Part 2 (1/2)

Strong tones also are unfavorable to observation, as Garcia also remarked; and this is very natural, because strong and sonorous tones require greater exertions of the singing organ, and, above all things, the right position of those parts of the larynx and mouth which serve as a resonance apparatus in the formation of sound. In order to be able to see perfectly the whole glottis, all this resonance apparatus must be drawn back as far as possible, and the rim of the larynx must be tolerably flat. Thus only faint and weak sounds are favorable to observation.

THE CHEST REGISTER

When the vowel _a_, as in _man_, was sung, I could, after long-continued practice, plainly see how the arytenoid cartilages quickly rose with their summits in their mucous membranous case and approached to mutual contact. In like manner, the _chordae vocales_, or inferior vocal chords, approached each other so closely that scarcely any s.p.a.ce between them was observable.

The superior or false vocal ligaments formed the ellipse described by Garcia in the upper part of the glottis.

[Representation in the mirror of the vocal organ in giving out sound.]

a. Superior or false vocal ligaments, or chords.

b. Epiglottis.

c. Inferior or true vocal ligaments.

d. Arytenoid cartilages.

e. Capitula Santorini.

When, in using the laryngoscope upon myself, I slowly sang the ascending scale, this movement of the vocal chords and arytenoid cartilages was repeated at every tone. They separated and appeared to retreat, in order to close again anew, and to rise somewhat more than before. This movement of the arytenoid cartilages may best be compared to that of a pair of scissors. With every higher tone the vocal ligaments seemed more stretched and the glottis somewhat shorter.--[The glottis is a term applied to the s.p.a.ce occupied by the vocal chords (the lips of the glottis): when separated, we say the glottis is open, when they touch, that it is closed.]--At the same time, when I sang the scale upward, beginning with the lowest tones, the vocal ligaments seemed to be moved in their whole length and breadth by large, loose vibrations, which extended even to all the rest of the interior of the larynx.

The place at which the arytenoid cartilages, almost closed together, cease their action and leave the formation of the sound to the vocal ligaments alone, I found in the entire vibration of the glottis, or in the chest register of the female voice, at do do? (c c?), more rarely at si (b). In the chest register of the male voice this change occurs at la si?

(a b?). With some effort the above-mentioned action of the arytenoid cartilages may be continued several tones higher. But such tones, especially in the female voice, have that rough and common timbre which we are too often compelled to hear in our female singers. The glottis also, in this case, as well as the parts of the larynx near the glottis, betrays the effort very plainly; as the tones ascend, they grow more and more red.

_Thus, as at this place in the chest register there occurs a visible and sensible straining of the organs, so also is it in all the remaining transitions, as soon as the attempt is made to extend the action by which the lower tones are formed beyond the given limits of the same._ These transitions, which cannot be extended without effort, coincide perfectly with the places where _J. Muller_ had to _stretch_ the ligaments of his exsected larynx so powerfully in order to reach the succeeding half-tone. Garcia likewise finds tones thus formed disagreeable and imperfect in sound (_klanglos_).

Usually, therefore, at the note do? (c?) in the female voice, and la si? (a b?) in the male voice, the vocal ligaments alone act in forming the sound, and throughout the register are moved by large, loose, full vibrations (_Totalschwingungen_).

But the instant the vocal ligaments are deprived of the a.s.sistance of the arytenoid cartilages, they relax and appear longer than at the last tone produced by that aid. But with every higher tone they appear again to be stretched shorter and more powerfully up to fa fa? (f f?), the natural transition of both the chest and falsetto registers, as well in the _male_ as in the _female_. The larynx is perceptibly lower in all the tones of the chest register than in quiet breathing.

THE FALSETTO REGISTER

All the tones of the falsetto register are produced by vibrations only of the fine, inner, slender edges of the vocal ligaments.

In this action the vocal ligaments are not so near together, but allow of a fine linear s.p.a.ce between them, and the superior ligaments are pressed farther back than in the production of the tones of the chest register. The rest of the action of the glottis is, however, entirely the same. With the beginning of the falsetto register at fa? (f?), the whole glottis appears again longer, and the vocal ligaments are much looser than in the highest tones of the chest register. The united action, already described, of the arytenoid cartilages and the ligaments in forming the deeper tones of the chest register, extends to do do?

(c c?) in the female voice, and in the male voice to mi? mi (e? e) commonly written thus: mi? mi (e? e) but which only rarely occurs in composition, and then is sung by tenorists as I have given it; that is, one octave lower.

With the do? (c?) in the female voice and the mi? mi (e? e) in the male voice, the arytenoid cartilages cease again to act, and as before, at the second higher series of tones of the chest register, leave the formation of the sounds to the vocal ligaments alone, which at this change appear again longer and looser, but with every higher tone tighten up to fa fa? (f f?) in the female voice, and in the male voice to sol (g), or as it is commonly written: g. In the falsetto register the larynx preserves its natural position, as in quiet breathing.

THE HEAD REGISTER

When in the observation of the falsetto register I had sung upwards to its highest tones, and then sang still higher, I became aware with the fa? (f?) of a change in the motions of the organ of singing, and the tones thus produced had a different timbre from the falsetto tones. It required long and patient practice before I finally succeeded in drawing back the epiglottis so that I could see the glottis in its whole length. Not until then was I able to observe the following:

With the fa? (f?), the vocal ligaments suddenly closed firmly together to their middle, with their fine edges one over the other.

[Representation in the mirror of the organ of singing in the formation of head tones.]

a. The closing together of the vocal ligaments.

b. Open part of the glottis.

The oval opening of the anterior portion of the glottis is imperfectly shown, because it is hidden from view by the epiglottis at the extreme end.