The Child-Voice in Singing | Page 4

of vibrations of the bands,
according to acoustical law, and the length, size, and tension of the
cords will determine the number of vibrations per second, i.e., their
rapidity.

Strength or loudness of tone is determined primarily by the width or
amplitude of the vibrations of the vocal membrane, and quality or
timbre is determined by the form of the vibration.
The infinitely varying anatomical divergencies in the form and
structure of the nasal, pharyngeal and throat cavities, and possibly the
composition of the vocal bands, modifies, in numberless ways, the
character of tone in speech or song. It is a fascinating topic, but must be
dismissed here with the remark that, as those anatomical differences in
structure are far less marked in children than in adults, their voices are,
in consequence, more alike in quality and strength. It takes long, patient
training to blend adult voices, but children's voices, when properly used,
are homogeneous in tone.
The voices of boys and girls, prior to the age of puberty, are alike. The
growth of the larynx, which in each is quite rapid up to the age of six
years, then, according to all authorities with which the writer is
conversant, ceases, and the vocal bands neither lengthen nor thicken, to
any appreciable extent, before the time of change of voice, which
occurs at the age of puberty.
It is scarcely possible, however, that the larynx literally remains
unchanged through the period of the child's life, extending from the age
of six to fourteen or fifteen years. In point of fact, authorities upon the
subject refer only to the lack of growth and development in size of the
larynx during the period; but undoubtedly, during these years, there is
a constant gaining of firmness and strength, in both the cartilages and
their connecting membranes and muscles. None of the books written
upon the voice have even mentioned this most important fact. It bears
with great significance upon questions relating to the capacities of the
child's voice at different ages, and explains that phenomenon called the
"movable break," which has puzzled so many in their investigations of
the registers of the child's voice. The constant, though of course
extremely slow, hardening of the cartilaginous portions of the larynx,
and the steady increase in the strength of its muscles and ligaments is
not in the least inconsistent with the previously noted fact, that the
vocal bands during this time increase to no appreciable extent in length;

for, it may be observed, after the change of voice, which often occurs
with great rapidity, and during which the vocal bands increase to
double their previous length in males, that, though the pitch of the
voice, owing to increased length of the bands, suddenly lowers, yet not
until full maturity is reached, do the laryngeal cartilages attain that
rigidity, or the vocal bands that ready elasticity essential to the
production of pure, resonant voice. Yet, during these years, while the
voice is developing, the vocal bands remain unchanged in length. Even
in those cases where the voice changes slowly in consequence of the
slow growth in length and thickness of the vocal cords, it takes several
years, after laryngeal development has ceased, for the voice to attain its
full size and resonance.
Furthermore, the continual increase in strength and firmness of the
larynx from six years onward to puberty, is consistent with the constant
growth in strength and firmness of tissue characterizing the entire body.
It is again proven by the continual improvement in the power and
timbre of the tone through this period, always premising, be it
understood, that the voice is used properly, and never forced beyond its
natural capabilities. The voice, at the age of eleven or twelve, is far
stronger, and is capable of more sustained effort than at the age of six
or seven years, and, for the year or two preceding the break of voice,
the brilliance and power of boys' voices, especially in the higher tones,
is often phenomenal, and in all cases is far superior to that of previous
years.
The resemblance between the voices of boys and girls, a resemblance
which amounts to identity, save that the voices of boys are stronger and
more brilliant in quality, disappears at puberty.
Among the physical changes which occur at this period is a marked
growth of the larynx, sufficient to alter entirely the pitch and character
of the boy's voice. As a female larynx is affected to a lesser extent, the
voices of girls undergo little change in pitch, but become eventually
more powerful, and richer in tone.
This break of the voice, as it is called, occurs at about the age of fifteen
years in this climate, but often a year or two earlier, and not

infrequently a year or two