The Renaissance of the Vocal Art Part 4

_Devices._--_Expand to breathe. Do not breathe to expand._ Expand by flexible, vitalized movements; control by position the level of the tone, and thus balance the two forces, "pressure and resistance." In this way is secured automatic adjustment and absolute automatic breath-control.

More has probably been written and said upon this important question of breathing in singing than upon any other question in the broad field of the vocal art; and yet the fact remains that it is less understood than any of the really great principles of correct singing. This is due to the fact that most writers, teachers, and singers believe that they must do something--something out of the ordinary--to develop the breathing powers.

The result is, that most systems of breathing are artificial; therefore unnatural. Most systems of breathing attempt to do by direct effort that which Nature alone can do correctly. Most breathing in singing is the result of direct conscious effort.

The conscious or artificial breath is a muscular breath, and compels muscular control. The conscious breath--the breath that is taken locally and deliberately (one might almost say maliciously) before singing--expands the body unnaturally, and thus creates a desire to at once expel it. In order to avoid this, the singer is compelled to harden and tighten every muscle of the body; and not only of the body, but of the throat as well.

Under these conditions the first principle of artistic tone-production--the removal of all restraint--is impossible.

As the breath is taken, so must it be used. Nature demands--aye, compels--this. If we take (as we are so often told to do) "a good breath, and get ready," it means entirely too much breath for comfort, to say nothing of artistic singing. It means a hard, set diaphragm, an undue tension of the abdominal muscles, and an unnatural position and condition of the chest. This of course compels the hardening and contraction of the throat muscles. This virtually means the unseating of the voice; for under these conditions free, natural singing is impossible. The conscious, full, muscular breath compels conscious, local muscular effort to hold it and control it. Result: a stiff, set, condition of the face muscles, the jaw, the tongue and the larynx. This makes automatic vowel form, placing, and even freedom of expression, impossible. The conscious, artificial breath is a handicap in every way. It compels the singer to directly and locally control the parts. In this way it is not possible to easily and freely use all the forces which Nature has given to man for the production of beautiful tone.

Now note the contrast. The artistic breath must be as unconscious or as involuntary as the vital or living breath. It must be the result of free, flexible action, and never of conscious effort. The artistic, automatic breath is the result of doing the thing which gives the breath and controls the breath without thought of breath. The automatic breath is got through the movements suggested when we say, _Lift, expand, and let go_.

When the singer lifts and expands in a free, flexible manner the body fills with breath. One would have to consciously resist this to prevent the filling of the lungs. The breath taken in this way means expansion, inflation, ease, freedom. There is no desire to expel the breath got in this way; it is controlled easily and naturally from position--the level of the tone. When the breath is thus got through right position and action, we secure automatic form and adjustment; and correct adjustment means approximation of the breath bands, inflation of the cavities--in fact, all true conditions of tone. Nature has placed within the organ of sound the principle of a double valve,--one of the strongest forces known in mechanics,--for the control of the breath during the act of singing. This is what we mean by automatic breath-control--using the forces which Nature has given us for that purpose, using them in the proper manner.

If the reader is familiar with my last two works, "Vocal Reinforcement" and "Position and Action in Singing," he will have learned through them that we have not direct, correct control of the form and adjustment of the parts which secure the true conditions of tone and automatic breath-control.

These conditions, as we have learned, are secured through the flexible movements which are the ground-work of our system. Therefore we say, _Trust the movements_. If you have confidence in them, they will always serve you. If you doubt them, they are doubtful; for the least doubt on the part of the singer means more or less contraction and restraint; hence they fail to produce the true conditions.

This automatic breathing, the result of the movements described, does not show effort or action half so much as the old-fas.h.i.+oned, conscious muscular breath. Breathing in this way means the use of all the forces which Nature has given us. Breathing in this way is Nature's demand, and the reward is Nature's help.

The devices we use to develop automatic breathing and automatic breath-control are the simplest possible exercises, studied and developed through the movements, as before described. In this way through right action we expand to breathe, or rather we breathe through flexible expansion, and we control by position, by the true level of the tone. In this way, as we have found, all true conditions are secured and maintained.

We will take for our first study a single tone about the middle of the voice. Exercise three in Article One of this second part of the book will suggest the idea.

Sing a tone about the middle of the voice with the syllable _ah_.

Lift, expand, and let go, by the use of the hands and the body, as before suggested. The lifting and expanding in a free, flexible manner will give you all the breath that is needed; and the position, the level of the tone, will hold or control the breath if you have confidence. Remember that automatic breathing depends upon first action, the movement from repose to the level of the tone. If the action is as described, sufficient breath will be the result. If the position, the level of the tone, is maintained without contraction, absolute automatic breath-control will be the result so sure as the sun s.h.i.+nes.

The tendency with beginners and with those who have formed wrong habits of breathing, is to take a voluntary breath before coming into action. This of course defeats the whole thing. Again, the tendency of beginners or of those who have formed wrong habits, is to sing before finding the level of the tone through the movements, or to start the tone before the action.

This of course compels local effort and contraction, and makes success impossible. The singer must have breath; and if he does not get it automatically through the flexible movements herein described, or some such movements, he is compelled to take it consciously and locally. The conscious local breath in singing is always an artificial breath, and compels local control. Under these conditions ease and perfect freedom are impossible.

As we have said, the important thing to consider in this study is the movement from repose to the level of the first tone. Move in a free, flexible manner as before described, and give no thought to breath-taking.

When you have found the level of the tone, all of which is done rhythmically and in a moment, let the voice sing,--sing spontaneously. Make no effort to hold or control the breath. Maintain correct position the level of the tone, in a free, flexible manner, and sing with perfect freedom, with abandon. As the movement or action gave you the breath, so will the position hold it. The more you let go all contraction of body and throat muscles, the more freedom you give the voice, the more will the breath be controlled,--controlled through automatic form and adjustment.

This is a wonderful revelation to many who have tried it and mastered it.

Those who have constantly thought in the old way, and attempted to breathe and control in the old way, cannot of course understand it. The tendency of such is to condemn it,--to condemn it, we are sorry to say, without investigation.

Knowledge is gained through experience. The singer or pupil who tries this system of breathing and succeeds, needs no argument to convince him that it is true, natural and correct. The greatest drawback to the mastering of it on the part of many singers and teachers, is the artificial habits acquired by years of wrong thinking and wrong effort. With the beginner it is the simplest, the easiest, and the most quickly acquired of all systems of breathing; for automatic breathing is a fundamental, natural law of artistic singing.

For further ill.u.s.tration of this principle of breathing we will use the following exercise:

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOURTH STUDY. Ah....]

Place yourself in a free, flexible manner on a level with the first tone.

If this is done properly, you will have secured automatically a singing breath and all true conditions of tone. When singing this exercise move the hands and body with the tone or voice, ascending and descending. In ascending open freely and naturally by letting go. Do not influence the form by attempting locally to open. Do not influence the form by locally preventing freedom or expansion. Let go all parts of the face, mouth and throat, and you will be surprised at the power of the tone, of the breath, and of the breath-control on the upper tone. You will be surprised to find that you will have secured or developed three or four times as much sustaining breath power as you imagined you had. In descending, care must be taken not to droop or depress, but to carry the voice by controlling the movements of the body, and only after the last tone is finished should the body go into a position of repose.

Sing this exercise in all degrees of power, soft, medium and loud, maintaining the same true conditions on all. The tendency of most singers is to relax and depress on soft tone, or to pinch and contract. Soft tone should never be small in form, and it should always have the same vitality and energy as the louder tone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIFTH STUDY. Ah....]

This exercise should be studied and practiced in every way suggested for the study of the preceding exercises. Place yourself upon a level with the first tone, in the manner before described, and thus secure the automatic breath. Do not forget to use the hands to suggest the movement to the body.

The hands should be used until the body is thoroughly trained to flexible action. It is always a question of "the thought before the action." Do not allow a conscious or local breath before the movement.

Place yourself upon a level with the first tone, and allow or let the voice start spontaneously and freely. Make no effort to hold the breath. Hold from position. Sing down, moving with the voice, but do not let the body or the tone droop or relax. Neither must there be stiffness or contraction. If you find it impossible to control the voice in this way, or to prevent depression of body and of tone, then try the following way.

Place yourself upon a level with the first tone in the proper manner, sing down, but lift and expand with an ascending movement of the hands and body.

Open the mouth freely and naturally, and let the tone roll out. You will be surprised to find not only great breath power and control, but a power in the tone that most singers imagine can be got through physical force alone.

This power is the result of expansion and inflation, the true reinforcing power. The increased vitalized energy of the tone is the result of the upward and outward movement. This movement of expansion and inflation through flexible action, is the true application of strength or of power.

It is that which we call the reverse movement. We sing down and move up. It is the great movement for developing the low tones of all voices. This reverse movement may be applied at will to all the studies given; it will depend upon the effect we may desire to produce. If in descending, a quiet effect is desired, the movement is with the voice. If we want power we reverse the action. The body, when properly trained, becomes the servant of the will, and responds instantly to thought and desire. Hence the importance of correct thought.

In presenting these ideas to my readers, I realize how difficult it is to put them in words, and how much they lose when they appear in cold print.

In working with a living, vitalized voice, the effect is so different. The reader who may desire to experiment with these ideas should place himself before a mirror, and make his image his pupil, his subject. In this way he can better study the movements, the action, the position, the level of the tone, and the breathing.

In private teaching, of course, we do not take up one subject or principle and finish that, and then take up the next one; but one idea is constantly built upon another to form the harmonious whole. The formula which we use here, as we have said, is the one adopted for the normal cla.s.s at the Point Chautauqua summer school. This we do in order to have the system properly arranged for lecture, ill.u.s.trations, and for a practical study of the devices, not only from the singer's, but from the teacher's standpoint as well.

The teacher or singer who studies and masters this course never questions or doubts the truth and power of automatic breathing and automatic breath-control; or the wonderful influence on the voice of these movements, which we call true position and action in singing.[1]

[Footnote 1: The few exercises or studies here given, as well as a number of others, may be found fully carried out with accompaniment, in "Exercises for the Training and Development of the Voice," by the author of this work.

Published by William A. Pond and Company.]

ARTICLE THREE.

THE THIRD PRINCIPLE OF ARTISTIC TONE-PRODUCTION.

The third principle of artistic tone-production is

_High Placing and Low Resonance._

_Theory._--Tone, to be artistic, must be placed forward and high, and must be reinforced by the low cavities and chest resonance; it must be placed high, and reinforced or built down by added resonance through expansion and inflation.

_Devices._--Place high by removing all restraint, all obstruction, through flexible movements. The high, forward placing is the natural focus of the voice. When the voice is thus placed and automatic control prevails, reaction and reflection occur, and the sympathetic low resonance of the inflated cavities is added to the tone. Also study the naturally high placing of E and the naturally low color of oo; then equalize all the vowels through their influence, and thus develop uniform color and quality in all.

This third principle of artistic singing is a very important one, and means much more than one might, at first thought, suppose. Many singers think of placing simply as the point of contact or impact of the air current.

Placing, however, means more than this. It means not only the correct focus of tone forward and high, but it also means reaction and reflection of the air current; in short, sympathetic added vibration of air in the low inflated cavities. This being true, we find that correct placing means even much more. It means the true form and adjustment of all the parts--all true conditions of tone.

The prevailing idea of placing is the thought of constantly pus.h.i.+ng up the tone. Result, the organ of sound is pushed out of place and all true conditions disturbed. The pushed-up tone means local, muscular effort, contraction, and a hard, unmusical voice. The voice thus placed may be loud and brilliant, but never soulful or beautiful. The pushed-up tone means singing from the larynx up. It means head-resonance only; and head-resonance is but one side, and that the smallest side, of this great question.

Tone must be placed spontaneously, with reaction and reflection. This shows at once the importance of the first two great principles of voice-production,--freedom and automatic breath-control; for without these true placing is impossible. Tone placed in this way means the ring of the forward high placing and the added resonance of the inflated cavities and especially of the chest.

In singing, as we have learned, there are two forces constantly in action,--pressure and resistance, or motor power and control. These two forces must prevail, and in order to produce the voice artistically, they must be balanced. This is done, indirectly, through the movements we advocate, through the position and action of the body. The motor power lies in the diaphragm and in the abdominal and intercostal muscles. The controlling force lies in the chest, in a properly adjusted larynx and the approximated breath-bands. These two forces must be balanced during the act of singing. Most singers are much stronger in the driving or motor power than in reaction or the controlling force; and with many, the weakness in control, reaction or adjustment, is an absolute bar to success. Hence the importance of strengthening the chest, and the position of the organ of sound, through physical culture.

When these two forces, motor power and control, are not equal, the balance of force is placed upon the throat and throat muscles. This the singer can no more avoid doing than he can avoid balancing himself to keep from falling. When, in order to place, the voice is pushed up, deliberately and maliciously pushed, both forces are exerted in the same direction. They are then virtually but one force--a driving force. As there must be two forces in singing, as Nature compels this, there is nothing left for the singer to do but to use the throat and throat muscles as a controlling force. Under these conditions, as before stated, the tone may be brilliant, but it will always be unsympathetic and unmusical.

I hope no one will think for a moment, in considering the movements we advocate, that we do not believe in strength and power. We do believe in applied power, applied indirectly; not by local grip and contraction, but indirectly through vitalized energy, expansion, and flexibility, through the true position and action of the singer. There is no strength properly applied in singing except through movement; through correct movement all the forces which nature has given the singer are indirectly brought into action; in this way there is constant physical and vocal development.

Every tone sung, as we have learned, is a reinforced sound. There are two ways of reinforcing tone. First, by muscular tension, muscular contraction, muscular effort--the wrong way. Second, by vitalized energy, by expansion, and by added resonance of air in the inflated cavities--the right way. Of course to produce expansion and inflation, true conditions of form and adjustment must prevail, through the movements given.

Form has much to do with determining the quality and character of the tone.

Muscular effort, either in placing or reinforcing the tone, results in muscular contraction, and in most cases in elliptical form of voice, thus: [drawn horizontal oval] This means depressed soft palate, high larynx, contraction of the fauces, closed throat, and spread open mouth.

Result--high placing impossible, no low color or reinforcement; in short, hard muscular tone. The tone may be loud but it cannot be musical.