Show WHY THEY CAN CAIN SING THE THROAT OF A SONGSTER IS 2 LIKE ALMOST ANY OTHER bane of vallre 01 ol depend depends on tho gilrain 0 rally fully an as mucho if not more than it doe does upon the lie construction of the lf lar ani alio musical center of the drain ll there was as an item in a british tion con rece recently which said that mine nime had sold her larynx to scientists who w ho wanted to know how it was constructed this item did not mention the namo name of the purchasers hut but it said that they were not to claim their purchase until after the singers death the object of it all according to this pleasant bit of news was to ascertain in what respect pattia throat and particularly her vocal cords cord differed from other peoples but there la Is no truth in it and the only effect of the story was to make inake tender hearted folk shiver the paragraph ax v as shown to dr curtis probable probably the highest authority in new york on the throat who has carefully studied the voices of all the well know known n singers from it physicians standpoint said ho be this story is perfectly absurd A laryn go logist can examine the vocal cords cord i fully as well in a living being as iu in a corpse by means of mirrors and reflectors these cords are as plain to his eye as the pat patient lents nose nogo but even it if this were not so very little could be derived from the examination of the cords of a corpse tor for the moment life ceases they loose their tension become loose flabby bands and are of no use whatever for scientific examination cr ar expert ment As for mine cords and her t throat I 1 do not think they differ in the least from those of a great many other people the good voice in singing docs does nob not entirely depend on the construction of these parts of course they are highly am factors in voice production and you will probably find that most good singers have smooth vocal cords well proportioned evenly approximated and free from all roughness or thickening but I 1 have lave often found the most beautiful and the tile clearest vocal cords in people who could not produce ft a melodious sound to save their lives if a were to examine the larynxes of half a dozen people whom lie had never been seen before he be could not tell with certainty whether or not they were good singers he ile could tell whether their vocal cords were well formed and be he might even venture a guess o as q to their musical power but his ills gues guess would not be based on any scientific principle there is in III every brain a it musical cen een ter and upon its development and its con eon depends the singing voice this center has not yet been located but from the tile existence of centers of other physical fun functions eions such as equilibrium speech and so fo forth its existence la Is established by an how ilow could it be explained other wise that borne some children can sing like birds before they can talk while others whose vocal cords are to all appearances identical with theirs cannot produce a single note this Is simply a higher develops development e n t of the musical center in the one case n and nd a lower in the other this center comment com munt cate and controls the faculties for the expression of the musical idea there are very often cases where one singer finds it absolutely impossible to sing a phrase that another can glide through with ease yet their vocal cords and their may ruay be formed just alike the facility of musical action or technique is dependent upon other causes than the tile con it ruction of the larynx another way to illustrate the idea is this tw two 0 men may have hav e legs shaped exactly alike one may walk very gracefully graci fully and the other very clumsily yet they both exercise the earne same nerves and muscles it Is simply adif ference in iu the development of the centers of muscular ordination coordination co so you see the v ocal vocal cords play only a minor part in singing they are merely like the strings of the violin there are good strings and bad string but the tone that is produced docs not depend entirely upon their quality A more important pirt part in singing is played by the bucal and nasal cavities and the chest for upon them depend the resonance and timber of the tone speaking Spi aking of the art of singing as it is practiced today he said the tendency of the wagnerian opera upon vocal music lias has been the subjugation of the t lie light lyric te tenor norand and the substitution of the dramatic tenor in his ills place volume of tone is considered rather than quality if it wagnerian opera should really become the music of the future the voice of the lyric ba be hushed ibis this same criticism must apply to the soprano as veil yell for already this tendency has produced a dramatic soprano which has necea stated a different education and training in theart the art of voice production the mn ran ical world is equally divided div idad as to the proper method to be employed in placing the ingells tin In gers gerls voice when I 1 speak of placing I 1 do not refer to register but the manner of tone production let us analyze the bluffing singing of the de Reaz lies who are art both enthusiastic over their so called method it you w ere to ask el her of them the secret of his art he be would say respiration and the bombina t alon on of chest and head resonance abase A care 1111 fill observer would have noticed that their breathing was diaphragmatic so to say th the e chest wall remaining elevated as in de deep ep inspiration and not let down during or after the expiratory acta act a clever trick winch which maintains great resonance even when the lung is nearly exhausted of air but this is not the only thing which preserves the timber tho the nasal caa cavities I 1 tle above the the palate are also brought into play producing that peculiar vibrant quality this I 1 his the french call singing daus la Is macque in order to produce this double reso nance the soft palate is brought forward in the position which it 11 would naturally as aume sume in singing the word score tor for a soprano or the french en tor for a tenor voice permitting a column of air to enter the n nasal I 1 cavities and produce that vibratory sensation under the cheek bones which tells the singer the proper polso of the voice and lends additional carrying power e r to the tho tone the hollow boxe boxes under ah alio cheek bones on cither either side then act very much upon the vibration of the cords as does the pipe above the organ reed iu in lending color to the tone just this is in a point on which the greatest teachers of europe are yet divided and yet the voices that have retained their musical quality longest are those in which this element Is ts introduced as a s a factor in voice production E entirely different in type is the singing of valero who still clings to the traditions of the italian school scarcely covering his lis tones even in singing a b or high c I 1 what a covered tone is 13 may be understood by banging binging the vowel ill e with the chin held upon the chest and comparing it with the awu 0 o as sung with the chin elevated te new w yo york r k S hun v n |