(I hope by registers, it is not implied that you have to change
fundamental production of the voice. I have seen many young tenors
never learn to sing the top properly because they think they need to
flip out into some other voice, and so they don't get the connection in
the top which enables them to sing opera and be heard. Big voiced
sopranos in choir have a heck of a time because if they sing with their
full voice, they get reprimanded for being too loud. Flipping out,
using another registration in isolation from the rest of the voice is
not the answer.)
I am not trying to refute the existence of registers. I am just not
sure how telling the student that they have registers will help them.
That's how I was taught from my first teacher in my first lessons in
college. You know what she told me? She said I was a coloratura
soprano and she was going to isolate and develop my registers and then
put them back together. She had me doing all of these bizarre exercises
in the extreme ends of my voice. I'm not a coloratura, but at that
time, I didn't have a supported integrated voice. I have had this
registers concept suggested to me all along in college. It's
intellectual, wonderful stuff but does it help or hinder? Here's one
possibility: it creates the thought, consciously or unconsciously that
"ok, now I have to do something different." "Now I have to shift into
upper middle, or register #3 or whistle register." It could cause
direct manipulation of the muscles of the vocal apparatus. I had it
suggested to me by the director when I was the Merry Widow... that I
needed to let my voice flip into "register 5." If I do that, it is
colorless and does not resemble the rest of the voice, and won't carry.
My teacher doesn't teach that there are registers - on purpose - but
approaches the voice as a unified whole. Using the right vowel in the
right area of the voice automatically makes the voice resonate the right
way. Note that I am not denying that they may exist... sure. Good.
But to directly tell yourself you are singing in a certain register may
not be the best approach.
Better to find what the student does best... if they have a good middle,
work out from there keeping the consistency. Relaxation of the muscles
of the throat and correct support - however you define it - and allowing
the voice to adjust on its own will all help. If the student is one of
those lucky ones who has a good top, then work to bring it down into the
rest of the voice. A free, well produced voice will adjust on its own.
In The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, James McKinney talks
about how each note must have some chest voice and some head voice in
the sound... as you go up the scale, the heavy mechanism (Vennard)
remains engaged but the light mechanism begins to dominate. It doesn't
let go. Some care needs to be taken in certain areas of the voice
(passaggio) to modify vowels but at no point do you disengage both sets
of muscles. Now, I am to the point where the passaggio feels no
different from the rest of my voice, nor do I need to "do" anything
different or special.
I feel more comfortable with the terms heavy and light mechanism,
because there are 2 sets of muscles which control them. How many
registers do you suppose there are? 2? 3? 5? Why do I need to know
that? Is it really under my direct control? I need to know and perfect
my technique. I know that I must support, relax all extra tension,
resonate and sing on the ring of the voice, pronounce correctly, express
and act. Soft singing requires all the energy and support of loud
singing, not some other voice. The entire instrument should be
engaged. (Choir directors don't like me any more because I am not going
to sing in the disconnected little boy voice with just the light
mechanism. Sorry about that, but I am a grown woman.)
Garcia and Mancini did the best they could to describe what they thought
was happening. There is no doubt that their work is of paramount
importance. They did not have the only approach, however, as evidenced
by the comments in Great Singers on Great Singing. There are many great
singers who do not talk of registers.
When I first met Martina Arroyo, she talked with me about finding the
"core" of my voice... the "kernel of tone" and singing with that always
present. She talked about putting the voice on a track like a train and
keeping it in line. She said when I did that my fach would be
determined. I was *clueless* at the time, but she was right. My voice
is in line now and the right rep is apparent. That didn't happen with
the concept of registers, but, it happened with a lot of work and
practice and great ears and thinking of not changing anything in my
throat.
Do those of you who advocate the teaching of registers teach this
concept to all of your students? What of the ones who don't have
registration problems? How does it help you and your students to know
of the various registers and what do you do about them?
Gina
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