Voice Production in Singing and Speaking Part 9

The author would also insist, in the most emphatic manner, on the great importance of making all such exercises musical. Every tone should be the best then possible to the voice-user, and power must on no account be aimed at for some time. Thus are developed and go hand in hand, as they always should, a sound technique with the artistic conscience and perceptions.

SUMMARY AND REVIEW.

_The Principles of Physics, etc., Involved._

Sound (tone) is a mental result having its origin in certain changes in the ear and the brain, owing to vibrations of the air. Tones have _pitch_, depending on the number of vibrations in a second, _volume_ (power), depending on the size of the waves or vibrations, and _quality_ (_timbre_), determined by the shape of the waves. Pitch is determined by the vocal bands, volume by the same, in great part, and quality by the shape of the resonance-chambers above the vocal bands.

The resonance-chambers influence volume also. A tone is augmented by resonance.

The larynx bears certain resemblances to both stringed and wind instruments, but it is really unique (_sui generis_). The vibrations of the vocal bands are caused solely by the expiratory current of air, which is more or less held back by the cords, owing to their approximation, so that the greater the obstruction the stronger must the blast of air be, other things being equal, and the result increase in pitch. The problem Nature had to solve is very complex.

The laryngoscope was invented in 1854 by a teacher of singing, Manuel Garcia, who soon after gave an account of it to the Royal Society of England. The instrument consists essentially of two mirrors, the external, or "head-mirror," which is concave and reflects into the larynx, and the internal, or "mouth-mirror," which reflects the picture outward to the eye. The latter mirror is plane, and set at an angle. The picture may show, under the most favorable circ.u.mstances, all the upper parts of the larynx, including the vocal bands, but sometimes, also, the windpipe as far down as its division into the two main bronchial tubes. The difficulties commonly met with in the use of the instrument are a constrained action of the throat and mouth parts of the subject, unnatural breathing, an unruly tongue, etc. The epiglottis may, also, naturally so overhang the glottis that a good view of the vocal cords is impossible. It is difficult to see more than one-half to two-thirds of the length of the vocal bands. The picture seen is that of the parts of the larynx reversed--_i.e._, while right remains right, posterior becomes anterior. The laryngoscope shows that (1) in singing an ascending scale the vocal bands are for a certain time in action (vibration) throughout their whole length; that (2) there may be observed a rather sudden change when the vocal bands are relaxed and shortened, and that this process of shortening goes on, the bands approaching more and more, both behind and in front, till (3) in the highest tones of a soprano of great range there is only a small portion of each vocal cord toward the centre that is not approximated somewhat closely.

With certain qualifications, it may be said that the action of the vocal bands is alike for all voices. In all cases a certain degree of approximation of the vocal bands is absolutely necessary for phonation, and the mechanism is generally similar in males and females till the highest tones, above alluded to, are reached. This is in harmony with the following facts: (1) The crico-thyroids are the muscles most in use in ordinary speech and in singing the lower tones.

(2) Several muscles combine in relaxing and shortening the vocal bands. (3) The peculiar mechanism of the highest tones in a soprano voice of great compa.s.s is only to be explained by a combined action of several muscles, and a very delicate and precise use of the internal thyro-arytenoids attached along the whole length of the outer surface of the vocal bands. The larynx of the male differs from that of the female chiefly in its greater size, weight, etc. The vocal bands in the male may measure from three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when relaxed, and from four-fifths to one inch when tense; in the female, from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch when relaxed, and from three-fifths to four-fifths of an inch when tense. There are structural differences corresponding to and determining the kind of voice, as to range and power more especially. The ba.s.s singer has, as a rule, the largest larynx and the longest and heaviest vocal bands.

At p.u.b.erty the changes that take place in the body generally are a.s.sociated with corresponding alterations in the larynx. The larynx grows, changes its proportions, etc., often somewhat rapidly, and the result may be a corresponding alteration in voice, as regards range, power, and quality. The voice, because of imperfect anatomical and physiological adjustment, may "break," to a greater or less extent.

The same may take place, owing to similar imperfect adjustment, in old age, and temporarily, owing to disease, weakness, nervousness, fatigue, faulty production, etc. These facts indicate that under such circ.u.mstances the voice should be used with great care, not at all, or in a whisper, when the vocal bands are practically not in action.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 45. Represents what the author has frequently seen, by the use of the laryngoscope, when a soprano is producing a very high head-tone, say C, D, or E in alt. It will be observed that the vocal bands approximate in front and behind ("stopped"), so that the only parts of the bands capable of vibration are those short portions which form the margins of the oval opening shown in the ill.u.s.tration. Only a very limited number of singers are capable of the delicate adjustments required.]

In a singer highly endowed by nature and perfected by long training based on the soundest principles, the action of the muscles of the larynx may reach a degree of perfection only to be compared with that of the eye and ear.

Consideration of the _coup de glotte_, the attack, or adjustment of mechanisms to produce tone that begins correctly; breathing, with open mouth, with effectiveness and economy of energy; singing for children, in choirs, etc., have been discussed.

Practical exercises should be related to the principles underlying them. Musical and aesthetic principles are always to be a.s.sociated with a sound technique. The artistic and technical or physiological conscience should be a.s.sociated.

CHAPTER IX.

THE RESONANCE-CHAMBERS.

When it is borne in mind that the vocal bands have little or nothing to do with the quality of tones, the importance of those parts of the vocal apparatus which determine quality, and the error of speaking of the larynx as if it alone were the sole vocal organ, become apparent.

It may be strictly said that the vocal bands serve the purpose of making the resonance mechanism available. What one hears may be said to be vibrations of this resonance apparatus, and not, strictly, those of the vocal bands, though this expression would also be correct, but would not indicate the final link in the series of vibrations.

The tone caused by the vibration of two such small bands as the vocal cords must, in the nature of the case, be very feeble. It becomes important for the reader to convince himself of the importance of resonance in sounding bodies and musical instruments.

When the stem of a tuning-fork so small that it can be scarcely heard when in vibration, except by, the person holding it, is laid against a solid body, as a table, its sound is at once so increased that it can be heard in the most distant part of a large room. When the same fork is held over an empty jar of suitable size and shape, a similar but much, less marked increase of its tone is to be observed.

If a cord of but moderate thickness be fastened at each end to a thin piece of wood, say a split shingle, and a little block of wood, in imitation of the bridge of a violin, be placed under the cord so as to render it tense, we have the essentials of a stringed instrument, the pitch of which can be made to vary by moving the block about and thus varying the tightness of the cord. But the sound of such an improvised instrument, produced by drawing a bow across the cord, is ridiculously feeble.

In the actual violin the volume of sound, as well as its quality, depends on the size, shape, and weight of the instrument. The strings serve the purpose of causing the body of the instrument, the air within it, and, in consequence, the air without, between it and the ear of the auditor, to vibrate or move in a specific manner.

Similarly, the imposing size of the grand piano is a.s.sociated inevitably with loudness, as compared with a smaller instrument. A violoncello must produce a larger tone than a violin, though not necessarily one more intense.

These principles of resonance apply in the case of the singer and the speaker. The ba.s.s and barytone produce tones of larger volume (as well as different quality) than those of the tenor, because their resonance apparatus is different in size and shape. It is true, their vocal bands, their wind-power, and the laryngeal muscles are different--they are not of the same size, etc.--and, in a more remote sense, this is the cause of the differences in the tones they produce; but the immediate cause is to be sought in the resonance mechanism, and, above all, in the resonance-chambers.

It is true that when one speaks or sings, the chest, windpipe, and larynx may be felt to vibrate, but the essential vibrations are _supra-glottic_--above the vocal bands.

These resonance-chambers are the _mouth cavity_, in the widest sense, and the _nasal chambers_. It is highly probable that the vibrations of the chest walls and of the bones of the head may to some degree modify the vibrations of the air within the resonance-chambers, chiefly in the direction of intensification; but the idea that the hollow s.p.a.ces in certain of the bones of the head have any appreciable influence on the tones of the speaker or singer, can at best not be considered as demonstrated, and it serves no practical purpose to take into account this possibility.

The great facts, the facts which are so plain that they may be demonstrated to a child, are these: that the quality of any tone--_e.g._, a vowel--is absolutely determined by the shape of these cavities, the mouth and nasal chambers. This subject will be treated further when the tones, etc., of speech are considered, but inasmuch as no one can sing, in the proper sense of the term, without the use of vowels, at least, and as we produce different vowels with ease, one may at once demonstrate to himself that this is done by altering the shape of his mouth cavity, and chiefly by the agency of the tongue and soft palate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 46 (Tyndall). Representing water being poured into the vessel A B, till the air-s.p.a.ce is just sufficient to respond to the vibrations of the tuning-fork. The air thus becomes a resonator of the fork.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 47 (Spalteholz). The mouth is extremely widely opened. The soft palate is seen terminating in the uvula, and on each side, extending from it, are the pillars of the fauces, a pair of folds between which the tonsil is seen to lie.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 48. View of the nose, etc., from behind, showing the parts enumerated above. It is not hard to understand that any considerable amount of swelling of the lining mucous membrane might give rise to difficulty in breathing through the nose, and even compel mouth-breathing.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 49 (Spalteholz). Showing well the scroll (turbinated) bones of the nose, which break up the s.p.a.ce and make it more cavernous. It can be seen that there is free communication behind, between the mouth and the nasal cavities, and that if the soft palate and the tongue approximate, the breath-stream must pa.s.s into and through the nose, giving rise to nasality in utterance.]

A short description of a part to which many voice-users remain strangers all their lives will now be given. These resonance-chambers remain, for many, an apparatus used daily and absolutely essential, yet never examined. Fortunately, a few ill.u.s.trations, which should be followed by an examination of the student's own resonance-chambers and their various parts as they may be seen in a mirror, will remove all difficulty in the understanding of them, and prepare for that detailed study to be recommended in a subsequent chapter.

Pa.s.sing from before backward, one meets the _lips_, the _teeth_ and _gums_, the _hard palate_, which is a continuation of the gums; then, suspended from the hard palate, behind, is the _soft palate_, back of which lies the _pharynx_ (often termed "the throat"), and above it and const.i.tuting its continuation, the _naso-pharynx_; and lying on the floor of the mouth there is the _tongue_.

Certain of these parts, as the teeth, gums, hard palate, nasal bones, etc., const.i.tute fixed structures, and though they determine in no small measure the shape of the resonance-chambers, and so to a degree the quality of the voice, so movable are the lips, soft palate, and, above all, the tongue, that there is the widest scope for varying the quality and even the volume of the voice; so that it is a good thing, practically, for every one to believe that so far as quality, at all events, is concerned, he is the master of his own destinies.

Though we are accustomed to believe that the mouth and nose are, though neighbors, quite separate and independent of each other, such is not the case. Indeed, in the pre-natal condition these are not two, but one; and in some instances they remain imperfectly separated, owing to the failure of the hard palate to develop to the full--a condition known as "cleft palate," and giving rise to a peculiar nasal intonation, to be explained presently.

The _nasal chambers_ are divided into two by a vertical part.i.tion, as one can readily demonstrate by the use of his fingers, and are still further broken up by certain bones, the scroll-shaped or _turbinated_ bones, so that the nasal chambers are of very limited size, and much divided up by bony outgrowths from their walls. The _vertical septum_, while bony above, is cartilaginous and flexible below.

Without the aid of instruments and a good light the nose can be but indifferently examined from the front, while it requires the greatest skill on the part of a laryngologist to see it well from behind.

However, the whole difficulty can be got over by visiting a butcher and securing a sheep's head split through from before back. In a few moments one can learn all the essential facts, including that one of great practical importance--viz.: that every part of the resonance-chambers is lined by the same mucous membrane which is also continued downward into the larynx and the gullet.

It will be thus observed that the throat and nose communicate in the freest manner behind, and that the only way of closing off the mouth cavity from the nasal chambers is by means of the tongue and the soft palate working together. As in the proper use of the tongue and soft palate lie many of the secrets of the art of the speaker and singer, special attention must be given to these parts.

The _tongue_, which completely fills the floor of the mouth, is made up of several muscles of different attachments, which explains why this organ is so movable. To say that it can with the greatest ease and rapidity be turned toward every one of the thirty-two points marked on a mariner's compa.s.s, is but to feebly express its capacity for movements. What we are most concerned with now is its power to alter the shape of the mouth cavity in every part.

The _soft palate_ is suspended like a curtain from the hard palate, behind. It is composed of muscles arranged in pairs, and is continued into a conical tip below known as the _uvula_, and on each side into folds, the _pillars of the fauces_, between which lie the _tonsils_, which are in shape like very small almond nuts. When quite normal these should not protrude much, if at all, beyond the cavity made by the folds referred to above.

Both the tonsils and the uvula may become so enlarged as to be a source of awkwardness or more serious evil to the voice-user. They may, in fact, require operative interference. So serious, however, is the decision to operate, or the reverse, for the voice-user, that the author recommends that such operations be entrusted only to laryngologists who have some knowledge of their influence on voice-production.

It is of the greatest moment to observe that the quality of tones can be made to vary in the highest degree by the joint use of the tongue and soft palate. When in vocalizing the tongue is raised behind and the soft palate made to approach it, or actually to meet it, the tone a.s.sumes a more or less nasal character. The reason of this is that the cavity of the mouth proper, or "mouth" in the narrower sense, the forward part, is shut off from the hinder part, or the pharynx, so that the breath is then directed upward and pa.s.ses chiefly through the nose, producing a nasal tone or tw.a.n.g--always a fault, and one fearfully common in America.

When the tongue alone is raised behind, or drawn back unduly, tones become m.u.f.fled--indistinct, etc. This is also a very common fault, but is found in England and Germany also. English speech is often hard and guttural, German unduly guttural, if not so hard, and American slovenly and horribly nasal.

But what may in a certain degree be disagreeable and a vocal error, is in another a positive excellence; so, in this case, the use of the tongue and soft palate in the proper degree and at the right moment gives us emotional expression. This subject will, however, be considered again later; in the meantime, the student is advised to do a little experimenting in the use of his tongue and soft palate, with a view of noting how the quality of tone may be thus made to vary. He is also advised to use a hand-gla.s.s with the object of observing the parts mentioned in this chapter, and if he can also find a friend willing to lend his mouth for observation, so much the better.

The sooner any voice-user comes to feel that his vocal destinies lie in his own hands, the better. "Know thyself" is as necessary an admonition for the speaker and singer as for any other artist, but with that must go another, "Believe in thyself"--that thou canst produce tones of beautiful and expressive quality if thou wilt; it may be only after much wisely directed work, but yet it is possible.

Allusion must be made to the danger of those engaged in mathematical and physical investigations applying their conclusions in too rigid a manner to the animal body. It was held till recently that the pitch of a vocal tone was determined solely by the number of vibrations of the vocal bands, as if they acted like the strings of a violin or the reed of a clarinet, while the resonance-chambers were thought to simply take up these vibrations and determine nothing but the quality of tone; they were believed not to have any influence on pitch. Against this view the author long ago demurred. To Prof. Scripture, however, belongs the credit of demonstrating that the resonance-chambers determine pitch also. It seems probable that the vocal bands so beat the air within the resonance-chambers as to determine the rate of vibration of the air of these cavities, and so the pitch of the tone produced. These chambers not having rigid walls, one can the better understand that the tension of these parts may not only be different in individuals, but vary in the same person from time to time, according to the condition of his health, etc. Herein we find another source of explanation of variations in the voice. All these considerations make the resonance-chambers more important than ever, so that there is greater objection to speaking of the larynx as _the_ vocal organ than we were aware of before these investigations were undertaken.

SUMMARY.