Probably more voices are ruined by strain than through any other cause.
The singer must relax all the time. This does not mean flabbiness. It
does not mean that the singer should collapse before singing. Relaxation
in the singer's sense is a delicious condition of buoyancy, of
lightness, of freedom, of ease and entire lack of tightening in any
part. When I relax I feel as though every atom in my body were floating
in space. There is not one single little nerve on tension. The singer
must be particularly careful when approaching a climax in a great work
of art. Then the tendency to tighten up is at its greatest. This must be
anticipated.
Take such a case as the following passage from the famous aria from
Saint-Saens' _Samson et Delila_, "_Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix_." The
climax is obviously on the words "Ah!--verse moi." The climax is the
note marked by a star (_f_ on the top line).
[Illustration: musical notation:
Reponds a ma ten-dres-se, Re-ponds a ma ten-dress-s!