muscular control. The conscious breath--the breath that is taken locally
and deliberately (one might almost say maliciously) before singing--expands
the body unnaturally, and thus creates a desire to at once expel it. In
order to avoid this, the singer is compelled to harden and tighten every
muscle of the body; and not only of the body, but of the throat as well.
Under these conditions the first principle of artistic tone-production--the
removal of all restraint--is impossible.
As the breath is taken, so must it be used. Nature demands--aye,
compels--this. If we take (as we are so often told to do) "a good breath,
and get ready," it means entirely too much breath for comfort, to say
nothing of artistic singing. It means a hard, set diaphragm, an undue
tension of the abdominal muscles, and an unnatural position and condition
of the chest. This of course compels the hardening and contraction of the
throat muscles. This virtually means the unseating of the voice; for under
these conditions free, natural singing is impossible. The conscious, full,
muscular breath compels conscious, local muscular effort to hold it and
control it. Result: a stiff, set, condition of the face muscles, the jaw,
the tongue and the larynx. This makes automatic vowel form, placing, and
even freedom of expression, impossible. The conscious, artificial breath is
a handicap in every way. It compels the singer to directly and locally
control the parts. In this way it is not possible to easily and freely use
all the forces which Nature has given to man for the production of
beautiful tone.
Now note the contrast. The artistic breath must be as unconscious or as
involuntary as the vital or living breath. It must be the result of free,
flexible action, and never of conscious effort. The artistic, automatic
breath is the result of doing the thing which gives the breath and controls
the breath without thought of breath. The automatic breath is got through
the movements suggested when we say, _Lift, expand, and let go_.
When the singer lifts and expands in a free, flexible manner the body fills
with breath. One would have to consciously resist this to prevent the
filling of the lungs. The breath taken in this way means expansion,
inflation, ease, freedom. There is no desire to expel the breath got in
this way; it is controlled easily and naturally from position--the level of
the tone. When the breath is thus got through right position and action, we
secure automatic form and adjustment; and correct adjustment means
approximation of the breath bands, inflation of the cavities--in fact, all
true conditions of tone. Nature has placed within the organ of sound the
principle of a double valve,--one of the strongest forces known in
mechanics,--for the control of the breath during the act of singing. This
is what we mean by automatic breath-control--using the forces which Nature
has given us for that purpose, using them in the proper manner.
If the reader is familiar with my last two works, "Vocal Reinforcement" and
"Position and Action in Singing," he will have learned through them that we
have not direct, correct control of the form and adjustment of the parts
which secure the true conditions of tone and automatic breath-control.
These conditions, as we have learned, are secured through the flexible
movements which are the ground-work of our system. Therefore we say,
_Trust the movements_. If you have confidence in them, they will
always serve you. If you doubt them, they are doubtful; for the least doubt
on the part of the singer means more or less contraction and restraint;
hence they fail to produce the true conditions.
This automatic breathing, the result of the movements described, does not
show effort or action half so much as the old-fashioned, conscious muscular
breath. Breathing in this way means the use of all the forces which Nature
has given us. Breathing in this way is Nature's demand, and the reward is
Nature's help.
The devices we use to develop automatic breathing and automatic
breath-control are the simplest possible exercises, studied and developed
through the movements, as before described. In this way through right
action we expand to breathe, or rather we breathe through flexible
expansion, and we control by position, by the true level of the tone. In
this way, as we have found, all true conditions are secured and maintained.
We will take for our first study a single tone about the middle of the
voice. Exercise three in Article One of this second part of the book will
suggest the idea.
Sing a tone about the middle of the voice with the syllable _ah_.
Lift, expand, and let go, by the use of the hands and the body, as before
suggested. The lifting and expanding in a free, flexible manner will give
you all the breath that is needed; and the position, the level of the tone,
will hold or control the breath if you have confidence. Remember that
automatic breathing depends upon first action, the movement from repose to
the level of the tone. If the action is as described, sufficient breath
will be the result. If the position, the level of the tone, is maintained
without contraction, absolute automatic breath-control will be the result
so sure as the sun shines.
The tendency with beginners and with those who have formed wrong habits of
breathing, is to take a voluntary breath before coming into action. This of
course defeats the whole thing. Again, the tendency of beginners or of
those who have formed wrong habits, is to sing before finding the level of
the tone through the movements, or to start the tone before the action.
This of course compels local effort and contraction, and makes success
impossible. The singer must have breath; and if he does not get it
automatically through the flexible movements herein described, or some such
movements, he is compelled to take it consciously and locally. The
conscious local breath in singing is always an artificial breath, and
compels local control. Under these conditions ease and perfect freedom are
impossible.
As we have said, the important thing to consider in this study is the
movement from repose to the level of the first tone. Move in a free,
flexible manner as before described, and give no thought to breath-taking.
When you have found the level of the tone, all of which is done
rhythmically and in a moment, let the voice sing,--sing spontaneously. Make
no effort to hold or control the breath. Maintain correct position the
level of the tone, in a free, flexible manner, and sing with perfect
freedom, with abandon. As the movement or action gave you the breath, so
will the position hold it. The more you let go all contraction of body and
throat muscles, the more freedom you give the voice, the more will the
breath be controlled,--controlled through automatic form and adjustment.
This is a wonderful revelation to many who have tried it and mastered it.
Those who have constantly thought in the old way, and attempted to breathe
and control in the old way, cannot of course understand it. The tendency of
such is to condemn it,--to condemn it, we are sorry to say, without
investigation.
Knowledge is gained through experience. The singer or pupil who tries this
system of breathing and succeeds, needs no argument to convince him that it
is true, natural and correct. The greatest drawback to the mastering of it
on the part of many singers and teachers, is the artificial habits acquired
by years of wrong thinking and wrong effort. With the beginner it is the
simplest, the easiest, and the most quickly acquired of all systems of
breathing; for automatic breathing is a fundamental, natural law of
artistic singing.
For further illustration of this principle of breathing we will use the
following exercise:
[Illustration: FOURTH STUDY. Ah....]
Place yourself in a free, flexible manner on a level with the first tone.
If this is done properly, you will have secured automatically a singing
breath and all true conditions of tone. When singing this exercise move the
hands and body with the tone or voice, ascending and descending. In
ascending open freely and naturally by letting go. Do not influence the
form by attempting locally to open. Do not influence the form by locally
preventing freedom or expansion. Let go all parts of the face, mouth and
throat, and you will be surprised at the power of the tone, of the breath,
and of the breath-control on the upper tone. You will be surprised to find
that you will have secured or developed three or four times as much
sustaining breath power as you imagined you had. In descending, care must
be taken not to droop or depress, but to carry the voice by controlling the
movements of the body, and only after the last tone is finished should the
body go into a position of repose.
Sing this exercise in all degrees of power, soft, medium and loud,
maintaining the same true conditions on all. The tendency of most singers
is to relax and depress on soft tone, or to pinch and contract. Soft tone
should never be small in form, and it should always have the same vitality
and energy as the louder tone.
[Illustration: FIFTH STUDY. Ah....]
This exercise should be studied and practiced in every way suggested for
the study of the preceding exercises. Place yourself upon a level with the
first tone, in the manner before described, and thus secure the automatic
breath. Do not forget to use the hands to suggest the movement to the body.
The hands should be used until the body is thoroughly trained to flexible
action. It is always a question of "the thought before the action." Do not
allow a conscious or local breath before the movement.
Place yourself upon a level with the first tone, and allow or let the voice
start spontaneously and freely. Make no effort to hold the breath. Hold
from position. Sing down, moving with the voice, but do not let the body or
the tone droop or relax. Neither must there be stiffness or contraction. If
you find it impossible to control the voice in this way, or to prevent
depression of body and of tone, then try the following way.
Place yourself upon a level with the first tone in the proper manner, sing
down, but lift and expand with an ascending movement of the hands and body.
Open the mouth freely and naturally, and let the tone roll out. You will be
surprised to find not only great breath power and control, but a power in
the tone that most singers imagine can be got through physical force alone.
This power is the result of expansion and inflation, the true reinforcing
power. The increased vitalized energy of the tone is the result of the
upward and outward movement. This movement of expansion and inflation
through flexible action, is the true application of strength or of power.
It is that which we call the reverse movement. We sing down and move up. It
is the great movement for developing the low tones of all voices. This
reverse movement may be applied at will to all the studies given; it will
depend upon the effect we may desire to produce. If in descending, a quiet
effect is desired, the movement is with the voice. If we want power we
reverse the action. The body, when properly trained, becomes the servant of
the will, and responds instantly to thought and desire. Hence the
importance of correct thought.
In presenting these ideas to my readers, I realize how difficult it is to
put them in words, and how much they lose when they appear in cold print.
In working with a living, vitalized voice, the effect is so different. The
reader who may desire to experiment with these ideas should place himself
before a mirror, and make his image his pupil, his subject. In this way he
can better study the movements, the action, the position, the level of the
tone, and the breathing.
In private teaching, of course, we do not take up one subject or principle
and finish that, and then take up the next one; but one idea is constantly
built upon another to form the harmonious whole. The formula which we use
here, as we have said, is the one adopted for the normal class at the Point
Chautauqua summer school. This we do in order to have the system properly
arranged for lecture, illustrations, and for a practical study of the
devices, not only from the singer's, but from the teacher's standpoint as
well.
The teacher or singer who studies and masters this course never questions
or doubts the truth and power of automatic breathing and automatic
breath-control; or the wonderful influence on the voice of these movements,
which we call true position and action in singing.[1]
[Footnote 1: The few exercises or studies here given, as well as a number
of others, may be found fully carried out with accompaniment, in "Exercises
for the Training and Development of the Voice," by the author of this work.
Published by William A. Pond and Company.]
ARTICLE THREE.
THE THIRD PRINCIPLE OF ARTISTIC TONE-PRODUCTION.
The third principle of artistic tone-production is
_High Placing and Low Resonance._
_Theory._--Tone, to be artistic, must be placed forward and high, and
must be reinforced by the low cavities and chest resonance; it must be
placed high, and reinforced or built down by added resonance through
expansion and inflation.
_Devices._--Place high by removing all restraint, all obstruction,
through flexible movements. The high, forward placing is the natural focus
of the voice. When the voice is thus placed and automatic control prevails,
reaction and reflection occur, and the sympathetic low resonance of the
inflated cavities is added to the tone. Also study the naturally high
placing of E and the naturally low color of oo; then equalize all the
vowels through their influence, and thus develop uniform color and quality
in all.
This third principle of artistic singing is a very important one, and means
much more than one might, at first thought, suppose. Many singers think of
placing simply as the point of contact or impact of the air current.
Placing, however, means more than this. It means not only the correct focus
of tone forward and high, but it also means reaction and reflection of the
air current; in short, sympathetic added vibration of air in the low
inflated cavities. This being true, we find that correct placing means even
much more. It means the true form and adjustment of all the parts--all true
conditions of tone.
The prevailing idea of placing is the thought of constantly pushing up the
tone. Result, the organ of sound is pushed out of place and all true
conditions disturbed. The pushed-up tone means local, muscular effort,
contraction, and a hard, unmusical voice. The voice thus placed may be loud
and brilliant, but never soulful or beautiful. The pushed-up tone means
singing from the larynx up. It means head-resonance only; and
head-resonance is but one side, and that the smallest side, of this great
question.
Tone must be placed spontaneously, with reaction and reflection. This shows
at once the importance of the first two great principles of
voice-production,--freedom and automatic breath-control; for without these
true placing is impossible. Tone placed in this way means the ring of the
forward high placing and the added resonance of the inflated cavities and
especially of the chest.
In singing, as we have learned, there are two forces constantly in
action,--pressure and resistance, or motor power and control. These two
forces must prevail, and in order to produce the voice artistically, they
must be balanced. This is done, indirectly, through the movements we
advocate, through the position and action of the body. The motor power lies
in the diaphragm and in the abdominal and intercostal muscles. The
controlling force lies in the chest, in a properly adjusted larynx and the
approximated breath-bands. These two forces must be balanced during the act
of singing. Most singers are much stronger in the driving or motor power
than in reaction or the controlling force; and with many, the weakness in
control, reaction or adjustment, is an absolute bar to success. Hence the
importance of strengthening the chest, and the position of the organ of
sound, through physical culture.
When these two forces, motor power and control, are not equal, the balance
of force is placed upon the throat and throat muscles. This the singer can
no more avoid doing than he can avoid balancing himself to keep from
falling. When, in order to place, the voice is pushed up, deliberately and
maliciously pushed, both forces are exerted in the same direction. They are
then virtually but one force--a driving force. As there must be two forces
in singing, as Nature compels this, there is nothing left for the singer to
do but to use the throat and throat muscles as a controlling force. Under
these conditions, as before stated, the tone may be brilliant, but it will
always be unsympathetic and unmusical.
I hope no one will think for a moment, in considering the movements we
advocate, that we do not believe in strength and power. We do believe in
applied power, applied indirectly; not by local grip and contraction, but
indirectly through vitalized energy, expansion, and flexibility, through
the true position and action of the singer. There is no strength properly
applied in singing except through movement; through correct movement all
the forces which nature has given the singer are indirectly brought into
action; in this way there is constant physical and vocal development.
Every tone sung, as we have learned, is a reinforced sound. There are two
ways of reinforcing tone. First, by muscular tension, muscular contraction,
muscular effort--the wrong way. Second, by vitalized energy, by expansion,
and by added resonance of air in the inflated cavities--the right way. Of
course to produce expansion and inflation, true conditions of form and
adjustment must prevail, through the movements given.
Form has much to do with determining the quality and character of the tone.
Muscular effort, either in placing or reinforcing the tone, results in
muscular contraction, and in most cases in elliptical form of voice, thus:
[drawn horizontal oval] This means depressed soft palate, high larynx,
contraction of the fauces, closed throat, and spread open mouth.
Result--high placing impossible, no low color or reinforcement; in short,
hard muscular tone. The tone may be loud but it cannot be musical.
The true musical form of the voice is elongation, thus: [drawn vertical
oval] This means high placing and low resonance; it means that the tone has
the ring of forward high placing and the reinforcement, color, and beauty
of added low resonance. Elongation is a distinguishing feature of all truly
great voices.
For artistic tone, the soft palate must be high, the larynx must be low,
and the throat and mouth allowed to form, not made or compelled. The form
must be flexible and elastic. The larynx must be low in adjustment for the
production of beautiful tone, but it must never be locally adjusted. It
must always be influenced indirectly through the movements we advocate,
through the true position and action of singing. In this way are secured
open throat, freedom of voice, all true conditions. In this way the tone
may be placed by impulse, by flexible action, may be started high and
instantly reflected into the inflated cavities. This means perfect poise of
voice; it means the focus of the tone high and forward with the sympathetic
added vibration of the low cavities and especially of the chest. This is
the only true placing of voice,--the combination of head and chest
resonance through automatic form and adjustment. A tight throat through
local, muscular effort makes these conditions impossible.
The true resonance-chamber then, as we have found, is from head to chest;
sympathetically the resonance of the entire body must be added. The true
artist sings with the body, through the throat, and never with the throat.
In this way the entire singer is the instrument. Fill the body with sound.
The higher the tone the more elongated the form. Nature demands this. If
this does not occur contraction and depression are sure to follow. Also the
higher the tone the lower the added resonance, when the conditions are
right. In this way the form elongates and the compass expands without
effort or strain. These ideas studied through flexible movements are truly
wonderful, but natural means for expanding the compass of the voice.
Much has been written lately on the subject of open tones. Should the tones
be opened or closed, is the question. Tone should never be closed. It
should always be open, but never out. If it is out of the mouth it is not a
singing sound. Even the real covered tones of the voice should never be
closed. The truth is, the form of the covered tones of the voice, through
elongation, is larger than the form of those which we call the open tones,
in contradistinction to the covered.
In the clear timbre of the voice, the bright tone, the ring of high
placing, predominates. In somber timbre, the dark tone, low resonance, or
low color, predominates. In medium tone both are heard or felt more
equally. None of this coloring or reinforcing must be done by locally
influencing form or placing. The voice must be perfectly free; and the
result must be due to sentiment, feeling, emotion, to the effect it may be
desired to produce. If all restraint is removed, if true conditions
prevail, this can always be done through the singer's sensation, through
the use of the third power. It is marvelous how, under right conditions,
the voice will respond to thought, to sentiment, to feeling.
"The tone thus produced and thus delivered, with perfect breath-control,
will set the _whole body sympathizing_, from the sole of the foot to
the crown of the head. And it is _only_ tones like these--that it is
possible to so adorn, and decorate, and beautify, with the due amount of
emphasis, and accurate intensity of emotional feelings, and exquisitely
shaded and ever-varying tinges of color in expression--that can prove
capable of captivating the heart of the hearer, that can graphically
impress the listener with such sentiments as the vocalist desires to
convey."
We will take for our first study a single tone about the middle of the
voice. In studying placing and resonance, we must of course observe all the
rules laid down in regard to the action, position, etc. Do not take a
voluntary breath before acting--do not start the tone before the action,
two things which require constant watching on the part of the beginner.
Either of them will virtually cause defeat.
Remove all obstruction by seeking the level of the tone through flexible
action. Think the tone forward and high. Place by impulse, and never by
local effort. Have the sensation as though the tone started forward and
high, as though it impinged against the roof of the mouth, and instantly
reflected into the low cavities, and especially into the chest. In doing
this, relax the jaw, let go all face and throat contraction, expand the
body, and think and feel the chest vibrant and filled with tone. In this
way the tone may be started high and reinforced or built down by the added
resonance of all the inflated cavities.
Another way to do this, is to start the tone spontaneously by impulse
through correct action; in doing so, think and feel as though the tone
placed and reflected at the same instant, forward against the roof of the
mouth and on the chest,--as though the contact or impingement of the tone
were felt at both places simultaneously. Of course the high forward placing
in mouth and face is the true placing, and the sensation on the chest is
the action or reflection of the true placing. This can be done through
flexible vitalized action alone. With a tight throat or local muscular
effort it is impossible. This is perfect attack, and in this way all force
and push are avoided. In this way freedom and inflation are secured, that
condition which unites head and chest resonance.