The Voice: Its Production, Care and Preservation — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Voice: Its Production, Care and Preservation
John Stuart Mill · en
CHAPTER VI. PITCH AND SYMPATHETIC VIBRATION 89
CHAPTER VII. REGISTERS OF THE VOICE 103
CHAPTER VIII. SUBDIVISIONS OF THE VOICE 117
CHAPTER IX. THE STROKE OF THE GLOTTIS 132
CHAPTER X. HYGIENE OF THE VOICE 147
CHAPTER XI. MORE VOCAL HYGIENE 169
CHAPTER XII. NODES AND THEIR CURE 182
[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE THROAT AND ADJOINING STRUCTURES
1, Larynx. 2, Epiglottis. 3, Lower Pharynx. 4, Lips. 5, Teeth. 6,
Tongue. 7, Mouth (Oral Cavity). 8, Uvula and Soft Palate. 9, Hard
Palate. 10, Upper Pharynx. 11, Nasal Cavities. 12, Nose.
A, Arytenoid Cartilage. C, Cricoid Cartilage. T, Thyroid Cartilage.
W, Windpipe. X, Adam's Apple.]
CHAPTER I
A RATIONAL VOCAL METHOD
Song, so far as voice-production is concerned, is the result of
physiological action, and as voice-production is the basis of all song,
it follows that a singing method, to be correct, must be based on the
correct physiological use of the vocal organs. The physiology of
voice-production lies, therefore, at the very foundation of artistic
singing.
The proper physiological basis for a singing method having been laid,
something else, something highly important, remains to be superimposed.
Voice is physical. But everything that colors voice, charging it with
emotion, giving it its peculiar quality and making it different from
other voices, is largely, although not wholly, the result of a psychical
control--a control not exercised mysteriously from without, like
Svengali's over Trilby, but by the singer himself from within. Every
singer is his own mesmerist, or he has mistaken his vocation. For while
voice is a physical manifestation, its "atmosphere," its emotional
thrill and charm, is a psychical one--the result of the individual's
thought and feeling, acting unconsciously or, better still,
subconsciously, on that physical thing, the voice.