, the ligaments alone continue to act; then begins the series of notes called the head voice. The moment in which the action of the apophyses ceases exhibits in the female voice a very sensible difference to the ear and in the organ itself. Lastly, we verify that up to the highest sounds of the register the glottis continues to diminish in length and in width.
“If we compare the two registers in these movements, we shall find some analogies in them; the sides of the glottis formed at first by the apophyses and the ligaments become shorter by degrees, and end by consisting only of the ligaments. The chest register is divided into two parts, corresponding to these two states of the glottis. The register of falsetto-head presents a complete similarity, and in a still more striking manner.
“On other points, on the contrary, these same registers are very unlike. The length of the glottis necessary to form a falsetto note always exceeds that which produces the unison of the chest. The movements which agitate the sides of the glottis are also augmented, and keep the vibrating orifice continually half opened, which naturally produces a great waste of air. A last trait of difference is in the increased extent of that elliptic surface.
“All these circumstances show in the mechanism of the falsetto a state of relaxation which we do not find in the same degree in the chest register.
MANNER IN WHICH THE SOUNDS ARE FORMED
“As we have just seen—and what we have seen proves it—the inferior ligaments at the bottom of the larynx form exclusively the voice, whatever may be its register or its intensity; for they alone vibrate at the bottom of the larynx.… By the compressions and expansions of the air, or the successive and regular explosions which it produces in passing through the glottis, sound is produced.” (The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Phil. Mag. and Journal of Science, vol. x. 4th Series, pp. 218–221, 1855.)
Garcia proceeds, in the same paper, to give an elaborate account of his theory of the compression, expansion and explosion of the air in expiration, together with his conjectures as to the action of the muscles of the larynx in relation to the different registers. I omit both here, for, since this publication of Garcia’s, the movements of the breath generating sound in expiration have been thoroughly investigated and determined by Prof. Helmholtz; and in the physical section of the present work all may be found that is of value in the culture of the singing voice. Whatever can be definitely communicated in regard to the working of the muscles of the larynx may likewise be found in any anatomical work. An acquaintance, however, with the action of these muscles is not directly necessary to our purpose, and is of interest only to the physiologist.
It is not to be denied that Garcia’s observations do not, by any means, lead to satisfactory conclusions as to the functions of the vocal organ. He has, as we shall see in the sequel, attached special importance to much that is unessential and abnormal, and the main facts, the elucidation of which is particularly needed, he has scarcely mentioned. Thus he tells us nothing of that series of tones which he calls the head register. The transition also of the registers he has not carefully examined and observed in different voices: the chest register in the male and the falsetto of the female voice.
Nevertheless, these investigations possess much that is valuable, and are of special value to the art of singing, because they teach a method hitherto unknown of observing the larynx, by which sure and satisfactory results are reached. And when an acquaintance with these results comes to be universally diffused, and the art of singing is thereby led into the right direction, we shall owe it most especially to the excellent experimental observations of Garcia.