The vox humana (;

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and ; ; , also a term for a ''celeste'' stop, q.v.) is a short-resonator reed stop on the

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, so named because of its supposed resemblance to the

human voice The human voice consists of sound Voice production, made by a human being using the vocal tract, including Speech, talking, singing, Laughter, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically ...

. As a rule, the stop is used with a

tremulant __NOTOC__ A tremulant (; , , ) is a device on a pipe organ which varies the wind supply to the pipes of one or more divisions (or, in some cases, the whole organ). This causes their amplitude and pitch to fluctuate, producing a tremolo and vibr ...

, which undulates the wind supply, causing a

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

effect. The vox humana is intended to evoke the impression of a singing

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

or soloist, though the success of this intent depends as much upon the

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of the room in which the organ speaks as it does the voicing of the pipes. It is almost invariably at 8 ft pitch, though on

theater organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements of ...

s it is not uncommon to encounter a chorus of vox humana stops unified at 16 ft, 8 ft and occasionally 4 ft pitch on the Great manual and 8 ft and 4 ft pitch on the Accompaniment manual. The vox humana is one of the oldest reeds in organ building, based on its appearance in very early instruments. It is common on French classical organs in the 17th and 18th centuries, where it was used as a solo voice. The vox humana also appears on German and Dutch organs of the period, though not as frequently as in France. French organs in the 19th and 20th centuries almost invariably featured a voix humaine in the Récit (the most commonly

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division of the French romantic organ), though by this time the

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had evolved and it was used to play rich, harmonic chordal progressions. Many American organs built in the romantic style include a vox humana in order to facilitate the playing of this literature. Vox humana stops in very old organs had a fairly wide variety of designs and tonal qualities. It was during the nineteenth century that the design became fairly standardized. Today, most builders construct vox humana pipes in approximately the same way, though the

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will vary between builders and according to the tonal style in which the organ is designed. The actual sound of the pipe is dependent upon the voicer, with an open "O" or a long "E" sound probably being the most common result.

References

Reed type organ stops {{Musical-instrument-stub

See also

References