The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1911-11-19
CARE OF THE SINGING VOICE.
Tenor Says Single Grain of Dust
Can Ruin Vocal Chords.

Tenor Says Single Grain of Dust
Can Ruin Vocal Chords.
Last season a simple grain Of dust
cost one of the greatest living tenors
more than $4,000; not alone that but 1t
threatened to still his voice forever"
says Henri Leon, the Danish tenor, who
will sing in THE Girl Of the Golden
West"
The human voice possesses the most
delicate mechanism. The fine shadinRs
and tonal qualities that mark the differ
ence between a great singer and one of
mediocre attachments are in the shape,
training, and condition of the vocal
chords.
THE construction, shape, and condition
of the upper throat and the cavities in
the bony structure supporting the nasal
passages constitute the sounding board
of the human instrument'-the voice
and are naturally vastly important; but
it is the vocal chords themselves that
produce the tones, and any injury to
them vltlates the entire voice.
The voice is really a human musical
instrument, based on the principles of
the pipe organ. At the lower end Of the
sound tube is the larynx, and across the
air passages are two thin ribbons Of
cartilage exquisitely sensitive to the con-
troll OF the surrounding muscles, which
leaves them lax or holds them rigid,
draws their edges together or separates
them, according to the pitch or char
acter Of vibrations the mind or emotion
calls for.
THE vibrations of the chords are
caused by the air passing upward be-
tween their edges. AS In the case of the
violin strings. the tighter the chords are
drawn across the tube, the higher the
pitch of the tone produced.
Every one knows that a violin string
that Is rough or of unequal thickness
cannot produce an cTen tone. The re-
quirements Of the vocal chords are even
more exacting. While expanding and
contracting to produce the desired pitch
they must be free from any abrasion,
Inflammation, or malformation, such be-
ing fatal to the production of clear tone
THE chief dread OF professional sing
ers is that nodes (horny excrescences
like corns) may form on the delicate
edges Of the chords. thus operating
against their perfect control inturing the
quality Of the tone, and causing dete-
rioration of the voice unless removed.
In the case Of Caruso it was a grain
Of dust, at first unnoticed, which set I'D
as Inflammation at the edges of the deli
cate chord. thus becoming the nucleus
Of node which made further singing
out of question for the remainder of the
opera season.
This accident occurred on FebruaryN4
1911. shortly after a matinee at which
the great tenor sang the role OF johnson
in Pucctni's latest and greatest opera
The Girl OF the Golden West Although
Caruso lives at the Hotel Knickerbocker
scarcely a block from the Metropolitan
Opera House,. It has always been his
custom to take a taxi home to prevent
particle OF the Broadway dust from en-
tering his precious throat However, on
this particular occasion. after singing his
heavy part in The Girl of the Golden
West he neglected his customary pre-
caution, and his physicians declare that
in his short stroll he inhaled the particle |
which Tin loss of salary alone) cost him
over $4,000