truth is, such a subject cannot be settled by the physiologist, even when a laryngologist, as such; nor can the solution to a scientific question of this kind be given by a singer, as a singer. Such a problem can only be settled, as we have throughout insisted, by those possessing many qualifications, and even when the investigator unites in himself every intellectual qualification, something will depend on his temperament and spirit. An atmosphere of controversy is not favorable to scientific investigation, and among the dangers that ever lie in the path of the teacher are pride and prejudice. The a.s.sumption that one is prepared to teach is too often a.s.sociated with views and feelings that prevent the guide from remaining himself a student and being ready to learn even from the very beginner, as he must if he have the true spirit. Unfortunately, several of the most highly qualified writers on this subject have formulated their views under conditions unfavorable to the attainment of the whole truth.

It is to be borne in mind always that a register implies (1) a series of tones of a characteristic clang, _timbre_, color, or quality; (2) that this is due to the employment of a special mechanism of the larynx in a particular manner. It follows that in thinking of registers scientifically, one must take into account both the tones and the mechanisms by which they are produced.

Naturally, with most untrained people the pa.s.sage from one register to another is a.s.sociated with a suddenness of change which is unpleasant, and which is termed the _break_. It is often suggestive of weakness, uncertainty, etc., and to an ear at once sensitive and exacting through training is intolerable when very p.r.o.nounced. Often this break is very marked in contraltos, and is invariably so p.r.o.nounced in the male voice when it pa.s.ses to the upper falsetto that even the dullest ear does not fail to notice the change.

It is, therefore, not surprising that teachers should have sought to lessen the unpleasant surprise for the listener caused by the break.

Some have looked on registers as almost an invention of the Evil One, and forbidden the use of the term to their students; but such ostrich-like treatment of the subject--such burying of the head in the sand--does not do away with a difficulty, much less can such a plain fact as the existence of registers be ignored without the most detrimental results, as we shall endeavor to make plain. Some, feeling that the break was an artistic abomination, have proceeded to teach the student to reduce all tones to the same quality, which is about as rational as asking a painter to give us pictures, by the use of but one pigment.

To attempt to abolish registers would be like leaving but one string to the violin; which instrument, in its present form, has a register for each string; and the player endeavors to avoid the breaks that naturally occur in pa.s.sing from string to string, and to get a smooth series of tones just as the intelligent vocalist does.

The registers may be represented to the eye by the method ill.u.s.trated in figure 52.

The wise instructor recognizes registers; they are a fact in nature, and one to be valued. The more colors, the greater the range of the artist's powers, other things being equal, whether the artist paint with pigments or tones; but just as the painter uses intermediate tones of color to prevent rude transitions or breaks, so must the singer modify or ”cover” the tones between the registers--_i.e._, use to some extent the mechanism of both neighboring registers.

The reader who has perused the previous chapter thoughtfully may naturally ask: ”With such difference of opinion among eminent authors like those quoted, how am I to know which one to follow, and what to believe on this subject?”

The answer to that question we propose now to give. It will be wise to endeavor to show just wherein the writers quoted differ and on what they agree. A careful examination will show that there is substantial agreement on the most important points:

1. All agree that there are registers, or natural changes of quality of tone, corresponding to changes of mechanism or method.

2. All, with the exception of Madame Seiler, agree that the most important changes take place at or near [Ill.u.s.tration: a'] in female voices, and the majority consider that this applies to both s.e.xes equally.

3. Often in males there is some laryngeal change lower than this.

4. All agree that the high falsetto of tenors is of a special quality, and produced by a mechanism of its own--_i.e._, all consider it a separate register--and often, at least, it begins naturally about [Ill.u.s.tration: f-sharp'], which is usually, however, written an octave higher, though really sung as given above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 51. A photographic representation of the appearances of the vocal bands when the subject is sounding first E and then F sharp, in which latter case ”the vibratory portions of the vocal bands are shortened about one-sixteenth inch,” according to Dr.

French, who has been eminently successful in photographing the larynx.