orm and, to some extent, possibly; the size of the
resonance-chambers determine the quality of the tone produced in
speaking and singing. The shape and size of the mouth can be made to
vary by the soft palate and lips, but chiefly by the tongue, so that
the movements of the latter, especially, cannot be too well studied.

It was formerly considered that pitch was determined solely by the
rate of vibration of the vocal bands; though the author opposed this
view as rigidly applied. Very recently Prof. Scripture, by the use of
new methods, has shown that the supra-glottic chambers cannot be
correctly likened to a resonator with rigid walls. It is held that the
vocal bands give a number of sudden shocks to the air in the
resonators, so that, in a sense, the resonance-chambers determine both
the pitch and the quality of the tone; and as the tension of the
resonators varies with both the physical and psychical condition of
the individual, variations in tone-production, more especially as to
quality, can now be the better understood. According to this view
these chambers are not properly resonators but sounding cavities.

The reader's attention is particularly drawn to the new
views of the method of action of the vocal bands, etc.,
referred to on this page. Since the above was written, such
views have become more widely known, and it is hoped that as
they are very radical they may be established by other
methods.

CHAPTER X.

THE REGISTERS OF THE SINGING VOICE.[1]

[Footnote 1: The chapters on the Registers of the Singing Voice may be
omitted by readers whose practical interest is confined to the
Speaking Voice.]

About no subject in the whole range of voice-production has there been
so much confusion, difference of opinion, and controversy as that of
registers; so that it is important at the very outset to define
register, and throughout to aim at the utmost precision and clearness.

"A register is a series of consecutive and homogeneous sounds rising
from the grave to the acute, produced by the development of the same
mechanical principle, the nature of which essentially differs from any
other series of sounds equally consecutive and homogeneous, produced
by another mechanical principle" (Manuel Garcia).

"A register consists of a series of tones which are produced by the
same mechanism" (Behnke).

"A register is the series of tones of like quality producible by a
particular