Note Return to text — III PHYSICAL VIEW FORMATION OF SOUNDS BY THE VOCAL ORGAN

The influence of the same stream of air increases in proportion as the breadth of the vibrating ligaments decreases. The tones of the falsetto and head registers, therefore, require far less breath than those of the chest register. The less the quantity of breath expended in these tones, and the easier and more quickly they are produced, the clearer and fuller do they sound. The mechanism of the head tones especially is, as we have seen, so delicate that only a slight excess of breath calls forth the inharmonic over-tones which render the tone sharp and unmusical. In wind instruments the tone can be forced upwards by a greater pressure of air; that is, by more powerful blowing, which appears to be practicable also in those instruments in whose peculiar timbre the highest inharmonic over-tones overpower the others. 13