Posture

Posture
Setting up the structure of our instrument

By
Michael J. Mayer

In this installment of the Fundamentals of Singing series I would like to address the topic of posture. Not limiting this concept to just the posture of the body, we will apply it to each aspect of our instrument in order to best facilitate ease in our vocal production. This includes, in addition to the already mentioned body posture, facial posture, and mouth-tongue and larynx-jaw posture. The following is an attempt to present the instinctive postures for the natural use of the voice as taught by the Swedish/Italian School. The validity of these assertions has been proven through years of experience and agreement with other disciplines such as Alexander Technique, Tai Chi, and the study of athletic body mechanics.

The Body

Being the most common application of the term posture, we will start with the body. This is what most people think of when we speak of posture; the nature of how we stand upright. This is a topic that has most likely been addressed by every voice teacher in history. Some have placed more importance on it than others. In the Swedish/Italian School of singing it was regarded with such importance that Allan Lindquest referred to it as the “School of the Straight Spine”. I’m not saying that we literally want a perfectly straight spine, which would be unhealthy, but a comfortably elongated spine without exaggerated natural curves. Essentially what we want is balance, with the body relaxed but energized to combat the sag caused by the pull of gravity.

We can think of the body as being in three parts, the head, torso and legs. Although we can look at each of these parts separately we need to remember that every part of the body is interconnected. This means that what we do in one part will influence the others. This is especially true regarding the spine. We can effectively lengthen and straighten the spine by focusing on our head, specifically how our head is sitting on top of the spine. But before we cover that topic, lets start from the ground and work our way up.

Just as the importance of the tires on our cars is often overlooked, our feet are the unheralded base of our structure. If they aren't properly positioned we can defeat the coordination of our whole body. We should experiment with different weight distribution of our feet to see what the effects are of, for example, standing on our heels versus leaning slightly forward with our weight on the balls of the feet. Some advocate standing on the heels because it relaxes the body, but that is the very reason this school avoids it. Actually this is one aspect of the Italian concept of “Appoggio” - “to lean”. By shifting the weight of our body slightly forward onto the front half of our feet, the muscles of our torso engage to support the spine while at the same time making an automatic connection to the diaphragm and other breathing muscles. It is this comfortable tension through the ribcage and breathing muscles that is referred to as “support”. This muscular connection continues through the legs to the feet, giving a very athletically buoyant feeling.

The legs should stay slightly bent, with “soft” knees, never locking straight. If they do the muscular connection through the body will be lost and the breath will lose its support. It is recommended that the legs have a slight outward rotation from the hips to help the positioning of the pelvis into a neutral state. There may be a feeling that the buttocks gently contract, helping to rotate the pelvis and subsequently lengthen the spine. Another positive result of the slight contraction of the buttocks is the unconscious contraction of the deep layers of abdominal muscles. (This is the reason some recommend “pinching a dime” by squeezing the gluteus muscles.) This also helps with breath control and compression. It should be stressed that these need to be gentle contractions, never effortful, or we risk becoming rigid. We need to always be reminding the body to be flexibly active.

Moving on to the torso we basically want to lengthen the spine by bringing the head up and the tailbone down. The spine has been compared to a chain, where each link corresponds to each vertebrae. This helps to remind us that the spine should always feel flexible and never rigid like a pole. As the spine straightens the ribcage naturally takes a more elevated and expanded position. This is the Italian School's “noble” position. This also has a direct influence on the effectiveness of our breath management. A critical part of this posture is to keep the wide position of the lower ribs. This is essential to the proper action of the diaphragm and what people usually refer to as breath support. If the ribs collapse the throat will close and the voice will stiffen. That is why the common “belly breathing” is so harmful. If the abdomen expands forward it pulls the ribs closed, causing the diaphragm to lose its stretch and become displaced. We should not think of breathing in just one place, but a little through the whole torso. But we will go more into this in the article on breathing.

For most people the chest will also feel higher, but we should watch out for trying to lift the chest into a high position. Doing so will most likely hyper-extend the spine, causing the diaphragm to be displaced and squeeze the back of the ribcage reducing the effectiveness of our breathing. Another positive effect of a properly straightened spine is the “relaxing back” of the shoulders. For many people it is habitual for their shoulders to be rolled forward, collapsing the chest. With proper spinal alignment the shoulders naturally relax back so they point out to the sides, neither pulled forward nor pulled back. This opens the chest with a feeling of broadness, and removes excess downward pressure on the lungs.

The proper alignment of the head on top of the neck is the last piece of the puzzle, but in time becomes the guiding principle. The pull of gravity on the weight of the head is the biggest challenge to healthy spinal alignment. Because of its disproportionate weight, the head can cause a complete breakdown of vocal freedom if it is allowed to drift off of its balance on top of the spine. The reason for this is when balanced the spine supports the head and frees the neck and jaw muscles from the burden of supporting the skull. If this balance is not present when we attempt to sing these muscles interfere with the free functioning of the vocal instrument.

For most of us the feeling of proper alignment is a foreign one. One thing that F. M. Alexander, founder of the Alexander Technique, found in his research was that people on average did not have very accurate awareness of their body. Because of conditioning over time, habitual body use tends to interfere with one's ability to recognize optimal body use. This causes people to like what is familiar and dislike what is new, even if the new condition is optimal.

Because of this tendency, this school of singing recommends using the floor and subsequently a wall as tools to guide us to new postural conditions. As you lay on your back gravity actually works for you rather than against you as it does standing. The weight of your body going into the floor gives a very clear sense of the condition of the spinal alignment. You should start with your legs bent, much the same as preparing to do a sit-up exercise. In this position you can feel if your lower back is arching excessively off of the floor. If it is, think of your thighs going in the direction of your knees. This will slightly rotate the pelvis so the lower back will lengthen and flatten against the floor. If you feel like you are tucking the pelvis it is too far, always keep the buttocks touching the floor. Breathing in this position should give the feel of elastic tension around the mid-section that is necessary in good singing. Again, these exercises should be very gentle and not strenuous at all. If you feel discomfort you are trying too hard.

The next exercise in this process involves flipping over to our front with the head on our crossed hands. In this position we are able to feel the movement of the lower ribs, the flank muscles as well as the abdominal muscles against the floor. Vocalizing in this position gives the sense of where the motivation of the voice should come from. It helps to get all thought away from any tension at the throat. Both of these positions help to train the abdomen to stay slightly in rather than hanging out. The slight drawing in of the abdomen was recommended as a life-style. If the abdomen is allowed to hang out, as it often is, it pulls the diaphragm and spine out of their natural position. This disrupts the natural balance of our breathing, which in turn disrupts the natural balance of the voice.

Once we get familiar with the feel of our spine on the floor, we can transfer our exercise to standing against the wall. We should start with our feet approximately 12-18 inches out from the wall and our legs bent. From this position we sit back against the wall so our hips and shoulder blades touch the wall. We most likely will not be able to have our backs completely flat, but we should eliminate any excessive arch in the lower back. Over time and through repetition the body will memorize this postural position, permitting you to replicate it standing upright. It should be noted that when we extend the legs to stand the lower back may not stay as flat. That is expected. We just want to keep the natural curves of the spine so the body can be free to function completely.

Once we get the feel of straightening the spine so the head is in line with the shoulders we need to start transferring the stimulus for our posture from a conscious effort to an emotional feeling of desire to express. Lamperti is quoted as saying if the start of your tone doesn’t straighten you up like a soldier some important element is not taking part. I take this as meaning the desire to say something needs to be strong enough to make our whole body come to attention and participate. I think this topic can be wrapped up by something Allen Lindquest used to say - you need to look like a singer before you will sound like one.

The Face

Facial posture may not be a familiar term for some people. Especially considering the amount of emphasis placed on relaxing when learning to sing, it may be unheard of to think the face should be anything but hanging “relaxed”. The problem is the face is an integral part of the vocal instrument and if any one part is passive it will make the other parts overwork to take up the slack. A relaxed face acts as a blockage that actually makes us work against ourselves when we sing, destroying ease and distorting vowel clarity. In this school the passive face was regarded like a curtain being down in front of a stage, blocking the sound behind it. When we lift the “curtain” we allow the sound waves to reflect outward in a naturally bright way that brings ease and beauty into the tone.

I am not advocating that the face should be contorted in any way, but there is a middle ground I call “elastically active”. This “elastically active” structure keeps things energized so the instrument can be played to its maximum capacity while staying balanced. This elastic activity is what keeps the rib-cage suspended open as described in the previous section. Regarding the face, we should always strive to keep it “alive” which is stimulated psychologically through our imagination and emotions and our desire to communicate. We need to train the face to have a pleasant and inspired expression, which results in a slight lift of the cheeks, helping to lift the palate. We should also stay aware of the eyes’ tendency to get rigid, which is mirrored by rigidity in the throat. This will obviously impede free functioning of the voice, and can be distracting to audience members.

As I stated, the facial posture needs to be stimulated through our emotional personality. More specifically, we can achieve this through the feeling of smiling to ourselves. I also call this smiling under the eyes. Many have referred to the “inner smile”, which is essentially the same thing, but that term always seemed too foreign to me. I am not talking about a smile with only the mouth, which can cause the tone to spread and close the throat. This “smile under the eyes” activates a set of muscles that run from the bottom of the eye sockets to the upper lip. When activated these muscles lift the upper lip revealing a portion of the upper teeth. An increased prominence of the muscles on top of the cheek-bones is a sign of the successful achievement of this condition. This has been referred to as “putting ping-pong balls in your cheek-bones.” It should be stressed that these are very subtle movements, we should think of a slight smile with a slight pucker. Others have referred to this as the “Mona Lisa smile” or the “flowering of the lips”.

It must be remembered that this is a pleasant expression, not a mechanical posture. If one attempts to just put the face in a particular position, they will end up looking very unnatural. That is why it is imperative to practice this in front of a mirror. This pleasant expression was a main objective in the practice of “smelling a rose” by the Italian school. This practice provided a complete preparation in one act. The imagination and emotional personality are stimulated through the pleasant experience of drawing the fragrance in through the nose. The imagined experience stimulates a pleasant expression on the face causing a lift under the eyes, which combined with the inhalation through the nose opens the upper resonator. The strength of the action stimulates the diaphragm for a complete breath, and the smelling action creates an aerodynamic situation that draws the vocal folds together without muscular interference, so they are ready to vibrate cleanly and spontaneously. But this is going beyond the scope of this article.

The reason this posture is important is to ensure a balanced resonating cavity. The lift under the eyes of a pleasant expression opens the space referred to as the “mask”, which is more accurately called the post-nasal resonance space or “ng” resonance. (This does not mean nasality) A nice side effect is you actually look like you are enjoying the activity of singing, which adds to the enjoyment of the audience. (I know this from personal experience. I once was singing in church when I was a student in college and trying to sing in a dark dramatic way. A member of the congregation approached me after the service and said “You sound great, but you should try smiling a little. You look too serious.” I thought about it since I was singing relatively light-hearted music. The expression on my face didn’t match the expression of the music.) Compare this to the general expression of singers we see which ranges from completely uninvolved, to one of struggling. The majority of singers we see today sing with a downward pull to the face, which tends to pull the palate down and make the voice darker and heavier. Some seem to think that this adds dramatic color and beauty to their tone.(A trap of trying to listen to our own sound.) Actually what it is doing is dampening the natural brilliance of the voice. This is why many singers are hard to hear in their low range. In many cases this extra weight forces a need to push extra breath against the larynx which causes discomfort to both the singer and listener.

The Mouth, Tongue, Jaw and Larynx

I am placing all four of these components together because of how interrelated they are. Essentially these parts are the main element of our instrument and they cannot really be separated.

G. B. Lamperti is quoted as saying that many singers go on stage before they even know how to open their mouths. I would say this is even more true today. If we observe currently active singers we will notice a wide range of mouth positions. The sad fact is it is very unlikely you will see someone employ the mouth position I will describe. You most likely will have to look at videos of singers from past generations to see examples of it.

The main thing missing with singers of today I would again attribute to the idea of being “completely relaxed”. If you open the mouth with a feeling of being completely relaxed it will open downward. “Of course the mouth opens downward,” I hear some saying. As I stated before, opening downward pulls the tongue and palate down with the jaw making the voice unnaturally heavy. What I recommend is to think of opening upward, so you feel as if the weight of the skull is being taken off of the jaw and voice. This allows the jaw to stay relaxed and drop naturally away from the pleasant expression of the face.

Through experimentation it should be noticed that the natural path of the jaw is to swing in a down and back arc. This down and back position of the jaw is a vital component to the open pharynx, which is indispensable to healthy singing. In fact it was stated by Franklyn Kelsey in his book, Foundations of Singing, that we open the throat by lifting the cheeks and retracting the jaw. It should be noted that the jaw swings back easiest when we think of opening the mouth in an upward direction. The slight down and back path of the jaw is also influential in the proper positioning of the larynx. If the jaw thrusts forward it will pull the larynx up and cause the vocal folds to take an undesirable form.

This feeling of opening upward is dependent on the facial posture described in the previous section. An important element is to keep the feeling of slight roundness to the mouth as you open. This is necessary to help balance the tendency of spreading when one has a pleasant expression of the face so the pharyngeal space stays open. This can be assisted by thinking of keeping the corners of the lips slightly relaxed forward by “sinking the cheeks”. (This applies to the part of the cheeks that can be sucked in between the teeth.) The result of this is a protection to the voice and a slight alteration of the vowel quality from “ah” to “aw”. This slightly darker vowel also helps to keep the larynx in a healthy position. If the vowel gets too spread it closes the pharynx by pulling the larynx up. This posture was described by my teacher David Jones as the “happy to suck a lemon” face. The “happy” aspect refers to the lift under the eyes and the “sucking a lemon” refers to the slight pucker feeling the brings the lips forward and sinks the cheeks. This combination gives the sought after “chiaroscuro” – bright-dark – quality of the Italian school. The lift under the eyes keeping the bright and the slight pucker providing the darker color. The Swedish language provides ideal mixed vowel forms to help achieve this mouth position, giving the unique tone quality of this school.

Another concept the old Italian school spoke of was “Drinking the Tone”. Like other axioms this had multiple meanings, but one is the mouth position I am describing. When we take a medium to large drink we open the mouth in an upward direction. Our cheeks rise lifting the upper lip. This is accompanied by a generously open pharynx to receive the liquid. The feeling of drinking also helps in learning to drop the larynx without pushing it down so it can function in its naturally relaxed position. This is a very constructive exercise to use before singing to get the feel of opening in the correct manner.

The last element of this posture is the tongue. There is a fairly wide belief that the proper positioning of the tongue is flat. It is stated in many books and by many voice teachers. It is my experience, as well as others, that the flat tongue is a very unnatural position. David Jones has written an article on the dangers of the flat or retracted tongue on his website www.voiceteacher.com. Suffice it to say here that the flat tongue position blocks the pharynx opening and causes excess air pressure against the vocal folds. This position also causes the jaw to thrust forward, causing unwanted tension in the muscles of the jaw. (By changing these habitual positions I was able to relieve my long-time TMJ pain.)

To avoid these hindrances, we want to train the tongue to take a slightly arched position in the mouth. This is done in a couple of ways. One, with the exercise of arching the tongue gently out of the mouth with the tip anchored behind the lower front teeth. This strengthens the middle of the tongue, what Allan Lindquest called the “saddle” of the tongue. By strengthening this part of the tongue, we reduce the tongue’s tendency of pulling back into the pharynx when we phonate. The second technique is to breath with the tongue in the “ng” position. This teaches this position as “home base”. Gradually the tongue gets accustomed to being in this acoustically ideal position.

The reason this position is ideal is because the tongue mass is completely out of the pharynx. Allan Lindquest stated that we open the throat from the proper tongue position. This actually goes hand in hand with Franklyn Kelsey’s statement because the slight retraction of the jaw and the “ng” position of the tongue work together. The feeling of opening the mouth upwards is imperative to the proper tongue position. If the face is pulled down it is very difficult to keep the tongue arched out of the pharynx because there is no space for the tone to escape. Essentially we need to open space above and behind the tongue and not pull the tongue down to open resonance space. Acoustically this is ideal because of the reflection of the sound waves against the hard palate, giving vibrancy and natural brightness to the tone compared to the dark, dull and muted quality when the tongue is low. A high tongue position is often discouraged because of the claim that it closes the throat. This can be true unless one opens above it, as described when drinking. The feeling of stretching to open upward lengthens the root of the tongue so it doesn’t pull the larynx up.

A more practical reasoning for this facial and tongue posture is simple intelligibility. It is a common complaint among audiences that they can’t understand the words of classical singers, even when singing English. This is because of the “dark” posture of their face, mouth and tongue. The face and tongue are in a pulled-down position, causing the vowels to lack clarity. This could be explained with scientific terminology of formants and such, but it is enough to say that the vowel resonance space needs to reinforce the sung pitch with a balanced vowel sound. Much of the singing I hear in New York is overly dark from an attempt to enlarge the throat space to make a bigger sound. (We need to remember that the “size” of the voice is determined by the intensity and reflection of the vibration, not on the size of the resonating space.) On the other hand the “Broadway” sound suffers from closing the throat space in an attempt to make the words overly clear. This makes the sound harsh and unattractive in most cases. These are opposite ends of the spectrum that when balanced gives a perfect vowel with clarity and beauty. The biggest challenge I have observed in students learning this tongue position is the tendency to pull the larynx up with the tongue. This can be remedied by learning to separate tongue action from the larynx, which needs to be done for healthy consonant function so the larynx doesn’t get disturbed when pronouncing consonants.

I want to take a moment to comment on the practice of “low larynx” singing. This is a practice that became popular with the success of Mario del Monoco and Franco Corelli, who attributed it to a teacher named Melocchi. The technique functions by lowering the larynx maximally, which includes a lowered tongue. This requires strong activation of the yawning muscles that pull the larynx down, keeping it pulled down for the duration of singing. It was stated that this is what was meant by an open throat. This low position of the larynx and tongue causes the vocal folds to be thick giving a more powerful tone, which can be quite impressive. The problem is this is an extreme position and there is no balance when we are in an extreme position. If we function out of balance the muscles that make up the instrument overwork, and eventually breakdown. The other issue is the thickness of the vocal folds. In an upcoming article I plan to discuss the action of the vocal folds, but right now I will say that we want to vibrate on the edges of the folds, which is impossible when they are thick. Thinner folds makes the voice sweeter allowing us to sing beautifully through a wide range of pitch and dynamics, exemplified by Jussi Björling. The natural position of the larynx is hanging relatively low in the neck. This needs to be accomplished by stretching and relaxing the swallowing muscles so they are not active during singing. This is a common challenge for most singers. I attribute this to our tendency to hold emotional tension in these muscles which pull the larynx up and close the throat. The ideal larynx position is a balanced one, neither pulled up nor pulled down. This allows the vocal folds to be in the ideal position to vibrate most efficiently.

Conclusion

In this article I have tried to present a thorough account of the different concepts of posture as practiced in the Swedish/Italian school of singing. I hope you have found some helpful ideas to explore in your practice. As always any questions are welcome at info@vocalwisdom.com. In closing I would like to reiterate that the mechanical explanations I have described need to be absorbed through practice, and stimulated from a psycho-emotional state of inspiration and joy in the act of singing. Ultimately that should be the causal factor for these postures, not our conscious placing. It was a constant directive in the Swedish/Italian school to sing from the feeling of Joy, which would naturally cause the body to lengthen and straighten to a proud, tall posture with the shoulders relaxed back and the head on top of the spine. This feeling would stimulate a pleasant expression on the face, including a slight smile and soft eyes that would be mirrored by freedom in the throat producing a naturally bright and resonant tone. This is ultimately the only true path to security in singing - to sing from the natural response of joy and love of the very act of singing for its own sake.

Manuel Garcia and the Coup de Glotte

Manuel Garcia and the Coup de Glotte

This is the Appendix from the book A Guide to Good Singing and Speech by Julian Gardiner. It explains the meaning behind this often confused concept in the most complete manner that I have found. The book is out of print so I am copying it in its entirety. It should be stated that although the coup de glotte is associated with Manuel Garcia, this method did not originate with him. It was the prevailing technical method of the Italian singing schools from circa 1600 until the end of the nineteenth century which was often referred to as ‘il bel canto’, although the term ‘bel canto’ was never used by Garcia or any of the masters from the old school. They simply referred to it as ‘L’arte del canto’.

As I explained in the Preface, this book was initially inspired by the teaching of Manuel Garcia, whose name will always be associated with a technique of launching notes called the coup de glotte or ‘glottal shock’. The very mention of this phenomenon is apt, in England, to set up horrified revulsion. Much of this irrational behavior is due to the unfortunate English translation, which suggests nothing so much as strangulation in a dark alley. If we cannot use the original term, for heaven’s sake let us think up an equivalent that is less convulsively opprobrious.

But there is more to it than just an unfortunate translation. Religions, systems of thought and methods of teaching tend to be perverted in all innocence by enthusiastic disciples. Garcia’s teaching was no exception. One of his most eloquent disciples used to demonstrate the coup de glotte with the aid of a gun, but such eccentricities need not be associated with a man who was clearly one of the world’s great masters. The brother of Malibran and Pauline Viardot, the teacher of Jenny Lind, Marchesi, Stockhausen and Santley, may have lived to be a hundred, but was not such a doddering old idiot as to teach his pupils to launch notes in a way which people nowadays refer to as the coup de glotte. Careful reading of his somewhat delphic treatise suggests that what he called the coup de glotte demands an intermediate movement between the inhalation and the attack. Quite certainly he never intended anything like the violent and explosive attack which, as doctors and teachers rightly point out, is bound to do serious damage to vocal cords. This is how he described it in his Traité Complet de l’Art du Chant:

…the neat articulation of the glottis that gives a precise and clean start to a sound…By slightly coughing we become conscious of the existence and position of the glottis, and also of its shutting and opening action. The stroke of the glottis is somewhat similar to the cough, though differing essentially in that it needs only the delicate action of the lips (i.e. the vocal cords) and not the impulse of air. The lightness of movement is considerably facilitated if it be tried with the mouth shut. Once understood, it may be used with the mouth open on any vowel.

With all respect to a great pioneer, Manuel Garcia was peculiarly unfortunate in his choice of words. The sense in which he uses ‘articulation’ would not be recognized by any dictionary, though the reader will be correct in understanding ‘articulation of the glottis’ to mean the approximation of the vocal cords. Less obscure but far more regrettable is his comparison of the coup de glotte to a cough. The word ‘cough’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘a violent expulsion of air from the lungs with the characteristic noise’. From the medical standpoint ‘the act of coughing comprises a short inspiration followed immediately by a closure of the glottis, and a forcible expiratory effort. A high pressure is thus created within the lungs and lower air passages. The glottis then opens suddenly, allowing the air to escape in a blast’. It would be difficult to object to either of these descriptions, and we can hardly wonder that as a result of his rash comparison, Garcia’s system has been associated not only with violence, effort and abruptness, but with the implication that air is forced through an open glottis.

The French word coup is also an unfortunate term, though in this case Garcia was hardly to blame. When associated with another substantive it does not mean shock or blow, as most people seem to think; it means a sudden swift movement and nothing more or less. By reason of its association with particular words, such as coup d’état and coup d’oeil, it has acquired dozens of shades of meaning. Sometimes by reason of the accompanying word there is an implication of violence, at other times an implication of delicacy. It all depends on the word that follows ‘coup de’, but basically coup means ‘split second motion’.

In his later book Hints on Singing the author tried to undo this dual misconception by writing a footnote in which he says that:

…the stroke of the glottis is meant to describe a physical act of which there should be merely a mental cognizance, not an actual physical sensation. The articulation which gives the precise and clean start to a sound is not felts in the throat (i.e. the larynx) of the singer. It is felt in the sound itself, the attack of the note, beginning clear, clean and true upon the middle of that note without preliminary movement or action of any sort beyond the natural act of singing.

The footnote was reinforced by an observation of the editor that:

The suggestion of an analogy between the stroke of the glottis and the act of coughing is intended simply to aid the student in locating the position and realizing the function of the glottic lips. There is no need even to think of its application when articulating or attacking a vocal sound.

No doubt the old man felt that some such footnote was needed to dissociate his teaching from the heavy-handed efforts of his more ruthless evangelists. But it is a thousand pities that he was persuaded into writing, or allowing someone else to write, this nonsensical footnote with its talk of mental cognizance. An unmistakable sensation is and must be present on a good vocal attack. It is every bit as unavoidable as the twang of a bow-string when you shoot an arrow into the air, or the click of an electric light as you switch it on. Once it is established, the sensation is forgotten within a few days. If nothing is felt at the glottis, it is certain that the throat and larynx are in a condition of normality, in other words in no condition for effective voice production.

Let us forget about the footnote and consider Garcia’s original words in the light of the technique which I have described. He says that the stroke of the glottis is somewhat similar to the cough, and that the lightness of movement is considerably facilitated if it be tried with the mouth shut. Normally the act of coughing is sufficiently violent to make you on social occasions eager to suppress your cough as much as possible. Nevertheless, with increasing physical discomfort, a time may come when the abdominal muscles contract so as to produce a compression against the larynx. You are, however, able to withstand this pressure long enough not only to provide yourself with a silencer in the shape of a handkerchief, but also to expel the released air with none of the explosiveness of less formal occasions.

The normal violent cough is an example of the perverted coup de glotte which induced Garcia to write his footnote. The polite concert cough, which follow along precisely the same lines as have been described in this book, is surely what Garcia intended, particularly when he goes on to suggest that you try it first with the mouth shut, in other words, that you grunt. In this way the act of singing is initiated with the same smoothness as when one puts a car in motion by releasing the clutch, though of course at infinitely greater speed. The operation can be made so quietly that, even over a microphone, it is no more noticeable that the impact of a violin bow against the string.

An even smoother attack can be achieved if the singer falls in with the conception of allowing the vocal cords spontaneously to vibrate before coming in contact with the compressed breath. In this way, and so far as I know, only in this way is it possible to make the coup de glotte as firm and yet as gentle as a lover’s caress.

My intention of making this information available is to try to bring some clarity to this misunderstood concept. In the U.S., like in England as the author states, the coup de glotte is generally regarded as murder to your voice. Unfortunately what they are referring to is not what is meant by coup de glotte, and as a result the proper application of the coup de glotte has been neglected as well. The violent attack should be avoided because of its abusive nature to the vocal folds. But contrary to what most people think, it is not the action of the vocal folds that makes the coup de glotte abusive, it is the action of the breath. As the author described, an attack that resembles a typical cough is not acceptable. What makes it not acceptable is not the closure of the vocal folds, it is the build up of air pressure against the closed cords. If we control our breathing so as to not have a build-up of air pressure, the cords can close without discomfort or danger of injury. In fact this is the secret to rehabilitating damaged vocal folds, especially if they have been bowed from excessive breathiness. As Garcia explained in the first excerpt, the idea of a cough is used to locate the vocal cords and experience their action. What needs to be understood is you need to be gentle, and think of coughing with absolutely no air pressure. Allan Lindquest described it as ‘clicking’ the cords, which is the sound they make when you cough with no air. Allan Lindquest also used the English term ‘perfect attack’ instead of coup de glotte. That is what the coup de glotte should be, a perfectly clean closure and spontaneous action of the vocal cords. It also depends on a released open throat so the vocal cords don’t get crushed. Then after the attack the vocal cords can continue to vibrate on the thinned edges using the breath without effort. I think the problem comes in when people actually try to perform the coup de glotte. Like the first attempts of any highly coordinated skill, the individual is not able to be perfectly in balance and immediately assumes the act is too rough to pursue. The problem is not with the act, it is just that the individual hasn’t developed the coordination to perform the act perfectly. We need to look at the perfect attack in the same light as other athletic actions like hitting a baseball or golf ball, the tennis serve, shooting a basketball. No one who attempts any of these things for the first time is able to do it even remotely like a well practiced and skilled person. So don’t expect to be able to do the same with the attack. It is a skill that takes time to master. The key lies in the author’s last sentence, the attack should be firm yet gentle, like a lover’s caress.

Weekly Wisdom

“The only way to overcome vocal difficulties is to free the production – the response in physical functioning of the singing instrument to the demand for tone. This free functioning of the singing instrument produces the free tone as an effect. We condition the living instrument to such a degree that it can answer, without interferences, all vocal and musical demands within the limits of individual vocal equipment. With this free production, we then work to attain the highest possible degree of vocal artistry. (It must be stressed that all functional activity of the vocal instrument is but a response to the mental demand for tone – the primitive urge to sing. WE SING: we do not try to sing in some particular way.)

- from Dynamic Singing by Louis Bachner

Emotions

Emotions
The Well from which Flows the Spring of Song


It is generally accepted that the Human Being consists of three parts, the Mind, Body, and Emotion. Often, Emotion is referred to as the spirit, soul, or heart. For the purpose of this article these terms will be considered interchangeable.

Researchers into peak performance are finding that physical performance is maximized when all three areas of the person are stimulated. For a singer this would entail a clear idea of the vowel and pitch in the Mind combined with an uplifted Emotion of joy of performance, stimulating a skillful use of the Body. The conscious use of all three parts of our being will always elicit better results because this is how the human is designed to operate. The problem is we usually aren’t taught this.

A personal experience can illustrate this point. I participated in many athletic activities growing up, Soccer, Track and Field, Baseball, Football. The one I was probably most skillful at was Basketball, although it was not the sport I was most successful at. I knew very well in my mind what to do, and my skills were comparable or better than others on the team, but I rarely performed at a level up to my potential. Looking back on the experience now, I can see that I was lacking the right emotional attitude. I don’t mean just positive thinking, that is something different. What I mean is approaching the game with the emotion of enjoyment, not fear. I remember one of the assistant coaches always reminding me to have fun. I think that was his way of trying to get me to play with confidence and joy of competition, rather than a fear of making mistakes and having to be perfect. That fear is a result of being concerned with the result, and not following Nike’s advice to “Just Do It”. What we don’t understand as youngsters, and even as adults sometimes, is that if we are overly concerned with the outcome we will block our natural ability to function freely and we will get the very result we are trying to avoid. This is the basis of “choking” in a high pressure situation. And it is this very situation that impeded me from fulfilling my potential.

Another activity I participated in that we can learn from was High Jumping. I was not as knowledgeable about high jumping as I was about basketball, or as skillful at it. But having done it I have observed some parallels to singing that can be informative. The physical technique of high jumping is fairly involved. It includes building strength and quickness in the muscles of the legs, as well as the back and abdomen to be able to coordinate the laying out and arching necessary. You need to learn the technique of the “Fosbury Flop”, which is the way to lay and roll over the bar backwards. This aspect alone takes a lot of time to develop the required coordination. Another important aspect is the run-up. A jumper has to measure the exact number of steps so they can build up enough speed and momentum to carry them over the bar under control. This process requires repeated corrections through trial and error to find the pattern of steps that feels comfortable and repeatable. It takes weeks and years of practice to perfect something that takes only a couple of seconds in competition.

In order for the athlete to be successful there are two more pieces to the puzzle. The mind and the emotion. As a jumper prepares for an attempt, they must visualize mentally every aspect of the jump. Each step of the run up, which may be anywhere from seven to ten steps, to the plant and take-off, to the lay-out and roll, ending with the landing. Next comes the emotional feeling of joy and enthusiasm. It takes a great deal of explosive energy to propel the body over a bar as high as seven feet. It is this emotional feeling that needs to provide the energy required to spur the body to take action. If the measuring has been figured accurately, the technique well ingrained, and concentration and focus kept along with a strong emotional impulse to provide sufficient energy, the jumper will be successful. But the timing has to be precise, and everything must come together at just the right moment.

Again, as in basketball, it was the emotional aspect that I was not in command of. When I would approach a jump, like many others, I would have a feeling of uncertainty. Occasionally I remember feeling confidant and “Just doing it”, and those were the times I was most successful. The problem was it was not a conscious decision, which affected my consistency, and that is the point I am trying to make. We need to make the use of our emotional personality a conscious decision and practice it to make it stronger.

Now, what does this have to do with singing? Some of you may already see some parallels while reading the description of high jump training. There is a great deal of physical technique to work out as well as mental visualization and preparation. But if it is not all coordinated with a productive emotional state, it will be wasted effort. The emotional state of the performer is the "X" factor. It is the most likely aspect to be left to chance, and end up being variable. This is why some of our performances are good and others not. If we want to develop consistency as a performer we need to call all three parts of our being into action, the mind, body, and emotion. When we accomplish this we get what psychologists call "the total response".

The total response is the crux of security in singing. Allan Lindquest’s definition of security in singing was when "the impulse to sing is a spontaneous emotional response, free from fear, which expresses in melody and words the moods of man through the simple act of singing." Many teachers and students never give themselves the opportunity to develop this total response because of being overly concerned with one aspect of the physical technique, like voice placement, breath control, larynx position or any of a dozen others. When the mind is locked onto one physical thing, there is no chance for the total response. Ironically, the cause of becoming fixated on one thing is fear, the very thing we eliminate through the total response.

Fear is a major issue for performers of all types. We have the fear of failure because we desire success. Fear is an element of what I call an ego based process. For example, if we think about ourselves when we sing rather than the music we are giving to others. Or we create a false self that is the embodiment of a “great” singer, i.e. becoming a Diva. Anytime the singing is about the performer instead of being about the music and the audience it is ego based. Now, I don’t want to sound too much like a therapy session, but as human beings this is a very real element of our personalities. And because our voice is so strongly associated with who we are it may be an even bigger issue for singers than for other performers or athletes. Fear is an automatic byproduct of desire. If we desire something we will always have some fear of not receiving it. So if we sing from an ego base, we are certainly going to be dealing with a fear response to some extant. Some ideas to avoid being ego based is to think of WHAT you are doing and not HOW you are doing. When we judge ourselves during the act of singing we are operating from fear. This is the challenge, to sing from a place free from fear. Another idea is to always allow yourself to be wrong, even if you always intend to be right. This can be especially hard for a student since they are frequently being corrected by their teacher. But it can be done if we learn how to think in that way. In other words be indifferent to success or failure. I heard an interview with the great bass Giorgio Tozzi, and he said he “never set foot on a stage where he didn’t love the audience. It is extremely important that when you walk out onstage you want to communicate with them, give them something. To do that as an artist you need to leave your ego back in the cloakroom on a hook. Because when you are out on the stage there is no room for ego, there is only room for one thing and that is honesty. You’ve got to honestly want to communicate with your audience.” This is a perfect example of an artist who knew exactly where his singing came from.

Emotion is our stimulus to physical action. More specifically, by definition singing is an act of heightened emotional expression. Hearing this many performers immediately think of the emotions of the character they are portraying. We miss the true meaning of this statement. It is not the emotions of the character but our emotions that need to be heightened. If we go back to the earliest existence of humans, we can identify with the vocal outbursts of emotion that accompanied a victory over a wild animal, for instance. Over the course of our history these outbursts have become coordinated with the creation of music, giving us an artistic expression of emotion. Common emotions that are fitting for singing are love, joy, wonder, awe. It is these feelings that stimulate us to say something through song. If we hear a singer who “lacks feeling” then they really aren’t singing. It is merely pretty noise. Because singing is a physical manifestation of our emotional personality.

Now how do we go about learning to use our emotional personality in our singing. This past spring I held a workshop on this topic with some very interesting results. The intension was to proceed with no instruction of physical technique. We only addressed our emotional impulse. First we needed to find some situations that had meaning to the individual. The most common example is to identify someone that is special to you and imagine a situation where you would run into them unexpectedly in the course of your day. In your mind you need to see the situation unfolding as in real life. When you see the person our natural response is a reaction of joyful surprise. This response typically includes an inhalation that opens the throat and lifts the body and face in a buoyant manner. We can complete the exercise with some vocal exclamation of our joyful surprise, “Oh!”. Through this type of exercising of the imagination we can learn to elicit at will positive emotional responses. These positive emotional responses are the perfect preparation for our singing. The voice is primed to function spontaneously and automatically.

Through the experimenting we did in the workshop we found that if we consciously stimulated a positive emotion, there wasn’t any room for a fearful emotion. They are mutually exclusive emotions. So the answer for anyone suffering from performance anxiety is to train their singing to be from a positive emotion. In the subtitle I refer to our emotion as a well. If this well is empty from a blasé feeling, fear and anxiety will pour in. If we can fill this well with positive emotion there will be no room for any negative emotion.

Another interesting item that we addressed was the question of how this works with the emotion of the character we are portraying. As I said earlier, we are not feeling the emotion of the character, but our own emotion as an individual. As the performer, ourselves. This makes sense if the emotion of the character is happy or joyfully in love. But what if the character is supposed to be sad, or suffering. At first glance we would think that it wouldn’t work. But we found that the emotion of the music came through, even if it was different from the emotion we were stimulating in ourselves. In fact the emotional suffering of the character was more intense when we stimulated the joyful emotion in the singer. This may not be believable until you try it out. But each singer felt it for themselves and the listeners heard it. So in other words, we used the joyful surprise to wake up the emotional personality in the singer, and let the mood of the music and words to depict the emotion of the character.

Lamperti said that as a singer we need to have a cool head and a warm heart. This statement seems to be intended to keep the singer from becoming overly emotional in their performance. The voice is a delicate instrument and can’t withstand too much emotional eruption. It is in this manner that our emotional technique works for us in another way. It acts as a safety net, ensuring that we don’t go overboard and do “too much” of anything. In the process of learning the physical technique of playing our instrument, a common pitfall for the student is doing too much. Too much support, too much approximation of the vocal folds, too much breath, too much tone, too much low larynx, too much “in the mask”, etc. If we use our uplifting, buoyant emotional preparation we reduce the possibility of doing “too much” of anything and finding that elusive balance that we continually seek.

I want to close with another quote of G.B. Lamperti.
“Your art is the fulfillment of your elemental desire to sing. Your growth is stimulated by what you hear and understand. If you faithfully do your daily practice, without anxiety about the result, you will find yourself competent in the end. You must stop at no stage of progress, anchor to no habit, be satisfied with no result, exult in no success. All the details of singing are finally marshaled under one commander, emotion, the original source of song.”

Weekly Wisdom

“The famous Italian master, Lamperti, made a most interesting observation. He said, “Don’t sing until you’d die if you didn’t.” The development of this desire to sing for the sheer joy of singing is the primal motivating factor and should be encouraged by teacher and student alike. The control of the voice consists in the release of the voice. The development of the voice as an instrument depends upon our willingness to call to our aid the spiritual and emotional stimuli of inspiration, joy, enthusiasm, and love. This mental and spiritual attitude is the wellspring from which all good singing stems.

- Allan Lindquest

How to Sing by David Björling

This publication was written by the great tenor Jussi Björling’s father, who taught Jussi and his brothers when they were children. Much of the pamphlet addresses the care and upbringing of children, which I have omitted. The rest is included verbatim. David Björling received his training at the Metropolitan Opera School in New York and at the Conservatory of Vienna, coming in contact with the world’s foremost song artists and specialists for the voice, which was a valuable guidance for his vocal studies. The unusual vocal endowment of his children should be considered when judging his assertions.

Care of the Voice Organs

Its importance for the Health and Well-being of Man

There are lots of books published about the vocal organs and tone production, upon which certain daring individuals coin money and mislead many young, struggling good talents who can not afford to acquire instruction from a good teacher. Do not depend upon such a book, if you do not know for a certainty that the author is or has been a good singer or vocal instructor.

A vocal instructor has not proved his ability as a vocal teacher, if one pupil out of ten makes progress, while nine show no marked improvement. In such a case the credit must be given to the pupil and not to the teacher. In such cases it is the pupil that is adapted to the teacher and not as it should be that the teacher is adapted to the pupil.

If people only knew what a great importance the respiratory organs have for health and comfort. The cavity of the mouth and nose are of great importance. Breathing through the nose filters the air that is inhaled by the lungs. Stoppage of the nose causes poor hearing and in many cases reduced power of vision. Gargle your throat and mouth cavity every morning with salt and lukewarm water; an even teaspoon of salt in a glass of water. Keep to this as strictly as to the toothbrush.

Breath Control

Breath control is the first and most important thing in singing. Without good breath control nobody can sing well, no more than a violinist can play well with poor bowing.

In inhaling air, raise the chest and imagine that you extend it on all sides in order to give the lungs plenty of room to receive the air that is used in producing the tone. Contract the lower part of the stomach [abdomen] when inhaling the air and the diaphragm [solar plexus] will swell. In exhaling air, the action is reversed. Never allow the chest to sink in when exhaling or when singing. Train yourself to keep the chest high and the back straight.

Placing of the Tone

Open the mouth as in laughing. It is not enough to open the mouth, but the cavity of the throat as well, in order to produce a rich and beautiful tone. The daily exercises should be short, simple scales, so that each tone will be placed right. Never strive for a high or a low note that you cannot produce with ease; it will come in time by itself, while as for the tones that you can produce, practice them and make them as round and beautiful as possible and with plain enunciation of the text.
In singing scales, never draw in the tip of the tongue but let the tongue rest at ease and flat in the mouth. If you sing scales with a stiff tongue, you will never be able to pronounce the text distinctly in singing songs. Children [and beginners] must not sing pianissimo because that contracts the throat and affects the voice. Nor must they sing too loud so that it sounds like screaming, but let them produce a rich and powerful tone with open throat cavity and chest high and deep breathing, and you will soon obtain results. If you feel tired and sore in the small of the back, you should not let that trouble you, for it only shows that you are breathing in the correct manner, and the soreness will gradually disappear.
There is a great difference between singing and practicing upon an instrument. In instrumental music you have the assistance of your eyes and fingers, while in singing you have the aid of the ear alone, and that is why so many mistakes are made. Although your throat feels the same all the time, yet great changes are taking place there in producing various tones and in text enunciation. There is a cure for it, and that is deep breathing. Press the air down on the diaphragm and the pit of the stomach as much as you can, then sing the tone with the throat open, keeping the diaphragm rigid [firm] all the time, and you will soon note great progress. Through deep breathing you can sing with throat open which otherwise is impossible. By opening the throat you also open the canals of the nasal cavities, and the tone places itself-or the resonance in head and nasal cavities-and thereby becomes soft and beautiful. A tone taken with a contracted throat also turns out a contracted nasal tone, which is disagreeable to listen to. But an open and free tone, instead of sounding nasal, becomes true and beautiful-and it becomes easy to the singer and enjoyable to the listener.

Fundamentals of Singing

The Fundamentals of Singing –
The Causes of the Effects We Seek

By
Michael J. Mayer

As I observe the current state of singing, I notice that there is a lack of agreement among voice teachers regarding cause and effect in singing. Much of teaching is concerned with effects, the result of our singing, and not with the actions that cause those effects. For instance, it is almost a sin to speak of the larynx or the vocal cords. Granted, the Italian School said, “l’italiano non ha gola”. (The Italian singer has no throat) But this did not mean they ignored it. They had no throat because of the proper freedom of the throat and vocal cords. And they still made sure that the throat was functioning properly. Another example is the concept of placement. It is correct to feel sensations of sympathetic vibrations on the lips and in the nose and “mask” as a result of intense vibration and free and open head resonators. But these sensations do not originate in these places, they are illusions, albeit important, that tell us the voice is functioning correctly. The concept of placement originally referred to the placing of the larynx upon the breath and had more to do with the attack than resonance. It did not refer to some act of directing the tone into the face by “placing” it there. These are just two examples of misunderstood vocal concepts. I intend to examine as many as possible in this series of articles. The bottom-line is, a technique based on effects will end up causing more and more muscular interference forcing the vocal instrument to work harder than it is designed to, which then becomes unusable sooner than necessary.

The Italian Master Giovanni Battista Lamperti is quoted as saying that he never wrote a method because, “all that a singer need know could be written on the palm of my hand. Fundamentals are three: control of powerful breath energy, trueness and ease of all tones, and distinct, correct diction – after which a pupil unfolds according to his talent, his temperament, and his intelligence.” In other words, respiration, phonation, resonation/pronunciation. Natural functions that need to be skillfully economized and coordinated to create the result of singing. Compare this with the often heard statement, “there are as many methods as teachers,” and we can see the potential for confusion.

In the following articles I will discuss each of the fundamentals of singing that need to be mastered and coordinated to fulfill our potential as singing artists. I consider this process to be very much the same one an athlete goes through to become an elite player in their sport. Larry Bird, a legend in the basketball world, was known as not the most athletically gifted player, but is considered by many to be one of the best players ever. He would spend hours every day practicing dribbling and shooting and passing the basketball. Even after he had made it to the professional level he was still arriving at the gym an hour before the other players to dribble around the court and shoot extra shots to keep his fundamental skills sharp. Compare this to vocal students who, after one semester of voice lessons once a week, complain of not singing challenging enough repertoire when they can’t even sing a simple scale with even tone and a consistent vowel quality.

A big difference I see between singing and sports is in athletics there is very little disagreement over what the fundamentals of a particular sport are. Somewhere along the line there developed confusion over what constituted the fundamental principles of singing.

The reason I feel this is a serious issue is because every day I hear singers lacking a basic understanding of their instrument and how it functions. I have met teachers that do research into the formants of the voice and have equipment to look at the vocal folds, and yet cannot speak with a pleasant tonal quality or demonstrate a balanced sung tone. This is because scientific research has been valuable in evaluating RESULTS, but it has not been able to tell us the causal factors in the singing instrument when these results show up on the electronic equipment. For this reason, and because scientists often disagree, there has been confusion among teachers and students of singing. The fact is there are more people studying and teaching singing than ever before, and as a result there has been a dilution of vocal knowledge.

The people who really lose in the current situation are the students. The singers of today are not getting the opportunity to be as good as they could if they had a better understanding of their instrument. And it is not the fault of the singer, at least not intentionally. They hire a teacher to instruct them in the art of singing and naturally don’t know if they are getting everything they could be. Knowing no other possibilities they assume they are receiving good instruction. The result being a graduate of a University/Conservatory with an unsatisfactory technique to withstand the rigors of a singing career. To a certain extant we cannot blame the voice teachers either. They were students in the same situation at one time. So we can’t blame anyone in particular, nor should we. But we do need to acknowledge that things are slipping and take steps to remedy the situation. If we fail in this, then we are the generation of teachers to blame.

I don’t mean to sound too harsh, but I am speaking from my own experience as well as of people I know. Alan Lindquest once said that it was almost impossible to really learn how to sing in a University setting because of the lack of sufficient time to carefully build a good technique and repertoire. I would have to agree with him. I didn’t learn how to really sing until after I completed my Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance. The same holds true for just about everyone I know. I hope there are exceptions to this, and these students should consider themselves fortunate, because many people I know came out of school with more problems vocally than when they started. They have just applied layer after layer of tension upon the voice trying to make it sound a particular way. It is for this reason I feel it is imperative that more teachers of singing become well versed in the fundamental principles of singing.

Good singing, from the singer’s standpoint, is an act of correctly functioning neuro-muscularly coordinated athletic activity. So, as is required in any athletic activity, singers must train for and achieve “good form” through the “feel” of it. As Lamperti said, we should feel ourselves sing not listen to ourselves sing. Unfortunately, this is an uncommon idea. Most teaching is so focused on making a particular type of “sound”, the singer can’t help but be completely occupied with listening. This is a difficult skill, but since we can’t hear ourselves as others do we shouldn’t pay attention to what we hear. The reason being we are then tempted to improve the sound by “placing it” – “brightening it” – “covering it”, thus setting up interfering laryngeal, pharyngeal, or tongue tensions. Once the vocal folds have produced the primary vibrations there is no use to our attempts to change the tone. We are much better served if we keep our focus on the feel of the proper sensations of posture, which releases the involuntary nervous system for free muscular functioning. This then allows reflex breath action, proper involuntary resistant action of the vocal folds, producing free vibrations amplified in the resonators of the pharynx, mouth, and most importantly the head.

We can say that singing is basically a gentle athletic activity combined with an emotional state, an uplifted and inspired feeling stemming from our urge to express. Just as in athletics, good singing requires good form. Successful athletes do their best when they combine correct form of body use with a feeling of confidence and enjoyment of competition. So just as a good golfer, tennis player, runner, or basketball player learns good form through the “feel” of it – so should a singer learn to recognize different sensations of tension and release of tensions in the different parts of the body, particularly in the posture and breathing mechanisms. The singer should also learn the feel of correct attack of tone and the sensation of head, pharynx, mouth and chest resonance. All of this tied together with an attitude of repose and confidence instead of anxiety and fear which cause interfering tensions and malfunctioning of the instrument. This attitude should be strengthened with actual emotional exercises stimulating the imagination into states of the wonder of a beautiful sunset, or the awe of the Grand Canyon, or the joy of surprise in unexpectedly meeting an old friend. The importance of this exercising will be found in feeling the proper actions of the body becoming easier and more automatic. This results from the influence our emotional state has on our nervous system and its functioning.

I believe that the involuntary nervous system’s role in the singing process is generally overlooked in modern pedagogy. With the advancement of voice science, we are learning more about the intricacies of the vocal mechanism. Unfortunately that knowledge is causing us to forget about the instinctive and emotional stimuli that set the voice in motion. A technique that includes thinking the vowel and pitch clearly, combined with an uplifted and joyful emotional state should not be dismissed because of its simplicity. When combined with a clear understanding of the proper physiological functioning, the effect of this technique provides exactly the results that are lacking in today’s singers. This is what the Old Italian School of singing was based on, a combination of the mind, body and emotions. Intentional stimulation of the emotional personality would elicit ideal physical responses in the act of singing. At first hearing this seems like an extremely old fashioned idea. But after experiencing the results it cannot be ignored. For example, the old adage of “smelling a rose” was intended to stimulate the emotional personality into a state of pleasure, with the corresponding physical characteristics of a not-too-full inhalation, lifted cheeks and pleasant expression opening the facial resonators, comfortably high and buoyant chest, and an open pharyngeal chamber, including a stretched soft palate and slightly lowered larynx. All of these physical characteristics being positive ones in the singing act. This allows the singer to be well prepared to start the phrase cleanly and easily while holding in the mind a very clear concept of the vowel and pitch to be sung.

Mr. Lindquest stated these concepts as an Axiom for Vocal Pedagogy that I would like to conclude with.

AXIOM

BASED UPON A PSYCHO-PHYSICAL MENTAL STATE OF CALMNESS, REPOSE, PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE, AND MOTIVATED BY THE URGE TO SING, THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CORPORAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WHICH MUST BE TRAINED INTO CORRECT FORM AND FUNCTIONING GUIDED BY SENSORY AWARENESS OF:
The feeling of correct posture.
The feeling of correct breathing reflexes.
The feeling of repose in the swallowing complex.
The feeling of the opened resonators.
The feeling of correct action of the pronouncing mechanism.


Any teacher or singer should find this simple, yet informed view very enlightening. I hope it stimulates as much thought in the reader as it has in me.

Mental vs. Physical

Mike wrote: . . . my impression was that the problem was not basically physical but mental.
*****
I understood that and I think you're right Mike. I call it "high anxiety". ;-) I find that I have to distract my attention by "doing something" in order to avoid inhibiting ideation that creeps into my head. Simply put, if thinking is the problem, don't think so much.
But pain is not the best solution in my opinion because it is itself and unproductive distraction. I believe a better strategy is to replace the behavior with a more productive one. I'm thinking Pavlov here (no insult intended). We should develop a conditioned response by transferring anxious obsession to invoking release. Transference.
Warmest regards,
Les


Often the issue with a vocal problem is mentally based. I am not going to speculate if that is the issue with this person. But we need to recognize that even a mentally based problem still translates into a physical inability to produce a higher pitch comfortably. The voice is a physical apparatus. That being said, the voice is a physical instrument that has a direct link to our mental capacity through the nervous system. So there is a definite link between how we think of doing something and how it gets done. Also, this link is a two-way street. So not only will how we think influence the doing of the action, as in a mental block interfering with the production of a high note. But if our body senses that it will not be able to produce the note because the physical coordination is not balanced and skilled enough then it will communicate that to the brain. So which came first, the chicken or the egg? I don't know, but I know we need to take into consideration both sides of the issue if we want to solve the problem. If we just try to change the mental state without educating the body of the correct coordination we will never completely eradicate the anxiety of difficult high notes. And vice-versa. This is the basis of what Allan Lindquest called Security in Singing. The training of the total response of the body, mind and emotions in the singing act so they all participated to ensure our whole being is on the same page and working toward the same goal. He learned this in Sweden from teachers that worked with Garcia and Lamperti. So it is really the basis for much of the old Italian schools. I have read a quote of Lamperti's that I use often that good singing is like thinking out loud. I think it is this relationship that he is talking about.

Phonation

Michael,

Thank you for your very interesting comments about phonation. I've never heard it discussed before. I studied voice for four years in my twenties, but neither of my teachers mentioned it. They concentrated on breath. Your judgment about Jussi's singing is exactly right. His singing is so easy. I'd always thought it was a product of having tremendous breath support and holding the tone in place. I saw a late 1990s Richard Tucker gala on DVD last night. Ruth Ann Swenson and Richard Leech sang the second Manon duet. You could see Leech struggling to place his high notes. He got them, but only through great effort. Jussi never did that.


You are part of the great majority of singers who were only taught about the breath and not educated on the way our brain controls the larynx through the nervous system. You mention Leech, he struggled because he wasn’t mentally stimulating his larynx to activate. When you do that the muscles around and in the larynx flex to stabilize the larynx and the vocal cords have enough strength to resist the balanced breath pressure to produce a complete vibration. Then the cords are flexible to tune the pitch accurately without effort. This is what gives the impression of complete security, especially in the high voice. In a way it is holding the tone in place. But you think the tone at the larynx so it stays stable and doesn’t leak unvocalized breath. This is where breath control is important, not letting the breath through as breath but only in the puffs of vibration. Many people believe the flow of breath keeps the tone afloat like it is a cloud on the wind. This kind of function will break down the voice and make it wobble.

Q&A

I used to sing when I was younger (18 and under) and always thought I would pursue music. However after getting married I left it all behind.

I had always been told that I have a very pleasant and soothing voice over the years. I missed music but lost interest in it because I couldn't make enough time for, not to mention trying to keep a bunch of other musicians together. (I am 50 now) Several months ago I realized Karaoke and I feel like a kid again... I am in love with singing and I find that I can sing many many songs very well. I am always told that I have a beautiful voice.. but I (like many) wish I could reach some higher notes. I am using my falsetto voice but I am not always happy with it sound's like. For instance I do The Lion Sleeps Tonight very well with my falsetto voice. I really want to be sure I am using my voice to it's fullest potential and maybe pursue more before I lose it as I age. Is it wise to attempt to find a teacher somewhere? Thanks for any advice...


In general finding a teacher is the first step in the process of improving your voice. Unfortunately not all teachers are created equal. Most can help to some degree, some more and some less. Others can be actually damaging to the voice and the singer ends up worse off than they started. The main thing I would say is trust your instincts. Listen to what a teacher says and try it out. It should make sense and they should be able to explain why. Singing is based on very natural functions and should feel like it makes sense when you do it. I also would say don't be afraid of the falsetto. It is actually the beginning of your true voice. That may not make sense to you right now based on your experience, but as you exercise it more it becomes the foundation for our complete voice. It is the youthful voice that we should base our singing on. But that takes quite a bit of exploration to understand.

Q&A

Ok... I am an 18 year old professional stage actor who usually works in musicals. I am a great singer, but for some reason, my voice pretty much can only do a high song once a show. I can push it out once and the my throat will no longer hit the notes,making a warm up almost fatal. As well, i got hurt awhile back (an injury to my larenx) and since then my throat is constantly filled with mucus... whats the best way to work around this, or whats the best thing to drink right before singing to take care of it? thanks!

From what you are telling me it sounds like you are not using your voice well. A warm-up should get you in tune with your body and voice so that it functions easier, not wear it out before the show. Another thing is the song may not be right for your voice causing you to force the voice in order to "hit the notes". When you say "I can push it out once and then my throat will no longer hit the notes" it tells me what is wrong. The sound doesn't need to be pushed out. If you do that you force the breath out overloading the larynx. The larynx needs to balance with the breath so it vibrates with regularity which maximizes resonance. Using the voice any other way is abusive to it to some degree. Unfortunately there is no way to work around it, and no drink is going to help with the real problem. What you need to do is get trained in the proper manner of using your voice before you develop a serious problem like vocal damage.

Q&A

Hi,
I am 19 and I have been taking singing lessons for two years from 16 to 18 and then, sadly, had to stop. I have a range of three octaves and a bit going from Db below middle C to around top E. I can sing with a powerful tone and vibrato through most of my soprano range. I sing for a few hours a day and my voice does not tire or feel uncomfortable, so I suppose I am doing at least a bit right. Every now and then, I try doing some vocal exercises at completely odd moments. Specifically half an hour after waking up, after a hot cup of coffee and without warming up. I just do scales upwards without straining, which does mean that my middle range from around A above middle C to A an octave higher is nearly non-existent, but from there things start to get interesting. I can go up for another octave, which means that I can go a fourth above what I usually reach. I paid attention to the relaxing of throat and jaw and to the breathing and even watched myself in the mirror - there is no strain or anything, it doesn't hurt, the notes are not breathy and sound really like pure
head voice. Like I said, I don't strain my voice, so I'll stop after maybe 10 minutes.
If, however, I do the same exercises maybe 30 minutes later (or any other time of that day, really) I won't be able to sing above E, or sometimes F. Can you tell me why and what I could do to keep those high notes? I don't sing arias like the Queen of the Night, but I know that in the mornings I have those notes, and later I don't and I'd really like to know what I can do about it since I KNOW I have them, I just don't know HOW and it's driving me crazy!

Thanks


The first thing to establish would be if you are producing those notes in a healthy way. Since I haven't heard you I can't say, but assuming they are then we would look to the fact that the voice, like the rest of the body, goes through minor changes during the day. Also as we talk more the voice gets tuned to that which lowers the basic pitch level. It is impossible for me to say with any certainty. I would say don't get too attached to the extreme high notes. If they are coming because of excess air pressure it could cause some problems in the long run. On the other hand, if you are able to sing the extreme high range because your vocal folds are very flexible at that point in the day then you should look at your speaking habits to assess whether that is causing your voice to get heavier during the day. Perhaps you could train yourself to retain the thin adjustment of the vocal folds that allows you to sing that high so that you still have it throughout the day.

I am a 23 yr old male singer, and I have found that over the past few years I have gradually lost the ability to sing in falsetto. I started having singing lessons when I was 18, and it was decided that my voice was in the baritone-tenor range. Even though singing lessons improved my natural singing voice and improved my range, I found now that I have no access to my falsetto, that was quite high and very reliable before I started having singing lessons. It went from good, to bleats and squawks, to now when I'm not able to sing in falsetto at all... I have not been singing in several years, and doubt that I have damaged my voice - I have always been careful and never really done anything that could cause lasting damage. Are there any suggestions you could give me that would help me regain this part of my voice?

It is impossible for me to give you any conclusive response without hearing an example of your current vocal condition. As our voice develops through training it can change the way it functions so that how you were accustomed to producing your falsetto doesn't work anymore and you have to adjust to your current condition. But it should still be there. Sometimes we can wear out the falsetto through the way we are training our full voice. If the voice is healthy you should be able to sing all of the pitches of your range in a quiet dynamic. If you have to crescendo as you rise in pitch there is an imbalance in the voice that is causing your falsetto to disappear. A good exercise for balancing the voice is to sing through your whole range quietly, from high to low. Start up around high B on an easy "oo" like an owl and descend. Try to minimize the "h" sound because that will blow through the cords too much with this light adjustment. Make sure your throat stays relaxed open. If it is squeezing closed at all it will make the light falsetto impossible.

Q&A

I am a female chorus teacher and have a difficult time explaining to my
male students how to sing falsetto. What is the best way to "explain" to
them how to sing in falsetto? Thanks


Understanding and explaining the opposite voice is a common challenge
among teachers. What I always try to assure people is that they are not
really different. They may differ in terms of degree, but the basic
configuration is the same. Falsetto is just the male head voice like
what is predominant in the female. Likewise females have some kind of
chest voice which is the dominant adjustment in the male. So taking your
own voice as an example you can demonstrate the change from your low
voice into your lighter voice that you sing with. I find demonstrating
to be the most successful option. Some respond immediately and others
may need to experiment more. One thing I would try is ask them to
imitate a woman or the hoot of an owl. Like most aspects of the voice,
what makes it challenging is that it responds automatically to our
thoughts and desires of what we want to do rather than our thoughts of
how to do it. In other words we have to figure out how to deliberately
influence involuntary muscle groups.

Q&A

Hello,

I am an aspiring singer and I was wondering about the vibrato.

I know that you must have the proper training in order to develop it, but I was wondering why small children have it and I don't?

For instance, The Jackson Five's lead singer, Michael Jackson had a vibrato, so is this a natural vibrato and does that make it possible to develop a vibrato at age 16?

I also heard that "faking" a vibrato will help you develop it as well.

Also, when I use my diaphragm it feels uncomfortable when I sing and I feel better breathing with my chest and my diaphragm somewhat.

Sometimes when I sing my vibrato comes out sometimes, but it is too quick and it stops shortly after it is released. I can't keep it going and I have good breath behind it, but I'm not sure it IS the vibrato. It just feels like somethings going up and down in my throat and it won't continue until I start a new note.

I hope you can answer my question because I've been to many sites, and when someone asks about vibrato, they always recommend a teacher instead of ACTUALLY saying what the vibrato feels and should sound like.

Thank you.


Your questions about the vibrato are quite common, especially among younger singers. First I would say that the proper vibrato is completely natural. You should not try to make it. I always describe it as a symptom. It tells a listener what the condition of your voice is. And just as a good doctor treats the cause and not the symptom, we should not worry too much about the vibrato and set our attention on learning the proper functioning of our voice. When that happens and conditions are right the vibrato starts to appear. The actual physics of the vibrato are very complex and not fully understood even by the scientists studying it. But we can say that it comes from the complexity of the vibrating of the vocal folds. Not from moving the jaw or the throat, or from pulsing the air pressure with the diaphragm.

Some people don't have a vibrato because they sing with a slight squeeze in the throat and this impairs the flexibility necessary for the vibrato to exist. So that would be something to check to see if you are doing. Another possible interference is if you are pushing a lot of breath through or against the larynx. This excess air pressure causes the vocal folds to not vibrate freely so they don't recoil, which is a key element in the vibrato. Both of these can be caused by trying too hard. The reason some people have success by faking a vibrato is because it loosens the grip of the throat muscles and can reduce the amount of air pressure allowing some natural variation in the vibration.

As far as breathing, try to to breath slow and complete. Don't just use your abdomen or only your chest. Feel like you breath a little over a large area and not a lot in a small area. Again the vibrato should feel natural, like it happens on its own. Some descriptions would be shimmer, spin, small quiver, vibrancy. Sometimes we mistake the bobbing of our larynx for a vibrato. That is just an unstable larynx. Always strive for a flexible, steady tone production and the proper vibrato will eventually show up.

Allan Lindquest's Axiom for Vocal Pedagogy

BASED UPON A PSYCHO-PHYSICAL MENTAL STATE OF CALMNESS, REPOSE, PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE, AND MOTIVATED BY THE URGE TO SING, THE TRAINING OF THE VOICE IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CORPORAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WHICH MUST BE TRAINED INTO CORRECT FORM AND FUNCTIONING GUIDED BY SENSORY AWARENESS OF:

1. The feeling of correct posture.

2. The feeling of correct breathing reflexes.

3. The feeling of repose in the swallowing complex.

4. The feeling of the opened resonators.

5. The feeling of correct action of the pronouncing mechanism.

Q&A

Dear Michael,

I believe that you are providing an excellent service to singers.

A choral director at my church is struggling with something she calls "scooping" and as one of her singers I'd like an explanation of what she means. Is there a more explicit term she could use? And how might she try to help the choir members with correcting the problem?

I'd appreciate hearing from you.


Thank you for your question. I find coming up with an answer challenging. Scooping refers to sliding up to the intended pitch, usually at the start of the phrase. In cultivated singing that is considered sloppy and inartistic. The desired manner of approaching a note is directly into the center of the pitch. This requires a clear mental image of the intended pitch and the vocal coordination to articulate that pitch. Articulation is usually thought of relating to pronunciation of consonants but we also need to pronounce the pitch, which is part of the sung vowel. Perhaps a demonstration would clear it up. Ask her to demonstrate what she means. It should be very clear then.

Q&A

Dear Mr. Mayer,

I am a Vocal Performance Major, I've had a couple of teachers recently and each are different the first taught a mixture of techniques some from Lindquist and the second teacher basically focuses on no tension at all in the face , jaw, body etc. Well, now I feel like I sing with more tension the wrong posture and my support seems like belly support (not diaphragm ). What is worse is that each one has switched my Fach so now I don't know which is correct. The only thing that has helped me is that I bought David Jones CD and I go to his website and yours and read the articles. But I don't really know how to apply the techniques and if I'm doing them correctly.


I am sorry to hear of your confusing paths. Unfortunately that is too common among developing singers these days. I was just working with students this week on the problem of a lack of good tension causing unwanted tension. If you set up the body correctly there will be flexible tension appropriate for good singing. Then, when the body and voice is functioning correctly, it will tell you what your voice type is. The fach comes later after you have developed. The issue of support is another misunderstood concept that I was just discussing with students. Support happens from doing the correct coordination with the body, it is not something you try to do as in "support the tone". If your posture is correct and you use your vocal mechanism in a balanced manner the voice will be supported.

Q&A

I've always wondered - would you be known as a voice -teacher- or a
voice -coach-? Or vocal coach, vocal teacher? What would the proper
"title," from your perspective.

Yours is a common question. The answer is
it depends on what "world" you are in. If you are in the classical world
what I do would be called a voice teacher. In the pop and musical
theater world someone who works vocal technique is a voice coach. In the
classical world a vocal coach is a pianist who works on musical issues
with a singer. So I usually refer to myself as a voice trainer, like a
personal trainer at the gym. I show people how to make their voice work
better through exercising it a particular way. That is a more
specialized skill, and is less common.