| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
|
||
|
1 |
||
|
i5o TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE
a half. [452] White holds the opinion that the length of the vocal cords does not determine the average range of the singing voice because, as lie explains it, "there are very few children indeed who could sing as high as an ordinary soprano." [657, p. 32] On the other hand, Jersild and Bien-stock find, experimentally, that individual children, as early as the age of four years, may be able to produce as many tones as the average adult, although with less flexibility or musical skill. [303]
THEORY OF VOCAL REGISTERS
Of the 70 statements on the theory of registers found in articles arid texts on singing, 32 are general descriptions, 34 discuss the number of registers in the singing voice and 4 present the pros and cons of falsetto tone production. Author opinion is divided on these topics; some concepts are general, others are more explicit as to details of registration and pitch control
General descriptions. Grove's Dictionary defines the term registers as: "the dassification of parts of the vocal range according to method of production, as *head register/ 'chest register.*" [708, vol. IV, p. 350] This concept is darified somewhat in Webster's more detailed description as follows: A register is the "series of tones of like quality within the compass of a voice which are produced by a particular adjustment of the vocal cords. In singing up the scale the register changes at the point where the singer readjusts the vocal cords to reach the higher notes. All below this point is in the chest or thick register, all above it in the head or thin register. The two registers generally overlap, some notes about the middle of the vocal range being produdble in either." Webster also refers to quality as a criterion for determining the registers and states the objection that divisions of register based on pitch determinations alone are unsatisfactory since the same notes often can be sung equally well in either of two adjacent registers. According to Curry, the term register "is used loosely in singing to describe firstly, certain ranges of sung tones, or secondly, different audible qualities of a singer's voice/' [124, p. 5]
Are registers natural? De Bruyn quotes Lilli Lehmann's authority for the following statement: "Do registers exist by nature? No. It may be said that they are created throughout long years of speaking in the vocal range that is easiest to the person, . . . which means that the notes below and above the habitual speaking voice zone comprise two other registers/* [129] In this opinion he is upheld by Armstrong. [24] Aikin is also convinced that "the so-called registers cannot be accepted as natural." "That they are often acquired is beyond doubt," he says, "but it is astonishing- |
||