The Voice in Singing

by Emma Seiler

THE HEAD REGISTER

When in the observation of the falsetto register I had sung upwards to its highest tones, and then sang still higher, I became aware with the fa

of a change in the motions of the organ of singing, and the tones thus produced had a different timbre from the falsetto tones. It required long and patient practice before I finally succeeded in drawing back the epiglottis so that I could see the glottis in its whole length. Not until then was I able to observe the following:

With the fa

, the vocal ligaments suddenly closed firmly together to their middle, with their fine edges one over the other.

Representation in the mirror of the organ of singing in the formation of head tones.

a. The closing together of the vocal ligaments.

b. Open part of the glottis.

The oval opening of the anterior portion of the glottis is imperfectly shown, because it is hidden from view by the epiglottis at the extreme end.

This closing appeared as a fine red line extending from the arytenoid cartilages at the back forward to the middle of the vocal ligaments, and leaving free only a third part of the whole glottis, immediately under the epiglottis, to the front wall of the larynx.

The foremost part of the glottis formed an oval orifice, which, with each higher tone, seemed to contract more and more, and so became smaller and rounder. The fine edges of the vocal ligaments which formed this orifice were alone vibrating, and the vibrations seemed at first looser, but, with every higher tone, the ligaments were more stretched. The larynx remained in its natural state.

Only after I had frequently repeated this observation of the head tones in myself and in others, and had always arrived at the same results, did I venture to publish it. The most various conjectures respecting the formation of the head voice had been previously proposed by the learned, and the existence, even, of the head voice had been denied by Bataille. It would lead us too far away to make mention here of all these different views, which, with the exception of those of Dr. Merkel of Leipzig, showed themselves to be really without a sound foundation.

It was objected to the results of my observations, that such an action of the glottis “was only possible by means of cartilages and muscles, but that such cartilages and muscles as could render an action of that kind possible were not known, nor was there any reference to them to be found in any manual of anatomy.” While I fully admitted the soundness of this objection, I was, after repeated observations, more and more convinced of the correctness of my own statements. But as I found nothing to support them in any anatomical work, either German or French, I began anew to study the anatomy of the larynx in dissected subjects.

My renewed efforts were rewarded by the discovery, within the membranes of the vocal ligaments, of those filaments or fibres of muscle which in the anatomical [Appendix] to this book I mention as arytenoid-thyroid interna, and which have also been found by other observers. They are found in all larynxes, and consist of muscular fibres, sometimes finer, sometimes thicker.[ 3 ]

At the same time I satisfied myself of the existence of a pair of cartilages—the cuneiform cartilages described in the [Appendix]. I found these always in the female larynx, but only now and then in the male. As these cartilages, also found within the membranes of the vocal ligaments and reaching from their junction with the arytenoid cartilages to the middle of the ligaments, are only now and then fully formed in the male larynx, but undeniably work the shutting part of the glottis, it follows plainly that only a few male voices are capable of producing the head tones.

But observation with the microscope revealed in those larynxes in which the cuneiform cartilages were wanting, parts of a cartilaginous mass, or the rudiments of a cartilage, in the place indicated.

For anatomical investigations the male larynx is commonly used, its muscles being more powerful and its cartilages firmer than in the female larynx, and this explains why anatomists in Germany have been reluctant to admit the existence of the cuneiform cartilages. It was, therefore, a great satisfaction to me to find them described under the name of cuneiform cartilages in Wilson’s Human Anatomy, with the remark that they are sometimes wanting.[ 4 ]

The head register possesses a very great capacity of expansion, which, without the slightest straining, may be gradually extended, with some practice, a whole octave, and often even still farther upwards. When the transition is made from the highest tones of the falsetto register to the head register, there is experienced the same sense of relief in the organs of singing as in passing from the chest to the falsetto register. And this is very easy to be understood, because the ligaments by this repeated partial closure of the glottis are much less stretched than in the highest tones of the preceding lower register. The difference in sound between the highest tones of the falsetto and head registers is often slight, on which account these two registers, so different in their mechanism, are easily confounded. Only in entirely healthy vocal organs can the head tones be observed. A too great secretion of mucus, or any inflammation of the mucous membrane, embarrasses the formation of head and falsetto tones, while the vibrations of the fine edges of the vocal ligaments are thereby obstructed. The character of the vocal organ fully explains why in the case of sick or of worn-out voices it is always the high tones that are first lost. When I have observed, in the sick, irritation of the mucous membrane, I have often found the oval orifice which is formed in the production of the head tones entirely covered with mucus. In my own case, when by repeated effort this bubble of mucus broke, instead of the a²

, which I meant to be sounded, there came the a³, an octave higher, which in perfect health it was never possible for me to reach. I have observed the same phenomenon sometimes in my pupils.

When one sings the scale, note by note downwards, one can sing with the action of the higher register many of the tones of the lower, without any observable straining of the organ; indeed, there is a perceptible feeling of relief; only these tones are not so full as when sung in their natural register.

ABNORMAL MOVEMENTS OF THE GLOTTIS

Garcia states, in his observations, that sometimes when the rims of the vocal ligaments have come together, there remains between the arytenoid cartilages a triangular space, which does not close until the tone is produced. Czermak likewise describes this process in his pathological investigations, and also a similar one with the laryngoscope. While, namely, the arytenoid cartilages seem to be wholly closed, one sees just before the beginning of the tone the vocal ligaments standing apart in a square-shaped form, and only closing together with the tone. At first, before I had attained to much practice in observation, I often saw these processes in myself, and later often in others.

That these accidental forms of the glottis bear no relation to the generation of sounds, as Funke truly says, is made evident by an irregularity in the combined action of the muscles of the larynx, by which the coming together of the arytenoid cartilages takes place later than that of the ligaments, or that of the ligaments later than that of the arytenoid cartilages.

As recently great importance has often been ascribed to these abnormal movements of the glottis in the generation of sound, I have felt bound to mention them.