The Child-Voice in Singing.

by Francis E. Howard.

PREFACE.

It will be generally admitted by those who are able to judge, that the singing of children is more often disagreeable than pleasant, and yet the charm of childhood and the effect of custom are so potent that many who are keenly alive to any deficiency in the adult singer, listen with tolerance, and it would seem with a degree of pleasure even, to the harsh tones of children.

This tolerance of rough, strident singing by children is as strange as the singing. It cannot be right for children to sing with the coa.r.s.e, harsh tone that is so common, and it is not right, although there is a prevalent idea that such singing is natural, that is, unavoidable.

This idea is false. The child singing-voice is not rough and harsh unless it is misused. The truth of this statement can be easily demonstrated. If it were not true it would be difficult to justify the teaching of vocal music in schools, or the employment of boy sopranos in church choirs.

It seems to the author that the chief difficulty experienced by teachers and instructors of singing, in dealing with children, lies in the a.s.sumption, expressed or implied, that their voices are to be treated as we treat the voices of adults-- adult women; but the vocal organs of the child differ widely from those of the adult in structure, strength and general character. As a consequence, there is a marked difference in voice.

Vocal music has been very generally introduced into the schools of our country during the past few years, and there is evidently a very general and earnest desire that children be taught to sing. It is also the wish of those who are teachers to do their work well.

While there are many books to aid educators upon every other subject taught in public schools, the literature on the voice, particularly the singing-voice, is meagre, and it is believed that some direct, practical hints on this topic may be welcome.

The following pages are the result of several years' experience in teaching, and of careful study of children's voices. The author has attempted to describe the physiological characteristics of the child-voice and to give some practical hints regarding its management.

It is sincerely hoped that what is herein written may be useful and helpful to those engaged in teaching children to sing.

FRANCIS E. HOWARD, Bridgeport, Conn.

December, 1895

CHAPTER I.

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE VOICE.

In former times the culture of the singing-voice was conducted upon purely empirical grounds. Teachers followed a few good rules which had been logically evolved from the experience of many schools of singing.

We are indebted to modern science, aided by the laryngoscope, for many facts concerning the action of the larynx, and more especially the vocal cords in tone-production. While the early discoveries regarding the mechanism of the voice were hopefully believed to have solved all problems concerning its cultivation, experience has shown the futility of attempting to formulate a set of rules for voice-culture based alone upon the incomplete data furnished by the laryngoscope. This instrument is a small, round mirror which is introduced into the throat at such an angle, that if horizontal rays of light are thrown upon it, the larynx, which lies directly beneath, is illuminated and reflected in the mirror at the back of the mouth-- the laryngoscope. Very many singers and teachers, of whom Manuel Garcia was the first, have made use of this instrument to observe the action of their vocal bands in the act of singing, and the results of these observations are of the greatest value. Still, as before said, the laryngoscope does not reveal all the secrets of voice-production. While it tells unerringly of any departure from the normal, or of pathological change in the larynx, it does not tell whether the larynx belongs to the greatest living singer or to one absolutely unendowed with the power of song. Also, the subject of vocal registers is as vexing to-day as ever.

While, then, we may confidently expect further and more complete elucidation of the physiology of the voice, there is yet sufficient data to guide us safely in vocal training, if we neglect not the empirical rules which the acc.u.mulated experience of the past has established.

The organ by which the singing-voice is produced is the larynx. It forms the upper extremity of the windpipe, which again is the upper portion and beginning of the bronchial tubes, which, extending downward, branch off from its lower part to either side of the chest and continually subdivide until they become like little twigs, around which cl.u.s.ter the const.i.tuent parts of the lungs, which form the bellows for the supply of air necessary to the performance of vocal functions. Above, the larynx opens into the throat and the cavities of the pharynx, mouth, nose, and its accessory cavities, which const.i.tute the resonator for vocal vibrations set up within the larynx.

The larynx itself consists of a framework of cartilages joined by elastic membranes or ligaments, and joints. These cartilages move freely toward and upon each other by means of attached muscles. Also the larynx as a whole can be moved in various directions by means of extrinsic muscles joined to points above and below.

The vocal bands are two ligaments or folds of mucous membrane attached in front to the largest cartilage of the larynx, called the thyroid, and which forms in man the protuberance commonly called Adam's apple; and, extending horizontally backward, are inserted posteriorly into the arytenoid cartilages, the right vocal band into the right arytenoid cartilage and the left band into the left cartilage. These arytenoid cartilages, by means of an articulation or joint, move freely upon the cricoid, the second large cartilage of the larynx, forming its base, and sometimes called the ring cartilage, from its resemblance in shape to a seal ring. The vocal bands are composed of numberless elastic fibres running in part parallel to each other, and in part interwoven in various directions with each other. The fibres also vary in length; some are inserted into the extending projections, called processes of the arytenoid cartilages, and some extend further back and are inserted into the body of the cartilages. The vocal bands, then, lie opposite each other, on a level, raised a little in front, and with a narrow slit between, called the glottis.

The muscles controlling the action of the vocal bands, and which regulate the mechanism producing sound, are of three groups, viz., abductors (drawing-apart muscles), adductors (drawing-together muscles), and tensors.

The abductors act to keep the bands apart during respiration, while the function of the adductors and tensors is to bring the bands into position for speech or singing. They are, since phonation is at will, voluntary muscles; but it is an interesting fact that the laryngeal muscles of either side invariably act together. It has been shown that it is not possible to move one vocal cord without the other at the same time executing the same movement. It is thus shown that the laryngeal muscles are, to a less extent, under the control of the will than are those of either hand or eye. The rational training of the singing-voice cannot, therefore, proceed upon any theory based upon the voluntary training of the muscles controlling the movements of the vocal cords.

The mucous membrane which lines the larynx is liberally supplied with secreting glands, whose function is to keep the parts moist. Above the vocal bands, another pair of membranous ligaments are stretched across the larynx forming, with its sides and the vocal bands, a pouch or pocket. The upper ligaments are sometimes called the false vocal cords, but are more properly termed ventricular bands. Their function has occasioned much speculation, but whatever modification of tone they may be supposed to produce, they no doubt protect the true vocal bands and permit their free vibration. The larynx, in the production of sound, may be compared to an organ-pipe. The two vocal cords which act simultaneously and are anatomically alike, when set in vibration by the blast of air coming from the lungs, correspond to the reed of the organ-pipe; the vibration of the cords, producing sound, which is communicated to the air enclosed in the cavities of the chest and head.

Pitch of tone is determined by the rapidity of vibrations of the bands, according to acoustical law, and the length, size, and tension of the cords will determine the number of vibrations per second, _i.e._, their rapidity.

Strength or loudness of tone is determined primarily by the width or amplitude of the vibrations of the vocal membrane, and quality or timbre is determined by the form of the vibration.

The infinitely varying anatomical divergencies in the form and structure of the nasal, pharyngeal and throat cavities, and possibly the composition of the vocal bands, modifies, in numberless ways, the character of tone in speech or song. It is a fascinating topic, but must be dismissed here with the remark that, as those anatomical differences in structure are far less marked in children than in adults, their voices are, in consequence, more alike in quality and strength. It takes long, patient training to blend adult voices, but children's voices, when properly used, are h.o.m.ogeneous in tone.

The voices of boys and girls, prior to the age of p.u.b.erty, are alike.

The growth of the larynx, which in each is quite rapid up to the age of six years, then, according to all authorities with which the writer is conversant, ceases, and the vocal bands neither lengthen nor thicken, to any appreciable extent, before the time of change of voice, which occurs at the age of p.u.b.erty.

It is scarcely possible, however, that the larynx literally remains _unchanged_ through the period of the child's life, extending from the age of six to fourteen or fifteen years. In point of fact, authorities upon the subject refer only to the lack of growth and development in _size_ of the larynx during the period; but _undoubtedly, during these years, there is a constant gaining of firmness and strength, in both the cartilages and their connecting membranes and muscles_. None of the books written upon the voice have even mentioned this most important fact. It bears with great significance upon questions relating to the capacities of the child's voice at different ages, and explains that phenomenon called the "movable break," which has puzzled so many in their investigations of the registers of the child's voice. The constant, though of course extremely slow, hardening of the cartilaginous portions of the larynx, and the steady increase in the strength of its muscles and ligaments is not in the least inconsistent with the previously noted fact, that the vocal bands during this time increase to no appreciable extent in length; for, it may be observed, after the change of voice, which often occurs with great rapidity, and during which the vocal bands increase to double their previous length in males, that, though the pitch of the voice, owing to increased length of the bands, suddenly lowers, yet not until full maturity is reached, do the laryngeal cartilages attain that rigidity, or the vocal bands that ready elasticity essential to the production of pure, resonant voice.

Yet, during these years, while the voice is developing, the vocal bands remain unchanged in _length_. Even in those cases where the voice changes slowly in consequence of the slow growth in length and thickness of the vocal cords, it takes several years, after laryngeal development has ceased, for the voice to attain its full size and resonance.

Furthermore, the continual increase in strength and firmness of the larynx from six years onward to p.u.b.erty, is consistent with the constant growth in strength and firmness of tissue characterizing the entire body. It is again proven by the continual improvement in the power and timbre of the tone through this period, always premising, be it understood, that the voice is used properly, and never forced beyond its natural capabilities. The voice, at the age of eleven or twelve, is far stronger, and is capable of more sustained effort than at the age of six or seven years, and, for the year or two preceding the break of voice, the brilliance and power of boys' voices, especially in the higher tones, is often phenomenal, and in all cases is far superior to that of previous years.

The resemblance between the voices of boys and girls, a resemblance which amounts to ident.i.ty, save that the voices of boys are stronger and more brilliant in quality, disappears at p.u.b.erty.

Among the physical changes which occur at this period is a marked growth of the larynx, sufficient to alter entirely the pitch and character of the boy's voice. As a female larynx is affected to a lesser extent, the voices of girls undergo little change in pitch, but become eventually more powerful, and richer in tone.

This break of the voice, as it is called, occurs at about the age of fifteen years in this climate, but often a year or two earlier, and not infrequently a year or two later. The growth of the larynx goes on, with greater or less rapidity, varying in different individuals, for from six months to two or three years, until it attains its final size. In boys, the larynx doubles in size, and the vocal bands increase in the proportion of five to ten in length. This great gain in the length of the vocal cords is due to the lateral development of the larynx, for the male larynx, in its entirety, increases more in depth than in height.

The result is a drop of an octave in the average boy's voice, the longer bands producing lower tones. The change in size in the female larynx is in the proportion of five to seven, and the increase is in height instead of depth or width as in the male larynx. The vocal cords of women are, therefore, shorter, thinner and narrower than are those of men.

The reason a.s.signed for the peculiar antics of the boy's voice, during the break, is unequal rapidity in the growth and development of the cartilages and of the muscles of the larynx. The muscles develop more slowly than do the cartilages, and so abnormal physical conditions produce abnormal results in phonation.

No further changes occur in the laryngeal structure until middle life, when ossification of the cartilages commences. The thyroid is first affected, then the cricoid, and the arytenoids much later.

The consequent rigidity of the larynx occasions diminished compa.s.s of the singing-voice, the notes of the upper register being the first to disappear. In some few cases of arrested development, the voice of the man retains the soprano compa.s.s of the boy through life.

CHAPTER II.

REGISTERS OF THE VOICE.

It may be observed, in listening to an ascending series of tones sung by an untrained or by a badly-trained adult voice, that at certain pitches the tone-quality undergoes a radical change; while a well-trained singer will sing the same series of tones without showing any appreciable break or change in tone-quality, although the highest note will present a marked contrast in timbre to the lowest. The breaks or changes in register so noticeable in the untrained voice are covered or equalized in the voice trained by correct methods. These breaks in both male and female voices occur at certain pitches where the tone-producing mechanism of the larynx changes action, and brings the vocal bands into a new vibratory form. "A register consists of a series of tones produced by the same mechanism."-- Emil Behnke in "Voice, Song, and Speech."

G. Edward Stubbs, in commenting upon the above definition, says:

"By mechanism is meant the action of the larynx which produces _different sets of vibrations_, and by register is meant the range of voice confined to a given set of vibrations. In pa.s.sing the voice from one register to another, the larynx changes its mechanism and calls into play a different form of vibration."

The number of vocal registers, or vibratory forms, which the vocal bands a.s.sume, is still a matter of dispute, and their nomenclature is equally unsettled. The old Italian singing-masters gave names to parts of the vocal compa.s.s corresponding to the real or imaginary bodily sensations experienced in singing them; as chest-voice, throat-voice, head-voice.

Madame Seiler, in "The Voice in Singing," gives as the result of original investigations with the laryngoscope five different actions of the vocal bands which she cla.s.sifies as "first and second series of the chest-register," "first and second series of the falsetto register" and "head-register." Browne and Behnke, in "Voice, Song, and Speech," divide the male voice into three registers, and the female into five. They are termed "lower thick," "upper thick," "lower thin," "upper thin" and "small." Other writers speak of three registers, "chest," "medium" and "head," and still others of two only, viz., the chest and the head.

Modern research has shown what was after all understood before, that, if the vibratory form a.s.sumed by the vocal bands for the natural production of a certain set of tones is pushed by muscular exertion above the point where it should cease, inflammation and weakening of the vocal organs will result, while voice-deterioration is sure to follow.

A physiological basis has reinforced the empirical deductions of the old Italian school. In dealing with children's voices, it is necessary to recognize only two registers, the thick, or chest-register, and the thin, or head-register. Further subdivisions will only complicate the subject without a.s.sisting in the practical management of their voices.

Tones sung in the thick or chest-register are produced by the full, free vibration of the vocal bands in their entire length, breadth and thickness. The tones of the thin or head-register result from the vibration of the vocal bands along their inner edges alone.

We may then conclude from the foregoing that _children up to the age of p.u.b.erty, at least in cla.s.s or chorus singing, should use the thin or head-register only_.