When the vowel _a_, as in _man_, was sung, I could, after
long-continued practice, plainly see how the arytenoid cartilages
quickly rose with their summits in their mucous membranous case
and approached to mutual contact. In like manner, the _chordæ
vocales_, or inferior vocal chords, approached each other so
closely that scarcely any space between them was observable.
The superior or false vocal ligaments formed the ellipse
described by Garcia in the upper part of the glottis.
[Representation in the mirror of the vocal organ
in giving out sound.]
a. Superior or false vocal ligaments, or chords.
b. Epiglottis.
c. Inferior or true vocal ligaments.
d. Arytenoid cartilages.
e. Capitula Santorini.
When, in using the laryngoscope upon myself, I slowly sang the
ascending scale, this movement of the vocal chords and arytenoid
cartilages was repeated at every tone. They separated and appeared
to retreat, in order to close again anew, and to rise somewhat
more than before. This movement of the arytenoid cartilages may
best be compared to that of a pair of scissors. With every higher
tone the vocal ligaments seemed more stretched and the glottis
somewhat shorter.--[The glottis is a term applied to the space
occupied by the vocal chords (the lips of the glottis): when
separated, we say the glottis is open, when they touch, that
it is closed.]--At the same time, when I sang the scale upward,
beginning with the lowest tones, the vocal ligaments seemed to be
moved in their whole length and breadth by large, loose vibrations,
which extended even to all the rest of the interior of the larynx.
The place at which the arytenoid cartilages, almost closed
together, cease their action and leave the formation of the
sound to the vocal ligaments alone, I found in the entire
vibration of the glottis, or in the chest register of the
female voice, at do do♯ (c¹ c♯¹), more rarely at si (b). In the
chest register of the male voice this change occurs at la si♭
(a b♭). With some effort the above-mentioned action of the
arytenoid cartilages may be continued several tones higher. But
such tones, especially in the female voice, have that rough and
common timbre which we are too often compelled to hear in our
female singers. The glottis also, in this case, as well as the
parts of the larynx near the glottis, betrays the effort very
plainly; as the tones ascend, they grow more and more red.
_Thus, as at this place in the chest register there occurs
a visible and sensible straining of the organs, so also is it
in all the remaining transitions, as soon as the attempt is
made to extend the action by which the lower tones are formed
beyond the given limits of the same._ These transitions, which
cannot be extended without effort, coincide perfectly with the
places where _J. Müller_ had to _stretch_ the ligaments of his
exsected larynx so powerfully in order to reach the succeeding
half-tone. Garcia likewise finds tones thus formed disagreeable
and imperfect in sound (_klanglos_).
Usually, therefore, at the note do♯ (c♯¹) in the female voice,
and la si♭ (a b♭) in the male voice, the vocal ligaments alone
act in forming the sound, and throughout the register are
moved by large, loose, full vibrations (_Totalschwingungen_).
But the instant the vocal ligaments are deprived of the
assistance of the arytenoid cartilages, they relax and appear
longer than at the last tone produced by that aid. But with
every higher tone they appear again to be stretched shorter
and more powerfully up to fa fa♯ (f¹ f♯¹), the natural
transition of both the chest and falsetto registers, as well
in the _male_ as in the _female_. The larynx is perceptibly
lower in all the tones of the chest register than in quiet
breathing.