SINGING (from sing, AS. singan. to sing, Cloth. xiggwan, to sing. read, OHG. singan, to sing. crow. Ger. singe'', to sing; possibly connect ed with Gk. 647j, omphF, voice, sound). The art of making music with the human voice. The physical apparatus employed in the production of musical tones consists of the larynx, which contains the vocal cords, the lungs. and the muscles of the chest and diaphragm. To these must be added as accessories the cavity of the mouth, the hard palate. and the nasal chambers, all of which aid in modifying the character of the tones produced, and also serve as sounding hoards to increase their power. The tones of the human voice, either in speaking or singing, are formed by the vibration of the vocal cords. These are two parallel elastic membranous bands situated in the larynx, which thus resembles a reed instru ment, like an oboe. The blast of the air column driven from the lungs sets these bands vibrat ing. By the act of volition they are set to receive the impact of the column of air in such a way as to produce tone. By closing or opening so as to vibrate at different portions of their length, they give tones of different pitch.
The lungs supply the air and are operated by the muscles before mentioned. The diaphragm, the use of which is often neglected by singers, is generally conceded to be of great service in giv ing power and control to the breathing, which is of the first importance in singing. Some teach ers hold that the secret of good tone production lies entirely in the management of the breath. Clavicular or upper-chest breathing, such as is seen in women tightly laced, is regarded as the 'east satisfactory method, and is not employed by any great singer. The abdominal method, ad vocated by in 1855 and introduced into the Paris Conservatory and among Italian teachers, consists in keeping the chest as quiet as possible and forcing the diaphragm down and the ante rior wall of the abdomen out in inspiration. The leading singers of to-day, such as .lean de Reszke, Sembric•h, and Nordica, advocate the use of all the external intercostal muscles and the drawing in of the anterior wall of the abdomen in inspiration. They hold that this method sets the diaphragm firmly, gives greater mastery of the breathing apparatus, and enables the singer better to graduate the power of the air column.
The compass of the human voice extends from the C below the bass clef to the F above the treble. Sonic exceptional voices have exceeded this range. No one voice has this compass, of course, for the average human voice has an extent of about twelve tones, while trained singers usually have two octaves. Some have had more than three. Five general divisions of singing voices are recognized: two women's, soprano and contralto, and three men's, tenor, barytone, and bass. These arc• here named in the order of their
pitch from the highest to the lowest. :Music for sopranos, contraltos, and tenors is written on the treble clef, and that for the other voices on the bass clef. The tenor voice, however. produces tones an octave lower than those written.
The pitch of voices is the result of the length of the vocal cords. These cords are shorter in women than in men, and hence the former have higher voices. The longest vocal cords are those of a deep bass. Pitch, however, is not the only trait which determines the title of a voice, for the quality of the tone must lie considered. Tenor and barytone voices of exactly the same range exist, but the character of the tones is different. The quality of the voice, then, is modified to some extent by the conformation of the resonance cavities of the month and nose and also by the delicate operation of the muscles of the larynx. The resonating chambers also play an important part in giving power to the sounds made by the vocal cords, which would be feeble if not thus aided.
Each voice is divided into several 'registers,' a term borrowed from the organ. It means a suc cession of sounds having similar character, or produced by the same mechanism. Authorities differ as to the number of registers which exist in the human voice, but the majority follow :\lanuel Garcia, the inventor of the laryngoscope and one of the most famous of singing teachers. He holds that there are three registers, which he calls chest, falsetto, and head. Sonic writers have named as many as five registers, and others find that the voices of men and women differ in their divisions of this kind. The mechanical action of the larynx and certain of the resonating ap paratus changes as the singer ascends the scale, and the tendency is toward modifications in the quality of the tones, so that the different regis ters are dissimilar in character. Between the registers, especially between the highest and the next lower, there are audible breaks, and usually •the tones on either side of this are weak and uncertain. One of the most important labors of the teacher is the equalization of the registers, so that the breaks shall become unnoticeable and the quality of tone homogeneous throughout the scale. This is accomplished by cultivated meth ods of tone formation, in which the air column is voluntarily directed toward certain resonators. These same methods of voluntary treatment of the registers are employed by singers to produce some of their most beautiful effects. Mile sing ers, for example, often employ head tones for the production of soft, effects in the upper middle scale, 'viii where the same notes could be produced in full voice.