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.