1. _The first series of tones of the chest register_, in
which the whole glottis is moved by large, loose vibrations,
and the arytenoid cartilages with the vocal ligaments are in
action.
2. _The second series of the chest register_, when the vocal
ligaments alone act, and are likewise moved by large, loose
vibrations.
3. _The first series of the falsetto register_, where again
the whole glottis, consisting of the arytenoid cartilages and
vocal ligaments, is in action, the very fine interior edges
of the ligaments, however, being alone in vibrating motion.
4. _The second series of the falsetto register_, the tones
of which are generated by the vibrations of the edges alone
of the vocal ligaments.
5. _The head register_, in the same manner and by the same
vibrations, and with a partial closing of the vocal ligaments.
II. We have learned the transitions of the registers, i.e.,
those tones where a different action of the vocal organ takes
place; and observation has further taught us that these
_natural limits of the registers cannot be exceeded without
a straining that may be both seen and felt_; that is, that we
may not preserve the action of a lower series for the tones
of a higher. On the other hand, the vocal organs show _no
straining_ when the action of a higher series of tones is
kept for a lower, only the fulness of the tones is thereby
diminished.
III. We have further seen that _only the transition from the
chest register to the falsetto is in all voices at the same
tones_, the fa fa♯ (f¹ f♯¹); but, both in men's and women's
voices, the other _transitions of the registers are different_.
As the male larynx is about a third larger than the female, it
is plain that the registers in the male voice have a greater
expansion. The transitions, however, in the tenor, as in the
bass, are at the same tones, and only sometimes a half tone
higher or lower in one voice than in another. The organs of the
man are stronger and harder than those of the woman, and they
are not often capable of producing tones with the vibrations of
the edges of the vocal ligaments (falsetto tones), but the lower
series of tones of the chest register has, in such voices, a much
greater extension downwards. _The difference between the bass and
tenor voices lies in the greater or less ease with which the
tones of the higher or lower registers are sung, and in the
greater fulness and beauty, always connected therewith, of the
higher or lower register, that is, in the timbre of the voice_;
not, as is commonly thought, in the difference of the transitions
of the registers.
The same is also the case with the female voice; _as well in
the contralto as in the soprano voice the transitions of the
registers are at the same tones_, and the difference of the
voices lies only in the timbre, and in the greater facility
with which the higher or lower tones are produced, and not
in the different compass of the voice.
The transitions of the registers are: