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Title: The Psychology of Singing
A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and Modern
Author: David C. Taylor
Release Date: June 28, 2007 [eBook #21957]
Language: English
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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SINGING
A Rational Method of Voice Culture
based on a Scientific Analysis of
all Systems, Ancient and Modern
by
DAVID C. TAYLOR
New York
1922
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1908,
by the MacMillan Company.
New York--Boston--Chicago--Atlanta--San Francisco
MacMillan & Co., Limited
London--Bombay--Calcutta--Melbourne
The Macmillan Co. of Canada, Ltd.
Toronto
Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1908.
Norwood Press: Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
To My Mother
WHOSE DEVOTION TO TRUTH AND EARNEST
LABOR HAS PROMPTED ALL MY EFFORTS
THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
PREFACE
A peculiar gap exists between the accepted theoretical basis of
instruction in singing and the actual methods of vocal teachers. Judging
by the number of scientific treatises on the voice, the academic
observer would be led to believe that a coherent Science of Voice
Culture has been evolved. Modern methods of instruction in singing are
presumed to embody a system of exact and infallible rules for the
management of the voice. Teachers of singing in all the musical centers
of Europe and America claim to follow a definite plan in the training of
voices, based on established scientific principles. But a practical
acquaintance with the modern art of Voice Culture reveals the fact that
the laws of tone-production deduced from the scientific investigation of
the voice do not furnish a satisfactory basis for a method of training
voices.
Throughout the entire vocal profession, among singers, teachers, and
students alike, there is a general feeling of the insufficiency of
present knowledge of the voice. The problem of the correct management of
the vocal organs has not been finally and definitely solved. Voice
Culture has not been reduced to an exact science. Vocal teachers are not
in possession of an infallible method of training voices. Students of
singing find great difficulty in learning how to use their voices. Voice
Culture is generally recognized as entitled to a position among the
exact sciences; but something remains to be done before it can assume
that position.
There must be some definite reason for the failure of theoretical
investigation to produce a satisfactory Science of Voice Culture. This
cannot be due to any present lack of understanding of the vocal
mechanism on the part of scientific students of the subject. The anatomy
and physiology of the vocal organs have been exhaustively studied by a
vast number of highly trained experts. So far as the muscular operations
of tone-production are concerned, and the laws of acoustics bearing on
the vocal action, no new discovery can well be expected. But in this
very fact, the exhaustive attention paid to the mechanical operations
of the voice, is seen the incompleteness of Vocal Science. Attention has
been turned exclusively to the mechanical features of tone-production,
and in consequence many important facts bearing on the voice have been
overlooked.
In spite of the general acceptance of the doctrines of Vocal Science,
tone-production has not really been studied from the purely scientific
standpoint. The use of the word "science" presupposes the careful
observation and study of all facts and phenomena bearing in any way on
the subject investigated. Viewed in this light, the scientific study of
the voice is at once seen to be incomplete. True, the use of the voice
is a muscular operation, and a knowledge of the muscular structure of
the vocal organs is necessary to an understanding of the voice. But this
knowledge alone is not sufficient. Like every other voluntary muscular
operation, tone-production is subject to the psychological laws of
control and guidance. Psychology is therefore of equal importance with
anatomy and acoustics as an element of Vocal Science.
There is also another line along which all previous investigation of
the voice is singularly incomplete. An immense fund of information about
the vocal action is obtained by attentive listening to voices, and in no
other way. Yet this important element in Vocal Science is almost
completely neglected.
In order to arrive at an assured basis for the art of Voice Culture, it
is necessary in the first place to apply the strictest rules of
scientific investigation to the study of the voice. A definite plan must
be adopted, to include every available source information. First, the
insight into the operations of the voice, obtained by listening to
voices, must be reviewed and analyzed. Second, the sciences of anatomy,
mechanics, acoustics, and psychology must each contribute its share to
the general fund of information. Third, from all the facts thus brought
together the general laws of vocal control and management must be
deduced.
Before undertaking this exhaustive analysis of the vocal action it is
advisable to review in detail every method of instruction in singing now
in vogue. This may seem a very difficult task. To the casual observer
conditions in the vocal world appear truly chaotic. Almost every
prominent teacher believes himself to possess a method peculiarly his
own; it would not be easy to find two masters who agree on every point,
practical as well as theoretical. But this confusion of methods is only
on the surface. All teachers draw the materials of their methods from
the same sources. An outline of the history of Voice Culture, including
the rise of the old Italian school and the development of Vocal Science,
will render the present situation in the vocal profession sufficiently
clear.
Part I of this work contains a review of modern methods. In Part II a
critical analysis is offered of certain theories of the vocal action
which receive much attention in practical instruction. Several of the
accepted doctrines of Vocal Science, notably those of breath-control,
chest and nasal resonance, and forward placing of the tone, are found on
examination to contain serious fallacies. More important even than the
specific errors involved in these doctrines, the basic principle of
modern Voice Culture is also found to be false. All methods are based on
the theory that the voice requires to be directly and consciously
managed in the performance of its muscular operations. When tested by
the psychological laws of muscular guidance, this theory of mechanical
tone-production is found to be a complete error.
Part III contains a summary of all present knowledge of the voice.
First, the insight into the singer's vocal operations is considered,
which the hearer obtains by attentive listening to the tones produced.
This empirical knowledge, as it is generally called, indicates a state
of unnecessary throat tension as the cause, or at any rate the
accompaniment, of every faulty tone. Further, an outline is given of all
scientific knowledge of the voice. The anatomy of the vocal organs, and
the acoustic and mechanical principles of the vocal action, are briefly
described. Finally, the psychological laws of tone-production are
considered. It is seen that under normal conditions the voice
instinctively obeys the commands of the ear.
In Part IV the information about the vocal action obtained from the two
sources is combined,--the scientific knowledge of mechanical processes,
and the empirical knowledge derived from attentive listening to voices.
Throat stiffness is then seen to be the one influence which can
interfere with the instinctively correct action of the voice. The most
important cause of throat stiffness is found in the attempt consciously
to manage the mechanical operations of the voice. In place of the
erroneous principles of mechanical instruction, imitation is seen to be
the rational foundation of a method of Voice Culture. The mystery
surrounding the old Italian method is dispelled so soon as the
possibility is recognized of teaching singing by imitation. Practical
rules are outlined for imparting and acquiring the correct use of the
voice, through the guidance of the sense of hearing. The singer's
education is considered in its broadest sense, and training in
tone-production is assigned to its proper place in the complex scheme of
Voice Culture.
During the past twenty years the author has found opportunity to hear
most of the famous singers who have visited America, as well as a host
of artists of somewhat lesser fame. In his early student days the
conviction grew that the voice cannot reach its fullest development when
mechanically used. Siegfried does not forge his sword, and at the same
time think of his diaphragm or soft palate. Lucia cannot attend to the
movements of her arytenoid cartilages while pouring out the trills and
runs of her Mad Scene. A study of the theoretical works on Vocal
Science, dealing always with mechanical action and never with tone,
served only to strengthen this conviction. Finally the laws of
physiological psychology were found to confirm this early belief.
Every obtainable work on Voice Culture has been included in the author's
reading. No desire must be understood to make a display of the results
of this study. One citation from a recognized authority, or in some
cases two or three, is held sufficient to verify each statement
regarding the accepted doctrines of Vocal Science. As for the practical
features of modern methods, the facts alleged cannot in every case be
substantiated by references to published works. It is, however, believed
that the reader's acquaintance with the subject will bear out the
author's statements.
This work is of necessity academic in conception and in substance. Its
only purpose is to demonstrate the falsity of the idea of mechanical
vocal management, and to prove the scientific soundness of instruction
by imitation. There is no possibility of a practical manual of
instruction in singing being accepted, based on the training of the ear
and the musical education of the singer, until the vocal world has been
convinced of the error of the mechanical idea. When that has been
accomplished this work will have served its purpose. All of the
controversial materials, together with much of the theoretical subject
matter, will then be superfluous. A concise practical treatise can then
be offered, containing all that the vocal teacher and the student of
singing need to know about the training and management of the voice.
It is in great measure due to the coöperation of my dear friend, Charles
Leonard-Stuart, that my theory of voice production is brought into
literary form, and presented in this book. To his thorough musicianship,
his skill and experience as a writer of English, and especially to his
mastery of the bookman's art, I am deeply indebted. True as I know
Leonard-Stuart's love to be for the art of pure singing, I yet prefer to
ascribe his unselfish interest in this work to his friendship for the
author.
CONTENTS
PART I
MODERN METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN SINGING
CHAPTER I
Tone-Production and Voice Culture
CHAPTER II
Breathing and Breath-Control
CHAPTER III
Registers and Laryngeal Action
CHAPTER IV
Resonance
CHAPTER V
Empirical Materials of Modern Methods
CHAPTER VI
A General View of Modern Voice Culture
PART II
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MODERN METHODS
CHAPTER I
Mechanical Vocal Management as the Basis of Voice Culture
CHAPTER II
The Fallacy of the Doctrine of Breath-Control
CHAPTER III
The Fallacies of Forward Emission, Chest Resonance, and
Nasal Resonance
CHAPTER IV
The Futility of the Materials of Modern Methods
CHAPTER V
The Error of the Theory of Mechanical Vocal Management
PART III
THE BASIS OF A REAL SCIENCE OF VOICE
CHAPTER I
The Means of Empirical Observation of the Voice
CHAPTER II
Sympathetic Sensations of Vocal Tone
CHAPTER III
Empirical Knowledge of the Voice
CHAPTER IV
The Empirical Precepts of the Old Italian School
CHAPTER V
Empirical Knowledge in Modern Voice Culture
CHAPTER VI
Scientific Knowledge of the Voice
PART IV
VOCAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL VOICE CULTURE
CHAPTER I
The Correct Vocal Action
CHAPTER II
The Causes of Throat Stiffness and of Incorrect Vocal Action
CHAPTER III
Throat Stiffness and Incorrect Singing
CHAPTER IV
The True Meaning of Vocal Training
CHAPTER V
Imitation the Rational Basis of Voice Culture
CHAPTER VI
The Old Italian Method
CHAPTER VII
The Disappearance of the Old Italian Method and the Development
of Mechanical Instruction
CHAPTER VIII
The Materials of Rational Instruction in Singing
CHAPTER IX
Outlines of a Practical Method of Voice Culture
Bibliography
CHAPTER I
TONE-PRODUCTION AND VOICE CULTURE
In no other form of expression do art and nature seem so closely
identified as in the art of singing. A perfect voice speaks so directly
to the soul of the hearer that all appearance of artfully prepared
effect is absent. Every tone sung by a consummate vocal artist seems to
be poured forth freely and spontaneously. There is no evidence of
calculation, of carefully directed effort, of attention to the workings
of the voice, in the tones of a perfect singer. Yet if the accepted idea
of Voice Culture is correct, this semblance of spontaneity in the use of
the voice can result only from careful and incessant attention to
mechanical rules. That the voice must be managed or handled in some way
neither spontaneous nor instinctive, is the settled conviction of almost
every authority on the subject. All authorities believe also that this
manner of handling the voice must be acquired by every student of
singing, in the course of carefully directed study.
This training in the use of the voice is the most important feature of
education in singing. Voice Culture embraces a peculiar and distinct
problem, that of the correct management of the vocal organs. Vocal
training has indeed come to be considered synonymous with training in
the correct use of the voice. Every method of instruction in singing
must contain as its most important element some means for dealing with
the problem of tone-production.
No complete and satisfactory solution of this problem has ever been
found. Of this fact every one acquainted with the practical side of
Voice Culture must be well aware. As the present work is designed solely
to suggest a new manner of dealing with this question, it is advisable
to define precisely what is meant by the problem of tone-production.
In theory the question may be stated very simply. It is generally
believed throughout the vocal profession that the voice has one correct
mode of action, different from a wide variety of incorrect actions of
which it is capable;--that this mode of action, though ordained by
Nature, is not in the usual sense natural or instinctive;--that the
correct vocal action must be acquired, through a definite understanding
and conscious management of the muscular movements involved. The
theoretical problem therefore is: What is the correct vocal action, and
how can it be acquired?
On the practical side, the nature of the problem is by no means so
simple. In actual instruction in singing, the subject of vocal
management cannot readily be dissociated from the wide range of other
topics comprised in the singer's education. In much that pertains to the
art of music, the singer's training must include the same subjects that
form the training of every musician. In addition to this general musical
training, about the same for all students of music, each student must
acquire technical command of the chosen instrument. This is necessarily
acquired by practice on the instrument, whether it be piano, violin,
oboe, or whatever else. In the same way, vocal technique is acquired by
practice in actual singing. Practice makes perfect, with the voice as
with everything else.
But the voice is not invariably subject to the law that practice makes
perfect. In this important respect the singer's education presents a
problem not encountered by the student of any instrument. Given the
necessary talents, industry, and opportunities for study, the student of
the violin may count with certainty on acquiring the mastery of this
instrument. But for the vocal student this is not necessarily true.
There are many cases in which practice in singing does not bring about
technical perfection. The mere singing of technical exercises is not
enough; it is of vital importance that the exercises be sung in some
particular manner. There is one certain way in which the voice must be
handled during the practice of singing. If the vocal organs are
exercised in this particular manner, the voice will improve steadily as
the result of practice. This progress will continue until perfect
technical command of the voice is acquired. But if the vocal student
fails to hit upon this particular way of handling the voice in practice
the voice will improve little, or not at all. In such a case perfect
vocal technique will never be acquired, no matter how many years the
practice may continue.
What is this peculiar way in which the voice must be handled during the
practice of singing? This is the practical problem of tone-production,
as it confronts the student of singing.
It is important that the exact bearing of the problem be clearly
understood. It is purely a feature of education in singing, and concerns
only teachers and students of the art. Properly speaking, the finished
singer should leave the teacher and start on the artistic career,
equipped with a voice under perfect control. There should be no problem
of tone-production for the trained singer, no thought or worry about the
vocal action. True, many authorities on the voice maintain that the
artist must, in all singing, consciously and intelligently guide the
operations of the vocal organs. But even if this be the case the fact
remains that this ability to manage the voice must be acquired during
student days. In seeking a solution of the problem, that period in the
prospective singer's training must be considered during which the proper
use of the voice is learned.
It may be taken for granted that teachers of singing have always been
aware of the existence of the problem of tone-production, and have
always instructed their pupils in the correct management of the voice.
Yet it is only within the past hundred and fifty years that vocal
management has been the subject of special study. A brief review of the
history of Voice Culture will serve to bring this fact out clearly.
To begin with, the present art of singing is of comparatively recent
origin. It is indeed probable that man had been using the voice in
something akin to song for thousands of years before the dawn of
history. Song of some kind has always played an important part in human
life, savage as well as civilized. To express our emotions and feelings
by means of the voice is one of our most deep-seated instincts. For this
use of the voice to take on the character of melody, as distinguished
from ordinary speech, is also purely instinctive. Singing was one of the
most zealously cultivated arts in early Egypt, in ancient Israel, and in
classic Greece and Rome. Throughout all the centuries of European
history singing has always had its recognized place, both in the
services of the various churches and in the daily life of the people.
But solo singing, as we know it to-day, is a comparatively modern art.
Not until the closing decades of the sixteenth century did the art of
solo singing receive much attention, and it is to that period we must
look for the beginnings of Voice Culture. It is true that the voice was
cultivated, both for speech and song, among the Greeks and Romans.
Gordon Holmes, in his _Treatise on Vocal Physiology and Hygiene_
(London, 1879), gives an interesting account of these ancient systems of
Voice Culture. But practically nothing has come down to us about the
means then used for training the voice. Even if any defined methods were
developed, it is absolutely certain that these had no influence on the
modern art of Voice Culture.
With the birth of Italian opera, in 1600, a new art of singing also came
into existence. The two arts, opera and singing, developed side by side,
each dependent on the other. And most important to the present inquiry,
the art or science of training voices also came into being. In _Le
Revoluzioni del Teatro Musicale Italiano_ (Venice, 1785), Arteaga says
of the development of opera: "But nothing contributed so much to clarify
Italian music at that time as the excellence and the abundance of the
singers." A race of singing masters seems almost to have sprung up in
Italy. These illustrious masters taught the singers to produce effects
with their voices such as had never been heard of before. From 1600 to
1750 the progress of the art of singing was uninterrupted. Each great
teacher carried the art a little further, discovering new beauties and
powers in the voice, and finding means to impart his new knowledge to
his pupils.
This race of teachers is known to-day as the Old Italian School, and
their system of instruction is called the Old Italian Method. Just what
this method consisted of is a much-discussed question. Whatever its
system of instruction, the old Italian school seems to have suffered a
gradual decline. In 1800 it was distinctly on the wane; it was entirely
superseded, during the years from 1840 to 1865, by the modern scientific
methods.
Considered as a practical system of Voice Culture, the old Italian
method is a highly mysterious subject. Little is now known about the
means used for training students of singing in the correct use of the
voice. This much is fairly certain: the old masters paid little or no
attention to what are now considered scientific principles. They taught
in what modern vocal theorists consider a rather haphazard fashion. The
term "empirical" is often applied to their method, and to the knowledge
of the voice on which it was based.[1] But as to what the old masters
actually knew about the voice, and just how they taught their pupils to
sing, on these points the modern world is in almost complete ignorance.
Many attempts have been made in recent years to reconstruct the old
Italian method in the light of modern scientific knowledge of the voice.
But no such analysis of the empirical system has ever been convincing.
[Note 1: "The old Italian method of instruction, to which vocal
music owed its high condition, was purely empirical." (Emma Seiler, _The
Voice in Singing_. Phila., 1886.)]
How the practical method of the old masters came to be forgotten is
perhaps the most mysterious feature of this puzzling system. There has
been a lineal succession of teachers of singing, from the earlier
decades of the eighteenth century down to the present. Even to-day it is
almost unheard of that any one should presume to call himself a teacher
of singing without having studied with at least one recognized master.
Each master of the old school imparted his knowledge and his practical
method to his pupils. Those of his pupils who in their turn became
teachers passed the method on to their students, and so on, in many
unbroken successions. Yet, for some mysterious reason, the substance of
the old method was lost in transmission.
What little is now known about the old method is derived from two
sources, the written record and tradition. To write books in explanation
of their system of instruction does not seem to have occurred to the
earliest exponents of the art of Voice Culture. The first published work
on the subject was that of Pietro Francesco Tosi, _Osservazione sopra il
Canto figurato_, brought out in Bologna in 1723. This was translated
into English by M. Galliard, and published in London in 1742; a German
translation by J. F. Agricola was issued in 1757. The present work will
call for several citations from Tosi, all taken from the English
edition. Only one other prominent teacher of the old school, G. B.
Mancini, has left an apparently complete record of his method. His
_Riflessioni pratiche sul Canto figurato_ was published in Milan in
1776. Mancini's book has never been translated into English. Reference
will therefore be made to the third Italian edition, brought out in
Milan, 1777.
Tosi and Mancini undoubtedly intended to give complete accounts of the
methods of instruction in singing in vogue in their day. But modern
vocal theorists generally believe that the most important materials of
instruction were for some reason not mentioned. Three registers are
mentioned by Tosi, while Mancini speaks of only two. Both touch on the
necessity of equalizing the registers, but give no specific directions
for this purpose. About all these early writers have left us, in the
opinion of most modern students of their works, is the outline of an
elaborate system of vocal ornaments and embellishments.
On the side of tradition a slightly more coherent set of rules has come
down to us from the old masters. These are generally known as the
"traditional precepts." Just when the precepts were first formulated it
is impossible to say. Tosi and Mancini do not mention them. Perhaps they
were held by the old masters as a sort of esoteric mystery; this idea is
occasionally put forward. At any rate, by the time the traditional
precepts were given to the world in published works on the voice, their
valuable meaning had been completely lost.
Gathered from all available sources, the traditional precepts are as
follows:
"Sing on the breath."
"Open the throat."
"Sing the tone forward," or "at the lips."
"Support the tone."
To the layman these precepts are so vague as to be almost
unintelligible. But modern vocal teachers are convinced that the
precepts sum up the most important means used by the old masters for
imparting the correct vocal action. An interpretation of the precepts in
terms intelligible to the modern student would therefore be extremely
valuable. Many scientific investigators of the voice have sought
earnestly to discover the sense in which the precepts were applied by
the old masters. These explanations of the traditional precepts occupy a
very important position in most modern methods of instruction.
There can be no question that the old masters were highly successful
teachers of singing. Even leaving out of consideration the vocal
achievements of the castrati, the singers of Tosi's day must have been
able to perform music of the florid style in a masterly fashion. This is
plainly seen from a study of the scores of the operas popular at that
time. Empirical methods of instruction seem to have sufficed for the
earlier masters. Not until the old method had been in existence for
nearly one hundred and fifty years does an attempt seem to have been
made to study the voice scientifically. In 1741 a famous French
physician, Ferrein, published a treatise on the vocal organs. This was
the first scientific work to influence the practices of vocal teachers.
For many years after the publication of Ferrein's treatise, the
scientific study of the voice attracted very little attention from the
singing masters. Fully sixty years elapsed before any serious attempt
was made to base a method of instruction on scientific principles. Even
then the idea of scientific instruction in singing gained ground very
slowly. Practical teachers at first paid but little attention to the
subject. Interest in the mechanics of voice production was confined
almost entirely to the scientists.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century the mechanical features
of voice production seem to have appealed to a constantly wider circle
of scientists. Lickovius (1814), Malgaine (1831), Bennati (1830), Bell
(1832), Savart (1825), brought out works on the subject. It remained,
however, for a vocal teacher, Garcia, to conceive the idea of basing
practical instruction on scientific knowledge.
Manuel Garcia (1805-1906) may justly be regarded as the founder of Vocal
Science. His father, Manuel del Popolo Viscenti, was famous as singer,
impresario, and teacher. From him Garcia inherited the old method, it is
safe to assume, in its entirety. But for Garcia's remarkable mind the
empirical methods of the old school were unsatisfactory. He desired
definite knowledge of the voice. A clear idea seems to have been in his
mind that, with full understanding of the vocal mechanism and of its
correct mode of action, voices would be more readily and surely trained.
How strongly this idea had possession of Garcia is shown by the fact
that he began the study of the vocal action in 1832, and that he
invented the laryngoscope only in 1855.
It must not be understood that Garcia was the first teacher to attempt
to formulate a systematic scheme of instruction in singing. In the
works of Mannstein (1834) and of Marx (1823) an ambitious forward
movement on the part of many prominent teachers is strongly indicated.
But Garcia was the first teacher to apply scientific principles in
dealing with the specific problem of tone-production. He conceived the
idea that a scientific knowledge of the workings of the vocal organs
might be made the basis of a practical system or method of instruction
in singing. This idea of Garcia has been the basic principle of all
practical methods, ever since the publication of the results of his
first laryngoscopic investigations in 1855.
Before attempting to suggest a new means of dealing with the problem of
vocal management, it is well to ascertain how this problem is treated in
modern methods of instruction. It would not be easy to overstate the
importance assigned to the matter of tone-production in all modern
systems of Voice Culture. The scientific study of the voice has dealt
exclusively with this subject. A new science has resulted, commonly
called "Vocal Science." This science is generally accepted as the
foundation of all instruction in singing. All modern methods are to
some extent based on Vocal Science.
To arrive at an understanding of modern methods, the two directions in
which vocal theorists have approached the scientific study of the voice
must be borne in mind: First, by an investigation of the anatomy of the
vocal organs, and of the laws of acoustics and mechanics in accordance
with which they operate. Second, by an analysis of the traditional
precepts of the old Italian school in the light of this scientific
knowledge.
As the present work demands a review of modern methods from the
practical side only, it is not necessary to include a description of the
vocal organs. It will be sufficient to describe briefly the manner in
which scientific investigators of the voice treat the subject of the
vocal organs.
The vocal mechanism consists of three portions,--the breathing
apparatus, the larynx with its appendages, and the resonance cavities.
Vocal scientists apply their efforts to finding out the correct mode of
action of each portion of the mechanism, and to formulating rules and
exercises by which these correct actions can be acquired and combined
for the production of perfect tones. The analysis of the traditional
precepts also conforms to this general plan; each precept is referred to
that portion of the vocal apparatus to which it seems best to apply. The
outline of the principles of modern methods contained in the following
chapters follows this general scheme.
It must be understood at the start that on most of the doctrines
included in Vocal Science there is no unanimity of opinion among either
theorists or teachers. Far from this being the case, practically all the
principles of Vocal Science are the subjects of controversy.
CHAPTER II
BREATHING AND BREATH-CONTROL
It is generally considered that, as the breath is the foundation of
singing, the manner of breathing is of vital importance to the singer.
This subject has therefore received a vast amount of attention from
vocal scientists, and the muscular actions of breathing have been
exhaustively studied.
Several sets of rules for inspiration and expiration are put forth by
different authorities. But there is no occasion for going into a
detailed discussion of the different modes of breathing advocated by the
various schools, or of the theoretical arguments which each advances. It
is sufficient to say that the modes of breathing most in vogue are five
in number,--deep abdominal, lateral or costal, fixed high chest,
clavicular, and diaphragmatic-abdominal. However, on experimenting with
these five systems of breathing, it is found that the number may be
reduced to two; of these the others are but slight modifications. In
one system of inspiration the abdomen is protruded, while the upper
chest is held firm, the greatest expansion being at the base of the
lungs. In the other mode of taking breath the abdomen is slightly drawn
in, while the chest is expanded in every direction, upward, laterally,
forward, and backward. In this system the upper chest is held in a fixed
and high position.
Necessarily the manner of filling the lungs involves the manner in which
they are emptied. Opinions are practically unanimous as to the proper
position of the singer before taking breath, that is, at the end of an
expiration. The singer must stand erect, the weight of the body evenly
supported on the balls of both feet, with the whole body in a condition
of lithe suppleness. In both systems of breathing the manner of
expiration is simply a return to this position.
A wide variety of breathing exercises are in use, but these do not
require detailed description. Any one of the prescribed systems of
breathing can easily be adopted, and the student of singing seldom
encounters any difficulty on this point. Still most teachers attach
great importance to the acquirement of the correct manner of breathing.
Toneless mechanical exercises are generally given, by which the student
is expected to master the muscular movements before applying in singing
the system advocated by the teacher. These exercises are usually
combined with those for breath-control, and they are described under
that head.
_Breath-Control_
Very early in the development of Vocal Science the management of the
breath began to receive attention. Mannstein,[2] writing in 1834, says:
"The air in expiration must stream from the chest slowly and without
shock. The air must flow from the chest with the tone." In a footnote he
adds: "In order to acquire this economy of the breath, students were
required to practise daily, without singing, to take and to hold back
the breath as long as possible." Mannstein does not mention the muscular
action involved in this exercise.
[Note 2: _Die grosse italienische Gesangschule._ Dresden, 1834.]
This subject is also touched upon by Garcia. In the first edition of his
_École de Garcia_, 1847, Chap. IV, p. 14, he says: "The mechanism of
expiration consists of a gentle pressure on the lungs charged with air,
operated by the thorax and the diaphragm. The shock of the chest, the
sudden falling of the ribs, and the quick relaxing of the diaphragm
cause the air to escape instantly.... If, while the lungs are filled
with air, the ribs are allowed to fall, and the diaphragm to rise, the
lungs instantly give up the inspired air, like a pressed sponge. It is
necessary therefore to allow the ribs to fall and the diaphragm to relax
only so much as is required to sustain the tones." It may be questioned
whether Garcia had in mind the doctrine of breath-control as this is
understood to-day. Very little attention was paid, at any rate, in the
vocal instruction of that day, to the mechanical actions of
breath-control; the great majority of teachers probably had never heard
of this principle.
As a definite principle of Vocal Science, breath-control was first
formulated by Dr. Mandl, in his _Die Gesundheitslehre der Stimme_,
Brunswick, 1876. From that time on, this doctrine has been very
generally recognized as the fundamental principle of correct singing.
Practically every scientific writer on the voice since then states
breath-control as one of the basic principles of Vocal Science. The most
influential published work in popularizing the doctrine of
breath-control was probably the book written jointly by Lennox Browne
and Emil Behnke, _Voice, Song, and Speech_, London, 1883.
This doctrine is of so much importance in Vocal Science and in modern
methods of instruction as to require a detailed explanation. The theory
of breath-control may be stated as follows:[3]
"In ordinary breathing the air is expelled from the lungs quietly, but
rapidly; at no point of the breathing apparatus does the expired breath
meet with resistance. In singing, on the contrary, the expiratory
pressure is much more powerful, yet the expiration must be much slower.
Furthermore, all the expired breath must be converted into tone, and the
singer must have perfect control over the strength and the speed of the
expiration. This requires that the air be held back at some point. The
action of holding back the breath must not be performed by the muscles
which close the glottis, for all the muscles of the larynx are very
small and weak in comparison with the powerful muscles of expiration.
The glottis-closing muscles are too weak to oppose their action to the
force of a powerful expiration. If the vocal cords are called upon to
withstand a strong breath pressure, they are seriously strained, and
their proper action is rendered impossible. In the same way, if the
throat be narrowed at any point above the larynx, so as to present a
passage small enough to hold back a powerful expiration, the entire
vocal mechanism is strained and forced out of its proper adjustment. The
singer must have perfect control of the breath, and at the same time
relieve the larynx and throat of all pressure and strain. To obtain this
control the singer must govern the expiration by means of the muscles of
inspiration. When the lungs are filled the inspiratory muscles are not
to be relaxed as in ordinary breathing, but are to be held on tension
throughout the action of expiration. Whatever pressure is exerted by the
expiratory muscles must be almost counterbalanced by the opposed action
of the muscles of inspiration. The more powerful the blast, the greater
must be the exertion by which it is controlled. In this way the singer
may have perfect control both of the speed and of the strength of the
expiration."
[Note 3: This statement of the doctrine of breath-control must not
be construed as an endorsement of the theory of the vocal action
embodied in this doctrine. On the contrary, both the theory of "opposed
action" breath-control and the "breath-band" theory are held to be
utterly erroneous. For a further discussion of this subject see Chapter
II of Part II.]
The exercises for acquiring command of this "opposed action
breath-control" are easily understood; indeed, they will readily suggest
themselves to one who has grasped their purpose. Most important of these
exercises is a quick inspiration, followed by a slow and controlled
expiration. Exercises for breathing and breath-control are usually
combined; the student is instructed to take breath in the manner
advocated by the teacher, and then to control the expiration.
Teachers usually require their pupils to obtain command of this action
as a toneless exercise before permitting them to apply it to the
production of tone. Methods vary greatly as to the length of time
devoted to toneless drills in breathing and breath-control. Many
teachers demand that students practise these exercises daily throughout
the entire course of study, and even recommend that this practice be
continued throughout the singer's active life.
Simple as these exercises are in theory, they demand very arduous
practice. Control of the breath by "opposed action" is hard and tiring
muscular work, as the reader may easily convince himself by practising
the above described exercise for a few minutes.
No special rules are needed for applying this mode of breathing to the
production of tone. Theoretical writers generally do not claim that the
control of the breath brings about the correct laryngeal action, but
merely that it permits this action by noninterference. Several
authorities however, notably Shakespeare, maintain that in effect this
system of breath-control embodies the old precept, "Sing on the breath."
(Wm. Shakespeare, _The Art of Singing_, London, 1898, p. 24.) Other
theorists hold that the empirical precept, "Support the tone," refers to
this manner of controlled expiration. (G. B. Lamperti, _The Technics of
Bel Canto_, Trans. by Dr. Th. Baker, N. Y., 1905, p. 9.)
_The "Breath-band" System_
While most authorities on the voice advocate the system of
breath-control by "opposed muscular action," there are a number of
masters who teach an entirely different system. This is usually known as
the "Breath-band," or "Ventricular" breath-control. Charles Lunn, in
_The Philosophy of the Voice_, 1878, was the first to propound the
theory that the breath may be controlled by the false vocal cords. There
is reason to believe that this idea was also worked out independently by
Orlando Steed ("On Beauty of Touch and Tone," _Proceedings of the
Musical Assn._, 1879-80, p. 47). As a number of prominent teachers base
their entire methods on this theory, it is worthy of careful attention.
The "breath-band" theory may be stated as follows:
"When the lungs are filled by a deep inspiration and the breath is held,
the glottis is of necessity closed so tightly that no air can escape. In
this condition the expiratory muscles may be very violently contracted,
and still no air will escape; indeed, the greater the strength exerted
the tighter is the closure of the glottis. Obviously, this closure of
the glottis cannot be effected by the contraction of the glottis-closing
muscles, strictly speaking, for these muscles are too small and weak to
withstand the powerful air pressure exerted against the vocal cords.[4]
The point of resistance is located just above the vocal cords. The
sudden air pressure exerted on the interior walls of the larynx by the
expiratory contraction causes the ventricles of the larynx to expand by
inflation. This inflation of the ventricles brings their upper margins,
formed by the false vocal cords, into contact. Thus the opening from the
larynx into the pharynx is closed. This closure is not effected by any
muscular contraction, therefore it is not dependent on the strength of
the muscular fibers of the false vocal cords. It is an automatic
valvular action, directly under voluntary control so far as the
contraction of the expiratory muscles is concerned, but independent of
volition as regards the action of the false vocal cords. On account of
their important function in this operation the false vocal cords are
called the 'breath-bands.' Closure of the glottis by the inflation of
the ventricles imposes no strain on the vocal cords.
[Note 4: One of the strongest arguments of the "breath-band"
advocates is based on this action,--the resistance of the closed glottis
to a powerful expiratory pressure. The theory of breath-control by
"opposed muscular action" takes no cognizance of this operation. It will
however be shown in Chapter II of Part II that the "breath-band"
theorists are mistaken in asserting that the action of holding the
breath is not performed by the glottis-closing muscles.]
"Control of the breath in singing is effected by this automatic valvular
action. To produce a tone according to this system, the lungs must be
filled and the breath held in the manner just described, while the vocal
cords are brought to the proper degree of tension; then the tone is
started by allowing the 'breath-bands' to separate very slightly, so
that a thin stream of air is forced through the opening between their
margins. The tone is ushered in by a slight explosive sound, which is
nothing but the well-known stroke of the glottis. So long as the
expiratory pressure is steadily maintained, this tone may be held, and
yet no strain is imposed on the vocal cords. Perfect control of the
breath is thus attained. For a powerful tone, the breath blast is
greater, therefore the ventricles are more widely inflated, and the
opening between the 'breath-bands' becomes narrower. The action is
always automatic; once the tone is correctly started, the singer need
pay no further attention to the operation of the 'breath-bands.' All
that is necessary is to maintain a steady breath pressure."
In the methods of all the "breath-band" advocates, the first and most
important step toward perfect tone-production is held to be the
acquirement of this automatic breath-control. As in the "opposed
muscular" system, the initial exercises are toneless drills in
breathing. The basic exercise, of which all the others are variations,
is as follows: "Fill the lungs, then hold the breath an instant, and
forcibly contract all the chest muscles. Then force the air out slowly
and powerfully through the glottis." Practice of this exercise is always
accompanied by a hissing sound, caused by the escape of the air through
the narrow slit between (presumably) the "breath-bands." Tone-production
by the same muscular action is very simple, and requires no further
explanation.
In its practical aspect this system of breath-control is the direct
opposite of the "opposed muscular" system. In one the breath is expelled
powerfully, the object being to bring a strong expiratory pressure to
bear on the larynx. In the other system, the air is held back, in order
that the larynx be exposed to as slight a pressure as possible.
The "breath-band" advocates hold that the glottic stroke is the key to
correct laryngeal action. As a rule they instruct their pupils to attack
every tone, throughout all their practising, with the stroke of the
glottis. In the course of time the automatic valvular action is supposed
to become so well established that the singer can dispense with the
glottic stroke in public performance. Needless to say, these teachers
usually recognize that this explosive sound is very harsh and unmusical,
and utterly out of place in artistic singing.
An important claim of the "breath-band" teachers is that their doctrine
contains the explanation of the traditional precept, "Support the tone."
Their idea is that the throat, being "firmly set," furnishes a secure
base for the tone to rest on. This explanation is of course utterly
unscientific, and it cannot be said to throw any light on the meaning of
the precept. "Singing on the breath" is also referred to this system of
breath-control, but with no more coherence than the "Support of the
tone."
No necessary connection obtains between systems of breath-control and
those of breathing strictly speaking, that is, of inspiration. As has
been said, the great majority of vocal theorists adhere to the "opposed
muscular action" breath-control. In this number are included advocates
of every known system of breathing. Bitter controversies have been
carried on between champions of different modes of breathing, who yet
agree that the breath must be controlled by "opposed action." This is
also true, although not to the same extent, among the "breath-band"
teachers. And to render the confusion on the subject of breathing and
breath-control complete, instances might be cited of controversies
between teachers who agree as to the correct mode of inspiration, and
yet disagree on the manner of controlling the expiration.
Both systems of breath-control cannot be right; if one is correct, the
other must necessarily be absolutely wrong. Instead of attempting to
decide between them, it will be seen that both are false, and that the
theory on which they rest is erroneous. This discussion is reserved for
a later chapter.
CHAPTER III
REGISTERS AND LARYNGEAL ACTION
Probably no other topic of Vocal Science has been studied so earnestly
as the registers of the voice. Yet on no other topic is there such wide
diversity of opinion among theorists and investigators.
Very little is definitely known regarding the manner in which the
subject of registers was treated by the old Italian masters. Suffice it
to say here that the old masters did not refer the registers to changes
in the laryngeal action. They were treated simply as different qualities
of tone, each quality best adapted to be sung only in a portion of the
voice's compass.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century the registers of the
voice received much attention from vocal theorists, especially in Paris.
Garcia's first published work, _Mémoire sur la Voix humaine_, was
presented to the Academy of Sciences in 1840. This Mémoire gives the
results of observations which Garcia made on his own pupils; it deals
mainly with the position of the larynx during the singing of tones in
the various registers. Garcia describes how the larynx is raised and
lowered in the throat, according to the register in which the tones are
produced. He also notes the position of the tongue and the soft palate.
Widespread interest was awakened by the account of Garcia's
laryngoscopic investigations of the registers, published in 1855. The
attention of the great majority of vocalists was at once drawn to the
subject, and the actions of the vocal cords in the different registers
were studied by many prominent physicians and voice specialists.
Exhaustive treatises on the registers have since been published by Mme.
Seiler, Behnke, Curwen, Mills, Battaille, Curtis, Holmes, and by a large
number of other investigators.
All the results of the laryngoscopic investigation of the vocal action
have been disappointing in the extreme. In the first place, no two
observers have obtained exactly the same results. Writing in 1886, Sir
Morell Mackenzie says: "Direct observation with the laryngoscope is, of
course, the best method at our disposal, but that even its testimony is
far from unexceptionable is obvious from the marvelous differences as to
matters of _fact_ that exist among observers. It is hardly too much to
say that no two of them quite agree as to what is seen." (_The Hygiene
of the Vocal Organs_, London, 1886.) Wesley Mills, in his latest work,
endeavors to show a substantial agreement among the best equipped
observers of the registers, but his attempt can hardly be called
convincing. (_Voice Production in Singing and Speaking_, Philadelphia,
1906.) Opinions on the subject of registers, held by the leading voice
specialists to-day, are fully as divergent as in 1886. Widely different
statements are made by prominent authorities as to the number of
registers, the vocal cord action by which each register is produced, and
the number of notes which each one should properly include.
Another deficiency of the doctrine of registers is even more serious in
its bearing on practical instruction. Not only have all investigators
failed to define exactly what the correct laryngeal action is. Even if
this were determined it would still be necessary to find means for
imparting command of this correct action to the student of singing.
Knowing how the vocal cords should act does not help the singer in the
least to govern their action. What the vocal student wishes to know is
how to cause the vocal cords to assume the correct position for each
register. On this, the most important topic of mechanical Voice Culture,
Vocal Science has shed no light whatever. A student may hear
descriptions of the laryngeal action, and study the highly interesting
laryngoscopic photographs of the vocal cords, until thoroughly familiar
with the theoretical side of the subject. Even then, the student is no
better able to control the vocal cord action than when profoundly
ignorant of the whole matter.
This deficiency of Vocal Science is frankly recognized by one of the
latest authoritative writers on the subject, Dr. Wesley Mills. On page
173 of his work just quoted, he advises students to _hear the great
singers_, to note carefully the _quality of tone_ which characterizes
each register, and to _imitate these qualities_ with their own voices.
This advice may almost be described as revolutionary. Vocal theorists
have always assumed that the correct action cannot be acquired by
imitation. In this advice to rely on the imitative faculty for acquiring
control of the laryngeal action, Dr. Mills abandons the basic principle
of modern methods. Without exception, all instruction in singing is
to-day based on the idea of mechanical tone-production. An entirely new
theory of Voice Culture is involved in this advice of Dr. Mills.
Turning to practical methods of instruction, it is found that the
subject of registers is very seldom treated in the manner suggested by
the theoretical works on the voice. This would be, to make the "placing"
of the voice in the different registers the exclusive subject of
instruction for a certain number of lessons;--to train each register of
the voice separately;--when the correct vocal cord action had been
established in each register, to unite the different registers, and to
correct any "breaks" which might have developed. Comparatively few
teachers attempt to follow this course. The great majority treat the
registers in a much less systematic fashion. A single half-hour lesson
usually includes explanations and exercises on several topics of
mechanical tone-production, as well as hints on agility, style,
execution, etc. As merely one of this variety of subjects, the
registers usually receive rather desultory attention.
Some teachers profess to ignore the subject of registers entirely. They
maintain that, when properly trained from the beginning, the compass of
the voice is one homogeneous whole; "breaks" and changes of quality are
in their opinion merely the results of bad instruction. But the general
belief of vocal authorities is overwhelmingly against these teachers.
The condition which they describe is without doubt the ideal of vocal
management; but the vast majority of teachers believe that this
condition cannot be attained without some attention being paid to the
individual registers.
Most teachers recognize either two registers,--chest and head; or
three,--chest, middle, and head. Comparatively few extremists recognize
more than three. Several sets of names for the registers have been
proposed by vocal theorists,--thick and thin, long reed and short reed,
high and low, etc. But these names have not been adopted by teachers to
any extent.
One important phase of the registers has not received much attention
from the laryngoscopic investigators. This is, that most of the notes of
the voice's compass can be produced at will in more than one register.
Vocal teachers as a rule recognize this fact. Julius Stockhausen for
instance, in his _Gesangsmethode_ (Leipzig, 1884), says: "The registers
cross each other. The two principal registers of the voice have many
tones in common. The perfect blending of the registers on a single tone
leads to the _crescendo_, called in Italian the _messa di voce_."
Teachers generally do not set hard and fast limits to the extent of each
register; they direct that in singing up the scale the student pass
gradually from chest to middle, middle to head voice, etc.
In most practical methods the chest register occupies about the same
position; this is also true of the head register. Even those teachers
who profess to ignore registers recognize these two distinct qualities
of tone; they instruct their pupils to sing low notes in one quality,
and high notes in the other. This is in fact the general practice. In
this connection the topics of registers and resonance are often
combined. The terms "head voice," "head register," and "nasal
resonance," are used interchangeably by the great majority of teachers.
This is also true of the expressions "chest voice," "chest resonance,"
and "chest register."
In practical instruction, the extending of the compass of the voice is
usually treated, rather loosely perhaps in most cases, as a feature of
the registers. Methods vary greatly in points of detail, but in most of
them instruction on this topic is given along the same general lines.
Usually the three classes of voices receive different treatment, one
form of instruction being used for sopranos and tenors, another for
mezzo-sopranos and baritones, and a third for altos and bassos.
In teaching students with high voices, teachers usually "place"[5] the
medium notes first, roughly speaking, from G to d (for male voices one
octave lower). Then the lower notes are developed, mostly by descending
scale passages, the lowest note practised being usually C. The high
notes are sometimes "placed" by ascending scale passages and arpeggios,
but more often by the octave jump and descending scale. There is room
for considerable variation in this class of exercises, but they all
conform to the same general principle.
[Note 5: The expression "placing the voice" is more fully treated in
Chap. VI. It is assumed, however, that the reader is familiar with the
ordinary usage of this expression.]
For mezzos and baritones about the same system is followed, the
exercises being sung a major third or so lower. In the case of
contraltos and bassos, the voice is usually trained from the middle in
both directions. Most teachers favor the "chest voice" for singers of
these types throughout the entire compass.
A discussion of the use of special vowels and consonants in this class
of exercises is contained in Chapter V.
It must not be understood that this topic of instruction is assigned by
many teachers to any particular period of the student's progress.
Moreover, practice in the registers seldom forms the exclusive material
of lessons and home study for any definite time. The wide range of
topics considered in the average singing lesson has already been
mentioned.
Very little connection can be traced between the scientific doctrine of
registers, and the treatment which this subject receives in modern
methods. This is only to be expected, in view of the fact that
laryngoscopic investigation has not resulted in practical rules for
managing the vocal cords. The registers of the voice are handled by
modern teachers in a purely empirical fashion.
_Movements of the Larynx, Tongue, and Soft Palate_
It was remarked, in speaking of the registers, that no mechanical means
has ever been found for directly controlling the operations of the vocal
cords. To this statement one apparent exception is seen in the method
originated by John Howard. This earnest student of the voice sought to
carry out, to its logical conclusion, the accepted idea of mechanical
vocal control. In this respect he stands practically alone. His is the
only method which even pretends to reduce the entire operation of
correct tone-production to a set of defined muscular contractions.
Howard's theories, with the details of a practical method based thereon,
are fully described in his most important published work, _The
Physiology of Artistic Singing_, New York, 1886. A complete exposition
of Howard's theories is not called for here. For the present purpose
the following short summary will suffice:
"The difference between correct tone-production and any incorrect vocal
action is solely a matter of laryngeal adjustment and vocal cord action.
Whether the tone produced be right or wrong, the influence of the
resonance cavities is about the same. It is therefore idle to pay any
attention to the subject of air resonance. Only one form of resonance is
of any value in tone-production (considered as distinct from vowel
formation). This is the sounding-board resonance of the bones of the
head and chest. To secure this, the most important reinforcement of the
tone, the larynx must be firmly held in a fixed position against the
backbone, at the fifth cervical vertebra. All theories as to the
registers of the voice, derived from laryngoscopic observation, are
completely erroneous.
"In the production of tone, the muscular tissue of the vocal cords is
thrown into vibration by the air blast, and not merely the membranous
covering of the inner edges of the cords. For a soft tone, only a
portion of the fleshy mass of the vocal cords vibrates; if this tone is
gradually swelled to _fortissimo_, a constantly increasing portion of
the muscular tissue is called into play. For the loudest tone, the
entire mass of the vocal cords is bought into vibration. Thus the
increased volume of the tone results not alone from the increase in the
power of the breath blast. Each addition to the power of the expiration
demands also a change in the adjustment of the vocal cords.
"The contractions of the muscles inside the larynx, including the vocal
cords, cannot be brought under direct voluntary control. But these
contractions can be regulated by the actions of other sets of muscles,
viz., those by which the larynx is connected with the skeletal framework
of the head, neck, and chest. These latter muscles can all be controlled
by direct volition. Each of these sets of muscles has its function in
tone-production. One set pulls the larynx backward, into the position
already described, against the backbone. Two other opposed sets hold the
larynx firmly in this position, one set pulling upward, the other
downward. Finally, and most important in their influence on the actions
of the vocal cords, a fourth set of muscles comes into play. These tilt
the thyroid cartilage forward or backward, and thus bring about a
greater or less tension of the vocal cords, independent of the
contractions of the muscles of the vocal cords themselves. In this way
is regulated the amount of the fleshy mass of the vocal cords exposed to
the expiratory blast. Correct tone-production results when exactly the
necessary degree of strength is exerted by each one of these four sets
of muscles."
For each of these groups of muscles Howard devised a system of exercises
and drills by which the singer is supposed to bring all the movements
involved under direct voluntary control. The parts thus exercised are
the tongue, the soft palate, the jaw, the fauces, and also the muscles
by which the larynx is raised and lowered in the throat, and those by
which the chest is raised. In teaching a pupil Howard took up each part
in turn. A sufficient number of lessons was devoted to each set of
muscles for the pupil (presumably) to acquire the necessary control of
each group.
Howard also paid much attention to the breath; he worked out the system
of high-chest breathing in a really masterly fashion. But his manner of
dealing with this subject did not differ from that of a great number of
other teachers.
Howard retired from active teaching about 1895. His theories of the
vocal action have never been generally accepted by vocal theorists, and
the number of teachers who now profess to follow his method is very
small. There are, however, many other masters whose methods, in their
main features, are patterned after Howard's. These latter teachers may
therefore be justly said to follow the Howard system, even though they
give him no credit for their doctrines of vocal control.
Howard usually insisted that his pupils should understand the
theoretical basis of his method, and the exact purpose of each exercise
and muscular contraction. But as a rule his successors do not make this
demand on their pupils. They are content to have the students practise
the prescribed exercises; this the students do, with very little thought
about the theory lying behind the method. For the pupil this system, as
at present generally taught, consists solely of a series of muscular
drills for the tongue, larynx, palate, etc.
In this review of modern methods, the Howard system is important, mainly
because it represents the consistent application of the idea of
mechanical tone-production. As was observed, Howard's theories had very
little influence on the general trend of Vocal Science. The external
features of the Howard system are indeed shared to some extent by the
methods of many other teachers. Muscular drills of about the same type
are very widely used. Some teachers go so far in this respect that their
methods might almost be confounded with the Howard system. But the
resemblance is purely external. Even in 1880, at the time when Howard
had fairly perfected his method, there was nothing novel about exercises
of this type. The first attempts at a practical study of vocal mechanics
consisted of observations of those parts of the vocal organs whose
movements can be readily seen and felt. These are the lips, tongue,
palate, and larynx. Garcia's _Mémoire_, already cited, is mainly a
record of observations of this kind. Nearly every vocal theorist since
that time has also paid some attention to this phase of the vocal
action.
In practical methods of instruction, elaborate systems of rules have
long been in use for governing the positions of the tongue, lips,
palate, etc. Unlike the Howard theory, no definite scientific basis is
usually given for specific directions of this kind. Each investigator
has simply noted how certain great singers held their tongues or soft
palates, whether the larynx was held high or low in the throat, etc.,
and considered that these must be the correct positions. It would be
hard to find a greater diversity of opinion on any topic connected with
the voice than is encountered here. To enumerate all the rules which are
given for governing the actions of each part would be useless. A few of
the contradictory opinions regarding the correct position of the larynx
will suffice to show how great is the confusion on this topic:
"The larynx should be held low in the throat for all tones." "It should
be held in a fixed position high in the throat." "It should be high for
low tones, and should descend as the pitch rises." "It should be in a
low position for the lowest note of each register, and should rise as
the pitch rises; when the highest note of the register is reached, it
should at once descend for the lowest note of the next register."
Prominent teachers and writers could be cited as authority for each of
these rules, and indeed for several others. A similar diversity of
opinion is found regarding the rules given for the position of the
tongue and the soft palate.
Practices vary greatly as to the amount of time and attention devoted to
muscular drills of the parts under consideration, and also as to the
importance attached to the positions of these parts. Some teachers make
this a prominent feature of their methods. The majority, however, treat
the subject much more lightly. They now and then devote a part of the
lesson time to the muscular drills and exercises; for the rest, an
occasional hint or correction regarding the positions of the parts is
deemed sufficient.
All the movements of the tongue, lips, and jaw are directly under
voluntary control. Exercises for these parts are therefore given only
for acquiring suppleness and agility. The muscular movements of the
larynx and soft palate are readily brought under control. Each can
simply be raised and lowered. A few minutes' daily practice, extended
over three or four weeks, is generally sufficient for the student to
acquire satisfactory command of these actions. But to hold the tongue,
palate, and larynx in any prescribed position, while singing a tone, is
an extremely troublesome matter. Those teachers who adhere to precise
systems for the positions of these parts, frequently impose much arduous
practice on their pupils. As to the merits of any special system of the
kind, this question is reserved for future discussion.
_Attack_
It would be hard to determine when the term "attack" was first used to
describe the starting of a vocal tone. Nor is it easy to define the
precise position assigned to the subject of attack by vocal theorists.
No satisfactory statement of the theory of attack can be cited from any
published treatise on Vocal Science. It is commonly asserted, rather
loosely indeed, that the tone must be "started right." As Clara Kathleen
Rogers expresses it, "Attack the tone badly, and nothing can improve it
afterwards." (_The Philosophy of Singing_, New York, 1893.) This
statement is in the practical sense utterly unfounded. A tone may be
"attacked" with a nasal or throaty quality, and then be improved, by
simply eliminating the objectionable quality. Of this fact the reader
may readily convince himself. In short, all the accepted theories of
attack rest on an unscientific basis.
Vocal theorists generally treat the subject of attack as connected in
some way with registers and laryngeal action. But as no rule has ever
been formulated for the mechanical management of the laryngeal action,
it necessarily follows that no intelligible directions are ever given to
the student for preparing to start the laryngeal action correctly.
Three possible ways of attacking a tone are generally recognized. These
are described by Albert B. Bach, in _The Principles of Singing_, second
edition, London, 1897. They are, first, the stroke of the glottis. (This
is advocated by Garcia in most of his published works, although the
testimony of many of his pupils, notably Mme. Marchesi, is that Garcia
used the glottic stroke very little in actual instruction.) Second, the
aspirate (_h_ as in _have_), which is generally condemned. Third, the
approximation of the vocal cords at the precise instant the breath blast
strikes them. This latter mode of attack is advocated by Browne and
Behnke, who call it the "slide of the glottis." It must be observed
that neither the stroke nor the slide of the glottis can be shown to
have any influence in causing the laryngeal muscles to adopt any
particular mode of adjustment.
Turning to practical methods of instruction, little connection can be
traced between the theories of attack and the occasional directions
usually given for starting the tone. The subject of attack is seldom
assigned to any particular period in the course of study. Many teachers
ignore the matter altogether. Others devote a few minutes now and then
to drilling a pupil in the stroke of the glottis, without attaching much
importance to the subject. (The position assigned to this mode of attack
by the "breath-band" theorists has already been mentioned.) On the
whole, the matter of attack is usually treated rather loosely. The pupil
is occasionally interrupted in singing a phrase, and told to "attack the
tone better." Needless to say, this form of instruction is in no sense
scientific.
CHAPTER IV
RESONANCE
In order to understand fully the position in Vocal Science assigned to
the doctrine of resonance, it is necessary to trace the origin and the
development of this doctrine. The old Italian masters naturally knew
nothing whatever of resonance, nor of any other topic of acoustics. Yet
the accepted theories of resonance in its relation to the voice are
directly based on a set of empirical observations made by the old
masters. The facts which they noted are now a matter of common
knowledge. In singing low notes a sensation of trembling or vibration is
felt in the upper chest; high notes are accompanied by a similar
sensation in the head. How these sensations of vibration came to be made
the basis of the theories of vocal resonance, and of registers as well,
is an interesting bit of vocal history.
Although almost entirely ignorant of vocal mechanics in the scientific
sense, the old masters were eager students of the voice. They carefully
noted the characteristic sound of each tone of the voice, and worked out
what they believed to be a comprehensive theory of tone-production. One
of their observations was that in every voice the low notes have a
somewhat different quality from the high notes. To distinguish these two
qualities of tone the old masters adopted the word used for a similar
purpose by the organ builders,--_register_. Further, they noted the
sensation of vibration in the chest caused by singing low notes, and
concluded that these notes are actually produced in the chest. To the
lower notes of the voice they therefore gave the name "chest register."
As Tosi explains it, "_Voce di Petto_ is a full voice, which comes from
the breast by strength." For a precisely similar reason, viz., the
sensation of vibration in the head felt in singing the higher notes,
this portion of the voice was called by the old masters the "head
register."
When the study of vocal mechanics along scientific lines was undertaken,
in the early decades of the nineteenth century, attention was at first
paid almost exclusively to the subject of registers. The questions then
most discussed were the number of registers, the number of notes which
each should include, and the precise point of production of each
register in the chest, throat, and head. Garcia's _Mémoire_, dealing
with the registers, was noticed in the preceding chapter. He showed that
different adjustments of the tongue, palate, and larynx are concerned in
the production of the various registers. This _Mémoire_ opened up a new
line of observation, in which Garcia continued to take the lead. But the
extending of the scope of inquiry concerning the registers did not
result in any unanimity of opinion on the part of the vocal
investigators of that time.
For a few years following the invention of the laryngoscope (1855),
vocal theorists ceased their disputes about the registers, and awaited
the definite results of this new mode of observation. When this potent
little instrument was put within the reach of every investigator, it was
believed that the mystery surrounding the registers was about to be
dispelled.
One important consequence of the invention of the laryngoscope was the
turning of attention away from the sensations of vibration in the chest
and head. Each register was ascribed to a distinct mode of operation of
the vocal cords, and for several years the terms "chest voice" and "head
voice" were held to be scientifically unsound. But with the publication
of Helmholtz's _Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen_ in 1863, the
sensations of vibration again received attention. These sensations were
then made the basis of a theory of vocal resonance, which has since been
adopted by the great majority of vocal scientists.
Until the publication of Helmholtz's work vocal theorists had known
practically nothing of acoustics. The fact that the tones produced by
the vocal cords are increased in power and modified in quality by the
resonance of the air in the mouth-pharynx cavity came as a distinct
revelation to the theoretical students of the voice. Helmholtz confined
his experiments and demonstrations to the mouth-pharynx cavity, and
investigated in particular the influence of this cavity in producing the
various vowel and consonant sounds. But vocal theorists at once extended
the idea of air resonance, and connected it with the well-known
sensations of vibration in the chest and head. It was assumed that these
sensations are caused by vibrations of the air in the chest and nasal
cavities.
This assumption has been accepted without question by the great majority
of vocal scientists. Both the chest voice and the head voice are now
believed to owe their distinctive qualities to the reinforcing
vibrations of the air in the chest and nasal cavities respectively. The
mere fact that these vibrations can be felt is held sufficient proof of
the statement. "In every true chest tone the resonance can be distinctly
felt as a vibration (fremitus pectoralis) by the hand laid flat on the
chest." (_Die Kunst der idealen Tonbildung_, Dr. W. Reinecke, Leipzig,
1906.) It must be observed that this is by no means a satisfactory
scientific proof of the doctrine of chest resonance. This feature of the
subject is reserved for discussion later.
The doctrine of resonance is now generally accepted as one of the basic
principles of Vocal Science. It is stated, in substance, by almost every
authority on the voice that "The tone produced by the vibration of the
vocal cords, even when the laryngeal action is correct in every way, is
weak, of poor quality, and without character. This tone must be
strengthened and made of musical quality by utilizing the influence of
resonance." The subject of resonance is always treated in theoretical
works on the voice under the three heads of chest, mouth-pharynx, and
nasal resonance. To these a fourth is sometimes added,--the
sounding-board resonance of the bones of the chest and head.
_Mouth-Pharynx Resonance_
Considered strictly in its bearing on tone-production, the resonance of
the mouth-pharynx cavity does not receive much attention from
theoretical observers of the voice. The form assumed by this cavity is
of necessity determined by the vowel to be sung. Aside from its function
in the pronunciation of words, the influence of mouth-pharynx resonance
on the tones of the voice is seldom discussed by vocal scientists.
As a rule, vocal teachers pay little attention to this form of
resonance. The subject of enunciation is generally treated as distinct
from tone-production strictly speaking. While the correct emission of
the tone, in its passage from the vocal cords to the lips, is considered
a very important topic, this feature of tone-production has no
reference to resonance.
One exception must be made to the statement that no attention is paid to
mouth-pharynx resonance. This is found in an interpretation of the
empirical precept, "Sing with open throat." Several vocal theorists take
this precept literally, and hold that it describes a function of
mouth-pharynx resonance. According to their idea the cavity must be
expanded to the largest size possible, on the theory that a large
resonance cavity secures a proportionately greater reinforcement of the
tone. "The greater the size of the pharynx, whether through practice or
natural gifts, the stronger in proportion is the tone." (_Die Kunst der
idealen Tonbildung_, Dr. W. Reinecke, Leipzig, 1906.) This theory is of
course rather loose and unscientific. Still this idea,--a literal
interpretation of the "open throat" precept,--receives much attention in
practical instruction.
Only one muscular action has ever been defined by which the throat might
be "opened." That is, the lowering of the larynx and the raising of the
soft palate. Many teachers therefore direct that the throat be "opened"
gradually in this way for the swelling of the tone. It is assumed that
the power of the voice is developed by singing with the larynx low in
the throat. This manner of instruction is, however, very loosely given.
The supposedly scientific interpretation of the "open throat" precept
shades off into a purely empirical application.
_Chest Resonance_
In no other topic of Vocal Science is the gap between theory and
practice more striking than in the doctrine of chest resonance. Vocal
teachers are in fair accord in believing the resonance of the air in the
chest to be the most important influence in imparting power and "color"
to the voice, and particularly to the lower notes of its compass.
Students of singing are in almost all cases urged to acquire a proper
command of chest resonance. But when it comes to telling the student how
to learn to govern the chest resonance, the teacher has practically
nothing to offer. No direct means has ever been found for causing the
air in the thorax to vibrate; this cannot be effected, so far as has yet
been determined, by any voluntary muscular action on the part of the
singer.
This being the case, intelligible instruction in the use and management
of chest resonance is hardly to be expected. Teachers of singing are
obliged to fall back on purely empirical instruction on this topic. This
usually takes the form of a description of the sensations experienced by
the singer when producing tones in the chest voice. How this description
of the singer's sensations is applied, is discussed in the following
chapter.
_Nasal Resonance_
The lack of connection between the theories of vocal scientists and the
practical methods of singing teachers is well illustrated in the subject
of nasal resonance. A striking feature of all the discussions concerning
the use or avoidance of nasal resonance is the fact that vocal theorists
base their opinions entirely on empirical observations. The use of nasal
resonance is condemned by almost every prominent authority on Vocal
Science. Yet the only reason ever advanced for condemning nasal
resonance is the fact that a tone of objectionable nasal quality seems
to "come through the nose." This fact cannot, of course, be questioned.
It is mentioned by Tosi, who speaks of the "defect of singing through
the nose," and is observed by everybody possessed of an ear keen enough
to detect the nasal quality of sound.
It is generally stated by vocal theorists that the nasal quality is
imparted to the tone by the influence of the resonance of the air in the
nasal cavities. In order to prove this assertion Browne and Behnke offer
the following experiment, (quoted in substance): "Hold a hand-mirror
flat, face up, just below the nostrils. Then sing a nasal tone; you will
note that the mirror is clouded, showing that part of the breath has
passed through the nasal cavities. Now sing another tone, free from the
fault of nasal quality; this time the mirror is not clouded, which
proves that no air has passed through the cavities in question."
(_Voice, Song and Speech._) This experiment is simplified by other
authorities, who direct that the nostrils be pinched by the fingers, and
then allowed to open by the removal of the pressure of the fingers. A
steady tone is meanwhile to be sung. It will be noted, according to
these theorists, that with the nostrils open the tone is nasal, and with
the nostrils closed the tone is not nasal. This proves to their
satisfaction that a tone passing in whole or in part through the nasal
cavities must be nasal in quality.
It must be noted here that these experiments are not in any sense
convincing. A tone of objectionable nasal quality can be sung equally
well with the nostrils either closed or open, and so can a tone free
from the nasal quality.
In theory, the mechanical prevention of nasal resonance is very simple.
It is necessary only to raise the soft palate in singing, and thus to
cut off the expired breath from passing into the nasal cavities. Most
vocal scientists advise that the singer hold the soft palate raised for
every tone.
Practical teachers of singing pay little attention to the theoretical
discussions concerning nasal resonance. The overwhelming majority of
teachers are firm believers in nasal resonance, and make it an important
feature of their methods. They believe that this resonance is the most
important factor in giving to the tone its "point," brilliance, and
carrying power.
So far as instruction in the use of nasal resonance is concerned,
teachers owe but little to the mechanical doctrines of Vocal Science.
No voluntary muscular operation has ever been found, by which the air in
the nasal cavities can be directly thrown into vibration, and so made to
reinforce the tones of the voice. Instruction in the management of nasal
resonance is therefore similar to that in chest resonance. The teacher
describes the sensations experienced by a singer who produces the exact
quality of tone desired. Use is also made of special vowels and
consonants, for (supposedly) acquiring command of nasal resonance. A
description of this form of instruction is given in the following
chapter.
_Sounding-Board Resonance_
The acoustic principle of sounding-board resonance, in its application
to the voice, is discussed by several vocal scientists. It is usually
treated under two heads: first, the entire body is looked upon as a
sounding board, capable of reinforcing the tones of the voice under
certain conditions. Second, the bones of the chest and of the head are
thought to be thrown into vibration, in sympathy with the vibrations of
the air in the chest and nasal cavities respectively.
The importance attached by Howard to the sounding-board resonance of the
entire body has already been noticed. Aside from the teachers of the
Howard system, very few masters pay any attention to this feature of
vocal reinforcement. Those who do so have no difficulty in dealing with
the subject. When the singer stands in the position generally considered
correct for singing, the body is said to be in the position most
favorable for securing the benefits of this form of resonance. For this
no special rules or exercises are needed.
Very little attention is paid, in practical instruction, to the
vibrations of the bones of the resonance cavities. Each cavity is
treated as a whole; the fact is only occasionally mentioned that the
bones inclosing the cavities may vibrate, as well as the inclosed air.
CHAPTER V
EMPIRICAL MATERIALS OF MODERN METHODS
A series of topics included in modern methods is now to be considered,
different in scope from the strictly mechanical features of
tone-production so far described. It must be apparent to the reader that
the present understanding of the muscular processes of singing is not
sufficient to furnish a complete method of instruction. This fact is
thoroughly appreciated by the teachers of singing. Almost without
exception they seek to supplement the mechanical doctrines by
instruction of an entirely different character. The subjects included in
this form of instruction are of several classes. They comprise the
manner of emission of the tone, the traditional precepts of the old
Italian school, the singer's sensations, and the use of certain vowels
and consonants for special purposes.
_Emission and Forward Placing_
Of all the traditional precepts, the one most frequently cited in
theoretical treatises on the voice is, "Place the tone forward." For
this precept it is generally believed that a satisfactory explanation
has been found in the accepted doctrine of tone emission.
The characteristic effect of perfect singing known as the "forward tone"
is thoroughly well known to every lover of singing. In some peculiar way
the tone, when perfectly produced, seems to issue directly from the
singer's mouth. When we listen to a poorly trained and faulty singer the
tones seem to be caught somewhere in the singer's throat. We feel
instinctively that if the singer could only lift the voice off the
throat, and bring it forward in the mouth, the tones would be greatly
improved in character. It is commonly believed that the old masters knew
some way in which this can be done. Just what means they used for this
purpose is not known. But the accepted scientific interpretation of the
"forward tone" precept is held by vocal theorists to render the subject
perfectly clear.
Sir Morell Mackenzie states the correct emission of the tone as one of
the three cardinal principles of the vocal action. "The regulation of
the force of the blast which strikes against the vocal cords, the
placing of these in the most favourable position for the effect which it
is desired to produce, and the direction of the vibrating column of air
which issues from the larynx are the three elements of artistic
production." (_The Hygiene of the Vocal Organs_, London, 1886.) His
analysis of the mechanical and acoustic processes involved in emission
may be cited as typical of the views of the great majority of vocal
scientists. "It (the column of sound) must be projected against the roof
of the cavity behind the upper front teeth, from which it rebounds
sharply and clearly to the outside." Mme. Seiler expresses the idea
somewhat differently, but the meaning is about the same. "A correct
disposition of the tones of the voice consists in causing the air,
brought into vibration by the vocal ligaments, to rebound from
immediately above the front teeth, where it must be concentrated as much
as possible, rebounding thence to form in the mouth continuous
vibrations." (_The Voice in Singing_, Phila., 1886.)
To the vocal theorists this is no doubt thoroughly convincing and
satisfactory. But as a topic of practical instruction in singing this
theory of tone emission is utterly valueless. How can the "column of
vocalized breath" be voluntarily directed in its passage through the
pharynx and mouth? No muscular process has ever been located, by which
the singer can influence the course of the expired breath, and direct it
to any specific point in the mouth. Even if the expired breath does, in
perfect singing, take the course described, knowledge of this fact
cannot enable the singer to bring this about. The accepted doctrine of
tone emission is of no benefit whatever to the teacher of singing. He
knows what the "forward tone" is, that is, what it sounds like, just as
well no doubt as did the old Italian master. But if the latter knew how
to enable his pupils to obtain the "forward" character of tone, the
modern teacher is to that extent not so well off.
In view of the prevailing ignorance of any means for securing the
(supposedly) correct emission of tone, intelligible instruction on this
topic is hardly to be expected. But the great majority of teachers lay
great stress on the need of acquiring the correct emission. The best
they can do is to explain the scientific doctrine to their pupils; the
students are generally left to find for themselves some way of applying
the explanation. In many cases the master tries to assist the student by
describing the singer's sensations, experienced when producing a
"forward" tone.
Certain vowels and consonants are usually held to be especially favored
by a "forward position," and exercises on these are very widely used for
securing a "forward" tone. These exercises are described in a later
paragraph. It will be noticed however that this use of vowels is not an
application of the theory of "forward emission." The vowel sounds are
believed to owe their "forward position" to resonance, while "emission"
is purely a matter of direction or focusing of the breath-blast. The
whole subject of emission and forward placing is in a very
unsatisfactory condition.
_The Traditional Precepts in Modern Instruction_
So much importance is attached by modern teachers to the traditional
precepts of the old school that this subject calls for somewhat lengthy
treatment. Before discussing the manner in which the precepts are
applied in practical instruction, it will be well to review first the
interpretations of the precepts offered by different vocal scientists.
It must be remarked, in the first place, that no single one of the
precepts has ever been satisfactorily explained; that is, no direct
means of performing the actions indicated by the precepts has ever been
found. If ever the precepts had a definite meaning, considered as
specific directions for performing certain actions in a special way,
that meaning has been lost. Mechanical analysis has not reduced the
precepts to a form in which they are of direct value to the modern
teacher.
That the "forward tone" is interpreted as a reference to the emission of
the voice was noted earlier in this chapter. The explanation of the
"open throat" precept as a function of mouth-pharynx resonance has also
been mentioned.
"Singing on the breath" is a very perplexing subject for vocal
theorists. Many authorities assert that this precept describes an
effect obtained by the "opposed muscular action" breath-control. (See
citation from Shakespeare in Chapter II.) But this explanation is hardly
satisfactory; if the precept had meant no more than breath-control, it
would have been forgotten long ago.
The "support of the tone" is mentioned by a large number of theoretical
writers on the voice. These writers generally state, in substance, that
"the tone must be supported by the breathing muscles of the chest, and
not by the throat muscles." (See _The Technics of Bel Canto_, by G. B.
Lamperti, New York, 1905.) But this explanation is hardly to be
considered as a scientific doctrine. Every one knows that a tone has no
weight, so in the physical sense it can need no support. In short,
scientific analysis has thrown no more light on this than any other of
the old precepts.
Notwithstanding the modern teacher's complete ignorance of the
mechanical operations which they seem to indicate, the old precepts form
a very important feature of instruction in singing. The great majority
of teachers cite these precepts constantly, and frequently direct their
pupils to "open the throat," to "bring the tone forward," etc. Is it to
be believed that an intelligent master would use these directions in any
occult or cabalistic sense? Such a statement is occasionally made by a
consistent upholder of the mechanical system of Voice Culture. Paulo
Guetta, for example, in a recent exhaustive work on the subject,
ridicules the use of the old precepts. Says this ardent advocate of
mechanical instruction in singing:
"Nowadays alchemy and necromancy awaken nothing but curiosity. How then
can one who thinks and reasons admit that an art can be cultivated and
sustained by theories extravagant, fantastic, enigmatic, explained and
condensed in abstruse phrases and sentences, which not only have no
meaning whatever, but even lead one to doubt whether the teacher himself
knows what result it is desired to obtain? Do you wish a little example?
Behold!
"'Press the whole voice against the mask.' 'Place the voice in the
head.' 'The voice is directed to the nasal cavities.' 'Place the voice
forward.'
"Others, with the most austere gravity, will tell you that your voice is
too far back, or that you send the voice to the lower teeth, and promise
in a few days to place the voice forward, at the upper teeth, or
wherever else it should be." (_Il Canto nel suo Mecanismo_, Milan,
1902.)
This statement is by no means justified. The precepts have a real and
definite meaning for the vocal teacher. Any one familiar with the
highest type of artistic singing must have observed that the singer's
"throat seems to be open"; the tones impress the hearer as being in some
way "forward in the singer's mouth," and not at the vocal cords; the
voice "seems to be supported" somewhere; the tones float out freely on
the breath. A harsh and badly produced voice seems to be held in the
singer's throat by main force. The critical hearer feels instinctively
that such a singer's voice would be greatly improved if the tones could
only be supported in a forward position in the mouth, and kept from
slipping back into the throat. It seems that this would relieve the
throat of the strain of holding the tone; the throat would then be open,
and the voice would float out freely on the breath.
In short, the traditional precepts describe accurately the most striking
points of difference between perfect singing and bad singing, so far as
the effect on the listener is concerned. Modern teachers are thoroughly
familiar with the highest standards of the vocal art; they fully
appreciate how well the precepts describe the perfection of singing.
Through long continued listening to voices, the precepts come to have a
very real meaning. It is inevitable therefore that the teacher should
try to impart to the pupil this intimate feeling for the voice. True,
this acquaintance with the voice is purely empirical; as has just been
remarked, no mechanical analysis of this empirical knowledge has ever
been successfully made. The modern teacher's apprehension of the meaning
of the precepts is only very vaguely connected with a supposed insight
into the mechanical processes of tone-production.
Yet there is nothing vague about the impression made on the teacher in
listening to his pupils. On the contrary, every faulty tone impresses
the teacher very keenly and definitely as being too far back, or as
caught in the throat, or as falling back for lack of support, etc. How
could it be expected then, that the teacher should refrain from telling
the pupil to correct the faulty production, in the manner so clearly and
directly indicated by the tones?
But this direct application of the precepts is of absolutely no value in
instruction, because of the teacher's ignorance of the mechanical
processes supposedly involved. There is after all some justification for
Guetta's criticism of empirical instruction. It is all very well for the
teacher to feel that the pupil's voice is gripped in the throat, and to
bid him "open your throat." The pupil may strive ever so earnestly to
open his throat, but he does not know how, and the teacher is utterly
unable to tell him.
All instruction based on the empirical precepts is thus seen to be
extremely unsatisfactory. While the precepts convey a very valuable
meaning to the teacher, no way has ever been found for translating this
meaning into rules for the mechanical management of the vocal organs.
Recourse is had, to some extent, to a description of the singer's
sensations; exercises on special vowels and consonants are also much
used, for imparting the ideas embodied in the precepts. Both of these
topics are now to be considered.
_The Singer's Sensations_
The correct use of the voice awakens in the singer a variety of
sensations generally held to be different from those accompanying any
incorrect vocal action.
One important fact must first be noted regarding the manner in which the
singer's sensations are described by various authorities. The use of the
voice awakens a wide variety of local sensations, which bear no
necessary relation to each other. A singer may, at will, pay entire
attention to any one, or to any particular set, of these sensations, and
for the time being completely ignore all the others.
Physiologically considered, the singer's sensations are of two
classes,--first, muscular sensations strictly speaking; and second, a
sense of tingling or vibration, definitely located usually about the
breast bone, and in the front and upper part of the head.
_Muscular Sensations of Singing_
It is very difficult to analyze and describe exactly the muscular
sensations which accompany any complex action. Swimming, diving,
dancing, skating,--each awakens a set of extremely vivid muscular
feelings; yet to describe these sensations so graphically that they
could be felt in imagination by one who had never experienced them
actually,--that would be almost impossible.
This peculiar aspect of muscular sensations is particularly true as
regards the action of singing. While every vocal teacher knows exactly
how it feels to sing properly, all descriptions of the singer's muscular
sensations are extremely vague. But the vividness of these sensations
keeps them constantly before the teacher's mind, and some application of
them, in the present state of Voice Culture, is almost inevitable.
The basic sensation of correct singing, as generally described, is a
feeling of perfect poise and harmony of the whole body; this is
accompanied by a sense of freedom about the throat and jaw, and firm
grasp and control of the expiratory muscles. Attempts are frequently
made to amplify this description, but the results are always very vague.
A feeling of "absence of local effort" at the throat is much spoken of,
or "perfect relaxation of the vocal muscles."
A few specially localized muscular sensations are also much discussed.
Descriptions of this class however are often so loosely given as to
render a definite statement almost impossible. Most frequently mentioned
are the feeling of "backward pressure in the throat," and of "drinking
in the tone," instead of sending it out. Then again, the "tone must be
felt at the upper front teeth." A feeling as of an "expanded and
flexible vocal tube, extending from the base of the lungs to the lips,"
is also much talked of. "Feel that you grow bigger as the tone swells"
is about as intelligible as the feeling of "floating jaw."
On the whole, the subject of the singer's muscular sensations is usually
rather mystifying to the student.
_Sensations of Tingling or Vibration_
Descriptions of sensations of this class are much more coherent than
those just considered. A definite location is given to the feelings, in
the chest and in the head.
A feeling of trembling in the upper chest is usually held to indicate
that the chest cavity is working properly as a resonator. This
sensation is therefore the chief reliance of most teachers in "placing"
the lower tones, especially for low voices. Sensations in the nasal
cavities and head are utilized for acquiring control of nasal resonance,
for placing the upper notes of the voice, and for "bringing the voice
forward." Exercises for control of both cavities, on special vowels and
consonants, combine the two topics, "vowel position" and sensation.
_Singing in the Mask_
In recent years a method of instruction has been developed in France,
which is commonly called by its advocates "singing in the mask." The
basic idea of this method is that the singer must imagine his face to be
covered by a mask, and must "sing into this mask." This idea may seem
rather vague at first; but a few trials will show how easy it is for the
singer to persuade himself that he projects his voice into his face.
This method goes to the extreme in utilizing the sensations of vibration
in the nose and forehead. These sensations are analyzed, localized, and
described, down to the most minute detail. While other topics of
instruction are included,--breathing, registers, position of tongue,
larynx, palate, etc., everything else is subordinated to nasal
resonance. "Singing in the mask" is of course a purely empirical method,
and little has been attempted in the way of justifying it on scientific
principles.
* * *
All instruction based on the singer's sensations is purely empirical, in
the meaning ordinarily attached to this word in treatises on Vocal
Science. Theoretical works on the voice seldom touch on the subject of
sensations, nor do the vocal teachers generally make this subject
prominent when speaking of their methods.[6]
[Note 6: An exception to this statement is seen in the recently
published book of Mme. Lilli Lehmann, _Meine Gesangskunst_, Berlin,
1902. This famous artist and teacher devotes by far the greater part of
her book to a minute analysis and description of the singer's
sensations.]
Sensations occupy a rather peculiar position in modern methods. They are
a distinctly subsidiary element of instruction and are seldom raised to
the dignity accorded to the mechanical doctrines of vocal management.
The use of the singer's sensations, as applied in practical instruction,
is almost exclusively interpretive. In the mechanical sense the
traditional precepts have no meaning whatever; this is also true of
several of the accepted doctrines of Vocal Science. For example, the
precept "Support the tone," is absolutely meaningless as a principle of
mechanical vocal action. But, when interpreted as referring to a set of
sensations experienced by the singer, this precept takes on a very
definite meaning. Nobody knows what the support of the tone is, but
every vocal teacher knows how it feels. In the same way, no means is
known for directly throwing the air in the nasal cavities into
vibration. But the sensation in the front of the head, which indicates,
presumably, the proper action of nasal resonance, is familiar to all
teachers. Most of the positive materials of modern methods are thus
interpreted in terms of sensations.
True, the accepted theory of Vocal Science does not directly countenance
this interpretation. The basic principle of modern Voice Culture is the
idea of mechanical vocal management. All instruction is supposed to aim
at direct, conscious, and voluntary control of the muscular operations
of singing. Teachers always impart to their pupils this idea of the
mechanical control of the voice. The vocal action is always considered
from the mechanical side. Even those expressions whose mechanical
meaning is vague or unscientific are yet used as referring definitely to
muscular actions. The conscious thought of the teacher is always turned
to the mechanical idea supposedly conveyed by scientific doctrine and
empirical precept. The translation of this idea into a description of
sensations is almost always the result of a sub-conscious mental
process.
It therefore follows that in practical instruction the appeal to
sensations is more often indirect than direct. For example, when a
student's tones are caught in the throat, the master says
explicitly,--"Free the tone by opening your throat." The master explains
the (supposed) wrong vocal action, and describes how the tone should be
produced. Incidentally, the master may also tell how and where the tone
should be felt.
There is also a great deal of instruction based frankly and directly on
the singer's sensations. Instruction of this type usually takes the form
of special exercises on certain vowels and consonants, which are
believed to be peculiarly suited for imparting command of particular
features of the correct vocal action. The topics generally covered are
chest resonance, nasal resonance, open throat, and forward placing of
the tone. This form of instruction is held to be referable in some way
to scientific principles. The laws of vowel and consonant formation
formulated by Helmholtz are often cited in proof of the efficacy of
exercises of this type. There is also much discussion of the "location"
of the tone. But there is little justification for the statement that
instruction based on the singer's sensations is scientific in character.
A misconception of acoustic principles is evidenced by most of the
statements made concerning the use of special vowels and consonants in
securing the correct vocal action. The exercises which aim to utilize
the singer's sensations in producing particular vowels and consonants
are now to be described.
_Exercises on Special Vowels and Consonants_
Of the rules concerning the use of special vowels, probably the most
important is that _a_ (as in _far_) is the most favorable vowel for the
general purposes of voice training. Teachers generally have their
pupils sing most of their exercises on this vowel. Much attention is
paid to the exact pronunciation of the vowel, and fine distinctions are
drawn between its various sounds in Italian, French, German, and
English. The preference for the Italian pronunciation is very general.
It is claimed for this sound that it helps materially in acquiring
command of the "open throat." Indeed, a peculiar virtue in this regard
is ascribed to the Italian vowels generally. No convincing reason has
ever been given for this belief. But the usual custom is to "place the
voice" on the Italian _a_, and then to take up, one at a time, the other
Italian vowels.
The labial consonants, _p_, _b_, _t_, _d_, are believed to have a
peculiar influence in securing the "forward position" of the tone. Much
the same influence is also ascribed to the vowel _oo_, although many
authorities consider _i_ (Italian) the "most forward" vowel. Exercises
combining these consonants and vowels are very widely used, on single
tones, and on groups of three, four, or five notes. The syllables _boo_,
_poo_, _too_, _doo_ are practised, or if the teacher hold to the other
"forward" vowel, _bee_, _pee_, _tee_, _dee_; the student is instructed
to hold the vowel in the "forward position" secured by the initial
consonant. Later on, the "forward" vowel is gradually widened into the
other vowels; exercises are sung on _boo-ah_, _doo-ah_, etc. This form
of instruction is capable of great elaboration. Many teachers use a wide
variety of combinations of these vowels and consonants; but as the basic
idea is always the same, this class of exercises calls for no further
description. The singer's sensations, notably those of "open throat,"
"expanded vocal tube," "forward tone," and vibration in the chest, are
generally brought to the pupil's attention in this form of exercise.
Another set of sounds are held to be specially adapted for securing the
use of nasal resonance. These are the letters _m_, _n_, and _ng_, when
used for starting a tone, and also the vowel _i_ (Italian). The
exercises used are similar in character to those just described. In
singing these exercises, the student is supposed to "start the tone high
up in the head on the initial _m_ or _n_, and to hold it there, while
gradually and smoothly opening the mouth for the vowel," etc. The
sensations specially noticed in this type of exercise are the feelings
of vibration in the nose and forehead. The "forward tone," as well as
the nasal resonance, is supposed to be favored by the practice of these
exercises.
_Enunciation_
Vocal teachers always recognize the importance of a clear delivery of
the text in singing. Correct enunciation is therefore considered in all
methods. A few teachers believe that a clear pronunciation helps greatly
to establish the correct vocal action. Some even go so far as to say
that a clear delivery of the words will of itself insure a correct
tone-production. But this theory calls for only passing comment. One has
but to turn to the vaudeville stage to see its falsity. For singers of
that class, the words are of the utmost importance, while the
tone-production is usually of the very worst.
A few teachers base their methods on the theory that correct
tone-production results necessarily from the singing of "pure vowels."
This is no doubt interesting, but still far from convincing. The problem
of tone-production is not solved quite so simply.
As a rule, vocal teachers consider the subject of pronunciation as quite
distinct from tone-production. Methods differ with regard to the use of
exercises in articulation, and to the stage of progress at which these
exercises are taken up. Some teachers insist on their pupils practising
singing for months on the vowels, before permitting them to sing even
the simplest songs with words. Others have the pupils sing words from
the beginning of instruction. As a rule, teachers begin to give songs,
and vocalises with words, very early in the course.
_Throat Stiffness and Relaxing Exercises_
Teachers of singing generally recognize that any stiffening of the
throat interferes with the correct action of the voice. Yet for some
strange reason vocal students are very much inclined to form habits of
throat stiffness. This constantly happens, in spite of the fact that
teachers continually warn their pupils against the tendency to stiffen.
On this account, exercises for relaxing the throat are an important
feature of modern instruction in singing.
Naturally, relaxing exercises are not thought to have any direct
bearing in bringing about the correct vocal action. They are purely
preparatory; their purpose is only to bring the vocal organs into the
right condition for constructive training. For this reason, the means
used for relaxing the throat are seldom mentioned among the materials of
instruction. But almost every vocal teacher is obliged to make frequent
use of throat relaxing exercises. Indeed, throat stiffness is one of the
most serious difficulties of modern Voice Culture. A student frequently
seems to be making good progress, and then without much warning falls
into a condition of throat stiffness so serious as to undo for a time
the good work of several months' study. In such a case there is nothing
for the teacher to do but to drop the progressive work, and devote a few
lessons to relaxing exercises.
Little difficulty is usually found in relaxing the throat, when once the
necessity becomes strikingly apparent. That is, provided progressive
study is dropped for a time, and attention paid solely to relaxing
exercises. But such cases are comparatively rare. A much more constant
source of trouble is found in the prevailing tendency of vocal students
to stiffen their throats, just enough to interfere with the (supposed)
application of the teacher's method.
The exercises used for relaxing the throat are fairly simple, both in
character and scope. They consist mainly of toneless yawning, of single
tones "yawned out" on a free exhalation, and of descending scale
passages of the same type. Although seldom recognized as a coördinate
topic of instruction, exercises of this character are usually
interspersed among the other materials of vocal methods.
CHAPTER VI
A GENERAL VIEW OF MODERN VOICE CULTURE
All the materials of modern methods have now been described. The subject
next to be considered is the manner in which these materials are
utilized in practical instruction. In other words, what is a method of
Voice Culture?
In the present state of Vocal Science, the subject of tone-production
overshadows everything else in difficulty. When once the correct vocal
action has been acquired, the student's progress is assured. Every other
feature of the singer's education is simply a matter of time and
application. But, under present conditions, the acquirement of the
correct vocal action is extremely uncertain. On account of its
fundamental importance, and more especially of its difficulty, the
subject of tone-production is the most prominent topic of instruction in
singing. The term "method" is therefore applied solely to the means used
for imparting the correct vocal action.
This use of the word is in accordance with the accepted theory of Voice
Culture. The general belief is that tone-production is entirely distinct
from vocal technique. Technical studies cannot profitably be undertaken,
according to the prevailing idea, until the correct management of the
vocal organs has been established. This idea is supposed to be followed
out in modern instruction. It is generally assumed that the voice is
brought under control through a definite series of exercises; these
exercises are supposed to follow, one after the other, according to a
well-defined system. The term "method" implies this systematic
arrangement of exercises. It indicates that vocal training is a matter
of precise knowledge and orderly progression.
This represents the accepted ideal of Voice Culture, rather than the
actual condition. The idea that the vocal management should be imparted
specially, as something preliminary to the technical training of the
voice, is not carried out in practice. Teachers generally are striving
to bring their systems into conformity with this ideal standard. They
use the expression, "placing the voice," to describe the preliminary
training in tone-production. But no successful system of this type has
ever been evolved. The correct management of the voice never is imparted
in the manner indicated by this ideal of instruction. Tone-production
continues, throughout the entire course of study, to be the most
important topic of instruction.
In order to understand the nature of a method of Voice Culture, it is
necessary first to consider the relation which exists, in modern
instruction, between training in tone-production, and the development of
vocal technique. According to the accepted theory, the voice must be
"placed" before the real study of singing is undertaken. After the voice
has been properly "placed," it is supposed to be in condition to be
developed by practice in singing technical exercises. But in actual
practice this distinction between "voice-placing" exercises and
technical studies is seldom drawn. The voice is trained, almost from the
beginning of the course of study, by practice in actual singing. The
earliest exercises used for "placing the voice" are in every respect
technical studies,--single tones and syllables, scale passages,
arpeggios, etc. It is impossible to produce even a single tone without
embodying some feature of technique. Practice therefore serves a double
purpose; it brings the voice gradually to the condition of perfect
action, and at the same time it develops the technique. The student
advances gradually toward the correct manner of tone-production, and
this progress is evidenced solely by the improved technical use of the
voice. Considerable technical facility is attained before the
tone-production becomes absolutely perfect.
A vocal student's practice in singing is not confined to technical
exercises, strictly speaking. Vocalises, songs, and arias are taken up,
usually very early in the course of study. Moreover, attention is nearly
always paid to musical expression and to artistic rendition, as well as
to the vocal action and the technical use of the voice. This is true,
whether the student sings an exercise, a vocalise, a song, or an aria.
For daily home practice, the student sings, usually, first some
exercises, then a few vocalises, and finally several songs and arias.
Every teacher has at command a wide range of compositions of all these
kinds, carefully graded as to technical and musical difficulty. As the
pupil advances, more and more difficult works are undertaken. For each
stage of advancement the teacher chooses the compositions best adapted
to carry the student's progress still further.
There is no point in this development at which instruction in
tone-production ceases, and the technical training of the voice is
begun. On the contrary, the means used for imparting the correct vocal
action are interspersed with the other materials of instruction, both
technical and artistic, throughout the entire course of study. Moreover,
the training in tone-production is carried on during the singing of the
compositions just described, as well as by practice on "voice-placing"
exercises strictly speaking.
A method of instruction in singing therefore consists primarily of a set
of mechanical rules and directions for managing the voice, and
secondarily of a series of exercises, both toneless and vocal, so
designed that the student may directly apply in practising them the
rules and directions for vocal management. It must not be understood
however that the mechanical rules are applied only to the exercises
specially designed for this purpose. These rules and directions are
also intended to be applied to everything the student sings,--exercises,
technical studies, and musical compositions.
It will be recalled that the review of the topics of modern vocal
instruction covered three distinct types of materials. First, the purely
mechanical doctrines, commonly regarded as the only strictly scientific
principles of Voice Culture. These are, the rules for the management of
the breath, of the registers, of laryngeal action, and of the resonance
cavities, and also the directions for attacking the tone, and for
forward emission. The second class of materials is held by strict
adherents of the scientific idea to be purely empirical; this class
includes the traditional precepts of the old Italian school, and also
all the topics of instruction based on the singer's sensations. A third
class of materials is found in the attempts to interpret the empirical
doctrines in the light of the scientific analysis of the vocal action.
To enumerate and classify all the methods of instruction in vogue would
be almost an impossibility. Absolutely no uniformity can be found on any
topic. Even among the accepted doctrines of Vocal Science there are
many controverted points. Five distinct schools of breathing are
represented, two of breath-control. Of well worked-out systems of
registers, at least twenty could be enumerated. Fully this number of
theories are offered regarding the correct positions of the larynx, soft
palate, and tongue. Two opposed theories are held as to nasal resonance.
Further, the empirical doctrines are always stated so loosely that no
real unanimity of view can be found on any one of them.
Every vocal teacher selects the materials of instruction from these
controverted doctrines, but neither rule nor reason determines what
materials shall be embodied in any one method. There is no coherence
whatever in the matter. Further, there is no agreement as to which
topics of instruction are most important. One teacher may emphasize
breath-control and support of tone as the foundations of the correct
vocal action, another may give this position to nasal resonance and
forward placing. Yet both these teachers may include in their methods
about the same topics. The methods seem entirely different, only because
each makes some one or two doctrines the most important. In short, it
might almost be said that there are as many methods as teachers.
Three fairly distinct types of method may be defined, depending on the
class of materials adopted. At one extreme are found those teachers who
attempt to follow strictly the scientific principles. These teachers
generally profess to employ only the purely mechanical doctrines of
Vocal Science, and to ignore all empirical interpretations of these
doctrines. They generally devote a portion of every lesson to toneless
muscular drills, and insist that their pupils practise every exercise in
singing, with special attention to the throat action. These teachers
attempt to follow a definite plan and order in the giving of exercises
and rules. This systematic arrangement of instruction is, however,
seldom followed out consistently with any one student. An important
reason for this is considered in Chapter I of Part II.
A very different type of method is taught by many teachers who pay
special attention to the empirical topics of instruction. Of course no
teacher professes to teach empirically; on the contrary, every method is
called scientific, no matter what materials it embodies. Indeed, a very
little attention paid to breathing, attack, registers, and nasal
resonance, is enough to relieve any teacher of the reproach of
empiricism. The teachers now being considered touch to some extent on
these topics; but most of their instruction is based on the traditional
precepts, the singer's sensations, and the special vowel and consonant
drills. In the first few lessons of the course they usually give some
special breathing exercises, but almost always ignore breath-control.
Not much is done for vocal control in the strictly muscular sense.
Special "voice-placing" exercises are not used to any such extent as in
the strictly scientific methods just described, the voice-placing work
being usually done on vocalises, songs, and arias. No system whatever is
followed, or even attempted, in the sequence of topics touched upon. The
directions, "Breathe deeper on that phrase," "Bring that tone more
forward," "Open your throat for that _ah_," "Feel that tone higher up in
the head," may follow one after the other within five minutes of
instruction.
Teachers of this type are frequently charged, by the strict advocates of
mechanical instruction, with a practice commonly known as "wearing the
voice into place." This expression is used to indicate the total
abandonment of system in imparting the correct vocal action. It means
that the teacher simply has the pupil sing at random, trusting to
chance, or to some vague intuitive process, to bring about the correct
use of the voice. To the vocal scientist, "wearing the voice into place"
represents the depth of empiricism.
The great majority of teachers occupy a middle ground between the two
types just described. Teachers of this class touch, more or less, on
every topic of instruction, mechanical, empirical, and interpretive.
Their application of most of the topics of instruction is not quite so
mechanical as in the first type of method considered. The student's
attention is always directed to the vocal organs, but the idea of direct
muscular control is not so consistently put forward. As a rule, the
attempt is made in the first stages of instruction to follow a
systematic plan. Breathing, and perhaps breath-control, are first taught
as muscular drills, and then applied on single tones. Attack is
generally taken up next, then simple exercises in the medium register.
Following this, the chest and head registers are placed, and the
attention is turned to emission and resonance. But in most cases, when
the pupil has covered three or four terms of twenty lessons each, all
system is abandoned. The method from that time on is about of the type
described as empirical.
It must be remembered that this classification of methods is at best
very crude. It would not be easy to pick out any one teacher who adheres
consistently to any of the three forms of instruction described. All
that can be said is that a teacher usually tends somewhat more to one
type than to another.
Further, the degree of prominence given to the idea of direct mechanical
control of the voice does not classify a method quite satisfactorily.
Without exception every teacher adheres to the prevailing idea, that the
voice must be controlled and guided in some direct way,--that the singer
"must do something" to cause the vocal organs to operate properly. All
the materials of instruction, mechanical and empirical, are utilized for
the sole purpose of enabling the student to learn how to "do this
something."
Several names are used by teachers to describe their methods. One
professes to teach a "natural method," another the "pure Italian school
of Bel Canto," a third the "old Italian method as illustrated by Vocal
Science," a fourth the "strict scientific system of Voice Culture." No
attention need be paid to these expressions, as they are seldom accurate
descriptions.
Vocal lessons are usually of thirty minutes' duration. Each student
generally takes two such lessons every week, although in some cases
three, four, or even more are taken. A description of a few typical
lessons will show how the materials of instruction are practically
utilized.
Example 1: The student takes a few preliminary toneless breaths. Then
follow, in the order given, a few short tones for practice on attack,
some sustained tones on the vowel _ah_, exercises on three, four, and
five notes, ascending and descending, a single tone followed by the
octave jump up and descending scale, this last rising by semitones
through several keys. In these exercises the student's attention is
directed at random to the correct use of the registers, to nasal
resonance, forward emission, etc. This consumes ten or twelve minutes of
the lesson time. More elaborate exercises on scale passages are then
sung, lasting another five minutes. These are followed by a vocalise or
two, and a couple of songs or arias, which fill out the thirty minutes.
Example 2: A few breathing exercises are practised, followed by single
tones and short scale passages, the whole lasting about five minutes.
Then the student is drilled for some ten minutes on "placing the head
tones," in the manner described in the section on special vowel and
consonant drills. These exercises are varied by swelling the high tone,
by changing the vowels, and by elaborating the descending scale
passages. The remaining fifteen minutes are devoted to vocalises and
songs.
Example 3: This is an advanced pupil, whose voice is supposed to be
fairly well "placed." Technical exercises of some difficulty are sung,
covering a range of an octave and a half, or a little more. The teacher
interrupts occasionally to say "Sing those lower notes more in the chest
voice," "Place the upper notes higher in the head," "Don't let your
vocal cords open on that ah," "Sing that again and make the tones
cleaner," etc. One or two arias are then sung, interspersed with
instructions of the same sort, and also with suggestions regarding
style, delivery, and expression.
For daily practice between lessons, the student sings usually the same
exercises and studies included in the previous lesson, and also commits
to memory compositions assigned for future study.
Examples of this kind might be multiplied indefinitely, but the main
points have been fairly well brought out. Most important to be noticed
is the fact that the voice is trained by practice in actual singing. In
the whole scheme of modern Voice Culture, toneless muscular drills
consume only an insignificant proportion of the time devoted to lessons.
Further, the number of exercises and musical compositions embraced in a
single half-hour lesson is very small. On the other hand, no limit can
be set to the number of topics of vocal control touched on in any one
lesson. These latter are used, throughout the whole range of
instruction, without any systematic sequence. Whatever fault of
production the pupil's tones indicate, the teacher calls attention to
the fault, and gives the supposedly appropriate rule for its
correction.
Part II
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MODERN METHODS
CHAPTER I
MECHANICAL VOCAL MANAGEMENT AS THE BASIS OF VOICE CULTURE
Notwithstanding the wide diversity of opinion on most topics connected
with vocal training, there is one point on which all authorities agree.
This is, that the voice must be consciously controlled. In all the
conflict of methods, this basic mechanical idea has never been attacked.
On the contrary, it is everywhere accepted without question as the
foundation of all instruction in singing.
The idea of mechanical vocal control is also the starting-point of all
analysis of the vocal action. Every investigator of the voice approaches
the subject in the belief that an exact determination of the muscular
operations of correct singing would lead to an absolutely infallible
method of training voices. The problem of tone-production is identical,
in the common belief, with the problem of the vocal action. Three
sciences, anatomy, mechanics, and acoustics, are believed to hold
somewhere among them the secret of the voice. All investigation has
therefore been carried on along the lines of these three sciences. It is
on this account that modern methods are called scientific, and not
because they are in conformity with general scientific principles.
Before taking up the question whether the idea of mechanical vocal
control is well grounded in fact and reason, let us consider further the
influence of this idea on modern methods of instruction.
All instruction in singing is intended to teach the student to "do
something," in order that the vocal organs may be directly caused to act
properly. No matter how vague and indefinite the directions given, their
aim is always to inform the student what to do, how to guide the vocal
action. Even when used in a purely empirical way the directions for open
throat, etc., are always given in this spirit. That these directions are
utterly meaningless in the mechanical sense does not alter the fact;
nobody has ever found any other connection in which they would take on a
definite meaning.
In this regard the empirical directions are no more unsatisfactory than
the mechanical doctrines of the accepted Vocal Science. It was pointed
out that no means has ever been discovered for applying several of these
doctrines in practical instruction. The rules contained in the
theoretical works on Voice Culture for managing the registers and
vocal-cord action, for forward emission of tone, and for control of the
resonance cavities, are of no value whatever to the student of singing.
It will be asked, how does the conscientious teacher get over this
difficulty? How are the deficiencies of the scientific doctrines
supplied in instruction? In many cases the deficiency is absolutely
ignored. The student is simply told to "make the vocal cords act
properly," to "direct the tone against the roof of the mouth," to "bring
in the nasal resonance," etc., and no further help is given. That this
works severe hardship on the earnest student need hardly be mentioned.
Other teachers, as has been explained, rely on a description of the
singer's sensations, and on the use of several vowel and consonant
combinations, for imparting control of resonance and forward emission.
These means are purely empirical makeshifts, and as a rule they are not
sanctioned by the consistent advocates of scientific instruction. But
for acquiring control of the correct vocal-cord action, absolutely no
means has ever been found, scientific or empirical. On this, the
surpassingly important feature of the vocal action, Vocal Science has
thrown no light whatever.
It was also remarked that the strictly scientific idea of Voice Culture
is very seldom carried out, to its logical conclusion, in actual
instruction. One important reason for this is that a student seldom
remains long enough with a teacher to cover the entire ground of
mechanical instruction. Students move about from teacher to teacher. In
the class of any one master the proportion of pupils who have never had
any previous instruction does not average one in ten. To carry the idea
of averages further, the length of time a student takes lessons of one
instructor may be set down as seldom more than two years.
How long it would take to apply the complete system of mechanical vocal
training has never been precisely stated. Cases are on record of pupils
being kept on mechanical drills and elementary exercises for four
years, without being allowed to attempt a simple song. But these
instances are extremely rare. It seldom happens that a teacher can hold
a pupil long enough to carry out the complete course of mechanical
study.
There are however many teachers who try conscientiously to have their
pupils pay attention to all the mechanical features of the vocal action.
What it would mean to sing in this way can only be imagined. Before
starting a tone, the singer would prepare by taking a breath in some
prescribed way, and retaining this breath an instant by holding the
chest walls out. Meanwhile the lips, tongue, soft palate, and larynx
would each be placed in the correct position. The jaw would be held
relaxed, and the throat loose and open. The expected tone would be felt,
in imagination, high up in the head, to assure the proper influence of
nasal resonance. The vocal cords would be held in readiness to respond
instantly to the mental command, so as to assure the exact state of
tension necessary. Preparation would be made to direct the "column of
vocalized breath," through the pharynx and mouth, to the proper point
on the hard palate. Then, at the same precise instant, the breath would
be started, and the vocal cords would be brought together, but without
touching.
So the tone would be begun. And all this would have to be done, with due
attention to each operation, in the fraction of a second preceding the
starting of the tone! The downright absurdity of this idea of singing
must be apparent to any one who has ever listened to a great singer.
Under the influence of the idea of mechanical vocal management there is
little room for choice between voice culture along empirical lines, and
the accepted type of scientific instruction. Modern empirical voice
training has little practical value. Describing to the student the
sensations which ought to be felt, does not help in the least. Even if
the sensations felt by the singer, in producing tone correctly, are
entirely different from those accompanying any incorrect use of the
voice, nothing can be learned thereby. The sensations of correct singing
cannot be felt until the voice is correctly used. An effect cannot
produce its cause. Correct tone-production must be there to cause the
sensations, or the sensations are not awakened at all. Nothing else can
bring about the sensations of correct singing, but correct singing
itself.
Further, these sensations cannot be known until they are actually
experienced. No description is adequate to enable the student to feel
them in imagination. And, finally, even if the sensations could be
described with all vividness, imagining them would not influence the
vocal organs in any way. This is true, whether the description is given
empirically, or whether it is cited to explain a mechanical feature of
the vocal action. Instruction based on the singer's sensations is
absolutely valueless.
It would seem that modern methods contain very little of real worth. The
investigation of the mechanical operations of the voice can hardly be
said to have brought forth anything of definite value to the vocal
teacher. But this is not the worst that can be said about the mechanical
doctrines of tone-production. When critically examined, and submitted to
a rigid scientific analysis, several of these doctrines are found to be
erroneous in conception. These are the theories of breath-control, chest
resonance, nasal resonance, and emission of tone. It will be observed
that these doctrines comprise more than half of the materials of the
accepted Vocal Science. Yet notwithstanding the fact that they are
accepted without question by the great majority of vocal theorists as
important elements of instruction in singing, each of these doctrines
involves a distinct misconception of scientific principles. An
examination of these doctrines is therefore the next subject to be
undertaken.
CHAPTER II
THE FALLACY OF THE DOCTRINE OF BREATH-CONTROL
When Dr. Mandl advanced the statement that the laryngeal muscles are too
weak to withstand the pressure of a powerful expiratory blast, the
theory of the vocal action therein embodied met with immediate
acceptance. This idea is so plausible that it appeals to the thoughtful
investigator as self-evident, and seems to call for no proof. The
doctrine of breath-control was at once adopted, by the most influential
vocal scientists, as the basic principle of tone-production.
Curiously, neither Dr. Mandl, nor any other advocate of breath-control,
seems to have read an article by Sir Charles Bell dealing with this same
action, the closing of the glottis against a powerful exhalation. This
paper, "On the Organs of the Human Voice," was read before a meeting of
the London Philosophical Society on February 2, 1832.
Dr. Bell dispels all the mystery concerning the closure of the glottis,
and the holding of the breath against a powerful contraction of the
expiratory muscles. He points out that this action occurs in accordance
with the law of the distribution of pressure in a fluid body, commonly
known as Pascal's law of fluid pressures.
Pascal's law is stated as follows:--"Pressure exerted anywhere upon a
mass of fluid is transmitted undiminished in all directions, and acts
with equal force on all equal surfaces, and in a direction at right
angles to those surfaces." (Atkinson's _Ganot's Physics_, 4th ed., New
York, 1869.)
The hydraulic press furnishes the familiar illustration of this law. Two
vertical cylinders, one many times larger than the other, are connected
by a pipe. The cylinders are fitted with pistons. Both the cylinders,
and the pipe connecting them, are filled with water, oil, air, or any
other fluid; the fluid can pass freely from one cylinder to the other,
through the connecting pipe. Suppose a horizontal section of the smaller
cylinder to measure one square inch, that of the larger to be one
hundred square inches. A weight of one pound on the smaller piston will
balance a weight of one hundred pounds on the larger. If a downward
pressure of one pound be exerted on the smaller piston, the larger
piston will exert an upward pressure of one hundred pounds. Conversely,
a downward pressure of one hundred pounds, exerted on the larger piston,
will effect an upward pressure of only one pound on the smaller piston.
A type of the hydraulic press is presented by the chest cavity and the
larynx, considered as one apparatus. This fact is illustrated in the
following quotation: "If a bladder full of water be connected with a
narrow upright glass tube, heavy weights placed on the bladder will be
able to uphold only a very small quantity of liquid in the tube, this
arrangement being in fact a hydraulic press worked backwards. If the
tube be shortened down so as to form simply the neck of the bladder, the
total expulsive pressure exerted by the bladder upon the contents of the
neck may seem to be very small when compared with the total pressure
exerted over the walls of the bladder upon the whole contents." (_A Text
Book of the Principles of Physics_, Alfred Daniell, London, 1884.)
That the glottis-closing muscles are too weak to withstand a powerful
expiratory pressure is therefore an entirely erroneous statement. Owing
to the small area of the under surfaces of the vocal cords, the air
pressure against them is very small, in comparison with the total
pressure exerted on the contents of the thorax by the expiratory
contraction. The glottis-closing muscles are fully capable of
withstanding this comparatively slight pressure. The doctrine of
breath-control is therefore scientifically untenable. This doctrine has
no place in Vocal Science.
As the basic doctrine of breath-control is unsound, the singer does not
need any direct means for controlling the breath. The attempt to check
the flow of the breath in any mechanical way is entirely uncalled for.
This being the case, it is hardly to be expected that the systems
devised to meet this fancied need would stand the test of scientific
examination. Each of these systems of breath-control, opposed muscular
action and ventricular, is in fact found on analysis to embody a
misconception of scientific principles.
_Opposed-Action Breath-Control_
A curious misapprehension of mechanical processes is contained in the
doctrine of breath-control by opposed muscular action. This can best be
pointed out by a consideration of the forces brought to bear on a single
rib in the acts of inspiration and expiration. One set of muscles
contract to raise this rib in inspiration, an opposed set, by their
contraction, lower the rib for the act of expiration. In the
opposed-action system of breath-control, the action of the rib-raising
muscles is continued throughout the expiration, as a check upon the pull
in the opposite direction of the rib-lowering muscles. Theoretically,
the downward pull is "controlled" by the upward pull. To express this
idea in figures, let the expiratory or downward pull on the rib be said
to involve the expenditure of five units of strength. According to the
theory of opposed-action breath-control, this downward pull would have
to be opposed by a slightly less upward pull, say four units of
strength.
Thus graphically presented, the fallacy of the "opposed-muscular" theory
is clearly exposed. The rib is lowered with a degree of strength equal
to the excess of the downward over the upward pull. If the downward pull
equals five units of strength, and the upward pull four units, the rib
is lowered with a pull equivalent to one unit of strength. Exactly the
same effect would be obtained if the downward and upward pulls were
equal respectively to twenty and nineteen units, or to two and one
units. Further, the result would be the same if the downward pull
involved the exertion of one unit of strength, and there was no upward
pull whatever. In every case, the actual result is equivalent to the
excess of the downward over the upward pull.
In the case of the expiratory pressure of five units of strength being
"controlled" by an inspiratory contraction of four units, nine units of
strength are exerted, and the same result could be obtained by the
exertion of one unit. There is a clear waste of eight units of strength.
The power of the expiratory blast is just what it would be if one unit
of strength were exerted in an "uncontrolled" expiration. The singer
exerts just nine times as much strength as is necessary to effect the
same result. This is why the practice of breath-control exercises is so
extremely fatiguing.
So far as the effect of the expiratory blast on the vocal cords is
concerned, "controlling" the breath has no influence whatever. The vocal
cords respond to the effective air pressure; they are not affected in
any way by the opposed contractions of the breath muscles.
"Opposed-muscular" breath-control is a sheer waste of time and effort.
Probably no particular harm has ever resulted to any singer's throat
from the practice of breath-control exercises. But the attempt to hold
back the breath has a very bad effect on the singer's delivery. The
"breath-control" type of singer is never found in the ranks of the great
artists. There is something utterly unnatural about this holding back of
the breath, repugnant to every singer endowed with the right idea of
forceful and dramatic delivery. The vast majority of the successful
pupils of "breath-control" teachers abandon, very early in their
careers, the tiresome attempt to hold back the breath. These singers
yield, probably unconsciously, to the instinctive impulse to sing freely
and without constraint.
But in the ranks of the minor concert and church singers are many who
try conscientiously to obey the instructions of the "breath-control"
teachers. Singers of this type can always be recognized by a curious
impression of hesitancy, or even timidity, conveyed by their tones. They
seem afraid to deliver their phrases with vigor and energy; they do not
"let their voices out." Frequently their voices are of excellent
quality, and their singing is polished and refined. But these singers
never give to the listener that sense of satisfaction which is felt on
hearing a fine voice freely and generously delivered.
As for the particular fallacy contained in the theory of ventricular
breath-control, that must be reserved for a later chapter. Suffice it to
say here that this theory disregards the two basic mechanical principles
of tone-production,--Pascal's law, and the law of the conservation of
energy. The application of this latter physical law to the operations of
the vocal organs is considered in Chapter VI of Part III.
CHAPTER III
THE FALLACIES OF FORWARD EMISSION, CHEST RESONANCE, AND NASAL RESONANCE
Sir Morell Mackenzie's analysis of the acoustic principle supposedly
involved in "forward emission" has already been quoted. That this
analysis involves a complete misunderstanding of the laws of acoustics
need hardly be said. When stated in precise terms, the fallacy of the
"forward emission" theory is evident:
"On issuing from the vocal cords the tone is directed in a curved path,
around the back of the tongue. There the tone is straightened out, and
made to impinge on the roof of the mouth at a precisely defined point.
From this point the tone is reflected, not directly back, as it should
be, since the angles of incidence and reflection must be equal. Instead
of this, the tone is reflected forward, out of the mouth, necessarily
again taking a curved path, to avoid striking the front teeth."
Naturally, no muscular action has ever been defined for causing the
tone to perform this remarkable feat.
The "forward emission" theory assumes the existence of a current of air,
issuing from the vocal cords as a tone. In other words, the tone is
supposed to consist of a stream of air, which can be voluntarily
directed in the mouth, and aimed at some precise point on the roof of
the mouth. This is an utter mistake.
There is no "column of vibrating air," or "stream of vocalized breath,"
in the mouth during tone-production. In the acoustic sense, the air in
the mouth-pharynx is still air, not air in a current. The only motion
which takes place in the air in this cavity is the oscillatory swing of
the air particles. To imagine the directing of air vibrations in the
mouth, as we direct a stream of water out of a hose, is absurd.
What then is the "forward tone"? There must be some reason for this
well-known effect of a perfectly produced voice,--the impression made on
the hearer that the tones are formed in the front of the mouth. There
ought also to be some way for the singer to learn to produce tones of
this character. A consideration of this feature of the vocal action is
reserved for Chapter IV of part III.
_Chest Resonance_
Who was originally responsible for the doctrine of chest resonance, it
would be impossible now to determine. Were it not for the fact of this
doctrine having received the support of eminent scientists (Holmes,
Mackenzie, Curtis, and many others), it might be looked upon as a mere
figure of speech. That the tones of the voice are reinforced by the
resonance of the air in the chest cavity, is an utter absurdity. In the
acoustic sense, the thorax is not a cavity at all. The thorax is filled
with the spongy tissue of the lungs, not to mention the heart. It is no
better adapted for air resonance than an ordinary spherical resonator
would be, if filled with wet sponges.
_Nasal Resonance_
Enough was said of the theories of nasal resonance in Chapter IV of Part
I to show the unscientific character of all these theories. It remains
only to point out the misconception of acoustic principles, contained in
all the discussions of the subject. This is very much the same as in
the theory of "forward emission," viz., that the tones of the voice
consist physically of a "stream of vocalized breath." The mistaken idea
is, that nasal resonance results from part or all of the expired breath
passing through the nose.
What is nasal resonance? How is it caused? What is its effect on the
tones of the voice? These questions have never been answered. It can
however be proved that a satisfactory science of Voice Culture is not in
any way dependent on obtaining an answer to these questions. This much
is definitely known:
1. If the resonance of the air in the nasal cavities exerts any
influence on the tones of the voice, this influence cannot be increased,
diminished, or prevented by any direct action on the part of the singer.
Shutting off the entrance of the breath, by raising the soft palate, is
possible as a muscular exercise. But it is impossible to perform this
action, and to sing artistically, at the same time. To produce any kind
of tone, while holding the soft palate raised, is extremely difficult.
In a later chapter it will be seen that this action has no place
whatever in the correct use of the voice.
2. As the nasal cavities are fixed in size and shape, the singer cannot
control or vary any influence which they may exert as a resonator.
3. Independent of any thought or knowledge of how the nasal quality of
tone is caused, the singer has perfect voluntary control over this
quality by the simple, direct influence of the will. A singer may
produce nasal tones, or tones free from this faulty sound, at will, with
no thought of the mechanical processes involved. All that is required is
that the singer have an ear keen enough to recognize the nasal quality
in his own voice, as well as in the voice of any other singer.
CHAPTER IV
THE FUTILITY OF THE MATERIALS OF MODERN METHODS
Of the strictly scientific or mechanical materials of modern methods,
four have been seen to be utterly erroneous. The remaining topics of
instruction, mechanical and empirical, may with equal justice be
submitted to a similar examination.
Several of these topics have already been critically examined. The rules
for registers and laryngeal management were seen to be of no value to
the student of singing. So also was it observed that all instruction
which attempts to utilize the singer's sensations is futile. All that is
left of the materials of modern methods, in which any valuable idea
might be contained, are the rules for breathing.
Without undertaking to decide whether one system of breathing can be
right, to the exclusion of all other systems, one general remark can be
applied to the whole subject. It has never been scientifically proved
that the correct use of the voice depends in any way on the mastery of
an acquired system of breathing. True, this is the basic assumption of
all the discussions of the singer's breathing. As Frangçon-Davies justly
remarks,--"All combatants are agreed on one point, viz., that the
singer's breath is an acquired one of some kind." (_The Singing of the
Future_, David Frangçon-Davies, M.A., London, 1906.) This is purely an
assumption on the part of the vocal theorists. No one has ever so much
as attempted to offer scientific proof of the statement.
Further, it is frequently stated that the old Italian masters paid much
attention to the subject of breathing; the assumption is also made that
these masters approached the subject in the modern spirit. Neither this
statement, nor the assumption based on it, is susceptible of proof. Tosi
and Mancini do not even mention the subject of breathing.
Breathing has been made the subject of exhaustive mechanical and
muscular analysis, for one reason, and for only one reason. This is,
because the action of breathing is the only mechanical feature of
singing which can be exhaustively studied. The laryngeal action is
hidden; the influence of the resonance cavities cannot well be
determined. But the whole muscular operation of breathing can be readily
seen and studied; any investigator can personally experiment with every
conceivable system.
Furthermore, the adoption of any system of breathing has no influence
whatever on the operations of the voice. A student of singing may learn
to take breath in any way favored by the instructor; the manner of
tone-production is not in the least affected. Even if the correct use of
the voice has to be acquired, the mode of breathing does not contribute
in any way to this result.
All that need be said in criticism of the various doctrines of breathing
is, that the importance of this subject has been greatly overestimated.
Breath and life are practically synonymous. Nothing but the prevalence
of the mechanical idea has caused so much attention to be paid to the
singer's breathing. A tuba player will march for several hours in a
street parade, carrying his heavy instrument, and playing it fully half
the time; yet the vocal theorist does not consider him an object of
sympathy.
No doubt the acquirement of healthy habits of breathing is of great
benefit to the general health. But this does not prove that correct
singing demands some kind of breathing inherently different from
ordinary life. To inspire quickly and exhale the breath slowly is not an
acquired ability; it is the action of ordinary speech. Singing demands
that the lungs be filled more quickly than in ordinary speech, and
perhaps a fuller inspiration is also required. This is readily mastered
with very little practice. It does not call for the acquirement of any
new muscular movements, nor the formation of any new habits.
What is left of all the materials of modern vocal instruction? To sum
them up in the order in which they were considered in Part I:
Breathing does not need to be mastered in any such way as is stated in
the theoretical works on the voice. Breath-control is a complete
fallacy. The doctrines of registers and laryngeal action are utterly
valueless. Chest resonance, nasal resonance, and forward emission, are
scientifically erroneous. The traditional precepts are of no value,
because nobody knows how to follow or apply them. Empirical teaching
based on the singer's sensations is of no avail.
In other words, modern methods contain not one single topic of any value
whatever in the training of the voice. It will be objected that this
statement is utterly absurd, because many of the world's greatest
singers have been trained according to these methods. No doubt this is
in one sense true; modern methods can point to many brilliant successes.
But this does not prove anything in favor of the materials of modern
methods.
Singers are trained to-day exactly as they were trained two hundred
years ago, through a reliance on the imitative faculty. The only
difference is this: In the old days, the student was directly and
expressly told to listen and to imitate, while to-day the reliance on
the imitative faculty is purely instinctive. A fuller consideration of
the important function of imitation as an unrecognized element of modern
Voice Culture is contained in Chapter V of Part IV.
CHAPTER V
THE ERROR OF THE THEORY OF MECHANICAL VOCAL MANAGEMENT
A fundamental difference was pointed out, at the close of the preceding
chapter, between the old Italian method and modern systems of vocal
instruction. This is worthy of repetition. The old Italian method was
founded on the faculty of imitation. Modern methods have as their basis
the idea of conscious, direct, mechanical control of the vocal organs.
All the materials of instruction based on this idea of mechanical
control were seen to be absolutely valueless. It is now in order to
examine still further the structure of modern Voice Culture, and to test
this basic idea of mechanical control.
As a muscular operation, the actions of singing must be subject to the
same physiological and psychological laws which govern all other
voluntary muscular actions. What are these laws? How do we guide and
control our muscular movements? At first sight, this seems a simple
question. We know what we want to do, and we do it. But the important
point is, how are we able to do the things we want to do? You wish to
raise your hand, for example, therefore you raise it. How does your hand
know that you wish to raise it? Does the hand raise itself? Not at all;
it is raised by the contraction of certain muscles in the arm, shoulder,
and back. That is, when you wish to raise your hand, certain muscles
contract themselves. But these muscles are not part of the hand. What
leads these muscles in the shoulder and back to contract, when you will
to raise your hand? Normally you are not even aware of their
contraction. Yet in some way these muscles know that they are called on
to contract, in response to the wish to raise the hand. This takes
place, even though you know nothing whatever of the muscles in question.
The process is by no means so simple, when looked at in this light.
A complicated psychological process is involved in the simplest
voluntary movements. This is seen in the following analysis:
"To move any part of the body voluntarily requires the following
particulars: (1) The possession of an educated reflex-motor mechanism,
under the control of the higher cerebral centers which are most
immediately connected with the phenomena of consciousness; (2) certain
_motifs_ in the form of conscious feelings that have a tone of pleasure
or pain, and so impel the mind to secure such bodily conditions as will
continue or increase the one, and discontinue or diminish the other; (3)
ideas of motions and positions of the bodily members, which previous
experience has taught us answer more or less perfectly to the _motifs_
of conscious feeling; (4) a conscious fiat of will, settling the
question, as it were, which of these ideas shall be realized in the
motions achieved and positions attained by these members; (5) a central
nervous mechanism, which serves as the organ of relation between this
act of will and the discharge of the requisite motor impulses along
their nerve-tracts to the groups of muscles peripherally situated."
(_Elements of Physiological Psychology_, Geo. T. Ladd, New York, 1889.)
Let us again consider the action of raising the hand, and see how the
psychological analysis applies in this movement. We note in the first
place that we are concerned only with the third, fourth, and fifth
particulars of Prof. Ladd's analysis. These are:
The idea of the movement.
The fiat of will which directs that this movement be performed.
The discharge of the requisite motor impulses, along the nerve-tracts,
to the muscles whose contraction constitutes the movement.
It will be simpler, and will answer the purpose equally well, to combine
the third and fourth elements, and to consider as one element the idea
of the movement and the fiat of will to execute the movement.
_The Idea of a Movement_
The mental picture of a purposed movement is simple and direct. No
reference is involved to the muscles concerned in the performance of the
movement. When you will to raise your hand, the action is pictured to
your mind as the raising of the hand, and nothing more. Certain muscles
are to be contracted. But the mental picture of the movement does not
indicate what these muscles are, in what order they are to be brought
into play, nor the relative degrees of strength to be exerted by each
muscular fiber. You do not consciously direct the muscles in their
contractions.
_The Discharge to the Muscles of the Nerve Impulse_
How then are the muscles informed that their contraction is called for?
They have no independent volition; each muscular fiber obeys the impulse
transmitted to it by the nerve, from the nerve center governing its
action. These nerve centers are in their turn controlled by the central
nervous mechanism. And in complex voluntary movements the central
nervous mechanism is under the control of the higher cerebral centers.
The wish to raise the hand appears to the mind as an idea of the hand
being raised. This idea is translated by the central nervous mechanism
into a set of motor nerve impulses. Does consciousness or volition come
into play here? Not at all. On this point Prof. Ladd remarks: "As to the
definite nature of the physical basis which underlies the connection of
ideas of motion and the starting outward of the right motor impulses,
our ignorance is almost complete."
Is it necessary for the performance of a complex muscular action that
the individual know what muscles are involved and how and when to
contract them? No; this knowledge is not only unnecessary, it is even
impossible. Prof. Ladd says of this: "It would be a great mistake to
regard the mind as having before it the cerebral machinery, all nicely
laid out, together with the acquired art of selecting and touching the
right nervous elements in order to produce the desired motion, as a
skilful player of the piano handles his keyboard."
How then are the muscles informed of the service required of them? Or
more precisely, how does the central nervous mechanism know what
distribution of nerve impulses to make among the different nerve centers
governing the muscles? As Prof. Ladd says, our ignorance on this point
is almost complete. There resides in the central nervous mechanism
governing the muscles something which for lack of a better name may be
called an instinct. When a purposeful movement of any part of the body
is willed, the mental picture of the movement is translated by the
central nervous mechanism into a succession of nerve impulses; these
impulses are transmitted through the lower centers to the muscles. The
instinct informing the central nervous mechanism how to apportion the
discharges of nerve impulse among the various muscular centers is to a
high degree mysterious. The present purpose will not be served by
carrying the analysis of this instinct further.[7]
[Note 7: The evolutionary development of this instinct is not
altogether mysterious. Science can fairly well trace the successive
steps in the development of the central nervous mechanism, from the
amoeba to the highest type of vertebrate. "Nerve channels" are worn by
the repeated transmission of impulses over the same tracts.
Coördinations become in successive generations more complex and more
perfect. As consciousness develops further, in each succeeding type,
actions originally reflex tend to take on a more consciously purposeful
character. But all we are concerned with now is the problem of
tone-production. Our purpose is best served by accepting the faculty of
muscular adaptation as an instinct, pure and simple.]
There is therefore no direct conscious guidance of the muscles, in any
movement, simple or complex. So far as the command of voluntary muscular
actions is concerned, the first simple statement of the process sums up
all that for practical purposes need be determined;--we know what we
want to do, and we do it. The mind forms the idea of an action and the
muscles instinctively respond.
But the fact remains that the muscles need to be guided in some way. We
do not perform instinctively many complex actions,--writing, dancing,
rowing, swimming, etc. All these actions, and indeed most of the
activities of daily life, must be consciously learned by practice and
repeated effort. How are these efforts guided? To arrive at an answer to
this question let us consider how a schoolboy practises his writing
lesson.
The boy begins by having before him a copy of the letters he is to
write. Under the guidance of the eye the hand traces these letters. At
each instant the eye points out to the hand the direction in which to
move. As the hand occasionally wanders from the prescribed direction the
eye immediately notes the deviation and bids the hand to correct it. The
hand responds to the demands of the eye, immediately, without thought on
the boy's part of nerve impulse or of muscular contraction. By repeated
efforts the boy improves upon his first clumsy attempts; with each
repetition he approaches nearer to the model.
In the course of this progress the muscular sense gradually comes to the
assistance of the eye as a sort of supplementary guidance. But at no
time is the eye relieved of the responsibility of guiding the hand in
writing. To sum this up, the movements of the hand in writing are
guided, so far as the consciousness is aware, directly by the sense of
sight.
We have here the law of voluntary muscular guidance. In all voluntary
movements the muscles are guided in their contractions, through some
instinctive process, by the sense or senses which observe the movements
themselves, and more especially, the results of the movements. In most
actions the two senses concerned are sight and muscular sense. The more
an action becomes habitual the more it tends to be performed under the
guidance of muscular sense, and to be free from the necessity of the
guidance of the eye. But muscular sense does not usually rise so high
into consciousness as sight, in the guidance of muscular activities.
Many oft-repeated movements, especially those of walking, become
thoroughly habitual and even automatic; that is, the muscular
contractions are performed as purely reflex actions, without conscious
guidance of any kind. But even in walking, the necessity may at any
instant arise for conscious guidance. In such a case the sense of sight
immediately comes into service; from reflex the movements become
voluntary, and consciously guided. In the case of most complex actions
the sense of sight furnishes the most important guidance.
If the muscular operations of singing are subject to the general laws of
psychological control, the guidance of the vocal organs must be
furnished by the sense which observes the results of the movements
involved. This is the sense of hearing. Just as in writing the hand is
guided by the eye, so in singing the voice is guided by the ear. There
can be no other means of guiding the voice. Muscular sense may under
certain conditions supplement the sense of hearing, but under no
circumstances can muscular sense assume full command. The net result of
the application of psychological principles to the problem of
tone-production is simply this, that the voice is guided directly by the
ear.
It is thus seen that the idea of mechanical vocal management is utterly
erroneous. On pushing the analysis still further the fallacy of this
idea is found to be even more glaring.
Is a knowledge of anatomy of any assistance in the acquirement of skill
in performing complex muscular actions? Not in the least. An
understanding of muscular processes does not contribute in any way to
skilful execution. The anatomist does not play billiards or row a boat
one whit the better for all his knowledge of the muscular structure of
the body.
Even if the precise workings of the vocal mechanism could be determined,
the science of Voice Culture would not benefit thereby. Knowing how the
muscles should act does not help us to make them act properly. It is
utterly idle to tell the vocal student that as the pitch of the voice
rises the arytenoid cartilages rotate, bringing their forward surfaces
together, and so shortening the effective length of the vocal cords.
Whatever the vocal cords are required to do is performed through an
instinctive obedience to the demands of the mental ear.
And finally, a precise analysis of muscular contractions is impossible,
even in the case of comparatively simple actions. When, for example,
the hand describes a circle in the air, a number of muscles are
involved. True, it is known what these muscles are, and what effect the
combined contractions of any group would have on the position of the
hand. The direction of the hand's motion at any instant is determined by
the resultant of all the forces exerted on this member. But as this
direction constantly changes, so must the relative degrees of strength
exerted by the muscles also constantly change. At no two successive
instants are the muscular adjustments the same. This simple action,
performed without thought or knowledge of the muscular processes,
presents features too complex to be analyzed on the basis of mechanical
law and anatomic structure.
A complete analysis of the muscular operations of tone-production is
absolutely impossible. The adjustments of the laryngeal muscles involve
probably the most minute variations in degree of contraction performed
in the whole voluntary muscular system. What we do know of the
mechanical operations of the voice is exceedingly interesting, and a
further knowledge of the subject is greatly to be desired. But we can
never hope to clear up all the mystery of the vocal action.
This statement must not be construed to mean that the study of the vocal
mechanism has been devoid of valuable results. On the contrary, the
present understanding of the mechanical operations of the voice will be
found of very great value in erecting a true science of Voice Culture.
The only weakness of the present results of vocal investigation is due
to the fact that this investigation has always been carried on under the
influence of the idea of mechanical vocal management. This influence has
led all theoretical students of the subject to attempt to apply their
knowledge in formulating rules for direct mechanical guidance of the
voice. That these rules are valueless is due solely to the fundamental
error involved in the mechanical idea.
Voice Culture must be turned from the idea of mechanical vocal
management. The old Italian masters were right in that they relied, even
though empirically, on the imitative faculty. Modern teachers may do
better, for in the light of present knowledge reliance on the faculty of
vocal imitation can be shown to be in strict accord with sound
scientific principles.
Part III
THE BASIS OF A REAL SCIENCE OF VOICE
CHAPTER I
THE MEANS OF EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION OF THE VOICE
To all knowledge obtained through the observation of facts and
phenomena, the term empirical is properly applied. Empirical knowledge
must be the basis of every science. To be available in forming a
science, empirical knowledge of a subject must be so carefully gathered
that all probability of error is eliminated; the observations must be so
exhaustive as to embrace every possible source of information. From the
knowledge thus obtained a set of verified general rules must be worked
out with which all the observed facts and phenomena are shown to be in
accord. Then a science has been erected. There is no possibility of
conflict between empirical and scientific knowledge. The discovery of a
single fact, at variance with the supposed general laws bearing on any
subject, is sufficient to overthrow the entire structure which had been
accepted as a science.
In the accepted Vocal Science the terms empirical and scientific are
used in a sense entirely different from that which properly attaches to
these words. Present knowledge of the operations of the voice is called
scientific, solely because it is derived from the sciences of anatomy,
acoustics, and mechanics. The term "empirical knowledge of the voice" is
used as a name for knowledge of the subject drawn from any source other
than these sciences. Yet so far as the modern vocal world seems to be
aware, it possesses no knowledge of the voice other than that commonly
called scientific. It is supposed that the old Italian masters had some
"empirical understanding of the voice." But, if this was the case, their
empirical knowledge has apparently been utterly lost.
Thus far in the present work, the usage of the terms empirical and
scientific, accepted by vocal theorists generally, has been adopted. A
distinction has been drawn between knowledge of the voice obtained
through the study of the vocal mechanism and that obtained through
observation of any other kind. The purpose will best be served by
continuing this same usage.
It must be apparent to the reader, from the analysis of modern methods,
that no real Science of Voice has thus far been erected. This is due to
the fact that the general principles of scientific investigation have
not been applied to the study of the voice. Under the influence of the
idea of mechanical vocal management the attention of all investigators
has been turned exclusively to the mechanical features of
tone-production. Meanwhile the empirical knowledge of the old masters
seems to have been forgotten. As a matter of fact, as will now be seen,
this empirical knowledge has never been lost. Every modern teacher of
singing shares the empirical knowledge which formed the sole material of
the old method. But this knowledge is not applied effectually in modern
instruction for two reasons. First, modern teachers do not realize the
importance of this knowledge; indeed, they are practically unaware of
this valuable possession. Although in fact the basis of nearly all
modern instruction in singing, empirical knowledge is always
unconsciously used. Second, empirical knowledge is always applied in the
prevailing mechanical spirit. The attempt is always made to translate
the sub-conscious empirical understanding of the voice into rules for
direct mechanical management. Under the influence of the mechanical idea
the modern teacher's most valuable possession, empirical knowledge of
the voice, becomes utterly unserviceable.
Thus far, the whole result of this work has been destructive. The
accepted Vocal Science has been shown to be erroneous in its conception
and unsound in its conclusions. The work cannot halt here. Vocal Science
must be reconstructed. This can be done only by following the general
plan of all scientific investigation, beginning with the observation of
all ascertainable facts bearing on the voice.
How can any facts be observed about the voice other than by the study of
the vocal mechanism? An answer to this question is at once suggested so
soon as scientific principles are applied to the subject. Strictly
speaking, the voice is a set of sounds, produced by the action of the
vocal organs. The scientific method of inquiry is therefore to begin by
observing these sounds. Sounds as such can be observed only by the sense
of hearing. It follows then that the attentive listening to voices is
the first step to be taken.
Can any empirical knowledge of the voice be obtained by the mere
listening to voices? If so, we ought now to be in possession of any
facts which might be thus observed. Is it possible that information of
this character is already a common possession of the vocal world, and
yet that this information has never been applied in the investigation of
the voice? This is exactly the case. Many facts regarding the voice have
been observed so continually that they are a matter of common knowledge,
and yet these facts have never been recorded in a scientific manner.
Consider, for example, this remark about a famous singer, made by one of
the foremost musical critics of the United States: "Mme. T---- 's lower
medium notes were all sung with a pinched glottis." How did this critic
know that the singer had pinched her glottis? He had no opportunity of
examining her throat with the laryngoscope, nor of observing her throat
action in any other way. In fact, the critic was seated probably
seventy-five feet from the artist at the time the tones in question were
sung. The critic had only one means of knowing anything about the
singer's throat action, and that was contained in the sound of the
tones. There must therefore have been something in the sound of the
tones which conveyed this information to the critical listener. For many
years this gentleman had been in the habit of listening closely to
singers, and he had found some way of estimating the singer's throat
action by the character of the tones produced.
This same means of judging the manner of production from the sound of
the tones seems to have been utilized nearly two hundred years ago.
Speaking of the most frequent faults of tone-production, Tosi remarks:
"The voice of the scholar should always come forth neat and clear,
without passing through the nose or being choked in the throat." Mancini
also speaks of the faults of nasal and throaty voice: "Un cantare di
gola e di naso." A throaty tone, therefore, impressed these writers as
being in some way formed or caught in the singer's throat. It may be set
down as certain that no pupil ever explained to either of these masters
how the objectionable sounds were produced. How then did Tosi and
Mancini know the manner in which a throaty tone is produced?
We need not go back to the early writers to find out what is meant by a
throaty tone. Fully as many throaty singers are heard nowadays as the
old masters ever listened to. What do we mean when we say that a
singer's voice is throaty? The answer to this question seems at first
sight simple enough: The tones impress us as being formed in the
singer's throat. But what conveys this impression? Something in the
sound of the tone, of course. Yet even that is not enough. How can a
tone, merely a sound to which we listen, tell us anything about the
condition of the singer's throat during the production of the tone? Here
again the answer seems simple: The listener knows that, in order to
produce a tone of like character, he would have to contract his own
throat in some way.
Here we have a highly significant fact about the voice. On hearing a
throaty tone, the listener can tell how this tone is produced; he feels
that he would have to contract his own throat in order to produce a
similar tone. Let us carry this discussion a little further. How does
the listener know this? Certainly not by actually singing a throaty
tone. When seated in a concert hall, for example, and listening to a
throaty singer, the hearer cannot rise from his seat, sing a few throaty
tones himself, and then note how his throat feels. The critic just
mentioned did not sing some notes with "pinched glottis" in order to
learn how Mme. T---- sang her low tones. Evidently it is not necessary
actually to imitate the singer; the hearer gets the same result by
imitating the sounds mentally. In other words, when we hear throaty
tones we mentally imitate these tones; thus we know that we should have
to contract our own throats in order to produce similar tones.
But even here we cannot stop. To imitate the singer actually is one
thing; mental imitation is something entirely different. In the first
case, actual imitation, our muscular sense would inform us of the state
of throat tightening. But in the case of mental imitation there is no
actual tightening of the throat, nothing, at any rate, comparable to
what takes place in actual imitation. There is then a dual function of
the imagination; first, the mental imitation of the sound; second, the
imaginary tightening of the throat. The analysis of the mental process
must therefore be modified, and stated as follows: When we listen to a
throaty tone we mentally imitate the tone; an imaginative function of
the muscular sense informs us what condition the singer's throat assumes
for the production of the tone.
A similar operation takes place in listening to nasal voices. An
impression is conveyed by a nasal tone, through which the hearer is
informed of a condition of tightness or contraction somewhere in the
singer's nose.
The terms applied to the two most marked forms of faulty
tone-production, nasal and throaty, are derived from impressions
conveyed by the sounds of the tones. These names, nasal and throaty,
refer to a feeling of tightness or contraction experienced in
imagination by the hearer; in one case this feeling is located in the
nose, in the other, in the throat. But the terms nasal and throaty are
general descriptions of faulty tones. Each one covers a wide range of
tone qualities. There is an almost infinite variety of throaty tones,
and of nasal sounds as well. The knowledge of the voice obtained by
listening to vocal tones is of equally wide extent. Every throaty tone,
whatever its precise character, informs the hearer of the exact
condition of the singer's throat in producing the tone. In short, every
vocal tone is thus analyzed by the critical listener, and referred in
imagination to his own throat. An insight into the singer's vocal action
is imparted to the hearer through an imaginative process which always,
of necessity, accompanies the attentive listening to vocal tones.
Every vocal tone awakens in the hearer a set of imagined muscular
sensations. These sensations furnish the means for an exhaustive
analysis of the operations of the voice. The production of tone
therefore awakens two sets of muscular sensations, one actually felt by
the singer, the other felt in imagination by the listener. The former
are commonly known as the "singer's sensations"; but, as will be
explained later, this expression is often very loosely applied. It is
advisable on this account to give a new name to the singer's sensations,
and also to give a name to the muscular sensations awakened in the
hearer. Let us therefore call the sensations experienced by the singer
in the production of tone the "direct sensations of tone." To the
imaginary sensations of the hearer let us give the name, the
"sympathetic sensations of tone."
These two terms will be used throughout the remainder of this work in
the meanings here given to them.
Direct sensations of tone are the sensations actually felt by the singer
as a result of the exercise of the vocal organs.
Sympathetic sensations of tone are the muscular sensations experienced
in imagination by the hearer as a result of the listening to the tones
of voices other than his own.
CHAPTER II
SYMPATHETIC SENSATIONS OF VOCAL TONE
A peculiar relation of sympathy exists between the human voice and the
human ear. So intimate is this relation that the two might almost be
considered as forming one complete organ. One aspect of this relation
has already been noted, the guidance of the vocal organs by the sense of
hearing. There is now to be considered another feature of this relation
between voice and ear,--the assistance rendered by the vocal organs to
the sense of hearing.
That a sub-conscious adjustment of the vocal organs may supplement the
sense of hearing in the estimation of pitch is mentioned by Prof. Ladd.
Speaking of the ability, by no means uncommon, to tell the pitch of any
musical note heard, Prof. Ladd says: "Such judgment, however, may be,
and ordinarily is, much assisted by auxiliary discriminations of other
sensations which blend with those of the musical tone. Among such
secondary helps the most important are the muscular sensations which
accompany the innervation of the larynx and other organs used in
producing musical tones. For we ordinarily innervate these organs (at
least in an inchoate and partial way)--that is, we sound the note to
ourselves--when trying carefully to judge of its pitch." (_Elements of
Physiological Psychology._)
Much more important in the study of the problem of tone-production are
the adjustments of the hearer's vocal organs which were named the
sympathetic sensations of tone. This peculiar auxiliary to the sense of
hearing calls for the closest attention.
Sympathetic sensations of tone are awakened in the hearer through the
mere listening to the sounds of the human voice. Vocal tones impress the
listener's ear in a manner entirely different from any other sounds. Not
only are the tones of the voice heard, just as other sounds are heard;
in addition to this, every vocal tone heard is mentally imitated, and
this mental reproduction of the tone is referred in imagination to the
hearer's own vocal organs. Besides hearing the vocal tone as a sound
pure and simple, the listener is also informed of the manner of throat
action by which the tone is produced.
This mental imitation and judgment of vocal tones is not a voluntary
operation. On the contrary it cannot even be inhibited. It is impossible
for us to listen to the voices of those about us, even in ordinary
conversation, without being to some extent aware of the various modes of
tone-production.
This idea of the mental imitation of voices may impress us at first as
highly mysterious. Sympathetic sensations of tone have been felt and
noted, probably ever since the human voice and the human ear were
developed. Yet the process is purely sub-conscious. It is performed
involuntarily, without thought on the part of the hearer, even without
any consciousness of the process. The hearer simply knows how the voices
to which he listens are produced. A throaty voice simply sounds throaty;
the hearer feels this, and pays no attention to the source of the
information. We take it as a matter of course that a nasal voice seems
to come through the speaker's nose. Why a certain quality of sound gives
this impression we never stop to inquire. The impressions of throat
action conveyed by other people's voices seem so simple and direct that
nobody appears to have thought to analyze the psychological process
involved.
This psychological process is found on analysis to be highly complex. In
addition to the actual physical exercise of the sense of hearing, three
distinct operations are performed in imagination. These are the mental
imitation of the tone, the imagined adjustments of the vocal organs, and
the imaginative exercise of the muscular sense. Although simultaneously
performed, each of these four operations may be considered separately.
_Hearing_
As the judgment of vocal tones by sympathetic sensations is purely a
function of the sense of hearing, the keenness of these sensations
varies in each individual in proportion to the keenness of the ear. It
would be a great mistake to assert that we all feel these sympathetic
sensations with equal vividness. On the contrary, many people are so
inattentive to the qualities of sounds that they hardly know the meaning
of the term "nasal tone."
One trait in particular distinguishes the musician and the music lover;
this is, the possession of a keen sense of hearing. The ear is trained
by exercise in its own function,--hearing. The more attentively we
listen to music the higher do we develop our ability to discriminate
between musical sounds. Moreover, natural endowments vary in different
individuals, with regard to the ear, as with all other human faculties.
To appreciate fully the wonderful insight into vocal operations conveyed
by the sympathetic sensations of tone, a naturally keen musical ear is
required; further, this natural gift of a good ear must be developed by
attentive listening to music, vocal and instrumental, carried on through
several years.
_Mental Imitation of Vocal Tones_
That every sense has its counterpart in the imagination need hardly be
said. We know what it means to feel warm or cold, hungry or thirsty; we
know the taste of an apple, the scent of a rose. We can at will create
pictures before the mind's eye. In the same way we can hear in
imagination any sound we choose to produce mentally.
An inseparable function of the sense of hearing is the impulse to
imitate mentally the tones of speakers and singers. The imitation of
sounds is an instinctive operation. "Talking proper does not set in till
the instinct to _imitate sounds_ ripens in the nervous system." (_The
Principles of Psychology_, Wm. James, N. Y., 1890.) Little can be said
about the impulse to imitate voices mentally, further than that it is an
exercise of this same instinct.
_Imagined Adjustments of the Vocal Organs_
It has already been seen that the vocal organs have the ability to
adjust themselves, through instinctive guidance, for the production of
any tone demanded by the ear. This same ability is invoked in the mental
imitation of tones. In one case the muscular contractions are actually
performed; in the other the muscular adjustments are wholly or in part
imaginary.
It is highly probable that actual contractions of the laryngeal muscles
take place, under certain conditions, as an accompaniment to the
listening to voices. This is evident in the case of extremely aggravated
throaty and forced voices. In listening to the harsh, raucous cries of
many street vendors, when calling out their wares, the hearer
frequently feels a sense of actual pain in his own throat.
Involuntary and unconscious contractions of the laryngeal muscles,
somewhat similar to those under consideration, are well known to
experimental psychologists. Prof. Ladd's statement that these
contractions assist the ear in the judgment of absolute pitch has
already been cited. Another example of unconscious laryngeal movements
has been investigated by Hansen and Lehmann ("Ueber unwillkuerliches
Fluestern," _Philos. Studien_, 1895, Vol. XI, p. 47), and by H. S.
Curtis ("Automatic Movements of the Larynx," _Amer. Jour. Psych._, 1900,
Vol. XI, p. 237). The laboratory experiments of these investigators show
that when words, or ideas definitely expressed in words, are strongly
thought but not uttered, the vocal organs unconsciously adjust
themselves to the positions necessary for uttering the words. Curtis
says of these unconscious laryngeal contractions: "Such movements are
very common with normal people, and are comparatively easy of
demonstration."
The apparatus used by Hansen and Lehmann in their experiments consists
of two large concave reflectors. These are placed at a convenient
distance, one facing the other, so that two experimenters may be seated,
the first having his mouth at the focal point of one reflector, the
second with his ear at the focal point of the other. As the first
experimenter repeats mentally any words or phrases, these are found to
be unconsciously whispered. These sounds of whispering, inaudible under
ordinary conditions, are so magnified by the two reflectors as to be
distinctly heard by the second experimenter.
Curtis proved that actual movements of the larynx unconsciously
accompany intense thought. His demonstrations were conducted along lines
familiar to all students of experimental psychology. Similar experiments
would probably show that unconscious movements of the larynx also occur
during the listening to vocal tones.
A peculiarity of the laryngeal adjustments accompanying the listening to
voices is seen in the fact that the possession of a fine or well-trained
voice is not required in this process. It does not matter whether the
physical organs are capable of producing fine musical tones. The
nervous equipment alone is involved; this is frequently highly
developed, even though the physical voice is very poor. A keen and
highly-trained ear is the only requisite. Players in the opera
orchestras often develop this faculty to a high degree, even though they
may never attempt to sing a note.
_Muscular Sense_
An exhaustive analysis of the various classes of sensations, commonly
grouped under the general heading of muscular sense, would involve a
mass of technicalities not necessary to the present purpose. It is
sufficient to bear in mind the limitations of this sense, and to notice
what it tells us, and what it does not tell.
Through the exercise of the muscular sense we are informed of the
movements, positions, and conditions of the different parts of the body.
Of specific muscular contractions very little information is conveyed.
Thus, when the arm is bent at the elbow the muscular sensations of the
movement are clear and definite; but, under normal conditions, these
sensations do not inform us that the movement results from the
contraction of the biceps muscle. Knowledge of the muscular structure
of the body is not involved in muscular sense. The muscular sensations
of bending the arm are felt in precisely the same way by the professor
of anatomy and the ignorant child.
Further, no amount of attention paid to muscular sensations will inform
us exactly what muscles are contracted in any complex action. A single
stroke in the game of tennis, returning a swift service for example, may
involve some contraction of every muscle of the entire body. A skilful
player may observe with the utmost care the muscular sensations
accompanying this stroke; he would never be able to learn from these
sensations whether the number of muscles in his forearm is ten or one
hundred.
For the same reason the sympathetic sensations of tone tell us nothing
whatever of the muscular structure of the vocal organs. When listening
to a throaty voice, we feel that the singer's throat is tightened,
stiffened, or contracted. But no matter how keen and vivid this
sensation may be, it leaves us in complete ignorance of the names and
locations of the muscles wrongly contracted. This is true, however
thoroughly we may know the anatomy of the vocal organs.
Much of the prevailing confusion about the voice is due to a
misunderstanding of this point. When, for example, the musical critic
asserted that Mme. T---- sang certain tones with "pinched glottis," he
fell into this error. His sympathetic sensations informed him of some
unnecessary tightening of the singer's throat. From these sensations he
seems to have inferred that the glottis-closing muscles were too
strongly contracted. This assumption was not warranted by any
information conveyed in the sympathetic sensations.
It is not necessary now to determine to what extent the muscular
sensations accompanying the listening to voices are purely imaginative,
and to what extent they result from actual, though unconscious,
contractions of the listener's throat muscles. The psychological process
is the same in either case.
Sympathetic sensations of tone always accompany the listening to voices.
While the psychological process is complex, this process is performed
unconsciously and involuntarily. Even though the attention may be
definitely turned to the sympathetic sensations themselves, the mental
imitation and the laryngeal adjustments seldom rise into consciousness.
As a rule, the entire operation is purely sub-conscious. The listener
simply knows how the voices to which he listens are produced. This
knowledge has always been accepted as intuitive; but this is merely
another way of saying that the process of its acquirement is
sub-conscious.
_Direct Sensations of Tone_
In addition to the source of misunderstanding of the vocal action just
mentioned,--the attempt to define the precise muscular contractions
indicated in the sympathetic sensations, another common
misinterpretation of these sensations must be noted. As a consequence of
the sub-conscious character of the sympathetic sensations, the two
classes of muscular sensation of vocal tone, direct and sympathetic, are
frequently confounded and classed together as the "singer's sensations."
A third source of confusion is seen in the attempt to apply the
sympathetic sensations, by formulating rules for the guidance of the
student, in performing specific actions for the management of the vocal
organs. All three of these topics will be considered in a later chapter.
Before approaching this subject let us see just what information may be
derived from the observation of the direct sensations of tone.
The direct sensations of tone are never so vivid, so precise, nor so
reliable as the sympathetic sensations. In other words, the hearer is
better able to judge of the singer's throat action than the singer
himself. This may seem a paradoxical statement, but a brief
consideration will show it to be fully justified.
In the case of teacher and pupil, it will hardly be questioned that the
master hears the pupil's voice to better advantage than the pupil. This
is also true when a trained singer's tones are observed by a competent
hearer. The singer's direct sensations are highly complex. They include
the muscular sensations accompanying the exertion of the breathing
muscles, and these are usually so intense as to overshadow the
sensations due to the laryngeal adjustments. On the other hand, the
hearer is free to pay close attention to the sensations of throat
action, and therefore feels these much more keenly than does the singer.
On this account the direct sensations of tone are of vastly less value
in the study of the vocal action than are the sympathetic sensations.
CHAPTER III
EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE VOICE
Through attention paid to the sympathetic sensations of tone, the
listener may carry on mentally a running commentary on the throat
actions of all those whose voices are heard. Continuing to use the word
empirical in the sense thus far adopted, it may be said that the summary
of the impressions conveyed in the sympathetic sensations of tone
constitutes empirical knowledge of the voice. In other words, empirical
knowledge of the voice is an understanding of the operations of the
vocal mechanism, obtained through the attentive listening to voices.
Let us consider first the running commentary on the throat action,
mentally carried on by the listener. This mental commentary is an
inseparable accompaniment of the listening to the voices of others,
whether in speech or song. As we are concerned now only with the problem
of tone-production in artistic singing, our consideration will be
limited to the critical hearer's observation of the tones of singers.
Let us imagine two friends to be seated side by side in the concert
hall, listening to the performance of a violin sonata by an artist of
about mediocre ability. Suppose one of the friends to be a highly
trained musical critic, the other to be almost unacquainted with music
of this class. Let us now inquire how the tones of the violin will
impress these two hearers; and further, let the inquiry be limited
strictly to the matter of tone, leaving out of consideration all
questions of composition and rendition.
As a matter of course, the tones of the violin will impress these two
listeners in widely different ways. The untrained observer will greatly
enjoy the beautiful tones,--supposing of course that he be gifted with a
natural fondness for music. But so far as musical value is concerned,
all the tones will sound to him practically alike.
For the trained hearer, on the other hand, every note drawn by the
performer from his instrument will have a distinct value. Some of the
tones will be true in pitch and perfect in quality. Some will vary
slightly from the correct pitch; others will perhaps be in perfect
tune, and yet be marred in quality by faults of scratching, thinness,
roughness, etc.
When the two come to compare notes at the end of the performance the
trained critic will be utterly unable to convey to his friend his
impressions of the player's technique. Vividly clear as it is to the
critic, his understanding of tonal values is lodged solely in his
cultivated ear. This understanding cannot be imparted in words; it must
be acquired by experience in actual listening to music.
Let us now imagine this same critic to be listening to a singer, not an
artist of the first rank, but one whose voice is marred by some slight
faults of production. In this case the critic will note exactly the same
sort of differences in tonal value as in the case of the violinist. Some
of the singer's notes will be perfect musical tones, others will be
marred by faults of intonation or of quality. But a great difference
will be noted between faulty tones played on the violin, and faulty
tones sung by the human voice. In addition to their blemishes as musical
tones, the faulty notes of the voice also convey to the critical
listener an idea of the state of the singer's throat in producing them.
Every blemish on the beauty of a vocal tone, every fine shade of quality
which detracts from its perfection, indicates to the critical hearer
some faulty action of the singer's vocal organs. The more faulty the
musical character of the singer's tones the more pronounced is this
impression of faulty production. On the other hand, just so nearly as
the singer's tones approach perfection as musical sounds, so do they
also impress the ear of the critical listener as indicating the approach
to the perfect vocal action.
The critic could not impart to his untrained friend the impressions made
by the violinist's tones. Somewhat the same is true of the impressions
made by the tones of the voice on the critical ear. In voices of
extremely nasal or throaty sound these blemishes can, of course, be
detected by the ordinary hearer. But the fine shades of difference in
vocal tone quality, heard by the trained critic, cannot be noted by the
inexperienced listener.
This fine ability to discriminate between musical sounds comes only
through experience in listening to music, better still, when this has
been combined with the actual study of music. But the ability to judge
the vocal actions of singers, through the sympathetic sensations of
tone, does not depend on any actual exercise of the listener's own
voice. For the developing of this ability the exercise of the ear
suffices. The mere exercise of the ear, in listening to singers, entails
also the training of what may be called the "mental voice." Attentive
listening to voices, involving as a natural consequence the
sub-conscious impressions of sympathetic sensations, results in the
development of a faculty to which this name, the mental voice, very
aptly applies.
A music-lover whose experience of hearing singing and instrumental music
has been wide enough to develop the mental voice in a fair degree,
possesses in this faculty a valuable means for judging singers. The
mental voice carries on a running commentary on the manner of production
of all the voices to which this music-lover listens. At every instant he
is informed of the exact condition of the singer's throat. For him there
is an almost infinite variety of throaty tones, each one indicating some
degree and form of throat tension or stiffening. A perfect vocal tone,
on the other hand, is _felt_ to be perfectly produced, as well as
_heard_ to be musically perfect.
Equipped with a highly trained sense of hearing, and the resulting
faculty of mental voice, the lover of singing has an unfailing insight
into the operations of the vocal mechanism. This understanding of the
workings of the vocal organs is the empirical knowledge of the voice.
This empirical knowledge of the voice can be possessed only by one who
is equipped with a highly cultivated ear. The keener the ear the more
precise and definite is this understanding of the voice. Season after
season, as the music-lover continues to attend concerts, operas, and
recitals, his feeling for the voice becomes gradually more keen and
discerning.
Further, empirical knowledge of the voice can be acquired in no other
way than by actual experience in listening to voices. No matter how keen
and definite are the impressions of throat action felt by the
experienced hearer, these impressions cannot be described to the
uninitiated. In fact, these impressions are to a great extent of a
character not capable of being recorded in precise terms. The general
nature of a throaty tone, for example, is thoroughly understood. But of
the thousands of varieties of the throaty tone no adequate description
can be given. Each observer must learn for himself to hear these fine
shades of difference in tone quality.
Every experienced music lover has his own mental standard of tonal
perfection. The trained ear knows how a perfect musical tone should
sound, independent of the precise quality of the tone. The tone quality
is determined, of course, by the instrument on which it is sounded. But
along with the individual characteristics of the sound, the tones drawn
from every instrument, to be available in the artistic performance of
music, must conform to the correct standard. Knowing the general musical
character of the tones of all instruments, the cultured hearer can at
once detect any variation from this character. Further, he knows how the
tones of a badly-played instrument would sound if the instrument were
correctly handled. An unskilled trumpeter in an orchestra, for example,
may draw from his instrument tones that are too brassy, blatant, or
harsh. An observant hearer knows exactly what these tones would be if
the instrument were skilfully played.
In just the same way the mental voice has its own standard of vocal
perfection. Every voice which falls below this standard is felt by the
critical hearer to be imperfectly used. When listening to a nasal singer
we know that the voice would be greatly improved in quality if the nasal
sound of the tones were eliminated. We feel that the correction of the
faults of production indicated by a throaty voice would add greatly to
the beauty of the voice. More than this, we can also form some idea how
an imperfectly produced voice would sound if all the faults of vocal
action were to be corrected.
A perfectly produced voice affects the ear in a peculiar and distinct
way. Not only is such a voice free from faults; it has also, on the
positive side, a peculiar character which renders it entirely different
from any wrongly used voice. The cultured hearer is impressed with a
sense of incompleteness and insufficiency in listening to a voice which
does not "come out" in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. This is true,
even though the voice is not marred by any distinct fault.
A voice absolutely perfect in its production awakens a peculiar set of
sympathetic sensations. In addition to its musical beauty such a voice
satisfies an instinctive demand for the perfect vocal action. An
indescribable sensation of physical satisfaction is experienced in
listening to a perfectly managed voice.
On further consideration of this feeling of physical satisfaction
awakened by a perfectly produced voice, it seems a mistake to call it
indescribable. A beautiful description of this set of sympathetic
sensations has been handed down to us by the masters of the old Italian
school. This description is embodied in two of the traditional precepts,
those dealing with the open throat and the support of the tone.
Mention of the traditional precepts leads at once to the consideration
of another aspect of the empirical knowledge of the voice. Vocalists
have been attentively listening to voices since the beginning of the
modern art of singing. Although many of the impressions made by the
voice on the ear cannot be expressed in words, one set of impressions
has been clearly recorded. A marked difference was evidently noticed by
the old Italian masters between the feelings awakened in the hearer by
a voice properly managed and those awakened by an incorrectly produced
voice. These impressions were embodied in a set of precepts for the
guidance of the singer, which are none other than the much-discussed
traditional precepts.
In other words, the traditional precepts embody the results of the old
masters' empirical study of the voice. Considered in this light, the old
precepts lose at once all air of mystery and become perfectly
intelligible and coherent. To a consideration of this record of the
empirical knowledge of the voice the following chapter is devoted.
CHAPTER IV
THE TRADITIONAL PRECEPTS OF THE OLD ITALIAN SCHOOL
There should be nothing mysterious, nothing hard to understand, about
the empirical precepts. It was pointed out in Chapter V of Part I that
these precepts contain a perfect description of correctly produced vocal
tone, so far as the impression on the listener is concerned. This means
nothing else than that the old precepts summarize the results of
empirical observation of correct singing. There is nothing new in this
statement; considered as empirical knowledge, the modern vocal teacher
understands the meaning of the old masters' precepts perfectly well. The
misunderstanding of the subject begins with the attempt to apply the
precepts as specific rules for the direct mechanical management of the
voice. In this connection they were seen to be valueless. Let us now see
if the old precepts are found to contain any meaning of value to the
vocal teacher when considered as purely empirical formulæ.
Each one of the precepts may be said to describe some special
characteristic of the perfect vocal tone, considered solely as a sound.
These characteristics may each be considered separately, that is, the
hearer may voluntarily pay close attention to any special aspect of the
vocal tone. The best plan for arriving at the exact meaning of the
precepts is therefore to consider each one in turn.
_The Forward Tone_
Every lover of singing is familiar with this characteristic of the
perfectly produced voice; the sound seems to come directly from the
singer's mouth, and gives no indication of being formed at the back of
the throat. This characteristic of the perfect tone is simply heard. It
is not distinguished by any sympathetic sensations, but is purely a
matter of sound. On the other hand, a wrongly produced voice seems to be
formed or held in the back of the singer's throat. The tones of such a
voice do not come out satisfactorily; they seem to be lodged in the
throat instead of at the front of the mouth.
In the badly used voice the impression of throat is conveyed by the
sympathetic sensations awakened in the hearer. A striking difference
between correct and incorrect singing is thus noted. A wrongly produced
voice is felt by the hearer to be held in the singer's throat. When
properly used the voice gives no impression of throat; it seems to have
no relation to the throat, but to be formed in the front of the mouth.
So much has been written about "forward emission" that the forward
characteristic of vocal tones seems to be enshrouded in mystery. As a
matter of fact, the forward tone is easily explained. The perfectly
produced voice issues directly from the mouth for the same reason that
the tones of the trombone issue from the bell of the instrument. It is
all a matter of resonance. This is well illustrated by a simple
experiment with a tuning fork and a spherical resonator reinforcing the
tone of the fork.
When the fork is struck, the ear hears the sound issuing from the
resonator, not that coming direct from the fork. This is brought out
distinctly by placing the fork at a little distance from the resonator.
The listener can then definitely locate the source of the sound which
impresses the ear. Under these circumstances the sound coming from the
resonator is found to be many times more powerful than that coming
direct from the tuning fork. If left to its own judgment the ear takes
the resonator to be the original source of the sound.
In the voice the exciting cause of the air vibrations is located at the
back of the resonator,--the mouth-pharynx cavity. The sound waves in
this case can issue only from the front of the resonator,--the singer's
mouth. No matter how the voice is produced, correctly or badly, this
acoustic principle must apply.
Why then does not the incorrectly used voice impress the hearer as
issuing directly from the mouth, the same as the correctly produced
tone? This is purely a matter of sympathetic sensations of throat
tightness, awakened by the faulty tone. Every wrongly used voice arouses
in the listener sympathetic sensations of throat contraction. This
impression of throat, noted by the hearer, consists of muscular, not of
strictly auditory sensations.
As a statement of scientific fact, the forward-tone precept is
erroneous. It does not describe scientifically the difference between
correct and incorrect tone-production. Correctly sung tones are not
produced at the lips. Every vocal tone, good or bad, is produced by the
motion of the vocal cords and reinforced by the resonance of the
mouth-pharynx cavity. Only when considered as an empirical description
is the forward-tone precept of value. In this sense the precept
describes accurately the difference in the impressions made on the
hearer by correct and incorrect singing. A badly produced tone seems to
be caught in the singer's throat; the correctly used voice is free from
this fault, and is therefore heard to issue directly from the singer's
mouth.
This marked difference between correct and incorrect tone throws a
valuable light on the meaning of the correct vocal action. Every badly
used voice gives the impression of wrong or unnecessary tightness,
stiffening, and contraction of the throat. When perfectly used, the
voice does not convey any such impression of throat stiffness.
_The Open Throat_
Just as with the forward tone, the meaning of the open throat is best
brought out by contrasting the impressions made on the hearer by a
perfect and a badly used voice. A badly produced tone seems to be
caught, or as Tosi expressed it, "choaked in the throat." The singer's
throat seems to be tightened and narrowed so that the sound has not
sufficient passageway to come out properly. On the other hand, the
perfectly used voice comes out freely, without interference or hindrance
at any point in the singer's throat. There seems to be plenty of room
for the tone to come forth; in other words, the singer's throat seems to
be open.
All these impressions are purely a matter of sympathetic sensations. In
listening to a faulty singer the hearer feels a sensation of tightness
and contraction of the throat. A well used voice awakens exactly the
opposite sensation, that of looseness and freedom of the throat.
Here again is seen the difference between correct and incorrect singing,
empirically considered. Judging from the impressions made by rightly and
wrongly used voices, any incorrect vocal action involves a condition of
tightness and contraction of the throat. Perfect singing gives the
impression that the throat is loose and supple, and free from all
unnecessary tension.
_The Support of the Tone_
Following the plan of contrasting correct and incorrect singing, the
meaning of this precept is readily found. The perfect voice is felt by
the hearer to be firmly and confidently held by the singer in a secure
grasp of the throat muscles. Such a voice awakens the sympathetic
sensations of perfectly balanced muscular effect, similar to the
muscular sensations of the hand and forearm when an object is firmly
grasped in the hand.
A badly used voice seems to be convulsively gripped in the singer's
throat. The tones seem to fall back into the throat for want of some
secure base on which to rest. This impression is conveyed by a peculiar
set of sympathetic sensations of highly unpleasant muscular tension far
back in the throat.
This precept, "Support the tone," points to the difference already noted
between the right and the wrong vocal action. Badly produced tones
indicate a state of excessive tension of the throat muscles. Correct
singing gives the impression that the throat muscles exert exactly the
requisite degree of strength, and no more.
Taken together, the open-throat and the forward-tone precepts embody an
admirable description of the sympathetic sensations awakened by perfect
singing. The singer's entire vocal mechanism is felt to be in a
condition of lithe and supple freedom. There is no straining, no
constraint, no forcing, no unnecessary tension. Each muscle of the vocal
mechanism, and indeed of the entire body, exerts just the necessary
degree of strength.
Similar muscular sensations always accompany the expert performance of
any action requiring a high degree of dexterity. Whatever be the form of
exertion, skilful physical activity awakens muscular sensations of
perfectly balanced and harmonized contractions. This feeling of muscular
poise and adjustment is pleasurable in a high degree.
A keen enjoyment is experienced in the skilful performance of many
complex muscular activities. Much of the pleasure of skating, dancing,
rowing, tennis, etc., is dependent on this feeling of muscular poise
and harmonious contraction. Healthy exercise is always normally
enjoyable; but skilful performance greatly enhances the pleasure. A
beginner learning to skate, for example, exerts himself fully as much as
the accomplished skater. Yet the beginner does not by any means derive
the same degree of pleasure from his exertions.
Precisely this feeling of balanced and harmonious muscular exertion is
experienced by the perfect singer. More than this, the hearer also,
through sympathetic sensations, shares the same pleasurable feeling.
This is the sensation described as the feeling of soaring, of poise, and
of floating, in many descriptions of the "singer's sensations."
_Singing on the Breath_
When the voice is perfectly used the tones seem to detach themselves
from the singer, and to float off on the breath. Nothing in the sound of
the tones, nor in the sympathetic sensations awakened, gives any
indication that the breath is checked or impeded in its flow. The
current of tone seems to be poured out on the breath just as freely as
a quiet expiration in ordinary breathing.
This is a purely empirical description of perfect singing. As we know
very well, the vocal action is quite different from this description.
But the important point is that the phrase "singing on the breath" does
very accurately describe the impression made on the hearer by perfect
singing.
Singing on the breath represents the highest possible degree of purely
vocal perfection. One may attend operas and concerts for a whole season
and listen to a score of famous singers, and count oneself fortunate to
have heard even one artist who attains this standard of tonal
excellence. Singing on the breath is an effect of wondrous tonal beauty;
it is simply this, pure beauty, pristine and naïve.
With the slightest degree of throat stiffness or muscular tension,
singing on the breath is utterly impossible. So soon as the tones
indicate the merest trace of throat contraction, the free outflow of the
stream of sound is felt to be checked.
Coloratura singing, to be absolutely perfect, demands this degree of
tonal excellence. Singing on the breath and coloratura are indeed very
closely allied. The modern school of musical criticism does not hold
coloratura singing in very high esteem. We demand nowadays expression,
passion, and emotion; we want vocal music to portray definite
sentiments, to express concrete feelings. Florid singing is not adapted
to this form of expressiveness. It is only sensuously beautiful; it
speaks to the ear, but does not appeal to the intellect.
Yet it may well be asked whether the highest type of coloratura singing,
pure tonal beauty, does not appeal to a deeper, more elemental set of
emotions than are reached by dramatically expressive singing. This
question would call for a profound psychological discussion, hardly in
place in a work devoted to the technical problem of tone-production. But
this much is certain: Coloratura singing still has a strong hold on the
affections of the music loving public. Even to-day audiences are moved
by the vocal feats of some famous queen of song fully as profoundly as
by the performance of a modern dramatic or realistic opera.
To describe a sound is an extremely difficult task. The tone of the
muted horn, for example, is perfectly familiar to the average musician.
Yet who would undertake to describe in words the tone of the muted horn?
A description of the sounds produced by a perfectly managed voice is
almost as difficult to frame in words. Still the old Italian masters
succeeded in finding words to describe perfect singing. These few simple
phrases--open the throat, support the tone, sing the tones forward, sing
on the breath--embody a most beautiful and complete description of vocal
perfection. The empirical study of the voice can hardly be expected to
go further than this. From the old masters we have received a complete
record of all that need be known empirically about the voice.
CHAPTER V
EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN VOICE CULTURE
It was pointed out in Chapter I of Part III that there is no possibility
of conflict between empirical and scientific knowledge. Modern Voice
Culture seems to present a direct contradiction of this statement. The
vocal teacher's empirical understanding of the voice conflicts at every
step with his supposedly scientific knowledge. No doubt the reader is
already aware of the real meaning of this apparent contradiction. It
only bears out the philosophic rule; an accepted science must be
abandoned so soon as its deductions are found to be not in accord with
observed facts.
Modern methods of instruction in singing can be understood only by
following out this idea of conflict between known facts and accepted,
though erroneous, scientific doctrines. As we have seen, the only
universally accepted theory of supposedly scientific Voice Culture is
the idea of direct mechanical guidance of the voice. Every vocal
teacher attempts to make his empirical knowledge conform to this
mechanical idea. As the empirical knowledge is correct, and the
mechanical idea a complete mistake, conflict between the two is
inevitable.
Every modern teacher of singing possesses in full measure the empirical
understanding of the voice. To this statement hardly an exception need
be made. Probably the most startling fact concerning the wide diffusion
of this knowledge is that the nature of this knowledge is so thoroughly
ignored. Because the psychological process is purely sub-conscious,
empirical knowledge is always indirectly and generally unconsciously
applied. In the teacher's mind the most prominent idea is that of
mechanical vocal guidance. His attention is always directly turned to
this idea. Empirical knowledge, consisting merely of a succession of
auditory and muscular sensations, lurks in the background of
consciousness.
To the intelligent vocal teacher there is something peculiarly
fascinating about the study of tone-production. In listening to any
faulty singer we feel with the utmost precision what is wrong with the
voice. Each imperfect tone informs us clearly and definitely just where
the wrong muscular contraction is located. It seems so easy to tell the
singer what to do in order to bring the tone out perfectly. Under the
influence of the mechanical idea we try to express this feeling in the
terms of muscular action. This attempt is never successful; the singer
cannot be brought to understand our meaning. Yet it is so clear in our
own minds that our inability to express it is extremely tantalizing. We
go on, constantly hoping to find a way to define the mechanical
processes so clearly indicated to the ear. We always feel that we are
just on the verge of the great discovery. The solution of the problem of
tone-production is almost within our grasp, yet it always eludes us.
It was stated in Chapter V of Part I that empirical knowledge of the
voice, based on the singer's sensations, is used to supplement and
interpret the doctrines of mechanical vocal guidance. This is in the
main true, so far as the vocal teacher is aware. But here again the
result of the sub-conscious character of empirical knowledge of the
voice is seen. As a matter of fact the real situation is the direct
reverse of that described in the chapter mentioned. The mechanical
doctrines are used in the attempt to interpret the empirical knowledge.
This fact is well brought out in the following passage from Kofler: "The
teacher must imitate the wrong muscle-action and tone of his pupil as an
illustration of the negative side." (_The Art of Breathing_, N. Y.,
1889.) Kofler does not touch on the question, how the teacher is able to
locate the wrong muscle-action of the pupil. He takes this ability for
granted; it is so purely an intuitive process that he does not stop to
inquire into the source of this information of the pupil's vocal action.
Through his sense of hearing he sub-consciously locates the faults in
the pupil's tone-production. His only conscious application of this
knowledge is the attempt to explain to the pupil the wrong
muscle-action. This he naturally tries to do in the terms of mechanical
action and muscular operation. Thus the mechanical doctrine is used in
the attempt to explain the empirical knowledge. Yet the teacher is
conscious only of citing the mechanical rule, and believes this to cover
the entire instruction.
In the preceding chapter it was seen that the perfectly produced vocal
tone may be considered in a variety of aspects. Each one of these
aspects is characterized by a fairly distinct set of sympathetic
sensations. Of faulty modes of throat action, as revealed by sympathetic
sensations, there is an almost infinite variety. Of this wide variety of
forms of throat tension the most prominent are those indicated by sets
of sympathetic sensations, the direct opposites of those characterizing
the perfect vocal action. Thus the open throat is indicated by one set
of sympathetic sensations, the lack of this characteristic of tone by an
opposite set, etc.
Whatever distinct fault of production the pupil's tone indicates, the
master immediately notes the character of the faulty throat action. The
master feels, simply and directly, what is wrong with the student's
tone-production. Whence this knowledge comes he does not stop to
inquire. Suppose the pupil to sing an exercise, and to produce tones
which stick in the throat, instead of coming out freely. The master
simply hears that the pupil's voice is caught in the throat; he does not
observe that he is informed of this condition by muscular as well as
auditory sensations.
This ignoring of the psychological nature of the impressions of tone is
not necessarily detrimental to successful instruction. On the contrary,
the master's empirical insight into the vocal operations of the pupil
would probably not be advanced by an understanding of the psychological
process. It is sufficient for the teacher's purpose to hear that the
pupil's voice is caught in the throat. What robs this hearing, or
feeling, of all value is this: the master attempts to interpret the
sensation as an indication of the need of some specific muscular action,
to be directly performed by the pupil. To this end he cites the
mechanical rule, assumed to be indicated by the pupil's faulty vocal
action. This may be, for example, the opening of the throat to give room
for the tone to expand. It seems so perfectly simple to the
teacher;--the pupil narrows his throat, and so holds in the tone; let
him expand his throat and the tone will come out freely. This conclusion
seems so clearly indicated by the sound of the tones that the master
almost inevitably gives the precise instruction: "Open your throat and
let your voice come out." This sums up, to the master's satisfaction,
everything the pupil need do to correct this particular fault of
tone-production.
Other sets of sympathetic sensations, awakened by badly produced tones,
are interpreted in the same manner. A tone heard to be held in the back
of the throat is believed to indicate the need of bringing the voice
forward in the mouth. Other forms of throaty production are taken to
show a lack of support, a wrong management of the breath, a need of
breath-control, a misuse of nasal resonance, or an improper action of
the vocal cords. In all these attempts to interpret sympathetic
sensations by means of mechanical doctrines the teacher naturally relies
on those doctrines in which he believes most firmly. Sympathetic
sensations are indeed sometimes cited in proof of certain theories of
breath-control, and also of nasal resonance. Both these topics are
worthy of separate attention.
_Sympathetic Sensations and Nasal Resonance_
One of the most widely accepted theories of the vocal action is that the
higher notes of the voice are influenced by reinforcing vibrations
located in the nose and forehead. Whether this idea was derived more
from direct than from sympathetic sensations need not be determined now.
It is at any rate certain that a perfectly sung tone gives to the hearer
the impression of nasal influence of some kind. The exact nature of this
influence has never been determined. It may be air resonance, or
sounding-board resonance, or both combined. Satisfactory proof on this
point is lacking. In the belief of the practical teacher, however, this
impression of nasal influence is the strongest argument in favor of
nasal resonance.
Turning now to the question of nasal quality, strictly speaking, tones
of this objectionable character always awaken the sympathetic sensations
of contraction somewhere in the nose. Why such a contraction should
cause this unpleasant sound of the voice is a profound mystery. Perhaps
wrong tension of the soft palate exerts an influence on the actions of
the vocal cords; or it may be that the form of the nasal cavities is
altered by the muscular contraction. This aspect of the vocal action has
never been scientifically investigated. The sympathetic sensation of
nasal contraction or pinching is at any rate very pronounced.
Curiously, this sympathetic sensation is cited as an argument in favor
of their respective theories, by both the advocates and the opponents of
nasal resonance.
_Sympathetic Sensations and Breath-Control_
Certain forms of exaggerated throat stiffness are frequently held to
indicate the need of breath-control. The faulty vocal action in question
is analyzed by the breath-control advocates substantially as follows:
"Owing to the outflow of the breath not being checked at the proper
point, the entire vocal mechanism is thrown out of adjustment. The
singer exerts most of his efforts in the endeavor to prevent the escape
of the breath; to this end he contracts his throat and stiffens his
tongue and jaw. His tones are forced, harsh, and breathy; they lack
musical quality. His voice runs away with him and he cannot control or
manage it. In the attempt to obtain some hold on his voice he 'reaches'
for his tones with his throat muscles. The more he tries to regain
control of the runaway breath the worse does his state become."
This extreme condition of throat stiffness is unfortunately by no means
rare. So far as concerns the sympathetic sensations awakened by this
kind of singing the condition is graphically described by the
breath-control advocates. But the conclusion is entirely unjustified
that this condition indicates the lack of breath-control. Only the
preconceived notion of breath-control leads to this inference. The
sympathetic sensations indicate a state of extreme muscular tension of
the throat; this is about the only possible analysis of the condition.
* * *
Empirical impressions of vocal tones determine the character of most
present-day instruction in singing. This means no more than to say that
throughout all vocal training the teacher listens to the pupil's voice.
The impressions of tone received by the teacher's ear cannot fail to
inform the teacher of the condition of the pupil's throat in producing
the voice. For the teacher to seek to apply this information in
imparting the correct vocal action to the pupil is inevitable.
Almost every teacher begins a course of instruction by having the pupil
run through the prescribed series of mechanical exercises and rules.
Breathing is always taken up first. Breath-control, laryngeal action,
registers, and resonance follow usually in this order. The time devoted
to this course of training may vary from a few weeks to several months.
This mechanical instruction is almost always interspersed with songs and
arias. The usual procedure is to devote about half of each lesson to
mechanical doctrines and the remainder to real singing.
Blind faith in the efficacy of this mechanical training is the teacher's
only motive in giving it. Very little attention is paid to the sound of
the pupil's voice during the study of mechanical rules and doctrines. It
is simply taken for granted that the voice must be put through this
course. Once the mechanical course has been covered, the pupil's voice
is supposed, in a vague way, to be "placed." From that time on, whether
it be at the end of two months of study or of two years, the instruction
is based solely on empirical impressions of tone.
Little remains to be said of the nature of this empirical instruction.
It always retains the mechanical aspect. Whatever fault of production
is noted, the teacher seeks to correct the fault by applying some
mechanical rule. The futility of this form of instruction has already
been pointed out.
Only two ways of applying empirical knowledge of the voice are known to
the modern vocal teacher. These are, first, to tell the pupil to "open
the throat," or to "support the tone," or to perform whatever other
mechanical operation seems to be indicated as necessary by the sound of
the tone; second, to bid the student to "feel that the tone is
supported," to "feel that the throat is open," etc. Under these
circumstances the little advantage derived from empirical knowledge in
modern Voice Culture is readily understood.
CHAPTER VI
SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE VOICE
So far as any definite record can be made, the knowledge of the voice
obtained by attentive listening to voices has now been set down. The
next step in the scientific study of tone-production is the
consideration of all knowledge of the voice obtained from sources other
than empirical. In other words, the knowledge of the voice usually
classed as scientific is now to be examined.
Three sciences are generally held to contribute all that can possibly be
known about the vocal action. These are anatomy, acoustics, and
mechanics. Of these anatomy has received by far the most attention from
vocal scientists. The laws of acoustics, bearing on the voice, have also
been carefully considered. Beyond the theory of breath-control, little
attempt has been made to apply the principles of mechanics in Vocal
Science. Psychology, the science most intimately concerned with the
management of the voice, has received almost no attention in this
connection.
A complete record of the teachings of the established sciences with
regard to the voice demands the separate consideration of the four
sciences mentioned. Each will therefore be treated in turn. In the case
of each of these sciences it is seen that the most essential facts of
the vocal action have been definitely established. Many questions still
remain to be satisfactorily answered which are of great interest to the
theoretical student of the voice. Yet in spite of the lack of exact
knowledge on these points, enough is now known to furnish the basis for
a practical science of Voice Culture.
_The Anatomy of the Vocal Mechanism_
This subject has been so exhaustively studied that nothing new can well
be discovered regarding the muscular structure of the vocal organs. In
all probability the reader is sufficiently acquainted with the anatomy
of the larynx and its connections. Only a very brief outline of the
subject is therefore demanded. The muscles concerned with breathing
call for no special notice in this connection.
The special organ of voice is the larynx. This consists of four
cartilages, with their connecting ligaments,--the thyroid, the cricoid,
and the two arytenoids, and of nine so-called intrinsic muscles,--two
crico-thyroid, right and left, two thyro-arytenoid, two posterior
crico-arytenoid, two lateral crico-arytenoid, and one arytenoideus. The
inner edges of the thyro-arytenoid muscles form the vocal cords. The
hyoid bone, serving as a medium of attachment for the tongue, may also
be considered a portion of the larynx. By means of the extrinsic muscles
the larynx is connected with the bones of the chest, neck, and head.
While the muscular structure of the vocal organs is thoroughly known,
the actions of the laryngeal muscles in tone-production have never been
absolutely determined. This much is definitely established: Vocal tone
is produced when the vocal cords are brought together and held on
tension, and the air in the lungs is expired with sufficient force to
set the vocal cords in motion. The tension of the vocal cords can be
increased by the contraction of their muscular tissues, the two
thyro-arytenoid muscles; further, increased tension of the cords can
also result from the tilting of the thyroid cartilage on the cricoid, by
the contraction of the crico-thyroid muscles.
It is also definitely proved that the pitch of the vocal tone varies
with the state of tension of the vocal cords; increasing the degree of
tension raises the pitch, decreasing the tension lowers it. As to the
relative importance of the different groups of muscles in varying the
tension of the vocal cords, nothing has been definitely proved.
In addition to the variations in pitch resulting from variations in the
tension of the vocal cords, there is also much ground for believing that
the pitch may be raised by shortening the effective length of the vocal
cords. This is apparently accomplished by the rotation of the arytenoid
cartilages; but the specific muscular contractions concerned in the
rotation of the arytenoids have not been located.
It is generally asserted by vocal theorists that the quality of the
vocal tone, on any one note, is determined mainly by the influence of
the resonance cavities. Dr. Mills says on this point: "When it is borne
in mind that the vocal bands have little or nothing to do with the
quality of the tone, the importance of those parts of the vocal
apparatus which determine quality... becomes apparent." (_Voice
Production in Singing and Speaking_, 1906.) This theory that the quality
of the tone is determined solely by the resonance cavities is directly
contradicted by Prof. Scripture. He proves that changes in tone quality
result from changes in vocal cord adjustment. This subject is more fully
treated in the following section. Even before this matter had been
definitely settled by Prof. Scripture, there was a strong presumption in
favor of the vocal cord adjustment theory. Howard advanced this idea in
1883. Several empirical observations support this theory. Most important
of these is the fact that a single tone, swelled from _piano_ to
_forte_, goes through a wide variety of changes in quality.
Stockhausen's mention of this fact has already been noted.
This fact tends to cast some doubt on the value of laryngoscopic
observation as a means of determining the laryngeal action. Under the
conditions necessary for examination with the laryngoscope it is
impossible for the singer to produce any but soft tones in the head
quality of voice. Most of these tones, if swelled to _forte_, would
change from the head to the chest quality. It is probable that this
change in quality is effected by a corresponding change in the vocal
cord adjustment, as the conditions of the resonance cavities remain the
same. But this cannot be determined by laryngoscopic observation.
So far as the actions of the laryngeal muscles are concerned, no
difference can be defined between the correct vocal action and any
improper mode of operation. Sir Morell Mackenzie examined a large number
of people with the aid of the laryngoscope; of these, some were trained
singers, others, while possessed of good natural voices, had had no
vocal training whatever. Many variations were noted in the notes on
which changes of register occurred. But it could not be determined by
this mode of examination whether the subject was a trained singer or
not.
If there is one specifically correct mode of operation for the vocal
cords, this correct action has never been determined from the anatomy of
the organs. No doubt there is some difference between the muscular
actions of correct tone-production and those of any incorrect operation
of the voice. But the nature of this difference in muscular action has
never been discovered by means of dissections of the larynx, nor by
laryngoscopic observation.
_The Acoustic Principles of Tone-Production_
An outline of the existing state of knowledge regarding the acoustic
principles of tone-production must be drawn mainly from one source. This
is the latest authoritative work on the subject, _The Study of Speech
Curves_, by E. W. Scripture (Washington, 1906). In this work Prof.
Scripture overthrows several of the conclusions of Helmholtz which had
hitherto furnished the basis of all the accepted theories of vocal
acoustics. Considering the eminently scientific character of all Prof.
Scripture's research work, his thorough acquaintance with every detail
of the subject, and the exhaustive attention devoted to this series of
experiments, we are fully justified in accepting his present statements
as conclusively proved.
A first impression received from a careful reading of _The Study of
Speech Curves_ is that the subject is vastly more intricate than had
formerly been believed. Helmholtz's theory of vocal acoustics was fairly
simple: The vocal cords vibrate after the manner of membranous reeds; a
tone thus produced consists of a fundamental and a series of overtones;
vowel and tone quality are determined by the influence of the resonance
cavities, which reinforce certain of the overtones with special
prominence. This theory is discarded by Prof. Scripture. "The overtone
theory of the vowels cannot be correct." In place of this simple theory,
Prof. Scripture reaches conclusions too complicated to be given in
detail here. A brief outline of the subject must suffice for the needs
of the present work.
Prof. Scripture found that the nature of the walls of a resonating
cavity is of more importance than either its size, shape, or opening. A
flesh-lined cavity is capable of reinforcing tones covering a range of
several notes. Further, the vowel sound, and presumably also the tone
quality, are determined more by the action of the vocal cords than by
the adjustment of the resonance cavities. "The glottal lips vibrate
differently for the different vowels." This adjustment of the glottal
lips "presumably occurs by nervously aroused contractions of the fibers
of the muscles in the glottal lips." Continuing, Prof. Scripture says:
"Physiologically stated, the action for a vowel is as follows: Each
glottal lip consists mainly of a mass of muscles supported at the ends
and along the lateral side. It bears no resemblance to a membrane or a
string. The two lips come together at their front ends, but diverge to
the rear. The rear ends are attached to the arytenoid cartilages. When
the ends are brought together by rotation of these arytenoid cartilages,
the medial surfaces touch. At the same time they are stretched by the
action of the crico-thyroid muscles, which pull apart the points of
support at the ends.
"In this way the two masses of muscle close the air passage. To produce
a vowel such a relation of air pressure and glottal tension is arranged
that the air from the trachea bursts the muscles apart for a moment,
after which they close again; the release of the puff of air reduces the
pressure in the trachea and they remain closed until the pressure is
again sufficient to burst them apart. With appropriate adjustments of
the laryngeal muscles and air pressure this is kept up indefinitely,
and a series of puffs from the larynx is produced. The glottal lips open
partly by yielding sidewise,--that is, they are compressed,--and partly
by being shoved upward and outward. The form of the puff, sharp or
smooth, is determined by the way in which the glottal lips yield; the
mode of yielding depends on the way in which the separate fibers of the
muscles are contracted.
"These puffs act on the vocal cavity, that is, on a complicated system
of cavities (trachea, larynx, pharynx, mouth, nose) with variable
shapes, sizes, and openings. The effect of the puffs on each element of
the vocal cavity is double: first, to arouse in it a vibration with a
period depending on the cavity; second, to force on it a vibration of
the same period as that of the set of puffs. The prevalence of one of
the factors over the other depends on the form of the puff, the walls of
the cavities, etc."
Prof. Scripture does not undertake to point out a difference between the
correct vocal action in tone-production, and any incorrect action. This
difference in action does not seem capable of definition by any
analysis of the acoustic principles involved.
_Mechanical Principles of the Vocal Action_
In Part II, Chapter II, it was seen that the outflow of the breath in
tone-production is checked by the vocal cords, in accordance with
Pascal's law of fluid pressures. Another law of mechanics bearing on
this operation is now to be considered, viz., the law of the
transformation and conservation of energy.
The application of the law of the transformation and conservation of
energy to the operations of the voice is nicely illustrated by the
well-known candle-flame test of (supposedly) breath-control. To perform
this test the singer is instructed to practise the exercises for
breath-control while holding a lighted candle with the flame an inch or
two in front of the lips. According to the idea of the breath-control
advocates, the expired breath should escape so slowly, and with so
little force, that no current of air can be detected at the lips, the
expiration therefore does not cause the candle flame to flicker.
Describing the toneless breathing exercises to be practised with the
candle flame, Browne and Behnke say, "Let it be observed that the above
exercise is quite distinct from the well-known practice of _singing_
before a lighted candle, which is, comparatively speaking, an easy
matter." (_Voice, Song, and Speech_.) A very striking fact is stated
correctly by Browne and Behnke,--there is no current of air created at
the lips during tone-production. Of the truth of this statement the
reader may readily convince himself by trying this same experiment with
a candle flame, or even with a lighted match. Hold a lighted match just
in front of the lips and sing a powerful tone. The quality of the tone
is of no consequence so long as it be powerful. Just sing, shout, yell,
the louder the better. You will find that the flame is less affected
under these circumstances than by the quiet expiration of ordinary
breathing.
Considerable practice and close attention are required in order to hold
back the breath in toneless breathing exercises. Whereas in producing
any kind of powerful tone the breath normally creates no current of air
at the lips.
There is no reason for considering this experiment a test of correct
tone-production. It is impossible to produce a powerful tone of any
kind, good, bad, or indifferent, and at the same time to create an
appreciable current of air at the lips.
Needless to say, the breath-control theorists have entirely failed to
grasp the significance of the candle-flame experiment. Yet we have here
a demonstration of the mechanical law of tone-production.
Considered as a mechanical process, tone-production occurs when the
energy exerted by the expiratory muscles, in their contraction, is
converted into energy of motion of the vocal cords.[8] In other words,
tone-production is an example of the transformation of energy. The law
of the transformation and conservation of energy must therefore apply to
this operation. This law is stated as follows: "Energy may be
transformed from any of its forms to any other form. When energy is thus
transformed the quantity of energy in the resulting form or forms is
equal to the quantity of energy in the original form."
[Note 8: This exposition of the mechanical principle of
tone-production is intended to be graphic, rather than strictly
technical. For the sake of simplicity, that portion of the expiratory
energy expended in friction against the throat walls, tongue, cheeks,
etc., is disregarded, as well as that expended in propelling the air out
of the mouth, in displacing the same quantity of external air, etc.]
The mechanical operation of tone-production comprises the following
transformations of energy: First, the energy exerted in the contraction
of the expiratory muscles is converted into energy of condensation or
elasticity of the air in the lungs and trachea. Second, this energy of
condensation of the air is converted into energy of motion of the vocal
cords. In other words, the expiratory energy is transformed into energy
of motion.
One objection, at first sight very serious, may be offered against this
statement: the amount of strength exerted in the contractions of the
breath muscles seems many times greater than is accounted for in the
motion of the vocal cords. The movements of the vocal cords are so
slight as to be observable only with the aid of a specially devised
apparatus, the stroboscope. Can all the expiratory force expended in
tone-production show such a small result? This apparent objection is
found to be groundless in view of the application in this operation of
Pascal's law. As this topic was fully treated in Chapter II of Part II,
no further explanation is required here.
The erroneous idea of vocal mechanics involved in the doctrine of
breath-control is now fully exposed. Tone can be produced only when the
expired air exerts a pressure on the vocal cords. There is no necessity
for any conscious or voluntary check on the expiration. The energy of
the expiration is expended in setting the vocal cords in motion. No
energy of condensation is left in the expired air the instant it has
passed the vocal cords. Beyond that point there is no expiratory
pressure.
In one sense it is true that the expiration is "controlled" in
tone-production. But this control is strictly an automatic action. The
vocal cords are adjusted, by the appropriate muscular contractions, to
move in response to the air pressure exerted against them. This action
involves, as a necessary consequence, the holding back by the vocal
cords of the out-rushing air. So long as the vocal cords remain in the
position for producing tone, they also control the expiration. In this
sense breath-control is an inseparable feature of tone-production.
All that need be known of the mechanics of the voice is therefore
perfectly plain. The vocal cords are set in motion by the pressure
against them of the expired breath. This operation is in accordance with
Pascal's law and the law of the conservation of energy.
But this analysis throws no light on the nature of the correct vocal
action. It is impossible for the voice to produce a sound in any way
other than that just described. In speaking or in singing, in laughing
or in crying, in every sound produced by the action of the vocal cords,
the mechanical principle is always the same. Nor is the bearing of this
law limited to the human voice. Every singing bird, every animal whose
vocal mechanism consists of lungs and larynx, illustrates the same
mechanical principle of vocal action.
Only passing mention is required of the fallacy of the breath-band
theory. The idea of any necessity of relieving the vocal cords of the
expiratory pressure is purely fanciful. How any one with even a slight
understanding of mechanics could imagine the checking of the breath by
the inflation of the ventricles of Morgagni, is hard to conceive.
_The Psychology of Tone-Production_
This subject was treated, in some detail, in Chapter V of Part II. In
that chapter however we were concerned more with a destructive criticism
of the idea of mechanical tone-production than with the positive
features of vocal psychology. At the risk of some repetition it is
therefore advisable here to sum up the laws of psychology bearing on the
vocal action.
Considered as a psychological process, tone-production in singing
involves three distinct operations. First, the mental ear conceives a
tone of definite pitch, quality, vowel sound, and power. Second, the
vocal organs prepare to adjust themselves, by the appropriate muscular
contractions, for the production of the tone mentally conceived. Third,
the fiat of will is issued, causing the muscular contractions to be
performed. These three operations are executed as one conscious,
voluntary act. Let us inquire to what extent consciousness is concerned
with each operation.
As conscious volitional impulses, the mental conception of the tone, and
the fiat of will to produce the tone, are well enough understood. These
two operations call for no extended consideration. We are at present
concerned only with the psychological laws bearing on the muscular
adjustments of the vocal organs.
Muscular contractions result from the transmission to the muscular
fibers of motor nerve impulses. These nerve impulses originate in the
motor nerve centers. They can never, under any circumstances, rise into
consciousness. Contractions of the voluntary muscles occur either as
reflex or as voluntary actions. In both cases the motor nerve impulses
originate in the same nerve centers. In the case of reflex actions these
lower muscular centers alone are involved; in voluntary actions the
originating of the motor impulses is "controlled" by consciousness. In
deciding that an action shall be performed, and in what way it is to be
performed, consciousness directs that each motor center involved shall
send out the appropriate discharges of nerve impulse.
Complex muscular activities require the sending out of nerve impulses
from various motor centers. Such activities are usually not performed
instantaneously, but require a longer or shorter time. Thus we may
consider it as one action for the writer to rise from his chair, to
lower the window and adjust the shade, and then to return to his seat.
In this case a large number of motor centers are successively involved;
at the proper instant each center discharges its impulse. To this end
the motor centers must be instructed when to come into activity.
This distribution of nerve impulse is effected by the power of
coördination. In voluntary actions coördination is accompanied by
conscious control.[9] But coördination is not a function of the higher
cerebral centers, that is, of consciousness. How the connection is made
between the higher cerebral centers and the lower motor centers is a
complete mystery. All that can be said is that the ideas of movements
are transmitted to the motor centers, and that these send out the
appropriate motor impulses.
[Note 9: In this connection it is advisable to point out a
difference between the meanings attached to the word "control" in
psychology and in Vocal Science. The psychologist classes habitual
movements as either automatic or controlled. Automatic movements are
purely reflex; the individual does not consciously decide whether they
shall be performed or not. Psychologically considered, the _control_ of
a movement is simply the conscious volitional decision whether the
movement shall be performed. To adopt the language of Psychology, we
should speak of _voice management_, and of _breath regulation_, instead
of vocal control, breath control, etc. In the following chapters the
accepted psychological usage of the word "control" will so far as
possible be adopted.]
Turning now to the muscular adjustments of the vocal organs, these
adjustments are seen to be independent of conscious guidance. When a
tone is mentally conceived the vocal organs adjust themselves, in
response to some mysterious guidance, for the production of the tone.
The vocal cords assume the appropriate degree of tension according to
the pitch of the tone to be sung. Both the quality of the tone and the
vowel are determined by the combined adjustments of the laryngeal
muscles and of the muscles which fix the shape and size of the resonance
cavities. The power of the tone is regulated by the force of the breath
blast; for each degree of power some special adjustment of the vocal
cords is required.
All these adjustments are executed as one concrete and individual act in
response to the volitional impulse contained in the mental conception of
the tone. The tone is conceived as a concrete whole. It is not normally
broken up mentally into its four aspects of pitch, quality, vowel, and
power. True, each one of these four characteristics of the tone may be
separately considered by the singer. So also, to a certain extent, may
the adjustments of the vocal organs be performed with special reference
to one or the other characteristic of the tone. But in every case the
muscular contractions are performed without direct conscious guidance.
Whatever be the character of the tone mentally demanded, the vocal
organs instantly adjust themselves to produce the tone.
What is meant by saying that the muscular contractions are performed
without conscious guidance? Does this mean that the singer is
unconscious of the muscular contractions? Not at all. Muscular sense
informs the singer, more or less distinctly, of the state of contraction
or relaxation of the various muscles of the vocal organs. The singer
always knows fairly well the condition of the various parts of the vocal
mechanism. What is meant is this: The singer does not consciously direct
the vocal organs to assume certain positions and conditions, and does
not instruct the various muscles to contract in certain ways. The singer
does not need to know, and in fact cannot know, what muscular
contractions are required to produce any desired tone.
Some connection exists between the organs of hearing and the vocal
mechanism. That this connection has a physical basis in the nervous
structure is fairly well established. "The centers for sight and for arm
movements, for instance, or those of hearing and of vocal movements,
have connecting pathways between them." (_Feeling and Will_, Jas. M.
Baldwin, 1894.) The psychological law of tone-production is that the
vocal organs adjust themselves, without conscious guidance, to produce
the tones mentally conceived. In actual singing the practical
application of this law is that the voice is guided by the ear.
This guidance of the voice by the ear is incessant. It must not be
understood that the mental ear simply conceives a single tone, and that
the vocal machinery then operates without further guidance. All the
characteristics of the vocal tones,--pitch, quality, and power,--are
constantly changing. These changes require corresponding changes in the
muscular adjustments. The muscular contractions in turn are guided by
the demands of the mental ear. As a psychological process, singing may
therefore be analyzed as follows: The singer mentally sings the
composition. In response to the ever varying demands of the ear the
vocal organs adjust themselves to produce actually the sounds thus
mentally conceived. The singer listens to these sounds and at every
instant compares them to the mental conception. If the tones actually
produced fail to correspond exactly to those mentally conceived, the
singer instantly notes this variation and bids the vocal organs to
correct it. The ear has therefore a dual function in singing. First, the
mental ear directs the voice in its operations. Second, the physical ear
acts as a check or corrective on the voice.
To sum up the psychology of tone-production, the singer guides or
manages the voice by attentively listening to the tones of the voice.
This is the only possible means of vocal guidance. The voice and the ear
together form one complete organ.
But we are still apparently as far as ever from the specific meaning of
the correct vocal action. That the voice instinctively obeys the
commands of the ear may be true theoretically. In actual practice we
know that this does not by any means always occur. Singers are often
unable to get the desired results from their voices, even when they
believe themselves to rely on the sense of hearing. There must therefore
be some influence which under certain conditions interferes with the
operations of the vocal organs. The problem of tone-production is thus
seen to be one of psychology. It narrows down to this: What can
interfere with the normal action of the voice and prevent the vocal
organs from instinctively responding to the demands of the ear? A
satisfactory answer to this problem will be found only by a
consideration of all available knowledge of the voice, both empirical
and scientific. This forms the material of the final division of the
present work.
Part IV
VOCAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL VOICE CULTURE
CHAPTER I
THE CORRECT VOCAL ACTION
Two distinct lines of approach were laid down for studying the
operations of the voice. First, the manner of investigation usually
accepted as scientific. This is, to study the vocal mechanism; to
determine, as far as possible, the laws of its operation, in accordance
with the principles of anatomy, acoustics, mechanics, and psychology.
Second, the manner of investigation generally called empirical. This
begins with the observing of the tones of the voice, considered simply
as sounds. From the tones we work back to the vocal organs and apply to
them the information obtained by attentive listening. Both of these
means of investigation have been utilized; we are now in possession of
the most salient facts obtainable regarding the vocal action.
Separately considered, neither the scientific nor the empirical study of
the voice is alone sufficient to inform us of the exact nature of the
correct vocal action. The next step is therefore to combine the
information obtained from the two sources, scientific analysis and
empirical observation. Let us begin by summing up all the facts so far
ascertained.
Tone-production in singing is a conscious and voluntary muscular
operation. The vocal organs consist of a number of sets of voluntary
muscles, of the bones and cartilages to which these muscles are
attached, and of the nerves and nerve centers governing their actions.
The precise nature of the muscular contractions of tone-production,
whether correct or incorrect, is not known. These contractions occur in
accordance with established laws of acoustics and mechanics. Under
normal conditions the vocal organs instinctively respond to the demands
of the singer, through the guidance of the sense of hearing. The ability
of the vocal organs to adjust themselves properly may be upset by some
influence apparently outside the singer's voluntary control. Study of
the vocal mechanism does not inform us of the meaning of the correct
vocal action, nor of the difference between this action and any other
mode of operation of the voice.
Empirically considered, there is a striking difference between the
correct vocal action and any other manner of tone-production. A perfect
vocal tone awakens in the hearer a distinct set of auditory and muscular
sensations. Attentively observed, the muscular sensations of the hearer
indicate that the perfect vocal tone is produced by the balanced and
harmonious action of all the muscles of the singer's vocal mechanism. In
listening to perfect singing the hearer feels that every muscle of the
singer's vocal organs is contracted with exactly the appropriate degree
of strength. Any vocal tone of unsatisfactory sound awakens in the
hearer a set of muscular sensations, the direct opposite of those
indicating the correct vocal action. An incorrectly produced tone
imparts to the hearer a sensation of stiffness and undue muscular
tension, located more or less definitely in the throat. This sensation
indicates that the singer's throat is stiffened by excessive muscular
contraction. Further, this feeling of throat stiffness indicates to the
hearer that the singer's vocal action would become correct if the undue
muscular tension were relaxed.
Combining now the results of empirical and scientific investigation of
the voice, throat stiffness is seen to be the interfering influence
which disturbs the instinctive connection between voice and ear. Let us
now consider the meaning of throat stiffness as a feature of incorrect
tone-production. First, what is muscular stiffness?
All the voluntary muscles of the body are arranged in opposed pairs,
sets, or groups. A typical pair of opposed muscles are the biceps and
triceps of the upper arm. Contraction of the biceps flexes the forearm
at the elbow; the contrary movement, extending the forearm, results from
the contraction of the triceps. This principle of opposition applies to
the entire muscular system. One set of muscles raises the ribs in
inspiration, another set lowers them in expiration; one group flexes the
fingers and clenches the fist, an opposed set extends the fingers and
opens the hand. Muscular opposition does not imply that the entire
structure is made up of parallel pairs of muscles, like the biceps and
triceps, located on opposite sides of the same bone. It means only that
the opposed sets pull in contrary directions.
Each opposed set consists of muscles of about equal strength. Under
normal conditions of relaxation the entire muscular system exerts a
slight degree of contraction. To this normal state of oppositional
contraction the name "muscular tonicity" is given. The present purpose
does not call for a discussion of the subject of muscular tonicity. This
form of contraction has no direct bearing on the performance of
voluntary movements.
What effect has the voluntary contraction of all the muscles of any
member, each opposed set exerting the same degree of strength? No motion
of the member results, but the member is brought on tension and
stiffened. This is well illustrated in the case of the arm. Extend the
arm and clench the fist; then contract all the muscles of the arm, about
as the athlete does to display his muscular development. You will notice
that the arm becomes stiff and tense.
This state of tension is commonly called "muscular stiffness," but the
term is open to objection. It is really the joints which are stiffened,
not the muscles. We are, however, so accustomed to speak of muscular
stiffness, and particularly of throat stiffness, that little is to be
gained by substituting a more accurate expression.
A condition of muscular stiffness results from the contraction of all
the muscles of a member, whether this contraction be voluntary or
involuntary. This condition does not prevent the normal movements of the
member; it only renders the movements more difficult and fatiguing and
less effective. It is readily seen why this is the case. More than the
necessary strength is exerted by the muscles. Suppose the biceps and
triceps, for example, each to be contracted with five units of strength;
then let some work be performed by the flexing of the forearm, requiring
the exertion of two units of strength. In this case the biceps must
exert two units of strength more than the triceps, that is, seven units.
In all, the two muscles together exert twelve units of strength to
accomplish the effective result of two units. Six times the needed
strength is exerted. Activity of this kind is naturally fatiguing.
Muscular stiffness increases the difficulty of complex movements. Not
only is unnecessary strength exerted; the stiffness of the joints also
interferes with the freedom and facility of motion. But this unfavorable
condition does not upset the power of coördination. The instinctive
connection between the nerve centers of consciousness and the motor
centers is not broken. Although hampered in their efforts, the muscles
are still able to execute the demands of consciousness.
As an illustration of this analysis of muscular stiffness let us
consider the actions of writing, when performed under the conditions
just described. It is possible to write with the hand and arm in a state
of muscular stiffness. But one does not write so easily, so rapidly, nor
so well with the arm stiff as with the arm normally relaxed. Closer
attention must be paid to the forming of the letters, and more effort
must be put forth to write with the muscles stiffened; yet the result is
not equal to that obtained with less care and labor under normal
muscular conditions.
All that has been said of muscular stiffness applies with especial force
to the vocal organs. Like the rest of the muscular system, the muscles
of the vocal organs are arranged in opposed pairs and sets. The
contraction of all the muscles of the throat, each opposed set or pair
exerting about the same degree of strength, causes a condition of
throat stiffness. Singing is possible in this condition. But the
singer's command of the voice is not so complete and satisfactory as
under normal conditions.
Throat stiffness does not altogether deprive the vocal organs of their
faculty of instinctive adjustment in obedience to the demands of the
ear. To a fair extent the voice is under the command of the singer. The
vocal cords adjust themselves readily enough for the desired pitch;
tones of the various degrees of loudness and softness can be sung in a
fairly satisfactory manner. But the muscles are somewhat hampered in
their contractions, and the response to the demands of the ear is not
quite perfect. This lack of perfect command is evidenced specially in
the quality of the tones. Some form of throaty quality always mars the
voice when the throat is in a stiffened condition. In this regard the
voice refuses to fulfill the demands of the ear. Even though the singer
hears, and indeed feels, the effects of the muscular tension, and
strives to remedy the fault of production, the voice still refuses to
respond.
This incomplete command of the voice is frequently observed, even among
singers of very high standing. At first sight the condition here
described seems to disprove the statement that the voice normally obeys
the ear. But there is no real contradiction of the psychological law of
vocal command in the case of a stiff-throated singer. For one thing,
whatever degree of command the singer possesses is obtained in
accordance with the law of guidance by the ear. Moreover, the failure to
secure perfect response is due solely to the interference with the
normal workings of the voice, occasioned by the state of throat
stiffness. Far from this form of muscular contraction being a
contradiction of psychological principles, it will be found on
examination to be in perfect accord with well-established laws of
physiological psychology.
It is hardly to be supposed that the singer consciously and voluntarily
contracts the muscles of the entire vocal mechanism and so deliberately
brings about the stiffening of the throat. True, this can readily be
done. We can at will sing throaty and nasal tones. But this form of
voluntary throat tension is not, properly speaking, an incorrect vocal
action. So long as the vocal organs respond to the demands of the ear,
the vocal action is correct. Only when the voice refuses to obey can
the action be described as incorrect.
A satisfactory definition of the various modes of vocal action can now
be given. The correct vocal action is the natural operation of the vocal
organs; the voice normally obeys the commands of the ear. An incorrect
vocal action occurs when the throat is stiffened by the involuntary
contraction of the muscles of the vocal mechanism.
This definition of the vocal action does not solve the problem of
tone-production. It is still to be determined how the involuntary
contraction of the throat muscles is caused.
CHAPTER II
THE CAUSES OF THROAT STIFFNESS AND OF INCORRECT VOCAL ACTION
Involuntary contractions of the voluntary muscles can occur only as
reflex actions. If the muscles of the vocal organs are subject to
involuntary contractions, the causes of these contractions must be
sought through an investigation of the subject of reflex actions.
Reflex actions are of several kinds; of these the simplest type, and the
one most easily studied, is the muscular contraction due to the
excitation of the sensory nerve endings located in the skin. Thus when
the sole of the foot of a sleeping person is tickled, the leg is at
first drawn up and then violently kicked out. An exhaustive discussion
of the physiological and psychological features of reflex action is not
called for here; a sufficient understanding of the subject may safely be
assumed to be possessed by the reader.
Involuntary muscular contractions often occur as reflex actions without
any direct or tactual irritation of the sensory nerve endings. Several
examples of this form of reflex action are now to be considered. These
actions will be seen to be matters of such common experience as to call
for no special proof. They are the following:
(_a_) Reflex actions performed under the influence of sensory
impressions other than those of touch or muscular sense.
(_b_) Involuntary muscular contractions due to nervousness.
(_c_) Contractions of the muscles of certain members, caused by the
turning of the attention specially to the members.
(_d_) Involuntary contractions of muscles, accompanying the exertion of
other associated and antagonist muscles, and due to the radiation of
nerve impulse.
(_a_) _Reflex Actions due to Sensory Impressions other than those of
Touch or Muscular Sense_
A wide range of movements is included under this heading. Of these it is
necessary to mention only a few, such as the sudden start on the hearing
of an unexpected noise, the instinctive movement of dodging to escape an
approaching missile, and the raising of the arm to ward off an expected
blow.
Actions of a somewhat similar character normally occur in which it is
not easy to point to the excitation of any sense or senses. These
include the instinctive cowering attitude of fear, the play of facial
expression caused by sentiment and emotion, etc.
(_b_) _Involuntary Actions due to Nervousness_
A condition of marked nervousness generally causes the involuntary
contraction of muscles. Who does not recall his earliest attempts at
"speaking a piece" in school? The trembling of the lips, the twitching
of the arms and hands, and the vain attempts to govern the bodily
movements, are an experience painful even in the recollection.
Movements and contractions due to nervousness are entirely purposeless;
they even defy the most earnest efforts at inhibition. A marked feature
of this type of involuntary action is the contraction of antagonist
groups of muscles, productive of muscular stiffness of the members.
An extreme example of this form of nervousness is offered by the
unfortunate sufferer from stage fright. In this condition the entire
body often stiffens, and purposeful movement of any kind becomes for a
time impossible.
(_c_) _Contractions caused by Special Attention to Certain Members_
Suppose a small boy of sensitive nature to enter a room suddenly, and to
be at once chided for his awkwardness. His body will probably stiffen,
and his awkwardness become more pronounced. Now call his attention to
his hands and tell him he is holding them badly. His arms and hands will
immediately become painfully stiff. Speak of his feet and his legs come
on tension. Whatever member his attention is turned to, the muscles of
that part contract involuntarily.
Photographers sometimes have to contend with this form of involuntary
action on the part of their sitters. When the hands are to be posed the
arms stiffen; so also do the legs, the shoulders, and the neck, each
when its turn comes to receive attention.
Under normal conditions this form of awkwardness is easily overcome.
Sitting for a photograph soon becomes a simple matter. The boy outgrows
the awkward stage and gradually acquires a natural and easy bearing.
Muscular stiffening due to attention to special members is usually the
result of an uncomfortable feeling of being out of one's element, and
ill at ease in one's surroundings. So soon as this feeling wears off the
tendency to this form of stiffness disappears.
(_d_) _Contractions of Muscles due to the Radiation of Nerve Impulse_
A voluntary exertion of some of the muscles of a member sometimes causes
the involuntary contraction of all the other muscles of the part. As
will readily be seen, the exercise then takes place under conditions of
muscular stiffness. This is commonly a feature of the unskilful and
unaccustomed performance of muscular activities. A few examples will
serve to illustrate this type of involuntary contraction better than a
lengthy discussion of the physio-psychological principles involved.
When a novice takes his first lesson in riding a bicycle he clutches the
handle bars in a vise-like grip. His knees are so stiff as to bend only
with a great exertion of strength. To steer the wheel the learner must
put forth his most powerful muscular efforts. A half-hour lesson in
bicycle riding often tires the beginner more than an afternoon's ride
does the experienced cyclist.
This condition of muscular stiffness is due to the contraction of
antagonist groups of muscles, involving practically the entire body. In
one sense the excessive muscular contractions are involuntary; yet it
would not be easy to define where the voluntary element of the
contractions leaves off.
A similar excessive expenditure of strength may be seen in the attempt
of an illiterate laborer to sign his name. He grips the pen as though it
were a crowbar, and puts forth enough strength to handle a twenty-pound
weight. Learning to dance, or to skate, or to row a boat, is usually
accompanied in the beginning by this form of muscular stiffness.
As skill is acquired by practice in the performance of complex
activities, the undue muscular tension of the initial stage is gradually
relaxed.
There is another way in which the radiation of nerve impulse may be
caused, entirely distinct from the lack of use or skill. Muscular
stiffness may be induced in the case of activities so thoroughly
habitual as to be normally performed automatically. The cause of
muscular stiffness now to be considered is the attempt to perform
complex activities mechanically, that is, by consciously directing the
individual component movements and muscular contractions involved in the
actions. Involuntary contractions of associated and antagonist muscles
take place under these conditions, in addition to the voluntary exercise
of the muscles normally exerted in the movements.
This fact may be illustrated by attempting to write a few lines, and
forming every stroke of each letter by a distinct exercise of the will.
If you keep up this attempt for ten minutes you will find that you press
upon the paper with many times your accustomed weight. The hand stiffens
in consequence of the close attention paid to its movements. This
stiffness will extend to the arm, and even to the shoulder, if the
exercise be continued long enough and with sufficient intensity of
attention to the hand.
Another good illustration of this form of muscular stiffening may be
found by walking upstairs, and paying the same kind of attention to the
muscular actions. Try to ascend a single flight of stairs, performing
each elementary movement by a distinct volitional impulse. Pause on the
first step to secure perfect balance on one foot; raise the other foot,
bending the leg at the knee, then place this foot carefully on the next
higher step. Now gradually shift the weight of the body from the lower
to the higher foot; as the body inclines forward, exert the muscles of
the back and sides to preserve your balance; then contract the leg
muscles so as to raise the body to the higher step, with the weight
supported on that foot. Repeat this operation for each step. To mount
one flight of stairs in this way will tire you more than ascending a
half dozen flights in the ordinary automatic way.
All four of the types of involuntary muscular contraction just described
may be combined in a single instance. An inexperienced violin soloist,
such as a student playing at a conservatory recital, often exemplifies
this. Nervousness and awkwardness cause him to tremble; the scratchy
sound of his tones makes him twitch and start; meanwhile, the close
attention paid to his fingering and bowing stiffens his arms and
completes his difficulty.
The vocal organs are peculiarly subject to the forms of involuntary
muscular contraction under consideration. Each of the causes of muscular
tension may exert its special influence on the voice. Let us go over the
ground once more, this time with special reference to the actions of the
throat muscles.
_(a) Reflex Actions of the Muscles of the Vocal Organs, Independent of
Direct Sensory Excitation_
Involuntary actions of the vocal organs normally occur in response to
stimuli furnished by the emotions and feelings. Every one is familiar
with the shout of triumph, the sigh of relief, and the ejaculation of
surprise. Some emotions cause a convulsive stiffening of the muscles of
the vocal organs so complete as to render tone-production for a time
absolutely impossible. "Speechless with terror," "breathless with
apprehension," are expressions which accurately describe psychological
processes. A crowd of people watching a difficult rescue of a drowning
man is silent so long as the uncertainty lasts. A shout instantly goes
up when the rescue is seen to be safely effected. Both the silence of
the nervous strain and the shout of relief are normal involuntary
responses to the emotional states.
_(b) The Influence of Nervousness on the Vocal Action_
Nervous conditions exert a striking influence on the operations of the
voice. Even when our self-control under trying conditions is complete in
all other respects we are often unable to prevent our voices betraying
our nervous state. Stage fright, an extreme form of nervousness,
sometimes deprives the sufferer entirely of the power of speech. This
temporary loss of vocal command is not due to an inability to innervate
the muscles of the vocal organs; on the contrary, it is caused by
extreme muscular stiffness due to the violent, though involuntary,
contraction of all the muscles of the vocal organs.
Under normal conditions, entirely aside from nervousness, the voice
instinctively reflects every phase of sentiment and emotion. Love and
hate, sorrow and joy, anger, fear, and rage, each is clearly expressed
by the quality of the tones, independent of the meaning of the spoken
words. All these fine shades of tone quality result from muscular
adjustments of the vocal mechanism. In some mysterious manner the
outflow of motor impulses to the throat muscles is governed by the
nervous and emotional states.
This form of muscular contraction is in one sense not involuntary. As
the voice is voluntarily used, all the muscular contractions involved
are voluntary. Yet the minute contractions producing tone qualities
expressive of emotion are distinctly involuntary. More than this, these
contractions cannot usually be inhibited. An angry man cannot make his
voice sound other than angry. Our voices often betray our feelings in
spite of the most earnest efforts at concealment.
While the voice always normally and involuntarily adopts the tone
quality indicative of the emotional state, this action of the vocal
organs may be voluntarily and purposely performed. A perfect command of
these fine shades of tone quality renders the voice a very potent
instrument of expression. For the purposes of dramatic singing this form
of vocal expression might be of great value. It is to be regretted that
dramatic singers of this day pay so little attention to purely tonal
expressiveness. This is probably due in great measure to the prevalence
of throat stiffness, which robs the voice of much of its expressive
power.
_(c) Contractions of the Throat Muscles, caused by Attention to the
Throat_
When a physician attempts to examine a child's throat, the tendency of
the throat muscles to this form of involuntary contractions is apt to be
evidenced. The jaw stiffens and the tongue rises; for a time the
rebellious little throat refuses to remain quiet and relaxed.
People usually have some such difficulty the first time they submit to
examination with the laryngoscope. This is very apt to occur, even in
the case of experienced singers. Needless to say, this form of muscular
contraction is entirely involuntary; it even defies the most earnest
attempts at prevention. Comparatively little experience is required for
normal people to overcome this tendency. The throat usually becomes
tractable after one or two trials with the laryngoscope.
Vocalists are well aware of the proneness of one part of the vocal
mechanism, the tongue, to stiffen in consequence of direct attention
being paid to this member. In this connection Frangçon-Davies remarks:
"When the writer in early student days concentrated his attention upon
his tongue he found that this member became very stiff and unruly
indeed." (_The Singing of the Future_, London, 1906.) Leo Kofler speaks
of the same tendency: "Tell a pupil to let his tongue lie flat in his
mouth; he draws it back till it dams up his throat." (_Werner's
Magazine_, Oct., 1899.)
_(d) Throat Stiffness due to the Radiation of Nerve Impulse_
Two types of muscular tension due to the radiation of motor impulses
were noted; first, the stiffness incident to the early stages of
practice in complex activities; second, the stiffness caused by the
attempt to perform complex activities in a mechanical manner by paying
attention to the individual component movements and contractions. To
both these types of muscular stiffness the voice is especially subject.
It is not easy to find a perfect illustration of throat stiffness
incident to the early stages of instruction in singing. For this the
chief reason is that the later form of stiffness, due to the attempt
directly to manage the vocal organs, is much more pronounced than the
temporary early tension. As good an example as possible would be the
following: Let some one possessed of a fine natural untrained voice sing
a steady tone and then attempt to trill on the same note. The attempted
trill will invariably indicate a much higher degree of stiffness than
the single tone.
Several investigators of the voice have noticed the tendency of the
throat to stiffen when the singer tries to manage the voice by paying
direct attention to the mechanical action. Clara Kathleen Rogers points
this out clearly in the following passage: "There exists a possible and
a dangerous obstacle to the performance of the natural mission of the
voice. That obstacle is what? It is a superfluous and misdirected mental
activity which is fruitful of a corresponding obstruction on the part of
the body. In the body this obstruction takes the form of superfluous or
unnatural tension." (_The Philosophy of Singing_, N. Y., 1893.) Prof.
Scripture describes in scientific language the results of any attempt
directly to manage the vocal organs. Speaking of the use of the voice
under unfavorable conditions, he says: "The attempt is instinctively
made by the speaker or singer to correct such a fault by voluntary
innervation of the muscles; this cannot succeed perfectly because an
increase of innervation brings about contractions of associated and
antagonist muscles with the result of changed conditions and changed
sounds. Such extra muscular effort is, moreover, very fatiguing." (_The
Elements of Experimental Phonetics_, 1902.)
For the purposes of scientific voice culture this is one of the most
important facts which have been determined. The attempt to manage the
voice, by paying attention to the mechanical operations of the vocal
organs, causes an involuntary contraction of all the throat muscles, and
so interferes with the normal instinctive vocal action. Even the mere
thinking of the throat in singing, and especially in practising, is
enough to induce throat stiffness.
CHAPTER III
THROAT STIFFNESS AND INCORRECT SINGING
It is a lamentable fact that most of the singing heard nowadays gives
evidence of throat stiffness. Perfect singing becomes more rare with
each succeeding year. The younger generation of artists in particular
evince a marked tendency to this fault of production.
Considered as a cause of faulty tone-production in singing, throat
stiffness is due to only one influence, viz., the attempt to manage the
voice by thinking of the vocal organs and their mechanical operations.
Muscular tension due to nervousness, or to the unskilful nature of first
attempts at singing, cannot be looked upon as causing a wrong vocal
action. In the case of nervousness the lack of vocal command faithfully
reflects the psychological condition of the singer; the imperfect
response of the voice is normal to this condition. The stiffness due to
first attempts is also perfectly normal. Moreover, both these forms of
throat stiffness are temporary; they disappear when the cause,
nervousness or lack of skill, is removed.
Throat stiffness does not necessarily destroy the musical character of
the voice. Very many degrees and varieties of excessive throat tension
are possible. The undue muscular exertion may be so slight in degree
that the throat stiffness can be detected in the sound of the tones only
by a highly sensitive and observant hearer. Or on the other hand, the
muscles of the entire throat may be so powerfully contracted that the
singer has only a very imperfect command of the voice. Between the two
extremes, perfect tone-production and exaggerated stiffness, every
conceivable shade of difference in degree of undue tension might be
illustrated in the case of some prominent singer.
Faulty tone-production manifests itself in two ways; first, in its
effects on the tones of the voice; second, in its effects on the
singer's throat. Let us consider each of these topics separately.
_The Effect of Throat Stiffness on the Sound of the Voice_
In whatever degree throat stiffness is present, to just that extent the
voice sacrifices something of its capabilities as a musical instrument.
The voice can realize its full natural resources of beauty, range,
power, and flexibility only when the throat is absolutely free from
undue tension. As regards the quality of the tones, every phase of undue
throat tension has its effect on the sound of the voice. These effects
are always bad; the same voice is less beautiful when used in a
stiffened condition than when perfectly produced. Throaty and nasal
tones are always more or less harsh and offensive to the sensitive
hearer. Further, the more pronounced the state of throat stiffness the
more marked does the throaty or nasal quality become.
Under conditions of throat tension the range of the voice is almost
always curtailed. The highest and lowest notes possible to any voice can
be reached only when the throat is entirely free from stiffness. So also
with regard to the varying degrees of power, undue tension prevents the
singer from obtaining the extreme effects. A throaty singer's soft tones
generally lack the carrying quality. Louder tones can be produced with a
normally relaxed than with a stiffened throat.
Real flexibility of voice is impossible to a stiff-throated singer.
Extreme rapidity and accuracy of muscular adjustments, the physical
basis of coloratura singing, cannot be attained when the muscles are
hampered by undue tension.
A distinct fault of production, the tremolo, is directly due to throat
stiffness. A simple experiment illustrates the nature of the muscular
action from which the tremolo results. "Set" the muscles of the arm by
contracting the biceps and triceps with the utmost possible strength.
With the arm in this stiffened condition flex and extend the forearm
slowly several times. You will notice a pronounced trembling of the arm.
Why a condition of muscular stiffness should cause the affected member
to tremble is not well understood. But the fact admits of no question.
It is highly probable that the tremolo is caused by a trembling of the
vocal organs, due to muscular stiffness. The tones of a voice afflicted
with tremolo always give evidence of extreme throat tension.
Another bad result of throat stiffness in tone-production is seen in the
matter of intonation. Tones produced with a stiff throat are seldom in
perfect tune. This subject will be more fully treated in a later
chapter.
_Effects of Muscular Stiffness on the Throat_
Many of the muscles of the vocal organs, particularly the laryngeal
muscles, are extremely small and delicate. Under normal conditions these
muscles are fully capable of exerting the relatively small amount of
strength required of them without strain or injury. But when the voice
is used in a stiffened condition the delicate muscles of the larynx are
obliged to contract with much more than their normal strength. To borrow
an expression of the engineers, the throat muscles are then forced to
carry an excessive load.
A balanced contraction of antagonist groups of muscles is the muscular
basis of throat stiffness. When the voice is used in this condition each
muscle of the vocal organs must put forth the amount of effort necessary
to produce the desired effect under normal conditions, in addition to an
effort equal to the counterbalancing pull of its antagonist muscle. An
increase in the degree of throat stiffness demands a corresponding
increase in the effort exerted by every muscle of the throat.
Over-exertion of muscles always results in strain and injury. The extent
of the injury to the muscular tissues varies with the degree of
excessive exertion and with the duration of the injurious exercise. An
advanced stage of muscular strain is distinctly a pathological
condition.
Tone-production in a state of throat stiffness is of necessity injurious
to the muscles of the vocal organs. The delicate laryngeal muscles are
specially subject to the injurious effects of strain. These effects vary
in extent and character, according to the degree of throat stiffness, to
the extent and duration of the faulty use of the voice, and to the
individual characteristics of the singer. A very slight degree of undue
tension may not sensibly injure the voice. Even a fairly marked
condition of tension, such as is evidenced by the uniformly throaty
quality of many baritones and mezzo-sopranos, may be persisted in for
years without perceptibly straining the throat or destroying the musical
value of the voice. But a misuse of the voice is bound, in the course of
time, to show its injurious results on the throat. How many promising
young singers are forced to abandon their careers in early life, at the
time when their artistic and dramatic powers are just ripening to
fruition! A misused voice "wears out" years before its time.
Most of the throat troubles of singers are directly caused by throat
stiffness and muscular strain. Dr. Mills, among others, touches on this
fact. "All the author's experience as a laryngologist tended to convince
him that most of those evils from which speakers and singers suffer,
whatever the part of the vocal mechanism affected, arise from faulty
methods of voice production, or excess in the use of methods in
themselves correct." (_Voice Production in Singing and Speaking_,
Phila., 1906.)
For the purposes of artistic singing, a voice loses all its value when
the injurious effects of throat stiffness become very pronounced. On
this account singers are obliged to give up appearing in public before
the condition reaches the extreme. It follows therefore that only in the
case of public speakers do we see the extreme results of persistence in
the wrong use of the voice. "Clergyman's sore throat" is the name
usually applied to this condition. The sustained use of the voice, under
conditions of extreme strain, is exceedingly painful both to the speaker
and to the hearer.
Singers are usually unconscious of throat stiffness unless the condition
be very pronounced. Neither the sense of hearing nor the muscular sense
informs the singer of the state of tension. Accustomed to the sound of
his own voice, the singer may be unaware of a throaty or nasal quality
which he would instantly detect in another voice. This is also true of
the muscular sensations of tone-production; habit makes the singer
inattentive to the sensations caused by throat tension.
Throat stiffness always tends to become greater in degree; it is a
self-aggravating condition. Even though very slight in its beginnings,
the state of stiffness obliges the singer to put forth more than the
normal effort in order to secure the desired effects. This increase of
innervation is not confined to the muscles which need to be more
strongly contracted. As Prof. Scripture points out, it also extends to
the associated and antagonist muscles, that is, to all the muscles of
the throat. Thus the stiffness is increased in degree. Still greater
exertion is then required, resulting in still greater stiffness. This
may go on for years, the voice gradually becoming less responsive to the
demands of the singer.
Individual personal characteristics are an important factor in
determining a singer's experience with throat stiffness. Some singers
are so fortunately constituted as to be almost entirely free from the
tendency to stiffen the throat. Others detect the tendency in its
beginning and find no difficulty in correcting it. Still others
habituate themselves to some manner of tone-production, and neither
increase nor diminish the degree of stiffness. Even under modern methods
of instruction, many artists are correctly trained from the start and so
never stiffen their throats in any way.
Several traits of character are concerned in determining the individual
tendency to throat stiffness. Nervous temperament, keenness of ear,
artistic and musical endowment, each has its influence in this
connection.
The great prevalence of throat stiffness among present-day singers is
due primarily to the idea of mechanical vocal management as the basis
of instruction in singing. Not only are modern methods intrinsically
worthless, in that a correct use of the voice cannot be attained by the
application of mechanical rules. Worse than this, the means used for
training the voice are such as to defeat their own purpose. At every
instant of instruction the student's attention is expressly turned to
the vocal organs and to the mechanical operations of the voice. The only
possible result of this kind of vocal instruction is to stiffen the
throat and so to render the correct vocal action an impossibility.
A peculiar contradiction is presented by the modern vocal teacher; his
artistic conception of singing is utterly at variance with his ideas of
mechanical tone-production. It may safely be said that the vast majority
of vocal teachers are thoroughly conversant with the highest standards
of artistic singing. They know what effects their pupils ought to
obtain. But the means they use for enabling the pupils to get these
effects have exactly the contrary result. When the student tries to open
the throat this obstinate organ only closes the tighter. Attempting to
correct a tremolo by "holding the throat steady" causes the throat to
tremble all the more.
Modern voice culture, in its practical aspect, is a struggle with throat
stiffness. Everything the student does, for the purpose of acquiring
direct command of the voice, has some influence in causing the throat to
stiffen. Telling the student to hold the throat relaxed seldom effects a
cure; this direction includes a primary cause of tension,--the turning
of attention to the throat. All the teacher can do to counteract the
stiffening influence is to give relaxing exercises. These are in most
cases efficacious so long as constructive instruction is abandoned, and
the relaxing of the throat is made the sole purpose of study. But soon
after positive instruction is resumed the tendency to stiffen reappears.
As lesson follows after lesson, the stiffness becomes gradually,
imperceptibly more pronounced. At length the time again comes for
relaxing exercises.
A single repetition of this process, relaxing the throat and then
stiffening it again, may extend over several months of study. During
this time the student naturally learns a great deal about music and the
artistic side of singing, and also improves the keenness of the sense
of hearing. This artistic development is necessarily reflected in the
voice so soon as the throat is again relaxed.
It usually happens that students change teachers about the time the
voice has become unmanageably stiff. In this condition the student, of
course, sings rather badly. A marked improvement in the singing
generally results from the change of teachers. This is easy to
understand because the new teacher devotes his first efforts to relaxing
the stiffened throat. Later on this improvement is very likely to be
lost, for the second teacher has nothing more of a positive nature to
offer than the first.
Vocal teachers in general seem to be aware of the fact that mechanical
instruction causes the student's throat to stiffen. A much-debated
question is whether "local effort" is needed to bring about the correct
vocal action. The term local effort is used to describe the direct
innervation of the throat muscles. A logical application of the
mechanical idea absolutely demands the use of local effort. This is the
main argument of the local-effort teachers.
Those teachers who discountenance local effort have only their own
experience to guide them. They simply know that local effort results in
throat stiffness. Yet these teachers have nothing to offer in place of
the mechanical management of the vocal organs. Even though aware of the
evil results of local effort, they yet know of no other means of
imparting the correct vocal action. The weakness of the position of
these teachers is well summed up by a writer in _Werner's Magazine_ for
June, 1899: "To teach without local effort or local thought is to teach
in the dark. Every exponent of the non-local-effort theory contradicts
his theory every time he tells of it." To that extent this writer states
the case correctly. Every modern vocal teacher believes that the voice
must be consciously guided in its muscular operations. Until this
erroneous belief is abandoned it is idle for a teacher to decry the use
of local effort.
CHAPTER IV
THE TRUE MEANING OF VOCAL TRAINING
In all scientific treatises on the voice it is assumed that the voice
has some specifically correct mode of operation. Training the voice is
supposed to involve the leading of the vocal organs to abandon their
natural and instinctive manner of operating, and to adopt some other
form of activity. Further, the assumption is made that the student of
singing must cause the vocal organs to adopt a supposedly correct manner
of operating by paying direct attention to the mechanical movements of
tone-production. Both these assumptions are utterly mistaken. On
scientific analysis no difference is seen between the right and the
wrong vocal action, such as is assumed in the accepted Vocal Science.
Psychological principles do not countenance the idea of mechanical vocal
management.
Yet the fact remains, as a matter of empirical observation, that there
is a marked difference between the natural voice and the correctly
trained voice. What change takes place in the voice as a result of
correct training?
Singing is a natural function of the vocal organs. Learning to sing
artistically does not involve a departure from natural and instinctive
processes. The training of the voice consists of the acquirement of
skill in the use of the vocal organs, and of nothing more.
Under normal conditions the vocal organs instinctively adjust
themselves, by performing the necessary muscular contractions, to
fulfill the demands of the ear. In order that a perfect musical tone be
produced it is necessary in the first place that the ear be keen and
well trained; only such an ear can know the exact sound of a perfect
tone, and so demand it of the voice. Second, the vocal organs must make
repeated efforts to produce the perfect tone, each response approaching
nearer to the mentally-conceived tone. Two elements are therefore
involved in the training of the voice; first, the cultivation of the
sense of hearing; second, the acquirement of skill in the use of the
voice by the actual practice of singing.
Practical vocal teachers generally recognize the importance of both
these elements of Voice Culture. Only in one way do they fall short of
fully realizing the value of ear training and of practice guided by the
ear;--they do not see that these two topics sum up the whole material of
vocal training. Unfortunately, the search after some imaginary means of
direct vocal management destroys, in all modern methods, most of the
value of the real elements of voice culture.
A few citations from standard writers on the voice will show the
estimation in which ear-training is held. To begin with, the old Italian
masters were fully alive to the necessity of cultivating the sense of
hearing, as witness Tosi: "One who has not a good ear should not
undertake either to instruct or to sing." This writer also says in the
chapter headed "Observations for a student": "Let him hear as much as he
can the most celebrated singers, and likewise the most excellent
instrumental performers; because from the attention in hearing them one
reaps more advantage than from any instruction whatsoever."
Another early writer on the voice, the celebrated Adolph Bernhard Marx,
speaks of the advantage derived from the attentive listening to voices:
"An important influence is exerted by the frequent attentive hearing of
good voices. Through this an idea of good tone is strengthened, which
gains an influence on the use and also on the training of the organs,
not perhaps immediate, but clearly seen in its results." (_Die Kunst des
Gesanges_, Berlin, 1826.)
Among modern writers only a few need be mentioned. D. Frangçon-Davies
remarks: "The training of the ear is one half of the training of the
voice." (_The Singing of the Future._) Clara Kathleen Rogers is even
more emphatic in her statement: "Not to exercise our sense of hearing is
to rob it gradually of the habit of acting at all; whereas, if we keep
it in exercise, it will daily grow readier, finer, more acute, more
analytical, and the ear will serve as an ever more effective medium of
reaction on the will." The following remark of the same writer points
unmistakably to an understanding of the evil results of the attempt to
sing mechanically: "If the singer's attention is directed to any part of
the vocal instrument, or even to its motor, the breath, his sense of
sound, and his perception of either the beautiful or the bad elements
in sound, will grow fainter and fainter." (_The Physiology of Singing._)
As for the purpose of cultivating the sense of hearing, this is also
pointed out by several prominent vocal theorists. One of the latest
exponents of the traditional method of instruction was Stéphen de la
Madelaine, who remarks: "The first need of the voice is to be guided in
its exercise by an ear capable of appreciating naturally its least
deviation." (_Théorie complète du Chant_, Paris, 1852.)
One of the most recent authoritative writers on voice culture, Dr.
Mills, speaks at length of the necessity of guiding the voice by the
sense of hearing. "We cannot too much insist on both speaker and singer
attending to forming a connection between his ear and his mouth cavity.
He is to hear that he may produce good tones, and the tones cannot be
correctly formed if they be not well observed. To listen to one's self
carefully and constantly is a most valuable but little practised art.
The student should listen as an inexorable critic, accepting only the
best from himself." Dr. Mills touches on the psychological features of
the connection between voice and ear. "There can be no doubt that the
nervous impulses that pass from the ear to the brain are of all sensory
messages the most important guides for the outgoing ones that determine
the necessary movements." Summing up the matter of ear-training and
vocal guidance Dr. Mills says: "The author would impress on all students
of music, and of the voice as used in both singing and speaking, the
paramount importance of learning early to listen most attentively to
others when executing music; and above all to listen with the greatest
care to themselves, and never to accept any musical tone that does not
fully satisfy the ear." (_Voice Production in Singing and Speaking_,
1906.)
One more citation from Mrs. Rogers must suffice. "And now, in
conclusion, let me once more remind the singer that in practising these
and all other vocal exercises the ear is the only safe guide."
Given a fine natural voice and a trained musical ear, skill is acquired
in the use of the voice by the repetition of effort. The only necessity
is for the singer to have a clear mental conception of the effects to
be obtained, and to listen attentively to the voice. With each
repetition of an exercise, whether on sustained tones, scale passages,
crescendo and diminuendo, or whatever else, the voice responds more
smoothly and accurately to the mental demand. Each time the student
practises the exercise he listens to the tones and notes how they differ
from the desired effect; he strives the next time to correct this
departure.
Psychological principles verify the proverb that practice makes perfect.
This is true of all complex activities. Through repeated performance the
muscles, or rather the motor-nerve centers, become habituated to complex
activities. Coördinations gradually become perfect and automatic because
the nerve impulses naturally tend to take the well-worn paths. To this
rule the voice is no exception. Practice makes perfect, with the voice,
as with every other muscular activity.
In practical Voice Culture the ear and the voice are normally trained
together. The proper function of the teacher is to guide the student in
developing along the two lines. Listening to his own voice is a valuable
means for the student to develop his sense of hearing. It is for the
master to point out the salient qualities and faults in the pupil's
tones in order that the pupil may know what to listen for. As the ear
gradually becomes keener and better acquainted with the characteristics
of perfect singing, it also becomes more exacting in its demands on the
voice. In its turn the voice steadily improves in its responsiveness to
the ear.
Skill in using the voice involves something more than has thus far been
considered under the head of tone-production. Skill in singing is
synonymous with finished vocal technique, and the basis of technique is
the correctly produced single tone. It is seen that a single tone can be
sung correctly when, first, the singer knows the sound of the perfect
musical tone, and second, the vocal organs are not hampered by muscular
stiffness. When these conditions are fulfilled nothing but practice is
needed for the acquirement of technical skill.
Coloratura singing presents the highest development of vocal technique.
Dazzling as the effects of coloratura are, they are obtained by the
combination of a few simple elements. Perfect command of the single tone
throughout the entire compass of the voice, with accurately graded
crescendo and diminuendo, the clear, rapid, and accurate transition from
one note to another in the varying degrees of staccato and
legato,--these elements include the whole physical material of vocal
technique.
Training the voice is one concrete process. Its component features may
be considered separately; the cultivation of the sense of hearing, the
acquirement of command of the single tone, and the development of
technical skill,--each may be considered apart from its companion
processes. But in actual practice the three elements of Voice Culture
cannot be dissociated. The student of singing progresses simultaneously
along all three lines. Intelligently directed practice in singing
results in this simultaneous progress. As the voice depends for guidance
on the ear, so the ear benefits by the improvement of the voice. Each
advance made by the voice toward the perfect production of tone is
marked by a greater facility in the technical use of the voice. Correct
tone-production cannot be directly acquired by the singing of single
tones. This practice would tend to stiffen the throat. Technique and
tone-production must be developed together.
There is a difference between the natural and the properly trained
voice. As to the nature of this difference the facts of empirical
observation are borne out by the results of scientific analysis. The
natural voice is crude because it is unskilfully used. A lack of
facility is revealed in the untrained singer's handling of the voice.
Intonations are imperfect; transitions from note to note are rough; the
whole effect indicates that the voice is not completely under the
command of the singer. Further, the sound of the individual tones
betrays faults of production. The tones are more or less throaty or
nasal, or indicative of some degree of muscular tension.
A perfectly used voice, on the other hand, convinces the hearer that the
singer has full command of all the resources of the vocal organs. Each
tone is a perfect musical sound, free from fault or blemish. The voice
moves from one note to another with ease and with purity of intonation.
All the gradations of loud and soft, all the lights and shades of
sentiment or passion, seem to respond directly to the singer's
instinctive desire for musical expression. On the physical side the
singer's voice is felt by the hearer to be in a condition of balanced
and harmonious muscular activity.
When the possessor of a good natural voice goes through a proper course
of vocal training, the faults of production native to the untrained
voice are gradually corrected. Wrong muscular tension is imperceptibly
relaxed. Little by little the student acquires facility in handling the
voice. Coincident with this progress is the advance toward the correct
vocal action. The transition from the natural to the perfect use of the
voice is gradual and imperceptible. There is no stage of progress at
which the operations of the voice radically change in character. At no
time does the student change the manner of managing the voice. Effects
difficult at first gradually become easier, simply as the result of
practice. This is the only change that the voice undergoes in training.
One influence, and only one, can interfere with this normal development
of the voice. This is the involuntary and unconscious stiffening of the
throat. In the normal practice of singing nothing is involved which
could cause the throat to stiffen. True, the first stages of study are
usually marked by a slight degree of stiffness, due solely to the lack
of practice and experience. This initial stiffness does not tend to
become habitual; it disappears before the student becomes aware of it,
and leaves no permanent trace on the voice. That is, provided mechanical
instruction does not intervene, to introduce the tendency directly to
stiffen the throat.
As the initial stiffness disappears, and the vocal action gradually
becomes smooth and automatic, the voice begins to take on the
characteristics of perfect tone-production. The voice rounds out, the
tones become free and true, and in perfect tune. No excessive throat
tension being present, the voice conforms to the correct empirical
standard of tone-production. It gives evidence to the ear of correct
support and of open throat. The tones issue freely from the mouth and
convey no impression of throat or nose.
As a matter of experience it is known that vocal students generally make
satisfactory progress in the first few months of study. This is
perfectly natural. It requires several months for the normally
constituted student to grasp the idea of mechanical vocal management.
Gifted with a fine voice, the natural impulse of any one is to sing. By
singing naturally the voice is bound to improve.
Just so soon as the student begins to understand the meaning of
attempted mechanical guidance of the voice, the evil effects of throat
stiffness begin to be manifest. The more earnest and intelligent
students are often the worst sufferers from throat stiffness. They more
readily grasp the mechanical doctrines of modern methods and apply the
mechanical idea more thoroughly.
There is in reality no problem of tone-production such as the accepted
theory of Voice Culture propounds. The voice does not require to be
taught how to act. Tone-production was never thought to involve any
mechanical problem until the attention of vocalists was turned to the
mechanical operations of the voice. This dates, roughly speaking, from
about 1800. Since that time the whole tendency of Voice Culture has been
mechanical. Nowadays the entire musical world is acquainted with the
idea that the voice must be directly guided; hardly any one has ever
heard this belief contradicted. To say that the voice needs no guidance
other than the ear would seem utterly preposterous to the average lover
of singing. It is even highly probable that this statement would not be
understood. Yet there is strong evidence that the old Italian masters
would have had equal difficulty in grasping the idea of mechanical vocal
management. How long it will take for the vocal profession to be
persuaded of the error of the mechanical idea only the future can
determine.
Probably the most important fact about vocal training is the following:
The voice is benefited by producing beautiful tones, and is injured by
producing harsh sounds. A tone of perfect beauty can be sung only when
the vocal organs are free from unnecessary tension. The nearer the tones
approach to the perfection of beauty, the closer does the voice come to
the correct action. Healthy exercise of the voice, with the throat free
from strain, strengthens and develops the throat muscles. Harsh and
unmusical sounds, produced by the voice, indicate that the throat is in
a condition of injurious tension. Singing under these circumstances
strains and weakens the muscles of the throat and injures the voice.
The harsher the tones the worse they are for the voice.
Beauty of tone is the only criterion of the correct vocal action. By
listening to himself the singer may know whether his tone-production is
correct. If the tones are beautiful the tone-production cannot be wrong.
The ear must always decide. A normally constituted ear instinctively
delights in hearing beautiful sounds. While attentive listening renders
the ear more keen and discriminating, no vocal student of average gifts
need be told the meaning of tonal beauty.
Instinct prompts the possessor of a fine natural voice and a musical ear
to sing, and to sing beautiful tones. No normally constituted student
can take pleasure in the practice of mechanical exercises. This form of
study is repugnant to the musical sensibility. Vocal students want to
sing; they feel instinctively that the practice of mechanical exercises
is not singing. A prominent exponent of mechanical instruction
complains: "I tell them to take breathing exercises three times a
day--but they all want to go right to singing songs." (_Werner's
Magazine_, April, 1899.) These students are perfectly right. They know
instinctively that the voice can be trained only by singing. There is no
connection between artistic singing and the practice of toneless
breathing exercises. "Five finger drills" and studies in broken scales
of the types generally used are also utterly unmusical. Mechanical
drills, whether toneless or vocal, have little effect other than to
induce throat stiffness.
CHAPTER V
IMITATION THE RATIONAL BASIS OF VOICE CULTURE
It is generally assumed by vocal theorists that the voice cannot be
trained by imitation. Browne and Behnke state this belief definitely:
"Singing cannot be learned exclusively by imitation." (_Voice, Song, and
Speech._) Having ascertained the futility of the attempt to teach
singing mechanically, it is now in order to determine the truth or
falsity of the statement that the exercise of the imitative faculty
alone does not suffice for the training of the voice.
In the first place, no one has ever thought of questioning the existence
of an instinct of vocal imitation. On the contrary, this instinct is
everywhere recognized. In childhood we learn to speak our mother tongue
by imitating the speech of those about us. "Talking proper does not set
in till the instinct to _imitate sounds_ ripens in the nervous system."
(_The Principles of Psychology_, Wm. James, New York, 1890.)
Vocal imitation would be impossible without the ability of the voice to
produce sounds in obedience to the commands of the ear. This ability the
voice normally possesses; spoken language could not otherwise exist. The
voice can imitate a wide range of sounds. If the perfect vocal tone can
be shown to be included in this range of sounds, then the voice can be
trained by imitation.
Exceptional powers of vocal imitation are sometimes developed.
Vaudeville performers are by no means rare who can imitate the tones of
the oboe, the clarinet, the muted trumpet, and several other
instruments. Imitation of the notes and songs of birds is also a
familiar type of performance. This peculiar gift of imitation results in
each case from some special structure of the vocal organs. One performer
can imitate the reed instruments, another the lighter brasses, and so
on. Just what peculiar formation of the vocal organs is required for
this type of imitative ability need not be inquired here. All that need
be noted is, that the vocal organs must be so constructed as to be able
to produce the particular quality of sound. Given this natural ability
on the part of the vocal organs, the power to produce the tone quality
is developed by repeated attempts at imitation. The possessor of the
natural gift perfects this gift by practice. For practice in the
imitation of sounds to be effective it is necessary that the ear be well
acquainted with the tone quality to be reproduced. In addition, the
practice must be guided by the performer listening closely to the sounds
produced by the vocal organs, and constantly comparing these sounds to
the tones of the instrument chosen for imitation.
This vocal imitation of instruments is not a normal ability; the tones
of the oboe and trumpet do not lie within the range of qualities native
to the normal voice. But the quality of the perfect vocal tone is
unquestionably within the range of every voice so constituted as to be
capable of artistic singing. A fine natural voice normally produces
beautiful tones. It is only with this type of voice that Voice Culture
is concerned. Such a voice must be capable of producing the perfect
vocal tone. Can it learn to produce this quality of tone by imitation?
It cannot be questioned that the faulty tones of one voice can readily
be imitated by another voice. Any one endowed with normal powers of
speech can imitate a markedly nasal speaking voice. This is equally true
of a nasal tone in singing, and of a strongly throaty tone as well. The
more marked the fault of production the more readily it is heard and the
more easily it can be imitated.
Let us imagine the case of a vocal teacher who undertakes to teach a
gifted pupil by having the pupil imitate tones of faulty production, and
gradually correcting the faults in the tones sung as a model for the
pupil. The master is of course understood to have perfect command of his
own voice. Suppose this master to begin the course of instruction by
singing for the pupil tones of exaggerated throaty quality, and bidding
the pupil to imitate these tones. Naturally, the pupil would have no
difficulty in doing so. At the next lesson the master would very
slightly improve the quality of the tones sung as a model for the
pupil's imitation. The student would listen to these tones and model his
daily practice accordingly. Just so soon as the student had succeeded in
correctly reproducing this slightly less throaty tone the master would
again set a slightly improved model.
With each successive step the master might eliminate, one by one, the
faults of his own tone-production. Following the same course, the pupil
would also gradually approach a correct model of tone. Finally, all the
faults of tone-production having been corrected, both of master and
pupil, the latter would be called upon to imitate perfect vocal tones.
It would necessarily follow either that the student would successfully
imitate the master's perfect tones or that at some point in this
progress the student's imitative faculty would be found lacking.
Could any point be located at which the student would be unable to
imitate the teacher's voice? This could certainly not be in the early
stages of the course. Any one can imitate a very bad throaty or nasal
tone. This being done, the imitation of a slightly less faulty tone
would also present no difficulty. A second improvement in the master's
model tone would again be readily imitated, and so on, with each
succeeding correction of the faults of production. When the last trace
of faulty production in the student's voice had been eliminated, he
would be singing perfect tones. It is utterly impossible to define a
point in this progress at which the pupil would be unable to imitate the
teacher's voice. If a bad fault of production can be imitated, so can a
comparatively slight fault. Further, if the pupil can correct his
pronounced faulty production by imitating a tone not quite so faulty, so
can he improve upon this tone by imitating a still better model of
production. This process of gradual improvement by imitation must be
capable of continuation until the last fault is eliminated. No limit can
be set to the ability of the voice to improve its manner of
tone-production by imitation. It must therefore be concluded that the
perfect vocal action can be acquired by imitation.
In practical Voice Culture, learning to sing by imitation means simply
the cultivation of the sense of hearing and the guidance of the voice by
the ear. In other words, those vocal theorists who insist upon ear
training commit themselves to the theory of imitative Voice Culture.
What necessity is there of mechanical management of the vocal organs if
the voice is to be guided by the ear? Even if mechanical management of
the voice were possible it would be entirely superfluous. The voice
needs no other guidance than the singer's sense of hearing.
Here another striking question is encountered: Why should the vocal
organs be thought to be unable to adjust themselves for the tone quality
demanded by the ear any more than for the pitch? No vocal theorist has
ever thought to formulate rules for securing the tension of the vocal
cords necessary for the desired pitch. This is always left to
instinctive processes. No one would ever undertake to question the
voice's ability to sing by imitation a note of any particular pitch.
What valid reason can be given for denying the corresponding ability
regarding tone quality?
Only one answer can be made to this question. The whole matter of
mechanical vocal management rests on pure assumption. No scientific
proof has ever been sought for the belief that the voice requires
mechanical management. This necessity is always assumed, but the
assumption is utterly illogical. The vocal organs adjust themselves for
the imitation of tone quality by exactly the same psychological
processes as for the imitation of pitch. Neither pitch nor tone quality
can be regulated in any other way than by the guidance of the ear.
Imitation furnishes the only means of acquiring the correct vocal
action. Several authorities on the voice admit the value of imitation,
even though they also make much of the mechanical doctrines of modern
methods. Sieber gives imitation as the best means of curing faults of
production. "The best means to free the student of the three forms of
faulty tone just described is possessed by that teacher who is able to
imitate these faults with his own voice." (_Vollständiges Lehrbuch der
Gesangskunst_, Ferd. Sieber, 1858.) Dr. Mills goes further and advocates
the imitating of finished singers for the purpose of acquiring the
correct vocal action. "The author would recommend all students who have
begun a serious practical study of the registers to hear, if possible,
some singer of eminence who observes register formation strictly."
(_Voice Production in Singing and Speaking_, Phila., 1906.) Kofler even
declares that imitation is an indispensable element of instruction. "It
is just as difficult or impossible to learn to sing good tones without
hearing the teacher's pure model tone as it is difficult or impossible
to learn to speak without hearing." (_The Art of Breathing_, Leo Kofler,
1889.)
If the correct vocal action is to be acquired by imitation, of what use
are the mechanical doctrines of vocal management? Kofler seeks to
combine these two forms of instruction. "Physiological theories must go
hand in hand with the musical ear or the law of imitation."
Scientifically considered, this attempted combination of mechanical
vocal training and instruction by imitation is an utter absurdity. There
is no possibility of connection between vocal imitation and mechanical
vocal management. Reliance on the imitative faculty involves the utter
rejection of the mechanical idea. Compromise, or combination of the two,
is a logical absurdity. Imitation and attempted mechanical management of
the voice are absolutely incompatible. Any attempt consciously to direct
the muscular workings of the vocal organs is an interference with the
normal action of the voice. So soon as conscious mechanical management
of the voice is attempted throat stiffness results, and the voice is
hampered in the exercise of its instinctive faculty of imitation. It is
impossible to acquire the correct vocal action by the application of
mechanical rules, because a consistent following of mechanical doctrines
utterly prevents the vocal organs from operating normally, even though
the student try at the same time to guide the voice by the sense of
hearing.
A close scrutiny of the practices of modern vocal teachers reveals
convincing evidence that all their successes are due to a reliance,
conscious or unconscious, on the imitative faculty. Teachers are as a
rule not aware of the appeal to the instinct of imitation; neither
indeed do the students usually pay much attention to this feature of
their lessons. Much of modern vocal instruction is dual in character.
When, for example, the teacher wishes to correct a marked fault in the
pupil's tone-production, he adopts this dual mode of imparting his
ideas. First, he explains to the pupil the (supposed) mechanical
operation; second, he imitates the pupil's faulty production and then
sings a correct tone to show how it should be produced.
For the teacher to sing the correct tone takes but a few seconds and
requires almost no thought. The mechanical explanation, on the other
hand, calls for much more of time, and of voluntary attention, from both
master and student. It thus follows that they both look upon the
mechanical rule as the important matter, and consider the teacher's
perfect tone as merely an illustration of the rule.
In most cases the student strives to apply the mechanical rule,
particularly in home practice between lessons. Under these circumstances
the voice does not respond satisfactorily. But it often happens that the
student pays little attention to the mechanical rule, and simply
imitates the teacher's voice. There being then nothing to interfere, the
student's voice naturally responds. The master ascribes this
satisfactory result to the application of the mechanical doctrine, while
in fact the result is due to the student's complete ignoring of the
doctrine.
Vocal imitation is often completely unconscious. Individuals vary
greatly, as regards the tendency to unconscious imitation. Of two
English lads coming to America at the age of fifteen, one may be found
ten years later to have entirely lost the English accent, the other may
retain it all his life. This difference in individual traits has much
to do with determining to what extent the vocal student may
unconsciously imitate correct models of singing. Other characteristics
are also influential in this regard. Some students so dislike to sing
mechanically that they neglect, in their home study, to practise their
exercises in the prescribed way. This is often due to an instinctive
abhorrence of harsh sounds. Other students are so gifted with the true
feeling for vocal melody that mechanical instruction makes no impression
on them.
As a general rule, the reliance on the imitative faculty in modern vocal
instruction is entirely unconscious on the part of both master and
pupil. Adherence to the mechanical idea excludes from the student's mind
all thought of any means of vocal guidance other than mechanical. This
is true, even in the most common form of instruction, imitation and
mechanical doctrine combined. As regards the master, his only conscious
exercise of the imitative faculty is the reproduction of the pupil's
faulty tones. He seldom thinks of telling the pupil to imitate his own
correctly produced tones.
Imitation supplies the only practical means for training voices. All the
elements of Voice Culture are combined in one simple process, when the
master sings correctly, and the student imitates the master. This
exercise of the imitative faculty may be made to suffice for both the
training of the ear and the cultivation of the voice. On practical, as
well as on scientific grounds, imitation is the only rational basis of a
method of Voice Culture.
CHAPTER VI
THE OLD ITALIAN METHOD
To the believer in the necessity of direct mechanical management of the
voice, the old Italian method is a complete mystery. Modern vocal
theorists are at a loss to account for the success of the old masters in
training voices. Many authorities go so far as to assert that these
masters possessed some insight into the operations of the vocal organs,
along the lines of accepted Vocal Science. In their introductory
chapter, "A Plea for Vocal Physiology," Browne and Behnke attempt to
prove that the old masters studied the anatomy of the vocal organs. But
even if this could be proved, that would not solve the mystery of the
old method. Modern teachers are certainly as well acquainted with the
mechanical features of tone-production as the old masters were. Yet,
judged by their results, modern methods are distinctly inferior to the
old Italian method.
There is absolutely no ground for the belief that the old masters owed
their success to a knowledge of vocal physiology. This idea of ascribing
scientific knowledge to the early teachers results only from erroneous
belief that no other means of training the voice is possible. It may be
set down as absolutely certain that the old method was not based on the
principles of the accepted Vocal Science.
Yet the old masters undoubtedly possessed some means of training voices.
They must have known something about the voice. Their knowledge,
whatever it was, is commonly believed to have been lost. Many modern
teachers claim to have inherited the old method. Still these teachers
have nothing to offer beyond the well-known doctrines of breathing,
breath-control, forward tone, etc. How these doctrines might have been
applied in practical instruction nobody is able to tell. Little
attention need be paid to the claim of any modern teacher to possess the
old Italian method of training voices.
So early as 1847 Garcia remarked the dearth of information of a literary
character bearing on the old method. "Unfortunately this epoch has left
us only vague and incomplete documents bearing on its traditions. Of the
methods then followed we have only an approximate and confused idea."
(_École de Garcia_, Mayence, 1847.) Although familiar with the works of
Tosi and Mancini, Garcia was unable to find in their writings any hint
of the means used for imparting the correct vocal action. This same
remark is made by many other investigators.
Yet a reconstruction of the old method is not necessarily a matter of
conjecture. Once the possibility of training the voice by imitation is
established, the old Italian method is easily understood. Speaking of
the glorious past of the art of Voice Culture, Dr. Mills says: "We have
advanced, musically, in many respects since the days of the old Italian
masters, but just as we must turn to the Greeks to learn what
constitutes the highest and best in sculpture, so must we sit at the
feet of these old masters. Consciously or unconsciously they taught on
sound physiological principles." (_Voice Production in Singing and
Speaking._)
Dr. Mills' statement might be more complete if it were made to read,
"consciously or unconsciously they taught on sound physiological and
psychological principles." Vocal instruction on sound principles is
simply the training of the voice by imitation. With the scientific basis
of their method--the laws of physiological psychology--the old masters
were utterly unacquainted. Vocal imitation is purely instinctive.
Probably the old masters could not even have formulated a concise
statement of their reasons for relying on the imitative faculty.
Garcia's complaint of the dearth of literary information regarding the
old method is by no means justified. Naturally there is no record of any
means for imparting a direct mechanical management of the voice. Nothing
of the kind was thought of. But as a description of a course in voice
training by imitation, the works of Tosi and Mancini leave little to be
desired.
Both Tosi and Mancini devote by far the greater portion of their books
to describing the ornaments and embellishments of vocal music. They take
up the singer's education from the beginning and seem to assume, as a
matter of course, that the training in the art of music is coincident,
if not indeed identical, with the cultivation of the voice. But they do
not by any means neglect the subject of tone-production. Most modern
readers of these early writers overlook the simple directions given for
securing a proper use of the voice. This is, of course, due to the
current belief that directions for vocal management must of necessity
deal with mechanical and muscular operations. Finding nothing of this
kind in Tosi and Mancini, the modern investigator concludes that these
writers for some reason failed to record the means used for imparting
the correct vocal action. All that can be found by such an investigator
in the works of Tosi and Mancini is an outline of an elaborate system of
coloratura singing. Much more is seen when the meaning of imitative
Voice Culture is understood.
Let us consider first the "Observations" of Tosi. This writer devotes
his first few pages to some remarks on the art of singing, and to a
general consideration of the practices of Voice Culture. Almost at the
outset we meet this striking statement: "It would be needless to say
that verbal instruction would be of no use to singers any farther than
to prevent 'em falling into errors, and that it is practice alone can
set them right." That is certainly a sound principle.
Consider also this passage. "The faults in singing insinuate themselves
so easily into the minds of young beginners, and there are such
difficulties in correcting them, when grown into an habit, that it were
to be wished the ablest singers would undertake the task of teaching,
they best knowing how to conduct the scholar from the first elements to
perfection. But there being none (if I mistake not) but who abhor the
thoughts of it, we must reserve them for those delicacies of the art,
which enchant the soul. Therefore the first rudiments necessarily fall
to a master of a lower rank, till the scholar can sing his part at
sight; whom one would at least wish to be an honest man, diligent and
experienced, without the defects of singing through the nose, or in the
throat, and that he have a command of voice, some glimpse of a good
taste, able to make himself understood with ease, a perfect intonation,
and a patience to endure the fatigue of a most tiresome employment."
This brings out three striking facts. First, that the student learned to
use his voice by imitating the voice of the master. Second, that the
initial work of "voice placing" was merely an incident in the training
in sight singing and the rudiments of music. Third, that "voice placing"
was considered of too little importance to claim the attention of
masters of the first rank. This feature of instruction, so important now
as to overshadow all else, was at that time left to masters of a lower
rank.
This passage is followed by a short discourse on the rudiments of _Sol
Fa_, a subject of only academic interest to the modern student. We are
so thoroughly accustomed nowadays to the diatonic scale that it is
almost impossible for us to understand the old system of _Muance_ or
_Solmisation_. Suffice it to say that only four keys were known, and
that each note was called by its full Sol-Fa name. Thus D was called
_D-la-sol-re_, C was _C-sol-fa-ut_, etc. In studying sight singing, the
student pronounced the full name of each note in every exercise.
Instruction in singing began with this study of sight reading. In the
course of this practice the student somehow learned to produce his voice
correctly.
Tosi does not leave us in doubt what was to be done in order to lead
the pupil to adopt a correct manner of tone-production. "Let the master
do his utmost to make the scholar hit and sound the notes perfectly in
tune in _Sol-Fa-ing_.... Let the master attend with great care to the
voice of the scholar, which should always come forth neat and clear,
without passing through the nose or being choaked in the throat." To
sing in tune and to produce tones of good quality,--this summed up for
Tosi the whole matter of tone-production.
Many teachers in the old days composed _Sol-Fa_ exercises and vocalises
for their own use. Tosi did not think this indispensable. But he points
out the need of the teacher having an extensive repertoire of graded
exercises and vocalises. To his mind these should always be melodious
and singable. "If the master does not understand composition let him
provide himself with good examples of _Sol-Fa-ing_ in divers stiles,
which insensibly lead from the most easy to the most difficult,
according as he finds the scholar improves; with this caution, that
however difficult, they may be always natural and agreeable, to induce
the scholar to study with pleasure."
How many months of study were supposed to be required for this
preliminary course we have no means of judging from Tosi's work. At any
rate the combining of the registers was accomplished during this time.
Tosi's description of the registers is very concise. "_Voce di Petto_ is
a full voice which comes from the breast by strength, and is the most
sonorous and expressive. _Voce di Testa_ comes more from the throat than
from the breast, and is capable of more volubility. _Falsetto_ is a
feigned voice which is formed entirely in the throat, has more
volubility than any, but of no substance." He speaks of the necessity of
uniting the registers, but gives no directions how this is to be
accomplished. Evidently this seemed to him to present no difficulty
whatever.
In this early period of instruction the pupil was exercised in both
_portamento_ and _messa di voce_. "Let him learn the manner to glide
with the vowels, and to drag the voice gently from the high to the lower
note.... In the same lessons let him teach the art to put forth the
voice, which consists in letting it swell by degrees from the softest
_Piano_ to the loudest _Forte_, and from thence with the same art return
from the _Forte_ to the _Piano_. A beautiful _Messa di Voce_ can never
fail of having an excellent effect."
Only the first chapter of Tosi's book is devoted to this initial study.
That the student was expected to make steady progress as a result of
this study is evident from the closing sentence of this chapter. "The
scholar having now made some remarkable progress, the instructor may
acquaint him with the first embellishments of the art, which are the
_Appoggiaturas_, and apply them to the vowels." The remainder of the
work is devoted almost entirely to the embellishments of singing. Here
and there an interesting passage is found. "After the scholar has made
himself perfect in the Shake and the Divisions, the master should let
him read and pronounce the words." (Shake was the old name for trill,
and division for run.) Again, "I return to the master only to put him in
mind that his duty is to teach musick; and if the scholar, before he
gets out of his hands, does not sing readily and at sight, the innocent
is injured without remedy from the guilty." This injunction might well
be taken to heart by the modern teacher. Good sight readers are rare
nowadays, outside of chorus choirs.
Mancini begins his outline of the course of instruction in singing with
this striking sentence: "Nothing is more insufferable and more
inexcusable in a musician than wrong intonation; singing in the throat
or in the nose will certainly be tolerated rather than singing out of
tune." This is followed by the advice to the teacher to ascertain beyond
a doubt that a prospective pupil is endowed with a true musical ear.
This being done the pupil is to begin his studies by _sol-fa_-ing the
scales. "Having determined the disposition and capacity of the student
with respect to intonation, and finding him able and disposed to
succeed, let him fortify himself in correct intonation by _sol-fa_-ing
the scale, ascending and descending. This must be executed with
scrupulous attention in order that the notes may be perfectly intoned."
In this practice the quality of the tone is of the highest importance.
"The utmost care is necessary with the student to render him able to
manage this portion of his voice with the proper sweetness and
proportion." Mancini takes it for granted that the student will progress
steadily on account of this practice. "When the teacher observes that
the pupil is sufficiently free in delivering the voice, in intonation,
and in naming the notes, let him waste no time, but have the pupil
vocalize without delay."
Regarding the registers, Mancini disagrees with Tosi and names only two.
"Voices ordinarily divide themselves into two registers which are
called, one of the chest, the other of the head, or falsetto." His
method was to exercise the voice at first in the chest register, and
then gradually to extend the compass of the voice upward. "Every student
can for himself with perfect ease recognize the difference between these
two separate registers. It will suffice therefore to commence by singing
the scale, for example, if a soprano, from G to d;[10] let him take care
that these five notes are sonorous, and say them with force and
clearness, and without effort." For uniting the registers, "the most
certain means is to hold back the tones of the chest and to sing the
transition notes in the head register, increasing the power little by
little."
[Note 10: Mancini of course uses the _Sol-Fa_ names of these notes.]
Mancini devotes a few pages to a description of the vocal organs. This
fact is cited by several modern theorists in support of their statement
that the old masters based their methods on mechanical principles. In
the following chapter this topic of Mancini's treatise will be
considered.
Probably the best summary of the old Italian method offered by any
modern teacher is contained in a little booklet by J. Frank Botume,
entitled _Modern Singing Methods_. (Boston, 1885. The citations are from
the fourth edition, 1896.) Speaking of the meaning of the word method,
as applied to a system of rules for acquiring the correct vocal action,
this writer says: "If a teacher says, 'that tone is harsh, sing more
sweetly,' he has given no method to his pupil. He has asked the scholar
to change his tone, but has not shown him how to do it. If, on the other
hand, he directs the pupil to keep back the pressure of the breath, or
to change the location of the tone; if he instructs him in regard to the
correct use of his vocal cords, or speaks of the position of his tongue,
of his diaphragm, of his mouth, etc., he gives him method. The Italian
teachers of the early period of this art had so little method that it
can hardly be said to have existed with them. In fact, the word method,
as now used, is of comparatively modern origin. The founders of the art
of singing aimed at results directly; the manner of using the vocal
apparatus for the purpose of reaching these results troubled them
comparatively little. The old Italian teacher took the voice as he found
it. He began with the simplest and easiest work, and trusted to patient
and long-continued exercise to develop the vocal apparatus. In all this
there is no method as we understand the term. The result is aimed at
directly. The manner of getting it is not shown. There is no conscious
control of the vocal apparatus for the purpose of effecting a certain
result."
This sums up beautifully the external aspects of the old Italian method,
and of modern methods as well. It points out clearly the difference
between the old and the modern system. But it is a mistake to say that
the old masters followed no systematized plan of instruction. Tosi's
advice, already quoted ("Let the master provide himself with examples of
Sol-fa, leading insensibly from the easy to the difficult," etc.), shows
a thorough grasp of the meaning of methodical instruction. Once the real
nature of vocal training is understood, both Tosi and Mancini are seen
to describe a well worked out system of Voice Culture. The only
important difference between the old and the new system is this: one
relied on instinctive and imitative processes for imparting the correct
vocal action, the other seeks to accomplish the same result through the
mechanical management of the vocal organs. In this regard the advantage
is all on the side of the old Italian method.
One question regarding the old method remains to be answered. This has
to do with the use of the empirical precepts in practical instruction.
So far as the written record goes we have no means of answering this
question. Neither Tosi nor Mancini mentions the old precepts in any way.
The answer can therefore be only conjectural. We may at once dismiss the
idea that the old masters used the precepts in the currently accepted
manner as rules for the mechanical management of the voice. This
application of the empirical precepts followed upon the acceptance of
the idea of mechanical voice culture.
A fine description of perfect singing, considered empirically, was found
to be embodied in the traditional precepts. Such a description of
correctly produced tone might be of great value in the training of the
ear. The sense of hearing is developed by listening; and attentive
listening is rendered doubly effective in the singer's education by the
attention being consciously directed to particular characteristics of
the sounds observed.
A highly important aspect of ear training in Voice Culture is the
acquainting the student with the highest standards of singing. The
student derives a double advantage from listening to artistic singing
when he knows what to listen for. Telling the student that in perfect
singing the throat seems to be open makes him keenly attentive in
observing this characteristic sound of the correctly produced tone. This
seems to be the most effective manner of utilizing the empirical
precepts. A student may be helped in imitating correct models of singing
by knowing what characteristics of the tones it is most important to
reproduce. In pointing out to the student his own faults of production,
the judicious use of the precepts might also be of considerable value.
Probably the old masters treated the precepts about in this fashion.
CHAPTER VII
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE OLD ITALIAN METHOD AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
MECHANICAL INSTRUCTION
One of the most mysterious facts in the history of Voice Culture is the
utter disappearance of the old Italian method. This has occurred in
spite of the earnest efforts of vocal teachers to preserve the old
traditions. If the conclusions drawn in the preceding chapter are
justified, the old method consisted of a system of teaching singing by
imitation. Assuming this to be true, there should now be no difficulty
in accounting for the disappearance of the imitative method by tracing
the development of the mechanical idea.
Imitative Voice Culture was purely empirical in the ordinary meaning of
this word. The old masters did not knowingly base their instruction on
any set of principles. They simply taught as their instincts prompted
them. There can now be no doubt that the old masters were fully
justified in their empiricism. They taught singing as Nature intends it
to be taught. But the old masters were not aware of the scientific
soundness of their position. So soon as the correctness of empirical
teaching was questioned they abandoned it without an attempt at defense.
As a system of Voice Culture, the old method occupied a weak strategic
position. With absolute right on its side, it still had no power of
resistance against hostile influences.
This does not imply that the old masters were ignorant men. On the
contrary, the intellectual standard of the vocal profession seems to
have been fully as high two hundred years ago as to-day. Even famous
composers and musical theorists did not disdain to teach singing. But
this very fact, the generally high culture of the old masters, was an
important factor in the weakness of the old method against attack. The
most intelligent masters were the ones most likely to abandon the
empirical system in favor of supposedly scientific and precise methods
of instruction.
The hostile influence to which the old Italian method succumbed was the
idea of mechanical vocal management. This idea entered almost
imperceptibly into the minds of vocal teachers in the guise of a
scientific theory of Voice Culture. A short historical sketch will bring
this fact out clearly. This necessitates a repetition of some of the
material of Chapter I of Part I; the entire subject will however appear
in a new light now that the true nature of the mechanical idea is
understood.
From the founding of the art of Voice Culture, about 1600, up to 1741,
no vocalist seems to have paid any attention to the anatomy or muscular
movements of the vocal organs. In 1741 a French physician, Ferrein,
presented to the Academy of Sciences a treatise on the anatomy of the
vocal organs, entitled "De la Formation de la Voix de l'Homme." This
treatise was published in the same year, and it seems to have attracted
at once the attention of the most enlightened masters of singing. That
Ferrein was the first to call the attention of vocalists to the
mechanical features of tone-production is strongly indicated in the
German translation of Tosi's "Observations." In the original Italian
edition, 1723, and the English translation, 1742, there is absolutely no
mention of the anatomy or physiology of the vocal organs. But in
preparing the German edition, published in 1757, the translator, J. F.
Agricola, inserted a description of the vocal organs which he credited
directly to Ferrein.
Mancini followed Agricola's example, and included in this "Riflessioni"
(1776) a brief description of the vocal organs. But Mancini made no
attempt to apply this description in formulating a system of
instruction. He recommends the parents of a prospective singer to
ascertain, by a physician's examination, that the child's vocal organs
are normal and in good health. He also gives one mechanical rule, so
obvious as to seem rather quaint. "Every singer must place his mouth in
a natural smiling position, that is, with the upper teeth
perpendicularly and moderately removed from the lower." Beyond this
Mancini says not a word of mechanical vocal management. There is no
mention of breathing, or tone reflection, or laryngeal action. Although
Mancini borrowed his description of the vocal organs from Ferrein, his
notion of the mechanics of tone-production was very crude. "The air of
the lungs operates on the larynx in singing exactly as it operates on
the head of the flute."
Voice Culture has passed through three successive periods. From 1600 to
1741 instruction in singing was purely empirical. Ferrein's treatise may
be said to mark the beginning of a transition period during which
empirical instruction was gradually displaced by so-called scientific
methods. This transition period lasted, roughly speaking, till the
invention of the laryngoscope in 1855. Since that time vocal instruction
has been carried on almost exclusively along mechanical lines.
No vocal teacher had ever heard of a problem of tone-production previous
to 1741, and indeed for many years thereafter. The earlier masters were
not aware of any possibility of difficulty in causing the voice to
operate properly. Their success justified their ignoring of any
mechanical basis of instruction; but even of this justification the
later masters of the old school were only dimly conscious. They builded
better than they knew. When any teacher of the transition period was
called upon to explain his manner of imparting the correct vocal action
he was at once put on the defensive. No champion of the imitative
faculty could be found. This lack of understanding of the basis of the
empirical method, on the part of its most intelligent and successful
exponents, was the first cause of the weakness of this method against
attack.
Another source of weakness in the hold of empirical systems on the vocal
profession was seen in the generally high intellectual standard of the
more prominent teachers. These masters gladly accepted the new knowledge
of the basis of their art, offered them in the description of the vocal
organs. Thoroughly conversant with every detail of the empirical
knowledge of the voice, the masters of the transition period were well
prepared to understand something of the mechanical features of
tone-production. By their auditory and muscular sensations of vocal tone
they were able, to their own satisfaction at least, to verify the
statements of the anatomists.
It is not easy for us to put ourselves mentally in the position of a
vocalist, thoroughly familiar with the empirical knowledge of the voice,
and yet ignorant of the first principles of vocal mechanics. In all
probability the early masters were not even aware that tone is produced
by the action of the breath on the larynx. They did not know that
different qualities and pitches result from special adjustments and
contractions of the throat muscles. Yet they were keenly aware of all
the muscular sensations resulting from these contractions. We can well
imagine how interesting these vocalists of the early transition period
must have found the description of the cartilages and muscles of the
throat.
It seems to us but a short step from the study of vocal mechanics to the
application of the results of this study in the formulating of a
practical system of vocal instruction. Yet it required more than sixty
years for the vocal profession to travel so far. Even then the true
bearing of this development of Voice Culture was but dimly realized. In
1800 the mechanical management of the voice was not even thought of.
This is conclusively proved by a most important work, the _Méthode de
Chant du Conservatoire de Musique_, published in Paris in 1803.
There can be no question that this Méthode represents the most
enlightened and advanced thought of the vocal profession of that day.
Not only does it contain everything then known about the training of the
voice; it was drawn up with the same exhaustive care and analytical
attention to detail that were devoted to the formulation of the metric
system. To mechanical rules less than one page is devoted. Respiration
is the only subject to receive more than a few lines. A system of
breathing with flat abdomen and high chest is outlined, and the student
is instructed to practise breathing exercises daily. Five lines are
contained in the chapter headed "De l'emission du son," and these five
lines are simply a warning against throaty and nasal _quality_. The
pupil is told to stand erect, and to open the mouth properly. But a
foot-note is given to the rule for the position of the mouth which shows
how thoroughly the mechanical rule was subordinated to considerations of
tone quality. "As there is no rule without exceptions, we think it
useful to observe at what opening of the mouth the pupil produces the
most agreeable, sonorous, and pure quality of tone in order to have him
always open the mouth in that manner." In the main the Méthode outlines
a purely empirical system of instruction, based on the guidance of the
voice by the ear. There can be no question that the idea of mechanical
management of the voice was introduced later than 1803.
Citations might be made to show the gradual advance of the mechanical
idea from two interesting works, _Die Kunst des Gesanges_, by Adolph B.
Marx, Berlin, 1826, and _Die grosse italienische Gesangschule_, by H. F.
Mannstein, Dresden, 1834. But this is not necessary. It is enough to say
that Scientific Voice Culture was not generally thought to be identical
with mechanical vocal management until later than 1855.
Manuel Garcia was the first vocal teacher to undertake to found a
practical method of instruction on the mechanical principles of the
vocal action. When only twenty-seven years old, in 1832, Garcia
determined to reform the practices of Voice Culture by furnishing an
improved method of instruction. (_Grove's Dictionary._) His first
definite pronouncement of this purpose is contained in the preface to
his _École de Garcia_, 1847. "As all the effects of song are, in the
last analysis, the product of the vocal organs, I have submitted the
study to physiological considerations." This statement of Garcia's idea
of scientific instruction strikes us as a commonplace. But that serves
only to prove how thoroughly the world has since been converted to the
idea of mechanical Voice Culture. At that time it was generally believed
to be a distinct advance. Garcia expected to bring about a great
improvement in the art of Voice Culture. His idea was that the voice can
be trained in less time and with greater certainty by mechanical than by
imitative methods. As for the inherent falsity of this idea, that has
been sufficiently exposed.
So soon as the theory of mechanical vocal management began to find
acceptance, the old method yielded the ground to the new idea. That this
occurred so easily was due to a number of causes. Of these several have
already been noted,--the readiness of the most prominent teachers to
broaden their field of knowledge, in particular. Other causes
contributing to the acceptance of the mechanical idea were the elusive
character of empirical knowledge of the voice, and the unconscious
aspect of the instinct of vocal imitation. No master of the later
transition period deliberately discarded his empirical knowledge. This
could have been possible only by the master losing his sense of hearing.
Neither did the master cease to rely on the imitative faculty. Although
unconsciously exercised, that was a habit too firmly fixed to be even
intentionally abandoned.
Public opinion also had much to do with the spread of the mechanical
idea. Teachers found that they could get pupils easier by claiming to
understand the mechanical workings of the voice. In order to obtain
recognition, teachers were obliged to study vocal mechanics and to adapt
their methods to the growing demand for scientific instruction.
No master of this period seems to have intentionally abandoned the
traditional method. Their first purpose in adopting the new scientific
idea was to elucidate and fortify the old method. Every successful
master undoubtedly taught many pupils who in their turn became teachers.
There must have been, in each succession of master and pupil, one
teacher who failed to transmit the old method in its entirety. Both
master and pupil must have been unconscious of this. No master can be
believed to have deliberately withheld any of his knowledge from his
pupils. Neither can any student have been aware that he failed to
receive his master's complete method.
Let us consider a typical instance of master and pupil in the later
transition period. Instruction in this case was probably of a dual
character. Both teacher and pupil devoted most of their attention to the
mechanical features of tone-production. Yet the master continued to
listen closely to the student's voice, just as he had done before
adopting the (supposedly) scientific idea of instruction. Unconsciously
he led the pupil to listen and imitate. When the student found it
difficult to apply the mechanical instruction the master would say,
"Listen to me and do as I do." Naturally this would bring the desired
result. Yet both master and pupil would attribute the result to the
application of the mechanical rule. The student's voice would be
successfully trained, but he would carry away an erroneous idea of the
means by which this was accomplished. Becoming a teacher in his turn,
the vocalist taught in this fashion would entirely overlook the
unobtrusive element of imitation and would devote himself to mechanical
instruction. He would, for example, construe the precept, "Sing with
open throat," as a rule to be directly applied; that he had acquired the
open throat by imitating his master's tones this teacher would be
utterly unaware.
More than one generation of master and pupil was probably concerned, in
each succession, in the gradual loss of the substance of the old method.
The possibility of learning to sing by imitation was only gradually lost
to sight. This is well expressed by Paolo Guetta. "The aphorism 'listen
and imitate,' which was the device of the ancient school, coming down by
way of tradition, underwent the fate of all sane precepts passed along
from generation to generation. Through elimination and individual
adaptation, through assuming the personal imprint, it degenerated into a
purely empirical formula." (_Il Canto nel suo Mecanismo_, Milan, 1902.)
Guetta is himself evidently at a loss to grasp the significance of the
empirical formula, "Listen and imitate." He seems however to be aware of
an antagonism between imitation and mechanical vocal management. The
reason of this antagonism has already been noticed, but it will bear
repetition. For a teacher to tell a pupil to "hold your throat open and
imitate my tone," is to demand the impossible. A conscious effort
directly to hold the throat open only causes the throat to stiffen. In
this condition the normal action of the voice is upset and the pupil
cannot imitate the teacher's voice.
This was the condition confronting the teacher of the second generation
in the "maestral succession" just considered. He found his pupils unable
to get with their voices the results which had come easily to him.
Attributing his satisfactory progress as a student to the mastery of the
supposed mechanical principles of tone-production, this teacher ascribed
his pupil's difficulties to their failure to grasp the same mechanical
ideas. As a natural consequence he labored even more energetically along
mechanical lines. Curiously, no teacher seems to have questioned the
soundness of the mechanical idea. Failure on the part of the pupil to
obtain the correct use of the voice served only to make the master more
insistent on mechanical exercises.
In direct proportion to the prominence given to the idea of mechanical
management of the voice, the difficulties of teachers and students
became ever more pronounced. The trouble caused by throat stiffness led
the teachers to seek new means for imparting the correct vocal action,
always along mechanical lines. In this way the progress of the
mechanical idea was accelerated, and the problem of tone-production
received ever more attention.
Faith in the imitative faculty was gradually undermined by the progress
of the mechanical idea. With each succeeding generation of master and
pupil, the mechanical idea became more firmly established. Something
akin to a vicious circle was involved in this progress. As attention was
paid in practical instruction to the mechanical operations of the voice,
so the voice's instinctive power of imitation was curtailed by throat
stiffness. This served to make more pressing the apparent need of means
for the mechanical management of the voice. Thus the mechanical idea
found ever new arguments in its favor, based always on the difficulties
itself had caused.
It is impossible to assign a precise date to the disappearance of the
old Italian method. The last exponent of the old traditions was
Francesco Lamperti, who retired from active teaching in 1876. Yet even
Lamperti finally yielded, in theory at least, to the mechanical idea. In
the closing years of his active life as a teacher (1875 and 1876),
Lamperti wrote a book descriptive of his method, _A Treatise on the Art
of Singing_ (translated into English by J. C. Griffith and published by
Ed. Schuberth & Co., New York). When this work was about ready for the
press, Lamperti read Dr. Mandl's _Gesundheitslehre der Stimme_,
containing the first definite statement of the opposed-muscular-action
theory of breath-control. At the last moment Lamperti inserted a note in
his book to signify his acceptance of this theory.
Vocal mechanics was at first studied by teachers of singing as a matter
of purely academic interest. No insufficiency of imitative teaching had
ever been felt. Teachers of the transition period, even so late probably
as 1830, had in most cases no reason to be dissatisfied with their
methods of instruction. Garcia himself started out modestly enough to
place the traditional method, received from his father, on a definite
basis. His first idea, announced in the preface to the first edition of
his _École de Garcia_, was to "reproduce my father's method, attempting
only to give it a more theoretical form, and to connect results with
causes."
Interest in the mechanics of the voice continued to be almost entirely
academic until the invention of the laryngoscope in 1855. Then the
popular note was struck. The marvelous industrial and scientific
progress of the preceding fifty years had prepared the world to demand
advancement in methods of teaching singing, as in everything else. When
the secrets of the vocal action were laid bare, a new and better method
of teaching singing was at once expected. Within very few years
scientific knowledge of the voice was demanded of every vocal teacher.
Nothing could well be more natural than a belief in the efficacy of
scientific knowledge of the vocal organs as the basis of instruction in
singing. Surely no earnest investigator of the voice can be criticized
for adopting this belief. No one ever thought of questioning the
soundness of the new scientific idea. The belief was everywhere
accepted, as a matter of course, that methods of instruction in singing
were about to be vastly improved. Vocal theorists spoke confidently of
discovering means for training the voice in a few months of study. The
singer's education under the old system had demanded from four to seven
years; science was expected to revolutionize this, and to accomplish in
months what had formerly required years.
Even then tone-production was not seen to be a distinct problem. The old
imitative method was still successfully followed. No one thought of
discarding the traditional method, but only of improving it by reducing
it to scientific principles. But that could not last. Soon after the
attempt began to be made to manage the voice mechanically,
tone-production was found to contain a real problem. This was of course
due to the introduction of throat stiffness.
From that time on (about 1860 to 1865), the problem of tone-production
has become steadily more difficult of solution in each individual case.
This problem has been, since 1865, the one absorbing topic of Voice
Culture. Probably the most unfortunate single fact in the history of
Voice Culture is that scientific study of the voice was from the
beginning confined solely to the mechanical features of tone-production.
Had scientific investigators turned their attention also to the analysis
of the auditory impressions of vocal tones, and to the psychological
aspect of tone-production, scientific instruction in singing would
probably not have been identified with mechanical management of the
voice. All the subsequent difficulties of the vocal profession would
almost certainly have been avoided.
Every attempt at a solution of the problem of tone-production has been
made along strictly mechanical lines. Attention has been devoted solely
to the anatomy and physiology of the vocal organs, and to the acoustic
principles of the vocal action. Since 1865 hardly a year has passed
without some important contribution to the sum of knowledge of the vocal
mechanism. For many years this development of Vocal Science was eagerly
followed by the vocal teachers. Any seemingly authoritative announcement
of a new theory of the voice was sure to bring its reward in an
immediate influx of earnest students. Prominent teachers made it their
practice to spend their vacations in studying with the famous
specialists and investigators. Each new theory of the vocal action was
at once put into practice, or at any rate this attempt was made. Yet
each new attempt brought only a fresh disappointment. The mystery of the
voice was only deepened with each successive failure at solution.
A review in detail of the development of Vocal Science would be of only
academic interest. Very little of practical moment would probably be
added to the outline of modern methods contained in Part I.
Teachers of singing at present evince an attitude of skepticism toward
new theories of the vocal action. Voice Culture has settled along
well-established lines. In the past fifteen years little change can be
noted in the practices of vocal teachers. The mechanical idea is so
firmly established that no question is ever raised as to its scientific
soundness. Under the limitations imposed by this erroneous idea,
teachers do their best to train the voices entrusted to their care.
Vocal Science is of vastly less importance in modern Voice Culture than
the world in general supposes. Only an imaginary relation has ever
existed between the scientific knowledge of the voice and practical
methods of instruction. To cause the summits of the arytenoid
cartilages, for example, to incline toward each other is entirely beyond
the direct power of the singer. How many similar impossibilities have
been seriously advocated can be known only to the academic student of
Vocal Science. Vocal teachers in general have ceased to attempt any such
application of the doctrines of Vocal Science. Even if these doctrines
could be shown to be scientifically sound it would still be impossible
to devise means for applying them to the management of the voice.
Accepted Vocal Science has contributed only one element of the practical
scheme of modern voice culture; this is the erroneous notion that the
vocal organs require to be managed mechanically.
CHAPTER VIII
THE MATERIALS OF RATIONAL INSTRUCTION IN SINGING
Practical methods of instruction in singing may be judged by their
results fully as well as by a scientific analysis of their basic
principles. If the progress of the art of singing in the past fifty
years has been commensurate with the amount of study devoted to the
operations of the vocal mechanism, then the value of present methods is
established. Otherwise the need is proved for some reform in the present
system of training voices. Judged by this standard modern methods are
not found to be satisfactory. There has been no progress in the art of
singing; exactly the contrary is the case. A prominent vocalist goes so
far as to say that "vocal insufficiency and decay are prevalent." (_The
Singing of the Future_, D. Frangçon-Davies, M.A., 1906.) It is perhaps
an exaggeration of the condition to call it "insufficiency and decay."
Yet a gradual decline in the art of singing must be apparent to any
lover of the art who has listened to most of the famous singers of the
past twenty or twenty-five years. Operatic performance has been improved
in every other respect, but pure singing, the perfection of the vocal
art, has become almost a rarity. This is true not only of coloratura
singing; it applies with almost equal force to the use of the singing
voice for the purpose of dramatic and emotional expression.
Musical critics are beginning to comment on the decline of singing. They
seek naturally for the causes of this decline. Many influences are cited
by different writers, each of which has undoubtedly contributed
something toward lowering the present standard of singing. Most
influential among these contributing causes, in the general opinion, is
the dramatic style of singing demanded in Wagner's later operas. Yet
several writers point out that the rôles of Tristan, Brunnhilde, etc.,
are vastly more effective when well sung than when merely shouted or
declaimed. A change in the public taste is also spoken of. Audiences are
said to be indifferent to the older operas, written to suit the style of
florid singing. But even this statement does not pass unchallenged. A
prominent critic asserts that "the world is still hungry" for florid
singing. "It is altogether likely," continues this writer, "that
composers would begin to write florid works again if they were assured
of competent interpretation, for there is always a public eager for
music of this sort." This critic asserts that the decline of coloratura
singing is due to the indifference of the artists themselves to this
style of singing.
Still another commentator ascribes the decline of pure singing in recent
years to the rise of a new school of dramatic interpretation among the
younger operatic artists. "Nowadays it is not the singing that counts.
It is the interpretation; and the chances are there will be more and
more interpretation and less and less singing every year." Even this
view has its limitations. Faithful dramatic interpretation, and
attention to all the details of make-up and "business," are not in any
way antagonistic to pure singing. One of the most potent means of
emotional expression is vocal tone color. But the skilful use of
expressive tone quality is possible only to a singer possessed of a
perfect command of all the resources of the voice. Many vocal
shortcomings are forgiven in the singer of convincing interpretive
power. This is probably an important factor in influencing the younger
generation of artists to devote so much attention to interpretation.
More important than any of the reasons just given to account for the
present state of the art of singing, is the decline in the art of
training voices. The prospects of an improvement in the art of Voice
Culture, imagined by the early investigators of the vocal mechanism,
have not been realized. Voice Culture has not progressed in the past
sixty years. Exactly the contrary has taken place. Before the
introduction of mechanical methods every earnest vocal student was sure
of learning to use his voice properly, and of developing the full
measure of his natural endowments. Mechanical instruction has upset all
this. Nowadays the successful vocal student is the exception. Even those
students who succeed in acquiring sufficient command of their voices to
win public acceptance are unable to master the finest points of vocal
technique.
Perfect singing is becoming rare, mainly because the technical mastery
of the voice cannot be acquired under modern methods of instruction.
These methods have been found unsatisfactory in every way. A change must
be made in the practices of Voice Culture; its present state cannot be
regarded as permanent. Modern methods are not truly scientific. There is
at present no justification for the belief that the art of Voice Culture
is founded an assured scientific principles. This does not by any means
invalidate the idea that Voice Culture is properly a subject for
scientific regulation. Modern methods are unsatisfactory only because
they do not conform to the fundamental laws of science. In order to
erect a satisfactory art of Voice Culture it is necessary only that the
art be brought into conformity with scientific principles.
No sweeping reform of modern methods is called for. A thorough
application of scientific principles in the training of voices demands
only one thing,--the abandonment of the idea of mechanical vocal
management. This is not a backward step; on the contrary, it means a
distinct advance. Once freed from the burden of the mechanical idea, the
art of Voice Culture will be in position to advance, even beyond the
ideals of the old masters.
Nothing could well be simpler than the dropping of the mechanical idea.
It was pointed out in the review of modern methods that most of the time
spent in giving and taking lessons is devoted to actual singing by the
student. This is exactly what rational instruction means. Were it not
for the evil influence of the mechanical idea, the results of present
instruction would in most cases be satisfactory. It is only in
consequence of the attention paid to the mechanical workings of the
vocal organs that throat stiffness is interposed between the ear and the
voice. Let the mechanical idea be dropped, and instruction may be
carried on exactly as at present. There will be only one marked
difference,--throat stiffness will cease to be a source of difficulty.
It is for the individual teacher to change his own practices. This could
be done so easily that students would hardly note a change in the form
of instruction. Simply call the pupil's attention always to the quality
of the tones, and never to the throat. Cease to talk of breathing and of
laryngeal action, and these subjects will never suggest themselves to
the student's mind. Continue to have the student sing vocalises, scales,
songs, and arias, just as at present. Teach the student to listen
closely to his own voice, and familiarize him with correct models of
singing. This covers the whole ground of rational Voice Culture.
It is a great mistake to suppose that a vocal student comes to the
teacher with a definite idea of the need of direct vocal management.
Several months of study are required before the student begins to grasp
the teacher's idea of mechanical management of the voice. Even then the
student rarely comes to a clear understanding of the mechanical idea. In
the great majority of cases the student never gets beyond the vague
notion that he must "do something" to bring the tones. Yet this vague
idea is enough to keep his attention constantly directed to his vocal
organs, and so to hamper their normal activity. So soon as a teacher
drops the mechanical idea, his pupils will not think of their throats,
nor demand mechanical instruction. There will be no need of his
cautioning his pupils not to pay attention to the muscular workings of
the vocal organs. No vocal student ever would do this were the practice
not demanded in modern methods.
At first thought it may seem that for a teacher to drop all mechanical
instruction would leave a great gap in his method. How is the correct
vocal action to be imparted to the pupil if not by direct instruction to
this end? This question has already been answered in preceding chapters,
but the answer may well be repeated. The correct vocal action is
naturally and instinctively adopted by the voice without any attention
being paid to the operations of the vocal mechanism. It is necessary
only that the student sing his daily exercises and listen to his voice.
The voice's own instinct will lead it gradually to the perfect action.
Nothing need be substituted for mechanical instruction. Present methods
of Voice Culture will be in every way complete, they will leave nothing
to be desired, when the mechanical idea is abandoned. This change in the
character of vocal instruction will not be in any sense a return to
empiricism. It will be a distinct advance in the application of
scientific principles.
When fully understood, a practical science of Voice Culture is seen to
embrace only three topics,--the musical education of the student, the
training of the ear, and the acquirement of skill in the use of the
voice. The avoidance of throat stiffness is not properly a separate
topic of Vocal Science, as in rational instruction nothing should ever
be done to cause the throat to stiffen. Let us consider in detail these
three topics of practical Vocal Science.
_The Musical Education of a Singer_
Every singer should be a well-educated and accomplished musician. This
does not mean that the singer must be a capable performer on the piano
or violin; yet some facility in playing the piano is of enormous benefit
to the singer. A general understanding of the art of music is not
necessarily dependent on the ability to play any instrument. The
rudiments of music may quite well be mastered through the study of sight
singing. This was the course adopted by the old masters, and it will
serve equally well in our day.
One of the evil results of the introduction of the mechanical idea in
Voice Culture is that almost the entire lesson time is devoted to the
matter of tone-production. To the rudiments of music no attention
whatever is usually paid. Many vocal students realize the need of a
general musical training, and seek it through studying the piano and
through choir and chorus singing. But the vocal teacher seldom finds
time to teach his pupils to read music at sight. This is a serious
mistake. The artistic use of the voice is dependent on the possession of
a trained ear and a cultured musical taste. Ear training and musical
culture are greatly facilitated by a knowledge of the technical basis of
the art of music. This latter is best acquired, by the vocal student at
any rate, through the study of sight reading.
Sight singing and the rudiments of music are taught to better advantage
in class work than in private individual instruction. The class system
also secures a great saving of time to the teacher. Every teacher should
form a little class in sight reading and choral singing, made up of all
his pupils. An hour or an hour and a half each week, devoted by the
entire class to the study of sight singing and simple part songs and
choruses, would give an ample training to all the pupils in this
important branch of the art of music.
Many vocal teachers advise their pupils not to sing in choirs and
choruses. There may be some ground for the belief that students are apt
to fall into bad vocal habits while singing in the chorus. But this risk
is entirely avoided by the teacher having his pupils sing in his own
chorus, under his own direction.
Another important feature of the musical education is the hearing of
good music artistically performed. Vocal students should be urged to
attend the opera and the orchestral concerts. They should become
familiar with the different forms of composition by actually hearing the
masterpieces of music. Chamber music concerts, song recitals, and
oratoric performances,--all are of great advantage to the earnest
student. When students attend the opera, or hear the great singers in
concerts and recitals, they should listen to the singers' tones, and not
wonder how the tones are produced.
_Ear Training_
No special exercises can be given for the training of the ear. The sense
of hearing is developed only by attentive listening. Every vocal
student should be urged, and frequently reminded, to form the habit of
listening attentively to the tones of all voices and instruments. A
highly trained sense of hearing is one of the musician's most valuable
gifts. A naturally keen musical ear is of course presupposed in the case
of any one desiring to study music. This natural gift must be developed
by exercise in the ear's proper function,--listening to sounds.
Experience in listening to voices is made doubly effective in the
training of the ear when the student's attention is called to the
salient characteristics of the tones heard. In this regard the two
points most important for the student to notice are the intonation and
the tone quality.
Absolute correctness of intonation, whether in the voice or in an
instrument, can be appreciated only by the possessor of a highly
cultivated sense of hearing. Many tones are accepted as being in tune
which are heard by a very keen ear to be slightly off the pitch, or
untrue to the pitch. This matter of a tone being untrue to the pitch is
of great importance to the student of music. Many instruments, when
unskilfully played, give out tones of this character. The tones are
impure; instead of containing only one pitch, each note shades off into
pitches a trifle higher, or lower, or both. This faulty type of tone is
illustrated by a piano slightly out of tune. On a single note of this
piano one string may have remained in perfect tune, the second may have
flatted by the merest fraction of a semitone, and the third by a
slightly greater interval. When this note is played it is in one sense
not out of tune. Yet its pitch is untrue, and it shades off into a
slightly flat note. In the case of many instruments, notably the flute,
the clarinet, and the French horn, unskilled performers often play notes
of this character. But in these instruments the composite character of
the note is vastly more complex than in the piano. A very keen ear is
required to appreciate fully the nature of this untrueness to the pitch.
But this is exactly the kind of ear the singer must possess, and it can
be acquired only by the experience of attentive listening.
The voice is especially liable to produce tones untrue to the pitch.
Stiff-throated singers almost invariably exhibit this faulty tendency.
An excessive tension of the throat hampers the vocal cords in their
adjustments, and the result is an impure tone. This is more often the
cause of an artist singing out of tune than a deficiency of the sense of
hearing. Many singers "sharp" or "flat" habitually, and are unable to
overcome the habit, even though well aware of it. Only a voice entirely
free from stiffness can produce tones of absolute correctness and
perfect intonation. Du Maurier hit upon a very apt description of pure
intonation when he said that Trilby always sang "right into the middle
of the note." As an impurity of intonation is almost always an
indication of throat tension, vocal teachers should be keenly sensitive
to this type of faulty tone.
Tone quality is a subject of surpassing interest to the musician.
Whatever may be thought the true purpose of music, there can be no
question as to one demand made on each individual instrument,--it must
produce tones of sensuous beauty. A composer may delight in dissonances;
but no instrument of the orchestra may produce harsh or discordant
tones. Of beauty of tone the ear is the sole judge; naturally so, for
the only appeal of the individual tone is to the ear. Melody, rhythm,
and harmony may appeal to the intellect, but the quality of each
component tone is judged only by the ear.
Each instrument has its own characteristic tone quality. The student of
singing should become familiar with the sounds of the different
orchestral instruments. Attention to this is extremely valuable in the
training of the ear.
Beauty of tone was seen to be the truest and best indication of the
correct vocal action. The voice has its own tonal beauty, entirely
different in character from any artificial instrument. Students of
singing should listen for every fine shade of tone quality in the voices
of other singers. They should learn to detect the slightest blemish on
the quality of every tone, the slightest deviation from the correct
pitch.
As the voice is guided by the ear, the first requirement of a singer is
a keen sense of hearing. For a keen ear to be of benefit, the student
must learn to listen to his own voice. This is not altogether an easy
matter. For one to learn to hear oneself justly and correctly requires
considerable practice. The singer is placed at a natural disadvantage in
listening to himself. This is due to two causes. In the first place, the
direct muscular sensations of singing are so complex, and so
distributed about the throat and face, that the singer's attention is
apt to be divided between these and his auditory sensations. Second, the
sound waves are conducted to the ear internally, by the vibration of the
bones of the head, as well as externally, by the air waves. The
internally conveyed vibrations are a rumbling rather than a true sound;
the only true tone is the external sound, heard by the singer in the
same way as by a listener. Yet the attention is more apt to be taken up
with the internal rumbling than with the external tone. Every vocal
student must be taught to listen to himself, to disregard the muscular
sensations and the internal rumbling, and to pay attention only to the
real tones of his voice.
Throat stiffness greatly increases the difficulty of listening to
oneself. Both the muscular sensations and the internal rumbling are
heightened by the increased muscular tension. A stiff-throated singer
confounds the muscular with the auditory sensations; the feeling of
muscular effort also makes him believe his tones to be much more
powerful than they really are.
_The Acquirement of Skill_
Skill in the use of the voice is acquired solely by practice in singing.
Only one rule is required for the conduct of vocal practice, that is,
that the voice thrives on beautiful sounds. Musical taste must always
guide the vocal student in practising. The voice cannot well do more
than is demanded by the ear. If a student is unable to distinguish a
correct intonation, his voice will not intone correctly. A student must
hear and recognize his own faults or there is no possibility of his
correcting them. He must be familiar with the characteristics of a
perfect musical tone in order to demand this tone of his voice.
In the student's progress the ear always keeps slightly in advance of
the voice. Both develop together, but the ear takes the lead. The voice
needs practice to enable it to meet the demands of the ear. As this
practice goes on day by day the ear in the meantime becomes keener and
still more exacting in its demands on the voice.
To train a voice is in reality a very simple matter. Nothing is required
of the student but straightforward singing. Provided the student's
daily practice of singing be guided by a naturally keen ear and a sound
musical taste, the voice will steadily progress. Little need be said
here about the technical demands made on the voice in modern music. The
standards of vocal technique are well known to all vocal teachers, and
indeed to musicians generally. Further, the scope of this work is
limited to the basic principle of vocal technique,--correct
tone-production.
For starting the voice properly on the road to the perfect action,
intelligently guided practice alone is needed. This practice must be
carried on under the direction of a competent teacher. But the teacher
cannot pay attention solely to the technical training of the student's
voice. As has been seen, the training of the voice is impossible without
the cultivation of the sense of hearing; and this is dependent in great
measure on the general musical education of the student. The teacher
must therefore direct the student's musical education as the basic
principle of Voice Culture.
_The Avoidance of Throat Stiffness_
A great advance will be brought about in the profession of Voice Culture
when vocal teachers become thoroughly familiar with the subject of
throat stiffness. This is the only troublesome feature of the training
of voices. Teachers must be always on the alert to note every indication
of throat stiffness. The correction of faults of production has always
been recognized as one of the most important elements of vocal training.
Faults of production are of two kinds, natural and acquired. Natural
faults are exhibited in some degree by every vocal student. These are
due solely to the lack of facility in the use of the voice and to the
beginner's want of experience in hearing his own voice. Acquired faults
develop only as the result of unnatural throat tension. The most common
cause of acquired faults of tone-production was seen in the attempt
consciously to direct the mechanical operations of the voice.
Equipped with a thorough understanding of the subject of throat
stiffness, the teacher is in no danger of permitting his pupils to
contract faulty habits of tone-production. Here the great value of the
empirical knowledge of the voice is seen. The slightest trace of
incipient throat stiffness must be immediately detected by the teacher
in the sound of the pupil's tones. To correct the faulty tendency in
the beginning is comparatively simple. By listening closely to every
tone sung by his pupils in the course of instruction, noting both the
musical character of the tones and the sympathetic sensations of throat
action, the master will never be in doubt whether a tendency to throat
stiffness is shown. In locating the natural faults of production the
teacher will also find his empirical knowledge of the voice a most
valuable possession.
CHAPTER IX
OUTLINES OF A PRACTICAL METHOD OF VOICE CULTURE
According to the accepted idea of Voice Culture, the word "method" is
taken to mean only the plan supposedly followed for imparting a correct
manner of tone-production. Owing to the prevalence of the mechanical
idea, the acquirement of the correct vocal action has become so
difficult as to demand almost the exclusive attention of both teachers
and students. Very little time is left for other subjects of vastly more
importance. Aside from the matter of tone-production, teachers do not
seem to realize the importance, or even the possibility, of
systematizing a course of instruction in singing.
Scientific Voice Culture is inconceivable without a systematic plan of
procedure. But this is not dependent on a set of rules for imparting the
correct vocal action. Eliminating the idea of mechanical vocal
management does not imply the abandonment of methodical instruction in
singing. On the contrary, Voice Culture cannot be made truly systematic
so long as it is based on an erroneous and unscientific theory of vocal
management. A vocal teacher cannot perfect a system of instruction until
he has done with the mechanical idea. Then he will find himself to be in
possession of all the materials of a sound practical method.
Most important of the materials of a practical method is a comprehensive
repertoire of vocal music. Every teacher should have at his command a
wide range of compositions in every form available for the voice. This
should include simple exercises, vocalises with and without words, songs
of every description, arias of the lyric, dramatic, and coloratura type,
and recitatives, as well as concerted numbers of every description. All
these compositions should be graded, according to the difficulties they
present, both technical in the vocal sense, and musical. For every stage
of a pupil's progress the teacher should know exactly what composition
to assign for study.
Every composition used in instruction, be it simple exercise or
elaborate aria, should be first of all melodious. For the normally
gifted student the sense of melody and the love of singing are almost
synonymous. Next to the physical endowments of voice and ear the sense
of melody is the vocal student's most important gift. This feeling for
melody should be appealed to at every instant. Students should not be
permitted to sing anything in a mechanical fashion. Broken scales, "five
finger exercises," and mechanical drills of every kind, are altogether
objectionable. They blunt the sense of melody, and at the same time they
tend to induce throat stiffness. Beauty of tone and of melody should
always be the guiding principle in the practice of singing.
All the elements of instruction,--musical education, ear training, and
the acquirement of facility in the use of the voice,--can be combined in
the singing of melodious compositions. While the teacher should know the
precise object of each study, this is not necessary for the student.
Have the pupil simply sing his daily studies, with good tone and true
musical feeling, and all the rest will take care of itself.
Every vocal teacher will formulate his method of instruction according
to his own taste and judgment. There will always be room for the
exercise of originality, and for the working out of individual ideas.
His own experience, and his judgment in each individual case, must guide
the teacher in answering many important questions. Whether to train a
voice up or down, whether to pay special attention to enunciation, when
to introduce the trill, what form of studies to use for technique and
ornament,--these are all matters for the teacher to decide in his own
way.
Above all else the teacher should seek to make the study of singing
interesting to his pupils. This cannot be done by making the idea of
method and of mechanical drudgery prominent. Singing is an art; both
teacher and student must love their art or they cannot succeed.
Everything the student is called on to do should be a distinct pleasure.
To master the piano or the violin many hours of tedious practice are
required. Students of singing are indeed fortunate to be spared the
necessity of this tiresome work. In place of two or three hours' daily
practice of scales and exercises, the vocal student need do nothing but
sing good music.
Much is required of a competent vocal teacher. First of all, he must be
a cultured musician and a capable judge both of composition and of
performance. Further, while not necessarily a great singer, he must have
a thorough command of all the resources of his own voice. His
understanding of the voice should embrace a fair knowledge of vocal
physiology and of vocal psychology. His ear should be so highly trained,
and his experience in hearing singers so wide, that he possess in full
the empirical knowledge of the voice. The vocal teacher must be familiar
with the highest standards of singing. He should hear the great artists
of his day and also be well versed in the traditions of his art.
A highly important gift of the vocal teacher is tact. He must know how
to deal with his pupils, how to smooth over the rough places of
temperament. He should be able to foster a spirit of comradeship among
his pupils, to secure the stimulating effect of rivalry, while avoiding
the evils of jealousy. Tact is an important element also in individual
instruction. Some students will demand to know the reason of everything,
others will be content to do as they are told without question. One
student may be led to stiffen his throat by instruction which would have
no such effect on another. In every case the teacher must study the
individual temperaments of his pupils and adapt his method to the
character of each student.
Practical instruction, in its outward aspect, should be very simple. At
one lesson the teacher assigns certain studies and has the pupil sing
them. Now and then the teacher sings a few measures in order to give the
student the correct idea of the effects to be obtained. If any
pronounced fault is shown in the student's tones, the master calls
attention to the fault, perhaps imitating it, to make it more apparent
to the student. In his home practice the student sings the assigned
studies, trying always to get his tones pure and true. At the next
lesson the same studies are again sung, and new compositions given for
further study.
A great advantage might be gained by combining three, four, or five
students in a class and giving lessons of an hour's time, or even an
hour and a half. The students might sing in turn, all the others
listening to the one who is singing. This form of instruction would be
of great service in ear training, and in acquainting the students with
the various qualities of vocal tone, both correct and faulty. Much time
would thus be saved in giving explanations and in pointing out the
characteristics of tone to be sought or avoided. On the side of musical
education, instruction in small classes would also be found very
effective.
A thorough understanding of Vocal Science, including both the mechanical
features of tone-production and the psychological aspects of singing, is
almost indispensable to the vocal teacher. But the student of singing
will in most cases derive no benefit from this scientific knowledge.
Those students who plan to become teachers must of course study Vocal
Science. Yet even these students will do well to defer this study until
they have acquired a thorough mastery of their voices.
* * *
Musical progress would seem to have taken a peculiar direction when a
voice need be raised in defense of the old art of pure singing. Several
famous writers on musical subjects would have us believe that the love
of vocal melody is outgrown by one who reaches the heights of musical
development. This may be true; but if so, the world has not yet
progressed so far. Music without melody may some day be written. But
Mozart knew naught of it, nor Beethoven, nor Wagner. Melody is still
beautiful, and never more lovely than when artistically sung by a
beautiful voice. We have not reached a point where we can afford to toss
lightly aside the old art of Bel Canto.
For its future development, if not indeed for its continued existence,
the art of singing depends on an improvement in the art of training
voices. For this to be accomplished, mechanical methods must be
abandoned. If this work succeeds in bringing home to the vocal
profession the error of mechanical instruction in singing, it will have
served its purpose.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pietro Francesco Tosi: _Observations on the Florid Song_. Bologna, 1723.
Giovanni Battista Mancini: _Riflessioni pratiche sul Canto figurato_.
Milan, 1776.
Georg Joseph Vogler: _Stimmbildungskunst_. Mannheim, 1776.
_Méthode de Chant du Conservatoire de Musique_. Paris, 1803.
Stefana Arteaga: _Le Revoluzioni del Teatro musicale italiano_. Venice,
1785.
Adolph Bernhard Marx: _Die Kunst des Gesanges_. Berlin, 1826.
Heinrich F. Mannstein: _Die grosse italienische Gesangschule_. Dresden,
1834.
Manuel Garcia: _École de Garcia_. The Ninth Edition (Paris, 1893) gives
date of first edition, 1856. Grove's Dict. gives 1847.
_Proceedings of the Royal Soc._, London, Vol. 2, May, 1855.
_Hints on Singing_. (Trans. by Beata Garcia). New York, 1894.
Ferdinand Sieber: _Vollstaendiges Lehrbuch der Gesangskunst_. Magdeburg,
1858.
_The Art of Singing_. (Trans. by Dr. F. Seeger). New York, 1872.
Stéphen de la Madelaine: _Théorie complète du Chant_. Paris, 1852.
Lennox Browne and Emil Behnke: _Voice, Song, and Speech_. London, 1883.
John Howard: _The Physiology of Artistic Singing_. New York, 1886.
Gordon Holmes: _A Treatise on Vocal Physiology and Hygiene_. London,
1879.
Emma Seiler: _The Voice in Singing_. Philadelphia, 1886.
J. Frank Botume: _Modern Singing Methods_. Boston, 1885.
Francesco Lamperti: _A Treatise on the Art of Singing_. (Trans. by J. C.
Griffith). New York. Original about 1876.
Wesley Mills, M. D.: _Voice Production in Singing and Speaking_.
Philadelphia, 1906.
Dr. W. Reinecke: _Die Kunst der idealen Tonbildung_. Leipzig, 1906.
William Shakespeare: _The Art of Singing_. London, 1898.
G. B. Lamperti: _The Technics of Bel Canto_. New York, 1905.
Paolo Guetta: _Il Canto nel suo Mecanismo_. Milan, 1902.
Lilli Lehmann: _Meine Gesangskunst_. Berlin, 1902.
David Frangçon-Davies: _The Singing of the Future_. London, 1906.
Leo Kofler: _The Old Italian Method_. Albany, 1880.
_The Art of Breathing_. New York, 1889.
Clara Kathleen Rogers: _The Philosophy of Singing_. New York, 1893.
Albert B. Bach: _The Principles of Singing_. London (2d ed.), 1897.
Julius Stockhausen's _Gesangsmethode_. Leipzig, 1884.
Sir Morell Mackenzie: _The Hygiene of the Vocal Organs_. London, 1886.
Charles Lunn: _The Philosophy of the Voice_. London, 1878.
Antoine Ferrein: _De la Formation de la Voix de l'Homme_. Paris, 1741.
Sir Charles Bell: _On the Organs of the Human Voice_. London, 1832.
Carl Ludwig Merkel: _Der Kehlkopf_. Leipzig, 1873.
Dr. L. Mandl: _Die Gesundheitslehre der Stimme_. Braunschweig, 1876.
George F. Ladd: _Outlines of Physiological Psychology_. New York, 1892.
James M. Baldwin: _Feeling and Will_. New York, 1894.
H. S. Curtis: "Automatic Movements of the Larynx," _Amer. Jour. Psych._,
Vol. 11, p. 237. 1900.
H. L. F. Helmholtz: _Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen_. Braunschweig,
1862.
E. W. Scripture: _The New Psychology_, London, 1897.
_The Elements of Experimental Phonetics_. New York, 1902.
_The Study of Speech Curves_. Washington, 1906.
William James: _The Principles of Psychology_. New York, 1890.
Hansen and Lehmann: "Ueber unwillkuerliches Fluestern," _Philo. Stud._,
Vol. 11, p. 471. 1895.
C. Lloyd Morgan: _An Introduction to Comparative Psychology_. 1894.
Wilhelm Wundt: _Grundzuege der physiologischen Psychologie_. Leipzig,
1874.
Grove's _Dictionary of Music and Musicians_.
Fétis: _Biographie universelle des Musiciens_.
Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon.
Quellen Lexikon der Musiker. (Robt. Eitner, Leipzig, 1902.)
INDEX
Acoustics of voice, 188, 216.
Anatomy of vocal organs, 211.
Attack, 51, 53.
Breathing, 20, 130.
Breath, singing on the, 14, 27, 32, 72, 194.
Candle-flame test, 221.
Coloratura, 195, 282.
Decline of singing, 341.
Ear training, 276, 281, 319, 351.
Emission, 68, 125, 188.
Empirical knowledge, 151, 176, 181, 359.
basis of, 155.
in modern instruction, 75, 199, 207.
in traditional precepts, 184.
Enunciation, 88.
Exercises
for breath-control, 26, 31.
for breathing, 22.
for muscular movements, 46, 50.
for relaxing muscles, 90, 272.
on vowels and consonants, 85.
Forward tone, 14, 68, 71, 125, 187.
Garcia, 16, 22, 34, 35, 56, 328.
Glottic stroke, 30, 52.
History of voice culture, 8, 322.
Howard, John, 43.
Imitation, 134, 166, 291, 298, 307, 309, 324, 332.
Intonation, 265, 311, 314, 352.
Laryngeal action, 34, 36, 44.
Laryngoscope, 16, 35, 56, 214, 215, 258, 336.
Lessons, 103, 366.
Local effort, 273.
Mancini, 12, 156, 307, 314, 323.
Mask, singing in the, 74, 81.
Mechanical vocal management, 83, 102, 109, 113, 135, 271,
287, 297, 299, 321, 329, 333, 346.
Mechanics of voice, 118, 220, 325, 335.
Mental voice, 180, 183.
Messa di voce, 40, 312.
Method, 92, 96, 99.
Old Italian, 10, 304, 316, 320.
Méthode de Chant, 326.
Muscular sense, 143, 170.
stiffness, 240, 251.
strain, 267.
Nasal tone, 62, 129, 205.
Nervousness, 249, 256.
Old Italian masters, 9, 11, 14, 54, 306, 320.
method, 10, 304, 316, 320.
Open throat, 14, 60, 86, 191.
Placing the voice, 38, 41, 93, 310.
Practice, 5, 105, 281, 366.
Precepts, 13, 72, 76, 184, 186, 317.
Problem of voice, 4, 7, 287, 324, 337, 338.
Psychology of muscular guidance, 136, 227.
of sympathetic sensations, 165.
of vocal management, 144, 229, 297.
Pure vowel theory, 88.
Quality of tone, 40, 62, 156, 179, 182, 314, 346.
Radiation of nerve impulse, 251, 259.
Reflex actions, 247, 255.
Registers, 34, 38, 55, 312, 315.
Relaxing exercises, 90, 272.
Resonance, 54, 58.
chest, 61, 127.
mouth-pharynx, 59.
nasal, 62, 87, 127, 204.
sounding-board, 44, 65.
Sensations of singing, 160.
direct, 161, 173.
in modern instruction, 78, 84, 114.
muscular, 78.
sympathetic, 161, 162, 176.
of vibration, 54, 55, 58, 80.
Sight reading, 309, 310, 313.
Singing in the mask, 74, 81.
on the breath, 14, 27, 32, 72, 194.
Sol-fa, 310, 314.
Stiffness, muscular, 240, 251.
throat, 89, 243, 260, 262, 285, 356, 358.
Support of tone, 14, 27, 32, 73, 192.
Sympathetic sensations, 161, 162, 165, 176.
Technique, 6, 94, 282.
Throat stiffness, 89, 243, 260, 262, 285, 356, 358.
Tone-production, 4.
problem of 7, 287, 324, 337, 338.
Tosi, 12, 55, 63, 156, 307, 308, 322.
Traditional precepts, 13, 14, 76, 186, 317.
empirical basis, 184.
in modern instruction, 72, 77.
Tremolo, 265, 272.
Vocal action, 5, 17, 92, 112, 246.
Vocal Science, 17, 19, 37, 98, 152, 339, 361, 367.
Wearing voice into place, 101.
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