| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
14 THE VIBRATORY APPARATUS.
ensure freedom of movement of the cords it is necessary to avoid any stretching or contraction of the muscles in the front of the neck; the head should be slig^htlv tilted downwards and the chin kept down and in; this position of the chin will prevent to a large extent rigidity of the muscles of the lower jaw and of the tongue. The larynx, being released from the grip of its external muscles, will be acted upon by its internal muscles, which are involuntary and cooperate with the vocal cord muscles. These internal laryngeal muscles (Figs. 16, 17, and 18) will carry the larynx backwards as it goes upwards, and thus the shortening in length as well as the diminution in the calibre of the vocal tube, which is necessary for the higher notes of the voice, can be effected with ease and without rigidity. The movement of the larynx backwards as it ascends keeps its opening away from the tongue, which, if it is drawn back, presses upon the epiglottis and interferes with the outward passage of the voice.
A concentration of the mind upon the action of the vocal cords has a bad effect upon the voice, for it encourages the bringing to bear upon the delicate elastic bands of an effort that is altogether too great, with a result that the cords are pressed together so tightly for voice that they have to be burst asunder by the outgoing air. This energy should be applied to both ends of the vocal apparatus, leaving the middle part free to do its particular work by its own involuntary muscles. It may be definitely stated that the voice production is faulty if the voice-user is conscious of the throat and larynx while vocalising, that is, the speaker or singer must feel the vocal effort at the two ends and not in the centre of his vocal apparatus.
Voice production may be said to consist of the manage- |
||