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CONCEPTS OF VOCAL PEDAGOGY 37 |
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6. "Poise" should be used in place of relaxation. The former suggests strength while the latter suggests weakness. [Clark 100]
7. Singing involves correct physical action, not complete relaxation. Hence instructions to relax completely, which is impossible, are misleading. [Witherspoon 677, p. 16; also 675]
8. "The great vice of singing is looseness, not tightness. ... A fine tone cannot come through a loose voice. . . . Feeling implies tensity." [Scott 501, p. 49 and 126]
9. "Absolute relaxation is impossible. . . . One of the teacher's greatest problems is to develop in the pupil the ability to maintain the correct degree pf muscle tone/' [Stanley 578; also 575]
10. "In singing one must retain a certain degree of muscle tone/' [Felderman 174]
11. Good tone results from the vibration of "surfaces that are tense/' not relaxed. [Louis Graveure 208]
12. "Relaxation is the exclusive privilege of the audience. . . . Let us forget relaxation as far as the singer is concerned." [Robinson 474]
To render the vocal instrument completely responsive to the mind and imagination of the singer, it is first necessary to remove all extraneous and unnatural tensions in the body. "When that is done everything is possible to the singer," says Clippinger. [113] The teacher's responsibilities in freeing the singer's body and the vocal mechanism are clearly indicated since relaxation always favors optimal vocal action. [Rimmer 471] Dan Beddoe makes the assertion that "probably more voices are ruined by strain than through any other cause." [42] Such strains impair phonation, breathing, resonance and posture. "Tenseness to any appreciable degree in the body of the singer is immediately communicated to the vocal muscles." [Thomas 609] Bodily tensions invariably spread Into the diaphragm muscle and prevent its free movement. [Garnetti-Forbes 198, p. 85] Sound vibrations generated in the larynx are dampened by abnormal rigidity of the muscles. "If all strain in singing be removed, the vocal apparatus will be predisposed to correct resonance." [Samuels 487, p. 26] Therefore, "re-laxity ... is the great secret of voice production." [White 658, p. 77]
Although the importance of relaxation in singing is freely acknowledged by authors, specific methods for inducing relaxation are seldom given. General therapies are sometimes ^referred to, but these are not peculiar to singers* needs. The Dictionary of Education lists such techniques as the light manipulation of muscles, alternate tensing and relaxing of muscles, and concentration on peaceful thoughts and images of ideal tones (listening) as methods most often used in general relaxation |
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