Karen wrote:
> So I must say, I am very grateful to Teacher #1 for having spent so much
> time informing me about these things - because I doubt I'd be making
> nearly as much progress with Teacher #2 without this firm grounding.
I have some considerations about that:
1. Most teachers ( and that seems to be true worldwide, according to
complaints and comments on this list ) are clueless about what exactly
happens on the inside. Therefore, they may not be saying anything about that
for the very obvious reason that they don't know what to say.
2. As has been said, singing teachers with successful methods have existed
since a long time before vocal science appeared, so they shouldn't owe
anything to it. However, isn't their rate of success due to natural
selection of students? isn't it the same success 'shamans' had when they
beat people to rid them of 'bad spirits'? Placebo effect cures, but
effective medication cures at a higher rate.
3. Many teachers advocate using nasal vowels in order to reach for higher
pitches, since they believe that sending air to the sinus cavities PRODUCE
higher pitches and more overtones. According to what I've read in scientific
books, and also here, mask resonance is only simpathetic: it doesn't produce
higher pitches ( thus, the questioning of the placement concept by most of
the scientifically informed teachers I've read- Lloyd and SLSers included ),
but is a resonating consequence of them. Could we decide between two
theories without knowing what does really happen on the inside?
4. An anecdote: one of my former teachers used to say that head voice was
the result of sending air to the higher resonating cavities. At the same
time, she used to say that we should lift our soft palate to open up
resonating space for the sound, mostly for higher pitches. As I had already
read a lot about singing ( thanks to this list ), I asked her: But how can I
send air to the those cavities and, AT THE SAME TIME, block it? She had a
mental block... and I never got the answer. Once again ( I've mentioned this
cat before ), only Schroedenger's cat would be able to follow her
instructions!
bye,
Caio Rossi
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