Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-06-17
WHY THEY CAN SING.
THE THROAT OF A SONGSTER Is
LIKE ALMOST ANY OTHER.

Range of Voice Depends the Brain
Fully as Much, If Not More. Than 1t
Does Upon the Construction of the Lar
! ynx-The Musical Center of the Brain.
There was an item in a British publica
| ton recently which said that Nine. Adelna
Patti had sold her larynx to scientists who
wanted to know how it was constructed.
This item did not mention the name of the
purchasers, but it said that they were not
to claim their purchase until after the
singers death. The object of it all, ac-
cording to this pleasant bit of news, was to
ascertain in what respect PATHS throat,
and particularly her vocal cords, differed
! from other peoples.
But there is no truth in it, and the only
effect of the story was to make tender
hearted folk shiver The paragraph was
shown to Dr. Hobrook Curtis, probably
the highest authority in New York on the
throat, who has carefully studied the
voices of all the well known singers from
physicians standpoint. Said he;
This story is perfectly absurd. A laryn-
gologst can examine the vocal cords fully
as well in a living being as in a corpse. BY
means of mirrors and reflectOrs these cords
are as plain to his eye as the patients nose
could be derived from the examination of
the cords Of a corpse, for the moment life
ceases they loose their tension, become
loose, flabby bands, and are of no use what
ever for scientific examination or expert
ment.
"As for Nine. PATHS cords and her
throat. | do not think they differ in the
least from those of a great many other
people The good voice in singing does
not entirely depend on the construction of
these parts. OF course they are highly i'm
portant factors in voice production, and
you will probably find that most good
singers have smooth vocal cords, well pro-
portioned evenly approXimated and free
from all roughness or thickening But
have often found the most beautiful and
the clearest vocal cords in people who could
not produce a melodious sound to save
their lives
IF a laryngologist were to examine the
larynXes of half dozen people whom he
had never seen before, he could not tell
with certainty whether or not they were
good singers He could tell whether their
vocal cords were well formed, and he might
even venture n guess rs to their musical
power, but lis guess would not be based
Oh any scientific principle
There - in every brain musical CEN
ter, and upon its Development and its con-
dition depends the singing voice. This
center has not yet been located, but from
the existence of centers of other physical
functions such as equilibrium. speech and
so forth. its existence is established by an
alogy How could it be explained other
wise that some children can sing like birds
before they can talk, while others, whose
vocal cords are to all appearances identical
with theirs, cannot produce single note?
This is simply higher development of
the musical center in the one case and a
lower in the other. This center commune
Gates with and controls the faculties for
the expression of the musical idea
There are very often cases where one
singer finds it absolutely impossible to sing
a phrase that another can glide through
with ease, yet their vocal cords and their
larnyXes may be formed Just alike. The
facility of musical action or technique is
dependent upon other causes than the con-
struction of the larynX. Another way to
illustrate the idea is this: Two men may
have legs shaped exactly alike. One may
walk very gracefully and the other very
clumsily. yet they both exercise the same
nerves and muscles. 1t is simply diff
ference in the development of the centers
of muscular co-ordination
so YOU see the vocal cords play only a
minor part in singing They are merely
like the strings OF the violin. There are
good strings and bad strings, but the tone
that is produced does not depend entirely
upon their quality. A more important
part il singing i played by the bucal and
nasal cavities and the chest. for upon
them depend the resonance and timber Of
the tone
l., n If n (
practced today, he said:
THE tendency of the Wagnerian opera
upon vocal music has been the subiugator
of the light lyric tenor and the substitution
Of the dramatic tenor in his place. Volume
of tone is considered rather than quality
If Wagnerian opera should really become
the music of the future the voice of the
lyric tenor must be hushed. This same
criticism must apply to the soprano a:
well, for already this tendency has pro
duced dramatic soprano which has neces
STATED different education and training
in the art of voice production. The mu
steal world is equally divided as to the pro
per method to be employed in placing thu
singers voice, When speak of placing,
do not refer to register, but the manne
of tone production.
Let us analyze the singing of the d.
their so called method. If you were to asl
either of them the secret of his art b.
would say, Respiration and the combina
ton of chest and head resonance A care
full observer would have noticed that thei
breathing was diaphragmatic, so to say
the chest wall remaining elevated as il
deep inspiration, and not let down during
or after the exploratory act-a clever tricl
which maintains great resonance eve
when the lung is nearly exhausted of all
But this is not the only thing which pre-
serves the timber. The nasal cavitie
above the the palate are also brought int
- play, producing that peculiar, vibran
quality. This the French call singin
dams la masque.
''ln order to produce this double resC
nance the soft palate is brought forward i
the position which it would naturally a:
sumo in singing the word score for a 8.
prano, or the French EN- for a tenor voic,