Caruso and Tetrazzini on the Art of Singing | Page 6

course, of the apoggio, or breath prop,
without which the note would be thin and would have no body to it.
The sensation that I have is of a slight pressure of breath striking
almost into a direct line into the cavity behind the forehead over the
eyes without any obstruction or feeling in the throat at all.
This is the correct attack for the head tone, or a tone taken in the upper
register. Before I explain the registers to you I must tell you one of the
funniest compliments I ever received. A very flattering person was
comparing my voice to that of another high soprano whom I very much
admire.
"Her voice is beautiful, particularly in the upper register," I insisted
when the other lady was being criticized.
"Ah, madame," responded the flattering critic, "but your registers give
out so much more warmth."
I think this joke is too good to lose, also the criticism, while unjust to
the other singer, is interesting to the student, because in the high
register, which includes in some voices all the notes above middle C,
the notes are thin and cold unless supported by the apoggio, the breath
prop, of which I have told you so much. People ask whether there are
such things as vocal registers. Certainly there are. There are three
always and sometimes four in very high voices. The ordinary registers
are the low, the middle, the high voice, or head voice, and sometimes
the second high voice, which has been called the flagellant voice.
A vocal register is a series of tones which are produced by a certain
position of the larynx, tongue and palate. In the woman's voice the
middle register takes in the notes from E on the first line of the staff
about to middle C. The head voice begins at middle C and runs up
sometimes to the end of the voice, sometimes to B flat or C, where it
joins the second head register, which I have heard ascend into a whistle
in phenomenal voices cultivated only in this register and useless for
vocal work.

Though the registers exist and the tones in middle, below and above are
not produced in the same manner, the voice should be so equalized that
the change in registers cannot be heard. And a tone sung with a head
voice and in the low voice should have the same degree of quality,
resonance and power.
As the voice ascends in the scale each note is different, and as one goes
on up the positions of the organ of the throat cannot remain the same
for several different tones. But there should never be an abrupt change,
either audible to the audience or felt in the singer's throat. Every tone
must be imperceptibly prepared, and upon the elasticity of the vocal
organs depends the smoothness of the tone production. Adjusting the
vocal apparatus to the high register should be both imperceptible and
mechanical whenever a high note has to be sung.
In the high register the head voice, or voice which vibrates in the head
cavities, should be used chiefly. The middle register requires palatal
resonance, and the first notes of the head register and the last ones of
the middle require a judicious blending of both. The middle register can
be dragged up to the high notes, but always at the cost first of the
beauty of the voice and then of the voice itself, for no organ can stand
being used wrongly for a long time.
This is only one of the reasons that so many fine big voices go to pieces
long before they should.
In an excess of enthusiasm the young singer attempts to develop the
high notes and make them sound--in her own ears, at all events--as big
as the middle voice. The pure head tone sounds small and feeble to the
singer herself, and she would rather use the chest quality, but the head
tone has the piercing, penetrating quality which makes it tell in a big
hall, while the middle register, unless used in its right place, makes the
voice muffled, heavy and lacking in vibrancy. Though to the singer the
tone may seem immense, in reality it lacks resonance.
A singer must never cease listening to herself intelligently and never
neglect cultivating the head tone or over-tone of the voice, which is its
salvation, for it means vibrancy, carrying power and youth to a voice.

Without it the finest voice soon becomes worn and off pitch. Used
judiciously it will preserve a voice into old age.

Tone Emission and Attack
In my first talk I said a few words, but not half enough, on the subject
of breath control.
My second talk was the physiological aspect of the throat,