Training the Singing Voice - online book

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

	244                        TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE
	groups is the freedom with which authors make assumptions (often im­plicitly) that are never justified. In the absence of a core of established scientific data on the training of the singing voice, it was necessary to plan the procedures of this investiga­tion so as to provide basic orientations in this field for future investi­gators, as well as to provide a segment of organized information for the teaching profession. To achieve these ends, the plan and purposes of this study were carried out in three main operational stages, as follows: i. Gathering sources of information. A working bibliography of 702 items was compiled by systematically searching through the following sources of bibliographical information: a) The Library of Congress in Washington, D. C; b) The New York Public Library, Central Branch; c) The New York Public Library, 58th Street Music Branch; d) Teachers College Library; e) Columbia University Music Library; f) Juilliard School of Music Library; g) Readers* Guide to Periodical Literature; h) Education Index; i) Ohio State University Card Index to Periodical Literature; j) Psychological Abstracts. 2. Collecting and arranging the data. In all, 2,946 concepts used in training the singing voice were gathered by reading the 702 bibliographi­cal items. These were arranged: a) by -comparison and grouping, into 9 main areas and b) by their relevancy to certain categories of information, into 162 subordinate areas. These categorical classifications were dis­tributed as follows: Main Area                    Number of Categories Vocal pedagogy                            29 Breathing                                     22 Phonation                                    20 Resonance                                    19 Range                                          16 Dynamics                                       8 Ear training                                 11 Diction                                         19 Interpretation                               18
	TOTAL                                           l62 The concepts were also arranged in theoretical and methodological groupings in each main area, and were further subdivided into psycho­logical and technical teaching approaches and according to documenta­tion. Statements made by professional singers were also indicated.