The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-25
HOW TO MAKE SINGERS
ELECTRICAL INVENTION BETTER
THAN svENGALI'S HYPNOTISM.
Prime Donne of the Future VIII
Garry a Battery and Electrodes
for Assisting the Voice.

New York Journal.
DR.. William Harvey King, of this city, in
an article in a recent medical weekly, mas
given the results of some remarkable ex
periments in wild e1ing the range OF the hu-
man voice by the application Of electricity.
The Svengali of the future will be not
hypnotist but an electrician. Trilby, up to
the twentieth century date, will not sing
her Ben Bolt with the wild. mesmeric
eyes of the master gazing at her from a
proscenium box, charming her, forcing her
voice. whether she will or no, up into the
very empyrean of sound. She Will pc
practical common-sense girl of the new
order, with tiny electric wire running up
through the back of her gown, and branch
ing down from her hair. to hold in place an
electrode or two upon the sides of her
throat And the Svengali will sit behind
the scenes, guarding a galvanic battery,
and with his hand on the key, supplying
compass to the singer whenever she
comes to a passage which overtaxes her
power in the upper register. No operate
or concert outfit Of the next century-even
of the next decade--will be complete with
out battery, and every singers wardrobe
will include her own sets OF electrodes
With these simple appliances, and knowi-
edge of how to use them, the contraltos OF
the coming generation can sing soprano If
they want to, and high c, and even greater
musical attitudes, will be easy for the
singer of low degree.
1t will be very simple matter, with the
aid of an electric battery, for a singer TO
touch almost any note in the scale, with
out reference to what sort of voice or what
allowance of compass Nature originally en-
dowed her. Vocal music need no longer
be written with n view to voice limitations
Anything almost within the realm OF SOUND,
the human throat will be made to perform.
LIMITS OF THE VOICE.
Hitherto it has been the general belief
that the capabilities of the human voice
were limited to just what muscular govern
ance could be attained by dint of careful
instruction and persistent practice. The
recent electrical experiments disprove that
antiquated notion completely.
"Ihere are cases. writes DR.. King, Sin
which the training of the voice by different
exercises will not avail, for the well-known
law of muscular development. that in phys
ical exercise q muscle develops just IN
proportion to it's power to absorb the in
creased nutrition which the exercise pro-
duces, would operate to make the con-
dition For the stronger Il muscle is the
more nutrition it will take on. and in these
cases it is impossible to exercise the weaker
ones without exercising the stronger ones
The apostles of electricity voice pro-
Queer and voice mOdifier-aS a complete
MASTER in short, of vocal possibilities-have
proven beyond any doubt that electricity
will make of the human vocal organ what
ever sort of an instrument is required.
Their theoretical demonstration of 1T all
Is amazingly simple, ana experiments made
upon a great diversity of voices show
suits which cannot be gainsaid. The larynx,
the real voice organ is nothing more nor
less than a musical box. Sound is due to
vibratory movements of air. The volume
of the sound, it's loudneSS, depends on
the amplitude of vibration or the distance
to and fro that each vibration travels The
pitch, or note, depends upon the rate of
vibration
pie, the height of note depends upon the
tension of the string or, to be exact, 1.-The
Iapldlty OF Vlpratlons Is imneIsely proper
tional to the square root of the weight of
the string" The same is true of vocal
cords; The shorter they, are the less their
greater the rate of vibration, the higher
the note
Now in the human voice the singer has
the power, by certain muscular movements
to so change the length of vibra tons pro-
duced by the vocal cords by changing the
shape and length of the cavity in the
mouth. that he can by this means change
the pitch of the fundamental tones so called.
But his power in this direction is limited,
and in order to produce the higher notes
there must be an increase in the rate of
vibration of the vocal chords.
THE ELECTRICAL APPARATUS
Here is where the electrical apparatus
comes into play. AS DR.. w. H. King, an
expert upon this important subject has set
forth, it is by the external application of
the electrical currents to the larynx that
power of tension is given to the muscles
that they can be contracted far beyond any
contractible capacity that they would have
naturally or be able to attain by practice
There must be sufficient chest capacity
to produce the necessary volume and blast
of air through the CLOTHS, and the full force
OF this blast of air must be obtained directly
upon the vibrating chords. leaving no open
space for any air to escape. To produce
high rate of vibration, and hence a soprano
there must be high tension.
All the different functions of the vocal
cords are controlled by muscles Their
strength, QuickneSs of reaction and power
OF endurance give both quality and power
to the voice. To provide these in degree
beyond what the muscles would normally
possess is the mission of electricity.
here IS where the new Svengali comes in
with his little galvanic battery. and with
the electrodes pressed against her larynx
and the current humming merrily over the
wire, his scientific Trilby breaks forth into
song OF such high, fine, attenuat ted note as
never was heard before save from a silver
WIRE or the throat of a canary
There are two motor points, at which
the electrodes are to be applied to the
throat of the singer. That of the external
laryngeal may be reached by placing the
electrodes along the postenor border of the
thyroid cartilage, about one-eighth OF an
men above line drawn backward from the
Adams apple. The second point is irst
where what science calls the crycoid carti-
iage is aruculated with the inferior corner
OF the thyroid cartilage. There the pulse
OF the carotid artery may be felt plainly
II the electrOde be pressed firmly bet ween