Parsonage

“ The operation of mere sound, disconnected with the ideas which are often conveyed by it, is a subject of curious speculation. Sounds differ from each other in quality, pitch, force, and in length. The difference in tone may be illustrated by the sounds of a clarionet compared with the sound of a bell or of the human voice. Every instrument and every human voice has each a peculiar tone by which it is distinguished from all others. The difference in pitch is shown by sounding a low and a high note in succession on an instrument. ”

“ A simple noise being a sound-wave, has its wave-form or make-mark. The blending of many such would produce a tone in that likeness; hence, a musical note is a blending of like noises, and every noise is really the first wave, the key-note of a musical tone. Take the ringing of a door-bell. Here the ear hears not only a musical tone, a sound-blend, in the ring of the bell, but also the noise of the clapper's clang, clang, clang. The vibrations of the bell throw the air into musical waves, shown in Fig. 5, while a huge clang-wave will sweep
Fig. ”

“ And thus each letter may be distinguished from every other by hearing.
Thirdly, It is agreeable to all this, that it is difficult at great distances to distinguish the tone of one musical instrument from another, or of any from the tone of a human voice, cæteris paribus; or to distinguish articulate sounds from one another. For at great distances the vibrations of the air are circular to sense, and all the ascents, descents, eruptions and interruptions of sound, which distinguish one compound sound from another, are confounded by numberless reflections from the intermediate bodies. ”

“ Concerning symphony, he shows how sounds harmonize. A quick sound is acute, a slow is grave. Therefore acute sounds move the senses the quicker; and these dying and grave sounds supervening, what arises from the contemperation of one with the other causes pleasure to the ear, which we call harmony. And by what has been said, it may easily be understood that air is the instrument of these things. For sound is the stroke upon the sense of the hearer, caused by the air; and the air strikes as it is struck by the thing moving,—if violent, acutely,—if languid, softly. ”

“ The pitches of the breath consonants are absolutely fixed in each individual pronunciation, while those of spoken vowels can be varied indefinitely within the compass of each voice by tightening the vocal chords in various ways and shortening their vibrating portions· the tighter and shorter the vibrating body, the quicker its vibrations, and the higher the tone. But when a vowel is whispered or breathed nothing is heard but the resonance of the con figurative passages, especially in the mouth, and the pitches of these resonant cavities are as fixed as those of the breath consonants ”

“ Apart from the respiratory organs which supply the fuel, the chief agents in the manufacture of speech are the throat and mouth. The breath, as it makes its way upward, passes the vocal chords, causing these to vibrate; and while the forms taken by the vibrations determine the quality or timbre of the sound to be uttered, the very essence of a vowel, for instance, consisting in the quality of the voice, the number of the vibrations determines its pitch. ”

“ It is because the different positions of the mouth resound to different overtones. While some vowel is sung we hold different resonators to the ear until we find the overtones. They must be the cause of the vowelizing of the tone sung. To prove it we take a tuning-fork vibrating the note of that vowel's overtone as found by the resonator, and, holding it in front of the mouth, we shape the mouth until it resounds to the tuning-fork. Keeping the mouth in this position, we sound the vocal chords, and the result is the vowel, thus proving that that particular overtone is its stamp. ”

“ Thus, although vocal tone originates within the larynx, it sets the resonance-cavities into sympathetic vibration, and these produce the harmonics that give the fundamental tone its timbre; the resonance-cavities being to the vocal cords or lips what the body or resonance-box of the violin and the sounding-board of the pianoforte are to their strings, the tube of a cornet or horn to the lips, the body of the clarinet to its reed—the resonating factor which determines the overtones and through these the timbre. ”

“ For the singing voice it is always best to simplify, hence we divide the consonantal sounds into two general divisions: the aspirates, those which are the result of complete obstruction and explosion, or of partial obstruction only, breath and vowel sound; the sub-vocals, those which are the result of partial obstruction and explosion, or of partial obstruction only, sub-vocal and vowel sound. The sub-vocals, as ending or final consonants, are the most difficult of all to give their proper value and effect. ”

“ In the human voice the sound is produced in the larynx, and modified by the cavity of the mouth, and the various organs which surround this cavity. The laws by which articulate sounds are thus produced have not yet been fully developed, but appear to be in the progress of being so.
The properties of sounds which have been mentioned, differences of loudness, of pitch, of quality, and articulation, appear to be all requisite in order that sound shall answer its purposes in the economy of animal and of human life. ”

“ All voice-sounds are made by two elastic bands or cushions, called vocal chords, stretched across the end of the tube or windpipe through which we breathe, and as we send the air through them we tighten or loosen them as we will, and so make them vibrate quickly or slowly and make sound-waves of different lengths. But if you will try some day in the woods you will find that a bird can beat you over and over again in the length of his note ”

“ It is also through the vibrations conveyed by the air to the little membrane called the drum of the ear that the sensations of sound are received, and of the nature of these vibrations a few words must be said presently. In considering the different qualities of sound, we have so far confined ourselves to sustained musical notes, as, for instance, the vowel sounds in singing. This has been done to show the relations of rapidity of vibration to pitch and for simplicity of illustration of the superposition of vibrations, etc. ”

“ While the vocal cords serve the purpose of the reed, the resonator forms the body of the vocal instrument. Every sound passes through it; every vowel and consonant in the production of syllables and words must be formed by it, and the whole character and individual qualities of the speaking as well as the singing voice depend in great part upon the manner in which it is used. ”

“ In this scheme the distinction of narrow and wide, though admitted and occasionally marked, is not an integral part of the system, the vowels being classified first as “velar” (back) and “palatal” (front) , and then according to openness as “close,” “half-close,” “medium,” “half-open” and “open.”
Consonants.—These are the result of audible fiiction or stoppage, which may be accompanied either with breath, voice or whisper. Consonants admit of a two-fold division (1) by form, and (2) by place. Thus (p, b) are by place lip-consonants, while by form they are stopped consonants or “stops.” ”

“ No human voice, however, has so great a range of tone; the highest soprano notes of women correspond to [282] but 1000 vibrations a second, and the deepest bass of men falls but to 80 vibrations a second.
While the human voice is limited in its production of sound,—rarely falling below 80 vibrations a second and rarely exceeding 1000 vibrations a second,—the ear is by no means limited to that range in hearing. ”

“ If we neither leave the vocal chords apart nor bring them together quite closely, but let them touch lightly, then the air as it passes out will make them vibrate; and breath accompanied by this vibration is voice [5] in the narrower application of the word. In ordinary speech this vibration is an essential part of all vowels and of many consonants. They are accordingly called voiced [6] sounds; those produced without vibration of the vocal chords are voiceless. ”

“ We can hardly exaggerate the effect of a consonant, unless it be "s" or "f," and such diphthongs as "ch" and "sh." Nevertheless, the final consonant of a word or syllable must never be heard unless the very end of the value of the note is reached on the vowel-sound. ”

“ Bell Tones and Tuning.—A good bell, fairly struck, should give out three distinct notes—a “fundamental” note or “tonic”; the octave above, or “nominal”; and the octave below, or “hum-note.” (It also gives out the “third” and “fifth” above the fundamental; but of these it is less necessary to take notice.) ”

“ Nothing is more remarkable than the extraordinary delicacy of the ear in this respect. Amongst all our scores of friends and acquaintances we recognize each by a quality of voice which we speak of as harsh, melodious, sympathetic, rasping, penetrating, or clear. This is not altogether a matter of enunciation or vocalization, for if different persons pronounce correctly the same vowel-sound, we can detect a great difference between their voices. ”

“ As the strength of the tone depends upon the amplitude of the waves of sound, they, in their turn, depend upon the structure of the organ of singing, and of the parts of the mouth serving as a sounding-board or resonant apparatus, but, above all, upon the skilful management of the vibrating air. ”

“ A simple sound is the product of that hemisphere only to which it properly belongs. A vocal sound is aided and assisted by a complementary sound from the other hemisphere. The more perfect such aid, the more perfect will be its tone. Simple vowel sounds are short, abrupt, the same as consonant sounds when produced all by themselves and without the aid of a vowel sound uttered in conjunction with them. ”

“ The human vocal instrument has the three elements common to all musical instruments,—a motor, a vibrator, and a resonator; to which is added—what all other instruments lack—an articulator.
1. The respiratory muscles and lungs for a motor.
2. The vocal cords for a vibrator.
3. The throat, mouth, and the nasal and head cavities for a resonator.
4. The tongue, lips, teeth, and palate for an articulator. ”

“ The string is tuned, by its tension and its weight, to a single note; the ear can adapt itself to receive and transmit to the brain only a limited range of notes. There are many vibrations in the air which are too rapid or too slow for reception by the human ear. ”

“ The exact nature of vowels and consonants will be considered in the next chapter, but in the meantime it may be pointed out that a vowel is a free and open sound requiring for its production a certain form of the resonance-chambers. Neither vowels nor consonants are absolutely pure—that is, entirely free from foreign elements, from noise; but for all practical purposes a vowel is a pure sound, a consonant a sound accompanied inevitably by much noise. ”

“ Of all these, the most agreeable sounds are produced by the long vowels, and those which are used as long, because their sound continues for a considerable time, and they do not suddenly break off the energy of the breath. Of an inferior value are the short vowels, and those used as short, because the volume of sound in them is small and broken. ”

“ Beginning from the medium tones, the singer will feel as if each tone of the descending scale were being sung farther outside of the mouth, the vibration hitting the upper teeth as it goes out, whereas with the ascending scale the vibrations pass through the nasal cavities, through the cavity in the forehead and up back into the head, until one feels as if the tone were being formed high over the head at the back. ”

“ That the Tone of a Violin is to be brought out, by laying on like a Blacksmith. Before we can convince such of our Readers as have no Knowledge in that Part of Pneumatics which is called Harmonics, of this Mistake, it will be necessary just to give a short Account of the Cause of Sound in stringed Instruments.
In the first Place, all Sound proceeds from Undulations in the Air, which is an elastic Fluid; and with regard to these Undulations, is much of the same Nature as Water, which is another Fluid, but differs from Air in many Respects. ”

“ Other vocal sounds than sustained vowel notes are found to be due to still more complicated combinations of vibrations of shorter duration, and noises, as distinguished from musical sound, are formed also by the superposition of a greater or less number of systems of vibrations, the rapidities of which are wanting in harmonic relations such as we have pointed out belong to the musical scale. ”

“ Force must be contradistinguished from loudness. In mere loudness the vocal organs are comparatively relaxed—the intensity of sound being produced by the violent discharge of a great volume of air from the lungs. In forceful utterance the vocal organs are compressed and tense, and though the volume of air effused be small, the resulting sound-vibrations are strong, and distinct, and of penetrating power. ”

“ Yet the accepted theories of resonance in its relation to the voice are directly based on a set of empirical observations made by the old masters. The facts which they noted are now a matter of common knowledge. In singing low notes a sensation of trembling or vibration is felt in the upper chest; high notes are accompanied by a similar sensation in the head. How these sensations of vibration came to be made the basis of the theories of vocal resonance, and of registers as well, is an interesting bit of vocal history. ”