RISKS THAT OPERA SINGERS RUN.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 46, 14 April 1910, Page 3

RISKS THAT OPERA SINGERS RUN.

THE TOP-NOTE TROUBLE. *

Two little vocal cords, more delicately tempered than the edge of a surgeon’s lancet, determine the career of the grand opera prima donna. When the great soprano finds she cannot ari'y longer with certainty sing High “jC” her operatic career is over. When the tenor strains and produces •a ragged top note he joins the bro-ken-hearted society of "‘has-beens.” By the inexorable law of Nature every singer taces the loss some day of the top note, the golden not®, the peg®on which hang fame and' tretnendous salary. With each year the probability increases that the golden note will become ragged. The operation of producing a musical note with the human vocal apparatus is more complex and much more wonderful than the playing of % violin. The violinist tunes his strings by turning the pegs until they are tight enough to give the proper tune when set in vibration by the resined bow. By touching the strings at certain points the vibrations are varied, making the different notes. Tn the same way the two vocal cords are stretched, each between two pieces of cartilage. One end is held fixed with the other, resting on a triangular movable cartilage, is moved about in response to the movements of the muscles. In this way the cords are stretched or slackened, according to whether a high or a low note is desired. This is one step in the process, the tightening of the cords. But the cords must be brought together so that they close the passage from the lungs to the mouth. Now by compressing the lungs air is forced through the larynx vibrating the cords and a sound is produced. By tbd adjustment of the apparatus thus far described a considerable vange of tones could be p*—.-luced, but it could never be called singing. The most delicate bit of the me* ’cbanidm lies in the tiny groups of ' muscles beneath the cords. These muscles, by their lightning movements of contraction and expansion produce little bunches, or whicb correspond to the deft fingers of the violinist and form the pitch and quality of the note. The movement of the muscles is accurate beyond imagination in the throat of an operatic star when in “good voice.” The finger of time touches these muscles first, many years before the coarser vocal muscles are impaired. The beginning of bid age is in the veins and arteries whicb gradually become thickened and dose their elasticity. Such muscles must, of course, be plentifully supplied with blood. When the blood vessels thicken and stiffen they interfere with the speed of the muscles and limit their act on. For a time the difficulty is overcome by increasing the nervous

Impulse sent by the braiD to the little muscles. At last comes the day when the nervous system has not power to drive the hampered vocal apparatus to its task. The “golden note,” the high C,” is ragged, rest, a little better care of the singer's condition and probably the note caD be reached again. But the warning has sounded. Old Father Time has arrived and will not stay his band very long. "Singers’ nodules," science has just discovered, are queer .little bumps Which grow on the overworked vocal cords. They ruin the voice just as purely as the work of a violinist would be spoiled if somebody aid a heavy hand over the strings. Sometimes the nodules come from inflammation, and, when this has been allowed, the voice returns. Id other cases, paralysis of one or more of the fine nerves which control the delicate adjusting muscles does the damage. Paralysis sometimes not only spoils the voice, but prevents it altogether, leaving the singer a mere whisperer. This is so when the muscles are unable to make the cords close the larynx completely. ' Paralysis is believed to be caused chiefly by misuse. Correction of the singer’s methods of voice control frequently relieves the strain on the cords to such an extent that nerves, muscles and cords recover their tone and the voice is rather better than ever. Permanent nodules, a sort of watery excrescences, sometimes grow on the cords, bringing disaster to the singer. These, too, are sometimes cured by sprays, rest, and treatment of the general system, which absorbs the pathological growth. The nodules can also be removed jurgically, but this proceeding is aot always a success. In a recent case a singer was advised by his specialist. not to have his nodule or node removed, but visiting a noted specialist, at the advice of a friend, without the consent of the patient, the node was removed, with the re--5 suit that the singer’s voice is now entirely changed. Where he had a deep, fine baritone voice, with a range from A flat below to A fiat ako e. be now can sing only from 0 to P. and the voice quality is very much impaired. A young lady, a high soprano, where the node, very small, about % the size of a pin’s head, was removed., with the result that her voice, which was breaking at C sharp constantly, was restored for the period-of an hour after its removal; but the next day she was voiceless,

afad remained so for two weeks. At the her v.oice, was in very. good' condition, and at the end. qf three months was absolutely restored and better than ever before. It ie obvious from the foregoing how exceedingly careful singers should be of their tbroats—careful, we mean, not to neglect the first , symptoms of and care-

ful not to overwork the organ. Here, again, obviously, the old maxim “prevention is better than cure” should prevail. ; Any ominous sign of decadence is usually immediately attended to* and (probably cured, but the little hoarseness, or sore throat, is passed over perhaps as due to the weather or some such passing cause, and “tha damage is done,” sometimes irreparably. Of course, the .worn out diva may have the concert tour open to her for a long time after the leadliag role of the opera has been denied her, but neither the riches nor the- glory of the former can ha longer hers.—'” Popular Science Siftings.”