Training the Singing Voice - online book

An exploration of the theories, methods & techniques of Voice training.

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	Mm	TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE
	Those who claim that the Italians" considered vowels more important than consonants in singing are "mistaken. [430, pp. 35, 127, 131]
	SUMMARY AND INTERPRETATION THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS There is considerable agreement among vocal authorities on most of the 19 topics treated in this chapter. By simplification and correlation, 254 statements on singer's-diction have been summarized and classified. These classifications appear in condensed form in Table Eight. Theoreti­cal and methodological groupings comprise separate treatments of vowel and consonant factors in singing and a comparison of the characteristics of singing and speaking diction. Hie cultivation of the singer's diction gains preeminence in the vocal training program because of its fundamental importance in the produc­tion of vocal tone and because diction is the basic medium of textual in­terpretation. Song-speech values also have a special pedagogical interest. In song, the vocal factor is always uppermost whereas in speech, the voice may become a subordinate factor. Webster defines singing as a type o£ oral (vocal) expression uttered "with musical inflections or modulations of voice"; and speaking as the utterance of words or articulate sounds *Vith ordinary modulations of the voice, as opposed to singing." Obvi­ously, the distinction is mainly a musical one, although, in the applica­tion of vocal teaching procedures, the singing voice receives specialized preparatory training that distinguishes it from the speaking voice. From the standpoint of communicability, the same law of expression un­doubtedly apples to both the singing and the speaking voice. Neverthe­less there are significant technical differences between the two; differences that are illustrated in the vocalist's modification of his daily speaking habits to suit the requirements of singing- Such differences are further ac­centuated by the intensification and predominance of vowel, vocal and musical factors in the language of song and the acceptabliity of certain aesthetic, poetic and dramatic effects in singing that would be considered artificial and ludicrous mannerisms in the language of speech. The rhythmic regularity of singing and the stricter requirements of un­interrupted phrasing, the wider scope and greater variability of range, dynamics and tempo, aU call for physical development and coordinations of the breathing and vocal oigans that are beyond the requirements of normal conversational discourse. Otto Ortmann, in his Notes on Recent Musk Research [437], reports that "the muscular coordination involved in singing is not present in the usual throat position . . . [of] normal