The Child-Voice in Singing | Page 5

later. The growth of the larynx goes on, with
greater or less rapidity, varying in different individuals, for from six
months to two or three years, until it attains its final size. In boys, the
larynx doubles in size, and the vocal bands increase in the proportion of
five to ten in length. This great gain in the length of the vocal cords is
due to the lateral development of the larynx, for the male larynx, in its
entirety, increases more in depth than in height. The result is a drop of
an octave in the average boy's voice, the longer bands producing lower
tones. The change in size in the female larynx is in the proportion of
five to seven, and the increase is in height instead of depth or width as
in the male larynx. The vocal cords of women are, therefore, shorter,
thinner and narrower than are those of men.
The reason assigned for the peculiar antics of the boy's voice, during
the break, is unequal rapidity in the growth and development of the
cartilages and of the muscles of the larynx. The muscles develop more
slowly than do the cartilages, and so abnormal physical conditions
produce abnormal results in phonation.
No further changes occur in the laryngeal structure until middle life,
when ossification of the cartilages commences. The thyroid is first
affected, then the cricoid, and the arytenoids much later.
The consequent rigidity of the larynx occasions diminished compass of
the singing-voice, the notes of the upper register being the first to
disappear. In some few cases of arrested development, the voice of the
man retains the soprano compass of the boy through life.
CHAPTER II.
REGISTERS OF THE VOICE.
It may be observed, in listening to an ascending series of tones sung by
an untrained or by a badly-trained adult voice, that at certain pitches the
tone-quality undergoes a radical change; while a well-trained singer
will sing the same series of tones without showing any appreciable
break or change in tone-quality, although the highest note will present a
marked contrast in timbre to the lowest. The breaks or changes in

register so noticeable in the untrained voice are covered or equalized in
the voice trained by correct methods. These breaks in both male and
female voices occur at certain pitches where the tone-producing
mechanism of the larynx changes action, and brings the vocal bands
into a new vibratory form. "A register consists of a series of tones
produced by the same mechanism."-- Emil Behnke in "Voice, Song,
and Speech." G. Edward Stubbs, in commenting upon the above
definition, says:
"By mechanism is meant the action of the larynx which produces
different sets of vibrations, and by register is meant the range of voice
confined to a given set of vibrations. In passing the voice from one
register to another, the larynx changes its mechanism and calls into
play a different form of vibration."
The number of vocal registers, or vibratory forms, which the vocal
bands assume, is still a matter of dispute, and their nomenclature is
equally unsettled. The old Italian singing-masters gave names to parts
of the vocal compass corresponding to the real or imaginary bodily
sensations experienced in singing them; as chest-voice, throat-voice,
head-voice. Madame Seiler, in "The Voice in Singing," gives as the
result of original investigations with the laryngoscope five different
actions of the vocal bands which she classifies as "first and second
series of the chest-register," "first and second series of the falsetto
register" and "head-register." Browne and Behnke, in "Voice, Song,
and Speech," divide the male voice into three registers, and the female
into five. They are termed "lower thick," "upper thick," "lower thin,"
"upper thin" and "small." Other writers speak of three registers, "chest,"
"medium" and "head," and still others of two only, viz., the chest and
the head.
Modern research has shown what was after all understood before, that,
if the vibratory form assumed by the vocal bands for the natural
production of a certain set of tones is pushed by muscular exertion
above the point where it should cease, inflammation and weakening of
the vocal organs will result, while voice-deterioration is sure to follow.
A physiological basis has reinforced the empirical deductions of the old

Italian school. In dealing with children's voices, it is necessary to
recognize only two registers, the thick, or chest-register, and the thin, or
head-register. Further subdivisions will only complicate the subject
without assisting in the practical management of their voices. Tones
sung in the thick or chest-register are produced by the full, free
vibration of the vocal bands in their entire length, breadth and thickness.
The tones of the thin or head-register result from the vibration of the
vocal bands along their inner edges alone.
We may then conclude from the foregoing that