In a message dated 6/23/2002 2:55:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ezweig@e... writes:
> There is no doubt that amateur classical singers have plenty of vocal
> obstacles, but perhaps have a greater potential of overcoming their vocal
> problems by the very nature of the style and the technique which supports
> that
> style.
> Do modern evolving styles and techniques which allegedly support those
> styles
> (which often, by their nature, put the human vocal effort in competition
> against,
> rather than in synch with technological achievement) offer singers the same
> potential benefit?
erica,
certainly you have had the experience of arguing with fellow classical
singers on the merits of various teacher's approaches. there is not one
unified classical approach to the teaching of technique. in fact, there is
wide disagreement and much charlatanry. in his book 'the four voices of
man', in the second chapter on 'support', jerome hines discusses eleven
diffrerent approaches to breathing for singing. these eleven different
methods are ones that he has seen in actual practice or, at least, the
attempts at actual practice (one would probably assume he observed fairly
well known singers for this variety).
as i have said many times in the past, the operation of the voice
exists independently of its usages. classical music is only one use of the
voice and it is usually sung badly more often than it is sung well. part of
the reason for that is that much of it is difficult. one of the more
difficult aspects of it is that it requires sustained use of the voice above
the speaking range. because the music for female classical singers is
written so high above the speaking range, female classical singers, for the
most part, have to abandon the speaking voice almost entirely. males have
to extend the speaking range by making use of what is generally called 'head
voice'. in short, solving this particular problem means learning to use the
voice in a way that is foreign to most.
in looking at the vast variety of 'other' music, some of it goes well
out of the speaking range while much of it stays well within the speaking
range. for the latter, the challenge is musical unless a singer wants to
significantly change his/her timbre. if singers in this latter category
make singing a simple extension of their speaking, then they are in no more
danger than they would be in talking a lot.
singers of other music that does extend well beyond the speaking
range, are at greater risk because anyone who sings higher than the speaking
range is at greater risk as, there is much less margin for error (no one ever
marks the low notes in their high range). while those who don't study the
use of the voice are less likely to find an efficient and safe approach to
the higher range, study of the high range in the classical context is not
necessarily a good idea. for example, it might be argued that a slighlty
elevated larynx for singing high notes might actually make the singing of
those notes easier (as titze does). the resultant timbre is not widely
accepted in operatic circles though, it is widely accepted in pop circles
(especially 'alternative' music). in this case, if all other elements are
equal, the singing of pop music would be safer if the thought on the elevated
larynx as it relates to the high range, is correct.
in closing, i think the operation of the voice should be considered
outside any style of music. in doing so, it is possible to find a 'plain
vanilla' for all singers. from this basic use, variation can be introduced
to accomodate the requirements of each style. this approach, btw, allows
each singer to have a complete change of mind with regard to choice of style
he/she wishes to express themselves in.
mike
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