A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Voce di Petto
VOCE DI PETTO, Chest voice (Ger. Bruststimme); VOCE DI TESTA, Head voice (Kopfstimme). Terms applied in some cases to certain registers or series of notes produced by a special mechanism or state of the voice organs; in others to a different mode of producing the same notes. Nearly the whole question of registers, and in great part of quality or timbre, is involved in uncertainty—indeed, it is scarcely too much to say, mystery. All voice is produced in the larynx. The sound thus given forth can be modified both in pitch and quality by numerous pairs of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal muscles, muscles acting upon the trachea or windpipe, on the pharynx, on the soft palate, on the throat, tongue, and nostrils, front and back, on the lips and cheeks. All these parts are concerned in the formation of the resonance chambers. The bare fact that the voice is produced in the larynx is ascertainable by anybody through the medium of the laryngoscope, but to arrive only thus far the throat has to be forced into a position directly antagonistic to the production of those very qualities of tone that form the subject of desired investigation. Open chest voice, there is every reason to believe, is in great part produced by the drawing down of the larynx by means of the sterno-thyroid muscles, so that it becomes part of a compact mass of bone, tissue, and cartilage all vibrating together. This arrangement of parts is aided by the elasticity and compressibility of the windpipe; and since the lowering of the larynx (carrying down with it, as it does, a considerable portion of the root of the tongue), brings about a corresponding lengthening and enlargement of the throat, the vibration of the chest, and the sonority imparted to the sound by the resonance chambers above the larynx, go to make up together what we call the open chest register. The second, or close chest register, next comes into play. This is a register common to all voices, male and female, and is called by Manuel Garcia, Falsetto. The third register, Head-voice, is, in the male, generally known by this term falsetto, the third register of the female voice being called Head-voice, and it is difficult to understand on what ground Garcia (the pioneer of close investigation of the physiology of the voice-organs) applies the term to the middle register. It is perhaps somewhat bold to combat the opinion of this eminent man, but falsetto (a word in general use in Italy as well as in England) seems very appropriate to that register which in the male seems to be scarcely natural, but to belong to another individual, and even to another sex.
The above-mentioned middle register corresponds to Randegger's 'upper series of chest notes,' and the 'closing' for the formation of this series of notes is a point of the highest importance with Visetti and all foremost Italian and other teachers.
Unfortunately it is not possible to point out exactly how the operation is performed. It can only be arrived at by numerous ideal explanations, and by imitation. In using this middle register, the chest is still felt to vibrate, thus justifying the use of the term close chest notes, but not quite in the same degree as in the open register. This is possibly due to the fact that the vibrations are quicker, on account of higher pitch, and therefore less easily felt. But the important difference between the two is chiefly brought about by changes in and about the larynx itself, as well as by some modification of the pharynx. It is most important to observe that there is no hard and fast line to be drawn as to the exact part of the scale upon which the change (the closing, It. chiudere) is to take place. It is upon much the same part in all voices, male and female, but not the same under all circumstances. It is possible to produce many notes in both ways, and this is the basis of the all-important operation of blending the registers, an operation requiring in some cases an almost incredible amount of patience on the part of both instructor and instructed; and very frequently voices are ruined, either by their being in the hands of those who have not the necessary knowledge or patience, or far more frequently by the singer himself or herself working alone in the dark. It is a much greater fault to carry a lower register too high than to bring a higher register too low. The term 'Head-voice' in the male is very frequently applied to a mixed voice (It. voce mista); that is to say, a voice in which close chest and falsetto are blended; and if the blending is perfect (the result of much work, and much exercise of the reflective powers), it is not only a legitimate use of the voice, but very beautiful in its effect, being chiefly brought into play in piano passages upon high notes. The mixed voice, as its name implies, is, as we have said, not a register, but the union of two other registers, and the power of using it well shows vigilant training. In the mixed voice the larynx is low; in the falsetto, high. There are some few heaven-born artists who instinctively blend all the registers, so that the whole voice becomes one homogeneous wave of sound.
A new nomenclature for the various registers is proposed by an earnest investigator, Herr Behnke, but this does not help matters. There is indeed frequently much difficulty amongst experts in deciding between mixed voice and falsetto (in its ordinarily accepted sense). At a meeting which took place between an eminent throat physician and some professors of singing of good repute, for the express purpose of arriving at conclusions, the want of unanimity of opinion on this head formed the great obstacle to the satisfactory settlement of the questions at issue.
But besides the close union of sternum and larynx in the formation of open chest voice, there is of course a certain condition of the vocal cords themselves, this condition changing in each successive register. In producing open chest notes it is probable that the whole volume of the vocal cords or bands will be found to vibrate. In this state they are susceptible of a certain amount of tension, and will give therefore a certain number of notes. When the maximum of tension is reached, the vocal cords or bands, acted upon by muscles within the larynx, are reduced in volume. The same tension as before will produce a higher series of notes, the principle being to a great extent that of adopting strings of different thickness upon stringed instruments that is to say, bowed instruments, on which different notes have to be made upon the same string. Then in the male head-voice, or falsetto, the thin edges only of the vocal cords are set in vibration. The theory would quite well explain difference of pitch, and to some extent modifications of quality; but then how is the blending of the registers, that most important, and in many cases most difficult part of the art of managing the voice, to be explained? We know that the notes about the changes of register have to partake of both qualities. Can the vocal cords be in two conditions at the same time? We may conclude, however, that it will be only a question of time to discover what is at present so difficult to fathom. Is it to be wondered at that a set of small complex organs, in great part out of sight, which give to man one of the chief powers (if not the chief of all powers) that distinguish him from the mere animal, and which is capable of producing the infinite number of shades of sound in the numerous languages of the world, and the marvellous faculty of giving expression to the feelings in song, should for a long time baffle the researches even of the most earnest and scientific investigators? The theory formerly advanced, that the female voice is only a reproduction of the male voice an octave higher in pitch, is at once set aside by the clearly observable fact of the middle register being common to all voices, male and female. The peculiarity of the female voice is the possession of a large range of fine head-notes in the place of the male falsetto; and of the male voice the possession of a large range of open chest notes.