development, the voice of the man retains the soprano compass of the boy through life.

CHAPTER II.

REGISTERS OF THE VOICE.

It may be observed, in listening to an ascending series of tones sung by an untrained or by a badly-trained adult voice, that at certain pitches the tone-quality undergoes a radical change; while a well-trained singer will sing the same series of tones without showing any appreciable break or change in tone-quality, although the highest note will present a marked contrast in timbre to the lowest. The breaks or changes in register so noticeable in the untrained voice are covered or equalized in the voice trained by correct methods. These breaks in both male and female voices occur at certain pitches where the tone-producing mechanism of the larynx changes action, and brings the vocal bands into a new vibratory form. “A register consists of a series of tones produced by the same mechanism.”—Emil Behnke in “Voice, Song, and Speech.” G. Edward Stubbs, in commenting upon the above definition, says:

“By mechanism is meant the action of the larynx which produces different sets of vibrations, and by register is meant the range of voice confined to a given set of vibrations. In passing the voice from one register to another, the larynx changes its mechanism and calls into play a different form of vibration.”

The number of vocal registers, or vibratory forms, which the vocal bands assume, is still a matter of dispute, and their nomenclature is equally unsettled. The old Italian singing-masters gave names to parts of the vocal compass corresponding to the real or imaginary bodily sensations experienced in singing them; as chest-voice, throat-voice, head-voice. Madame Seiler, in “The Voice in Singing,” gives as the result of original investigations with the laryngoscope five different actions of the vocal bands which she classifies as “first and second series of the chest-register,” “first and second series of the falsetto register” and “head-register.” Browne and Behnke, in “Voice, Song, and Speech,” divide the male voice into three registers, and the female into five. They are termed “lower thick,” “upper thick,” “lower thin,” “upper thin” and “small.” Other writers speak of three registers, “chest,” “medium” and “head,” and still others of two only, viz., the chest and the head.

Modern research has shown what was after all understood before, that, if the vibratory form assumed by the vocal bands for the natural production of a certain set of tones is pushed by muscular exertion above the point where it should cease, inflammation and weakening of the vocal organs will result, while voice-deterioration is sure to follow. A physiological basis has reinforced the empirical deductions of the old Italian school. In dealing with children’s voices, it is necessary to recognize only two registers, the thick, or chest-register, and the thin, or head-register. Further subdivisions will only complicate the subject without assisting in the practical management of their voices. Tones sung in the thick or chest-register are produced by the full, free vibration of the vocal bands in their entire length, breadth and thickness. The tones of the thin or head-register result from the vibration of the vocal bands along their inner edges alone.

We may then conclude from the foregoing that children up to the age of puberty, at least in class or chorus singing, should use the thin or head-register only.

1st. It is from a physiological standpoint entirely safe. The use of this register will not strain or overwork the delicate vocal organs of childhood.

2d. Its tones are musical, pure and sweet, and their use promotes the growth of musical sensibility and an appreciation of beauty in tone.

3d. The use of the thick or chest-voice in class-singing is dangerous. It is wellnigh impossible to confine it within proper limits.

It is unnecessary to discuss the second point. Anyone who has noted the contrast between the harsh quality of tone emitted from childish throats when using the chest-voice, and the pure, flute-like sound produced when the head-tones are sung will agree that the last is music and the first noise, or at any rate very noisy, barbaric music.

The third point, if true, establishes the first, for, if the chest-voice cannot be safely used, it follows that children must use the head-register or stop singing. It must be said, before proceeding further, that it is not denied that the thick voice can be used by children without injury, if properly managed; that is, if the singing be not too loud, and if it be not carried too high. It is also fully recognized, that, when theoretically the head-voice alone is used, it yet, when carried to the lower tones, insensibly blends into the thick register; but if this equalization of registers is obtained so completely that no perceptible difference in quality of voice can be observed, why then the whole compass is practically the thin or head-register.

Now, can the thick voice be used in school-singing, and confined to the lower notes? And is it fairly easy to secure soft and pure vocalizations in this register? Let the experience of thousands of teachers in the public schools of this and other lands answer the last question.

It would be as easy to stop the growth of the average boy with a word, or to persuade a crowd of youngsters to speak softly at a game of baseball, as to induce them, or girls either for that matter, to use the voice gently, when singing with that register in which it is possible to push the tone and shout.

There should be some good physiological reason for the habitual recourse to the strident chest-voice so common with boys, and nearly as usual with girls. And there is a good reason. It is lack of rigidity in the voice-box or larynx. Its cartilages harden slowly, and even just before the age of puberty the larynx falls far short of the firmness and rigidity of structure, that characterize the organ in adult life. It is physically very difficult for the adult to force the chest-voice beyond its natural limits, which become fixed when full maturity of bodily development is reached, but the child, whose laryngeal cartilages are far more flexible, and move toward and upon each other with greater freedom, can force the chest-voice up with great ease. The altitude of pitch which is attained before breaking into the thin register is with young children regulated by the amount of muscular exertion they put forth. Even up to the change of voice, boys can often force the thick register several notes higher than women sopranos.

It must be borne in mind that the thick voice is produced by the full, free vibrations of the vocal bands in their entire length, breadth and thickness.

Imagine children six years of age carrying tones formed in this manner to the extreme limit of their voice; yet they do it. The tone of infant classes in Sunday-schools, and the tone of the primary schools, as they sing their morning hymns or songs for recreation, is produced in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand in exactly the way set forth. If the vocal bands of children were less elastic, if they were composed of stronger fibres, and protected from undue exertion by firm connecting cartilage; in short, if children were not children, such forcing would not be possible. If