MUSICAL COURIER
6
April 12, 1923
WHAT DETERMINES THE CARRYING POWER OF THE VOICE?
By William A. C. Zerffi
Copyrighted, 1923, by The Musical Courier Company.
hard, is usually due to the fact that the higher overtones predominate to far too great an extent in proportion to the fundamental tone. A similar effect is produced when the strings of a piano are struck with too hard a blow, which results in a harsh tone, but which does not possess the carrying power of a tone which is produced with less violence. The writer once heard a very famous pianist strike an octave with such overwhelming force that the strings were actually jarred against those adjacent. Unfortunately for the singer who is inclined to exert too great an effort when producing a tone, the construction of the throat permits no warning as definite as this to be given.
Good Quality the Most Important Consideration.
When considering the human voice, Tyndall makes the following statement, which contains material for much thoughtful consideration. He says:	“Were our organs
sharp enough to see the motions of the air through which an agreeable voice is passing, we might see stamped upon that air the conditions of motion on which the sweetness of the voice depends.” Since, however, it is not possible for us to see the motion of the air when a tone is produced, we are obliged to fall back upon our sense of hearing in order to judge of the quality of the tone. The extreme delicacy of the adjustment of our organs of hearing allows us, however, to infer that agreeable sensations are caused by a correct condition of motion of the air. Further, from this may be deduced that correct conditions of motion will be far more likely to be transmitted unhindered through the air than any others, which brings us to the conclusion that, above all considerations of size and space, the tone of pleasing quality is the one which we may safely assume contains those elements necessary to give it the carrying power which it so vitally needs.
Finally, our reasoning brings us to a realization that, regardless of the amount of volume which may temporarily be forced from the vocal organ, this unnaturally produced tone will not only fail to carry, but the faulty production will in time react upon the organ itself in such manner as to_ cause serious damage, even to the extent of permanent injury.
quality pleasing. The writer recalls with gratitude the priceless advice which was given him by Erich Wolff, one of Germany’s ablest musicians and accompanists, on the occasion of a recital. “Do not rehearse in the empty hall in which you are going to sing, and do not attempt to sing any differently from what you usually do in your studio.” Sound advice from a practical musician.
What Can Be Learned From the Piano and Violin.
It is a significant fact that the question of whether the tone a pianist is producing upon his instrument is of sufficient carrying power to be heard in a hall is one which hardly seems worthy of discussion. Forte is forte and pianissimo, pianissimo, whether played in a room or concert hall. In fact, a moment’s reflection will reveal the fact that performance is merely carrying out of daily practice, and to_ expect a pianist to suddenly be capable of employing an entirely different grade of dynamics to that which he is accustomed to, is to expect the impossible. The same is true of the violinist, and why should the singer prove to be the exception? Of course, it is comparatively easy for, both the violinist and the pianist to test out the amount of tone they are able to draw from their instruments, and they are able to realize that beyond a certain point they cannot go without sacrificing the tone quality of the instrument. Unfortunately for the singer, he is usually firm in the belief that the greater energy he puts into his instrument, the greater the result he is achieving. Nothing could be further from the truth, and only complete ignorance of the character of the vocal organ could tolerate such a belief.
How to Judge the Carrying Quality of the Voice.•
In the first place, it is idle to expect that a voice which will satisfy the demands of a large hall will literally shake the walls of a smaller space. This fact can be readily appreciated by returning to the comparison between voice and violin or piano. Quality is of infinitely greater importance than seeming volume, for the brilliancy which accompanies some voices and which cieates the impression that they “teem with resonance” even to the extent of being unpleasantly
U\\7 ILL my voice carry?” is a question which is
\\ in the mind or upon the lips of every vocal student, and it will be readily admitted that it it is a question of great importance. No matter how pleasing a quality of tone the singer may be able to produce, unless this tone is sufficiently powerful to be audible in_ a large auditorium, it can hardly be said to be of commercial value, and the singer’s achievements must of necessity be limited. Since, however, opportunities for the vocal student to test his voice in a large hall are extremely rare, and in the earlier stages of his career literally non-existent, it should be of the greatest possible interest to the Student to be able to recognize what determines the carrying power of his voice and to know whether the tone he is producing contains those elements which will make it powerful enough to pass muster.
How Sound Is Transmitted Through the Air.
In order to be able to gain an understanding of the manner in which the voice is transmitted through the air, it is necessary to make a slight excursion into physics, for it is owing to a lack of appreciation of the vast difference between an air wave and an air current that so many erroneous ideas upon the subject in hand have become current. The fact that while the voice may be said to be originated by an air current, but nevertheless exists as air waves, has caused an unfortunate amount of confusion, and unless this confusion be cleared up an intelligent appreciation of the character of the voice is impossible. The sole function of the air current in the production of the voice, and which needless to say is the breath, is to cause the vocal cords to vibrate, and as soon as it has performed this office its usefulness ceases. The vibration of the vocal cords induces the air waves which, when reflected and condensed in the cavities of the nose and mouth, manifest themselves as voice. That this transformation of the breath or air current into air waves is not generally appreciated is readily proved by the existence of such phrases as “directing the stream of the breath against the palate,” or “allowing the breath to flow through the resonance cavities,” etc. Since these statements in no way indicate what is actually taking place when a tone is produced, they cannot be too strongly condemned, for in giving the impression that tone flows from the mouth in the manner of a stream of air they obscure an issue which is in vital need of elucidation.
Voice, which is nothing more than a combination of air waves, is transmitted through the air in the manner identical to all other sounds, which Tyndall, in his book on “Sound,” explains somewhat as follows:	“If a small balloon be
exploded in a room, every ear in the room would be conscious of a shock. How would this shock be transmitted from the balloon to our organs of hearing? Would_ the exploding gases shoot the air particles against the auditory nerve as a gun shoots a ball against a target? No doubt in the vicinity of the balloon there is to some extent a propulsion of particles; but no particle of air from the vicinity of the balloon would reach the ear of any person. The process would be thus:	When the flame touches the gases
the explosion develops intense heat. The heated air expanding suddenly, forces the surrounding air violently away on all sides. This motion of the air close to the balloon is rapidly imparted to that a little farther off, the air first set in motion coming at the same time to rest. Thus each shell of air takes up the motion of the shell next preceding and transmits it to the next succeeding shell, the motion being thus propagated as a pulse or wave through the air.” It is here important to note the emphasis upon the fact that each air particle makes only a small excursion to and fro, a very different matter from the movement of air when it is propelled in the manner of an air current such as a puff of wind. Another illustration often used to explain the transmission of sound is that of the so-called collision balls; these being a row of wooden balls each suspended by a thread and all touching one another. A blow upon one of the end balls would be transmitted from one to another, causing the end ball to fly out, the intervening balls making only a slight oscillation and immediately returning to their original position. These illustrations serve to indicate the manner in which sound is conveyed through the air, and should help to enable the vocalist to differentiate between an air current and an air wave. Needless to say, the sharper the impact of one air particle against the other, the louder the sound we perceive, for a sharp impact causes the ear drum to vibrate intensely. What is of paramount importance for the vocalist to realize, is, that the air which he is setting into motion by his singing does not travel, but merely makes a comparatively small excursion to and fro. This may be made still clearer by the comparison of the distance he is able to project air in the shape of air current. The attempt to blow out a candle only a few feet away, in spite of heroic effort's, usually ends in failure, and to compare such an attempt with the effort which would be necessary to cause an air current to travel through the space of a large auditorium will bring a clear understanding, that such ideas as “singing to the rear seats,” “projecting the voice,” and kindred fallacies have arisen from an incorrect conception of how the voice is transmitted through the air. That the principles which are suggested by the above statements have found appreciation and actual adoption is proved by a remark made by Adelina Patti, which was quoted in a very valuable article by Clarence Lucas, entitled “More About Singing,” which appeared in the August 24, 1922, issue of the Musical Courier. Patti said:	“I always address
myself to the front rows and let the back of the hall take care of itself.” Whether this decision was reached by a knowledge of the laws of physics or gained by the experience of singing we have no means of judging, but we do know of her phenomenal careen How many a first appearance is jeopardized by the feeling that a different type of singing is required in a hall from that which sufficed fpr the studio. The sudden spectacle of a large space gives rise to the feeling that a considerably greater effort must be necessary in order to fill the extra space, and not being equipped with the knowledge necessary to combat this erroneous impression, the singer commences to force his voice with the result that a tone of lesser carrying power is developed which also lacks the elements which render its
CHAUCER’S MUSIC
BY CLARENCE LUCAS
Copyrighted, 1923, by The Musical Courier Company.
Henry III. The little chapel stood at the western end of the great courtyard, which stretched eastward along the shores of the Thames. The palace, which Shakespeare mentions in his Henry VI. was pulled down centuries ago. Nothing remains but the chapel and the churchyard. Even the chapel was restored by Henry VII about the time that Columbus set sail for his discovery of the New World. Yet within that drab and insignificant chapel beside the towering wall of the modern hotel the father of English poetry, Chaucer, was married in 1366. If he came back to London now he would find the art of music more developed and changed than is the architecture which has supplanted the style in vogue when the Palace of the Savoy was built. Even the earliest Flemish polyphonic school had not begun in 1366. Dufay, Willaert, Orlando di Lasso, Palestrina,_ were still unknown or unborn. Chaucer knew but two kinds of music: the plain chant of the churches and the Troubador type of folk song.
_ In the third book of The House of Fame, Chaucer mentions all the musical instruments of his period, as well as songs and dances. When the chapel of the Savoy was but little more than a century old, Chaucer wrote:
And the heavenly melodie Of songes full of armonie I heard about her trone ysong,
That all the palais wall rong,
So song the mighty Muse, she That cleped is Caliope........
Earlier in the same poem he describes English instruments :
Full the castle all abouten
Of all manner of minstrales ....
There heard I play on an harpe That sound both well and sharpe,
Him Orpheus full craftely,
And on this side, fast by,
Sat the harper Orion,
And Gacides Chirion,
And other harpers many one,
And the Briton Glaskirion,
And smale harpers with hir glees,
Sate under hem in divers sees,
And gone on hem upward to gape,
And counterfeited hem as an ape. . . .
Modern music critics must content themselves with noting the influence of great artists on the small fry of the professions. They do not usually speak about the apes that gape. Chaucer was a humorist as well as a poet and philosi-pher, however, and no doubt would roar with laughter if he could rise from his tomb in Westminster Abbey and read the Artemus Ward denunciation of him for his bad spelling. In' modern spelling the following excerpts from The House of Fame would be readable enough:
A farre from hem, all by hemselve,
Many a thousand times twelve,
That made loud minstralcies,
In cornemuse and shalmies,
And many another pipe That craftely began to pipe,
Both in douced and in rede,
That ben at feasts with the brede,
And many a floyte and litling home,
And pipes made of green come.
The flutes and very little horns and the straw pipes, with the other reed and douce, or soft, pipes, made a rural music (Continued on page 16)
itT^IVE hundred Americans at the Savoy Hotel this H week” was one of the headlines in a London news-_ paper in July, 1922. Of those SOO Americans how many gave a moment’s thought to the name Savoy? How many of them looked upon the name as anything more than a convenient label to identify one hotel from another, as is so often the case in America? To the musical public of England the name Savoy recalls the little theater where Gilbert and Sullivan produced nearly all their famous comic operas. Patience, Iolanthe, Princess Ida, Mikado, Ruddi-
Organists’ Week at Wanamaker’s Announced
For New York’s annual music week, to be celebrated from April 30 to May 6, Wanamaker’s Auditorium concert direction announces a second festival of the organ, under the auspices of the National Association of Organists, in co-operation with the Society of Theater Organists and the Catholic Guild of Organists.
THE SAVOY CHAPEL, LONDON, the only relic of the old Savoy Palace, the existence of which is still recalled by the Savoy Motel and the Savoy Theater. Chaucer, the father of English literature, was married here in 1366.
gore, Utopia, Grand Duke, were the works which gave Gilbert and Sullivan the name of “The Two Savoyards” in England. In addition to these operas, Sullivan composed the music for several works by other authors for the Savoy Theater.
But the Savoy Theater is a modern upstart, as is also the luxurious hotel immediately to the east of it. Beside the eastern wall of the hotel nestles the tiniest of parish churches. It is known as the Savoy Chapel, and it alone, of all the buildings now in existence, is entitled to the name Savoy. It is all that remains of the old Savoy Palace which was built in the days of the Plantagenets for the Italian, Peter of Savoy, who was the uncle of the wife of King