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.