The place at which the arytenoid cartilages, almost closed
together, cease their action and leave the formation of the
sound to the vocal ligaments alone, I found in the entire
vibration of the glottis, or in the chest register of the
female voice, at do do♯ (c¹ c♯¹), more rarely at si (b). In the
chest register of the male voice this change occurs at la si♭
(a b♭). With some effort the above-mentioned action of the
arytenoid cartilages may be continued several tones higher. But
such tones, especially in the female voice, have that rough and
common timbre which we are too often compelled to hear in our
female singers. The glottis also, in this case, as well as the
parts of the larynx near the glottis, betrays the effort very
plainly; as the tones ascend, they grow more and more red.
_Thus, as at this place in the chest register there occurs
a visible and sensible straining of the organs, so also is it
in all the remaining transitions, as soon as the attempt is
made to extend the action by which the lower tones are formed
beyond the given limits of the same._ These transitions, which
cannot be extended without effort, coincide perfectly with the
places where _J. Müller_ had to _stretch_ the ligaments of his
exsected larynx so powerfully in order to reach the succeeding
half-tone. Garcia likewise finds tones thus formed disagreeable
and imperfect in sound (_klanglos_).
Usually, therefore, at the note do♯ (c♯¹) in the female voice,
and la si♭ (a b♭) in the male voice, the vocal ligaments alone
act in forming the sound, and throughout the register are
moved by large, loose, full vibrations (_Totalschwingungen_).
But the instant the vocal ligaments are deprived of the
assistance of the arytenoid cartilages, they relax and appear
longer than at the last tone produced by that aid. But with
every higher tone they appear again to be stretched shorter
and more powerfully up to fa fa♯ (f¹ f♯¹), the natural
transition of both the chest and falsetto registers, as well
in the _male_ as in the _female_. The larynx is perceptibly
lower in all the tones of the chest register than in quiet
breathing.
THE FALSETTO REGISTER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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