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„8 TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE |
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OPEN THROAT CONCEPT
The throat is described as the main passageway that connects the month cavity with the stomach and lungs. It contains the pharynx (uppeir throat), upper part of the esophagus, larynx and trachea, as well as the intricate musculatures that control swallowing, coughing and phonatiom. (W) Its many interrelated parts are subtly connected with the delicate laryngeal organ so that the slightest mismanagement of the act of phona-tion can impair the coordination of throat muscles and vice versa.
The most notorious vocal fault is constriction in the throat muscles. The expression open throat (a misnomer) is used to describe the sensation of freedom or passivity in the throat region that is said to accompany good singing. In discussing the role of imagery in voice teaching", Bartholomew has this to say: "If the various tricks of the trade that voice teachers use to improve quality are analyzed, most or all of them will be found to be devices for directly or indirectly enlarging the throat." [38] Fifty-nine statements were gathered in which the open throat concept is discussed. Twenty-two favor direct control of this factor, 17 are opposed to direct control, and 20 suggest yawning as an indirect teaching" device for inducing open throat during phonation.
Direct approach favored, "The art of singing," says Shakespeare, "lies
hi the avoidance of rigidity and the adoption of the open throat." [516] Howe would have all children taught to sing with a "free, open throat, flexible tongue, and loose jaw" .as a method of preventing bad singing later on. [284, Introduction] Austin-Ball believes that "the more open the throat is, the more full-throated, vibrant and generally desirable the tone is likely to be," TMs, he claims was taught by the old Italian masters and has never been disproven by any modem scientific theory. [31, p. 14] Caruso and Ghaliapin also endorsed open throat singing techniques. ptfaraSod 368; and 5]
Ortmann reports, from experimental observations, that enlarging the throat involves a conscious inhibition of some of the natural reflexes, "such as the swallowing reflex/* a condition which is nevertheless essential to good tone production. [437] According to Bartholomew, research in this Held has definitely proven that the accoustical attributes of good vocal quality, such as prominent "low formant," all tend to appear when tbc throat k consciously enlarged. Therefore teaching the open throat concept is good pedagogy. It is certainly more important than teaching "head resonance," since repeated experiments show that "the actual resonating of sound in the head cavities is of very little importance, if any, in the physical production of good quality/' [39] (See also Chapter V.) Waters suggests deep breathing as a device fee relaxing the throat and preventing rigidity [647, p. 7] and Shakespeare advises that the utterance |
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