Chapter C: D E F G A B c d e f g a

Second series:

b c¹ d¹ e¹ f¹

TENOR VOICE

First series of the chest register:

G A B c d e f g a

Second series:

b c¹ d¹ e¹ f¹

First series of the falsetto:

g¹ a¹, &c.

IN THE FEMALE VOICE

First series of the chest register:

e f g a b c¹

Second series of the chest register:

d¹ e¹ f¹

First series of the falsetto register:

g¹ a¹ b¹ c²

Second series of the falsetto register:

d² e² f²

Head register:

g² a² b² c³ d³ e³ f³

The investigation and discovery of the facts here stated have been made with the utmost conscientiousness, repeated by men of science in Germany, and acknowledged as correct.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THESE OBSERVATIONS TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE SINGING VOICE

In teaching the art of singing, it is now-a-days very generally the custom to endeavor to raise the lower registers as far as possible toward the higher. This is especially the case with the tenor voice. It is considered a special advantage in a tenor voice when it can sing the a¹ on the first leger line (commonly written a²) with the chest register.

Upwards of a hundred and fifty years ago, when every good tenor was required to sing a¹ with a clear, full chest tone, this note, according to the orchestra pitch then, was not higher than a note between f and f♯, according to the present orchestra pitch in England and America. Since that time the orchestra pitch has everywhere gradually risen so imperceptibly that this important fact remained unknown to many singers and teachers, and until recently has been only rarely noticed. And yet it is precisely this much higher pitch and the consequent unnatural extension of the limits of the registers, which is the chief cause why most voices now-a-days last so little while.

That the registers may be forced up beyond their limits is possible, we have seen. But observation teaches us that it cannot be done without a straining of the organs which may be both seen and felt, and no organ will bear continued over-straining. It will gradually be weakened thereby, and become at last wholly useless.

This is a simple fact, scientifically established, universally known. It admits, therefore, of no doubt that the common custom of forcing the registers beyond their natural bounds injures voices, and seriously affects their durability. Even when the organs are so strong that they can bear the unnatural effort for a considerable length of time, they gain nothing in grace and timbre. Like every thing else unnatural, it carries with it its own punishment. Our tenor singers are, for the most part, only for a few years in full possession of their voices, while the earlier singers knew how to keep their voices fine and full to their latest age.

Not until 1858, when the orchestra pitch in Paris had risen for a¹ to 448 vibrations in a second, and tenors were no longer able to reach it with the chest register, was general attention turned to this evil. The Academy at that time fixed the orchestra pitch at 435 vibrations a second for a¹. This pitch is now introduced almost universally in Germany, and it is a full half note lower than our usual orchestra pitch in America. The introduction of the Paris pitch is, however, of no great advantage so long as singers and teachers keep to the same limits of the registers that they had at the beginning of the seventeenth century, when a¹ had 404 vibrations in a second, and was about a third lower than our present a¹. Musicians are averse to the introduction of this old low pitch, as the instruments are no longer accommodated to it. And besides, it is not at all necessary, if only singers and teachers would observe it better, and either set their pieces a third lower, or sing the notes that are difficult to be reached with a lower register in a natural way and with a higher register.

The old Italian masters were proud of being able so to educate the falsetto register of a tenor voice that it was difficult to distinguish chest tones and falsetto tones from one another, even for an ear accustomed to observe the finest distinctions of sound. And this art is by no means so difficult as is supposed, and is not dependent on the natural strength of the first falsetto tones. When in the male organ there exists the power of bringing the edges of the vocal ligaments into vibratory motion, and when these tones at the beginning, compared with the chest tones of the same voice, are weak and thin, then they may, with skill and perseverance, be trained to quite similar fulness.

That the male voice requires far more time and practice than the female to effect an imperceptible transition from the chest register to the falsetto, is unquestionable. And while this transition is always so very apparent in the man's voice, it is often scarcely observable to a practiced ear even in uncultivated female voices. Women, in speaking, always use the second chest and the first falsetto register, continually passing from one to the other of these registers without any change in the position of the mouth or of the resonance apparatus of the voice. They are thus all their lives long unconsciously practicing this transition, and because of this equal physical use of the chest and falsetto notes, the great physiological difference of these two registers almost entirely disappears. Although men do not use the falsetto register in speaking, it is not yet proved to be impossible for the male voice to attain the same results as the female.

When in the beginning the falsetto tones are sung always _piano_ and very _staccato_, by long-continued, careful practice, with entirely the same physical treatment of both registers, a smooth and natural transition from one to the other is most easily obtained. Thus the falsetto tones gain more and more in fulness and strength, and sound far more agreeably than the forced-up chest tones of our tenorists, sung with swollen-out throats and blood-red faces.

The education of men's voices involves many difficulties which do not exist in the case of the voices of women. Almost all men speak and sing in one register--tenors mostly in the second chest register, bassos mostly in the first, and oftentimes indeed not even in a correct natural manner. With this one register they sing as high and as low as they can, and this they consider the whole compass of their voices. The low chest register is rarely found good and natural (as regards the beauty of sound). In order for the production of these low chest tones, to set the vocal chords vibrating in their whole length and breadth, it is necessary that a fuller column of air from the lungs should press upon the glottis through the windpipe, which is readily of itself enlarged thereby. The easier and the more naturally this takes place, the more beautifully and naturally do these tones sound. Under the delusion that only strong singing is beautiful, and that this can be achieved only by extraordinary exertion, most of our basso singers have a peculiar way of pressing out the windpipe, which is not only very fatiguing, but gives to the low tones a rough, disagreeable sound. Among public speakers also this exhausting, faulty way of bringing out the chest tones is not uncommon, frequently rendering their voices quite incapable of use. _Merkel_ represents this way of forming the low tones as a peculiar register, which he calls the _Strohbassregister_, and through him a quite prevalent bad habit has found in other scientific works a right to existence which by no means belongs to it.

The female voice is treated in the same unnatural way. Many teachers teach their pupils to sing with the lower series of the chest register as high up as possible, often to the e¹ f¹, as far as the organs permit, and then let them begin the falsetto register. In this way the second series of the chest register is entirely omitted; but the made tones, as the expression is, thus obtained, sound very disagreeable and coarse, and the falsetto tones, which in this way begin lower than necessary, are on the contrary faint and weak. Of the falsetto register these teachers commonly require only the first series, up to d² e♭², to be sung, and then directly begin the head tones. Thus the second series of the falsetto is not used; but the tones belonging to it, which are sung with the first series of the falsetto register, are for the most part hard and sharp and seldom pure, while the tones of the head voice, coming in too soon, are thin and unmusical, and the whole voice thus receives an irregular formation. Many teachers, again, allow the lower tones of the chest register to be sung with the higher series of the same, whereby these tones are naturally never as sweet and strong. Then, too, they press the first series of the falsetto up to d² e♭², and thence, as far as it is possible, the voice is to ascend with the second series of the falsetto, without admitting the head tones, even in voices with the high soprano timbre. But the tones thus forced up are for the most part sharp and destitute of all grace. And it is just this that is one of the commonest faults of our present mode of singing.

As it has been customary to cultivate, in the male voice only, the three lower series, because both of the highest sound sweet and graceful only from the soft, delicate organs of the female voice, and as the male voice is rarely capable of compassing the highest series, the erroneous idea has gradually obtained prevalence among teachers of singing, that there are only three different series of tones, and that the female voice has only two transitions.

In voices fresh and unvitiated the different series are very easily distinguished by their different timbre. One hears this difference of timbre most clearly in the transition of the second series of the chest register into the falsetto in the male voice, and in the female voice at the transition of the first series of the falsetto register into the second.

As has been observed, the larynx stands lower with the tones of the chest register than with the tones of the other registers, or during quiet breathing.

In order, in the low chest tones, to bring the whole glottis into full vibration, the air, as it is expired, must press upon it with a larger volume. From all parts of the lungs the air, when expired, presses into the windpipe, the rings of which, widening as much as possible, come somewhat nearer to each other and draw down the larynx.

One has thus the sensation as if the whole body took part in this formation of sound, and as if the lower tones of the chest register were drawn from the lowest part of the lungs.

In producing the second series of the chest register, the sensation is as if the tones came from the upper part of the chest, midway between the pit of the stomach and the larynx.

With regard to the tones of the first series of the falsetto, the feeling is as if they had their origin in the throat.

In the tones of the second series of the falsetto, we feel as if the throat had nothing to do with them--as if they were formed above, in the mouth.

With the head tones, one has the feeling that they come from the forehead.

It is these _physical sensations_ that have given occasion to many erroneous conjectures in regard to the formation of tones, but we are satisfied that they have no direct relation to the generation of sound, and appear so only through the nerves active in the process.

By directing the attention of one's pupils to these different sensations, it is very easy to make them acquainted with the different registers of the voice--always a very necessary proceeding in the first training of a voice, although it seems to be so only in the case of such voices as have been previously misdirected.

The culture of the female voice is best begun with the two series of the falsetto register and the second of the chest register; the tones of these three middle registers must be pretty well cultivated before the lowest chest tones and the head voice are begun to be formed. The voice in this way best attains to an equal fulness. It is self-evident also that the teaching should be such that the transitions of the registers should be not at all or scarcely perceptible, consequently that all the tones should sound proportionally strong and full.

In the soprano voice the falsetto, and in the contralto voice the chest register, have more fulness and grace, and thus we may distinguish to which kind of voice a voice belongs, for the compass of the voice is not always confined within certain limits. There are contraltos that can sing the high head tones with ease, and sopranos that can sing the low chest tones with equal facility--a fact which has often given occasion to an incorrect treatment of a voice. So also with the male voice. A bass voice sings the lower series of the chest register with more ease and sweetness and with more obscure timbre. A tenor voice sings the second series of the chest register in a clearer timbre.

The baritone and mezzo-soprano voices, so called--that is, such voices as have a limited compass, and cannot sing either the highest or the lowest tones--are by no means so numerous as they are thought to be. The best tenor voices, which cannot naturally reach the lowest bass tones, and whose organs do not allow of an unnatural forcing up beyond the higher limits of the chest register, are commonly pronounced baritone voices, for no one now-a-days thinks of cultivating the falsetto register of the male voice.

Few teachers, likewise, understand how to teach correctly the tones of the head register. If a soprano voice cannot readily and agreeably sing the low contralto tones, and extend the falsetto scale far enough upwards beyond its limit, it is reckoned among the mezzo-soprano voices. The celebrated singing master _Thomaselli_, of _Padua_, maintained that baritone and mezzo-soprano voices “had no existence in nature, but were only the products of our false methods of instruction.”

I have sometimes found mezzo-soprano and baritone voices, but not in so great number by far as the four chief kinds of voices--bass, tenor, contralto, and soprano.

Although an exact knowledge of the vocal organ and its various actions must be required of a teacher before the education of a voice can be committed to him, yet it would be unwise to undertake to teach singing by means of scientific explanations without sufficient previous knowledge; the pupil would, in this case, understand as little of what he was about and be as little helped as a child learning to read would be assisted by one who merely sought to make intelligible to him the mechanism by which sound is formed. The most natural and the simplest way in singing, as in all things else, is the best. Let the teacher sing correctly every tone to his pupil until the latter knows how to imitate it, and his ear has learned how to distinguish the different timbres.[5]

The discovery of the natural transitions of the registers has brought to light one of the greatest evils of our present mode of singing, and shown at the same time how wanting in durability are the voices of those of our artists whose aim and endeavor it is to force the registers upward beyond their natural limits. Although the concert pitch is so very much higher now than it was in the most flourishing period of the singing art, yet no regard is paid to this fact in the education of a voice, and our tenorists try to reach the a¹ with the chest register, just as they did one hundred and fifty years ago.

In the _ignorance existing concerning the natural transitions of the registers, and in the unnatural forcing of the voice, is found a chief cause of the decline of the art of singing. And the present inability to preserve the voice is the consequence of a method of teaching unnatural, and therefore imposing too great a strain upon the voice._[6]

No one who has not made the art of singing a special study, can form any idea of the obscure and conflicting views in regard to the transitions of the registers which prevail among singing teachers and artists. Almost every teacher has a peculiar theory of his own in regard to the formation of the voice; every one has his own views, sometimes extremely fanciful, of the formation of tones and of the registers--views to which he tenaciously adheres, summarily rejecting all others. Almost as at the building of the tower of Babel, one teacher scarcely understands any longer what another means, and instead of harmonious endeavors to improve the art, teachers of singing are commonly found disputing among themselves.

To bring light and order into such a chaos can only be accomplished by the most thorough scientific study, and even then it is an undertaking of the greatest difficulty. Custom stands in the way as an antagonist, and there must be a conflict with long-cherished and wide-spread errors and prejudices. It lies also in the nature of the case that teachers of singing are the most determined opponents to be encountered. It is very hard for this class, and it demands of them no common self-denial to acknowledge and renounce as errors what they have taught for years and held to be truths. Those teachers, however, who have made the necessary sacrifice, have been compensated with the richest success; and such, we trust, will in all cases be the result, and so the path be broken for the true and the natural.

It will be perhaps comparatively easy to advance the art of singing in America; for, as Humboldt says, not entirely without truth, the Germans require for every improvement two centuries--one to find out the need of it, and another to make it.

[2] It must be remarked that the diagrams here given are copies
of _reflected_ images, and therefore the upper side of the
representation shows the front of the larynx, and the lower
the farther side of the larynx.

[3] In recent works on laryngoscopy they are often described
as continuations or parts of one of the principal muscles
of the larynx.

[4] In recent French and English works upon laryngoscopy,
the cuneiform cartilages are frequently mentioned, and
sometimes confounded with the cartilages Wrisbergi.

[5] On this account the male voice should be trained by men
and the female voice by women. For, as it is impossible
for a man to give to a female pupil a correct perception
of the tones of the head register and of the second series
of the falsetto, with its peculiar female timbre, so is it
impossible for a woman to sing and teach correctly the
deep, sonorous chest tones of the male voice. _Frederick
Wiek_, that admirable teacher, who perceives intuitively
what is natural and true in instruction, has an excellent
expedient. In his hours of instruction he avails himself
of the aid of young women with practised voices, who sing
every exercise to his female pupils until the latter are
able to imitate them correctly.

[6] Voices which by this overstrained and unnatural way of
singing have become worn-out and useless may by correct,
proper treatment recover, even at an advanced age, their
former grace and power; and even those chronic inflammations
of the larynx which are so difficult of treatment may be
cured by a natural and moderate exercise of the voice in
singing.