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84 TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE |
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voluntary or conscious control of breathing until habits are established. Thus breathing control would eventually become automatic. [525, p. 8; Barbareux-Parry 34, p. 124 and Jacques 299, p. 11] Breath control is the foundation of interpretative singing, according to Greene. [209, p. 6] It is the motive power and support of voice and must therefore be under direct control at all times. [New York Singing Teachers Association 421, p. 29] It is "indispensable to the good singer." ptimmer 470] Breath control, open throat and a relaxed tongue mark the master singer. [Shakespeare 517, p. 19] Others who support this opinion are Cimini [98, p. 12], Hinman [273, p. 4], Haywood [237, I: 4], and Weilich [663].
"The breath must be consciously focused/* says James, without further comment. How this is brought about is not disclosed.[300, p. 20] Waters describes breath control as "lifting the lower floating ribs and expanding the waist line. . . . Then pull in the waist line and let the breath serve the tone." [646] "Control of breath rather than quantity of breath is of most worth to the singer/* according to Clark. [102] Garcia, famous singing master, when over 90 years of age, still held fast to the principle of breath control as a primary requisite of singing. [Wodell 678] The remaining affirmative opinions on this subject are summed up in the words of Storey and Barnard: "Ordinary breathing is an automatic business. But singing requires extra breath and therefore extra breathing control." [590, p. 17; Samoiloff 484, p. 7; Van Orden, Jr. 624; Armstrong 23] Therefore, we must learn deep breathing "in order to sustain tones." [Warren 637] This concept of breath support is common among those who favor voluntary breathing control.
The negative opinions, fewer in number, are firmly opposed to the conscious regulation of the breathing organs during the act of singing. "Never consciously control the breath/' says Wharton, "but rather control the tone." [655, p. 21] Correct breathing is invariably a product of correct tone production and should never be dissociated from the coordinated vocal act. [Wiicox 669, p. 6; Shaw 538] De Bruyn likewise believes that "conscious physiological breathing, initiated arbitrarily in the region of the diaphragm, is taking to be a cause what actually is a resultant of forces more remote/* [131] Clark favors a psychological approach to the control of breathing. "It is attained through the mentality/* not by conscious manipulation of physical parts. [100] "Few people can twitch either diaphragm or vocal cords for they are relatively insensitive and semi-automatic muscles/* [Hemery 238, p. 13] And finally, Austin-Ball reports that the old Italian school of singing never employed mechanical breathing as a method. [31, p. 60] These representative opinions cover the case against voluntary breathing. |
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