Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-25
CHILDREN's VOICES.
The System of Their Training In the
Public Schools.

0NHOoS 1HIouBnOut the country 10 the 1nstruc-
ton OF pupils in vocal reading, and fair results
are attained by various systems. But it is to
be feared that too little is being done toward
the proper training of the chiaren's voices.
The exercises and songs which they learn to
sing by note are almost invariably sung in a
quality Of voice to which it is extremely dis
agreeable for cultivated ear to listen. Why
should this be allowed? Why should the
fundamental idea of music be entirely ignoredl
Music implies street. sounds. If there are no
sweet sounds, where is the music2 What sat
isfaction can q musical ear possibly find in
hearing even unusual fests of vocal reading il
they be performed in q voice which reminds
one Of the circular saws in a lumber mill? For
my own part, would rather listen to
the saws. The noise which they make
is only the result of the functions
they are performing in their own natural
manner Of the manners of a saw may be called
naturaD; but the noise which school children
make IN performing the function which they
call singing Is the result of a very unnatural
contraction of the throat muscles. | say an
unnatural contraction, not because il is rare (it
Is nearly universal after a certain age). but be-
cause child that has not vet learned TO scream
In the street viii, when unconsciously singing
at its play, voice which is entirely
different from this, and which is really musical
This bad quality of voice is heard more in boys
than in girls. and among the latter il decreases
with the growth of the children; but more or
less Of it is almost invariably heard when a
number Of children sing together. To make
this noise lit is not music) requires such an
effort, such as cramping of the throat, that the
given pitch can rarely be sustained. Even
when led by an instrument such voices are
constantly inclined to fat
do not mean to say that no public school
children ever sing well individually. or that So
called good chorus singing is not sometimes
heard. But where this is so. unless special care
has been taken, the good voices can almost al
ways be traced to the larger girls. This terri
bly, unmusical music is not confined to the pub
Inc schools, where little pretense is made of
training the voice. What a tax upon ones
musical nerves is involved in listening to one
OF those boy choirs that are made to strain
their chest voices up TO ID and ID sharp, and
then, If higher note should come. the only
thing to be heard is a terrible break into a
weak little head voice!
Must this sort OF thing go on forever? Music
Is the youngest of all the arts. but she is GER
tainly old enough now to have feared the pro-
per use of that first and most wonderful of all
musical instruments, the human voice. The
public taste is not so bad in regard to adult
voices. The real clrcular-saw species of voice
would not be tolerated III a chorus of grown
people. Why. then, should this same public
not only be satisfied with. but apparently ad-
mlre, these hideOus noises when produced in
the threats of little children who are supposed
by the poets to have voices soft and sWeet2"
The remedy is simple. Train the voice down
from the top. instead of up from the bottom
Take the soft sweet tones at the very top of
these strained voices of which | have been
speaking. which it Is q positive relief to hear
when they are actually reached. and cultivate
that quality down, and the voice changes It's
character Immediately, and the high tones be
come strong instead of weak little be-
low the middle of the child's and woman's
voice. about on the first space is what is
called the break. below which the voice ia
heavier and fuller than it is above that point.
The heavy quality has long been called the
chest voice, the light quality the head voice.
An octave above this is another break to
which sufficient attention Is rarely given, but
which Is of great Importance in soprano voices
These two breaks divide the voice into three
parts. which are now called by the best author
Itles the thick, the thin, and the small regis
tiers.
The names chest and head voice are unfor-
tqnate- They have given rise to erroneous
Ideas respecting the production of the voice
The chest and the head have nothing whatever
to do with the production of n pure tone.
Vocal tone Is made by the vibration of the
vocal chords, two-minute chords, or mem-
branes. which are stretched horizontally across
the throat III the larynx. or voice box" The
low tones and the high tones are all made in
exactly the same place, neither in the chest nor
IN the head, but in the throat The cause
Of the difference between the registers
Is this: the tones of the thick register
are the result of the vibration of
the vocal chords in their entire width; in the
thin register the chords vibrate along their in
ner edges only; in the small register the vibra-
ton Is the same, but the change is made in an
other way. In the two lower registers the
pltcn OF the tones Is regulated bv the tighten
ing of the chords, as the strings of a violin are
tlghtened in tuning. while the highest tones
those of the small register. are made by the
shortening of the chords, as the high tones of a
harp are given by short strings. These breaks
are not noticeable in every voice. Where they
are heard. the voice-trainer's aim should al
ways be to so blend the registers that no
change shall be apparent
The registers overlap; if a lower register is
forced too high. the change comes suddenly
and the voice breaks; but "A higher re cister NAV
safely be carried down as low as il will 90. and
In tins way the change is made gradually and
smoothly. This is why the ordinary practice of
making children sing scales up, or sing tunes
which begin low. Is productive of such bad re-
suits; II they sing loud. the chest or thick reg
lster Is sure to be strained beyond its legiti-
mate place.
Forcing the registers is not the only fauIt.
Nlne-tenths of our children and the majority
OF grown people sing with threats more or less
cramped. The larynx. a whole is capable
of rising and falling to limited extent If the
larynx Is raised, the throat cavity is lessened
ana the muscles are contracted; If in addition
70 THIS there Is an arching up of the back of the
tongue (Which is almost invariably the easel.
then the voice is forced up through the nose
and becomes nasal. The greatest of the mod
ern voice trainers, such az the elder Iamperti
and the elder Wartel. have always inculcated
the keeping OF the larynx in the same low DO
sitlOn for all tones, high and low. The reason
Tor TINS IS apparent. The requisites for pure
tone production are a wide open throat and a
nat tongue. The voice itself is made by the
vocal chords; the upper part of the throat and
the roof Of the mouth should act as a
sounding-bOard to render the tone full and
rich, and then TO throw il forward out into the
ar The quality of a voice depends upon the
shape OF this sounding-board II the passage
through which the voice must 90 be free and
open-that Is, If the tone be thrown directly
ont OF an open throat through the mouth. with
the tongue Hat at the back and out of the way
then the voice will be pure and sweet. II
tins passage, and particularly the part imme-
dlately above the larynx be contracted and
cramped, the voice is either harsh and raspinp
or nasal, or perhaps il has both these Qualities
Now there Is every conceivable variation be-
tween the pure, open. smooth quality and the
cramped, rasplng quality in both trained and
unframed voices. When the cramped rasping
quality IL very strong, and the heavy, thick
register Is carried much too high. this combi-
nation Is what reminds me of the circular saws
But the throat can be cramped more or less
even IN the other registers. L have always no
tlced that the real circular-saw characteristics
when heard in its full development is an in
olcation OF a particularly strong and naturally
good voice, often, though not always excep-
uonaily high. The following is the reason for