In his "Profiles In Vocal Pedagogy", Clifton Press, 1975, Weldon Whitlock
defines "messa di voce" as: "Starting a tone at its softest degree, then
gradually swelling it to its fullest degree, then slowly diminishing it to its
softest degree. In the early Bel Canto teaching this was considered the most
difficult of all vocal achievements."
My voice teacher had us do this on a pure Italian "A" in a simple vocalise
beginning with an octave leap upward to a pitch on which the swell/diminish
would be performed and then followed by a turn and a descending scale. It was
tricky to do, but once you did it, you COULD do it! As Martha would say "It's a
good thing!"!
Pure vowels, long phrases and elaborate embellishments are the three principles
of "bel canto...Tone supports breath and not breath the tone!
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