THE CONDUCTOR AS VOICE TRAINER
[Sidenote: THE CONDUCTOR'S NEED OF VOCAL TRAINING]
Correct voice placement, the full use of the resonance cavities, good
habits of breathing, and other details connected with what is commonly
termed _voice culture_, cannot be taught by correspondence; neither
can the conductor be made an efficient voice trainer by reading books.
But so many choral conductors are failing to secure adequate results
from their choruses because of their ignorance of even the
fundamentals of singing, that it has been thought best to include a
brief presentation of a few of the most important matters with which
the conductor ought to be acquainted. In discussing these things it
will only be possible for us to present to the student of conducting
the problems involved, leaving their actual working out to each
individual. The chief difficulty in connection with the whole matter
arises from the fact that the conductor needs in his work certain
qualities of musicianship that are more apt to result from
instrumental than from vocal training, the education of the
instrumentalist usually emphasizing harmony, ear-training, form, and
in general, the intellectual aspect of music; while that of the
vocalist too often entirely leaves out this invaluable type of
training, dealing only with voice culture and in general the
interpretative side of music study. The vocalist who attempts to
conduct is therefore frequently criticized for his lack of what is
called "solid musical training"; but the instrumentalist-conductor as
often fails to get adequate results in working with singers because of
his utter ignorance of vocal procedure; and this latter type of
failure is probably as productive of poor choral singing as the
former. This chapter is, of course, written especially for the
instrumentalist, and our advice to him is not merely to read books
about singing, but to study singing itself, whether he is interested
in cultivating his own voice for solo purposes or not. It might be
remarked in this connection that aside from the considerations that we
have been naming, the conductor who can sing a phrase to his orchestra
or chorus and thus show by imitation exactly what shading, _et
cetera_, he wishes, has an enormous advantage over him who can only
convey his ideas by means of words.
[Sidenote: PROPER BREATHING]
Probably the first thing about singing to be learned by the student of
conducting is that good voice production depends upon using the full
capacity of the lungs instead of merely the upper portion. Hence the
necessity of holding the body easily erect as a matter of habit, with
chest up, and with the diaphragm alternately pushing the viscera away
in order to enable the lungs to expand downward, and then allowing the
parts to come back into place again, as the air is in turn expelled
from the lungs. By practising deep breathing in this way the actual
capacity of the lungs may be considerably increased, and breathing
exercises have therefore always formed part of the routine imposed
upon the vocal student. A deep breath involves, then, a pushing down
of the diaphragm and a pushing out of the lower ribs, and not merely
an expansion of the upper part of the chest. The singer must form the
habit of breathing in this way at all times. To test breathing, the
singer may place the hands about the waist on the sides of the thorax
(fingers toward the front, thumbs toward the back) and see whether
there is good side expansion of the ribs in inhaling, and whether in
taking breath the abdomen swells out, receding as the air is expelled.
We have always felt that a few minutes spent at each chorus rehearsal
in deep breathing and in vocalizing would more than justify the time
taken from practising music; but such exercises should not be
undertaken unless the conductor understands singing and knows exactly
what their purpose is.
It is important that the conductor should understand the difference
between the use of the singer's _full breath_ which we have been
describing, and his _half breath_. The full breath is taken at
punctuation marks of greater value, at long rests, before long
sustained tones, and, in solo singing, before long trills or cadenzas.
The half breath is usually taken at the lesser punctuation marks and
at short rests, when it is necessary to replenish the supply of air in
as short a time as possible, in order not to interrupt the _legato_
any more than is absolutely necessary.
[Sidenote: BREATH CONTROL]
The next point to be noted is that, having provided as large a supply
of air as possible every particle of it must now be made use of in
producing tone; in the first place, in order that no breath may be
wasted, and in the second place, in order that the purity of the tone
may not be marred by non-vocalized escaping breath. This implies
absolute breath control, and the skilful singer is able to render
incredibly long phrases in one breath, not so much because his lungs
have more capacity, but because every atom of breath actually
functions in producing vocal tone. And because of the fact that no
breath escapes without setting the cords in vibration, the tone is
clear, and not "breathy." The secret of expressive singing in
sustained melody is absolutely steady tone combined with a perfect
_legato_, and neither of these desirable things can be achieved
without perfect breath control, this matter applying to choral singing
as forcefully as it does to solo work.
[Sidenote: RESONANCE]
The next point to be noted is that the carrying power and quality of a
voice depend far more upon the use made of the resonance cavities than
upon the violence with which the vocal cords vibrate. Every musical
instrument involves, in its production of tone, a combination of three
elements:
1. The vibrating body.
2. The force which sets the body in vibration.
3. The reinforcing medium (the sound board of a piano, the
body of a violin, _et cetera_.)
In the case of the human voice, the vocal cords (or, as they might
more properly be termed, the vocal _bands_) constitute the vibrating
body; the air expelled from the lungs is the force which sets the
cords in vibration; and the cavities of the mouth, nose, and to a
lesser extent, of the remainder of the head and even of the chest, are
the reinforcing medium--the resonator. A small voice cannot of course
be made into a large one; but by improving its placement, and
particularly by reinforcing it with as much resonance power as
possible, it may be caused to fill even a large auditorium. This
involves such details as keeping the tongue down, allowing part of the
air to pass through the nose, focusing the tone against the roof of
the mouth just back of the teeth, opening the mouth exactly the right
distance, forming the lips in just the right way, _et cetera_. The
result is that instead of sounding as though it came from the throat,
the tone apparently comes from the upper part of the mouth just back
of the teeth; and instead of seeming to be forced out, it appears to
flow or float out without the slightest effort on the part of the
singer. A forced or squeezed-out tone is always bad--bad for the voice
and bad for the ear of the listener!
[Sidenote: THE VOWEL IN SINGING]
Another point to be noted by the conductor is that one sings upon
vowels and not upon consonants; that most of the consonants are in
fact merely devices for interrupting the vowel sounds in various
ways; and that good tone depends largely upon the ability of the
singer to select the best of several different sounds of the vowel and
to hold this sound without any change in quality during the entire
time that the tone is prolonged. It is comparatively easy to make a
good tone with some vowels, but extremely difficult with others, and
it is the singer's task so to modify the vowel that is unfavorable as
to make it easier to produce good tone in using it. But while thus
modifying the actual vowel sound, the integrity of the vowel must at
least be sufficiently preserved to enable the listener to understand
what vowel is being sung. All this is particularly difficult in
singing loudly, and it is largely for this reason that the vocal
student is required by his teacher to practise softly so much of the
time. Some vowels have two parts (_e.g._, i = ä + [=e]), and here it
is the singer's task to sustain the part upon which the better tone
can be made, sounding the other part only long enough to produce a
correct total effect.
[Sidenote: CONSONANTS]
As noted above, the consonants are in general merely devices for
cutting off the flow of vowel sound in various ways, and one of the
most difficult problems confronting the singer in his public
performances is to articulate the consonants so skilfully that the
words shall be easy to follow by the audience, and at the same time to
keep the vowel sounds so pure and their flow so uninterrupted that the
singing may be perfect in its tone quality and in its _legato_. It is
because this matter presents great difficulty that the words of the
singer with a good _legato_ can so seldom be understood, while the
declamatory vocalist who presents his words faultlessly is apt to sing
with no _legato_ at all. The problem is not insoluble, but its
solution can only be accomplished through years of study under expert
guidance. Vocal teachers in general will probably disagree with us;
but it is our opinion that in choral performance at least, the _tone_
rather than the _words_ should be sacrificed if one or the other has
to give way, and the choral conductor is therefore advised to study
the use of the consonants most carefully, and to find out how to make
use of every means of securing well enunciated words from his body of
singers.
[Sidenote: RELAXATION]
The next point to be noted is the importance of what vocal teachers
refer to as the "movable lower jaw," this, of course, implying
absolute (but controlled) relaxation of all muscles used in singing.
Without relaxation of this sort, the tone is very likely to be badly
placed, the sound seeming to come from the throat, and the whole
effect being that of tone squeezed out or forced out instead of tone
flowing or floating out, as described in a previous paragraph. This
difficulty is, of course, most obvious in singing the higher tones;
and one remedy within the reach of the choral conductor is to test all
voices carefully and not to allow anyone to sing a part that is
obviously too high. But in addition to this general treatment of the
matter, it will often be possible for the director to urge upon his
chorus the necessity of relaxation in producing tone, thus reminding
those who tighten up unconsciously that they are not singing properly,
and conveying to those who are ignorant of the matter at least a hint
regarding a better use of their voices.
[Sidenote: VOCAL REGISTERS]
A vocal register has been defined as "a series of tones produced by
the same mechanism." This means that in beginning with the lowest tone
of the voice and ascending the scale, one comes to a point where
before going on to the next scale-tone, a readjustment of the vocal
organs is necessary, this change in the action of the larynx and vocal
cords being _felt_ by the singer and _heard_ by the listener. The
point at which the readjustment takes place, _i.e._, the place where
the voice goes from one register into another, is called the _break_;
and one of the things the voice trainer tries to do for each pupil is
to teach him to pass so skilfully from one register to another that
these breaks will not be noticeable to the hearer--the voice
eventually sounding an even scale from its lowest to its highest tone.
There is considerable difference of opinion as to the number of
registers existing in any one voice, but perhaps the majority of
writers incline to the view that there are three; the chest or lower,
the thin or middle, and the small or head. It should be noted,
however, that the readjustment in the action of the vocal cords
referred to above probably takes place only when passing from the
lowest register to the next higher one, and that such changes in
action as occur at other points are more or less indefinite and
possibly even somewhat imaginary. Authorities differ as to just what
the change in mechanism is in passing from the chest register to the
middle one; but the most plausible explanation seems to be that in the
lowest register, the change in pitch from a lower tone to the next
higher one is accomplished at least partly by _stretching_ the vocal
bands more tightly, and that when the limit of this stretching process
has been reached, the cords relax slightly, and from this point on
each higher tone is made by _shortening_ the vibrating portion of the
cords; in other words, by decreasing the length of the glottis (the
aperture between the vocal cords). This point may become clearer if we
compare the process with tuning a violin string. The string may be a
third or a fourth below its normal pitch when the violinist begins to
tune his instrument, but by turning the peg and thus stretching the
string tighter and tighter, the tone is raised by small degrees until
the string gives forth the pitch that it is supposed to sound. But
this same string may now be made to play higher and higher pitches by
pressing it against the fingerboard, thus shortening the vibrating
portion more and more. The tuning process may be said to compare
roughly with the mechanism of the chest register of the human voice;
while the shortening of the string by pressing it against the
fingerboard is somewhat analogous to what takes place in the higher
registers of the voice.
We have now enumerated what seem to us to be the most essential
matters connected with vocal procedure; and if to such information as
is contained in the foregoing paragraphs the conductor adds the
knowledge that the _messa di voce_ (a beautiful vocal effect produced
by swelling a tone from soft to loud and then back again) is to be
produced by increase and decrease of breath pressure and not by a
greater or lesser amount of straining of the throat muscles; that
_portamento_ (gliding by infinitely small degrees in pitch from one
tone to another), although a valuable and entirely legitimate
expressional effect when used occasionally in a passage where its
employment is appropriate, may be over-used to such an extent as to
result in a slovenly, vulgar, and altogether objectionable style of
singing; and that whereas the _vibrato_ may imbue with virility and
warmth an otherwise cold, dead tone and if skilfully and judiciously
used may add greatly to the color and vitality of the singing, the
_tremolo_ is on the other hand a destroyer of pitch accuracy, a
despoiler of vocal idealism, and an abhorrence to the listener; if our
conductor knows these and other similar facts about singing, then he
will not run quite so great a risk of making himself ridiculous in the
eyes of the singers whom he is conducting as has sometimes been the
case when instrumentalists have assumed control of vocal forces. But
let us emphasize again the fact that these things cannot be learned
from a book, but must be acquired through self-activity, _i.e._, by
actual experience in singing; hence the importance of vocal study on
the part of the prospective choral conductor.
In conclusion, let us enumerate the main points involved in what is
called good singing--these points applying to choral music as directly
as to solo performance.
1. The intonation must be perfect; _i.e._, the tones
produced must be neither sharp nor flat, but exactly true to
pitch.
2. The tone must be attacked and released exactly at the
right pitch; _i.e._, the voice must not begin on some
indefinite lower tone and slide up, or on a higher tone and
slide down, but must begin on precisely the right pitch.
3. The tone must be absolutely steady, and there must be no
wavering, no _tremolo_, no uncertainty. This means absolute
breath control.
4. The tones must follow one another without break, unless
the character of the music demands detached effects; in
other words, there must be a perfect _legato_. The tones
must also follow each other cleanly, unless the character of
the music makes the use of _portamento_ desirable.
5. The singer must feel the mood of each song, and must sing
as he feels, if he is to perform with real expression. This
is a much more vital matter in song interpretation than the
mere mechanical observation of _tempo_ and _dynamic_
indications.
6. The text must be enunciated with sufficient clarity to
enable the audience to catch at least the most important
ideas presented. This involves not only the _complete_
pronunciation of each syllable instead of the slovenly
half-pronunciation so commonly heard; but implies as well
that the sounds be formed well forward in the mouth instead
of back in the throat.
If the singing of a soloist or a chorus can meet the test of these
requirements, the singing may be called good.