Jason Smart posted these to the Early Music list, and I thought perhaps
vocalisters would find them interesting and possibly useful!
Mary Jane Ruhl
This is prompted by one or two comments in the recent "Vibrato Again"
thread. I'm not a singer and I'm afraid I've not read John Potter's book,
which might well deal with this issue, so I hope I can be excused if I'm
airing an tired subject. The following (given partly to illustrate my
question, but mainly in the hope that it's interesting) is a digest of three
early writers' advice on how to sing well:
Conrad von Zabern: De modo bene cantandi (Mainz, 1474)
1. Sing with refinement and without coarseness
2. Avoid articulating each note of a melisma with an "h"
3. Don't sing through the nose
4. Enunciate clearly and sing the correct vowel sounds
5. Sing intervals in tune
6. Don't force the tone: sing with sweetness
7. Sing low notes resonantly, middle ones moderately, high ones delicately
8. Don't sing sleepily and lifelessly, but with virility and affekt
9. Stand up straight: don't sway, don't hold your head too high or to one
side, don't gape
Giovanni de' Bardi: Discorso mandato a Caccini sopra la musica antica e 'l
cantar bene (c.1578)
1. Enter softly after a rest
2. When singing alone to an accompaniment, you may contract or expand the
time at will
3. Tune each tone and semitone properly
4. Connect the notes exactly
5. Give a piece its proper and exact expression
6. Sing with suavity and sweetness
7. Stand in a suitable posture
Georg Quitschreiber: De canendi elegantia (Jena, 1598)
1. Choose good voices (treble tender and sonorous, bass harsher and richer,
medius even and fitting well with the others [cf 12 below])
2. It's best to sing with vibrato ("Tremula voce optime canitur" - that's
all he says on the subject)
3. Don't sing too loudly, but sweetly like maidens
4. Sing with an even volume: a little more softly as the notes rise, more
loudly as they fall; and don't make a diminuendo at the end.
5. Check your intonation against the "monochordum"
6. Swift notes should be articulated with chest and throat, not tongue or
lips: shape them in the throat so that the rising and falling of these
little notes is imperceptible [cf. von Zabern's rule #2?)
7. Think what the words mean and match your tone and style to them
8. Pronounce the vowels properly (and prefer "i" and "e" for roulades over
"a", "o" and "u")
9. Bring out points of imitation
10. Don't hurry
11. Keep time, but slow down if the sense requires it
12. Let the bass and treble be louder than the other parts
13. Sing the penultimate note of a piece gravely and with a pause
14. End the final note when the conductor bids you to (but it will sound
best if the bass hangs on for a couple of extra beats)
There are a number of recurring themes here, but not one word about tone
production (muscle control, resonance, that sort of thing). Does anyone know
of any such advice? Is it fair to say that "trained" voices in the sense we
understand the term today didn't exist in the middle ages and renaissance?
When did the necessary anatomical awareness arise?
Maybe instrumental tutors can shed some light on breath control? Beth's
quote from _Harmonie Universelle_ (that ornamentations should be made only
with the throat and never sound as if they are drawn "from the stomach") is
tantalising.
Jason
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