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CONCEPTS OF RANGE |
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broken chords: "Mentally visualize the curve and shape of an arpeggio" as you practice it. Arpeggios provide excellent exercises for increasing range in both directions without effort or strain. His opinion on scale study is summed up as follows: The epitome of vocal technique, acquired
only after long, careful study, is to produce a pearly, even scale. [686, vol. II, Introduction]
Blending the registers. Blending registers is the process of fusing or merging two overlapping but dissimilar sections of the vocal range into a continuous whole, so that these two sections shade insensibly into each other with no perceptible line of demarcation between them. (W) Of the 18 opinions gathered on this subject, only one declares that "the blending of registers so as to conceal the change in timbre is physically impossible." [Evetts and Worthington 167, p. 27] The others consider blending not only feasible but highly desirable. "The single [blended] register in a singer's voice is considered the hallmark of efficiency. Where there appears to be more than one, the voice is classed as poor and untrained." [Samuels 487, p. 22] The professional singer must possess a vocal range of two to three octaves, every tone from lowest to highest matching perfectly in color, quality, smoothness and texture, like a perfect string of pearls. [Samoiloff 484, p. 13; Wharton 655, p. 50] There are registers in every musical instrument, but they must not show. Nor must they ever be apparent in singing. [Wood 686, vol. I, p. 12] Therefore, the "marriage of the registers" is an all important work in training the singer's voice. [Curtis -125; Kerstin Thorborg 611]
The method of register blending is not exhaustively treated in any text. Stanley attempts a lengthy explanation, the essence of which is that each register must be trained separately "until the full development [of each] has been attained. . . . The lower register, even of a man, can never be pure until the falsetto, or upper register, has been isolated and developed/* Blending will automatically follow if each register has been separately "purified/' since blending becomes a "natural physiological action" in the voice only when it (voice) has been trained equally throughout its entire range. [578] Henderson writes that the blending of the registers must be effected without any feeling of constriction in the throat. Only practice and keen listening can bring this about. [243, p. 72] Waters suggests that falsetto and chest registers may be bridged by humming through the two at first until this can be done smoothly. If breaks occur, let the voice "flop" where it will until sufficient muscular strength has been built into "the entire vocal instrument" to prevent such sudden changes. [642] Philip's suggestion concludes this discussion: "The only safe method of blending the head voice with the [other] registers is to |
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