produced the perceptible movement of the larynx in the throat when
speaking or singing. It is by lowering the larynx, and so commanding an
expansion of the throat that the best tone is possible in the voice, and
it is this open throat production which some teachers are aiming at when
they charge their pupils to "sing from the chest." A more sensible
request would be to "lower the larynx," since such a lowering of this
organ places the throat in the most favourable position for emitting
sound; as well as for enabling the lungs, or wind-chests, to act most
advantageously upon the true vocal cords. Moreover, this lowered larynx
production leads to the best results from the vocal cords themselves.
The natural tendency is to sing as we talk, a process which involves a
demand upon the upper fringes of the vocal ligaments only, but no
long-sustained singing could be maintained by this means, nor does it
requisition any art-knowledge or principle. Directly, however, we begin
to utilize the lower edge of the vocal cords, we are verging upon the
art of _producing_ the voice; _i.e._, creating a something which will
not manifest itself without the first application of some art
principles. Here lies the whole secret of singing, _viz._, the
utilization of the lower portions of the membranous folds popularly
called the "vocal cords," instead of working merely their topmost
fringes, as do the innumerable tenors who sing "throaty," and as we all
do up to a certain point, in the ordinary process of speaking. The
singing voice and the speaking voice are two totally different
productions, the former never to be acquired except at the hands of a
capable master, who, himself, has been properly taught the principles of
voice production.
The lungs, or bellows, or air-chambers lie, as is well known, on each
side of the chest, resting upon the diaphragm, and performing a very
important function in singing. They supply the air which acts upon the
vocal cords, and in true singing are the first organs for consideration
by a vocalist, since so much depends upon the way the wind, or breath,
is brought to bear upon the vocal cords. For this reason the abdominal
method of breathing--the filling of the lungs from their bases--becomes
the best method for inspiring the breath in singing. Doubtless, in
breathing, the lungs are replenished from above downwards, but it
requires something of the sensation of these air-supplying substances
being filled from their bases in order to requisition the full help of
the diaphragm, a great muscle which separates the lungs from the
abdomen, and which may be called the fundamental basis on which all
voice production rests.
The Pharynx (+pharynx+) is situated behind the mouth, between the tongue
and the arch forming the circumference of the palate. Its province is to
reflect the voice on its issue from the glottis. It is an elastic
aperture, and may be well styled the reflecting organ of singing. It can
take various forms, and bears a great part in giving character to the
sounds originated in the larynx.
* * * * *
_The Voice--a Wind, Reed, or String Instrument?_ Much discussion has
spent itself in settling the question of "family" to which the vocal
instrument properly belongs. The vocal chords are known to be composed
of a yellow elastic fibrous tissue in their anterior parts, the
posterior portions consisting of a tougher muscle or cartilage. Many
maintain them to belong to the "string" family, since the sounds
generated are produced as on a violin--the higher notes by increased
tension, the lower tones by a reduction of the strain. In this process,
the muscle, popularly known as the epiglottis-cushion--a fat mucous
membrane--presses on to the vocal cords, modifying their vibrating
length. Thus, in an extreme high note, the cushion presses intensely
upon the cords, considerably shortening their one inch length. In
reverting to a low note, this tension becomes withdrawn, and the whole
length of cord is at play to produce its lowest tones. An unfortunate
objection to this theory--that the vocal cords can be styled a stringed
instrument, is the fact that no string of the small extent of the vocal
cords could be capable of sounding either so many, or such low notes;
moreover, the mathematical treatment of their vibrations, as governed by
the tension, is not correct, as they are in the case of a violin. It is
a useful theory, and method of reasoning, however, for those teachers of
singing who maintain that to get high notes, a light and thin style of
singing, and the use of the upper fringe of the vocal cords (the
production point), is preferable, in contradistinction to those who
declare that no really good chest note with any telling power worth
considering is possible, unless the vocalist sings deep in his chest and
gains the idea, as he goes for his note, of requisitioning with all
effort the lowest depth in the cord. Surely this point presents the
greatest difficulty for singers with whom compass, especially at the top
of the voice, is an imperative necessity, albeit that people go on
talking to the contrary; and it is a matter which needs settling among
voice specialists and singing masters. We are told, and it is generally
known, that the tension of the epiglottis-cushion produces a higher note
just as the shifting of the finger on the violin string affects its
tone--a process which may produce falsetto sounds, but which surely is
not the basis upon which great Italian singers of the Mongini and
Tamberlik type secured the great chest Cs, which, with their resonance
and brilliancy, were wont to make our opera houses ring again. Is it not
a fact that in voices of this calibre, as well as in those trained on
what is known as the broad lines of the true Italian production, the
whole surfaces of the vocal cords become more or less requisitioned, and
that they vibrate the whole of their length and breadth, not merely the
sides, rather than that any upper portion is mainly utilized while the
lower parts are resting? The answer to this question would seem to
indicate that the human voice is of the nature of a reed instrument.
These membraneous organs, which we term vocal cords, are such that their
whole surfaces must vibrate when brought into contact with a current of
air from the lungs. The voice reed, in fact, vibrates freely backwards
and forwards, and so corresponds with what are known as "free," not
"beating" reeds--such as are found in concertinas, and the like.
That the voice is something of an organ pipe (a flue pipe) is an
illusion only indulged in by writers and teachers prone to descriptive
language, which they do not stay to inquire into, either for their own
edification or for the enlightenment of other people. There is
absolutely nothing to maintain such an idea.
It is important that the nature of the _matériel_ of the vocal cords
should become widely known, since such a knowledge, elementary as it
might be, would, at the outset, enable students to get at once upon the
right road to singing. To grasp the idea that the initial
sound-producing means are these bits of semi-lunar membranes, acted upon
by the breath from the lungs, and that they vibrate violently or orderly
in proportion to the care with which the breath is brought to bear upon
them, is to master the first great difficulty in singing. This once
grasped, it is not hard to realize that the sound emitted is moulded and
shaped, modified and beautified by other organs of the laryngeal machine
and its surroundings, as well as by such variable conditions as the
state of the human frame generally, and the particular condition of
those organs of the body most directly concerned in supporting the work
of the larynx may happen to be in. It will save the student much time
if, before he (or she) begins to study singing, some first acquaintance
be formed with the physiological surroundings of the human voice, and it
is worse than useless to go to a master who teaches singing in blind
ignorance of, and doubtless contempt for, these physiological
principles. The student who has familiarized himself with the structure
of the vocal organs will have made a much more intelligent progress in
his art than the one who has not, and will be competent none the less
readily to understand the instruction of a qualified master than to
detect the shameful pretence and humbug of the quack.
=Board Teachers' Laryngitis--Clergyman's Sore Throat--Throat Exhaustion,
etc.=--Among the greatest evils of this competitive teaching age is the
mischief arising from the constant and at the same time injurious use of
the voice. All who use the voice constantly must learn how to breathe,
and _produce_ the voice. Failing that, serious mischief, which even the
specialist of throat hospitals cannot cope with, must inevitably follow.
The only advice that can be given here is, immediately that voice
exhaustion sets in, to consult not _a doctor_, but a throat or voice
specialist. The best institution in the world for throat troubles is the
Throat Hospital, Golden Square, London, W.
EXERCISES.
This first exercise is a most useful one in the uniting of notes and in
gaining facility. The student should at first practise it very slowly,
mastering four bars at a time. Although I have divided it into fifteen
examples, it is really but one exercise, with a minim rest between each
phrase of four bars; and it is in this example form that I wish the
student ultimately to sing it with the metronome, at say 76, taking
breath _only_ at the rest-mark, and making the _crescendo_--not, be it
observed, by forcing the tone and breath, but by a gradual pressing down
of the breath.[2]
[2] The Exercise should be a crescendo from piano to forte.
[Music: Ex. 1.]
[Music: A.]
[Music: B.]
[Music: C.]
[Music: D.]
[Music: E.]
[Music: F.]
[Music: G.]
[Music: H.]
[Music: I.]
[Music: J.]
[Music: K.]
[Music: L.]
[Music: M.]
[Music: N.]
[Music: Ex. 2 NAVA.]
[Music]
Exercise 2 is a further one for the practice of joining notes with the
aid of the breath, without the least resemblance to a jerk with either
the sound or the breath. To sing the exercise with advantage requires a
very careful management of the respiratory organs, and its continuous
practice is one of the best means of managing the breath. Having
inspired the breath after the manner already indicated herein, proceed
to sound the note F in a thin but firm and steady tone, which you must
gradually swell, by pressing down the breath, as it were, into the
following note G, which you will continue to hold steadily by keeping
down the breath as long as you can. Though you raise your tone of voice
in passing from F to G, you must dispel from your mind all notions of
raising your breath or your _larynx_; it is just the reverse; you must
lower these. Remember a golden rule--the higher your note the lower must
it be generated in your chest, and your breath must be under the note
supporting it, or there cannot possibly be any tone there. On reaching
the highest limit of this exercise, the student will repeat the same
operation down the scale, which I need scarcely say is less difficult.
[Music: Ex. 3. NAVA.]
[Music]
[Music]
Exercise 3 may be timed 76 on your metronome. It is a study to give
freedom and flexibility to your voice. None of the notes should be
forced, and the upper notes should be rendered with the mouth well open,
and with a quality of tone as similar as possible to that of the lower
notes. Breath should be taken (without losing time) at the rest-marks.
There should be no break or jump in the tone, but rather it should be
one unbroken stream of melody, as marked in the first phrase. The voice,
in this exercise, should be constantly moving: no sooner should you be
sounding the first note of the phrase than you should be moving to the
second, from the second to the next, and so on. Be careful to sing the
intervals exactly in time, and in descending to notes satisfy yourself
that you are singing the exact tone, and that with certainty. Indecision
is a grave fault in singing.
[Music: Ex. 4. Intervals of thirds.
Do Re Mi Re Do Re Mi Fa Mi Re
Mi Fa Sol Fa Mi &c.]
[Music: Ex. 5. Intervals of Fourths.
* Here take breath.]
[Music]
[Music: Ex. 6. Intervals of Fifths.]
[Music: Ex. 7. Intervals of Sixths.]
[Music: Ex. 8. Intervals of Sevenths.]
INDEX.
_Page_
Alto, 36
Bad Lessons, 50
Bad Masters, 50
Ballads, 80
Barytone, Basso-Cantante, 42
Bass, 44
Board Teachers' Laryngitis, 114
Books of Exercises, 51
Buffo, 48
Cathedral School, The, 72
Chest, Falsetto, and Head, 60
Chorus Singing, 69
Cleanliness, 13
Clearing the Throat, 59
Compass, 30
Consonants, 24
Contralto, 35
Decision, 84
Diet, 13
Dramatic Study, 27
Dress, 16
Duration of Practice, 67
Early Rising, 13
Education, General, 26
Emphasis, 25
English, 24
Execution, 105
Exercise, 15
Exercises, 115
Exercises, First, 62
" Books of, 51
" in Beating Time, 89
Expression, Facial, 54
Facial Expression, 54
Falsetto, 60
Fashion, 106
First Opinion, A, 44
Forming a Repertoire, 107
Forte, Mezzo-Voce, and Piano, 60
General Education, 26
" Musical Study, 70
German Lieder, Modern, 71
Hair, The, 14
Head, Singing in the, 58
High Notes, 59
"Holding" an Audience, 86
"How to Begin", 68
Humming, 69
Imitation, 70, 85
Individuality, 53
Institutions, 48
Larynx, The, 109
Late Hours, 19
Lessons, Bad, 50
Lips, Position of, 25
Masters, 48
Mezzo-Voce, 60
Mezzo-Contralto, 35
Mezzo-Soprano, 34
Mistakes in Public, 86
Modern German Lieder, 71
Morality, 19
Music to Suit the Voice, 103
Musical Study, General, 70
Names of Voices, 29
Nervousness, 21
Oratorio, 73
"Original Keys", 104
Opera, 79
Perseverance, 54
Physiological Surroundings, 109
Pharynx, The, 111
Position of Arms, 55
" Body, 55
" Hands, 56
" Larynx, 57
" Throat, 56
" Tongue, 57
Pronunciation, 22
Public Singing, 85
Public, Mistakes in, 86
Qualities of the Voice, 45
Recitative, 81
Repertoire, Forming a, 107
Scale, The, 60
" Practice, 62
"Schools" of Singing, 47
Self-Accompaniment, 55
Sentiment, 84
Singing in Tune, 67
Slurring, 83
Smoking, 18
Soprano, 32
Study of Songs, 20
Study of Words, 25
Styles, Traditional, 71
Teachers, Bad, 50
Teeth, The, 15
Tenore-Leggiero, 37
Tenore-Robusto, 39
Throatiness, 58
Thyroid, The, 110
Time in Singing, 87
Tone, 60
Traditional Styles, 71
Variety Indispensable, 68
Voices and their Names, 29
Voice, The; A Wind, Reed, or String Instrument, 111
Vowel-Sounds, 23
"Words," Study of, 25
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
London & Edinburgh
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Punctuation and formatting have been made consistent.
Apparent printer's errors have been retained, unless stated below.
Page 62, "disirable" changed to "desirable". (It cannot be too strongly
impressed upon, or too frequently pointed out to, the singer (no matter
what may be the stage of his or her artistic development) how desirable
and advantageous it is to be constantly singing exercises and solfeggi
in preference to songs.)
Page 73 and 74, "shool" changed to "school". (You will find its good
points equally insisted on in the oratorio school of singing, while its
defects should be avoided in any.)
Page 106, "divisious" changed to "divisions". (Those who have ever
delighted as well as astonished us by their rapid manner of running
through divisions must have been naturally endowed with flexible
organs.)