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CONCEPTS OF DYNAMICS m
to keep the voice at a natural level instead. [591, p. 2; also Henley 262] If pleasant soft tones are cultivated, power will follow when it is needed, says Howe. [284, Introduction] Quality strengthens the voice more than volume. [Skiles 561] Father Finn's suggestion is also typical: Always-establish a good pianissimo as a working basis when eliminating habits of faulty production. [181, p. 18; also Marchesi 369, p. 7; HaU and Brown 227, p. si; and Diwer 138, p. 40] Shakespeare sums up the case for soft practicing in a maxim that he quotes from an old publication by Hiller, written in 1774. "Never force the voice so as to excite astonishment; never louder than lovely/* [517, p. 81] Borchers reports the only experiment in this area of vocal dynamics. In his summary he says that there is "without exception** a greater percentage of energy in the fundamental of tones sung with less intensity than in those sung at greater intensity levels. [57]
Swelling and diminishing. A favorite vocal training device employed by the Italian singing masters of the Golden Age was called messa di voce. It consisted of the gradual swelling of a tone from pianissimo to its maximum power, and then slowly diminishing it again to its starting point. [Grove's Dictionary of Music 708, vol. HI, p. 443] According to Orton, the old Italian masters were not all agreed on the importance of swelling and diminishing techniques as a part of basic voice culture. [439, p. 120] Henderson reports that messa di voce was practiced by singers as far back as the year 1638. [243, p. 81] This principle is explained by Crescentini (ca. 1797) as follows: The singer cannot attain mastery of his breath until lie can control it steadily through a thousand degrees of gradually swelling and diminishing tone from softest piano to loudest forte and back again without the slightest variations of pitch, quality or technique. [Henley 264] Henderson suggests that the trumpet call in the opening notes of Wagner's Rienzi Overture is a good model to follow for the messa di voce. The pupil should study this effect. [243, p. 85] Dodds and Lickley declare that messa di voce is the best general vocal exercise. It should be practiced on a single note at a time, in the middle register of the voice and throughout a comfortable dynamic range. The duration of this exercise should be increased gradually. [139, p. 48] Lloyd holds the belief that "you do not own any note in your voice" until this exercise has been mastered [351, p. 28], while Lawrence Tibbett calls it an "acid test for the voice. ... A singer who cannot do this cannot be said to have control of his voice/* [613] White warns against tension during the practice of techniques involving dynamic changes of the voice. "The correct sensation for a crescendo is a feeling of expansion, but never a feeling of pressure/* he says. [659. P- 56] |
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