lloyd and david,
first, my apologies for misrepresenting titze's view on the raised
larynx. a brief article by titze can be found at
http://www.ncvs.org/singers/raisedve.pdf as david pointed out in an earlier
post.
in the first paragraph titze states he is biased in neither direction,
explaining later his preference is for the larynx to begin in a neutral
position. however, he goes on to suggest that he is open to the idea of the
singer exploring the possibilties of using a move in either direction to
overcome various shortcomings.
in the fourth and fifth paragraphs, after explaining why, in the
previous paragraphs, titze suggests that a lowered larynx may fascilitate
singing with power as, the vocal folds are set up to be thicker in a lowered
larynx. he also suggests that the raised larynx fascilitates access to
higher pitches as, the raising of the larynx tends to thin the folds, i
assume because the crico-thyroid muscles are involved more. he also points
out that there is a distinct timbre difference between the two positions (it
might be better to say directions) due to a lengthening or shortening of the
vocal tract. he says that vocal ring is unaffected by either. while some
might be surprised to hear him say that vocal ring is unaffected by a raised
larynx, i am not.
i may be wrong but, it seems to me that he is suggesting a neutral
position for most singing but, in the case of a singer who struggles with the
high range, it is advisable to raise the larynx and, in the case of the
singer who struggles with power, it is advisable to lower the larynx. this
seems to me to be a departure from the practice that has been common over the
last 50 years. from the interviews in hines' 'great singers on great
singing', which includes commentary from quite a few of the best known
singers over the past 50 years, it is my impression that nearly all of them
prescribe a neutral or lowered larynx. it is my opinion that there has been
a general move towards a lower larynx over the past 50 years, particularly in
women, at least women singing the standard italian repertoire.
if i am right in my thinking in the above paragraph, it is likely most
voice teachers, training their students with an operatic career in mind,
would see an elevated larynx as incorrect. while there are plenty of rock,
pop, broadway, world, etc. singers who exhibit the use of an elevated larynx,
it is hard to find operatic singers who make a practice of it. ivan
kozlovsky comes to mind as the most obvious example and he is a rather old
example. still, a number of the russian singers in the 50's through 80's,
mazurok, vishnevskaya and even lemeshev, seem very uninterested in keeping
their larynx low for the higher range. while hrorostovsky does seem to make
more of an effort to use a lowered larynx, vladimir chernov does not.
(could it be that the advent of much larger opera houses in the west has
brought about a neccesity to use a lowered larynx to survive?)
mike
mike
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