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CONCEPTS OF EAR TRAINING |
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Stevens and Miles observe that "there are hardly any sensory nerve endings in the vocal cords and muscles of the larynx." It is their belief that this largely accounts for the absence of voluntary phonatory controls in singing and also for the complete dependency of vocal pitch and dynamic modulations upon the sense of hearing. [583] One more physiological fact is worth noting. Ortmann reports that there is "a predominance of energy" in the tonal spectrum of a well trained singing voice, at a point which he describes as "2900 frequency." That this frequency band is always prominent, "regardless of the pitch of the fundamental is significant because this frequency corresponds to the natural resonance period" of the human ear canal. [457]
There is never any doubt among vocal musicians that the normal ear of the average singer is readily amenable to training. As Glenn Haydon explains it, the physiological limits of pitch discrimination may not change during a lifetime, but cognition always improves with training and experience. Hence, the cognitive limits of hearing can be changed by training. [710, p. 71] Mursell and Glenn hold that the ability to hear music (voice), like the ability to hear language, can be developed by ear training [Op. cit., p. 142], and NovelloDavies declares that in forty years experience "I have yet to find anyone whose sense of pitch cannot be cultivated." [430, p. 25]
FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF EAR TRAINING
Twenty-three authors support the belief that training the singing voice is largely a process of cultivating hearing acuity. That "voice training is largely aesthetic ear training," is a typical viewpoint. It is also a matter of improving musical taste. [Clippinger 104, p. $; 108] Curry claims that auditory perceptions formed by the ear are a "major control" on the singer's voice quality [124, p. 115] and Gescheidt holds that ear training is a necessary concomitant of all vocal training procedures. [200, p. 27] Drew argues that some form of ear training should always precede vocal exercises. This latter opinion is based upon the assumption that perfect phonation is an instinctive action, inhering in each individual at birth and therefore not subject to voluntary control or direct training. Therefore, voice training is fundamentally ear training. [147; 148, p. 157] Other concepts in this category are summed up in, the following representative opinions:
1. The important thing in voice training is how the tone sounds. [Skiles 551] |
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