We hear it continually said that it requires a special natural
gift to acquire a certain ease and flexibility of voice, and
that this natural gift is peculiar to the Italians. But the
flexibility of the voice depends upon a physiologico-physical
process of the organ of tone, which, among the Italians, goes on
in their common speech, and hence is more easily transferred by
them to their singing. In trills, roulades, turns, and all tones
quickly succeeding one another, the breath must set the vocal
chords vibrating in quick, short pulses. The little time used by
the breath between these rapidly succeeding pulses to retreat,
in order to give another pulse, suffices perfectly to produce
easily and quickly the position of the glottis requisite for
a higher or lower tone. In order, between the pulses, to give
room to the retreating breath, the windpipe expands laterally,
whereby the larynx is always somewhat drawn down, in order, with
the next pulse of the breath, to take again its former place.
This rising and lowering of the larynx can be seen plainly
outside the throat, and it can be seen also whether the movement
goes on rightly. Upon the degree of rapidity with which this
movement goes on depends the greater or less flexibility of the
voice.
But when the breath in exhaling presses in regularly increasing
strength against the vocal chords, and one wishes to pass quickly
to a higher tone and back again, as is required in trills, while
the aerial stream continues to flow on with unintermitted force,
it is evident that the changed movement of the glottis, even
within the limits of a register, demands more time and muscular
force than a beautiful trill or run admits of. But at the same
time the limits of the tones become, by the uninterrupted stream
of air, obliterated, and embellishments sung in this way, with
unmoved larynx, indistinct. But ornamentation is now practised
only in this latter way, and if pupils do not naturally move
their throats correctly, the gift of flexibility is denied them.
A quite prevalent and likewise incorrect way of using the throat is
moving the epiglottis with the larynx, which renders the formation
of a clear, pure tone impossible, and _fiorituri_ sung in this way
are limp and indistinct. The only correct movement shows itself very
plainly externally, so that with the tolerably strong movement of
the larynx up and down, there can be seen also a slighter movement
of the windpipe far below in the neck, about the breadth of two
fingers above the breast-bone. The mouth and tongue, however,
must be perfectly quiet.
But the cultivation of vocal flexibility in singing is the
easiest and most grateful part of the education of the voice, for
with ordinary industry on the part of the pupil results are here
obtained most speedily. In the very first lessons I teach my
pupils the motions of the vocal organ in trills, and if they do
not learn them by imitation, I give them simple exercises on the
syllable _koo_ to practice for a while. The _k_ is produced by
a pulse of the breath, and the _oo_ is, as we have seen, the best
vowel sound with which to direct the breath as it is expired.
Thus, by singing _staccato_ the syllable _koo_, slowly at first
and gradually quicker, with a movement of the larynx and windpipe
that is both seen and felt; and with the tongue and lips at rest
and motionless, the right movement is given to the organ in
trills and all other embellishments, and by continued practice
the movement becomes more rapid. Those who need to be taught this
movement must never practice continuously for any length of time,
for we must avoid fatiguing the organs. When pupils have become
accustomed, by rapidly singing the syllable _koo_ on each tone of
the trill, to the movement of the larynx, then they can practice
upon another syllable, and in the following way: Let the trill be
at first always sung _piano_, with an accenting of the higher
tone every time and a gradual increasing of the rapidity thus:
a¹ accented-b¹ a¹ accented-b¹, and repeat this figure, halving the
note lengths every four beats; also in half and whole tones, and
then in minor thirds. But the most beautiful trill will be formed
by practising triplets in the compass of a whole tone, then of
a minor third, major third, fourth, etc., by which first the
upper, then the lower tone is accented: accented-a¹ g¹ a¹
accented-g¹ a¹ g¹. The mouth, however, in this exercise must
continue immovably open, and the tongue also must lie perfectly
still, touching the lower front teeth, for only in this way can
one be sure of not moving the epiglottis. Although this is
difficult at first, yet the syllable _ku_ (koo) may be sung in
this way. Thus, with sufficient practice, any one may acquire
a perfect flexibility of voice. When the pupils can make the
trill easily upon the middle tones, in which in the beginning
exercises must be practised, let them practice also upon the
higher and lower tones of the voice. If the trill takes place
at the transition of two registers, then both the tones must be
formed upon the higher of the two, as in an exchange of registers
the glottis requires more time than a good trill admits of.
Rapid runs downwards are easily executed correctly when care is
taken that with every tone the same movement is made as in the
case of trills, and the breath is kept back as much as possible.
Voices wanting in flexibility may soon acquire the desired
quality by singing every tone _piano_ upon the syllable _koo_.
Ascending runs can properly be taught only when the descending
have been correctly sung, for, in opposition to the former,
every tone of the latter must be formed by a light impulse
with increased breath. The softer the piano in which the pupil
practises, and the more loose the consequent movement of the
larynx, the more distinctly and the more purely will the pupil
gradually execute these embellishments.
Intelligible as these movements are in practice, it is difficult
to describe them. To be able to make all ornaments in singing
beautifully and easily requires long practice, for in a thoroughly
artistic piece of vocal music it is essential, as the great artist
_Schröder-Devrient_ said, that all the notes of ornamentation
(_Coloratur_) should be like a string of pearls on black velvet,
each distinct in itself, round and beautiful, and yet so connected
with the rest in one whole that no gap is discernible. Carefully
and correctly directed exercises in ornamentation are in the
highest degree necessary to the formation of tone; they tire the
voice far less than sustained notes, and accustom it to an exact
enunciation of the tones. But because persevering practice is
necessary to the cultivation of vocal flexibility, the teaching of
this is to be begun at the very first; and not until later, when
the voice is habituated to a right touch and to a perfectly clear
tone, is the pupil to be given those favorite exercises with
long-sustained notes, which are sung with one continuous breath.
That we so rarely meet with clear vocal fluency is again owing to
our mode of teaching. We do not seek to cultivate formation of
tone and fluency at the same time. Oftentimes it is only after
years spent in singing sustained tones that ornaments are allowed
to be practised, and then, instead of using as little breath as
possible, the flexibility of the larynx is hindered by singing too
powerfully with full chest and unintermitted crowding of the
breath. Without denying that in regard to vocal flexibility
different individuals and nations may be variously gifted, it
is nevertheless certain that _with due practice every one may
acquire more or less of vocal fluency_.
_Frederick Wiek_ has composed for his pupils a large number of
simple exercises, in which all kinds of ornaments are introduced,
and which at the same time are so melodious that they easily catch
the ear. They mostly comprise only a few tones, at the most an
octave, and are sung in half tones, ascending in different keys.
Next to these exercises come, as highly adapted to the culture of
vocal flexibility, the solfeggi of _Mieksch_, _Mazzoni_, _Rossini_,
_Crescentini_, &c. There is, indeed, no want of excellent exercises
and solfeggi. Their use, however, depends upon the way in which the
teacher requires them to be practised. Notwithstanding the abundance
of these exercises, I have always found it necessary to prepare
special ones for my pupils, as every voice requires peculiar
treatment and guidance.[15] In every pupil peculiar faults are to be
overcome and peculiar qualities come into play, and the vocal organ
shows as many differences as the human face. But the right way is
sure to be found when the irreversible laws of nature, which lie
at the foundation of our art, are once recognized. The practical
advantages of this knowledge the singer, like every other artist,
must endeavor to secure orally, that is, by sound instruction.
Ornamentation, however, can become distinct and clear only by
uniting these with a distinct, pure touch, as we have already
endeavored to describe, when, with the beginning of the tone, the
pitch is struck lightly, quickly, distinctly, elastically, with
certainty and perfect correctness. But as it is by no means easy
to introduce a tone quickly and correctly, so that it will sound
equally pure from the first, this flexibility is extremely rare
among our singers. Instead of it, the most hateful mannerisms have
stolen into practice; the tone is struck too low, and forced up by
an increase of breath, or the tones are so drawled one into another
that one cannot tell where they begin or where they cease. Impure
intonation is much more disagreeable in the high tones than in the
low. This is quite natural; for when, for example, the low _c_ is
sung one-tenth too low or too high, then it will cause an octave
higher twice as many vibrations, and two octaves higher four times
as many, and these in proportion to their number produce a more
intense effect. In the higher registers of the tones little discords
(_Verstimmungen_) call forth a much larger number of beats (which
are not to be confounded with vibrations) than in the lower, and
thus the impurity of the musical intervals is felt much more
strongly. Purity in the art of singing is, however, such a primal
condition of its beauty, that a piece of music purely executed, even
by a weak and slightly-cultivated voice, always sounds agreeably,
while the most sonorous and practised voice offends the hearer when
it is out of tune or forced upwards. The training of our singers by
pianos, as they are now tuned, by equal temperament, is altogether
unsatisfactory. The singer who practises with the piano has no safe
principle by which he can measure the height of his tones with any
exactness. But persons of good musical talent, made aware of this
disadvantage by a competent teacher, and practising accordingly, can
nevertheless overcome this difficulty caused by our present method
of tuning, and learn to sing correctly and purely.
Until the seventeenth century, singers were drilled by the
monochord, for which _Zarlino_, in the middle of the sixteenth
century, re-introduced the correct, natural tuning. The drilling
of singers was conducted at that time with a care of which we
have now no idea. The church music of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries is arranged upon the purest consonant chords, depending
upon this for its whole effect, which would naturally be injured
if not executed with perfect purity. Our opera singers now-a-days
are seldom able to sing without accompaniment a composition for
several voices so purely that its whole beauty is felt; the
accord almost always sounds sharp and somewhat uncertain, and
therefore cannot satisfy a really musical ear.