Colin:
Classical training does not involve singing entirely in head voice
and never has. The discussions recently on Vocalist have been
centered around the phenomenon of the pops singer who is required to
carry the chest voice much higher than is taught in classical
singing. As a result, those who favor this pops approach to singing
have become critical of the classical singing approach because it
does not, in their opinion, meet their needs. Consequently, a lot of
extreme extrapolations of of classical singing methods have been
expressed. Most of these expressions do not reflect the work of most
voice teachers and it is a major mistake to think they do. Most
voice teachers do excellent work and are devoted to their craft. It
is true that the voice teaching profession tends to withdraw from any
kind of scientific study or explanation of why what they do works or
does not work. Many voice teachers who teach well use language that
is inaccurate and requests physically impossible tasks but each
successful teacher eventually must rely on what they hear and, in the
end, this aural approach controls whatever erroneous language they
may espouse.
It is good to hear of your own experience with voice teachers in the UK.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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