THE MUSIC ROOM
THE MUSIC ROOM
OTHER: Do you think of any musical instruments which need air when they make a sound?
Percy: The cornet, flute, and horn.
Amy: And the organ, too.
Mother: Yes; all of these and others as well must have air to make sound. But I wanted to tell you that in the wonderful house we live in there is the most perfect organ you can imagine. I am sure there is none like it, none that can make such sweet music, and I have seen many, and heard the largest pipe-organ in the world.
Helen: Where can it be?
Mother: And it not only makes the finest, sweetest music, but it can laugh and talk. Sometimes its tone is soft and sweet, but it can be made loud and harsh if the master wishes. This curious little organ has a room all to itself, and—
Elmer: Do you mean the voice?
Mother: There! you guessed it the first time.
Amy: Where is the organ, mother?
Cornet.
Mother: In the top of the windpipe, in the throat. It is really a part of the windpipe itself, and this curious little room has walls at the sides, but no floor. The little trap-door which keeps food from going to the bath room forms the top of the music room.
Percy: How large is it?
Flute.
Mother: It is larger in men than in women, and you can see the front part in a boy’s throat. Sometimes it is called “Adam’s apple.” I once read that perhaps the reason it has this name is because when Adam was eating his apple he was in such a hurry to blame Eve for giving it to him that a quarter stuck in his throat. We know that he laid the blame on Eve for his eating the forbidden fruit, but whether it was apples or some other kind of fruit I do not know, so you need not believe this story.
Elmer: But I would like to know what causes all the different sounds which are made by the voice.
Mother: I will try to make it as plain as I can. Near the top of this room two cords are stretched across from front to back. These cords stretch like India-rubber, so they can be made tight or loose. There is an open space between them, where the air can pass through, but the other space is filled up. Did you ever see the little piece of brass in an organ called a “reed”?
Helen: I saw one when our organ was cleaned.
Mother: Here is a picture of one. You see it has a little tongue, and when air is blown through the opening in the reed, the tongue vibrates, that is, it goes up and down so fast that you can hardly see it, and this makes the sound. The smaller the tongue, the faster it will vibrate, and the tone will be higher.
Amy: But how is it that we can speak and sing low or high?
Organ reed.
Mother: Our lungs are like the bellows of the organ, and the voice cords are like the reeds. When the master of the body wants to speak low, he sends an order to some muscles in the throat to let the cords hang loose. If he wishes a high tone, he tells them to stretch the cords tight. If he would make no sound, the cords hang loosely, and the air passes between them without making any sound.
Elmer: How strange that, with only two cords, we can make nearly all tones made by the piano, which has so many!
Organ.
Mother: That shows how much better God can make anything than men can. Perhaps the violin is more like the voice; for it can make more tones on fewer cords; but, though it can be made to produce very sweet sounds, it can not be compared to a trained voice, which can speak words and make music at the same time.
Helen: I’m glad I can talk and sing.
Mother: The voice is a gift of God. How we pity a person who is dumb! Every one should learn to speak in a clear, gentle voice. A harsh word wounds the one to whom it is spoken; and the tone often strikes deeper than the words. We have all felt soothed and comforted by kind, pleasant words. All who can should learn to sing.
“If you have a pleasant thought,
Sing it, sing it;
Like the birdies in their sport,
Sing it from the heart.”
“It is not so much what you say,
As the manner in which you say it;
It is not so much the language you use,
As the tones in which you convey it.
“‘Come here,’ I sharply said,
And the baby cowered and wept;
‘Come here,’ I cooed, and he looked and smiled,
And straight to my lap he crept.
“The words may be mild and fair,
And the tones may pierce like a dart;
The words may be soft as the summer air,
And the tones may break the heart.
“For words but come from the mind,
And grow by study and art;
But the tones leap forth from the inner self,
And reveal the state of the heart.
“Whether you know it or not,
Whether you mean or care—
Gentleness, kindness, love, and hate,
Envy, and anger are there.
“Then, would you quarrels avoid,
And in peace and love rejoice,
Keep anger not only out of your words,
But keep it out of your voice.”