Free Singing Lesson Sitemap

Foreword - Two outstanding modern research scholars in the science of singing, Bartholomew and Russell,2and many other writers including Baker, Browne and Behnke, Field-Hyde, Garcia, Holmes, Kofler, Lehmen, Longo, Shakes-pear, Shaw and Ldnsay, Stanley, Westerman, Vennard, have advanced the opinion that teachers of singing should know the science of singing as well as the art.

01. Quality - Voices are usually classified according to quality or range or both. Since many singers have more than one possible singing quality, and since the vocalizing range of most female voices at the age of eighteen is approx­imately three octaves, and that of boys at the same age is limited, without the so-called falsetto range, to a little over an octave, using quality and range as the only means of classification is hardly satisfactory.

02. Articulation - In the field of voice science articulation is defined as "the physical pro­cess of breaking up or interrupting the phonated or non-phonated breath stream into vowel links2.M The phonated breath stream carries the vowel and semi-vowel sounds, and the voiced consonants; the non-phonated breath stream carries the unvoiced consonants.

03. Phonation - Phonation is the process of generating acoustical energy at the level of the larynx. This energy is the result of the vibratory activity of the vocal cords, two elastic muscular bands which form the edges of the thro-arytenoid musculature. They are attached to the inside of the thyroid cartilage (Adam's apple) in front, and to the arytenoid cartilages in the back. The average length of these cords is about . 7 of an inch in the male changed voice and about . 4 of an inch in the female voice.

04. Respiration - Inthe teaching of breathing for Ringing the teacher is confronted with two problems: 1. where to breath, and 2. what to do with the breath after it is inhaled.

Although the action of the diaphragm, the most important muscle of in­halation, is said to be involuntary, the extent of its movement can be increased voluntarily. This can be accomplished indirectly by increasing the size of the thoracic cavity, as explained later.

05. Goals - A clear statement of the goals to be reached should preface any approach to the study of singing.

The single most important purpose in the training of a singing voice should be to develop or make possible the development of the utmost poten­tialities of that voice.

06. Comparative Methods - This is a survey of comparative methods37 or schools of teaching singing. The methods or schools - although perhaps not complete, are listed in the following order:

1. Bel Canto                                                     BC
2. Emotional                                                     EM
3. Interpretative                                                IN
4. Natural                                                         NAT
5. Psychological                                               PSY
6. Resonance                                                   RE
7. Speech                                                         SP
8. Organic Co-ordination                                  CO-OR
9. Local Effort (Physical)                                  EF
10. Modern Scientific                                        SC
11. Phonetic Placement                                     PP
12. Psycho-Physiological Acoustical                  PPA
13. Register                                                      REG
14. Respiration                                                 RES
    

Representative statements from the fourteen different methods or schools are listed under the following subdivisions or concepts:

07. Psycho-Physiological - Man is a psycho-physiological being*8 endowed with the potential power to think, to speak, and to act. Correlated with his power to think is the ability to reflect through expressive movements, inner patterns of perception and feeling. In other words, what the individual thinks, or is led to think, results in certain body movements and actions.

08. Objective Approach - AN OBJECTIVE APPROACH TO THE TEACHING OF SINGING

Q     As a teacher of singing, what are you trying to accomplish?

A     First, I am trying to help singers develop their vocal talent.

Q    How do you go about it? It seems to me that singing is so complex, that is, such a complex combination of physical and psychological factors, that you wouldn't know how or where to begin. The generally accepted idea is that no two individuals can be taught the same way.

09. Lesson Plans - The lesson plans which follow are revisions of the lesson plans taken from the book "Sing High, Sing Low" -A General American School of Singing. This book was published in 1948, and reprinted in 1956. It is essentially a class book for both students and teachers, while this is a teacher's manual.

The previous lesson plans were written for the most part without scientific explanations. These revised plans include, wherever possible, an explana­tion of the scientific principles involved.

10. Audible Errors - A lazy way of singing or speaking. Usually due to a small mouth open­ing with weak pharyngeal action, resulting in a low position of the soft pal­ate. This permits the breath to pass through the nose. When pressure is applied at the back of the nose to increase the loudness of the tone, the re­sult, due to the smallness of the opening, is nasality.

11. Techniques - The following techniques, devices, and suggestions are offered as pos­sible ways to solve vocal problems. For the most part they are based on a psychological or indirect approach to a physiological action, which involves knowing, within certain limits, how the vocal mechanism functions. The success of this approach, which is basically to set up a cause to get a par­ticular result, can be judged best by how it sounds

12. Stage Deportment - Stage deportment in singing may be defined as the actions of a singer before an audience, between entrance and exit. Good stage deportment de­pends on common sense and good manners.

Common Sense — Before making an appearance a singer should plan his entrances and exits. Common sense will dictate whether he should enter from the side, down stage right or left, or from the back — that is, up­stage, right, left, or center.

13. Interpretation - Interpretation in singing may be defined as the manner, style, and feel­ing used in the presentation of song material.

Manner — The first consideration in interpretation should be the re­lationship between audience and performer.

The song material will determine first the manner in which the song shall be presented to the audience. Song material may first be divided into subjective and objective material.

14. Repertoire - Repertoire in singing may be defined as a list of songs or roles in any or all classifications of song literature, which a singer has rehearsed and is prepared to perform in public. Songs or roles not memorized should not be considered as part of one's repertoire, unless an exception is made in the case of radio singing where the use of the music is usually permitted.

15. Educational Psychology - The teaching of singing calls for a combination of theoretical analyses on the part of the teacher of how it should be done, and of directing the stu­dent in actual practice48 How successful the teacher will be in his analyses will be dependent upon his own actual experience in singing, correlated with basic significant facts on how the vocal mechanism works.

16. Acoustics - Acoustics has been defined as the science of auditory vibrations. It has also been defined as the qualities of a room or theater that determine how well a sound can be heard.w

What a singer knows about acoustics is generally limited to what he has learned through experience. Eventually he becomes aware that some places are easier to sing in than others.

17. Vocal Tract - The process of respiration involves two actions, inhalation and exhala­tion. Air is inhaled and exhaled through the nose or nasal cavities, or through the pharynx, the larynx, the trachea or windpipe, the lung passages, and in and out of the lungs.

In quiet breathing the nasal cavity is open. The oral cavity may be open or closed. The nasopharynx, oropharynx, and the laryngopharynx make up a tubelike cavity, except when air is inhaled or exhaled through the mouth alone. In this type of breathing the nasopharynx is eliminated as one of the air passages.   During swallowing breathing is inhibited.

18. The Ear - The ear is made up of three distinct parts: 1. The outer ear, consist­ing of a lobe or pinna, the external auditory meatus, and the tympanic mem­brane (ear drum); 2. The middle ear with a chain of ossicles (little bones), muscles and ligaments, and the Eustachian tube; and 3. The inner or internal ear with the cochlea, the vestibule, and the semi-circular canals.

Bibliography -

• Bartholomew, W. T. The Role of Imagery in Voice Teaching.   Vol. of Proceedings.   Music Teachers National Assoc. 1935 Page 79. 2nd paragraph.
• Russell, G. O. Speech and Voice.   The MacMillan Co. New York. 1931.   Page 246.
• National Association of Teachers of Singing.   Fundamental Requirements for Teachers of Singing. 1948.
• Gates, A. I., Jersild, A.T., Challman, R. C, McConnell, A. T. Educational Psychology.   The MacMillan Co. New York. 1949. Page 319. Goals.

THE END